Russia's crude exports from its western ports could fall by as much as 200,000 barrels per day in November as refiners increase diesel production under Moscow's new agreement with Washington, according to preliminary loading schedules cited by Reuters on Tuesday. Two traders expect shipments from Russia's Baltic and Black Sea ports to decline by 100,000 to 200,000 bpd from October. The estimates include Kazakh crude transported through Russian pipelines. Russian refineries have increased processing since the October 9 diesel agreement between Presidents…

Good news.  Electric grid reliability was a lot better in 2025 than in 2024. But one swallow does not make a spring, as Aristotle noted, a number of years ago. Grid reliability, we believe, has been trending downward since the turn of the century, that is, since deregulation really got rolling. Okay, you could argue, as a good logician, that this is an example of a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy, that is, because event B took place after event A must mean that A caused B.  We admit that. We’re just pointing out the chronology,…

Saudi Aramco is offering additional crude to European refiners for October and November loading, just weeks after telling customers they would receive no oil under their October contracts following an attack on the kingdom's East-West pipeline. The Saudi oil giant offered late-October spot cargoes at a discount to its official selling price, according to Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the matter. The shipments were available from either the Red Sea port of Yanbu or Sidi Kerir on Egypt's Mediterranean coast. Aramco followed those offers…

Saudi Aramco is offering additional crude to European refiners for October and November loading, just weeks after telling customers they would receive no oil under their October contracts following an attack on the kingdom's East-West pipeline. The Saudi oil giant offered late-October spot cargoes at a discount to its official selling price, according to Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the matter. The shipments were available from either the Red Sea port of Yanbu or Sidi Kerir on Egypt's Mediterranean coast. Aramco followed those offers…

Kazakhstan marked perhaps the high point of its presidentially proclaimed “year of artificial intelligence” with a visit by technology titan, Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, who said the Central Asian state has the potential to become “a global hub for Physical AI.” Huang and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met on October 23 for talks aimed at bolstering collaboration between the chipmaking giant and Kazakh companies. Huang praised the Kazakh tech ecosystem as possessing all the prerequisites to become an AI…

Brent holds near $115 as Iran war tensions and escalating Saudi-Houthi hostilities keep oil markets on edge ahead of U.S. midterms. Hormuz Becomes Even More Dangerous — and More Expensive - October has seen the most acute escalation in maritime attacks since the US-Iran war started eight months ago, with already more than 30 incidents recorded in the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waterways, up from 14 in September.    - The most recent addition to the list of maritime targets is a crude tanker in Iraq’s exclusive economic…

The Department of Defense is preparing for a potential "doomsday" scenario in which America's power grid collapses, supply chains grind to a halt, and military installations are forced to operate for three months without outside support, according to Fox News. The unprecedented plan, branded FORTRESS by Pentagon planners, aims to make major military bases across the continental United States capable of functioning independently for at least 90 days, according to documents obtained by the news outlet. U.S. Air Force airmen and civilian contractors…

While the world moves increasingly closer to reaching its target to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030, this may not be sufficient to meet global climate goals as energy demand is now rising faster than previously expected, the head of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) says. “We are getting closer and closer to the (target of) 11.2TW by 2030,” IRENA’s Director-General, Francesco La Camera, told CNA on the sidelines of the Singapore International Energy Week. However, the goal, set out during the 2023 COP…

While the world moves increasingly closer to reaching its target to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030, this may not be sufficient to meet global climate goals as energy demand is now rising faster than previously expected, the head of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) says. “We are getting closer and closer to the (target of) 11.2TW by 2030,” IRENA’s Director-General, Francesco La Camera, told CNA on the sidelines of the Singapore International Energy Week. However, the goal, set out during the 2023 COP…

While the world moves increasingly closer to reaching its target to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030, this may not be sufficient to meet global climate goals as energy demand is now rising faster than previously expected, the head of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) says. “We are getting closer and closer to the (target of) 11.2TW by 2030,” IRENA’s Director-General, Francesco La Camera, told CNA on the sidelines of the Singapore International Energy Week. However, the goal, set out during the 2023 COP…

The key OPEC+ producers managing their collective oil production are expected to keep quotas unchanged for December when they meet on Sunday, sources familiar with the plans told Reuters on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman have kept their targeted output unchanged after completing in September the phased rollback of 1.65 million barrels per day (bpd) of supply cuts first agreed in 2023. These targets have been only on paper in the past eight months as the Middle East conflict disrupted crude oil supplies…

Russia and Iran are expanding their nuclear cooperation as both countries face Western sanctions and international isolation. Their partnership includes the construction of nuclear power plants, fuel supplies, and broader technological cooperation. While Bushehr, Iran’s first operating nuclear power station, has long been the centerpiece of their relationship, Moscow and Tehran are planning new nuclear facilities and cooperation in other areas of technology, raising questions about the ability of international agencies to monitor Iran’s…

Britain is deciding whether to drill its largest untapped oilfield in the middle of an oil shock, with Brent above 100 and more than 70% of its oil already coming from abroad. Rosebank, west of Shetland, is an £8.7 billion (~11.6 billion) development that its operator says would pump about 69,000 barrels a day at peak, roughly a tenth of the country’s expected oil output. The production vessel has been on site since June, and Ithaca Energy, which owns a fifth of the field, says it will likely stop investing in Britain if the government…

China needs its biggest oil and gas producers to drill more, explore more, and build strategic supply bases as the Iran war forces Beijing to confront an uncomfortable reality: even the world's largest crude stockpile cannot replace a dependable supply of oil indefinitely. China's National Energy Administration has called on PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC, and other domestic producers to expand production capacity, increase investment, and accelerate the development of national oil and gas supply bases. The directive, issued following an October 21…

The top executives of U.S. energy startup Polar LNG have all resigned in recent weeks, just six months after the company was launched, amid a controversy over alleged funding and control of the venture’s strategy by Russia’s biggest LNG developer and exporter, privately-held Novatek. The senior managers who left Polar LNG say they resigned in September after learning earlier during the month that Novatek was at least partly funding the U.S. company, which looks to build a project on Alaska’s North Slope. Polar LNG was created…

Oil and gas may be flowing through the Strait of Hormuz again, but the impacts of its months-long closure will be felt for years to come. For Asia, in particular, regulating markets and shoring up energy security to avoid the next energy shock will require trillions of dollars in the coming years as energy demand projection rates continue to rise sharply across the region. When traffic through the Iranian-controlled Strait of Hormuz stopped overnight back in February in response to a military offensive by the United States and Israel, one-fifth…

The average price Americans have paid for gasoline during President Donald Trump's second term has now surpassed the average recorded during Joe Biden's presidency, marking a politically significant milestone just days before the November 3 midterm elections. According to AAA data cited by Reuters, regular gasoline has averaged $3.472 per gallon since Trump returned to office in January 2025, compared with $3.471 during Biden's four-year presidency. The difference is marginal, but it represents a striking reversal for a president who campaigned…

Europe's political elite is belatedly confronting the electoral cost of deindustrialization, as right-wing gains in local elections expose surging voter anger over globalist policies that have crushed the industrial base. The push to curb cheap Chinese imports suggests Brussels is scrambling for political survival, as Nomura analysts recently said elections across the continent over the next year and a half are expected to shift right. Bloomberg reports that the EU is preparing restrictions on imports of chemicals, furniture, and machinery from…

The Middle East conflict has disrupted global energy flows, forcing countries to rethink supply routes and strengthen energy security. As more buyers turn to the spot market to replace disrupted volumes, Rystad Energy estimates that global LNG importers will spend at least $39 billion more on contracted and spot supplies in 2026, despite purchasing 60.7 million tonnes less. Disruptions to Qatari and UAE exports through the Strait of Hormuz are forcing buyers to secure replacement volume at higher prices. Total portfolio costs are expected to reach…

Egypt’s parliament on Monday authorized military support to defend Saudi Arabia, the same day Yemen’s Houthis claimed unconfirmed attacks on pumping stations along the kingdom’s East-West crude pipeline and on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport. The Houthis had warned Cairo against the move. Yahya Al Raei, speaker of the Houthi-run parliament in Sanaa, wrote to Egyptian Speaker Hisham Badawy last week that joining the conflict “would pose a grave danger” to Egypt’s national security. The approval…