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Global economies are increasingly splitting into two opposing camps when it comes to energy policy. While many nations are moving toward electrification and installing record-breaking amounts of clean energy capacity, other nations – most notably the United States, the world’s biggest economy – are installing more fossil fuels than ever before. Put simply, the future of the global energy balance now depends on the results of a high-stakes battle between petro-states and electro-states. The emergence of artificial intelligence…
Even as geopolitical developments, such as Venezuela and Iran, are making headlines, another major energy-related issue is currently being unwound. At present, the fire sale of Russian oil and gas giant Lukoil’s empire is ongoing, in the only way this can be done for a sanctioned Russian major. The whole deal or process is clearly under a clock set by Washington, based, and inside a legal maze designed by OFAC. The most critical part of it all is that potential buyers are forced to demonstrate that they are not merely acquiring assets but…
In 2025, the Middle East solidified its role as the primary stabilizing force in a fragmented global energy system. While international markets faced geopolitical dislocation and divergent transition pathways, the leading Middle Eastern national oil companies (NOCs) adopted a consistent strategy of sustaining hydrocarbon primacy while systematically reducing costs and carbon intensity. More than $100 billion in upstream capital deployment enabled the NOCs to expand crude spare capacity and accelerate gas development, while selective international…
The dramatic events over the weekend in Venezuela have renewed global attention on a country that, on paper, should be one of the world’s great energy powers. Venezuela holds the largest proven oil reserves on Earth, yet its oil industry has been in long-term decline for two decades. Understanding why requires looking past the headlines and into the technical, legal, and political decisions that steadily dismantled what was once a cornerstone of the global petroleum system. The United States confirmed that Venezuelan President Nicolás…
China has been investing billions in nuclear fusion research. A potential game-changer for global energy, fusion has been slow to live up to promises, but now, Chinese scientists have reported yet another breakthrough in the process: a state of matter that was previously only theorized. Reported in Science Advances, the breakthrough consisted in overcoming a limit in electron density that, if breached, disrupts the operation of the tokamak—the installation where fusion occurs. In a sense, the achievement appears to be one more obstacle cleared…
