Speculation about the peak in demand for hydrocarbons has abounded for years as parts of the world struggle to reduce their consumption of coal, oil, and gas. Peak coal resurfaced this week, following data showing that Asian seaborne imports of the energy commodity had inched down by 4.4% in 2025, from an all-time high in the previous year. As usual, the peak coal story is likely premature. Data from Kpler showed this week that Asian buyers imported a total of 1.09 billion metric tons of coal in 2025, down from 1.14 billion tons imported in the…

Shares in Volvo Cars crashed the most on record in Stockholm, with Bloomberg data going back to late 2021, after it reported fourth-quarter earnings that missed analyst expectations. A toxic blend of higher US tariffs, cuts to EV subsidies, a stronger Swedish krona versus a weaker dollar, and an intensifying price war in China all squeezed fourth-quarter profitability, the Swedish-origin automaker detailed in its earnings release. It reported an Ebit margin of just 2% and an operating income that came in well below Bloomberg Consensus estimates.…

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy says it has seized two vessels near Farsi Island allegedly carrying large quantities of smuggled fuel, the country's Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported Thursday - at a moment the nation's military has its "finger on the trigger" amid threats from the Trump White House and Israel. More than one million liters of diesel were discovered aboard the ships, according to the IRGC Navy's public relations office, and the seized 15 foreign crew members have been handed over…

Shell’s CEO Wael Sawan told CNBC the company is actively considering multibillion-dollar offshore natural gas investments in Venezuela that could start production in the next few years, pending regulatory approvals. The comments mark one of the clearest public signals yet that Shell is weighing a major push into Venezuelan energy assets after years of sanctions and uncertainty. The potential targets are offshore gas opportunities. Sawan said these projects could be activated within months, which is about as tight a timeline as Big Oil ever…

Shell’s CEO Wael Sawan told CNBC the company is actively considering multibillion-dollar offshore natural gas investments in Venezuela that could start production in the next few years, pending regulatory approvals. The comments mark one of the clearest public signals yet that Shell is weighing a major push into Venezuelan energy assets after years of sanctions and uncertainty. The potential targets are offshore gas opportunities. Sawan said these projects could be activated within months, which is about as tight a timeline as Big Oil ever…

As US Vice President JD Vance prepares to visit the Caucasus, Armenia is sending signals that it is leaning toward selecting an American company to build a new nuclear reactor to replace the antiquated, Russian-built Metsamor facility.   Armenia's minister of territorial administration and infrastructure, David Khudatyan, told journalists on February 3 that the government has decided the new nuclear plant would have a modular design. That is good news for the United States, which is widely recognized as the global leader in modular…

Chevron is reshuffling senior leadership over strategy, trading, and business development as the company leans harder on execution and integration while oil markets remain choppy. In a Thursday report, Reuters said Patricia Leigh, Chevron’s president of supply and trading, will retire after 35 years with the company. Molly Laegeler, currently chief strategy officer, will succeed Leigh and take responsibility for supply, logistics, and trading effective March 1. Kevin Lyon, who has been overseeing Chevron’s integration work tied to Hess,…

Chevron is reshuffling senior leadership over strategy, trading, and business development as the company leans harder on execution and integration while oil markets remain choppy. In a Thursday report, Reuters said Patricia Leigh, Chevron’s president of supply and trading, will retire after 35 years with the company. Molly Laegeler, currently chief strategy officer, will succeed Leigh and take responsibility for supply, logistics, and trading effective March 1. Kevin Lyon, who has been overseeing Chevron’s integration work tied to Hess,…

A winter wallop that delivered a blast of Arctic air to two-thirds of the United States last weekend brought with it power failures, partially due to snow, ice and falling trees or branches damaging power lines. At least 35 deaths were reported, including three brothers between the ages of 6 and 9 who fell through an iced-over pond in Texas, and two people who were run over by snowplows in Massachusetts and Ohio. The mega-storm reportedly caused blackouts to more than a million customers, especially in Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. As of…

Privately held MASS Group Holding plans to invest more than €1 billion (~$1.18 billion) in large-scale battery energy storage projects in Romania after reaching an agreement with the Romanian government, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The projects are intended to support Romania’s power grid as renewable generation expands and older conventional capacity continues to decline. According to Reuters, the investment would involve multiple grid-scale battery installations with combined capacity measured in the gigawatt-hour range. Romanian…

Venezuela’s autocratic ruling regime, led by interim President Delcy Rodriguez, recently announced it created the legal framework required to privatize Venezuela’s oil industry, thus ending PDVSA’s monopoly. This is in accordance with U.S. President Donald Trump’s demands and comes at a time when Washington is easing restrictions on trading with Venezuela. While questions loom over whether Venezuela is investable for foreign energy companies, this is huge step in the right direction, removing a key concern for Big Oil. Although…

As India is tentatively pulling back from buying Russian oil after the U.S. trade deal, Russia’s crude is being offered in China at widening discounts to attract Chinese refiners, trade sources have told Reuters.     This week, the discount of the ESPO blend that Russia ships from the Kozmino port in the Far East widened to almost $9 per barrel to ICE Brent, up from the $7–$8 a barrel discount of the past months, according to the trade sources. Discounts for Russia’s flagship Urals crude grade shipped from Russia’s…

As the geopolitical map of South American oil shifts in early 2026, the contrast between Guyana and Venezuela has never been starker.  In global energy markets, geology is often treated as destiny. If a country has oil, investment and prosperity are assumed to follow. But, in recent years, the contrast between Guyana and Venezuela—two neighbors sitting atop the same prolific basin—offers a powerful rebuttal to that assumption. The two countries share some similarities, but they occupy completely different economic worlds. One is…

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) booked lower-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter as higher production was unable to offset the decline in oil prices. ConocoPhillips reported on Thursday fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.3 billion, or $1.02 per share. That was nearly halved compared with adjusted earnings of $2.4 billion, or $1.98 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2024. The earnings for October-December 2025 were also lower than the $1.07 analyst consensus estimate in The Wall Street Journal.  ConocoPhillips attributed the decline…

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) booked lower-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter as higher production was unable to offset the decline in oil prices. ConocoPhillips reported on Thursday fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.3 billion, or $1.02 per share. That was nearly halved compared with adjusted earnings of $2.4 billion, or $1.98 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2024. The earnings for October-December 2025 were also lower than the $1.07 analyst consensus estimate in The Wall Street Journal.  ConocoPhillips attributed the decline…

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) booked lower-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter as higher production was unable to offset the decline in oil prices. ConocoPhillips reported on Thursday fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.3 billion, or $1.02 per share. That was nearly halved compared with adjusted earnings of $2.4 billion, or $1.98 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2024. The earnings for October-December 2025 were also lower than the $1.07 analyst consensus estimate in The Wall Street Journal.  ConocoPhillips attributed the decline…

After striking a trade and investment deal with the United States last month, Taiwan plans to hike imports of U.S. LNG this year to have American gas account for about a third of its supply. “We plan to increase purchases of natural gas from the U.S. to 30%-33% this year from about 10% now,” Fang Jeng-zen, chairman of Taiwan’s state-held oil and gas company CPC Corporation, told reporters on Thursday, as carried by Reuters. Taiwan wants to buy more gas from the U.S. and will reduce imports from other suppliers, said the Economy…

TotalEnergies has signed two clean firm power contracts to supply 3.3 terawatt-hours (TWh) to all major sites of aircraft manufacturer Airbus in Germany and the United Kingdom, the French supermajor said on Thursday as it continues to boost its integrated power portfolio with renewable electricity.   Unlike other European majors such as BP and Shell, which have outright reduced spending on renewables, TotalEnergies is betting big on its Integrated Power business and has a strategy to reach a 12% profitability target for the division.…

Russian and Ukrainian officials held a second day of US-brokered talks aimed at ending Moscow’s all-out war on Ukraine, as negotiators grappled with major sticking points about Ukrainian territory and security guarantees. In a small sign of progress, the two sides agreed to another exchange of prisoners of war, something that has happened periodically over the course of the nearly four-year-old Russian invasion. Steve Witkoff, the White House envoy who has led the US-led talks, said on February 5 that 314 prisoners in all would be released.…

India’s largest state-owned refiner, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), saw its net profit surge four times for the quarter ended December 31 compared to a year earlier as falling crude oil prices boosted refining margins.   Indian Oil reported on Thursday a standalone net profit of $1.34 billion (121.26 billion Indian ‌rupees) for the October-December quarter, which is the third quarter of its 2025/2026 fiscal year ending on March 31, 2026. That’s a fourfold jump compared to the net profit of $318 million (28.74 billion rupees)…