Inflation rates remain blistering high across the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’s most recent Consumer Price Index, released last week, revealed numbers that were higher than most projections, indicating long-term pain for consumers and a nightmare election cycle for Donald Trump. And the reason for all of it is huge and persistent volatility in global oil and gas markets.  The October 14 Consumer Price Index showed that overall, prices for goods and services across the United States have risen 3.7 percent over the last…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 4.93 million barrels in the week ending October 16. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by a staggering 11.12 million barrels. Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost more than 56 million barrels over the last 27 weeks, but US crude inventories are still only 5 million barrels below where they were at the beginning of the year, according to API data, kept in check in part thanks to draws from the SPR. For the…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 4.93 million barrels in the week ending October 16. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by a staggering 11.12 million barrels. Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost more than 56 million barrels over the last 27 weeks, but US crude inventories are still only 5 million barrels below where they were at the beginning of the year, according to API data, kept in check in part thanks to draws from the SPR. For the…

A new Middle East energy system came into view at the Energy Trading Week Middle East conference in Dubai last month. The region’s world’s-lowest costs for solar energy appeared with enormous potential to transform how countries consume and export energy in low-carbon products. “Renewable power is actually very competitive now, so the spotlight for this region when it comes to energy transition is around three low carbon products," said Saravanan Manivel, Director for Low Carbon Fuels at ENGIE Global Energy Management & Sales.…

In October 2025, the PKK (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê, Kurdistan Workers' Party) announced it was withdrawing its fighters from Türkiye to northern Iraq as part of a peace effort with Ankara after four decades of hostilities. The statement said all PKK forces in Türkiye were being pulled back to northern Iraq "to avoid clashes or provocations." This followed the group's May 2025 decision to dissolve and a July ceremony where fighters burned their weapons. In late 2025 the PKK also said it had pulled out of the Zap border…

Norway’s oil and gas production declined sharply in September, with natural gas output falling 12.6% from August, according to preliminary figures released Tuesday by the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD). Total petroleum production averaged approximately 3.77 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), down 10.4% month-on-month and 4% below the directorate’s forecast. The decline comes at a sensitive time for European energy markets, with the winter heating season approaching and Norway remaining the continent’s largest…

Geothermal has long been the clean, firm power source that was always a few breakthroughs away from being cheap enough to matter. Numbers buried in a Nevada utility filing suggest that day may have arrived. Joel Edwards, co-founder and CTO of geothermal developer Zanskar, put it bluntly earlier this month: "to all the geothermal believers out there, the flippening has come." In NV Energy's 2026 resource plan, three geothermal offers came in at $105 to $107 per megawatt-hour. That's below the roughly $114/MWh capacity-weighted average for the 11…

The European Union reaffirmed its opposition to Arctic oil and gas development on Tuesday, even as the bloc prepares for another expensive winter with depleted gas storage and prices approaching levels last seen during the 2022 energy crisis. The European Commission's new Arctic strategy calls for keeping oil, coal, and gas reserves in the ground, including in Arctic regions, and preventing hydrocarbon developments that threaten the Arctic ecosystem. Brussels did make one concession. The new strategy drops a 2021 pledge to pursue an international…

The European Union reaffirmed its opposition to Arctic oil and gas development on Tuesday, even as the bloc prepares for another expensive winter with depleted gas storage and prices approaching levels last seen during the 2022 energy crisis. The European Commission's new Arctic strategy calls for keeping oil, coal, and gas reserves in the ground, including in Arctic regions, and preventing hydrocarbon developments that threaten the Arctic ecosystem. Brussels did make one concession. The new strategy drops a 2021 pledge to pursue an international…

The European Union reaffirmed its opposition to Arctic oil and gas development on Tuesday, even as the bloc prepares for another expensive winter with depleted gas storage and prices approaching levels last seen during the 2022 energy crisis. The European Commission's new Arctic strategy calls for keeping oil, coal, and gas reserves in the ground, including in Arctic regions, and preventing hydrocarbon developments that threaten the Arctic ecosystem. Brussels did make one concession. The new strategy drops a 2021 pledge to pursue an international…

Back in February, U.S. oil and gas giant Chevron signed four preliminary agreements with Iraq’s Oil Ministry, which underscored that from that point onwards, Washington was determined to regain its influence across a country that it sees as being at least as important as any other of the leading Middle Eastern states for three key reasons. One of the deals was to develop the supergiant Nasiriyah oil field, another was to develop four other exploration blocks in Dhi Qar province, and the third was to develop the Balad oil field in Salahaddin…

Russia’s seaborne crude exports fell to their lowest four-week average in a month after shipments from the Baltic port of Primorsk stopped for several days, according to tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Exports averaged 3.59 million barrels per day in the four weeks through October 18, down 110,000 bpd from the previous period. Weekly shipments fell 390,000 bpd to 3.13 million bpd, the lowest since March. Just 31 tankers loaded 21.91 million barrels, compared with 34 vessels carrying 24.63 million barrels the previous week. Primorsk…

Russia’s seaborne crude exports fell to their lowest four-week average in a month after shipments from the Baltic port of Primorsk stopped for several days, according to tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Exports averaged 3.59 million barrels per day in the four weeks through October 18, down 110,000 bpd from the previous period. Weekly shipments fell 390,000 bpd to 3.13 million bpd, the lowest since March. Just 31 tankers loaded 21.91 million barrels, compared with 34 vessels carrying 24.63 million barrels the previous week. Primorsk…

Houthi strikes on Saudi oil infrastructure threaten production as Brent crude hits $108 and the Brent-WTI spread widens to $5. The LNG Market Gets a New War Premium - Asian liquefied natural gas prices soared to their highest since December 2022, as repeated attacks on tankers across the Middle East and Europe’s worsening winter outlook pushed JKM above $30 per MMBtu. - Whilst China’s import giants – China and Japan – have been buying 8-10% less LNG year-on-year, seeking to maximize nuclear and renewable energy generation,…

Uzbekistan in recent days has served as an octagon of competition between the United States and China over economic influence in Central Asia.  US Secretary of State Marco Rubio led an almost 300-strong American business delegation to the Uzbek city of Samarkand for a business forum, where on October 19, he held talks with the foreign ministers from all five Central Asian states.  Uzbek media, citing the Uzbek Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade, reported that the trip yielded at least 54 business deals worth $12 billion, covering…

Record-high freight costs are changing the behavior of Asian buyers who are increasingly using smaller tankers and ships under long-term charter deals to pick crude oil supply, refining and trading sources tell Reuters. The costs of shipping crude oil have soared to record highs in recent weeks as the Iran war reshuffled trade routes and patterns and tied up more supertankers in inefficient and lengthy voyages and on a shuttle service to move crude through the Strait of Hormuz. The increased oil flows from the Strait of Hormuz, mostly thanks to…

Record-high freight costs are changing the behavior of Asian buyers who are increasingly using smaller tankers and ships under long-term charter deals to pick crude oil supply, refining and trading sources tell Reuters. The costs of shipping crude oil have soared to record highs in recent weeks as the Iran war reshuffled trade routes and patterns and tied up more supertankers in inefficient and lengthy voyages and on a shuttle service to move crude through the Strait of Hormuz. The increased oil flows from the Strait of Hormuz, mostly thanks to…

Record-high freight costs are changing the behavior of Asian buyers who are increasingly using smaller tankers and ships under long-term charter deals to pick crude oil supply, refining and trading sources tell Reuters. The costs of shipping crude oil have soared to record highs in recent weeks as the Iran war reshuffled trade routes and patterns and tied up more supertankers in inefficient and lengthy voyages and on a shuttle service to move crude through the Strait of Hormuz. The increased oil flows from the Strait of Hormuz, mostly thanks to…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov traveled to Iran on October 19, meeting with President Masud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi amid questions over what support Moscow is providing Tehran to fight its war with the United States. Lavrov traveled to the Iranian capital directly from Manama, Bahrain, where he had attended a meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council officials. Gulf states have urged Moscow to use its influence to press Tehran to halt attacks on its neighbors. Lavrov also met with Iran's security chief, Mohsen Rezaei,…

The acceleration of plans for alternative routes to ship oil out of the Middle East could make the Strait of Hormuz “redundant” in five years, Georges Elhedery, chief executive of banking giant HSBC Group, said at the HSBC Future Forum 2026 in Dubai on Tuesday. “Of course, we do wish and hope to see a resolution to the conflict,” the executive said, as carried by Reuters. “But Hormuz, probably in five years’ time, may become redundant,” Elhedery added. The bank’s view stems from the rush among Middle…