Amazon Web Services (AWS) is doubling down on its AI ambitions with a $20-billion expansion plan to build two new data center campuses in Pennsylvania—including one directly adjacent to a major nuclear power plant, Reuters reports.  AWS is targeting the deployment of multiple data centers over the next 10 years, and the buildout will be fueled by carbon-free nuclear power, making it one of the largest private-sector nuclear-backed energy deals in the U.S. to date, according to Reuters. The first site, slated for Salem Township near the…

OPEC’s crude oil production in May increased less than called for in the OPEC+ agreement which had a large output hike planned for last month. All 12 OPEC members produced 26.75 million barrels per day (bpd) in May, up by 150,000 bpd from April, a Reuters survey showed on Monday. The five OPEC members that have pledged cuts in the OPEC+ agreement and are now gradually unwinding these cuts had to raise their combined output by 310,000 bpd. But they only lifted production by 180,000 bpd, according to the Reuters survey of data from oil-flow…

U.S. and Chinese delegations have arrived in the U.K. for talks aimed at patching up a fraying truce in an ongoing trade war between the world's two biggest economies. The US team leby The U.S. team led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are due to meet with a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier He Lifeng in London in a renewed effort to break the deadlock after last month’s Geneva talks failed to produce meaningful results. The high-stakes meeting follows…

International companies are not shunning Argentina anymore and exploring mergers and acquisitions (M&A) opportunities, including in the energy sector, as business-friendly reforms enacted by President Javier Milei have started to change the way investors look at South America’s second-largest economy. If Milei’s reforms to encourage large-scale and foreign investments into the energy sector continue, the M&A market in Argentina could see an upsurge in the coming years, Juan Tripier, director of M&A and corporate finance…

International companies are not shunning Argentina anymore and exploring mergers and acquisitions (M&A) opportunities, including in the energy sector, as business-friendly reforms enacted by President Javier Milei have started to change the way investors look at South America’s second-largest economy. If Milei’s reforms to encourage large-scale and foreign investments into the energy sector continue, the M&A market in Argentina could see an upsurge in the coming years, Juan Tripier, director of M&A and corporate finance…

Iraq is on the brink of an economic breakdown as OPEC’s second-largest producer continues to rely mostly on oil exports for federal government revenues, analysts warned on Monday after official data showed that oil represents a whopping 91% of all federal budget revenues. Iraq’s federal revenues topped $107 billion (140 trillion Iraqi dinars) last year, data from the Ministry of Finance showed this weekend. But oil accounted for more than 91% of all federal government revenues, according to the finance ministry. Iraq has long been one…

Kenya hopes it will begin commercial crude oil production and exports next year, Opiyo Wandayi, Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum, said on Monday, as companies are finalizing an asset sale and development project plans for an onshore resource basin. The East African country has oil and gas resources, but development has stalled after UK-listed Tullow Oil failed to secure investor partners for a major oil project that has been years in the making. Tullow Oil and its minority partners sought to develop the South Lokichar project…

Kenya hopes it will begin commercial crude oil production and exports next year, Opiyo Wandayi, Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum, said on Monday, as companies are finalizing an asset sale and development project plans for an onshore resource basin. The East African country has oil and gas resources, but development has stalled after UK-listed Tullow Oil failed to secure investor partners for a major oil project that has been years in the making. Tullow Oil and its minority partners sought to develop the South Lokichar project…

Kenya hopes it will begin commercial crude oil production and exports next year, Opiyo Wandayi, Cabinet Secretary for Energy and Petroleum, said on Monday, as companies are finalizing an asset sale and development project plans for an onshore resource basin. The East African country has oil and gas resources, but development has stalled after UK-listed Tullow Oil failed to secure investor partners for a major oil project that has been years in the making. Tullow Oil and its minority partners sought to develop the South Lokichar project…

Trend-following commodity trading advisors (CTAs) could soon begin covering their significant short positions in oil, driving prices higher, according to Bank of America analysts cited by Investing.com. The sudden buying demand in the crude futures market has the potential to lead to a short-term rally in oil prices if CTAs rush to short covering. Last week, oil prices lodged another weekly gain, despite the announcement from OPEC+ that the group would continue to boost production in July with another 411,000-barrels-per-day hike. Geopolitical…

China’s coal imports slowed down markedly last month amid ample domestic supply, low prices, and rising generation from wind and solar. At 36.04 million tons, May coal imports were down from 43.82 million tons in April, customs data cited by Reuters showed. This is the third consecutive monthly decline in coal imports in the world’s largest importer of the commodity. For the first five months of 2025, coal imports declined by 8% from a year earlier, to a cumulative 188.7 million tons, compared with 204.9 million tons for January-May…

The 411,000 barrels daily that OPEC+ said it would add to oil production in May have not materialized, commodity analysts from Morgan Stanley said. “Notwithstanding the around 1 million-barrel-a-day increase in production quotas between March and June, an actual increase in production is hard to detect,” the team, led by Martijn Rats said in a note today, as quoted by Bloomberg. “Notably, it does not appear that production in Saudi Arabia has ramped up significantly,” the note also said. The data Morgan Stanley used to see…

China earlier this year introduced restrictions on its exports of rare earths. The move marked a new stage in the US- China trade spat, when the two sides no longer tried to out-tariff each other but took to more concrete steps. The problem is, the restrictions don’t just apply to U.S. companies. And they may well deliver the fatal blow to Europe’s struggling auto industry. China controls 90% of the world’s rare earths processing capacity. It is the indisputable, if not exactly celebrated in the West, master of the rare earths…

After years of battling the poor public perception of nuclear power, several countries are now on track to develop their nuclear energy sector as governments encourage a shift away from fossil fuels to cleaner alternatives. Nuclear plants have the potential to provide abundant, clean power. However, there have long been fears over how to properly manage the nuclear waste produced at plants, to ensure that neither human health nor the environment are harmed during the disposal process. Several countries in Scandinavia believe that they may now have…

This animated chart, via Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti, uses data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration to illustrate how the country’s energy generation landscape has evolved since 1950. U.S. Energy Generation by Source, 1950–2024 As seen in the video above, natural gas has experienced the most significant growth—rising from just 6.2 quadrillion BTUs in 1950 to 39.2 in 2024—making it the leading energy source in recent years, surpassing both coal and oil. Coal use peaked between 2000 and 2005 but has since…

In addition to California, which has long been a renewable energy powerhouse, some unexpected states have come out on top for green energy production in the United States in recent years. Texas and Florida join the Golden State as the top wind and solar energy producers in the U.S., having invested heavily in increasing their renewable energy capacity. Around a decade ago, just three states had over 1 GW of installed solar capacity, largely owing to the high cost of developing solar farms and the volatility of solar power. Now, 33 U.S. states have…

Just 16% of American drivers say they are likely to buy an electric vehicle (EV) as their next car—the lowest share recorded in AAA’s annual surveys since 2019. High battery maintenance costs, high purchase prices, and concerns about range continue to be major deterrents for U.S. consumers to consider buying an EV, according to AAA’s latest survey released earlier this month. These key barriers have remained more or less the same in recent years. But this year three other factors have also played a role to result in the smallest…

Via Metal Miner  The Rare Earths MMI (Monthly Metals Index) found more price stability month-over-month. As a result, it moved sideways, with only a 0.81% increase. Despite this, the short-term outlook for rare earths remains uncertain. Chinese export restrictions jolted prices in H1 of 2025 and fractured long-running supply lines. Shortly after, global automakers warned that Beijing’s April curbs on alloys and magnet exports “could cause production delays” without fast relief. China’s Rare Earths Shockwaves Continue…

After several successful pilot projects, several cities across the United States are aiming to roll out more self-driving vehicles in 2025. Multiple automated car companies have announced new projects for this year. For decades, self-driving or automated vehicles (AVs) seemed like some futuristic technology that would be impossible to actually create. However, in recent years, several companies have tested their AVs in real-life conditions, as several car models make it out of the factory and onto our roads. In addition, recent innovations in sensors…

Iran has vowed to take strong action against Western nations pushing a resolution at a quarterly meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog that would find the Islamic republic in noncompliance with its safeguards obligations for the first time in 20 years. In a June 6 post on X, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi slammed Britain, France, and Germany -- collectively known as the E3 -- for "falsely accusing Iran" of violating its obligations and claimed the move was "designed to produce a crisis." "Mark my words as Europe ponders another major strategic…