Global oil demand could decrease for the first time since 2020, following months of oil trade restrictions in the Middle East and ongoing geopolitical turmoil, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on 10th July. This expectation is echoed in OPEC's most recent 2026 global oil demand growth forecast. The global demand for oil is expected to fall by around 1 million bpd year-on-year in 2026, which would be the first annual decline since that which was experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, according to a recent IEA report. The IEA…

Chevron is taking another step toward expanding its footprint in Iraq, and is set to sign two memoranda of understanding on Friday that will move the U.S. supermajor closer to developing the giant West Qurna 2 oilfield and the Nassiriya project. The agreements aren't binding, but they push negotiations forward on what could become one of Chevron's biggest upstream investments in years. West Qurna 2 is no small prize. The southern Iraqi field currently produces about 460,000 barrels per day after Iraq nationalized the asset earlier this year following…

Yemen's Houthi Rebels are threatening to make the global energy crisis worse at the same time that the nation's own energy security is in dire straits. After four years of an unofficial truce and precarious peacetime, Yemen has once again erupted into conflict this week. And this escalating tension comes on the heels of months of threats on the part of the Houthi rebels to fight alongside Iran, potentially making the region's waterways ever more impassable for the global oil trade. Less than half of Yemen's population has access to electricity,…

The oil and gas industry is shifting its capital investments toward Southeast Asia and Latin America due to prolonged shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, Eni S.p.A (NYSE:E) CEO Claudio Descalzi has revealed. Speaking to a parliamentary committee on Thursday, the leader of Italy’s Oil & Gas major says that geopolitics in the Middle East will remain a permanent risk even after peace is established, emphasizing that major producers like Russia and the Gulf nations are likely to face long-term supply constraints, fundamentally reshaping…

The government has brought British Steel under state ownership after the steelmaker’s nationalisation passed a public interest test. The Prime Minister said the move “secured the future of British steelmaking”, and follows the introduction of fresh legislation that made it easier for ministers to forcefully nationalise steel companies. Scunthorpe-based British Steel has appointed a revamped leadership team that will focus on “stabilising the business and developing a commercially sustainable” future, the business department…

The European Union has unveiled the Electrification Action Plan, aiming for electricity to account for 46% of total energy consumption within the bloc by 2040, effectively doubling the current rate. Spearheaded by the European Commission, the aggressive policy shift is a direct economic and security response to the energy fallout amid the Middle East conflict. Currently, ~23% of the EU's final energy consumption is powered by electricity, a level that has plateaued for a decade. In effect, Europe now considers electrification no longer purely a…

The European Union has unveiled the Electrification Action Plan, aiming for electricity to account for 46% of total energy consumption within the bloc by 2040, effectively doubling the current rate. Spearheaded by the European Commission, the aggressive policy shift is a direct economic and security response to the energy fallout amid the Middle East conflict. Currently, ~23% of the EU's final energy consumption is powered by electricity, a level that has plateaued for a decade. In effect, Europe now considers electrification no longer purely a…

For years, the world's swing oil producer has been Saudi Arabia. Need more crude? Riyadh opens the taps. Too much oil? Riyadh closes them. But while everyone has been watching who controls crude production, another swing producer has quietly been taking shape—one that deals in diesel, jet fuel, and gasoline instead of crude oil. It's India, and they’re taking charge. When Middle Eastern refineries were damaged during the Iran/US war, when Russian diesel exports collapsed under the weight of Ukrainian drone strikes, and when Europe found…

United Arab Emirates’ Dana Gas has suspended operations at all main production facilities in the Khor Mor gas field due to credible security threats amid an increasingly volatile regional situation. The decision to close the facility was made in coordination with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Sulaymaniyah authorities, and the Iraqi federal government in a bid to safeguard personnel and infrastructure. The Khor Mor facility has previously faced repeated security challenges, including rocket and drone strikes from armed groups, resulting…

The results of Armenia’s parliamentary election in June dealt Russia’s bid to reassert its grip on the South Caucasus a serious blow, and the reverberations are not confined to Moscow, Washington and Brussels.  For Beijing and Tokyo, both of which have quietly built stakes in the region as an overland bridge between Asia and Europe, the election’s outcome, which reaffirmed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s authority, carries real geoeconomic weight. Pashinyan’s decisive victory represents a clear popular rejection…

Iran has instructed Yemen's Houthi movement to stand ready to close the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the vital gateway to the Red Sea, if the United States follows through on threats to strike Iranian power infrastructure. According to senior Iranian ‌sources, the Islamic Republic's leadership has discussed the idea with Iran's Houthi allies, with the rebel forces now awaiting definitive orders to begin targeting maritime traffic.  A source close to the Houthis has confirmed that the group has positioned stockpiles of drones and advanced missiles…

Iran has instructed Yemen's Houthi movement to stand ready to close the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the vital gateway to the Red Sea, if the United States follows through on threats to strike Iranian power infrastructure. According to senior Iranian ‌sources, the Islamic Republic's leadership has discussed the idea with Iran's Houthi allies, with the rebel forces now awaiting definitive orders to begin targeting maritime traffic.  A source close to the Houthis has confirmed that the group has positioned stockpiles of drones and advanced missiles…

As the Gulf (the world’s traditional energy centre) becomes riskier, the oil industry is searching for new hydrocarbon provinces. Much high-impact exploration is concentrated in Latin America and West Africa, far from Asia-Pacific, the main oil-demand growth centre. Somalia offers a different proposition: one of the industry’s hottest frontier wells is being drilled across the Arabian Sea and, if successful, could produce barrels that needn’t pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The Curad-1 exploration well was appraised after TPAO’s…

The newly released 2026 Statistical Review of World Energy reinforces a point that sometimes gets lost in political discussions about energy: the United States remains the world’s largest oil producer. But the size of the U.S. lead depends on what is being counted. When most people talk about “oil production,” they generally mean crude oil and condensate. That is the narrow measure most closely aligned with what the public thinks of as oil. But another important measure is total liquids, which includes natural gas liquids, or…

The global critical minerals market remains highly concentrated, and new threats to supply security have emerged in recent months as China has curbed exports of some rare earth elements, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday. The Chinese government introduced major export controls on heavy rare earth elements last year.   Although further expanded controls have been suspended until November 2026, their full implementation – if China decides to go through with it –could put an estimated $6.5 trillion per year of downstream…

The global critical minerals market remains highly concentrated, and new threats to supply security have emerged in recent months as China has curbed exports of some rare earth elements, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday. The Chinese government introduced major export controls on heavy rare earth elements last year.   Although further expanded controls have been suspended until November 2026, their full implementation – if China decides to go through with it –could put an estimated $6.5 trillion per year of downstream…

State-controlled Pakistan LNG Ltd has bought the most expensive cargo of liquefied natural gas on the spot market in four years as the recent re-escalation of the Hormuz crisis cut off cargoes from its term supplier, Qatar. The state-owned Pakistani LNG importer has bought a cargo for delivery early next week via a tender that closed on Wednesday. The cargo was bought at a price of about $20.70 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), traders familiar with the deal told Bloomberg on Thursday.  The purchase price was the highest Pakistan…

TotalEnergies expects higher cash flows from its oil production and strong refining margins and oil trading results to boost second-quarter profits compared to the prior quarter, as oil prices rose and fuel markets tightened in the wake of the Iran war. “Downstream results and cash flow are expected to increase sharply compared to the first quarter of 2026, supported by higher refining and petrochemical margins, as well as oil trading results, which are expected to remain at the same strong level as in the first quarter,” the French…

Global private investments in nuclear fusion hit a record $4.48 billion in 2025, in large part driven by the booming energy demands of AI data centers and rising global energy security concerns. According to the Fusion Industry Association (FIA), confidence in the viability of nuclear fusion technology is growing, with ~71% of fusion companies now expected to deliver commercial power to the grid by the 2030s. And that confidence is now translating into tangible dollars and infrastructure with fusion companies now inking site selection and Power…

Since March, Ukraine has systematically dismantled Russia’s refining system, driving crude processing to its lowest level in 21 years and forcing Moscow to ban exports of gasoline, jet fuel and diesel. Russian refineries processed an average of 3.91 million barrels of crude per day in early July, according to Energy Aspects data cited by Bloomberg. That was more than 1.4 million barrels per day below the previous year’s average and the lowest national processing rate since March 2005. Ukraine has hit at least 24 of Russia’s 34…