Finance and markets: business, quotes, gold, energy and releases.
Found 2015 articles
The Kremlin’s regional influence is buckling under the weight of geopolitical friction, as key allies drift away from Moscow’s security and trade blocs. From Kazakhstan to Armenia, member states are openly questioning the utility of the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union, signaling a decline in Russian hegemony.
Global investment firm KKR has finalized a $4.2-billion acquisition of EDF Power Solutions North America, marking the largest renewable energy investment in the firm’s history. The deal grants KKR immediate control over 5.6 gigawatts of wind, solar, and battery storage assets, positioning the company to meet the surging power demands of AI data centers.
Saudi Aramco and Algeria’s Sonatrach have officially reduced July LPG selling prices, responding to a surge in global market supply. Saudi Arabia’s national oil company set propane at $580 per ton and butane at $600, marking significant drops that serve as a critical benchmark for Middle Eastern and Asian markets.
Sustained Ukrainian drone strikes against Russian energy infrastructure have forced Moscow to secure emergency fuel imports from India. With nearly 30% of domestic refining capacity knocked offline, the Kremlin is now shipping at least 60,000 metric tons of gasoline by sea to bridge a widening daily supply deficit.
Germany reached a milestone in its transition away from fossil fuels as renewable energy sources supplied 58% of the nation's electricity consumption during the first half of 2026. This uptick from 55.8% the previous year highlights the impact of aggressive infrastructure expansion and more favorable weather conditions.
Libya’s crude production has hit a 13-year high of 1.487 million barrels per day, placing the country within reach of its 1.5 million target. While this output offers a vital alternative to Russian energy for Western markets, the nation’s fragile political landscape threatens to reverse these gains with recurring blockades.
With global energy markets trapped in a cycle of unpredictability, Japan’s largest power producer JERA is shifting its strategy by launching JERA Global Energy Solutions. Headquartered in Singapore, this new subsidiary will consolidate the company’s LNG, upstream assets, and shipping operations into a single, agile commercial entity.
As the European Commission prepares to unveil a revised emissions trading scheme on July 15, a rift has emerged between companies that have poured billions into green transitions and industrial giants warning that current carbon costs are driving European manufacturing toward an irreversible competitive collapse.
Seeking to capture the multi-billion dollar windfalls enjoyed by its European peers, Italian energy major Eni is launching a joint venture with Geneva-based trader Mercuria. The 50-50 partnership aims to scale Eni’s trading footprint across global oil, gas, and biofuel markets by leveraging the infrastructure of an independent trading giant.
To satiate the ravenous power demands of AI data centers and semiconductor manufacturing, global investment firm KKR and conglomerate SK Inc have unveiled a $1.3 billion renewable energy platform. The joint venture aims to scale its capacity to 10 gigawatts, effectively anchoring the country’s industrial transition to clean energy.
A projected global supply glut of 3 million barrels per day is set to overwhelm oil markets by next year, even as nations scramble to replenish strategic reserves. Goldman Sachs warns that the normalization of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz will exert downward pressure that inventory rebuilding simply cannot offset.
For the first time in decades, American utility investment in coal and natural gas generation will outpace China’s, with companies pouring $50 billion into new capacity this year. Driven by a massive data center expansion, this spending pivot marks a sharp reversal in global energy infrastructure trends.
A significant deposit of nickel, copper, gold, and rare earth elements has been uncovered in Nigeria’s Kaduna State, marking a major milestone in the nation's push to diversify its mineral sector. Confirmed by the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, the find adds to a growing portfolio of critical resource assets.
Brent crude climbed above $73 per barrel this week as renewed U.S.-Iran skirmishes turned the Strait of Hormuz into a bottleneck. With transit rates dropping to 20-25 ships daily and Iranian authorities mandating a northern coastal route, shippers are bracing for a summer defined by heightened volatility and persistent war risk premiums.
A $1.7 billion deal sees Shell offloading its 50% stake in the Na Kika oil platform and the Coulomb tieback to Talos Energy and Ridgewood Energy. This strategic move reshapes the supermajor’s Gulf of Mexico portfolio while raising questions about how the company intends to address its tightening reserve life.
Crude oil prices closed the second quarter with their sharpest decline since 2020, as traders bet heavily on a diplomatic breakthrough between Washington and Tehran. Yet, while Brent crude sits at $73.17 per barrel, physical indicators in the Strait of Hormuz suggest that the market’s optimism remains disconnected from the ground.
Seventy-eight percent of Australians now favor ramping up domestic oil production, marking a sharp policy shift as the nation contends with persistent fuel supply instability. Triggered by international conflict and domestic refinery closures, this resurgence in exploration aims to secure the country’s energy future against global market volatility.
Artificial intelligence is hitting a physical wall. While developers race to build massive computing campuses, the industry is discovering that chips and software are secondary to the most volatile bottleneck of all: the electrical grid. Trillions of dollars in infrastructure are now tethered to the hunt for reliable power.
Thirty miles of underwater cable currently tether Beaver Island to the mainland, leaving the community vulnerable to frequent power outages. Now, researchers are testing hydrokinetic technology along the Lake Michigan shoreline, aiming to harness wave energy to provide a reliable, localized power source for the island’s 600 permanent residents.
Once valued at over £90 million, the London-based ESG reporting firm World Wide Generation has been put up for sale after appointing joint administrators. The insolvency marks a sharp reversal for the company, which previously counted corporate giants like HSBC and Unilever among its primary customers for sustainability tracking tools.
A billion barrels of supply have evaporated since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, forcing nations to confront a fragile energy reality. While China’s massive stockpiles previously acted as a global shock absorber, the race is now on for other importers to build their own strategic buffers against future volatility.
China is doubling down on a contradictory energy strategy: aggressively scaling the world's largest renewable network while simultaneously cementing its reliance on coal. Beijing’s latest five-year plan confirms that the country will continue to bank on this hybrid model to secure its industrial future and guarantee absolute domestic energy independence.
With commercial inventories dropping by 6.072 million barrels for the week ending June 26, the American Petroleum Institute reports a sustained drain on US reserves. This rapid depletion persists even as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve falls to its lowest level in over forty years, leaving capacity significantly underutilized.
For the first time in history, no Brent crude cargoes are scheduled to load in August. While the benchmark remains the global standard for pricing over 60% of internationally traded crude, the original North Sea oil field that gave the marker its name is effectively drying up.
Driven by a frantic market response to the Iran conflict, American crude production surged to an unprecedented 13.934 million barrels per day in April. The record-breaking figures emerged as producers scrambled to capitalize on a brief price spike that saw crude flirting with $120 per barrel.
After weeks of dismissing reports of supply disruptions, the Kremlin has officially acknowledged that Russia faces a mounting fuel crisis. President Vladimir Putin convened an emergency meeting with top energy executives and government officials this weekend to address widespread shortages that have now reached Moscow and threaten critical agricultural harvests.
Global oil markets are poised for a 30% quarterly plunge, marking the sharpest decline since the 2020 pandemic crash. Brent Crude prices have tumbled back to February levels, driven by investor optimism following a preliminary memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran aimed at stabilizing transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
The state-owned energy giant PTT is currently negotiating equity stakes in U.S. export facilities to lock in long-term shipments. By pivoting toward American gas, Thailand aims to insulate its domestic market from the volatility of Middle Eastern transit routes and the unpredictable costs of spot market procurement.
A 65 percent spike in global LNG demand is expected by 2050, driven by rapid industrial expansion across South and Southeast Asia. Despite this long-term growth trajectory, Shell’s latest outlook warns that immediate market momentum is currently stalled by persistent instability and shipping disruptions within the Strait of Hormuz.
With June crude imports estimated at 20.71 million barrels per day, Asia remains significantly below the pre-conflict average of 26.79 million bpd. Despite a marginal uptick from May’s 20.39 million bpd, high freight costs and ongoing concerns regarding the Strait of Hormuz continue to suppress regional demand.