Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict Bolsonaro has been secretly flown to Miami on a private jet, three days after losing Brazil’s presidential runoff to Lula and a day after defying a Supreme Court order to surrender his passports in a money-laundering case. The State Department is issuing visas to him and his family. Prior to the election, U.S. diplomats in Brazil were told the policy was to return the Bolsonaros to power, making them a direct target. On October 27, Justice Flávio Dino ordered federal police to investigate foreign…

Netanyahu’s bloc fell eight seats short of a Knesset majority on October 27, winning 53 of 120 seats to 48 for Gadi Eisenkot’s camp. The Arab parties took a record 19 on turnout of about 80% in Arab communities, up from 54% in 2022. Netanyahu will stay on as caretaker PM until a new government is sworn in. As leader of the largest party (Likud with 27 seats), he is also the most likely recipient of President Herzog’s first mandate to form a government, which runs 28 days and can be extended by 14. Netanyahu and Likud have spent…

BP easily beat analyst expectations of third-quarter earnings, posting its highest quarterly profit, which nearly quadrupled from a year earlier amid strong refining margins and oil and gas trading. BP’s underlying replacement cost profit, the metric is uses for net profit, soared to $8.6 billion for the third quarter, nearly quadrupling from the same period of 2025, the supermajor said on Friday. Earnings also rose by $2.7 billion compared to the second quarter, and smashed analyst estimates of $7.3 billion. “Compared with the second…

Brent Crude oil prices are set to end the year at about $105 per barrel, bank ANZ said on Friday as it hiked its projection by $10 a barrel on the assumption that Middle East oil exports, shipping availability, and fuel supplies will remain constrained through December. “The forecast does not require another geopolitical shock,” ANZ’s strategists wrote in a note carried by Bloomberg.   “Rather, it assumes that the constraints already confronting Middle Eastern exports, shipping and refined-product markets persist through…

The World Bank now ranks off-grid solar as the cheapest way to bring electricity to at least 398 million people who still live without it. A joint report released this week by the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) and the off-grid solar industry association GOGLA treats the technology as permanent infrastructure. Systems once sold as a stopgap until the grid arrived now power households, businesses and factories, and 95% of surveyed customers still had working solar home systems four or more years after buying…

The Iran war and the lack of LNG supply from the Middle East have upended forecasts of near-term natural gas demand and import costs. So far this year, economies in Europe and Asia have relied more on renewables and coal for power generation to offset reduced gas supplies procured at very high prices. This year’s crisis has prompted governments to rethink energy policies with energy security the top priority, again, after the 2022-2023 energy crisis. After the decline in global gas demand this year, due to prices at four-year highs, the obvious…

The world’s largest battery maker and user, the country that dominates all alternative energy technology, is about to find out whether it could also boost its already dominant presence in a critical battery metal: lithium. China, according to a new study, could have significant, untapped resources of lithium right underneath its battery factories. The possibility was detailed in a recent study that argued lithium deposits resulting from ancient volcanic activity could be located in East and South China, where most of the country’s battery…

A Malta-flagged tanker called the Agioi Fanendes left the Russian port of Primorsk on Oct. 22 carrying nearly 40,000 metric tons of ultra-low-sulfur diesel, and ship-tracking data has it arriving at the Port of New York and New Jersey on Nov. 7, four days after the midterm elections. Nobody has publicly said who bought the fuel, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., has asked the ship’s owner to identify the buyer and everyone else involved by Oct. 31. The cargo is the first visible piece of the deal President Donald Trump announced Oct.…

ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods and Chevron upstream president Clay Neff have canceled plans to attend next week's ADIPEC conference in Abu Dhabi over security concerns, according to sources cited by Reuters on Thursday. Both executives were expected at the November 2-5 event, one of the oil industry's largest annual gatherings, and Woods is still showing up on the roster. Neither company would comment on the cancellations, which come as Washington considers another round of military action against Iran. President Donald Trump has said the United States…

The world’s very first permanent nuclear waste repository just got one major step closer to opening its doors for business. Posiva, the waste management company responsible for the project located in Eurajoki, Finland, just received its operating license for the Onkalo facility from the country’s government. The solution that we have, it's the missing point for sustainable use of nuclear energy," said Pasi Tuohimaa, the communications manager for Posiva. The site will encapsulate radioactive spent nuclear fuel in canisters designed…

ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods and Chevron upstream president Clay Neff have canceled plans to attend next week's ADIPEC conference in Abu Dhabi over security concerns, according to sources cited by Reuters on Thursday. Both executives were expected at the November 2-5 event, one of the oil industry's largest annual gatherings, and Woods is still showing up on the roster. Neither company would comment on the cancellations, which come as Washington considers another round of military action against Iran. President Donald Trump has said the United States…

Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings on Thursday, highlighting the growing challenges facing China's automakers even as overseas sales continue to surge. BYD's net profit rose 28% year-over-year to 10.02 billion yuan ($1.5 billion), missing analysts' expectations of approximately 11.1 billion yuan. Revenue increased 13.6% to 221.5 billion yuan ($33.3 billion), also falling short of market forecasts. The earnings miss comes as the Chinese automaker struggles with fierce competition and slowing demand…

The United States is making a fresh push to promote the use of American nuclear energy technology in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Shawna J. Wilson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Security Programs, traveled to both regions recently for meetings with Armenian and Kazakh officials that explored ways to advance US nuclear cooperation with both countries.  The United States and Armenia finalized a nuclear cooperation deal in February during a visit to Yerevan by Vice President JD Vance. Kazakhstan, meanwhile, signed an agreement in…

Carlos Slim has sold more than $1.15 billion of U.S. oil stocks this year as the Iran war sends crude prices and energy shares higher. The Mexican billionaire has cut his stakes in PBF Energy and Talos Energy roughly in half, yet the shares he still owns are worth about $1.4 billion—roughly what his holdings were worth in January. Much of his estimated $124 billion fortune is tied to telecommunications giant América Móvil. Slim, the richest man in Mexico, collected around $820 million selling PBF shares over more than 100 trading…

Carlos Slim has sold more than $1.15 billion of U.S. oil stocks this year as the Iran war sends crude prices and energy shares higher. The Mexican billionaire has cut his stakes in PBF Energy and Talos Energy roughly in half, yet the shares he still owns are worth about $1.4 billion—roughly what his holdings were worth in January. Much of his estimated $124 billion fortune is tied to telecommunications giant América Móvil. Slim, the richest man in Mexico, collected around $820 million selling PBF shares over more than 100 trading…

Europe will release 42 million barrels of emergency oil stocks over the next three months, half of it diesel, as governments try to bring down fuel prices before winter, French Economy Minister Roland Lescure said Thursday. France's share includes 10 million barrels of diesel, which Lescure said will begin reaching the market in the coming days. The fuel will be supplied at cost, with Lescure forecasting a reduction of 12 to 18 cents per liter. He expects prices to respond as early as next week. The broader European release averages roughly 460,000…

Heidelberg Materials’ proposed carbon capture project in Edmonton appeared to contain almost every ingredient policymakers say a successful CCS development needs. It targeted cement, a hard-to-abate industry where most emissions come from the chemistry of producing clinker rather than simply burning fuel. A pilot confirmed that capture was technically feasible. The Canadian government offered substantial support. A pipeline and geological storage route had been identified. Alberta already operated an industrial carbon-pricing system. The…

Higher oil prices helped raise Sinopec’s third-quarter earnings by 64% from a year earlier, even as China’s top refiner couldn’t fully capture the record-high global refining margins.  China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, as Sinopec is officially known, said on Thursday that its profit attributable to the shareholders of the company surged by 63.6% on the year to $2 billion (13.6 billion Chinese yuan) for the third quarter.  Revenues rose by 9.3% to $115 billion (769.7 billion yuan). For the first nine months…

John Healey’s Budget has assumed the government will approve North Sea discovery drilling projects that produce in excess of a billion barrels of oil and gas, in the clearest sign yet that ministers plan to rubber-stamp a wave of new drilling after Jackdaw and Rosebank. In its scorecard for the Chancellor’s maiden fiscal event, the Office for Budget Responsibility accounted for a boost in tax receipts from the “development of new fields” that not only include the controversial Rosebank oil field but also other “future…

Trafigura has signed a $1.5 billion five-year loan agreement that will back a contract for the commodity trading giant to supply more than 150 TWh of natural gas to Germany’s state-owned gas importer Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE) over the next five years. Trafigura’s current deal with SEFE expires at the end of October. The trading group will supply SEFE from its global gas portfolio under the new contract, with the first delivery scheduled for November 1, 2026. Annual volumes of gas will increase to 30 TWh in the new five-year…