India has seized three oil tankers involved in oil smuggling in what is believed to be the country’s first move against the growing shadow fleet of tankers.   The Indian Coast Guard has said that it busted on February 6 “an international oil-smuggling racket” in a land and sea operation. “The syndicate exploited mid-sea transfers in international waters to move cheap oil from conflict-ridden regions to motor tankers, evading duties owed to coastal states,” the Coast Guard added. The authorities intercepted three…

India’s coal demand could more than double by 2050 from current levels under current policies, a new report by NITI Aayog, the policy think tank of the Indian government, showed on Tuesday. Under the Current Policy Scenario (CPS), coal demand in India is forecast to rise even through 2070, according to the projections. In this scenario, long-term demand could more than double to 2.615 billion tons by 2050, up from 1.256 billion tons in 2025, the think tank’s analysis found. If India keeps the current policies, coal demand will be higher…

India’s coal demand could more than double by 2050 from current levels under current policies, a new report by NITI Aayog, the policy think tank of the Indian government, showed on Tuesday. Under the Current Policy Scenario (CPS), coal demand in India is forecast to rise even through 2070, according to the projections. In this scenario, long-term demand could more than double to 2.615 billion tons by 2050, up from 1.256 billion tons in 2025, the think tank’s analysis found. If India keeps the current policies, coal demand will be higher…

India’s coal demand could more than double by 2050 from current levels under current policies, a new report by NITI Aayog, the policy think tank of the Indian government, showed on Tuesday. Under the Current Policy Scenario (CPS), coal demand in India is forecast to rise even through 2070, according to the projections. In this scenario, long-term demand could more than double to 2.615 billion tons by 2050, up from 1.256 billion tons in 2025, the think tank’s analysis found. If India keeps the current policies, coal demand will be higher…

Rising U.S.–Iran tensions, and new U.S. maritime guidance are pushing oil higher as traders reassess geopolitical risk. Are Oil Majors Running Out of Reserves?- Shell’s disappointing 2025 results continue to create ripples across oil markets as the London-based energy major now only wields proven reserves of 8.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent, less than 8 years of its current production.- Shell is now facing a 200,000 boe/d production gap by 2030, despite its corporate policy pledging to grow total hydrocarbon output by 1% annually…

China’s LNG imports are set to rebound this year, rising by between 3% and 10% from 2025, driven by lower prices that are expected with the new supply wave, analysts have told Reuters. Purchases from China, the world’s top LNG importer, are set to total between 70.5 million and 75.5 million metric tons this year, which would be a 3-10% increase compared to 2025, analysts at several energy intelligence firms told Reuters. Last year saw a rare 10% drop in China’s imports. LNG demand softened considerably in 2025 as Chinese natural…

China’s LNG imports are set to rebound this year, rising by between 3% and 10% from 2025, driven by lower prices that are expected with the new supply wave, analysts have told Reuters. Purchases from China, the world’s top LNG importer, are set to total between 70.5 million and 75.5 million metric tons this year, which would be a 3-10% increase compared to 2025, analysts at several energy intelligence firms told Reuters. Last year saw a rare 10% drop in China’s imports. LNG demand softened considerably in 2025 as Chinese natural…

The rapid collapse of Venezuela’s oil industry triggered one of the world’s worst environmental disasters. This is exacerbated by Caracas’ drill at any cost mentality and strict U.S. sanctions, which amplified the intensity of the ecological catastrophe unfolding in the near-failed state. There are immense volumes of petroleum waste scattered across many sites, where it is leaching into the soil, waterways, and wetlands. With President Trump eagerly pushing U.S. drillers to invest the tens of billions of dollars required to rebuild…

Big Tech plans to spend hundreds of billions on AI this year, the industry leaders said this earnings season. In response, a stock sell-off followed as traders grew wary of the whole AI story. Looking for something safer, they went into energy stocks. Big Oil stocks, to be precise. Last week saw a sharp drop in Big Tech stocks as traders sold off their holdings on fears that artificial intelligence was about to replace software. NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang dismissed those fears, saying, “There's this notion that the tool industry is in…

Trading volume and open interest on China’s metals exchanges soared to record highs in January, fueled by retail investors flocking to what they believe are the next market winners—precious and industrial metals. So many bullish positions were open at the start of the year that the first negative signals sent global metals markets crashing from record highs and whipsawing in violent swings. At the end of 2025 and the start of 2026, speculators held record-high open interest in the base metals copper, zinc, nickel, tin, lead, and aluminum…

At first glance, Denmark’s flagship carbon capture and storage tender looks like a disappointment. A €4 billion subsidy scheme designed to catalyse a competitive CCS market ended with just one remaining bidder. Nine out of ten pre-qualified applicants walked away. Targets will not be fully met. Headlines quickly followed, framing the outcome as a failure. That interpretation is understandable. It is also incomplete. What happened in Denmark is less a policy collapse than a reality check. The tender exposed the gap between political ambition…

We are starting to see the beginnings of deglobalization: Countries are increasingly at odds with each other. There is wider disparity among political parties. Trump is making what look to many people like unreasonable demands, both within the US and around the world. I believe that there is an underlying problem that most people are missing. A worldwide shortage of diesel and jet fuel is forcing international trade to begin moving into a new downward phase, relative to the recent share of GDP shown on Figure 1. Figure 1. Trade as a share of GDP,…

British Oil and Gas giant Shell Plc. (NYSE:SHEL) needs an exploration breakthrough or a big merger after its oil reserves fell to the lowest levels since 2013, exposing the company to a production shortfall in less than a decade. Shell's so-called 'reserve life'--denoting how long its proven reserves can sustain production at current levels– has dropped to less than 8 years, significantly lower compared with Exxon (NYSE:XOM) and TotalEnergies (NYSE:TTE), each with reserve lives exceeding 12 years. Shell is now facing a production shortfall…

British Oil and Gas giant Shell Plc. (NYSE:SHEL) needs an exploration breakthrough or a big merger after its oil reserves fell to the lowest levels since 2013, exposing the company to a production shortfall in less than a decade. Shell's so-called 'reserve life'--denoting how long its proven reserves can sustain production at current levels– has dropped to less than 8 years, significantly lower compared with Exxon (NYSE:XOM) and TotalEnergies (NYSE:TTE), each with reserve lives exceeding 12 years. Shell is now facing a production shortfall…

The average margin on a US Gulf coast (USGC) cargo destined to Europe, including regasification costs, was $4.56 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) between 2023 and 2025, or $17.5 million per one LNG vessel, compared to negative margins prior and during the pandemic in 2019 and 2020. These attractive profits have spurred national oil companies and majors, sovereign wealth funds, private equity, Asian utilities and other energy buyers to flock to the USGC with their checkbooks to get in on the action. As a result, a flurry of LNG final investment…

Oilfield services firm Transocean (NYSE:RIG) will acquire offshore rig contractor Valaris (NYSE:VAL) in an all-stock deal valued at ~$5.8B, where Valaris shareholders will receive 15.235 shares of Transocean stock for each VAL share owned, representing a 31.6% premium based on the previous closing price. Transocean will own a 53% stake in the combined firm and Valaris will hold the remaining 47%. The transaction implies a combined enterprise value of ~$17B based on the stock’s most recent closing prices.  The new entity is set to become…

On 29 January 2026, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Ankara for the fourth meeting of the Türkiye–Uzbekistan High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council. The two leaders have met frequently over the past decade, including Erdogan’s working visit to Samarkand in 2016; Mirziyoyev’s state visit to Ankara in 2017; their March 2022 meeting in Tashkent, where they announced the upgrading of bilateral ties to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”; the June…

Money managers have increased bullish wagers on crude oil to the highest levels in months, with renewed geopolitical risk tied to Iran pushing energy markets back toward supply-focused trading, according to Bloomberg. Hedge funds increased net-long Brent crude positions by more than 31,000 contracts in the week ending February 3, lifting total long positions to nearly 278,000 lots, the highest level in roughly ten months. Data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission shows that money managers also raised net-long positions in WTI crude to…

Money managers have increased bullish wagers on crude oil to the highest levels in months, with renewed geopolitical risk tied to Iran pushing energy markets back toward supply-focused trading, according to Bloomberg. Hedge funds increased net-long Brent crude positions by more than 31,000 contracts in the week ending February 3, lifting total long positions to nearly 278,000 lots, the highest level in roughly ten months. Data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission shows that money managers also raised net-long positions in WTI crude to…

Affordability has become a big issue. Drivers see oil affordability increasing to the dismay of the drillers and electricity consumers see the opposite picture as prices rise. Politicians tell us not to worry because stock portfolios have risen in value and, therefore, people are richer and can afford more, but there is a good chance that the people with the affordability problem do not have a rising portfolio of stocks or gold to buffer the higher household bills. The following chart shows the percentage change in value of various measures of…