As a German warship joins the fight against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis in the Red Sea, the U.S Department of Defense told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that it has struck 230 targets in Yemen since the Biden administration ordered airstrikes last month. On Wednesday, U.S. Central Command also said it shot down five Houthi airborne drones in the Red Sea overnight. Over the weekend, U.S. forces struck Houthi land targets, hitting underground weapons storage facilities, missile storage facilities... Читать дальше...
U.S. natural gas prices gained over 3% on Wednesday, recovering from a four-year low earlier in the week as European demand popped and unseasonably warm temperatures in the southern United States boosted cooling demand to make up for lackluster heating demand. So far this year, natural gas has shed over 30%. At 12:49 p.m. ET on Wednesday, U.S. Henry Hub natural gas prices were trading up 3.26% at $1.867 per million British thermal units (MMBtu). On February 20, U.S. Henry Hub daily natural gas... Читать дальше...
There are new reports saying Yemen's Houthis have knocked out several underwater telecommunications cables linking Europe and Asia, however, some of the accounts of the extent of damage remain conflicting. Multiple Israeli publications are reporting Monday that four underwater communications cables between Saudi Arabia and Djibouti have been damaged in recent months - the result of Houthi sabotage. The reporting appears to have originated in Israel's financial daily outlet Globes. But one industry publication cautions... Читать дальше...
Texas Panhandle oil refineries and cattle ranches remain under critical threat as wildfires continue to spread, now consuming 500,000 acres after having prompted the temporary evacuation of the United States’ primary nuclear weapons assembly plant. Earlier on Wednesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott had declared a disaster for 60 counties being affected by four separate wildfires that have so far decimated more than 320,000 acres, with shifting winds threatening further spread. By mid-day Wednesday, the wildfires had consumed over 500,000 acres. Читать дальше...
Shell and Equinor are still expecting the signing of all agreements which would allow them to start developing a planned $42-billion LNG export project in Tanzania, the international majors have told Bloomberg. The LNG project for connecting offshore natural gas discoveries offshore Tanzania with an export terminal on its coast has been nearly a decade in the making. After buying BG Group in 2016, Shell became the operator of two offshore blocks in Tanzania, Block 1 and Block 4, together with its... Читать дальше...
Automotive News was the first to report Ford Motor Co. halted shipments of all 2024 F-150 Lightning electric pickup trucks for an undisclosed quality control issue just weeks after slashing production volumes for the EV model due to sliding demand. A Ford spokesperson did not explain the reasons behind the quality check, but shipments of Lightnings have been halted since Feb. 9. Even with shipments paused, production of the Lightnings continues at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan. Читать дальше...
The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) ministerial conference in Abu Dhabi has shown again deep divergences regarding actions to tackle climate change, with the only explicit reference to “climate change” reduced to an annex in the latest drafts. Talks on a new WTO deal are being held this week in Abu Dhabi, and amid disagreements, negotiations on a final declaration continue. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who took office in 2021, is keen to include sustainability and tackling climate... Читать дальше...
Crude oil prices went lower today, after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported an estimated inventory increase of 4.2 million barrels for the week to February 23. This compared with a build of 3.5 million barrels for the previous week, which was accompanied by inventory declines in gasoline and middle distillates. In gasoline, the EIA estimated an inventory draw of 2.8 million barrels for the week to February 23. Production averaged 9.4 million bpd during the week. This compared with... Читать дальше...
The Biden administration has set an ambitious target to generate 80% of the United States’ electricity from renewables by 2030 and 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035. However, the country’s aging infrastructure is already struggling to keep pace with the rapid growth of renewable energy, with experts saying a massive grid overhaul is required to make intermittent generation possible. Unfortunately, the cost of doing this the traditional way is prohibitive: last year, the Institute of Electrical... Читать дальше...
A North American company is gearing up to drill two of the potentially most important wells for a new phase of European energy.Proven oil and gas resources and successful previously drilled wells had been abandoned by Germany for decades, as the country jumped wholeheartedly on the Russian energy bandwagon. But now the geopolitical situation has changed Germany is being forced to once again look within its own borders. MCF Energy (TSXV:MCF; OTC:MCFNF) led by CEO James Hill, is planning its first... Читать дальше...
The world’s biggest independent oil traders have earned record-high profits in the past two years amid market volatility and a rebound in the demand for energy commodities. The four largest traders—privately-held Vitol Group, Trafigura, Gunvor, and Mercuria—have also paid record dividends to their employee shareholders, and even after these record payouts, the trading houses are now sitting on nearly $60 billion in combined equity, according to estimates by Reuters. The top energy commodity traders... Читать дальше...
OPEC+’s voluntary production cuts that were set to expire at the end of the first quarter could be extended through the end of the year, three OPEC+ sources told Reuters on Tuesday. Crude oil prices rose with the news from three anonymous OPEC+ sources who spoke to Reuters, indicating that OPEC+ was considering an extension of its voluntary production cuts into the second quarter to lend further support to the market. What’s more, the sources suggested that the group could keep the voluntary cuts... Читать дальше...
Every year investors eagerly anticipate the arrival of Warren Buffett’s annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. In this year’s letter, after discussing favorite companies like Coke, Apple, and Occidental Petroleum, Mr. Buffett turned to two areas of financial disappointment, railroads and utilities. But there was one key difference. As a large investor, he was disappointed with the performance of BNSF rail lines but he acknowledged the considerable economic potential in the business, its centrality to the US economy... Читать дальше...
Chilean energy company Empresa Nacional del Petroleo, or ENAP, has signed a deal with California-based Upwing Energy—a gas tech innovation service company—to deploy a Subsurface Compressor System to enhance recoverability and production in the country. The production gains expected to be reached could be as high as 200%., with natural gas reserves increasing by as much as 70%, a Tuesday press release revealed. The technology centers around a subsurface compressor that is placed miles beneath the surface within the well. Читать дальше...
Just a month after Norway approved the world’s first deep-sea mineral mining, a UN regulator has stated that he thinks the international practice of deep-sea mining is likely inevitable. There is growing interest in commercial deep-sea mining for critical metals and minerals to support an accelerated global green transition. However, there is also widespread opposition due to fears of the environmental impact of these types of activities, which could hinder efforts to tackle climate change. At the beginning of the year... Читать дальше...
Crude oil inventories in the United States rose this week, by 8.428 million barrels for the week ending February 23, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API). The API reported a 7.168-million-barrel rise in crude inventories in the week prior. On Tuesday, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by 0.8 million barrels as of February 23. Inventories are now at 360.3 million barrels—the highest level since May 2023.... Читать дальше...
Newly released University of Tokyo research reveals a method to more accurately measure, predict and model a key part of the process to make nuclear waste more stable. This could lead to improved nuclear waste treatment facilities and also to new theories about how some heavier elements in the universe came to be. Simulation of neutron star collision. Detections of gravitational waves from merging neutron stars tipped off researchers here on Earth that it should be possible to predict how neutrons interact with atomic nuclei. Читать дальше...
