AI is changing energy systems, but data centers are only a small part of the impact. Much has been written and said about how the data center and AI boom are consuming and will consume increasingly higher shares of global electricity demand, and grids are struggling to meet soaring demand. Fossil Fuel Gains Could Outweigh Emissions Cuts from Renewables Arguably, a fundamental change in the energy system may not come from surging power demand, but from the efficiencies and productivity gains AI will help energy companies achieve, according to a…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 328,000 barrels in the week ending August 14. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories rose by 9.072 million barrels on the back of increased imports, decreased exports, and a sizeable injection from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost just over 49 million barrels over the last eighteen weeks, with US crude inventories up 1.88 million for the year, according to API data, kept…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 328,000 barrels in the week ending August 14. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories rose by 9.072 million barrels on the back of increased imports, decreased exports, and a sizeable injection from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost just over 49 million barrels over the last eighteen weeks, with US crude inventories up 1.88 million for the year, according to API data, kept…

Green hydrogen research and development has found itself in limbo, once again. Enthusiasm for the resource’s potential as a clean energy solution in hard-to-abate sectors like steelmaking, shipping, and transportation has waxed and waned over the last decade as the technology has made incremental progress but largely failed to meet expectations. While the war in Iran breathed some new life into the sector as a potential alternative to oil and gas, that new wave of optimism faces major economic headwinds. Take the state of California. The…

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has predicted that the Strait of Hormuz will become “irrelevant” within two years, and with Gulf oil producers already building their way around it, millions of barrels may prove him right for a short time.  Months into the Iran war, the UAE, Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar are moving more than 4 million barrels per day through a shadow export network of AIS-dark shuttle tankers and ship-to-ship transfers outside the Persian Gulf, keeping millions of barrels flowing through a waterway that has largely…

Saudi Arabia spent weeks finding ways around the Strait of Hormuz. Now it is starting to send tankers straight back through it. Saudi Aramco resumed crude loadings from its Ras Tanura and Juaymah terminals inside the strait last week, ending a three-week gap in activity at the ports, according to Kpler and Vortexa data cited by Reuters. Three VLCCs—Malaysia Prosperity, Algeria Prosperity and Singapore Prosperity—each loaded roughly 2 million barrels between August 12 and August 16. Six more VLCCs could load Saudi crude from inside Hormuz…

Saudi Arabia spent weeks finding ways around the Strait of Hormuz. Now it is starting to send tankers straight back through it. Saudi Aramco resumed crude loadings from its Ras Tanura and Juaymah terminals inside the strait last week, ending a three-week gap in activity at the ports, according to Kpler and Vortexa data cited by Reuters. Three VLCCs—Malaysia Prosperity, Algeria Prosperity and Singapore Prosperity—each loaded roughly 2 million barrels between August 12 and August 16. Six more VLCCs could load Saudi crude from inside Hormuz…

Despite apparent financing difficulties hovering over the construction of nuclear reactors in Uzbekistan, the Russian nuclear agency Rosatom has announced it is developing a training program for Uzbek technicians who will eventually operate the plant. Rosatom specialists need to develop new, specific training modules for what is envisioned as an “integrated nuclear plant” featuring the operation of both large-scale and small modular reactors. “This requires developing training materials tailored to the specifics of small reactors,…

Brent and WTI futures remain below $100 a barrel on Tuesday morning, partly suppressed by governments releasing strategic oil reserves into global markets. But the more serious issue is building downstream, where the Russia-Ukraine war, strikes against energy infrastructure, and continued disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz are fueling the refined-products "perfect storm" we have repeatedly warned about. Oil extended gains this morning, with Brent trading around $91 a barrel after another vessel attack was reported near the Hormuz maritime…

Chinese exports of solar cells and panels dropped in July as the removal of the local export tax rebate as of April 1 continued to depress exports for the third straight month. China’s solar equipment exports declined by 21.4% last month from a year earlier, according to Chinese customs data cited by Reuters on Tuesday. The world’s top solar panel and cell manufacturer scrapped, effective April 1, 2026, export tax rebates for the value added tax (VAT) of photovoltaic products, including solar cells and panels. China will also withdraw…

Chinese exports of solar cells and panels dropped in July as the removal of the local export tax rebate as of April 1 continued to depress exports for the third straight month. China’s solar equipment exports declined by 21.4% last month from a year earlier, according to Chinese customs data cited by Reuters on Tuesday. The world’s top solar panel and cell manufacturer scrapped, effective April 1, 2026, export tax rebates for the value added tax (VAT) of photovoltaic products, including solar cells and panels. China will also withdraw…

Russia's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the Yabloko party, the sole officially registered party to openly oppose Moscow's war on Ukraine, against its removal from the ballot for September parliamentary elections. In a separate hearing on August 17, a court in the city of Pskov sentenced an outspoken deputy chairman of Yabloko, Lev Shlosberg, to more than 11 years in prison after convicting him under a law designed to punish critics of the war. The rulings display the Kremlin's determination to silence dissent, particularly when it comes…

Gulf oil producers are finding new ways around the Strait of Hormuz, but bypassing the world’s biggest oil chokepoint creates new risks. VLCC Rates Go Ballistic as Hormuz Turns Into a Freight Jackpot - VLCC prices are ballooning out of control (once again), pushing assessed earnings for a Middle East-to-China voyage beyond $500,000 per day as the flow of vessels moving out of the Gulf trickled down to a mere couple per day. - Amidst news that Saudi Aramco resumed crude loadings at its key Ras Tanura export terminal, VLCC fixing costs for…

Brent at $90.94 looks almost civilized. Jeff Currie thinks that is exactly the problem: everyone is staring at crude while the real energy shock is already showing up in the fuels people actually buy. “Nobody on the planet earth consumes crude oil,” Currie told CNBC. Refineries do. Everyone else consumes gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, and those markets look considerably uglier. European diesel was trading around $170 per barrel during the interview, Currie said, almost twice Brent’s current $90.94. WTI was trading at $84.94 Tuesday.…

Brent at $90.94 looks almost civilized. Jeff Currie thinks that is exactly the problem: everyone is staring at crude while the real energy shock is already showing up in the fuels people actually buy. “Nobody on the planet earth consumes crude oil,” Currie told CNBC. Refineries do. Everyone else consumes gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, and those markets look considerably uglier. European diesel was trading around $170 per barrel during the interview, Currie said, almost twice Brent’s current $90.94. WTI was trading at $84.94 Tuesday.…

Brent at $90.94 looks almost civilized. Jeff Currie thinks that is exactly the problem: everyone is staring at crude while the real energy shock is already showing up in the fuels people actually buy. “Nobody on the planet earth consumes crude oil,” Currie told CNBC. Refineries do. Everyone else consumes gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, and those markets look considerably uglier. European diesel was trading around $170 per barrel during the interview, Currie said, almost twice Brent’s current $90.94. WTI was trading at $84.94 Tuesday.…

Romania has this week restarted a 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant to partially offset the generation lost by the closure of nuclear electricity output after the low water level on the Danube river forced a shutdown of the country’s only nuclear power plant. Romania, which lost 20% of its power generation with the closure of both rectors at its Cernavoda nuclear power plant, has restarted the Rovinari Group 4 coal-fired power unit. The additional coal-fired generation is adding nearly 300 megawatts (MW) to the National Energy System, Cristian…

Romania has this week restarted a 300-megawatt coal-fired power plant to partially offset the generation lost by the closure of nuclear electricity output after the low water level on the Danube river forced a shutdown of the country’s only nuclear power plant. Romania, which lost 20% of its power generation with the closure of both rectors at its Cernavoda nuclear power plant, has restarted the Rovinari Group 4 coal-fired power unit. The additional coal-fired generation is adding nearly 300 megawatts (MW) to the National Energy System, Cristian…

Britain faces a simple choice. While we still need oil and gas, do we produce more of it here, supporting jobs, investment, energy security and lower production emissions, or do we import more from overseas, which costs more and involves higher emissions? That is the real question facing ministers as they consider Jackdaw and Rosebank. With extreme weather becoming ever more visible, the need to tackle climate change is beyond doubt. The UK must scale up renewable and low-carbon energy, but people deserve honesty. Even on our path to net zero,…

Power Metals is advancing what it describes as North America’s only cesium project at a time when America’s defense ambitions are colliding with the reality of critical mineral supply chains. The U.S. imports 100% of its required cesium, a rare mineral used in atomic clocks, GPS systems, aerospace solar technology, advanced communications networks, and high-tech defense equipment. That could make a high-grade cesium discovery in Ontario a potential source of new North American supply. And now it’s moved from a discovery story…