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Electrification has become the focus of global climate talks as COP31 draws closer. We already have the technologies to transition away from direct consumption of fossil fuels and toward electricity in our vehicles, homes, businesses, and industry – it is now just a matter of scaling those technologies and doing it at an unprecedented pace, supported by strong policy measures from global leadership. The central pledge that will be on the table at the upcoming 31st annual United Nations climate conference, to be hosted in Türkiye…
The global energy landscape is undergoing a rapid transformation as the age of electrification takes hold and the runway growth of artificial intelligence introduces new challenges and possibilities for energy production and use, as well as the ways that our power grids operate. As a result, an increasingly complex nexus is emerging at the intersection of digitalisation, artificial intelligence and grid flexibility that could be make-or-break for the future of energy security. The issue is not that we don’t have the technology to keep up…
Singapore is in an energy pickle. The island nation is still reeling from high oil and gas prices driven by the war in Iran, and is scrambling to build up alternative and indigenous energy sources. The problem is that there’s almost nowhere to build it. As the second-most densely populated country in the world (after Monaco), Singapore has an enormous need for energy and problematically scarce land parcels on which to develop it. Because of these parameters, Singapore needs to look toward the most energy-dense energy production options, leading…
China this week announced it will suspend all fuel exports this month to keep its domestic market supplied. Also this week, President Donald Trump demanded that Germany and France release 120 million barrels of diesel from their storage or get hit with a U.S. diesel export ban. Europe is running out of options to stay well supplied with a critical fuel. Diesel is the fuel, on which any economy runs. While it may feature less commonly in passenger cars these days, diesel is the default fuel for heavy machinery, agriculture, and freight transport.…
The green hydrogen hype has all but stalled out – but could white hydrogen take its place as the next big thing in decarbonization? Geologic hydrogen, so-called ‘white’ hydrogen, could potentially bypass the most critical barriers to scaling hydrogen use without significantly expanding the sector’s carbon footprint. While the technology is still nascent, it could one day decarbonize some of the world’s hardest-to-abate industrial sectors. This form of hydrogen involves sourcing naturally occurring hydrogen found…
President Donald Trump said Friday that South Korea’s investment agreement with the United States now includes $8.4 billion for an enhanced oil recovery project. Seoul says it agreed to no such thing. “The Republic of Korea Deal keeps getting BETTER! 8.4 Billion Dollars for an enhanced Oil Recovery Project. Producing more Oil and Gas means American Energy Dominance and Energy Security in the World for the Future!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is used to squeeze more production from aging fields after…
Venezuela’s oil exports fell nearly 9% in September to 1.08 million barrels per day as soaring tanker costs forced traders to demand steeper discounts and delayed cargoes leaving the country. Global trading houses, including Vitol and Trafigura, pressed PDVSA for better terms as freight costs chew into margins, and tanker reroutings added to shipping delays that had already accumulated over the summer. The United States took more Venezuelan crude despite the overall decline. Shipments rose to 629,000 bpd from 553,000 bpd in August. India…
The United States Department of Energy (DoE) is offering up $215 million in funding to help domestic firms develop the world’s first reliable quantum computer. The race to unlock quantum computing has heated up as the next-gen technology has arisen as a potential solution to the Pandora's box of energy demand that the AI boom has opened. The DoE’s Quantum Genesis Q Competition is now accepting proposals on ideas for how to “deploy quantum computers with at least 100 logical qubits that are capable of performing hundreds…
The U.S. federal government has come up with an alternative to a diesel fuel export ban that could alleviate the price pain at the pump by boosting the availability of a tax-free sort of diesel. That’s according to unnamed sources quoted by Reuters this week. It is unclear if the idea is a replacement for the ban or will complement it, should a ban be approved. The fuel in question is red-dyed diesel, which is used in agriculture and construction, among other industries. Also called off-road diesel, the fuel is literally dyed red to distinguish…
The fuel trading market is expanding from an established group of specialized desks at oil majors, commodity trading houses, and refiners to AI-assisted trades. AI could either make the sometimes opaque fuel trading a level playing field for many new entrants or break the market by overcrowding it in some trades, as Reuters columnist Clyde Russell notes in a recent commentary. The AI boom and the race to offer and receive “actionable insights” in seconds are equally tempting for the developers of the technology, the commodity analytics…
The Trump Administration is touting the new oil order in Venezuela as a tremendous opportunity for reviving the industry in the world’s biggest crude oil resource holder. The U.S.-led restructuring of the sector kicked out Russian and Chinese companies out of previously awarded concessions, and spurred a flurry of oil deals with oil majors, the biggest oilfield service providers, and relatively unknown newcomers—all with the purpose of boosting Venezuela’s oil production and exporting a large part of it to the United States. The…
Global natural gas supply is likely to remain tighter than it should be until next summer at least, and it could cause prolonged demand destruction. Should this scenario materialize, it would deliver a severe blow to Europe, as it already struggles to cover its winter gas needs ahead of the official start of heating season—but Asia won’t be happy about it, either. The prediction comes from the International Gas Union, an industry association that covers 90% of the world’s gas producers. “The market right now is saying that…
Nigeria has ambitious energy plans for the coming decades, including expanding its oil industry and accelerating the development of its renewable energy sector. In recent years, Nigeria has begun to solidify its position as a major energy power in Africa. This led the International Energy Agency (IEA) Governing Board to decide in June to welcome Nigeria as an Association country. Nigeria joins South Africa, Kenya, and Senegal as an IEA Association country in sub-Saharan Africa. To solidify the agreement, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol…
The energy crisis caused by the United States and Israel’s war in Iran could be just what the world needed to achieve 35 percent electrification by 2035. This goal, “35 by ‘35” has emerged as a key platform of the upcoming COP31 United Nations climate conference, to be held in Antalya, Türkiye, from November 9 to 20, 2026. And experts say that a number of factors, including volatile oil and gas markets stemming from the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz, have put that goal within “striking distance.”…
China just broke ground on a revolutionary new hybridized energy production and storage facility. The power plant will store excess energy in the form of molten salt, and then produce electricity during peak demand times through a supercritical carbon dioxide system. The goal of the project is to limit energy waste while also stabilizing the local power grid. The project could also inform future next-gen energy and energy storage systems, including for application in the nuclear power sector and even on the moon. Construction of the Ruitan…
Emerging economies are going to see an explosion of energy demand over the coming decades. Countries like Brazil, India, Nigeria, and Indonesia are racing to expand their energy production and imports in order to keep up with rapid economic development. While the leaders of these and other emerging economies are making a concerted effort to expand their renewable energy capacity, meeting demand will require an all-of-the-above approach to energy that will extend the life of oil and gas, according to a new report from S&P Global. According to…
Power technologies are usually compared by asking how much their electricity costs. That is no longer enough. Electricity demand is accelerating, driven by data centers, electrification, new factories and cooling. The International Energy Agency expects global data-center consumption alone to more than double to around 945 TWh by 2030—slightly more than Japan consumes today. A power plant that is cheap in 2035 cannot supply a data center that wants to connect in 2028. As demand begins arriving faster than conventional generating capacity,…
Some of the world’s largest oil and gas companies have adopted a new modus operandi ever since the historic oil price crash of 2020 devastated energy companies, prioritizing returning more cash to shareholders while expansion plans have been put on the back burner. Indeed, over the past five years, Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), British Petroleum (NYSE:BP), Shell (NYSE:SHEL) and TotalEnergies (NYSE:TTE) have collectively spent more than $100 billion annually in dividends and buybacks, good for nearly 80% of their earnings. Hardly…
Liquefied natural gas prices on the spot market are moving higher as demand picks up seasonally and Asian importers are souring on the fuel. European buyers are stepping up purchases, however, despite the price. They have no choice. Asian demand for liquefied gas is set to decline this month—and over the year—according to analysts. September flows of LNG into Asian countries are estimated at 20.09 million tons by Kpler, which would be down from 22.27 million tons a year ago, and 22.25 million tons a month ago, Reuters’ Clyde Russell…
French President Emmanuel Macron is calling the G7 back to the table to discuss another release of emergency oil stocks as Europe loses Saudi crude deliveries and diesel prices push deeper into record territory. Macron said Friday that he will convene G7 countries in the coming weeks to coordinate stock levels, exports and production capacity and consider tapping strategic reserves. France is also working to secure diesel, jet fuel and natural gas supplies for the coming months. Europe has a useful card left to play. Unlike the U.S. Strategic Petroleum…
The United States is desperate to claw back some of the global critical minerals share from China. Beijing has established near-total dominance in international supply chains over the last several decades through its far-reaching Belt and Road Initiative in addition to other deals and programs that have given China a massive presence in mineral-rich countries and emerging markets across the globe. This gives Beijing critical economic and political leverage as these materials become ever more sought after to power the global tech manufacturing sector,…
Argentina's controversial right-wing president, Javier Milei, slashed inflation with a brutal dose of economic austerity, but this came at a steep social cost. The cost of living is spiraling higher, fueling household debt, loan delinquencies, and economic hardship. Industrial output, since Milei took office, has declined sharply, with local companies closing at an alarming rate. While parts of the economy are falling into chaos, Argentina's oil and gas sector is experiencing a generational boom driven by the Vaca Muerta shale. Argentina's vital…
The artificial intelligence boom is driving a new wave of autonomous cyberattacks, posing a major and growing threat to critical infrastructure, including the energy grid. Ninety percent of state government chief intelligence officers recently reported that cyberattacks on critical services – including threats to water and wastewater systems, hospitals, transportation, and energy and communication networks – is a matter of great concern, according to a new report from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers and…
Scientists at MIT have discovered a new way to extract high-purity hydrogen from ammonia while using a lot less energy than previous technologies. The breakthrough could provide a critical inroad toward reducing the energy and ecological footprint of the hydrogen sector, which powers a wide range of industrial processes and technologies from fuel cells to computer chip manufacturing. Green hydrogen has often been touted as a silver-bullet solution for decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors like the shipping industry and steelmaking, as…
