The European Union is ready to commit to buying more liquefied natural gas from the United States if that would appease President Trump and make him reconsider tariffs on EU imports, the EU’s energy commissioner has said. “There is potential for us to buy more LNG from the US but of course it needs to be on conditions that are also in line with our [green] transition,” Dan Jørgensen said, as quoted by the Financial Times. The commissioner also boasted that the EU was scheduled to install a record amount of new wind and…

Benchmark oil prices hit the lowest level since the pandemic panic on Wednesday. Once again, the slump is caused by panic—this time, market panic as U.S. President Donald Trump keeps turning up the tariff heat. For now, everyone seems to be in the grip of fear about what tariffs would do to oil demand. But there is one thing that low prices will definitely do: stoke up demand. The latest oil price crash came Tuesday after Trump said he would impose an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports following China’s retaliation against the…

Oil prices earned an unexpected reprieve on Wednesday afternoon, regaining over 3% immediately following U.S. President Donald Trump's surprise decision to pause reciprocal tariffs for 90 days for all except China. After flirting with prices below $60, Brent crude was trading up 3.41% at 2:56 p.m. ET, while WTI was trading up 3.74%, breaching the $61/barrel mark. This week, Brent crude at one point dipped below $60 per barrel after OPEC+ revealed plans to accelerate its phase-out of production cuts. Brent crude for May delivery sank 6.3% to $58.68…

Oil and gas companies are looking to get the most bang for their buck in exploring for hydrocarbon resources. Those lucky enough to have made an early bet on what are now the huge frontier plays, such as Guyana, are seeing exploration expenditures and efforts pay off with large oil and gas discoveries. All others are looking to make the best out of existing infrastructure and explore and drill in well-developed areas close to producing fields and platforms to take advantage of the lower costs for exploration and development. Since conventional…

Most US biofuel production numbers are clearly on track to end the first quarter of this year in negative territory either on a quarter-over-quarter or year-over-year basis, Rystad Energy analysis suggests. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the updated statistics for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program on 20 March covering the supply, trade and price dynamics for February 2025. Similar to previous months, we still observe uncertainty around future biofuel policy starts having a tangible impact on the actual supply for…

“It’s going to be the decade of geothermal.” That’s according to Cindy Taff, chief executive of geothermal company Sage Geosystems, in an interview in The Hill earlier this year. While Trump is making clean energy cuts left and right, the administration has stayed surprisingly bullish on geothermal, causing bullish outlooks for the burgeoning sector across the United States. While geothermal currently represents only a sliver of renewable energy capacity in the country and lags “10 to 15 years” behind wind and…

Reuters reports that U.S. refiners will refrain from making any substantial investments in expanding domestic crude processing or reducing reliance on Canada and Mexico, for instance, as the industry rallies around a war cry of frustration with the Trump administration over a global tariff war that threatens to strip demand and possibly spark a worldwide recession.  "We consider the adoption of the 'reconciliatory tariffs' will result in weaker global GDP growth and so lower oil demand growth, oil prices and weaker refining margins, as exemplified…

Reuters reports that U.S. refiners will refrain from making any substantial investments in expanding domestic crude processing or reducing reliance on Canada and Mexico, for instance, as the industry rallies around a war cry of frustration with the Trump administration over a global tariff war that threatens to strip demand and possibly spark a worldwide recession.  "We consider the adoption of the 'reconciliatory tariffs' will result in weaker global GDP growth and so lower oil demand growth, oil prices and weaker refining margins, as exemplified…

China has succeeded in muscling aside Russia as Central Asia’s top trade partner. Now, Beijing appears intent on capturing a share of the regional arms market. Until very recently, China was a non-factor as an arms supplier to Central Asian states. For most of the post-Soviet era, Russia dominated the regional arms market, especially sales to Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. But Russia’s arms exports have plummeted since the Russian army became bogged down in Ukraine, opening up opportunities for other nations, including Turkey,…

Reuters reports that U.S. refiners will refrain from making any substantial investments in expanding domestic crude processing or reducing reliance on Canada and Mexico, for instance, as the industry rallies around a war cry of frustration with the Trump administration over a global tariff war that threatens to strip demand and possibly spark a worldwide recession.  "We consider the adoption of the 'reconciliatory tariffs' will result in weaker global GDP growth and so lower oil demand growth, oil prices and weaker refining margins, as exemplified…

President Trump announced a 90-day pause on increased tariffs for most countries willing to negotiate trade deals, but simultaneously increased tariffs on China, citing a “lack of respect.” China has retaliated against the US tariff increase by imposing levies on US goods and restricting exports of rare earth minerals, which are critical for tech and defense industries. Researchers have identified coal ash as a potential domestic source of 11 million tons of rare earth elements, offering a possible long-term solution to the US’s…

US government bonds have entered a “meltdown” as long-yield Treasuries briefly reached over five per cent last night amid market panic over Donald Trump’s tariffs. US 30-year Treasury yields spiked briefly above five per cent last night, before settling at 4.85 per cent, up from 4.45 per cent before Trump unveiled his tariffs. The last time the 30-year US Treasury yield rose this much in three years was January 1982, when yields were 14 per cent. The 10-year yield, a global benchmark for borrowing costs, jumped to 4.51 per cent…

Via Metal Miner The Stainless Monthly Metals Index (MMI) remained sideways, with an upside bias. Meanwhile, nickel prices dropped to lows last seen in 2020. Overall, the index rose by 2.16% from March to April. Buyers Hold Back from Stainless Market The U.S. stainless steel market remains lackluster. While March witnessed a modest increase in shipments, some suppliers noted that the overall market felt weak. Meanwhile, prices appeared stable during the month, with suppliers noting little change despite Outokumpu’s recent discount announcement. …

Saudi Aramco, the Kingdom’s giant national oil company, on Wednesday, announced the discovery of 14 new oil and natural gas that could add over 80 million cubic feet of gas per day and over 8,000 barrels of oil per day to Saudi Arabia’s fossil fuels expansion efforts, Arab News reports.  The discoveries were made primarily in the Eastern Region and the vast Empty Quarter, with a mix of oil and gas reservoirs identified, and while moderate in volume compared to the Kingdom’s vast reserves, analysts are heralding this as a…

There is no doubt that AI advancements and data centers will be sucking up more electricity in the coming years, and power demand in the United States will grow after a decade of stagnation. What’s in doubt is how much additional power-generating capacity the AI boom will need and how electric utilities will navigate through the complex supply-demand balances in various regions. U.S. power utilities have announced billions of U.S. dollars in capital plans for the next few years and are getting a lot of requests from Big Tech for new power…

Saudi oil giant Aramco and China’s top refiner, Sinopec, will expand a joint venture petrochemicals complex in Saudi Arabia under an agreement signed on Wednesday. Aramco and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, as Sinopec is known, own the Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company (Yasref) on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, with Aramco holding 62.5% and Sinopec 37.5% in the venture. The companies signed on Wednesday a so-called Venture Framework Agreement (VFA), which will to pave the way for a major petrochemical expansion at Yasref,…

Venezuela’s armed forces were placed on high alert over the weekend as Caracas accused foreign actors of plotting a false flag attack targeting ExxonMobil’s operations in the oil-rich Essequibo region—an area administered by Guyana but long claimed by Venezuela. The 160,000-square-kilometre maritime zone, home to some of Exxon’s largest offshore discoveries since 2015, has become the latest flashpoint in a decades-old territorial dispute. Venezuela’s military command vowed to respond with "vigorous action" to any perceived…

Venezuela’s armed forces were placed on high alert over the weekend as Caracas accused foreign actors of plotting a false flag attack targeting ExxonMobil’s operations in the oil-rich Essequibo region—an area administered by Guyana but long claimed by Venezuela. The 160,000-square-kilometre maritime zone, home to some of Exxon’s largest offshore discoveries since 2015, has become the latest flashpoint in a decades-old territorial dispute. Venezuela’s military command vowed to respond with "vigorous action" to any perceived…

Crude oil inventories in the United States saw an increase of 2.6 million barrels during the week ending April 4, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration released on Wednesday. Crude oil prices were trading sharply down prior to the crude data release by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, continuing their slide after another volley in the tariff war between the United States and China was manifest in an announcement of 84% tariffs levied on the US beginning April 10. On Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute…

Chevron will boost the so-called triple fracs — fracturing three wells with one frac spread at one time — to more than half of its wells in the Permian basin, a Chevron executive told Reuters, amid efforts to reduce the costs and times of fracking at the world’s top shale basin. Chevron plans to use triple-frac on between 50% and 60% of its wells in the Permian, up from 20% of wells “triple-fracked” last year, Jeff Newhook, a completions operations manager at the U.S. supermajor, told Reuters in an interview. The triple-frac…