America and Iran may be on the cusp of a workable nuclear deal that will prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons while preserving Iran’s ability to enrich nuclear fuel for its civilian nuclear power program. But there are two spoilers out there: Israel and Europe. The original Iran nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, between Iran and China, France, Russia, the U.K., U.S., Germany, and the European Union, allowed for United Nations “snapback sanctions,” that could be triggered by any of the parties (up to 18…

U.S. President Donald Trump is now less confident that the United States could reach a nuclear deal with Iran to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining a nuclear weapon. “I’m less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago,” President Trump said in a podcast this week. “Something happened to them, but I am much less confident of a deal being made,” the President added.   Regardless of whether a deal is reached, the U.S. will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear bomb by enriching uranium at…

U.S. President Donald Trump is now less confident that the United States could reach a nuclear deal with Iran to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining a nuclear weapon. “I’m less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago,” President Trump said in a podcast this week. “Something happened to them, but I am much less confident of a deal being made,” the President added.   Regardless of whether a deal is reached, the U.S. will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear bomb by enriching uranium at…

Diplomacy between the United States and Iran over the future of Tehran's nuclear program has hit a new snag -- not over uranium enrichment or sanctions, but over the simple matter of when to meet. As US President Donald Trump insists the next round of talks is set for June 12, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baqaei maintains that negotiations will resume on June 15 in Muscat. Oman, which is mediating the talks, has not weighed in. The scheduling dispute comes as Iran's chief negotiator, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, is slated…

Governments worldwide are investing heavily in finding new ways to decarbonise heavy industry, where emissions are notoriously hard to abate. While certain sectors have come leaps and bounds in decarbonising operations, several heavy industries are failing to advance. Making manufacturing and other sectors more sustainable will be key to achieving a green transition and ensuring that we meet the global heating limits stipulated in the Paris Climate Agreement. One sector that is rapidly searching for ways to decarbonise is steel, and some pilot…

China will supply full magnets and “any necessary rare earths” upfront to the United States in a deal that is “done” and subject to final approval by the presidents of the two countries, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday. “FULL MAGNETS, AND ANY NECESSARY RARE EARTHS, WILL BE SUPPLIED, UP FRONT, BY CHINA. LIKEWISE, WE WILL PROVIDE TO CHINA WHAT WAS AGREED TO, INCLUDING CHINESE STUDENTS USING OUR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOOD WITH ME!),” Trump posted on Truth Social. President…

China will supply full magnets and “any necessary rare earths” upfront to the United States in a deal that is “done” and subject to final approval by the presidents of the two countries, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday. “FULL MAGNETS, AND ANY NECESSARY RARE EARTHS, WILL BE SUPPLIED, UP FRONT, BY CHINA. LIKEWISE, WE WILL PROVIDE TO CHINA WHAT WAS AGREED TO, INCLUDING CHINESE STUDENTS USING OUR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOOD WITH ME!),” Trump posted on Truth Social. President…

It's been no secret that Russia has been getting more heavily involved in Iran's nuclear program, and interestingly at a moment Moscow has offered to mediate between Washington and Tehran on the question of uranium enrichment and a new nuclear monitoring deal. On Monday, in a surprise headline given the massive, ambitious scope, Iranian state sources have said Russia will construct eight nuclear power plants in Iran, two of which are already under construction. "Russia is contracted to build eight nuclear power plants in Iran, including four in…

The combined net profits of Russia’s oil and gas companies nearly halved in the first quarter from a year earlier, while petroleum revenues for the budget have been falling with the decline in oil prices in recent months. The net profits of the Russian oil and gas firms slumped to $9.9 billion (789.5 billion Russian rubles) in the first quarter of 2025, down from $18 billion (1.445 trillion rubles) for the same period of 2024, according to data from Russia’s statistics agency Rosstat cited by The Moscow Times. The drop in oil prices,…

Crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 3.6 million barrels during the week ending June 6, 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 positive signs from trade talks between the United States and China. On Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a drop of 370,000 barrels in U.S. crude oil inventories, with a sizable build in gasoline and distillate stocks.…

The world economy is heading for its worst year since the 2008 financial crash, the World Bank has predicted, as most major economies suffered a growth downgrade due to trade tensions sparked by President Trump’s tariffs.  The UN-backed financial institution has predicted that global growth will come down to 2.3 percent this year as the effects of US tariffs are set to restrict GDP potential in more than two-thirds of countries across the world.  The downgrade to most economic powerhouses could hit British firms looking to grow…

Shell expects to add 12 million tons of LNG capacity volumes by the end of the decade from projects currently under construction, a top executive at the world’s largest LNG trader said on Wednesday. “(There is) up to 12 million tons of additional (LNG) capacity that we're adding between now and the end of the decade,” Cederic Cremers, President Integrated Gas at Shell, said at Wood Mackenzie’s conference Gas, LNG & The Future of Energy 2025, as carried by Reuters. The additional capacity will come from projects in Canada,…

Shell expects to add 12 million tons of LNG capacity volumes by the end of the decade from projects currently under construction, a top executive at the world’s largest LNG trader said on Wednesday. “(There is) up to 12 million tons of additional (LNG) capacity that we're adding between now and the end of the decade,” Cederic Cremers, President Integrated Gas at Shell, said at Wood Mackenzie’s conference Gas, LNG & The Future of Energy 2025, as carried by Reuters. The additional capacity will come from projects in Canada,…

Shell expects to add 12 million tons of LNG capacity volumes by the end of the decade from projects currently under construction, a top executive at the world’s largest LNG trader said on Wednesday. “(There is) up to 12 million tons of additional (LNG) capacity that we're adding between now and the end of the decade,” Cederic Cremers, President Integrated Gas at Shell, said at Wood Mackenzie’s conference Gas, LNG & The Future of Energy 2025, as carried by Reuters. The additional capacity will come from projects in Canada,…

Negotiators from the European Parliament and the EU member states have provisionally agreed to ease the bloc’s natural gas storage targets by allowing a 10 percentage point deviation in the 90% full storage goal, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing a draft document it has seen. The greater flexibility comes in response to the fears by several large gas-consuming nations in Europe that they would have to either subsidize storage filling when it’s uneconomical, or miss the targets. Countries will also be allowed a longer timeframe…

Saudi Arabia is getting ready to engage in a protracted oil price war with its rivals, Bank of America’s leading commodities expert told Bloomberg on Monday. According to Francisco Blanch, BofA’s head of commodities research, the unfolding oil price war is going to be “long and shallow”, rather than “short and steep” as the Kingdom tries to claw back lost market share, especially from U.S. shale producers. Last month, OPEC+ announced a third output increase of 411,000 b/d for the month of July, a similar clip…

Texas is pumping natural gas out of the ground and exporting it at a record pace. It may only be the start of another energy boom for the Lone Star State because natural gas demand is growing both globally and at home. Texas produced 34.1 billion cu ft daily of natural gas in March, newly released figures from the Texas Oil and Gas Association showed this week. The association forecast that by May, this will have grown to 34.4 billion cu ft daily. More than half of the March total was exported, at 12.5 billion cu ft daily, with the rest being consumed…

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have unveiled a process that generates hydrogen fuel using recycled soda cans and seawater, with overall carbon emissions on par with green hydrogen technologies. This approach relies on a chemical reaction between aluminum in the soda cans and water, which produces hydrogen.  In its natural state, aluminum rapidly forms a thin oxide layer when exposed to air, which prevents any further reaction. To get around this problem, the MIT team used a rare gallium-indium alloy to remove the oxide…

The computing industry is running out of energy. Though the technology in computer chips has been growing smaller and more energy efficient at a rapid clip for decades, advancements are set to slow down rapidly due to fundamental physical limitations. This is unfortunate timing, as the tech sector’s energy demands (and chip demands) are set to skyrocket as the growth of artificial intelligence’s already prodigious energy footprint outpaces the growth of new energy production capacity.  “The semiconductor industry will soon…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell again this week, this time by 370,000 barrels in the week ending June 6 after analysts had estimated a 700,000-barrel build. The API reported a 3.3 million barrel inventory decrease in the prior week. So far this year, crude oil inventories are up nearly 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 (SPR)…