Hormuz Tensions Surge After Reports of Another Tanker Strike

Iran has reportedly hit another tanker in the Persian Gulf, off the coast of Oman, setting it on fire, Gulf News reported earlier today, noting the information had yet to be verified. The information first emerged on social media, with video footage showing a vessel on fire. These reports follow earlier ones by Reuters and the Associated Press on another tanker that was hit by Iran on August 8. The vessel was Emirati and prompted condemnation from the UAE and other Gulf governments. That attack was confirmed by ADNOC and by the United Kingdom Maritime…

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Oil Prices Rise as Iran Hardens Hormuz Demands

Crude oil prices began this week with a gain following a statement by Iran setting six demands for a peace deal with the United States and claims from the Houthis that they had struck an Aramco refinery in Jazan. At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $84.24 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate changing hands for $78.70 per barrel. Both benchmarks are off their spring peaks but still elevated from pre-war times. Iran said over the weekend that it will only reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the United States meets six sweeping demands,…

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Why Trump’s Waiver of the Jones Act Is Unlikely To Lower Gas Prices

U.S. President Donald Trump is weighing another suspension of the Jones Act as gasoline prices above $4 a gallon threaten to become a liability for Republicans heading into the midterm elections. The move would again open domestic oil and fuel shipments to cheaper foreign-flagged vessels, extending an emergency waiver Trump imposed after the Iran war sent crude prices sharply higher in March. The problem is that the first waiver barely moved gasoline prices. Shipping costs account for only a small part of what Americans pay at the pump, leaving…

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What Does It Take to Reopen a Nuclear Power Plant?

In the United States, President Trump aims to expand the country’s nuclear power capacity by developing new projects and restoring old reactors. However, restarting disused reactors is not as simple as just turning them back on, as rigorous safety standards must be considered. In May 2025, President Trump published an executive order entitled “Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base”, in which he outlined plans to start construction of 10 new large reactors and add 5 GW of power to existing nuclear reactors by 2030. Several…

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Europe’s Next Energy Crisis Won’t Be a War, It’ll Be Peak Oil

Europe is currently contending with its third energy crisis in four years against the backdrop of near-constant global geopolitical friction and fracas. The continent’s over-reliance on foreign fossil fuel imports has been thrown into sharp relief in recent months and years as the European Union has struggled to catch its breath and stabilize markets in the vanishingly short time spans between global oil shocks. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, Europe as a whole depended on Russian producers for 40 percent of the continent’s…

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How Engineers Are Reinventing the Wind Turbine

To accelerate the global green transition, several energy companies are developing more durable and efficient renewable energy equipment, such as wind turbines and solar panels. This has been hugely successful in recent decades, with the creation of larger, stronger wind turbines and more efficient, resilient solar panels. As companies continue to improve renewable energy equipment and technology, several innovations could significantly help to boost energy production in the coming years. Global wind energy additions are expected to total 160 GW…

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U.S. Energy Helps Cushion Global Supply Shock From Hormuz

The U.S. energy system has helped mitigate the shock loss of oil and LNG supply from the Middle East when the Strait of Hormuz closed to traffic and sent refiners and gas importers worldwide scrambling for alternative supply. The record American crude oil production and huge natural gas production and rising LNG exports were decades in the making, during which companies invested billions of dollars every year to increase oil, natural gas, and fuel supply, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said in an analysis this week. But the role of “the…

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Why Southeast Asia’s Clean Energy Surge Could Stall Before It Starts

Southeast Asia has been hit harder than anywhere else on Earth by the energy crisis stemming from the War in Iran, leaving many nations scrambling to shore up localized energy supply chains. The newfound volatility in global energy markets has catalyzed the clean energy transition worldwide, but particularly in cash-strapped, import-dependent nations, of which there are many in Southeast Asia. But the rapidly developing region’s ageing and overburdened grids are ill prepared for a quick build-out of indigenous renewable energy capacity, threatening…

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Airlines Scramble for Jet Fuel as Hormuz Disruption Drags On

The months-long closure of the Strait of Hormuz has led to severe fuel shortages around the globe, as companies battle to continue operations. Airlines have been hit hard as they struggle to obtain enough jet fuel to maintain their regular flight schedules. The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz – a key trade corridor connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, via which roughly 20 per cent of the world’s oil is transported when fully operational. Several months of closures…

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Berkeley Lab’s New Fusion Materials Breakthrough, Explained

Scientists at UC Davis and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory just made a major breakthrough in the design of nuclear fusion reactors. The team is at the vanguard of a new field of nuclear fusion research known as materials-driven fusion, which focuses on what the reactors are made up of in order to maximize efficiency and lower the temperature at which fusion can reliably occur. “Instead of designing materials just to survive the harsh conditions of fusion, researchers might be able to design materials that boost the reaction in specific…

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