President Donald Trump demanded that U.S. oil companies immediately lower gasoline prices on Monday after crude futures plunged following his decision to suspend another planned military strike on Iran. In a Truth Social post, Trump instructed producers to “get your consumer (retail!) Oil Prices DOWN, NOW!” Trump singled out Chevron CEO Mike Wirth after the executive appeared on television discussing the company’s business. Trump said Wirth failed to acknowledge the administration’s role in restoring Chevron’s position…

President Donald Trump demanded that U.S. oil companies immediately lower gasoline prices on Monday after crude futures plunged following his decision to suspend another planned military strike on Iran. In a Truth Social post, Trump instructed producers to “get your consumer (retail!) Oil Prices DOWN, NOW!” Trump singled out Chevron CEO Mike Wirth after the executive appeared on television discussing the company’s business. Trump said Wirth failed to acknowledge the administration’s role in restoring Chevron’s position…

As with all wars, particularly in the world’s main oil and gas repository of the Middle East, the U.S./Israel-Iran conflict has long threatened to widen out to include other interested parties aside from the main protagonists. The involvement of Washington’s and Tel Aviv’s allies so far has been limited to intelligence sharing and strictly defensive air support, rather than participating in offensive bombardments. For Tehran and its proxies, support from its key longtime sponsors China and Russia has been largely focused on diplomatic…

Georgia’s only oil refinery has begun replacing Russian crude with supplies from Kazakhstan and Libya as owner Black Sea Petroleum races to avoid European Union sanctions that will go into effect in January. The Kulevi refinery received and processed Kazakh crude in July and will continue taking Kazakh barrels during August, Black Sea Petroleum said Monday, as reported by Interfax news agency. A Libyan cargo is due to arrive between August 20 and August 30 under a supply agreement signed with an unnamed international company on July 3. The…

A monkey trap offers a reward such as food that, when grasped, makes the hand too large to withdraw from the hole in the trap giving access to that food. Unless the monkey lets go, the animal is stuck. Now, the obvious choice when danger arrives is to simply let go and run. But, supposedly, monkeys won't let go even as human hunters approach and then club them to death. The war with Iran has become the Trump administration's monkey trap; potential victory over Iran is the prize in the trap. Strangely, the only prize now available is something that…

European natural gas prices plunged at opening on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had called off a planned attack on Iranian energy sites and talks on a deal would begin this week. Europe’s benchmark natural gas prices, the Dutch TTF Natural Gas Futures, sank by 4% at the start of trade on Monday, following the 5% slump in oil prices amid renewed hopes that the U.S. and Iran are looking for a return to diplomacy. However, natural gas prices eased their losses mid-day as Europe faces another heatwave that boosts electricity…

European natural gas prices plunged at opening on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had called off a planned attack on Iranian energy sites and talks on a deal would begin this week. Europe’s benchmark natural gas prices, the Dutch TTF Natural Gas Futures, sank by 4% at the start of trade on Monday, following the 5% slump in oil prices amid renewed hopes that the U.S. and Iran are looking for a return to diplomacy. However, natural gas prices eased their losses mid-day as Europe faces another heatwave that boosts electricity…

European natural gas prices plunged at opening on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had called off a planned attack on Iranian energy sites and talks on a deal would begin this week. Europe’s benchmark natural gas prices, the Dutch TTF Natural Gas Futures, sank by 4% at the start of trade on Monday, following the 5% slump in oil prices amid renewed hopes that the U.S. and Iran are looking for a return to diplomacy. However, natural gas prices eased their losses mid-day as Europe faces another heatwave that boosts electricity…

Venezuela's long-awaited oil revival has been slower than many in Washington anticipated, according to the Wall Street Journal. Seven months after Nicolás Maduro's removal, negotiations between the interim government and major U.S. energy companies remain bogged down, with no landmark investment deals despite the country's vast crude reserves. Rather than rushing back into the country, firms such as ExxonMobil and Chevron are taking a cautious approach. Executives remain wary of Venezuela's history of nationalizing foreign assets, unresolved…

The Houthi threat to shipments of Saudi crude oil from the Red Sea hasn’t abated and more tankers laden with Saudi oil appeared to have made the transit through the Bab el-Mandeb chokepoint in dark mode. Two tankers that had loaded Saudi crude at the Red Sea port of Yanbu have likely exited the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in southern direction with their transponders off, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing vessel-tracking data it is monitoring. The Greece-owned Lesvos tanker of the Suezmax size and the supertanker Desh Vaibhav, flying the Indian…

The Houthi threat to shipments of Saudi crude oil from the Red Sea hasn’t abated and more tankers laden with Saudi oil appeared to have made the transit through the Bab el-Mandeb chokepoint in dark mode. Two tankers that had loaded Saudi crude at the Red Sea port of Yanbu have likely exited the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in southern direction with their transponders off, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing vessel-tracking data it is monitoring. The Greece-owned Lesvos tanker of the Suezmax size and the supertanker Desh Vaibhav, flying the Indian…

The Iran war could “halt growth” in the UK economy as the success of Andy Burnham and John Healey’s economic management largely hinges on President Trump’s decision-making, a City firm has warned.  Big Four consultancy EY has said that the UK economy could perform better than first expected this year as its growth forecast was revised up to 0.9 per cent.  But economists at the firm said baseline forecasts hinged on the opening up of the Strait of Hormuz, allowing around a fifth of global oil and gas supplies as…

Oil prices fell sharply in early Asian trade on Monday after President Trump called off another round of military strikes on Iran, raising hopes that a diplomatic route to reopening the Strait of Hormuz and averting a broader regional conflict could be found. At the time of writing, West Texas Intermediate futures were trading at $79.77 per barrel, down 5.88%, while Brent futures had fallen to $83.47, down 5.07%. The most recent selloff comes after a very volatile July in which both benchmarks surged more than 20% as renewed hostilities between…

When Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia quickly redirected its oil flows to the Red Sea. Now, that route has become dangerous because of the Houthi blockade, so Saudi is rerouting to Egypt—and two LNG tankers in the Egyptian port of Damietta just got struck by drones. OPEC’s number-one is running out of options to reroute its oil exports. In early March, after Iran effectively paralyzed vessel traffic via the world’s biggest oil chokepoint, every Gulf state that could redirect export flows did so. In the case of…

China’s domestic car sales have fallen significantly this year; however, sales of Chinese cars have risen substantially in some international markets, such as Mexico, demonstrating the growing global demand for Chinese-made vehicles. This demand growth has been driven by the launch of a wide range of affordable and competitive Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) from companies such as Build Your Dreams (BYD). China’s car market could experience its worst year since 2021, based on recent low consumer demand, compared to the record-high sales…

An Alaska-based tidal energy company is testing a new kind of small, modular turbine in the waters off of Massachusetts to try to take advantage of the United States’ vast and untapped tidal power potential. The turbine is being piloted in the strong tidal currents of Cape Cod to test the technology’s performance and durability in real-world conditions in order to explore whether it could be suitable for commercial scaling. Tapping into the country’s tidal energy potential could be a major game changer for decarbonization and…

China has announced plans to double down on its already ambitious renewable energy targets by massively expanding its solar and wind capacity by the end of the decade. China has been rapidly growing its renewable energy portfolio for several decades to become the world leader in green energy. However, despite its ambitious renewable energy plans, it also plans to continue expanding its coal production. China is the largest energy consumer and greenhouse gas emitter in the world; however, it has also grown to become the biggest renewable energy…

Argentina’s Vaca Muerta is booming as the key shale province outside the United States has seen record oil and near-record natural gas production in recent months. Vaca Muerta’s fortunes, however, appear to be confined so far to the area in which the shale patch is located, the province of Neuquén in the western region of Patagonia. The rest of Argentina continues to struggle with sluggish growth, high inflation, weak consumer spending, and business and mortgage defaults, all the while South America’s second-largest economy…

The electricity demand created by artificial intelligence is usually presented as a simple supply problem. AI requires increasingly large data centers, those facilities consume enormous amounts of electricity, and utilities must somehow build enough power plants to serve them. The numbers appear to support the alarm. Data centers consumed around 485 terawatt-hours of electricity globally in 2025. The International Energy Agency expects this to rise to approximately 950 TWh by 2030, while consumption from AI-focused facilities could triple. Some…

Middle East turmoil, centered on the U.S. war with Iran, is playing havoc with world energy markets. An ongoing dispute over access to the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of world oil and natural gas supply is shipped, is causing prices to surge. This is a boon for South America's oil industry, particularly Suriname's emerging petroleum boom, which was delayed by conflicting drilling results and seismic data. The former Dutch colony is on the cusp of becoming South America's next major oil-producing nation. Since 2019, Suriname's government…