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Concern has been rising that artificial intelligence is killing jobs, and there is evidence to support this. But in the energy industry, executives are loving AI. A fifth of energy companies are already using the technology, and an overwhelming majority of executives believe AI is a force for good. For energy, it has been. AI is driving energy demand much higher than ever before, and it has reasserted the reliability of supply as a top priority. In a report released this week, the UAE’s ADNOC and Microsoft reported that 87% of companies they…
Shipping and aviation are considered to be some of the hardest to abate sectors when it comes to decarbonization. Together, these two sectors account for a whopping 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and that figure is likely going to rise as more goods are shipped and more flights are booked each and every year. But a new biofuels breakthrough may provide a long-range fuel alternative for the heavy transport and aviation industries. Emissions from the aviation sector have quadrupled since the 1960s, even as flying has become more than twice…
After decades of stagnation, nuclear energy is staging a comeback — and it’s no longer the gigawatt-scale reactors of the past leading the charge. Small modular reactors, once dismissed as niche or speculative, have moved to the center of a global energy and geopolitical pivot. Their appeal lies in scalability, siting flexibility, and the promise of dedicated, carbon-free baseload power—a vital ingredient in an era defined by the AI energy demand surge and industrial decarbonization. The shift from ambitious blueprints to billion-dollar…
In the ongoing digital transformation of the energy industry, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as one of the most discussed — and misunderstood — tools available to operators. While the promises of AI often stretch toward the speculative, the technology’s most immediate and profound impact is already visible in how companies organize, interpret, and act upon data. For national oil companies (NOCs), this impact is potentially transformative. Unlike many private firms, NOCs sit atop immense, often underutilized data reservoirs…
Trump has launched the United States’ most aggressive rare-earth and critical-minerals expansion in more than a decade, signing over $10 billion in supply-chain deals across Australia, Japan, Malaysia, and Thailand in less than a week. The flurry of agreements aims to cut China’s 90 percent grip on global refining capacity and establish a network of Indo-Pacific partners for mining, processing, and stockpiling key materials vital to defense and clean-tech industries.On Tuesday, the United States and Japan signed an agreement to secure…
US retail power prices have surged 13% since 2022, outpacing the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and driving higher costs for consumers. While many have pointed to rising demand from data centers as the culprit for the increase, Rystad Energy’s analysis shows that data centers have yet to significantly influence power prices in the current terms. Our research points to the full price impact of data centers emerging closer to 2030, driven by the completion of a wave of data center infrastructure and more centers coming online. Rystad predicts that…
Global satellite-detected methane emissions from the onshore upstream oil and gas sector ticked up late last year and into the first quarter of 2025, reversing a steady decline since 2020. Rystad Energy analysis, supported by satellite detection, highlights stark regional differences: China’s emissions surged nearly one-third year on year, while the US recorded a smaller rise of 4%. Russia, on the other hand, posted a 5% drop in the first quarter, largely due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict leading to lower production volumes. Detected…
The U.S. federal government this week declared sanctions on two of the largest Russian crude oil exporters, Rosneft and Lukoil, which together account for about half of the country’s total outflows. Oil prices jumped, traders got excited—then prices fell. But the supply security of some major importers just got problematic. Russia exports around 4 million barrels of crude oil daily. Some of the major producers have already been sanctioned earlier – Gazprom Neft, for example, and Surgutneftegaz. Rosneft and Lukoil are also the…
In an inflammatory social media post, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Colombia’s first-ever leftwing President Gustavo Petro of colluding with drug traffickers, calling him “an illegal drug leader”. Trump, in an increasingly hardline stance, called for the cessation of U.S. aid and imposition of further steep tariffs on Colombia. He even went as far as threatening military strikes if narcotics trafficking does not end. This is testing the historically close alliance between the United States and Colombia, which is Latin America’s…
Tony Blair’s think tank has called for the government to ditch its 2030 clean power target as it urged the Labour government to focus on making electricity cheaper in order to persuade Brits to use it over gas. In a report published by the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), researchers called for the government to “solve” problems including the decline of North Sea oil production, which had made the UK less secure. It is the latest indication that Blair has split from Keir Starmer’s government on key issues after the…
Annual conventional discovered volumes once averaged more than 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per year in the early 2010s, but these have fallen to nearly one-third of that, with analysis by Rystad Energy showing global discoveries have averaged slightly over 8 billion boe annually since 2020 despite several standout frontier finds in Namibia, Suriname, and Guyana. Despairingly, the yearly average declines further to about 5.5 billion boe between 2023 and September this year. The contraction reflects a strategic change where the global…
Two drastically different trends in energy careers are taking place on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. While the Trump administration pulls back billions of dollars in clean energy funding and seeks to prop up coal careers, the United Kingdom is rolling out a plan to add 400,000 clean energy jobs to the national economy. Just this week Edward Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change of the United Kingdom, announced a national plan to train hundreds of thousands of plumbers, electricians, carpenters, welders, HVAC installers,…
A study by X-energy Canada has confirmed the feasibility and benefits of repurposing an existing thermal generation site in Alberta with X-energy's small modular reactors, World Nuclear News reports. Funded by Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA), the study found that the Xe-100 high-temperature gas-cooled reactor is uniquely suited to Alberta's energy needs. As well as producing electricity, it is specifically designed to provide 565°C heat and steam for industrial applications, unlocking a broad range of use cases for Alberta's industrial…
The last decade has been especially grueling for Ecuador’s economically vital oil industry. Plummeting investment, heavily corroded infrastructure, endemic corruption, violent protests, severe oil spills and rising insecurity are all weighing on operations. The sharp decline in oil production is weighing heavily on government finances at a time of increased spending due to a national security crisis. To rescue the economically crucial industry and boost fiscal revenue, President Daniel Noboa launched a $47 billion plan to revive Ecuador’s…
Wireless charging for electric vehicles (EVs) is quickly becoming a serious commercial option, backed by global safety standards, proven technology, and major funding from governments. This "park and charge" technology is now an official part of the growing EV market, aiming to make owning an electric car much simpler for consumers. The core idea is simple: charge a car just by parking it over a special pad. Industry experts view this hands-free approach as a key way to boost EV adoption because it solves the hassle of plugging in cables.…
The world’s power grids need a major upgrade to keep pace with growing rates of electrification and the ever-increasing energy demands of big data. A cleaner energy landscape means a whole lot more electricity demand, as we switch from gas-powered vehicles and appliances to newer, cleaner models that need to plug into the grid to charge. This means that expanding grid capacity and making our aging grids smarter and more flexible will be essential to maintaining energy security for the future – but grid infrastructure remains woefully…
The recent increase in gold prices in the United States and around the world has been driven by a confluence of economic, financial, and political factors. This environment, where gold has outperformed U.S. GDP and the four major U.S. stock markets, began in 2000 and has continued to date (see Exhibits 1, 2, 3). We outline 13 reasons why gold has outperformed most major investments and why it is likely to continue attracting individual and institutional investors. 1. A haven during uncertain times. Throughout history, people —…
It is said that in times of great division, a common enemy can be a force for unification. And that common enemy has arrived, in the form of energy-sucking data centers and their wholesale attack on energy prices. As the artificial intelligence boom continues to pick up speed, massive data center projects are being greenlit left and right, and the communities expected to foot the bill for this expansion are starting to fight back — even if it means reaching across the aisle. While political debates over data centers are not yet cropping…
The dispute between Venezuela and Guyana over the mineral-rich Essequibo escalated after ExxonMobil made over 30 world-class discoveries, containing 11 billion barrels of crude oil, in the prolific Stabroek Block. By late 2023, Guyana was a regular target of Caracas’ bellicose saber rattling with threats of annexation and invasion, forcing the government in Georgetown to seek security assurances from Washington. While the White House’s deployment of U.S. warships off the coast of Venezuela sparked considerable consternation across Latin…
The rapid rise of artificial intelligence is placing unprecedented strain on global energy sources and grid infrastructure. In response to runaway projected growth trends, public and private investors are fast-tracking new data center projects at a massive scale. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global investment in data centers reached half a trillion dollars in 2024, representing a nearly two-fold increase over the course of two years. But this rate data center addition has produced a new problem, as their construction is currently…
Lithium-ion batteries power the world. You probably have at least one – but probably two or three – within reach right this very moment. Lithium-ion batteries power a whopping 70 percent of all rechargeable devices, ranging in size and scope from electric vehicles to smartphones to utility-scale energy storage. But while the technology has become nearly ubiquitous in our daily lives, there is still a lot that we still don’t understand about the physical and chemical processes that power lithium-ion batteries. Until now, many aspects…
Earlier this month, a top Shell executive warned that the Trump administration’s animosity towards offshore wind risks complicating investment decisions for oil and gas as well. Uncertainty was the word Collette Hirstius used. Uncertainty has become the dominant sentiment in energy circles—and it’s not just because of Trump. Speaking to the Financial Times, Shell’s Hirstius said that “I think uncertainty in the regulatory environment is very damaging. However far the pendulum swings one way, it’s likely that…
ExxonMobil has restarted the gasoline-producing fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) at its massive Beaumont, Texas, refinery, two days after an unexpected shutdown temporarily disrupted operations, according to sources familiar with the plant. The 120,000-barrel-per-day FCCU went offline Tuesday night following a malfunction, prompting flaring visible across the refinery complex. The company notified the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that flaring would continue for roughly 24 hours. Exxon confirmed neither the cause nor the duration…
Oil prices edged higher over the past week, after a bullish OPEC+ move while expanding strategic oil stocks in China have continued removing extra barrels from global markets, even though Thursday saw some paring of those gains on the Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks. Previously, there was speculation that OPEC+ was considering accelerating the return of the April 2023 tranche of voluntary output cuts from 137 thousand barrels per day (kb/d), which would result in a 12-month process, to 500kb/d, which would remove the remaining tranche in just…
