ExxonMobil and Chevron made a combined $26.5 billion in the second quarter after producing more oil, refining more fuel, and selling all of it into a market scrambled by war. Washington is investigating why gasoline costs so much. Chevron reported record net income of $12.2 billion, nearly five times its year-ago profit. Exxon earned $14.5 billion, double what it made during the same quarter last year and its best result since oil prices soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Iran war sent crude prices sky high after Gulf production…

ExxonMobil and Chevron made a combined $26.5 billion in the second quarter after producing more oil, refining more fuel, and selling all of it into a market scrambled by war. Washington is investigating why gasoline costs so much. Chevron reported record net income of $12.2 billion, nearly five times its year-ago profit. Exxon earned $14.5 billion, double what it made during the same quarter last year and its best result since oil prices soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Iran war sent crude prices sky high after Gulf production…

ExxonMobil and Chevron made a combined $26.5 billion in the second quarter after producing more oil, refining more fuel, and selling all of it into a market scrambled by war. Washington is investigating why gasoline costs so much. Chevron reported record net income of $12.2 billion, nearly five times its year-ago profit. Exxon earned $14.5 billion, double what it made during the same quarter last year and its best result since oil prices soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Iran war sent crude prices sky high after Gulf production…

ExxonMobil and Chevron made a combined $26.5 billion in the second quarter after producing more oil, refining more fuel, and selling all of it into a market scrambled by war. Washington is investigating why gasoline costs so much. Chevron reported record net income of $12.2 billion, nearly five times its year-ago profit. Exxon earned $14.5 billion, double what it made during the same quarter last year and its best result since oil prices soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Iran war sent crude prices sky high after Gulf production…

ExxonMobil and Chevron made a combined $26.5 billion in the second quarter after producing more oil, refining more fuel, and selling all of it into a market scrambled by war. Washington is investigating why gasoline costs so much. Chevron reported record net income of $12.2 billion, nearly five times its year-ago profit. Exxon earned $14.5 billion, double what it made during the same quarter last year and its best result since oil prices soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Iran war sent crude prices sky high after Gulf production…

Kyrgyzstan’s election to a two-year term on the United Nations Security Council came after a diligent campaign to gain support for its candidacy. It means a Central Asian state will have a seat on the UN’s most powerful body for the second time since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Attention now turns to what Kyrgyzstan wants to do — and what it will be able to do — on the Security Council. “This is a new test for us,” Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov said during a speech in late June. “We view membership…

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, bringing the total rig count in the US to 588, up 48 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs rose by 1, reaching 451 during the latest reporting period, according to the data. This is 41 above this same time last year. The number of gas rigs stayed the same at 127, which is 3 more than this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs stayed at 10. The latest EIA data showed that weekly…

Ukraine has struck one of Russia’s biggest refineries, Lukoil’s Volgograd processing facility, the Ukrainian forces said on Friday as they resumed attacks on Russian refining capacity. The Volgograd refinery, which has the capacity to process 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, produces gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. It was hit by Ukrainian forces, Ukraine’s Security Service said in a Telegram post on Friday. The hit was “successful,” Ukraine said, without offering details as to the extent of damage. Andrei Bocharov,…

Ukraine has struck one of Russia’s biggest refineries, Lukoil’s Volgograd processing facility, the Ukrainian forces said on Friday as they resumed attacks on Russian refining capacity. The Volgograd refinery, which has the capacity to process 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, produces gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. It was hit by Ukrainian forces, Ukraine’s Security Service said in a Telegram post on Friday. The hit was “successful,” Ukraine said, without offering details as to the extent of damage. Andrei Bocharov,…

Brent is set for an 8% weekly loss, but ongoing disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea continue to support oil prices near $90 a barrel. Friday, July 31, 2026 Oil prices are set for an 8% weekly loss after the sell-off earlier this week was halted by the reality of two disrupted waterways in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia seeking to organize a maritime coalition against the Houthis. The IRGC claims to have turned around several tankers in the Strait of Hormuz; however, that could also suggest shippers won’t give up on exiting…

Iranian-designed drones have wreaked havoc for Ukrainian forces battling Russian troops as Moscow took Tehran's technology and ran with it, supercharging production and deploying drones in devastating droves in its all-out war against Kyiv. As far as Ukraine is concerned, that makes Iran an indirect combatant. And that means Iranian cargo ships heading to Russia are fair game as far as military targets go. That's what happened this weekend in the Caspian Sea, and Tehran is not happy.Moscow's 53-month-old invasion has scrambled politics for Europe.…

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) is making one of the most significant changes to Middle Eastern crude pricing in years, announcing that all of its Abu Dhabi crude grades will move to a prompt-month pricing methodology based on the Platts Dubai benchmark from November 1, 2026. The move marks a notable evolution in the company's pricing strategy. Rather than pricing cargoes two months ahead using ICE Futures Abu Dhabi (IFAD) Murban futures, ADNOC will now price Murban, Das, Upper Zakum and Umm Lulu against prompt-month Platts Dubai, with…

ADNOC is changing the pricing formula used for its flagship crude grades. The oil giant said Friday it will move away from its ICE Futures Abu Dhabi-based pricing methodology, which prices crude off the Murban futures contract two months ahead of loading, and switch to a prompt-month system built around the Platts Dubai benchmark.  The change takes effect Nov. 1 and covers all four of ADNOC's Abu Dhabi grades: Murban, Das, Umm Lulu and Upper Zakum. Under the new formula, ADNOC will set official selling prices using the Platts Dubai assessment…

Global coal consumption reached another record in 2025, seemingly contradicting years of discussion about phasing out the world’s most carbon-intensive fossil fuel. But the headline number does not tell the whole story. The latest Statistical Review of World Energy shows that global coal consumption rose to 166.0 exajoules last year. That represented an increase of 0.7% from 2024. At the same time, global electricity generation from coal declined. Coal-fired power production fell 0.3% to 10,511 terawatt-hours. Those two trends are not mutually…

Iran on Friday claimed it launched attacks on U.S. military assets in Bahrain and Kuwait amid the latest re-escalation of hostilities in the region, which dashed the hopes from early this week that there could be a swift return to diplomacy. Iran’s army targeted the Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait, Iranian media reported on Friday. “In a direct response to recent U.S. aggressions on southern Iran, the Iranian Army has conducted precision drone strikes against key strategic facilities at Kuwait's Ahmed Al-Jaber Air Base, targeting…

September WTI crude oil futures were trading at $84.12 late Thursday, down $6.35, or 7.02%, for the week. With Friday’s session still ahead, the weekly result is not final. But the week’s main story is clear: crude sold off hard when traders thought diplomacy could restore a workable route through the Strait of Hormuz, then rebuilt part of that risk premium when the military exchange returned. The week opened with Washington’s pause in strikes and Oman’s proposal for regional management of Hormuz. That gave traders something…

Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict A drone attack reached Egypt’s Mediterranean gas infrastructure for the first time in the war. At least two drones struck the US-owned Energos Winter floating storage and regasification unit and a second gas-processing vessel at Damietta port on Wednesday, setting both ships on fire and forcing them offshore. No casualties were reported, and the port authority says operations have resumed. Egyptian military investigators are examining how the drones penetrated several layers of air defence around one of…

The mutually beneficial corruption arrangement between the rival Haftar and Dbeibah camps that has kept Libya from returning to civil war could be undone by a third force usually left out of political calculations: the citizens of Libya. For nearly six years, Libya’s eastern and western power centers have preserved an uneasy equilibrium. Haftar’s family controls the east, much of the south, and the military forces surrounding much of the key oil infrastructure. Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and the armed groups aligned with his…

Half a dozen empty Saudi oil tankers have turned away in the Arabian Sea from the Red Sea chokepoint Bab el-Mandeb and headed south around Africa in the western direction, in highly unusual moves for tankers loading crude from the Middle East. All six tankers turned away from Bab el-Mandeb after the Houthi threats to Saudi shipping and actual attacks on tankers prompted Saudi Arabia to re-route its crude oil exports, again, to Egypt. The tankers are indicating destinations such as either Gibraltar or the South African ports of Durban or Algoa Bay,…

Amid tightened vessel supply due to the Middle East crisis, Abu Dhabi’s national oil company ADNOC has paid about $590 million to buy five supertankers to better manage its crude deliveries, Reuters reported on Friday, quoting sources with knowledge of the deal.   ADNOC has acquired the five very large crude carriers (VLCCs) as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) looks to boost crude oil production and exports after exiting OPEC earlier this year, and despite the regional conflict that has stalled traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. ADNOC…