WTI oil prices are set to average $58.30 per barrel this year, amid rising OPEC+ and U.S. production and relatively stable global oil demand, a survey of banks by law firm Haynes Boone showed on Wednesday. A total of 28 banks – a record high number – participated in Haynes Boone’s Spring 2025 Energy Bank Price Deck Survey, now in its 12th year. The banks on average expect WTI Crude prices to average $58.30 per barrel in 2025, down from $61.89 a barrel expected in Haynes Boone’s Fall 2024 survey. The banks’ reduction…

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned about the ongoing risk of a nuclear accident in Ukraine, saying the "dangers to nuclear safety continue to be very real and ever-present." The presence of IAEA officials at nuclear facilities in Ukraine remains essential to help prevent a nuclear incident, Raphael Grossi said on June 3 after his 12th visit to Kyiv since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. The IAEA has played a role in safeguarding the condition of Ukraine's nuclear power plants since then.…

In a bid to wean the U.S. critical minerals supply chain off China, U.S. President Donald Trump plans to use emergency powers under the Defense Production Act to bolster domestic production and processing of these metals vital for the energy and defense industries, Reuters reports, citing a document to be published on Wednesday. The Defense Production Act is a U.S. law that grants the President powers to ensure the nation’s defense by expanding and expediting the supply of materials and services from the domestic industrial base. The White…

In a bid to wean the U.S. critical minerals supply chain off China, U.S. President Donald Trump plans to use emergency powers under the Defense Production Act to bolster domestic production and processing of these metals vital for the energy and defense industries, Reuters reports, citing a document to be published on Wednesday. The Defense Production Act is a U.S. law that grants the President powers to ensure the nation’s defense by expanding and expediting the supply of materials and services from the domestic industrial base. The White…

Crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 4.3 million barrels during the week ending May 30, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration released on Wednesday. Crude oil prices were trading up prior to the crude data release by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. On Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a drop of 3.3 million barrels in U.S. crude oil inventories, with a sizable build in gasoline stocks. At 10:21 am in New York, the Brent benchmark was trading up $0.18 per barrel (+0.27%)…

Russia’s National Wealth Fund, a rainy-day reserves fund, saw its liquid assets drop by the equivalent of nearly $6 billion in May, data from the Russian finance ministry showed on Wednesday. The National Wealth Fund had its readily available liquid assets drop by $5.75 billion (453.8 billion Russian rubles) in May, and the total value dropped to $35.5 billion (2.8 trillion rubles). The National Wealth Fund’s liquid assets have plunged by 68% since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Bloomberg has estimated.…

Russia’s National Wealth Fund, a rainy-day reserves fund, saw its liquid assets drop by the equivalent of nearly $6 billion in May, data from the Russian finance ministry showed on Wednesday. The National Wealth Fund had its readily available liquid assets drop by $5.75 billion (453.8 billion Russian rubles) in May, and the total value dropped to $35.5 billion (2.8 trillion rubles). The National Wealth Fund’s liquid assets have plunged by 68% since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Bloomberg has estimated.…

Russia’s National Wealth Fund, a rainy-day reserves fund, saw its liquid assets drop by the equivalent of nearly $6 billion in May, data from the Russian finance ministry showed on Wednesday. The National Wealth Fund had its readily available liquid assets drop by $5.75 billion (453.8 billion Russian rubles) in May, and the total value dropped to $35.5 billion (2.8 trillion rubles). The National Wealth Fund’s liquid assets have plunged by 68% since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Bloomberg has estimated.…

Kazakhstan’s national oil and gas company KazMunayGas is looking to borrow cheaper funds from overseas debt issues, including bonds denominated in Chinese yuan, the firm’s chief executive Askhat Khassenov told Bloomberg. “We looked at all options. Currently there is a possibility to sell dim sum, panda bonds,” Khassenov said in an interview with Bloomberg published on Wednesday. KazMunayGas is also exploring opportunities to issue debt in Arab countries, as the company seeks cheaper borrowing terms, the executive added.…

Japanese utilities are boosting their inventories of LNG ahead of the peak summer demand season, as power demand has been weaker in recent weeks. The LNG stocks held by Japan’s utilities are already higher compared to the same time last year, according to government data cited by Argus. The LNG inventories increased by 4.6% on June 1 from a week earlier, a survey by Japan’s trade and industry ministry showed. This week, Japan’s LNG stocks at utilities are 1.3% above the volume from the same week last year and 7.6% higher compared…

OPEC+ did what everyone expected it to do last weekend, announcing another production ramp-up. Prices, however, did something that not everyone expected them to do: they went up. All eyes are now on demand—and the disruption of supply. The eight members of OPEC+ that were keeping their production of crude oil under restraints agreed on Saturday to add another 411,000 barrels daily to their combined total in July after making identical agreements for May and June. The news followed speculation reported by the media that the cartel could add…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell again this week, this time by 3.3 million barrels in the week ending May 30 after analysts had estimated a 900,000-barrel draw. The API reported a 4.236 million barrel inventory decrease in the prior week. So far this year, crude oil inventories are up more than 18 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…

The conversation about low-carbon hydrogen continued last week at the annual World Utilities Congress, hosted by the multinational energy and water company TAQA in Abu Dhabi. While the hoped-for future trade between Europe and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remained in focus, a shift in emphasis appeared. While national goals look increasingly dubious, progress is occurring in specific industry sectors guided by international agreements. Meanwhile, MENA countries confront the imperative to develop domestic markets for their clean hydrogen.…

Since U.S. President Donald Trump took office, the number of applications for carbon capture projects has nosedived, signaling a slowdown in the efforts to commercialize the relatively new technology to remove carbon from the air. Since the Trump Administration signaled it would be axing clean energy subsidies and tax credits, the nascent carbon capture sector, led by some of the biggest U.S. oil firms, has faced increasing uncertainty about the viability of many projects. Carbon Capture Applications Plunge As a result, the application process…

In recent years, Colombia’s oil production and reserves have been in decline and interest in investing in the country’s crude seemed limited in the post-pandemic landscape. In addition, President Petro has been vocal about supporting a green transition and restricting investment in new fossil fuel projects. However, in recent months, there has been a renewed interest in developing exploration and production.  Colombia has long relied on its fossil fuel revenues to support the national economy, with oil and gas contributing around…

Long reliant on gas to meet its energy needs, Singapore is now turning to regional interconnections, primarily via subsea cables, to link national grids and enable cross-border electricity trade. This shift aims to accelerate decarbonization and decouple domestic electricity prices from global gas market volatility. Research from Rystad Energy indicates that if all proposed interconnections to Singapore are realized, they could unlock up to 25 gigawatts (GW) of renewable and energy storage projects worth more than $40 billion in investment across…

Via Metal Miner   There are many hedge fund strategies organizations can employ to generate returns and manage risk. Now, metal buyers are looking to apply these same concepts to certain metals. Base metals like copper have seen notable swings so far in 2025. According to the CME group, copper oscillated in a roughly $4.55–$4.80 per pound range throughout May as Chinese demand steadied and trade tensions eased. In contrast, aluminum has been much stronger. Analysts now predict that LME aluminum will average about $2,574/tonne in 2025…

Authored by Rainer Zitelmann via RealClearMarkets, The most undervalued industry in the world is the space industry. It is particularly unappreciated in Europe, which has now fallen hopelessly behind the United States and China. The US carried out 153 launches last year, China 68 and Europe three. The science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke wrote back in 1977: “The impact of satellites on the entire human race will be at least the same impact as the advent of the telephone in so-called developed societies”. And he was right. Satellite…

When the European Commission started briefing EU states last month on the next sanctions package expected to be imposed on Russia, the 27 member nations expected concrete written proposals to follow. They're still waiting. Normally these sorts of documents -- in this case the potential 18th round of restrictive measures since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was launched more three years ago -- are provided only a few days after the briefings, or “confessionals” as they are known in Brussels. The documents outline…

Oil prices posted modest gains Tuesday, fueled by renewed geopolitical risk and signs of tightening supply, though upside may be limited by ongoing uncertainty around Iran and soft macroeconomic indicators. As of late morning, WTI crude was trading at $63.76 (+1.98%), and Brent at $65.74 (+1.72%). Both benchmarks built on Monday’s nearly 3% rally after OPEC+ confirmed it would raise output by just 411,000 barrels per day in July—below what some market watchers feared. Murban crude also rose to $65.51 (+1.13%), while U.S. natural gas…