Diesel prices surged earlier this week on news about yet another Ukrainian attack on a Russian refinery and a Houthi attack on a Saudi refining facility. Global fuel supply is already out of balance, and the continued refinery disruption will only aggravate the situation, right before peak demand season. Reuters reported Monday that refining margins in Europe had surged by 10%, and that surge was from an already elevated starting point as refiners around the world see their margins rise to all-time highs on the supply tightening caused by the war…

The war between the US and Iran has driven up natural gas prices, particularly in Europe and Asia. Asia accounts for nearly 90% of liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments from key Middle East producers like Qatar and the UAE, while Europe imports 7-11% of its LNG from the region. During spring 2026 missile and drone attacks, Iranian strikes hit Ras Laffan LNG Trains 4 & 6, and Pearl GTL Train 2. Ras Laffan owner QatarEnergy estimates repairs to the two units will sideline about 12.8 million tonnes per year of LNG capacity for three to five years.…

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened Wednesday to seize European ships in retaliation for EU action against Russia’s shadow oil fleet, opening the possibility of direct Russian interference with commercial shipping as Europe steps up efforts to disrupt Moscow’s crude exports, RFE/RL reported.  President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Moscow would “respond in kind” if European countries begin confiscating Russian ships or selling cargo taken from detained vessels, and warned that Russian retaliation would…

As energy companies explore innovative ways to increase clean power production and gain public support for new projects, many solar firms are investing in developing dual-purpose operations that utilise agricultural land for solar farms. A common criticism of solar farms is that installing panels on arable land for the sole purpose of energy production restricts land use for other purposes. However, installing solar panels on agricultural land, where farming practices can still take place, could provide a solution to the problem. Many solar projects…

The world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, Norway’s $2.3-trillion Government Pension Fund Global, posted a record-high profit of $185 billion for the first half of 2026, as Asian technology stocks boosted its returns and profit on the portfolio. Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), which is commonly referred to as 'Norway's oil fund' because it was created with oil and gas revenues, is a shareholder in many large companies in the world, with more than half of the value of its equity investments in the U.S. market. The…

Russia has started importing fuels from India, Bloomberg reported today, citing Kpler data that shows one cargo of 42,000 tons of gasoline from Nayara Energy’s Vadinar refinery arriving in Russia earlier this month. The Vadinar refinery is partly owned by Rosneft, which supplies the crude oil that is processed at the facility. Those shipments were disrupted last November, after the United States sanctioned Russia’s largest oil exporter. The Vadinar cargo was loaded in mid-June, the report said, on a Russian-flagged tanker and was then…

Whatever officially occurs next in the on-again/off-again negotiations towards a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran, unofficially Tehran knows that it has established de facto control over both the world’s two key maritime energy transit routes -- the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait -- for at least as long as the Islamic regime remains in place in Iran. Washington, London, Brussels, Beijing, and Moscow know it too. The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively controlled by vast Iranian forces down its full eastern stretch, precluding…

Two years ago, Alaska LNG was struggling to secure the private financing needed to move forward, with high Arctic construction costs, logistical complexities and massive upfront property tax burdens making lenders and potential Asian buyers hesitant to commit. But since then, the outlook for the $55-billion megaproject has improved considerably. The proposed 800-mile pipeline and LNG export project has gained strong backing from the Trump administration, with President Trump pushing Japan and South Korea in particular to invest in the project and…