Via Metal Miner   Ongoing geopolitical conflicts, including one active war, combined with market instability, declining steel demand in certain global regions and a rise in protective tariffs on exporting nations, have all come together to force some steel-producing countries, including China, to reassess and refocus their steel industry supply chains. Faced with weak domestic steel demand due to a slowdown in economic growth, China’s steel industry has been revising its export roadmap. Its exports of metal alloys to Russia, for example,…

Rumors that the Uzbek government is handing over farmland to Chinese investors keep bubbling up despite repeated and categorical denials from officials, putting Tashkent in an uncomfortable spot. The latest flare up came after a video made the rounds online purporting to show a local agricultural official threatening that the government would hand unproductive farmland over to Chinese investors, local outlet Kun.uz reported in mid-June. The employee quickly walked back the comments and the Ministry of Agriculture strongly denied anything of the…

Oil and gas activity in the U.S. Eleventh District slipped into contraction in the second quarter of 2025, according to the Dallas Fed Energy Survey released Wednesday, with firms citing falling production, deteriorating service margins, and deepening uncertainty. The survey’s headline business activity index dropped from 3.8 in Q1 to -8.1, marking a return to negative territory. Executives pointed to declines in both oil and gas production, with the oil production index falling to -8.9 and the natural gas production index to -4.5, which…

Oil and gas activity in the U.S. Eleventh District slipped into contraction in the second quarter of 2025, according to the Dallas Fed Energy Survey released Wednesday, with firms citing falling production, deteriorating service margins, and deepening uncertainty. The survey’s headline business activity index dropped from 3.8 in Q1 to -8.1, marking a return to negative territory. Executives pointed to declines in both oil and gas production, with the oil production index falling to -8.9 and the natural gas production index to -4.5, which…

In its last two working days, the Biden administration’s Energy Department signed off on nearly $42 billion for green energy projects – a sum that exceeded the total amount its Loan Programs Office (LPO) had put out in the past decade. The frenzied activity on Jan. 16 and 17, 2025, capped a spending binge that saw the LPO approve at least $93 billion in current and future disbursements after Vice President Kamala Harris lost the 2024 election in November, according to documents provided by the department to RealClearInvestigations.…

French nuclear fuel giant Orano’s uranium mining subsidiary in northern Niger is on the verge of bankruptcy, raising alarms over future nuclear fuel supply chains amid deepening tensions with the ruling junta, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The company cited a breakdown in talks with Niamey and the blocking of essential equipment at the border as the primary drivers of the crisis. The COMINAK mine in the Arlit region once supplied up to 30% of France’s uranium needs. Although the mine ceased production in 2021, Orano remains responsible…

French nuclear fuel giant Orano’s uranium mining subsidiary in northern Niger is on the verge of bankruptcy, raising alarms over future nuclear fuel supply chains amid deepening tensions with the ruling junta, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The company cited a breakdown in talks with Niamey and the blocking of essential equipment at the border as the primary drivers of the crisis. The COMINAK mine in the Arlit region once supplied up to 30% of France’s uranium needs. Although the mine ceased production in 2021, Orano remains responsible…

French nuclear fuel giant Orano’s uranium mining subsidiary in northern Niger is on the verge of bankruptcy, raising alarms over future nuclear fuel supply chains amid deepening tensions with the ruling junta, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The company cited a breakdown in talks with Niamey and the blocking of essential equipment at the border as the primary drivers of the crisis. The COMINAK mine in the Arlit region once supplied up to 30% of France’s uranium needs. Although the mine ceased production in 2021, Orano remains responsible…

Shares in major European renewable energy companies jumped on Wednesday morning after President Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ was passed by the Senate with less punitive provisions for green energy projects than initially proposed. The U.S. Senate passed on Tuesday the spending and tax bill with the narrowest of margins, with Vice President JD Vance casting a tie-breaking vote after more than 24 hours of debate. The Bill must also be approved by the House, where more opposition is expected to emerge. The original bill included…

Supermajors ExxonMobil, Chevron, TotalEnergies, and Eni are competing in Libya’s first oil bid round in 18 years, ‏Masoud Suleman, chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), told Bloomberg in an interview published on Wednesday. Libya earlier this year launched its first oil and gas exploration tender since 2007, which is also the first since the civil war erupted in the country in 2011 after the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi. Exxon, Chevron, TotalEnergies, and Eni are among the 37 international companies that have expressed…

Supermajors ExxonMobil, Chevron, TotalEnergies, and Eni are competing in Libya’s first oil bid round in 18 years, ‏Masoud Suleman, chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), told Bloomberg in an interview published on Wednesday. Libya earlier this year launched its first oil and gas exploration tender since 2007, which is also the first since the civil war erupted in the country in 2011 after the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi. Exxon, Chevron, TotalEnergies, and Eni are among the 37 international companies that have expressed…

Crude oil inventories in the United States increased by 3.8 million barrels during the week ending June 27, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The build brings commercial stockpiles to 419 million barrels, roughly 9% below the five-year average for this time of year. Crude prices were trading up ahead of the report. The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday had estimated a 680,000-barrel build for the week ending June 27 after analysts had estimated a much smaller 2.26-million-barrel…

India, the world’s third-largest crude oil importer, which depends on imports for about 85% of its daily consumption, considers building three new sites to raise its strategic petroleum reserves. Engineers India Ltd, a state-run engineering consultancy, is doing feasibility studies, L R Jain, chief executive at the state company managing the reserve, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd, told Reuters on Wednesday. “In case of exigencies, we will be better prepared,” Jain said. Currently, India’s underground Strategic Petroleum…

India, the world’s third-largest crude oil importer, which depends on imports for about 85% of its daily consumption, considers building three new sites to raise its strategic petroleum reserves. Engineers India Ltd, a state-run engineering consultancy, is doing feasibility studies, L R Jain, chief executive at the state company managing the reserve, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd, told Reuters on Wednesday. “In case of exigencies, we will be better prepared,” Jain said. Currently, India’s underground Strategic Petroleum…

India, the world’s third-largest crude oil importer, which depends on imports for about 85% of its daily consumption, considers building three new sites to raise its strategic petroleum reserves. Engineers India Ltd, a state-run engineering consultancy, is doing feasibility studies, L R Jain, chief executive at the state company managing the reserve, Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd, told Reuters on Wednesday. “In case of exigencies, we will be better prepared,” Jain said. Currently, India’s underground Strategic Petroleum…

US President Donald Trump urged Iran-backed Hamas militants to agree to what he called a "final proposal" for a 60-day cease-fire with Israel in Gaza. "I hope, for the good of the Middle East, that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better -- IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” he said on July 1 on Truth Social. Israel has agreed to the conditions to finalize a 60-day cease-fire during which “we will work with all parties to end the War," Trump said. Representatives for Qatar and Egypt will deliver the proposal to Hamas, Trump said,…

Norwegian energy major Equinor has walked away from a third offshore wind development project in Australia in another blow to the federal government’s plan to build an offshore wind industry. Earlier this year, Equinor quietly walked away from the Bass Offshore Wind Energy project near the coast of Tasmania, as the oil and gas giant reduced its investments in renewables to boost returns for shareholders and adapt to an “uneven energy transition.” In a short statement to Australia’s Financial Review, Equinor and its partner…

Norwegian energy major Equinor has walked away from a third offshore wind development project in Australia in another blow to the federal government’s plan to build an offshore wind industry. Earlier this year, Equinor quietly walked away from the Bass Offshore Wind Energy project near the coast of Tasmania, as the oil and gas giant reduced its investments in renewables to boost returns for shareholders and adapt to an “uneven energy transition.” In a short statement to Australia’s Financial Review, Equinor and its partner…

Until the U.S.- and U.K.-orchestrated removal of longtime Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from office in December, the Shia Crescent of Power held an extraordinary sway over the political, economic, and security trajectories of the Middle East. With Iran at its ideological centre, the Crescent comprised key strategic assets in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen, with inroads being made in Azerbaijan (75% Shia and a Former Soviet Union state), Turkey (25% Shia and furious at not being accepted fully into the European Union), Bahrain (75% Shia), and…

Australia has been out of luck lately. The country’s consumer watchdog just this week warned the east coast could face a gas shortage as soon as this year. Smelters and miners are complaining about high energy costs and asking for government help. And now the industry department is warning that commodity exports are about to weaken on trade headwinds. In a new report, the Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources said it expected commodity exports to keep rising over this year and next, but income from them is set to weaken—because…