Via Metal MinerArcelorMittal plans to idle blast furnace No. 3 at its D?browa Górnicza plant in Poland’s Silesian Voivodeship. The steel industry giant made the initial announcement back in September, citing current and future market factors. “The reason for this decision stems from the extremely difficult and constantly deteriorating market conditions,” ArcelorMittal Poland said on July 24. A Big Change for Poland’s Steel Industry ArcelorMittal Poland stated that work to idle the furnace is now underway. The…

U.S. electric utility giant Duke Energy has agreed to sell an indirect 19.7% stake in its Florida business to infrastructure investor Brookfield for $6 billion in cash, part of which will fund Duke’s increased capital spending plan for the next five years. Under the terms of the definitive agreement, Brookfield will invest in Florida Progress, which owns all of Duke Energy Florida. Brookfield will acquire its indirect equity interest in Duke Energy Florida in phases, with Florida Progress receiving $2.8 billion at the first closing expected…

The U.S.’s short-term objective on Iran is for it to have zero enriched material that could be used to make a nuclear weapon. Its long-term objective is to remove from power the key element behind the drive for such armaments – the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Its principal mechanism to achieve these aims is to deny Iran funding, and as the core of its financing comes from oil exports, the U.S. wants to cut these to as near to zero as possible. Cue China – the biggest importer of Iranian oil and therefore, in effect,…

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE: MPC), the biggest U.S. refiner by volumes, topped the average analyst estimates for second-quarter earnings, on the back of increased refining margins which helped it reverse a first-quarter loss.   Marathon Petroleum on Tuesday reported second-quarter net income of $1.2 billion, or $3.96 per diluted share. That’s lower than the $1.5 billion net income, or $4.33 per share, for the second quarter of 2024, but higher than the analyst consensus of $3.22 EPS compiled by the Wall Street Journal.  The second-quarter…

Marathon Petroleum (NYSE: MPC), the biggest U.S. refiner by volumes, topped the average analyst estimates for second-quarter earnings, on the back of increased refining margins which helped it reverse a first-quarter loss.   Marathon Petroleum on Tuesday reported second-quarter net income of $1.2 billion, or $3.96 per diluted share. That’s lower than the $1.5 billion net income, or $4.33 per share, for the second quarter of 2024, but higher than the analyst consensus of $3.22 EPS compiled by the Wall Street Journal.  The second-quarter…

Oil prices dropped to their lowest in a week on Monday as markets digested OPEC+'s decision to implement another significant output increase in September. US Oil Majors Reign Supreme as Competitors All Lose Market Edge - US oil majors ExxonMobil and Chevron are increasingly pulling ahead of their European peers, with both companies reporting their highest ever production in Q2 2025, at 4.63 million boe/d and 3.4 million boe/d, respectively.  - In stark contrast to US peers, Shell’s production saw an annual decline of 4.2% to 2.65 million…

ExxonMobil and the government of Trinidad and Tobago have agreed terms under which the Caribbean nation will award seven ultra-deep exploration blocks to the U.S. supermajor, senior government officials familiar with the talks told Reuters on Tuesday.  The blocks are located east off Trinidad and Tobago and northwest of Guyana’s Stabroek offshore block, where Exxon is leading a consortium that has already found 11 billion barrels of oil equivalents, produces more than 660,000 barrels per day (bpd), and is exploring for more resources. …

ExxonMobil and the government of Trinidad and Tobago have agreed terms under which the Caribbean nation will award seven ultra-deep exploration blocks to the U.S. supermajor, senior government officials familiar with the talks told Reuters on Tuesday.  The blocks are located east off Trinidad and Tobago and northwest of Guyana’s Stabroek offshore block, where Exxon is leading a consortium that has already found 11 billion barrels of oil equivalents, produces more than 660,000 barrels per day (bpd), and is exploring for more resources. …

ExxonMobil and the government of Trinidad and Tobago have agreed terms under which the Caribbean nation will award seven ultra-deep exploration blocks to the U.S. supermajor, senior government officials familiar with the talks told Reuters on Tuesday.  The blocks are located east off Trinidad and Tobago and northwest of Guyana’s Stabroek offshore block, where Exxon is leading a consortium that has already found 11 billion barrels of oil equivalents, produces more than 660,000 barrels per day (bpd), and is exploring for more resources. …

ExxonMobil and the government of Trinidad and Tobago have agreed terms under which the Caribbean nation will award seven ultra-deep exploration blocks to the U.S. supermajor, senior government officials familiar with the talks told Reuters on Tuesday.  The blocks are located east off Trinidad and Tobago and northwest of Guyana’s Stabroek offshore block, where Exxon is leading a consortium that has already found 11 billion barrels of oil equivalents, produces more than 660,000 barrels per day (bpd), and is exploring for more resources. …

Earlier in July, an agreement was reached for European NATO allies to purchase American weapons, including Patriot missiles, for Ukraine. While Germany recently announced that two Patriots would head to Kyiv shortly, questions remain if this deal really will give Ukraine what it needs in the months ahead. The deal, announced by US President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Washington, D.C., on July 14, is essentially a continuation of what has been the modus operandi for Western allies since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine…

Russia’s domestic gasoline market is under mounting pressure, with prices hitting a new record high despite an emergency export ban aimed at stabilizing supply. The price of Ai-95 gasoline surged past 77,000 rubles ($946.6) per ton on the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX) on August 4. The latest spike follows Ukrainian drone strikes on August 2 that damaged multiple oil refineries across Russia, cutting processing capacity by around 40,000 tons of crude per day. Facilities in Ryazan, Penza, Samara, and Voronezh Oblasts…

The race has been on to secure new liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for Europe since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022. LNG at that point became the key global emergency energy source as it is quick to secure and to move, unlike pipelined energy that requires time-consuming infrastructure build-out and contract negotiations before it can be moved anywhere. Europe was especially in need of such supplies to compensate for the energy it has bought for decades from Russia without questioning Moscow’s long-term strategic motivation…

The green hydrogen drive is losing momentum as start-ups face rising costs and uncertain demand while energy majors back out of multi-billion-dollar projects as they return to their core oil and gas business.   Low-emissions hydrogen, including the “green” variety produced with electrolysis using renewable energy, remains a small portion of global hydrogen use, which currently is mostly of the type using fossil fuels to make.  Despite the promises of zero emissions in green hydrogen use and the environmentally-friendly…

Over the past decade, scores of Big Oil companies have set up separate trading divisions that frequently rake in billions in profits that help pad their bottom lines whenever oil and gas prices fall. In fact, the oil majors typically handle more barrels than leading commodity traders such as Vitol, Trafigura, Glencore and Mercuria, according to Bloomberg. These companies usually view high volatility in the markets as a blessing, allowing them to make big bets and generate outsized profits.  To wit, giant commodity traders generated record…

The American and Israeli attacks on Iran to “obliterate” its nuclear program have hit another target: Central Asia’s opportunity to use Iran’s transport links to trade with the wider world. The American and Israeli attacks made an impression in Central Asia as immediately afterwards Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev “ordered a review of foreign trade and transport routes, emphasizing the need to redirect cargo flows to safer ports amid instability in the Middle East,” changes that could raise logistics…

China’s oil demand declined year-on-year in the second quarter of 2025, but strong naphtha consumption helped limit the drop, according to a new report by Energy Intelligence, which estimates that apparent oil demand fell by 450,000 barrels per day from Q2 2024, primarily due to weak diesel and gasoline margins. In contrast, naphtha demand remained steady as petrochemical producers maintained feedstock purchases amid steady cracker utilization rates. The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that China’s naphtha demand will grow…

China’s oil demand declined year-on-year in the second quarter of 2025, but strong naphtha consumption helped limit the drop, according to a new report by Energy Intelligence, which estimates that apparent oil demand fell by 450,000 barrels per day from Q2 2024, primarily due to weak diesel and gasoline margins. In contrast, naphtha demand remained steady as petrochemical producers maintained feedstock purchases amid steady cracker utilization rates. The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that China’s naphtha demand will grow…

Since the start of 2025, US copper prices have surged to unprecedented highs, fueled by the market anticipation of the 50% tariff on imported copper goods under President Trump’s administration trade agenda. The market rally was largely triggered by the fears of possible supply disruptions and increased costs of copper raw materials for the US manufacturers after the tariffs would come into force starting August 1. However, the current US administration's erratic trade policy has once again put the markets into a state of bewilderment: the…

A group of U.S. investors is in talks with the Bulgarian government to acquire a minority stake in the Chiren underground gas storage facility, the country’s only such site and a key regional hub for balancing and reverse flows across southeastern Europe, Reuters reported exclusively on Monday. The group reportedly includes financier Stephen P. Lynch, infrastructure specialist Fei Wang, and former Trump campaign official Brad Parscale. Bulgarian state energy officials confirmed the exploratory discussions, though no transaction terms have…