California officials are stepping into the fray to urgently find a buyer for Valero’s Benicia refinery before its scheduled closure in April 2026, a rare move that underscores the state’s growing anxiety over fuel security and price volatility. According to Reuters, in an exclusive report on Wednesday, the state has opened talks with potential buyers, including HF Sinclair and at least one unnamed European energy firm, to take over the Bay Area facility and preserve in-state refining capacity. The 149,000 barrels-per-day refinery is…

California officials are stepping into the fray to urgently find a buyer for Valero’s Benicia refinery before its scheduled closure in April 2026, a rare move that underscores the state’s growing anxiety over fuel security and price volatility. According to Reuters, in an exclusive report on Wednesday, the state has opened talks with potential buyers, including HF Sinclair and at least one unnamed European energy firm, to take over the Bay Area facility and preserve in-state refining capacity. The 149,000 barrels-per-day refinery is…

BP announced in February that it was doing a U-turn on plans to broaden its portfolio to include a range of renewable energy projects, and to instead focus on its primary oil and gas business. This was unexpected, as many oil majors have invested heavily in diversifying their energy mix in recent years, with rising pressure to decarbonise to support a global green transition. Five months on, BP has appointed a new chair to oversee the shift back to fossil fuels. BP’s CEO, Murray Auchincloss, announced plans for a “fundamental reset”…

Protests have erupted for a second night in the Iranian city of Sabzevar, as residents took to the streets over prolonged electricity and water outages during a record-breaking heatwave. Security forces reportedly fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators, who chanted “no water, no power”, while temperatures soared above 48°C, according to Iranian media reports. The unrest highlights growing infrastructure stress as Iran faces its hottest summer in decades. Officials declared a public holiday on Tuesday in Tehran and at least 10…

Protests have erupted for a second night in the Iranian city of Sabzevar, as residents took to the streets over prolonged electricity and water outages during a record-breaking heatwave. Security forces reportedly fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators, who chanted “no water, no power”, while temperatures soared above 48°C, according to Iranian media reports. The unrest highlights growing infrastructure stress as Iran faces its hottest summer in decades. Officials declared a public holiday on Tuesday in Tehran and at least 10…

On Wednesday morning, the accountancy regulator announced that it has launched an investigation into Deloitte over audits related to the FTSE 100 giant Glencore. Glencore is one of the world’s largest commodity trading houses. Its operations span coal mining, energy trading and shipping, and it trades hundreds of billions of dollars in commodities every year through its trading and marketing arm. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) commenced its probe into the statutory audits conducted by Deloitte of the financial statements of Glencore…

Russia’s natural gas production fell 3.2% in the first half of 2025, reaching 334.8?billion cubic meters (bcm), as higher exports to China and increased domestic demand failed to offset the collapse of pipeline flows to Europe, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. The drop, confirmed by federal statistics and Bloomberg analysis, reflects the structural impact of Ukraine’s January decision to terminate its gas transit deal with Moscow. That route had accounted for over 15?bcm in 2024, making it the last significant corridor to the EU following…

Russia’s natural gas production fell 3.2% in the first half of 2025, reaching 334.8?billion cubic meters (bcm), as higher exports to China and increased domestic demand failed to offset the collapse of pipeline flows to Europe, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. The drop, confirmed by federal statistics and Bloomberg analysis, reflects the structural impact of Ukraine’s January decision to terminate its gas transit deal with Moscow. That route had accounted for over 15?bcm in 2024, making it the last significant corridor to the EU following…

The total volume of oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz stands around a staggering $600 billion. While a blockade of the strait is considered a distant possibility, its closure could ripple across global supply chain networks. In particular, Japan, China, and India would be impacted the most. Furthermore, a shock to oil prices would likely affecting production costs, in turn raising the price of consumer goods. This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, shows the most vital oil transit chokepoints, based on data from MUFG. The…

Germany’s offshore wind power installations stagnated in the first half of 2025, with 9.2 gigawatts (GW) as of June 30, the same as at end-2024, German industry associations said, calling for major changes in tender terms and pricing to revive the stalled sector.  Still, offshore wind turbines with a total capacity of 1.9 GW are currently under construction, said the German wind energy association, Bundesverband WindEnergie (BWE), and several other sector groups, citing research they have commissioned to consulting firm Deutsche WindGuard. …

Germany’s offshore wind power installations stagnated in the first half of 2025, with 9.2 gigawatts (GW) as of June 30, the same as at end-2024, German industry associations said, calling for major changes in tender terms and pricing to revive the stalled sector.  Still, offshore wind turbines with a total capacity of 1.9 GW are currently under construction, said the German wind energy association, Bundesverband WindEnergie (BWE), and several other sector groups, citing research they have commissioned to consulting firm Deutsche WindGuard. …

Via Metal Miner The Global Precious Metals MMI (Monthly Metals Index) rose by 6.18% month-over-month. The past 30 days have seen precious metals prices climb steadily, underscoring a volatile commodities environment for U.S. manufacturers and metal buyers. Gold remains near record highs, while silver, platinum and palladium each enjoyed strong rallies from mid-June to late July. These moves come amid shifting economic currents, including a softer dollar, speculation around Federal Reserve policy, and geopolitical trade tensions, all of…

While analysts and investors largely expect to see lower earnings at the world’s top oil and gas majors for the second quarter, due to weaker oil prices, they have fewer clues about the trading divisions of Big Oil.  Typically, major oil price swings benefit trading desks; however, this past quarter’s wild ride in oil prices was largely driven by geopolitical events and uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade policies.   The average oil price in Q2 was 10% below the average for the first quarter. Oil started April with a 20%…

U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 3.169 million barrels in the week ending July 18, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday, broadly confirming the earlier API estimate but with a steeper decline. Analysts had expected a more modest draw, reinforcing signs of strong refining activity and steady demand amid peak summer travel. Inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub rose by 455,000 barrels, signaling a slight increase in storage at the critical NYMEX WTI settlement point. Gasoline stocks also fell by 1.738 million…

Lucid Group (NASDAQ: LCID), an electric vehicle manufacturer, announced Wednesday a collaboration with several critical mineral producers aimed at accelerating the development and procurement of domestic critical minerals for U.S. automotive manufacturing. The new initiative, named the Minerals for National Automotive Competitiveness Collaboration (MINAC), includes Alaska Energy Metals, Graphite One, Electric Metals, and RecycLiCo. MINAC's stated goals include advancing domestic mineral production through offtake agreements, identifying and resolving…

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa will meet with the Chinese president and prime minister in Beijing on July 24 in what is expected to be a tense EU-China summit with the war in Ukraine and a potential transatlantic trade war looming large in the background. Brussels will raise the usual concerns about human rights in Tibet, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong with Beijing expected to quickly bat away any form of criticism. Instead, the most heated discussions will likely center around China’s…

Upstream oil and gas—industry-speak for the exploration and production end of the business—has always been a game of geology, timing, and money. Right now, U.S. oil majors are holding the better hand in the world of E&P. And the reason is simple: they’ve got the Permian, and Europe doesn’t. According to Wood Mackenzie, crude and condensate production across the U.S. Lower 48 has hit an all-time high of 11.3 million barrels per day, but is on the cusp of peaking. They forecast output will start a slow decline by year-end,…

The world needs $18.2 trillion in new oil and gas investments in the period until 2050 in order to secure a sufficient supply. This is what OPEC warned in the 2025 edition of its World Oil Outlook. Yet the International Energy Agency continues to believe oil demand growth is going to peak before 2030, suggesting there is no such need for investments. Are both talking up their respective book? According to OPEC, global oil demand will reach 123 million barrels daily in 2050. That would be up from a projected 105 million barrels daily this year,…

Combined with existing tariffs, the 93.5% preliminary anti-dumping tariffs the U.S. Commerce Department announced this week on anode-grade graphite imported from China, targeting nearly $350 million in goods, promises to deal a major blow to battery producers. It would bring the tariffs to 160% on the notion that Chinese graphite is being sold in the U.S. below fair market value.   And it gets worse than that for some Chinese producers. China’s Huzhou Kaijin New Energy Technology and Shanghai Shaosheng Knitted Sweat, specifically,…

This month, Finland switched on the world’s biggest sand battery, which will “enable residents to eliminate oil from their district heating network, thereby cutting emissions by nearly 70 percent,” according to Euro News. And if it keeps running as cheaply and efficiently as it appears to be doing now, don’t be surprised if sand batteries start popping up around the world – even in your neck of the woods.  The battery, built by Finnish company Polar Night Energy, employs a form of thermal energy storage by using…