Turkey wants Iraq to ensure that the oil pipeline from the semi-autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean is utilized to its capacity as Ankara and Baghdad are discussing terms of extending the pipeline agreement expiring next year.   “This pipeline has a capacity of almost 1.5 million barrels per day. There's no flow at the moment. Even when it did flow, it was never at full capacity,” Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said, as carried by Reuters.  Turkey is proposing…

The world runs on lithium-ion batteries. From the smartphone you may be reading this on, to electric vehicles and utility-scale energy storage, lithium powers an enormous and increasing number of devices in the world around us. In fact, lithium-ion batteries now power a whopping 70 percent of all rechargeable devices. But all that lithium demand has some serious downsides, from environmental degradation and public health hazards to increased geopolitical tensions and supply chain vulnerability. There is therefore a significant opportunity for the…

Oil prices were holding relatively steady early on Tuesday morning following a sharp rally on Monday driven by mounting geopolitical tensions and supportive trade developments. At the time of writing, WTI Crude was trading at $66.60 per barrel, down $0.06 or 0.09%, while Brent Crude hovered at $70.00, slipping just $0.04 or 0.06%. Among the catalysts for Monday’s rally—where Brent futures surged more than 2.3%—was President Trump’s decision to drastically reduce the timeline for Russia to broker peace in Ukraine. Originally…

Oil prices were holding relatively steady early on Tuesday morning following a sharp rally on Monday driven by mounting geopolitical tensions and supportive trade developments. At the time of writing, WTI Crude was trading at $66.60 per barrel, down $0.06 or 0.09%, while Brent Crude hovered at $70.00, slipping just $0.04 or 0.06%. Among the catalysts for Monday’s rally—where Brent futures surged more than 2.3%—was President Trump’s decision to drastically reduce the timeline for Russia to broker peace in Ukraine. Originally…

The European Union this year saw record-breaking LNG imports over the first half of the year. In a couple of years, however, this might change. Because the EU wants both LNG and strict emission reduction commitments from its producers. And they are not happy about it. Qatar is one of the biggest suppliers of liquefied natural gas to the European Union. Last year, the EU adopted something called the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive with the purpose of ensuring that “companies in scope identify and address adverse human rights…

We are still in the early innings of the ongoing earnings season, with only a third of S&P 500 companies having returned their second quarter scorecards. According to FactSet, blended earnings growth rate for the S&P 500 is clocking in at 6.4% Y/Y, the lowest clip in six quarters. The pivotal energy sector is, once again, expected to deliver lackluster earnings, with the sector expected to post the lowest profit growth amongst the United States’ 11 market sectors at -24%. Lower oil prices are mainly to blame for the subpar earnings,…

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has warned that the end of U.S. government support for electric vehicles could lead to “a few rough quarters,” following the automaker’s steepest revenue and delivery decline in more than a decade. Tesla is now relying on a long-promised affordable model and its autonomous ride-hailing roadmap to regain momentum, but immediate growth prospects look dim in the U.S. market. The caution comes as global EV sales continue to rise. According to Rho Motion, 9.1 million EVs were sold worldwide in the first half of…

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday granted multiple licensing and regulatory approvals necessary for the 800-MW Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan to restart operations later this year. Palisades is now authorized to receive new fuel and formally transition licensed reactor operators to on-shift status, Holtec International said in a statement. The company is leading the effort to restart the plant.   “The NRC’s approval to transition Palisades back to an operating license represents an unprecedented…

The United States electric vehicle industry is facing a rough road ahead. The Trump administration has long promised to walk back a number of Biden administration policies aimed at climate change targets, including those designed to boost electric vehicle adoption. In light of the changing policy climate, BloombergNEF has lowered both its near- and long-term outlooks for EV sales in the United States for the first time ever, while the rest of the world’s numbers continue to climb. BloombergNEF cut 14 million battery-powered cars from its…

The Trump administration has formally scrapped a trio of policy documents that imposed new limitations on oil and gas development in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve (NPR-A), the DOI said on Monday, clearing the decks for a new wave of drilling across the 23-million-acre expanse. This marks the latest salvo in Trump’s aggressive energy dominance strategy—and a direct reversal of Biden-era efforts to wall off roughly 10.6 million acres from future leasing. At the heart of the move is a power shift: taking discretion out of the…

The Trump administration has formally scrapped a trio of policy documents that imposed new limitations on oil and gas development in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve (NPR-A), the DOI said on Monday, clearing the decks for a new wave of drilling across the 23-million-acre expanse. This marks the latest salvo in Trump’s aggressive energy dominance strategy—and a direct reversal of Biden-era efforts to wall off roughly 10.6 million acres from future leasing. At the heart of the move is a power shift: taking discretion out of the…

When predicting which country would be the next to join the European Union, the smart money seems to be on Montenegro given that it has been negotiating for years and has advanced the furthest of all candidates. Others point to Albania, which is currently making great strides toward Brussels as the next member. There are also some who think that Moldova -- a reform-oriented and ambitious country in the bloc’s eastern neighborhood -- stands a decent chance of becoming EU member state number 28 in the coming year. But the right answer may actually…

Via Metal Miner   In the end, China exceeded market expectations, posting a 5.2% year-on-year growth on July 14 compared to the market forecast of 5%. According to the economic data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, strong trade and industrial production helped to propel growth, indicating that China has braved the tariff war unleashed by the United States. Meanwhile declining steel prices seem to indicate A Strong Monday Showing for Iron Ore It was this very expectation of a 5% growth in Q2 that iron ore traders were banking…

Venture Global has officially reached a final investment decision and financial close for Phase 1 of its CP2 LNG project and the associated CP Express Pipeline, securing $15.1 billion in debt-only financing, the company said on Monday. The move formally launches the company’s third LNG export project and puts it on track to become the largest U.S. LNG exporter by capacity. CP2’s Phase 1, expected online in 2027, will add up to 28 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of peak output. Long-term contracts are already locked in with buyers across…

U.S. liquefied natural gas exporters pushed higher Monday following the European Union’s announcement of a $750?billion energy purchasing framework for the next three years, heavily focused on LNG. But signals from natural gas futures and producers like EQT suggest near-term sentiment is more cautious than heady. Cheniere Energy (LNG)—America’s flagship LNG exporter—rose about 1.7%, trading at $229.23, as renewed optimism over long-term European contracts fueled buying. The stock had earlier popped around 4%, with some profit-taking…

U.S. liquefied natural gas exporters pushed higher Monday following the European Union’s announcement of a $750?billion energy purchasing framework for the next three years, heavily focused on LNG. But signals from natural gas futures and producers like EQT suggest near-term sentiment is more cautious than heady. Cheniere Energy (LNG)—America’s flagship LNG exporter—rose about 1.7%, trading at $229.23, as renewed optimism over long-term European contracts fueled buying. The stock had earlier popped around 4%, with some profit-taking…

There was a time when Europe broadly was in favour not just of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, colloquially ‘the nuclear deal’) but also of continuing with it even after the U.S.’s unilateral withdrawal from the arrangement on 8 May 2018. This was based partly on long-running historical ties between France (one of the three key economic and political powerhouses of the continent, along with Germany and Great Britain) and the pre- and post-1979 Islamic Revolution regimes, and Germany’s considerable commercial…

Electric transformers aren't something most people think about unless one attached to the power lines serving their home or business is damaged, resulting in a power outage. Most of the time, power comes back on quickly, indicating that the transformers were not the problem. It takes longer to replace a transformer damaged beyond repair. And that can be a problem if large numbers of transformers are damaged at once such as occurred in the recent California wildfires. That's because the waiting time for new transformers is now 127 weeks. In…

U.S. crude oil production from onshore federal lands hit a record 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2024, according to the EIA and the Department of the Interior. That’s a sixfold jump since 2008—far outpacing the broader rise in national crude output, which nearly tripled to 13.2 million bpd over the same period. The driver? An explosion of activity in New Mexico’s portion of the Permian Basin, where leasing, permitting, and drilling have surged in recent years. From FY2020 through FY2023, New Mexico accounted for the majority…

OPEC+ stuck to the script at Monday’s Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) meeting, offering no changes to current output policy and little surprise for market watchers. The virtual meeting—its 61st—reviewed production data from May and June and confirmed what most already suspected: while the group remains on track with its broad plans, not every member is keeping pace. The committee emphasized once again the “critical importance” of full conformity with the agreed production levels, especially in light of…