Oil prices moved higher on Friday morning after the EU agreed to an 18th package of sanctions against Russia, but the effectiveness of the sanctions is yet to be seen. Friday, July 18th, 2025 The constant drumbeat of Russian sanction announcements is keeping Brent futures around $70 per barrel, with the European Union and its concept of a floating price cap taking centre stage this week. The bullish momentum was further supported by assumed Iraqi drone strikes on Kurdish oil fields, taking out all the major producing assets in less than a…

Why Isn’t Canada Cutting Oil Production? Canada’s oil sands giants, Suncor and Imperial Oil, have become North America’s lowest-cost producers, a key transformation in the upstream landscape as shale producers struggle to break even with new wells as WTI prices still linger around $65-68 per barrel. Whilst Alberta’s oil sands require substantial capital expenditures upfront, once the projects are online, operational costs can be greatly reduced by means of autonomous mining vehicles, smarter water management, and AI integration.…

WTI crude oil traded between a high of $68.34 and low of $64.11 before reaching $66.28 as of Thursday's close, down $0.86 or -1.28%. The price action reflected competing fundamental forces: escalating geopolitical tensions that initially supported prices, followed by trade policy uncertainties and mixed inventory data that pressured the market lower. Geopolitical Tensions Drive Early Week Strength The period began with significant geopolitical risk as President Trump prepared statements on Russia with direct oil supply implications. Trump confirmed…

Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict Trump’s sudden reversal on Russia (shifting from passive tolerance to a 50-day ultimatum backed by tariff threats and conditional arms for Ukraine) is not rooted in strategy or ideology. It’s ego-centric. It’s not a policy shift in the traditional sense. Trump is attempting to reassert dominance after concluding that Putin is no longer playing by his rules. The tariffs, like the deadline, are not structured instruments aimed at isolating Russia economically. They are improvised leverage or…

Israeli airstrikes in Syria this week have been publicly framed as a response to threats against the Druze community after massacres of Druze that are being traced back to the new Syrian leadership in Damascus. The actual agenda is a bit more complicated.  Western media has largely framed Israel’s recent strikes in Syria as a defensive move to protect the Druze community from escalating sectarian violence. Why the Druze and what they have to do with the sectarian violence against the Alawites is rather complicated and not entirely logical.…

Oil prices rose on Friday after the EU adopted its 18th sanctions package against Russia, lowering the price cap, targeting Russian oil trade, and closing a loophole that has so far allowed EU imports of fuels processed from Russian crude.  As of 9:50 a.m. EDT on Friday, the U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, rose by 1.36% to $68.51 per barrel. The international benchmark, Brent Crude, was trading higher by 1.19%, and returned above the $70 a barrel mark, at $70.39. The European Union lowered the price cap on Russian crude oil to $47.60 from $60 per…

The European Union lowered the price cap on Russian crude oil to $47.60 from $60 per barrel as it adopted on Friday the 18th sanctions package against Russia, targeting a hundred more ‘shadow fleet’ tankers, energy trade, and traders and banks enabling it.  Following weeks of negotiations and Slovakia holding up the required unanimous approval of the sanctions package, the EU finally agreed on the fresh sanctions after Slovakia lifted its veto. Slovakia had tied dropping its veto with receiving sufficient energy security guarantees…

Despite Baghdad’s assurances that oil exports from Kurdistan will resume immediately after more than two years, the semi-autonomous Iraqi region isn’t prepared to restart exports, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. Amid drone attacks on oilfields in Kurdistan this week, which have shut in about 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) in production, the federal Iraqi government said on Thursday that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) would immediately begin delivering at least 230,000 bpd to Iraq’s state oil marketing…

Australia’s energy and metals group Fortescue is reassessing timelines and pausing green energy project developments in the United States following the latest U.S. legislation to phase out renewable energy incentives, Fortescue’s founder and executive chairman, Andrew Forrest, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview. President Trump’s tax and spending act, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed earlier this month, contains punitive provisions on renewables in the U.S. The legislation includes a faster phase-out of the tax…

Australia’s energy and metals group Fortescue is reassessing timelines and pausing green energy project developments in the United States following the latest U.S. legislation to phase out renewable energy incentives, Fortescue’s founder and executive chairman, Andrew Forrest, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview. President Trump’s tax and spending act, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed earlier this month, contains punitive provisions on renewables in the U.S. The legislation includes a faster phase-out of the tax…

Slovakia will lift its veto with which it was holding up the required unanimous approval of the EU’s 18th sanctions package against Russia, Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico says. Earlier this week, Fico said that Slovakia would drop its veto on the EU’s new sanctions against Russia if it receives an exemption to continue importing Russian pipeline gas for nearly another decade. On Monday, the EU failed to approve the package, which is set to include a floating oil price cap for Russia’s crude and a ban on the use…

The Trump Administration is expected to unveil a so-called AI Action Plan to detail policy guidelines, including expanding power sources for data centers and easing regulations, sources briefed by administration officials told Bloomberg on Friday. The AI Action Plan is expected within days, with a set of measures to accelerate the development of AI in the United States. Some of the policies in the plan will be enacted via executive orders that President Trump will sign, according to Bloomberg’s sources. In an executive order in his first…

Oil prices were ticking up slightly but largely flat in Asian trading Friday as supply losses from Iraqi pipeline disruptions were offset by renewed demand concerns tied to U.S. tariff threats against key Asian economies. Brent crude edged up to $69.78 and WTI was trading at $67.75 at 2.25 a.m. ET, with both benchmarks holding narrow gains despite broader market uncertainty. Multiple drone strikes near oil infrastructure in Iraqi Kurdistan this week forced the suspension of production at several fields. The attacks disrupted operations and prompted…

The 9th OPEC International Seminar was held in Vienna a week ago, wherein participants discussed energy security, investment, climate change, and energy poverty, with a particular emphasis on balancing these competing priorities. According to commodity analysts at Standard Chartered, the summit titled "Charting Pathways Together: The Future of Global Energy" featured significantly greater engagement from international oil companies and consuming country governments, with discussions converging on a more inclusive shared agenda rather than non-intersecting…

I've been noodling around with an idea for a while now. The thing on my mind is when do investors actually gain from the big gobs of money E&P companies spend on M&A? A lot of promises are made in the early days. But as time wears on, I rarely see any effort made to reconcile results with these promises. So bear with me as I go through this little exercise.  Now I am not saying that M&A isn't necessary as strong companies buy out smaller, weaker companies to get their premium assets. That part of the transaction is easily understood,…

They've been debunked. Repeatedly. But like zombies in a horror movie, these oil market myths just won’t stay dead. From campaign slogans to cocktail party arguments, here's what the data really says. 1) The U.S. is Energy Independent  Energy independence has been a key slogan in the campaigns and presidential terms of President Donald Trump. Make America Great Again and Make the US Energy Independent have often been tied into one pledge or claim.    Fact: While the U.S. became a net petroleum exporter in 2020 for the…

It remains important for energy traders to closely monitor the Strait of Hormuz and other key critical maritime chokepoints in the region (recall Red Sea events last week, given persistent geopolitical tensions involving Iran and Israel.  Tehran retains a diverse toolkit—both asymmetric and conventional—for disrupting tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. These methods include naval mine deployment, anti-ship missile and drone launches, fast-attack craft swarms, and the seizure of vessels transiting the critical waterway…

Via Metal Miner   Both China and India are now jostling for exploration and mining rights across the African continent. Over the last decade, China has rapidly expanded its presence in Africa’s growing copper market, securing critical mineral supplies to fuel its green energy ambitions. With copper demand surging globally due to the growth of electric vehicles, renewable energy, and digital infrastructure, Beijing has intensified its investments across Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Botswana.  Now it seems that…

Chevron has effectively reached its long-term production goal of 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in the Permian Basin—and from here, it’s shifting gears. According to Bruce Niemeyer, president of Chevron’s shale business, the company now plans to hold production steady through 2040 while cutting rigs and frack crews—locking in $5 billion in annual free cash flow by 2027. That number isn’t just aspirational. Chevron has already reduced its rig count from 13 to 9 and cut frack crews from 4 to 3 this…

Chevron has effectively reached its long-term production goal of 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in the Permian Basin—and from here, it’s shifting gears. According to Bruce Niemeyer, president of Chevron’s shale business, the company now plans to hold production steady through 2040 while cutting rigs and frack crews—locking in $5 billion in annual free cash flow by 2027. That number isn’t just aspirational. Chevron has already reduced its rig count from 13 to 9 and cut frack crews from 4 to 3 this…