TotalEnergies plans to spend about 30% of its capital expenditure (capex) on boosting its integrated power business, Patrick Pouyanne, the chief executive of the French supermajor, said at an energy conference on Monday.  The company looks to increase the share of the power business in its portfolio to 20% by the end of the decade, the executive said at the ongoing Energy Asia conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. When Shell, BP, and Equinor backtracked on their pivot to renewables and reduced investments in low-carbon energy solutions, TotalEnergies…

All of Baker Hughes Middle Eastern projects are operating as normal, the oilfield services giant’s chief executive Lorenzo Simonelli has told Reuters. “Currently, all of our employees are safe, and the facilities continue to run and operate,” Simonelli said. “Hopefully there's a de-escalation of tensions.” Israel and Iran continued firing missiles at each other over the weekend and today, suggesting such hopes may be premature at this point. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards corps said after the latest barrage that…

Oil started the week with a gain, after an Iranian missile attack caused damage to the Haifa refinery in Israel over the weekend, prompting a partial shutdown, Israeli media reported, saying the facility remained operational. At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $74.83 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $73.77 per barrel. The damage, according to the Haifa refinery’s operator, Bazan, was localized at pipelines and transmission lines, the Times of Israel reported. The publication added that Iran launched some 40 missiles…

For decades, the United States has been the world’s biggest producer of nuclear energy, accounting for 30% of global production. The country, however, currently imports 98% of the uranium feedstock it needs to power its 94 nuclear reactors. Indeed, the U.S. accounts for less than 1% of the world’s uranium output, with Kazakhstan, Canada, and Namibia accounting for nearly two-thirds of global production.  But things have not always been this way. The country’s nuclear age peaked in the 1960s to the mid-1980s when it was the…

Brent crude futures opened more than 4% higher on Sunday evening, trading above $77 per barrel, as tensions between Iran and Israel erupted into open military conflict targeting critical energy infrastructure. The spike follows an 8% jump on Friday, marking one of the sharpest two-day increases in oil prices in recent years. Over the weekend, Israel launched a wave of coordinated airstrikes on Iran, hitting key energy facilities in and around Tehran. The Shahran fuel depot in northern Tehran, a vital distribution point supplying around 8 million…

In the past, oil price wars were short, sharp and, to those who profited from them, sweet. Now, an oil price war is a more cautious affair—assuming what OPEC is doing with its supply return is a price war, of course. And because most assume just that, all eyes are on the group’s chances of success. These are uncertain, to say the least, with most demand forecasts predicting a disaster for prices. OPEC and its friends from OPEC+ decided to start returning 411,000 barrels daily to the global oil market in May. Since then, they have agreed…

The clean energy revolution will depend on a steady supply of critical minerals to support the manufacturing of a wide range of technologies, from wind turbines to electric vehicle batteries. While not all of these ‘critical’ materials are rare, they are not naturally available everywhere in the world, leading to potential geopolitical minefields as competition over these supply chains heats up.  The United States Energy Act of 2020 provided an operational definition of ‘critical minerals’ as those that are: essential…

A total of 93 oil and gas firms made it in the latest edition of the Forbes Global 2000 rankings of the world’s largest public companies. Forbes’ Global 2000 ranks the largest public companies in the world using four metrics—sales, profits, assets, and market value, and all these have reached record highs this year. All 2,000 companies on the 2025 Forbes Global 2000 list have a combined $52.9 trillion in annual revenue, $4.9 trillion in profit, $242.2 trillion in assets, and $91.3 trillion in market capitalization. Forbes Global…

As several countries expand their green hydrogen production capacities, regions will have to develop new pipelines and energy transportation corridors to support a green transition across borders. Some countries are more well-suited to producing green hydrogen than others, meaning that energy sharing could help non-production countries gain access to clean fuel to help decarbonise. Advancements have been made in connecting North Africa with Europe in recent years and green hydrogen is likely to start flowing through pipelines by as early as 2030.…

Israel launched a series of airstrikes on Tehran’s critical energy infrastructure early Sunday, setting ablaze the city’s main gas depot and a major oil refinery, as the conflict with Iran intensified into its most destructive phase yet. The attacks, part of a broader Israeli offensive targeting Iran’s energy sector, have heightened fears of a wider regional war and sent ripples through global oil markets. Iran’s oil ministry confirmed that the Shahran fuel depot, located in an affluent neighborhood of northern Tehran, was…

After coming into office, the administration of President Donald Trump has eliminated licenses for oil companies to operate in Venezuela, despite initial hints that it would continue them, with presidential envoy Richard Grenell’s visits to Caracas. This means that sanctions on state-owned PDVSA are fully back on. Chevron, the main U.S. corporation on the ground, is back to having only a secret license for minimum maintenance and security, as it still a shareholder in four joint ventures. In the last few months, this has sparked a question.…

Israel's strikes against Iran's nuclear complex and military leadership have sent shock waves around the globe, raising fears of escalation and a wider war in the region. But the shock-and-awe campaign also reverberated in Moscow, where Russian President Vladimir Putin has positioned himself as a powerful interlocutor with Tehran. Russia's response to the strikes was swift and unequivocal. In a lengthy statement, the Foreign Ministry expressed its "utmost concern about the dangerous escalation of tensions in the Middle East" and accused Israel…

One non-fossil fuel energy source that Trump is backing is nuclear power. The U.S. President recently announced plans to quadruple the U.S. nuclear capacity by 2050. However, several challenges must be overcome to meet this target. Firstly, building a new nuclear plant can take a decade or more, meaning that operators would have to apply for permits for new projects now to get them up and running in the coming decades. In addition, the U.S. continues to rely heavily on Russia for its Uranium, despite having introduced heavy sanctions on the country’s…

Yesterday, in "What's Behind The Recent Surge In Platinum, And Will It Continue", we not only explained in detail what is going on both at the technical and fundamental level, but also answered in the affirmative and why - yes, it the surge will continue. One day later, the surge has indeed continued, and having decisively broken $1200 earlier this week, platinum spiked another $100, touching a session high of $1285, and is now just dollars away from the post-covid high above $1300.  For some perspective on what comes next, we go to Goldman…

For years, automakers have been betting big on electric vehicles (EVs), as several governments attempt to phase out the sale of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles in favour of cleaner electric alternatives. As governments introduced financial incentives for EV uptake alongside emissions fees and eventual bans on ICE vehicles, automakers expected the sale of EVs to soar. However, due to a range of factors, EV sales are lower than they were expected in many parts of the world, with no sign of increasing significantly any time soon. This has…

As the global clean energy transition continues to accelerate, demand for critical minerals is heating up around the world. While the government tracks 50 of these materials that are essential to economic and national security goals, there is one clear frontrunner in the demand curve arms race: lithium. The “white gold” will see the fastest growth rate of any critical mineral, primarily driven by battery production for electric vehicles and energy storage.  In 2022, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimated that…

Kiggans and a nearly identical group of House Republicans wrote to their House colleagues last month seeking positive changes to the clean energy tax credit phaseout plan that came out of committee work on the reconciliation bill. Instead, the House-passed version of the bill imposes a faster phaseout timeline, including a repeal of tax credits for projects that don’t begin construction within 60 days of the bill’s enactment. The Republican lawmakers in support of IRA’s clean energy credits asked that the Senate alter that provision…

Brent crude surged more than 8% on Friday, peaking at a 13% intraday gain, after Iran launched a wave of missile strikes on Israel in retaliation for the Israeli Air Force’s targeted assault on Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure. The sudden escalation has jolted energy markets already grappling with rising geopolitical risk across the Middle East. The Iranian strike, described by Israeli officials as involving up to 150 ballistic missiles in two waves, targeted multiple sites across Israel according to the Jerusalem Post. While Israeli…

Brent crude surged more than 8% on Friday, peaking at a 13% intraday gain, after Iran launched a wave of missile strikes on Israel in retaliation for the Israeli Air Force’s targeted assault on Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure. The sudden escalation has jolted energy markets already grappling with rising geopolitical risk across the Middle East. The Iranian strike, described by Israeli officials as involving up to 150 ballistic missiles in two waves, targeted multiple sites across Israel according to the Jerusalem Post. While Israeli…

Following the disruption to the global rare earth supply chain after China’s export curbs, India is now looking at ways to keep its own rare earths at home. The government has asked state-owned minerals and metals mining enterprise IREL (India) Limited to halt a more than a decade-old supply agreement to export rare earth elements to Japan, Reuters reported on Friday, citing sources with knowledge of the development. But the idea to stop supply to Japan may not be immediately feasible because it is part of a bilateral government deal, one…