India’s ONGC is poised to take over operation of two Venezuelan oil projects from state-owned PDVSA, which would give the Indian producer direct operational control over assets of the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves. Reuters exclusively reported Wednesday that ONGC expects to sign new agreements “very soon” under Venezuela’s new petroleum law after years of limiting its activities because of U.S. sanctions. Speaking during ONGC’s June-quarter earnings call cited by Reuters, Finance Director Anupam Agarwal…

For the second time this decade, a war has upended global oil markets and sent oil prices and refining margins to multi-year highs, benefitting the world’s biggest oil companies and top refiners. The war in Iran has tightened fuel supply as crude oil has struggled to move through the Strait of Hormuz, triggering reduced refining throughput in Asia and a temporary Chinese ban on exports. The fuel markets tightened even more than the crude market to send refining margins to record highs. And the biggest refiners benefited from the new refining…

China and Turkey spent years strengthening a strategic partnership built on trade, investment and access to European markets. The sudden collapse of a flagship $1 billion Chinese investment now threatens to slow one of Beijing’s most important economic relationships in the region. For years, China and Turkey have maintained a cordial and strategic relationship, with Turkey’s access to the EU Customs Union making it an attractive destination for Chinese investments. Chinese goods produced in Turkey move into the EU without extra customs…

The race for critical metals and minerals has been heating up since President Trump took office, pitting the U.S. against many of its international allies. Yet while the federal government spends billions to build a position in critical minerals and challenge China’s dominance, there have been setbacks—even at home. Earlier this week, the Financial Times reported that a company had made the biggest discovery of tungsten in the United States. Tungsten is a critical metal that is used in applications ranging from electronics to defense…

Lithium has become a hot-button geopolitical issue as the critical mineral has become omnipresent and all-important in the tech and energy sectors. Chances are very good that you have more than one device powered by a lithium-ion battery within arm’s reach at this very moment, and chances are equally as good that that battery was made in China. At present, China has a near-chokehold on global lithium supplies and refining capacity, granting Beijing significant geopolitical leverage. Moreover, as the world continues its trajectory toward a…

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States rose by 2.69 million barrels in the week ending July 30, despite analyst expectations for a 2 million barrel draw. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by 3.3 million barrels. Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR have lost just over 58 million barrels over the last sixteen weeks, with US crude inventories down just 7.2 million for the year, according to API data, kept in check by draws from the SPR. For the week ending July…

The conventional view of the Hormuz crisis is that China has been caught in an energy trap. It is the world’s largest crude importer, the Gulf remains one of its most important sources of supply, and an estimated 45–50% of Chinese crude imports normally transit the Strait of Hormuz. When traffic through the strait slows, Beijing cannot simply replace all those barrels overnight. That vulnerability is real. But it is also incomplete. China entered this crisis with large strategic and commercial inventories, diversified suppliers and…

Pakistan has played a key role as a mediator in the U.S./Israel war on Iran. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces, have raised Pakistan’s profile so much that Foreign Affairs gushed “Pakistan Won the War in Iran.” Pakistan’s leaders are practical men with working relations with Washington and Tehran and are not performing good works to save their immortal souls, but because Pakistan and Iran are “neighbors forever” and they are looking to…

Oil prices tumbled Tuesday as traders once again priced in a U.S.-Iran agreement before anyone had actually signed one. West Texas Intermediate was trading at $75.64 per barrel shortly before 2 p.m. ET, down $4.70, or 5.85%, while Brent had fallen $4.61 to $79.16. Both benchmarks touched three-week lows as hopes rose that an agreement could reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a deal could come Tuesday or Wednesday, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio said talks involving Iran and Oman had made progress. Qatar also…