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North Dakota Chases A Second Bakken Boom Through Enhanced Recovery
North Dakota’s elected officials are pushing hard to deploy Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) technologies to boost oil production in the Bakken before Donald Trump's tenure as president expires. The Trump administration has significantly opened up federal lands and offshore waters for oil and gas drilling, rolling back Biden-era conservation rules to mandate more quarterly lease sales. And proposals have been advanced to expand offshore drilling to areas previously restricted, including the federal...
Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela Fuel South America’s Oil Export Boom
South America has raised its oil exports more than the U.S. has done so far this year as key producers in the region boosted production and shipments to a world scrambling for crude that’s not dependent on the Strait of Hormuz. Over the past five years, South America’s biggest producer and exporter, Brazil, has started production at several new offshore platforms in the Santos pre-salt fields. Guyana has continuously increased overseas shipments as the Exxon-led consortium starts up...
IAEA Warns Iran Nuclear Risk Has Increased
The possibility of Iran developing a nuclear weapon is now higher than it was before the United States and Israel first attacked the country in February, the International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded in a report. The conclusion suggests the war has so far resulted in the opposite of what President Trump set out to do, namely, prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Bloomberg cited the report, which has restricted access, saying that in it, the IAEA had warned its member states...
Brazil Launches World-First Ethanol-Powered Grid Engine
Brazil is undertaking a major biofuels experiment that could be majorly disruptive for the global energy landscape if it proves effective. The South American country is filthy rich in biomass, and is seeking to use ethanol in novel applications – in this case, to power the energy grid. A new ethanol-powered engine designed specifically to provide electricity to the grid was just launched at the Suape II power plant in Pernambuco, in a world first. Brazilian energy company Suape Energia has...
A New U.S. Battery Line Designed to Make Energy Storage Safer and Cheaper
The US has recently launched a new battery production line, which is expected to help researchers develop safer and cheaper energy storage technologies for the electric grid. The new line is housed at the Grid Storage Launchpad (GSL), a 93,000-square-foot research facility. It is run by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington State. According to PNNL, the newly commissioned production line features a total of 16 pieces of equipment...
Iran's Oil Exports Collapse to Six-Year Low as Blockade Tightens
Iran's oil exports fell to their lowest level in at least six years in May as the U.S. naval blockade continued to choke off crude shipments and leave tens of millions of barrels stranded at sea. According to shipping data from Vortexa, Iran exported just 209,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and condensate in May, down from 1.34 million bpd in April and nearly 1.9 million bpd in March. Kpler had estimated May exports slightly higher at 260,000 bpd, but still the lowest level since the...
Venezuela’s Debt Overhaul Faces New Controversy
When the US removed Nicolás Maduro from power in Venezuela, the expectation was collapse. It has not come. The removal of a long-serving head of state is almost always followed by economic chaos. Following the removal of Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s oil production fell by 36%, and its economy shrank by almost a quarter. But Venezuela, against considerable odds, has avoided that fate. President Delcy Rodríguez has stabilized the home front while reopening the country’s oil industry to American capital...
Crude Oil Plummets After Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Announcement
(RTTNews) - Partially reversing three sessions of gains, crude oil prices have plunged on Wednesday as expectations of de-escalation in the Middle East rise following an Israel-Lebanon ceasefire announcement along with rising optimism on a U.S.-Iran deal over the weekend.
Georgia’s Government Backs a Controversial Crypto Push
Tether, the world's largest stablecoin issuer, has announced a major investment in Georgia and plans to launch GEL?, a digital token pegged one-to-one to the Georgian lari, a currency used only within the country of 3.7 million. The move signals growing crypto ambitions in the South Caucasus, but also raises concerns about transparency, as it comes with full backing from the authoritarian-leaning Georgian government. Stablecoins are designed to hold a fixed value, typically pegged to the US...
Gold Advances As Expectations Of An End To Middle East Crisis Increase
(RTTNews) - Partially offsetting the sharp decline from yesterday's session, gold prices have edged higher on Thursday as optimism on a resolution to the Middle East crisis increased after Israel and Lebanon consented to a ceasefire. In addition, both the U.S. and Iran confirmed
U.S. Oil Shocks Don't Hit Like They Used To, Fed Study Finds
The United States still feels oil shocks. It just doesn't feel them the way it did when America was dancing to disco and waiting in gas lines. If the Fed is right, the idea that every oil shock leads to recession is outdated. A new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston finds that rising domestic oil production has fundamentally changed how higher crude prices ripple through the U.S. economy. The result is a country that remains vulnerable to energy inflation but is far less likely to...
Central Banks Bought Less Gold in 2025 But It Still Hit a 45 Year High
Gold saw a significant price rally over the course of 2025, after geopolitical uncertainty and heightened central bank buying drove more people to the safe haven asset. Gold prices rallied 44 per cent last year, reaching $4,550 per ounce in December and recording 56 fresh record highs according to the latest report from Metals Focus. It also marked the asset's strongest performance since 1980. The report credited the sharp rise to concerns surrounding global growth, inflation and supply chains,...