On November 3, retired four-star General Jack Keane, the Army's former Vice Chief of Staff, put a warning on the record: China "has made clear it is prepared to use [America’s] dependence as leverage." The dependence he's talking about is America's reliance on Chinese rare earths. And he didn't say it from a cable news set. He said it as a director of REalloys [NASDAQ: ALOY], the company the Army recently selected for exclusive negotiations to build a plant to process dysprosium and terbium on one of its own military bases. And the timing…

Oil prices have crashed about 20% from the late-October peak of $118 per barrel, weighed down by hopes of sustainable de-escalation in the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine war. For months, traders and hedge funds have often bet on a resolution of the conflicts, only to reactivate buying when talks fall apart. As U.S.-mediated talks between Ukraine and Russia are underway, there are no signs of a breakthrough in either the conflict in Europe or the U.S.-Iran standoff, despite messaging via Qatar. Oil prices have slipped as crude oil flows from…

Venezuela is opening up its electricity sector to private capital for the first time since Hugo Chávez nationalized it in 2007, in a reform passed this week primarily to benefit oil producers and large businesses that can afford euro-pegged tariffs, while the state keeps the hydroelectric dams and main transmission lines that supply most households living with daily blackouts. The law, which the National Assembly passed unanimously on Tuesday, lets oil producers build power plants for their own fields without state authorization, as long…

Another month, another distressing Consumer Price Index report. As the war in Iran drags on, inflation in the United States is remaining stubbornly high, driven in large part by sky-high food and energy costs. Overall, prices rose four-tenths of a percent over the last month, and are expected to finish the year at a four percent increase as compared to 2025 – a blistering increase that reflected itself at the polls in last week’s midterm elections, where a blue wave has largely been viewed as a rebuke of Trump, his war in Iran, and…

Asian spot LNG is trading above $30 per million British thermal units and Europe is entering winter with its lowest gas inventory of the 2020s, yet Rystad Energy stops short of predicting a further rally. In its winter LNG outlook, published this week, the consultancy lays out as many ways for prices to fall as to rise and tells buyers to plan for a wide range of outcomes instead of one base case. EU storage sites were 71.6% full in Gas Infrastructure Europe’s Nov. 11 update, with Germany at 58%, and that is well under the five-year average…

A few Nigerian oil and gas companies owe local banks about $7 billion, and the fallout is reaching well beyond those borrowers, according to billionaire Aliko Dangote. Most domestic bank financing for the industry is now on hold, Dangote told the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists conference in Lagos Wednesday. “A few companies, I believe, owe the banks about $7bn,” he said. “As a result, most funding from our domestic banks is on hold.” Dangote offered no names or breakdown of the debt, nor did he say how…

Large Kazakh and Uzbek delegations attending the B20 business summit in Washington delivered a clear message to their American hosts: let’s make more deals. The US Chamber of Commerce-hosted three-day event, which concluded November 11, was framed as “a platform for the private sector to address shared economic challenges, identify opportunities for investment and innovation, and advance solutions that strengthen the global economy.” In a sign that Astana and Tashkent saw the meeting as more than just a networking opportunity,…

The average price of a new vehicle in the US has climbed to a record $51,109, according to a new Cox Automotive report citing Kelley Blue Book data. Combined with new-car loan rates near their highest levels since the mid-2000s, record sticker prices are putting vehicle ownership increasingly out of reach for many working-class folks, even before insurance, fuel and maintenance costs are factored in. Cox said average new-car transaction prices rose 2.1% year over year in October to a record $51,109, a slower increase than the rate of overall consumer…

Argentina could become a bigger lithium producer than Chile, mining 481,000 tons of lithium carbonate equivalent in 2035 versus 426,000 tons for Chile, GEM Mining Consulting has forecast. The shift at the top will be driven by growing demand for the battery metal. Argentina is currently the world’s fourth-largest lithium producer, after Australia, China, and Chile. It is part of the so-called Lithium Triangle, which, besides Chile, also includes Bolivia and describes a region in the Andes notable for its abundant lithium reserves. Chile has…

Crude oil inventories in the United States saw an increase of 4.7 million barrels during the week ending November 6, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Thursday. The increase brings commercial stockpiles to 414.4 million barrels, according to government data, which is now 4% below the five-year average for this time of year. Total commercial petroleum inventories increased by 11.4 million barrels during the reporting period. The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released…

President Donald Trump declared Thursday that the United States no longer needs a deal with Iran, just three days after suggesting the eight-month war was nearing its end. Oil prices promptly jumped, adding another round of volatility to a market that has spent November reacting to shifting expectations for peace. "We don't need a deal with Iran. Those days have long since passed," Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that Washington had control of Iran's money and the Strait of Hormuz. The remarks marked a sharp departure from Monday, when Trump…

While it didn’t make the headlines, Chancellor John Healey’s Budget speech signalled a huge shift in positioning from previous governments over net zero.  “Today I’m setting a new course on energy: to get UK energy costs down in line with Europe,” Healey said. “From this point, our government priority is first and foremost cheaper energy, with clean power key to achieving this.” The lines raised eyebrows in Westminster. The test of that new commitment came when the energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh,…

The UK will aim to show leadership in global climate issues that have taken a backseat in recent years, as Britain remains committed to reaching net zero by 2050 and working with all its partners to reach their respective climate goals, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said at the COP31 climate summit in Antalya on Thursday. “The message I carry here at my first COP as UK Prime Minister is this. We’re committed to meeting our 2050 net zero target and committed to working with all of our partners to reach theirs,” Burnham said at the…

The UK will aim to show leadership in global climate issues that have taken a backseat in recent years, as Britain remains committed to reaching net zero by 2050 and working with all its partners to reach their respective climate goals, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said at the COP31 climate summit in Antalya on Thursday. “The message I carry here at my first COP as UK Prime Minister is this. We’re committed to meeting our 2050 net zero target and committed to working with all of our partners to reach theirs,” Burnham said at the…

The UK will aim to show leadership in global climate issues that have taken a backseat in recent years, as Britain remains committed to reaching net zero by 2050 and working with all its partners to reach their respective climate goals, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said at the COP31 climate summit in Antalya on Thursday. “The message I carry here at my first COP as UK Prime Minister is this. We’re committed to meeting our 2050 net zero target and committed to working with all of our partners to reach theirs,” Burnham said at the…

The UK will aim to show leadership in global climate issues that have taken a backseat in recent years, as Britain remains committed to reaching net zero by 2050 and working with all its partners to reach their respective climate goals, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said at the COP31 climate summit in Antalya on Thursday. “The message I carry here at my first COP as UK Prime Minister is this. We’re committed to meeting our 2050 net zero target and committed to working with all of our partners to reach theirs,” Burnham said at the…

The booming AI industry is consuming more and more power with each data center springing up across the United States. The surge in power demand necessitates grid upgrades and expansions in the energy infrastructure.  But the costs are not allocated fairly, and households end up picking up the bill. Among residents, the costs are also disproportionately distributed, with the heaviest burden falling on rural and lower-income households, Cornell University researchers say.    This week, Cornell researchers published a study in…

The EU has already paid more to import Russian LNG than it did for the whole of 2025, with a month and a half left until the full EU ban on imports of liquefied natural gas from Russia, German campaign group Urgewald said on Thursday. Between January and October, the EU paid as much as $9.6 billion (8.7 billion euros) to import gas from the Russian Yamal LNG project, according to Urgewald’s estimates based on vessel-tracking data by Kpler. The EU’s bill for importing Russian LNG has already topped by about 21% the estimated $8 billion…

The EU has already paid more to import Russian LNG than it did for the whole of 2025, with a month and a half left until the full EU ban on imports of liquefied natural gas from Russia, German campaign group Urgewald said on Thursday. Between January and October, the EU paid as much as $9.6 billion (8.7 billion euros) to import gas from the Russian Yamal LNG project, according to Urgewald’s estimates based on vessel-tracking data by Kpler. The EU’s bill for importing Russian LNG has already topped by about 21% the estimated $8 billion…

The EU has already paid more to import Russian LNG than it did for the whole of 2025, with a month and a half left until the full EU ban on imports of liquefied natural gas from Russia, German campaign group Urgewald said on Thursday. Between January and October, the EU paid as much as $9.6 billion (8.7 billion euros) to import gas from the Russian Yamal LNG project, according to Urgewald’s estimates based on vessel-tracking data by Kpler. The EU’s bill for importing Russian LNG has already topped by about 21% the estimated $8 billion…