News
As U.S. natural gas prices jumped to a three-year high, coal has become a cheaper power-generating fuel for utilities, which are set to run coal-fired generators harder this winter. U.S. benchmark natural gas prices at Henry Hub have jumped from $4.23 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) at the start of November to above $5 per MMBtu by early December. Early on Friday, the front-month futures price was $5.084 per MMBtu. That’s the highest price in three years, as a polar vortex with freezing temperatures and snowstorms gripped most…
As the spread of renewable energy continues to ramp up around the world, finding more efficient and affordable technologies for energy storage has become a high-priority issue for global energy security. While energy storage addition is making huge strides across the world, leading technologies – most notably lithium-ion batteries – have some critical drawbacks. As a result, the race to find the tech breakthrough to replace lithium-ion batteries is on as “clean energy’s next trillion-dollar business” heats up. …
The machinery that powers the modern world, from industrial assembly lines to the cooling systems of data centers, is undergoing a massive, capital-intensive overhaul. According to a new analysis by Allied Market Research, the global electric motor market is projected to reach $373.9 billion by 2032, nearly tripling its 2020 valuation of $142.1 billion. The data reveals a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.5% from 2023 to 2032. But beyond the growth percentages, the report outlines a structural change in how the global economy consumes energy. …
Congress just overturned a Biden-era rule that had restricted how much of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s Coastal Plain could be leased for oil and gas. The Senate passed the resolution 49-45, using the Congressional Review Act to wipe out a 2024 Interior Department plan that kept large sections of the 1.56-million-acre area off-limits. Federal leasing will now revert to the broader 2020 Trump-era framework that opened essentially the entire Coastal Plain to development. For Alaska’s delegation and regional Native corporations,…
Notions of renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gases are nice, but costly energy prices are forcing a shift in Europe’s priorities. Reuters reported this week that two members of the European Union — Greece and Italy — and the UK are loosening their opposition to new oil and gas drilling, even as the continent builds out renewables to slash greenhouse gas emissions and meet climate targets. Greece in November issued its first offshore oil and gas exploration license in more than 40 years to a trio of companies including Exxon…
Energy Costs Prompt Europe To Reconsider Oil, Gas Opposition Europe’s Green Dreams Buckle Under the Weight of Its Power BillsSoaring Energy Costs Push Europe Back Into Oil and Gas’s ArmsEurope’s Transition Stalls as Voters Rebel Against Sky-High Electricity Prices The Most Boring Oil Month in Years Sets the Stage for a High-Stakes December When Germany earlier this year approved an offshore gas drilling project, it raised a lot of eyebrows. An energy transition champion, a record breaker in wind and solar installations, now Germany…
Pro?West Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al?Sudani performed strongly in the 11 November parliamentary elections – the seventh since Saddam Hussein’s fall in 2003. With turnout around 56%, Sudani’s Reconstruction and Development Coalition emerged as the largest faction, winning 1.3 million votes out of nearly 11 million cast, beating the pro-Iran State of Law Alliance by 370,000. However, Sudani’s faction still only received 15% of the seats in parliament, totalling 46 out of 329. On the other hand, pro-Iran…
A Texas oil firm is fighting an uphill battle with the state of California to restart crude oil production and sales from three platforms in federal waters offshore Santa Barbara. Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp, led by industry veteran James Flores, is embroiled in contentious legal battles with California’s agencies and attorney general over a project to restore and re-launch a pipeline from the offshore fields to the coast. Faced with California’s opposition and lawsuits, Sable is proposing an alternative plan to ship oil via shuttle…
In a recent article, a professor at the Naval Academy argues that “Trump can leverage the Arctic to end the Ukraine war.” It’s clear that Trump was excited by the possibilities the article raised in ending the war. Written by Lyle J. Goldstein, a research professor at the China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) at the US Naval War College. The author makes the case that the key to ending the war lies in the Arctic. Goldstein argues that Trump’s announced plan to end the war swiftly “seemed increasingly out of…
For decades, Nigeria’s oil industry has faced a multitude of challenges. Despite having vast quantities of crude, the mismanagement of revenue, weak agreements with international oil companies, an underinvestment in infrastructure, and widespread oil theft have left many opposed to the ongoing production of crude. Now, Nigeria has high hopes for its renewable energy sector, as it looks to diversify its energy sources and boost energy security over the coming years. Oil theft has long been a problem in Nigeria, affecting both the financial…
After the discovery of oil in Suriname’s territorial waters in January 2020, the government in the capital Paramaribo pitched its hopes on an oil boom matching that of neighboring Guyana. You see, decades of economic mismanagement, excessive spending, and corruption wreaked havoc on the former Dutch colony’s economy. Over the last decade, gross domestic product (GDP) collapsed, plunging by over 10%, hitting Suriname’s population of over 600,000 particularly hard. This exploded in violence during February 2023, with protestors…
Shale drillers are finding new and exciting ways to boost production in the Permian and elsewhere. This can make the industry more resilient to international price swings—but never fully resilient and never for very long. The pain from the prolonged price depression is beginning to bite in. Back in October, Kpler warned that U.S. oil production could shed 700,000 barrels daily if international oil prices slid lower than $60 per barrel. The analytics firm cited drilled but uncompleted well data showing the inventory of these wells had shrunk…
On 16 November 2025, at the Seventh Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia, the presidents of the “C5,” the Central Asia republics of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, announced the Republic of Azerbaijan would join the group, now christened the “C6.” In October 2023, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan attended the Fifth Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia and noted, “Azerbaijan is a reliable transit country along the route to…
Two conferences in the Middle East this month opened insights on energy and sustainability from a Middle Eastern perspective. The enormous ADIPEC event in Abu Dhabi brought together hundreds of speakers in 10 different strategic areas and numerous technical sessions across four days. Discussion of sustainability occurred within the context of an imperative for investment to sustain growth in all forms of energy and especially oil and gas. The spotlight was also on AI which received praise for already providing remarkable efficiency gains…
Growing domestic and export demand for Permian’s natural gas is pushing pipeline developers to invest in new pipeline capacity in the U.S. Gulf Coast. Chemical and manufacturing industries and data centers looking for reliable energy supply drive increased domestic consumption, while the booming LNG exports from the Texas and Louisiana coasts, and at least half a dozen new export plants expected to start up by the end of the decade, are prompting new-built or expanded links to feed gas to the LNG facilities. With a favorable in-state regulatory…
For decades, the joke was that nuclear fusion would always be 30 years away. Harnessing the process that powers our sun here on Earth was a lofty thought experiment ripped from the pages of a science fiction novel that smacked of futurism rather than pragmatism. But in the last few years, the rate of technological breakthroughs has sped up astronomically, finally making commercial fusion a matter of when, not if. Achieving fusion here on Earth requires staggering levels of heat – in the region of 100 million degrees Celsius –…
I’ve followed the promise of small modular reactors (SMRs) and next-generation nuclear in several of my earlier pieces on OilPrice. The argument is familiar: nuclear provides low-carbon baseload, ensures energy security, and will one day deliver affordable, clean power. It sounds persuasive, until you look at the numbers. New nuclear remains slow, expensive, and deeply reliant on state support. In today’s European power markets, where renewables are already driving prices to record lows or even negative territory, the idea that nuclear…
Many of the 80-plus countries at the COP30 climate conference in Brazil are pushing for a detailed road map that would phase out fossil fuels. Brazil has the presidency of the 30th conference of the parties under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the treaty signed in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro that binds the world to “avoid dangerous climate change”, without specifying how to do so. COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago is reportedly pushing for a decision on four issues that weren’t on the original agenda,…
Iraqis voted in a parliamentary election on 11 November and, though pre-election surveys predicted a record-low turnout, the final total turnout was 56.11% according to the Independent High Electoral Commission. (Turnout for the 2021 parliamentary election was 43.3%.) Incumbent prime minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani’s Construction and Development Coalition, won 46 seats in the 329-seat Council of Representatives of Iraq. Now the election is over and Sudani faces the task of building a governing coalition. (After the 2021 election,…
Chinese scientists have built and tested a floating droplet electricity generator (DEG) to turn the kinetic energy of raindrops into renewable power. Unlike conventional DEGs, which are used on land and are heavier and costlier, the floating device developed by researchers at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), with the support of Chinese state and provincial funding and programs, uses water for both structural and electric-generation components. In the research, published in the November issue of National Science Review,…
Mining giant BHP has been found liable for a dam disaster under both environmental law and the Brazilian civil code, in a significant ruling handed down by the High Court. The case stems from a deadly dam disaster in Brazil. On 5 November 2015, the Fundao dam in the south-eastern part of Brazil, operated by Samarco, a 50:50 joint venture owned by BHP and its peer Vale, failed, unleashing a deluge of thick, red, toxic mud that wiped out the village of Bento Rodrigues.The collapse of the Fundao dam killed 19 people and is the worst environmental…
Global LNG supply is rising and growth will accelerate in the next two years as major projects in the top exporters, the United States and China, come on stream. Supply growth is set to outpace the global LNG demand increase, leading to an oversupplied market from the end of 2026 onwards, analysts say. The coming glut will likely depress spot LNG prices in Asia, where the price-sensitive buyers such as South Asian importers India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh could benefit from the price drop and boost demand. For Europe, the expected LNG oversupply…
United States President Donald Trump is putting his money where his mouth is as he doubles down on efforts to accelerate the expansion of the country’s nuclear energy sector. The government will spend billions in public funding to reinvigorate U.S. nuclear power, following decades of underinvestment. Unlike renewable energy, Trump views nuclear power as key to expanding the U.S. electricity generation capacity and recently announced the target of quadrupling nuclear capacity by 2050. In May, President Trump signed an executive order calling…
Construction of a key cog in the Middle Corridor trade network known as TRIPP should begin during the second half of 2026, according to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. TRIPP, or the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, is a central feature of a provisional peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan signed in Washington in August. The corridor would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave across Armenian territory. In his most expansive comments to date concerning a construction timeline, Pashinyan told MPs that…
