U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright called Vitol gasoline trader John Addison, an early financial backer of Vice President JD Vance, on January 5, two days after the U.S. operation that removed Nicolás Maduro, and asked whether Vitol wanted to sell Venezuela’s crude, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Within days, Vitol and Trafigura received special licenses to market Venezuelan oil. The administration skipped competitive bidding, citing the need to move fast to stabilize Venezuela’s economy. Addison gave $300,000 in 2022 to a political…

The story in the Strait of Hormuz has been that Middle Eastern crude exports have recovered to about 80% to 85% of pre-war levels, including pipeline shipments, while refined-product exports remain muted. The uneven recovery shows how Gulf producers prioritize crude oil shipments over refined products as the Hormuz chokepoint remains vulnerable despite encouraging diplomatic signals.  Fereidun Fesharaki, chairman emeritus of industry consultant FGE NexantECA, said last week that while Middle Eastern crude exports, including pipeline shipments,…

European benchmark natural gas prices rebounded on Wednesday from the one-month low hit on Tuesday, as uncertainty about the Iran war returned to the energy markets following steep selloffs in recent days.  The front-month price at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), the benchmark for Europe’s gas trading, rose by 2.7% as of 9:30 a.m. in Amsterdam on Wednesday, topping $96.85 (87 euros) per megawatt-hour (MWh).   Prices rebounded from the one-month low of $91.30 (82 euros) per MWh from earlier this week, when the oil and…

Gas-fired projects secured all 5.16 gigawatts (GW) of derated capacity in Germany's first capacity auction, with more than half going to developments at existing coal sites. The results show how the search for dependable backup power is giving established generators an advantage, while batteries missed out entirely. Derated capacity is adjusted to reflect each project's expected contribution to security of supply. As coal generation is being phased out and renewable capacity expands, Germany needs reliable backup power during prolonged periods…

Brent crude rose nearly 3% on Wednesday to $93.90per barrel at 11:18 a.m. ET, more than doubling its 1.4% gain at 9:27 a.m., as Iran denied it is negotiating with Washington and analysts saw no near-term end to the war. WTI rose nearly 2% to $87.98, and heating oil, the U.S. diesel benchmark, jumped 4.1%. The gains came as Saudi Arabia reported October output near pre-war levels. Since the start of November, Brent had lost about 21% and WTI about 17% on bets that the war was winding down. Iran’s top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, denied…

Brent crude rose nearly 3% on Wednesday to $93.90per barrel at 11:18 a.m. ET, more than doubling its 1.4% gain at 9:27 a.m., as Iran denied it is negotiating with Washington and analysts saw no near-term end to the war. WTI rose nearly 2% to $87.98, and heating oil, the U.S. diesel benchmark, jumped 4.1%. The gains came as Saudi Arabia reported October output near pre-war levels. Since the start of November, Brent had lost about 21% and WTI about 17% on bets that the war was winding down. Iran’s top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, denied…

Brent crude rose nearly 3% on Wednesday to $93.90per barrel at 11:18 a.m. ET, more than doubling its 1.4% gain at 9:27 a.m., as Iran denied it is negotiating with Washington and analysts saw no near-term end to the war. WTI rose nearly 2% to $87.98, and heating oil, the U.S. diesel benchmark, jumped 4.1%. The gains came as Saudi Arabia reported October output near pre-war levels. Since the start of November, Brent had lost about 21% and WTI about 17% on bets that the war was winding down. Iran’s top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, denied…

Brent crude rose nearly 3% on Wednesday to $93.90per barrel at 11:18 a.m. ET, more than doubling its 1.4% gain at 9:27 a.m., as Iran denied it is negotiating with Washington and analysts saw no near-term end to the war. WTI rose nearly 2% to $87.98, and heating oil, the U.S. diesel benchmark, jumped 4.1%. The gains came as Saudi Arabia reported October output near pre-war levels. Since the start of November, Brent had lost about 21% and WTI about 17% on bets that the war was winding down. Iran’s top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, denied…

Most countries are finding ways to reduce their use of coal and coal-burning power plants as they strive to meet climate commitments.  The pariah fossil fuel has wide-ranging impacts on human health and the environment, from extraction through combustion and waste disposal. Burning coal releases fine particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and heavy metals. Inhaling these fine particles causes or worsens asthma, chronic bronchitis, heart disease, strokes, and may even lead to premature death. Coal combustion is a leading driver…

Saudi Arabia told OPEC it raised crude production in October to 10.563 million barrels per day, back near pre-war levels and slightly above its OPEC quota of about 10.5 million bpd, Bloomberg columnist Javier Blas reported on Wednesday. Output rose 26% from 8.372 million bpd in September to the highest level since February, when the kingdom reported 10.882 million bpd in the last month before the Iran war disrupted Middle East supply, according to Reuters. Riyadh’s official data put supply to the market, net of storage, at 9.203 million bpd,…

At an energy forum in Ashgabat in late October, Turkmenistan made an unexpected announcement. After years of delays and speculation that the project would be canceled, the forum audience was told the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline had just reached "the outskirts of Herat" and would be "commissioned by the end of 2026." Depending on one's definition of "outskirts" for the northwestern Afghan city, that first claim appears to be true. Satellite images made on November 7 show the natural gas pipeline extending from Turkmenistan's…

India has just approved plans for a high-capacity power transmission corridor to help bring electricity from generation to demand centers.  The 1,150-kilovolt (kV) system, which will be India’s highest-voltage power corridor, is expected to cost about $7.34 billion (688 billion Indian rupees). At present, most of India’s transmission network consists of 765-kV lines. The plan, approved by the national transmission panel this week, is estimated to take about six years to build. The first phase of the power corridor project includes…

Crude oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz and the whole Middle Eastern region have recovered to close to pre-war levels, vessel-tracking services have been signaling for over a month now. Middle Eastern benchmarks have been weakening for weeks, suggesting an oil glut may be building amid rebounding Persian Gulf exports and global demand destruction amid high prices. On the face of it, an oversupply of crude oil could be forming. But the costs to refiners and consumers are not falling. War, insurance premiums, and record tanker rates have raised…

South Sudan is courting fresh capital for 14 exploration blocks and a production increase from roughly 170,000 barrels per day to 230,000, which investors would find impossible to control once those barrels left the country. Captive to neighboring Sudan’s civil war, South Sudan is essentially divvying up its oil, under duress, between the Sudanese Army and the rival paramilitary RSF, which extract payment before the oil can reach the Red Sea. The government-backed South Sudan Oil & Power conference will put that proposition before investors…

The Democratic Party’s decisive victory in the U.S. midterm elections has been widely called bad news for Trump policies, but now, it could interfere with legislation that previously drew support from both parties in Congress—and the GOP’s ambitions for energy independence and dominance. The bill in question, the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, got broad support from the previous Senate in early October, but voting on it was scheduled for after the midterm elections. It was meant to speed up permitting for new…

The world is electrifying at an unprecedented pace, and it’s only going to keep speeding up. COP 31, the latest iteration of the United Nations’ annual climate conference, kicked off today in Antalya, Türkiye, and achieving 35 percent global electrification by 2035 is going to be one of the event’s most central agenda items. Until extremely recently, this target likely would have seemed overly ambitious, but experts say that a number of factors, including volatile oil and gas markets stemming from the war in Iran, paired…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States rose by 9.0 million barrels in the week ending November 6. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by 5.267 million barrels. Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost more than 54 million barrels over the last 30 weeks, and 3 million over this year, according to API data, which has been kept in check in part thanks to draws from the SPR. For the week ending November 6, 2.7 million barrels of crude oil left the SPR to aid…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States rose by 9.0 million barrels in the week ending November 6. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by 5.267 million barrels. Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost more than 54 million barrels over the last 30 weeks, and 3 million over this year, according to API data, which has been kept in check in part thanks to draws from the SPR. For the week ending November 6, 2.7 million barrels of crude oil left the SPR to aid…

On Tuesday the Houthis launched another major missile salvo deep inside Saudi Arabia, however Saudi authorities have yet to acknowledge the fresh attack, or to publicly assess possible damage - though there are reports of missile alerts in the kingdom. The Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, announced the group once again targeted King Khalid International Airport, as well as multiple pumping stations along the kingdom's East-West pipeline. via Associated Press Saree further claimed fresh attacks on an Aramco facility in Abqaiq and the Riyadh's…

The chief executive of British Airways’ parent company has said planned environmental charges on airlines would “kill” the European aviation industry and push up fares. Luis Gallego, the chief executive of International Airlines Group (IAG), has warned the proposed green charges – which are more burdensome for UK carriers – would hike prices for passengers and cause damage to the aviation industry. The amount of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) an airline is required to use is due to rise next year, under the proposed…