As part of a major push toward nuclear power generation, India is considering ending the state monopoly in uranium fuel procurement for nuclear power plants by allowing private companies to mine, process, and import uranium, government sources told Reuters on Wednesday.  Even if the government moves to allow private companies to mine and process uranium, the state will maintain its control over the reprocessing of spent uranium fuel and managing of plutonium waste, as is the global practice in these cases, according to Reuters’ sources.  …

Crude oil inventories in the United States increased by 3.0 million barrels during the week ending August 8, after dropping by 3 million barrels in the week prior, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The build brings commercial stockpiles to 426.7 million barrels according to government data, which is 6% below the five-year average for this time of year. The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released a day earlier, which suggested that crude oil inventories…

Indian state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), the biggest oil and gas explorer and producer in the country, booked a lower net profit for the April-June quarter from a year earlier on the back of falling oil prices and basically flat production.  ONGC reported a net profit of $917 million (80.24 billion Indian rupees) for the first quarter of its 2025/2026 fiscal year, down by 10% compared to the same period of the previous financial year.  Oil prices slumped in April to June by about 10% amid high volatility due…

Indian state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), the biggest oil and gas explorer and producer in the country, booked a lower net profit for the April-June quarter from a year earlier on the back of falling oil prices and basically flat production.  ONGC reported a net profit of $917 million (80.24 billion Indian rupees) for the first quarter of its 2025/2026 fiscal year, down by 10% compared to the same period of the previous financial year.  Oil prices slumped in April to June by about 10% amid high volatility due…

The planned meeting in Alaska between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, has left Europe scrambling. The European Union, and most other European nations, are seeking to prevent the United States from "falling into a trap" while backing Ukraine diplomatically in every possible way and preparing more sanctions on Russia. But with no new diplomatic initiatives, they are struggling to secure a seat at the table as the continent’s fate appears to be in other capitals' hands. It's fair to say Brussels woke up…

Brazil’s state-controlled energy giant Petrobras is getting closer to obtaining an exploration permit to drill in an environmentally sensitive offshore region in the Amazon basin.     Petrobras, which has been seeking for years to obtain a license to drill in Foz do Amazonas and the wider region known as the Equatorial Margin, has received authorization for a so-called pre-operational assessment in the area, Senator Randolfe Rodrigues said in a video posted on Instagram. The pre-operational assessment is typically the…

The oil market could be even more oversupplied at the end of this year than previously expected amid tepid demand growth and surging supply from both OPEC+ and non-OPEC+ producers, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday.  Global oil demand is now expected to rise by just 680,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year, and by 700,000 bpd in 2026, to reach 104.4 million bpd next year, the IEA said in its monthly Oil Market Report out today.  The latest forecasts are a downward revision of 20,000 bpd in demand growth estimates…

The Lindsey Oil Refinery in the UK could be saved from closing as a potential buyer has emerged with interest to take over the site in Lincolnshire and continue run it as a crude processing facility, local politicians have told the BBC.  The refinery, built in 1968 with the capacity to process up to 113,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), was set to close after its owner, Prax Group, filed for insolvency in late June.   A UK court appointed a liquidator for Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery, as well as the storage and terminal units, Prax…

The Lindsey Oil Refinery in the UK could be saved from closing as a potential buyer has emerged with interest to take over the site in Lincolnshire and continue run it as a crude processing facility, local politicians have told the BBC.  The refinery, built in 1968 with the capacity to process up to 113,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), was set to close after its owner, Prax Group, filed for insolvency in late June.   A UK court appointed a liquidator for Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery, as well as the storage and terminal units, Prax…

Nayara Energy, the Indian refiner in which Russia’s oil giant Rosneft holds 49%, is set to import in August the lowest volume of crude ever as the EU sanctions cripple procurement plans and sales of refined petroleum products. Nayara Energy is expected to import just 94,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude this month, Bloomberg reports, citing ship-tracking data and trade sources. The August import volumes are set to be the lowest in the history of the refinery, India’s second-largest, with a capacity to process 400,000 bpd, and would…

A tanker chartered by Chevron has docked at a Venezuelan port, set to be loaded with the first Venezuelan crude to be supplied to U.S. refiners after President Trump reinstated Chevron’s sanction exemption for operating in the country. The Bahamas-flagged Canopus Voyager reached Venezuelan waters last week, Reuters reported, citing LSEG data, and docked at the Jose port, which featured PDVSA’s oil export terminal. As of Tuesday, Reuters noted, at least five other tankers that Chevron had previously used to ship Venezuelan crude were…

Oil prices were trading relatively flat in early Asian trading on Wednesday, following losses in the previous session as traders weighed signs of slowing U.S. demand and awaited inventory data from the EIA. At the time of writing, WTI Crude was down 0.17% at $63.06 per barrel, while Brent Crude had slipped 0.09% to $66.06. The modest moves come after the American Petroleum Institute reported a 1.52 million barrel increase in U.S. crude stocks, suggesting that the peak summer driving season is winding down. Gasoline inventories fell, but distillates…

A week ago, U.S. President Donald Trump came down hard on India, doubling its tariff rate from 25% to 50% for fueling Putin’s war in Ukraine by continuing to buy massive quantities of Russian oil. We reported that India's imports of Russian commodities have skyrocketed since the war began, surging to $65.7 billion in 2024 from $8.25 billion in 2021, according to India’s The Business Standard. In sharp contrast, imports by the European Union and the U.S. have declined by more than 80% as they look to choke Russia’s war machine.…

The Trump-Putin meeting this Friday and the oil trade spat with India have been hogging the headlines these days, but meanwhile, the tariff war continues—and it may end with a complete rearrangement of global supply chains. The central target, of course, is China. Amid the latest negotiations between Beijing and Washington, China faces a 30% blanket tariff on goods sold to the United States. And in a positive turn of events, the deadline for the entry of these tariffs into effect has been pushed back by 90 days. This has provided space for…

The Common Seawater Supply Project (CSSP) is the key to unlock massive gains in oil output from Iraq. Consequently, control over the project is pivotal to gaining control over the country’s enormous oil and gas resources. It is little wonder, then, that the battle between firms from the West and the East for the principal development spot in the CSSP has been intense over the years. It began in earnest with the U.S.’s ExxonMobil taking the lead role, with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in a secondary position. When the…

Nuclear fusion could be a “silver bullet” for near-infinite clean energy if scientists can figure out how to make it commercially viable. By copying the process that powers our sun here on Earth, we could unlock enormously powerful energy production without any of the radioactive waste hazards associated with nuclear fission. Due to its enormous potential, there is a high-stakes global race to unlock the science that will allow us to make the nascent and lab-bound technology a commercial reality. Currently, China and the United States…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States rose this week, growing by an additional 1.5 million barrels in the week ending August 8. Analysts had expected an 800,000 barrel draw. So far this year, crude oil inventories are up more than 10 million barrels, according to Oilprice calculations of API data. Earlier this week, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) held steady at 403 million barrels in the week ending August 8. At…

After a tumultuous few years with protests, tax hikes, soaring violence, and bans on exploration weighing on Colombia's economically vital oil industry, the inevitable has occurred: Big Oil is abandoning the strife-torn country. Colombia’s first-ever leftist President, Gustavo Petro, himself a former guerrilla, on taking office in August 2022, implemented policies that created considerable uncertainty and risk for the economically crucial hydrocarbon sector. This sparked fears that Colombia’s energy patch would be crippled, leading…

After years of public vows to wean themselves off fossil fuels, the world’s biggest oil companies are dusting off their drilling maps and doubling down on exploration. The promised pivot to renewables has sputtered, energy security fears have sharpened, and the payoff from oil and gas remains too rich to ignore. Now, from the Gulf of Mexico to Namibia, Big Oil is chasing new barrels in a world that, by its own admission, will still be burning them for decades. After spending the early 2020s promising a gradual reduction in fossil fuel production…

Cenovus Energy is in talks with a coalition of Canadian Indigenous groups to jointly acquire oil sands rival MEG Energy, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The arrangement would see First Nations and Métis communities—including Chipewyan Prairie First Nation and Heart Lake First Nation—take a C$2 billion ($1.45 billion) stake in MEG, backed by federal and provincial financing. Cenovus would acquire the remainder. Shares of MEG rose more than 2% on the news. The potential bid comes as MEG fends…