Solar power is far and away the world’s fastest-growing form of energy production, beating out every other form of energy on Earth in 2025. Despite a recent political pivot away from renewable energies in the world’s largest economy, solar power additions continue to shatter its own records year over year as the sector has long since outgrown any need for subsidies. Solar power has simply become too cheap to fail. “We have a plentiful and cheap source of electricity that can be built quickly, almost anywhere in the world,”…

Europe has discovered something unusual during the latest energy crisis: its emergency system actually works. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz removed or disrupted one of the largest flows of oil and gas in the world. Prices rose, shipping routes changed, insurance costs increased, and concerns emerged over the availability of refined products, particularly aviation fuel. Yet Europe did not run out of oil, diesel, or jet fuel. That outcome should not be dismissed. It resulted from decades of mandatory stockholding, coordinated emergency planning,…

China is buying more Russian oil to replace missing Iranian barrels. The problem for India is that some of those Russian barrels used to be its barrels. China’s seaborne imports of Russian crude are estimated at 1.25 million barrels per day in August, according to Kpler data, cited by Reuters. That is down from 1.423 million bpd in July, but July and August are still China’s strongest months for Russian seaborne crude since April. The shift comes as Chinese imports of Iranian oil remain crushed by the Middle East war and U.S. blockade.…

China is buying more Russian oil to replace missing Iranian barrels. The problem for India is that some of those Russian barrels used to be its barrels. China’s seaborne imports of Russian crude are estimated at 1.25 million barrels per day in August, according to Kpler data, cited by Reuters. That is down from 1.423 million bpd in July, but July and August are still China’s strongest months for Russian seaborne crude since April. The shift comes as Chinese imports of Iranian oil remain crushed by the Middle East war and U.S. blockade.…

Kazakhstan and, to a lesser extent, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian states are finding themselves caught in the middle of a deepening struggle between the United States and China for dominance of AI architecture and design. The brewing dilemma created by the AI rivalry has the potential to upend US relations with Central Asian states. The US State Department has drafted what amounts to an ultimatum and is reportedly preparing to deliver it to 35 states that have signed an AI cooperation pact with Washington, the Reuters news agency first reported.…

Norway’s crude oil production averaged 1.776 million barrels per day in July, according to preliminary figures from the Norwegian Offshore Directorate. The country also produced 183,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids and 17,000 barrels per day of condensate, bringing total liquids production to 1.976 million barrels per day. The year-over-year comparison is striking. Norway produced 1.971 million barrels per day of crude in July 2025, according to the Directorate’s latest revised figures. Crude output was therefore down by approximately…

The Caspian Sea is emerging as a potentially important logistics corridor in the expanding military relationship between Russia and Iran as they look to move goods beyond the reach of Western naval power. The corridor opens a route that could allow Moscow and Tehran to exchange large quantities of cargo through an inland sea that Western navies cannot directly enter. NBC News reported this week that it had obtained a document, which it confirmed with a Western official, that shows Moscow is already using the Caspian Sea to send military-related…

Central Asian nation Tajikistan has requested from Iran to import Iranian oil and petroleum products as the fuel crisis in Russia has choked supply from Tajikistan’s largest fuel supplier, the Transport Ministry of Tajikistan said this week. At a meeting with senior Iranian government officials in Tehran earlier this week, Tajikistan signed more than a dozen cooperation agreements with the Islamic Republic, the ministry said in a press release. The Central Asian country has also asked Iran to import from Iran 2.55 million tons of oil and…

China has become the world’s largest renewable energy producer by accelerating the rollout of solar, wind, and battery storage projects, while in recent years it has also increased its oil and gas output. Efforts to expand its fossil fuel industry are expected to boost China’s energy self-sufficiency over the coming decade, helping to reduce its dependence on other countries for oil and gas imports. The diversification of its energy sources will help ensure China’s energy security at a time when so many other countries are failing…

Coal India, the world’s single largest coal producer, has applied to establish a trading office in Singapore to trade critical minerals and iron ore in what would be the company’s first trading office outside India, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing anonymous sources involved in the discussions. Coal India has applied with Singapore’s authorities to approve the setting-up of its planned trading hub as several major state-owned Indian companies have been looking to acquire strategic minerals assets overseas to support India’s…

Coal India, the world’s single largest coal producer, has applied to establish a trading office in Singapore to trade critical minerals and iron ore in what would be the company’s first trading office outside India, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing anonymous sources involved in the discussions. Coal India has applied with Singapore’s authorities to approve the setting-up of its planned trading hub as several major state-owned Indian companies have been looking to acquire strategic minerals assets overseas to support India’s…

Coal India, the world’s single largest coal producer, has applied to establish a trading office in Singapore to trade critical minerals and iron ore in what would be the company’s first trading office outside India, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing anonymous sources involved in the discussions. Coal India has applied with Singapore’s authorities to approve the setting-up of its planned trading hub as several major state-owned Indian companies have been looking to acquire strategic minerals assets overseas to support India’s…

The Conservatives have said that households could save about £540 a year after 2030 if net zero regulations are scrapped, with a commitment to make energy as cheap as possible. A report published by centre-right think tank Onward and backed by the Tories said the cost of net zero came to an extra £540 per household a year between 2030 and 2050. The headline figure per household is a total divided across bill payers, rather than a forecast of what any household would see knocked off its bill. The Onward report suggested that a full focus…

Indian steelmakers are reeling from a jump in coking coal prices this year that is squeezing their margins and delaying capacity expansion in the steelmaking industry, analysts and industry executives tell Reuters. India relies on imports for as much as 95% of its coking coal, or metallurgical coal, demand. Metallurgical coal is a grade of coal that is one of the essential raw materials in the steelmaking process. Also known as met coal, this type of coal contains more carbon, less ash and less moisture than thermal coal, which is used for electricity…

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has just issued its ninth spot tender offering crude oil to buyers for October and November loadings, as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) continues to push its oil production and exports higher despite the Hormuz crisis. The UAE’s national oil company is offering Upper Zakum, Umm Lulu, and Das crude grades pumped at fields inside the Persian Gulf in its ninth spot tender since June, sources in the trade industry told Reuters on Thursday. In the previous eight spot tenders this summer, ADNOC is estimated…

The world is installing wind turbines and solar panels faster than ever, but coal still generates more electricity than any other source, and by a huge margin. The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects coal-fired power plants to generate 10,974 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2026, nearly one-third of the 33,313 TWh of electricity produced worldwide. Natural gas is a distant second at 6,976 TWh, followed by hydropower at 4,536 TWh, solar at 3,289 TWh, wind at 2,898 TWh and nuclear at 2,871 TWh. In other words, coal will generate nearly as much electricity…

For most of the past six months, traders active on the commodity futures markets have been mostly optimistic. They have taken every statement by President Donald Trump about peace talks or victory over Iran at face value, betting on a speedy end of the war. Now, it has started to dawn on many that this is not happening. The physical squeeze is catching up with the market. Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that a diesel shortage that has been brewing since spring is now growing increasingly severe and about to become even more…

Russia has been subject to many months of a ramped-up long-range drone campaign out of Ukraine, chiefly targeting oil refineries as well as industrial sites - and most recently expanding to online retail companies and attacks on private sector businesses.  Tuesday saw one of the single biggest drone waves on Moscow of the war, for example, with at least 600 sent against the capital region, resulting in widespread panic and some casualties. Making matters worse for the Russian population, several gas station networks have introduced new restrictions…

Oilfield services giant SLB is preparing to reactivate as many as 15 drilling rigs in Venezuela, potentially removing one of the biggest obstacles to increasing the country’s crude production. SLB and energy-focused private equity firm Formentera Partners are working on separate efforts to increase Venezuela’s drilling capacity, executives said at an industry conference in Houston on Wednesday. Formentera is discussing importing rigs with international service companies, while SLB is focused on equipment already inside Venezuela. SLB…

The oil market has remained complacent for months amid the worst disruption in global supply, with crude oil futures rarely topping $100 per barrel over the six months in which tanker traffic at the Strait of Hormuz is a trickle compared to pre-war levels. While market participants have been putting too much hope of a resolution of the conflict in their bets on future crude prices, product supply of the fuel of the economies – diesel – has been shrinking.     So much has the diesel market tightened in recent months that…