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Daily
Every morning
Weekly
Tuesday recap
Oil Prices Could Surge Past $150 as Hormuz Shipping Constraints Deepen
Kpler analysts warn that Brent crude may climb above $150 per barrel if ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz stays limited during the difficult phase of the US‑Iran ceasefire. The benchmark is currently trading near $94 per barrel, reflecting tentative optimism that the ceasefire could normalize flows. Minimal vessel transits are seen as the key trigger for the price spike.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Verbund raises $818M via inaugural European Green Bond
Crude oil futures settled at $96.57 on Friday, down 1.33% for the day and 14.3% for the week. Prices remain below the 100‑hour ($102.87) and 200‑hour ($103.57) moving averages, reflecting market discounting a potential reopening of the Strait of Hormuz after a cease‑fire announcement. The June contract traded at $89.13, while the recent swing from a low of $63.81 in late February to a high of $119.48 in early March highlights extreme volatility. Analysts view the current pullback as a reaction to shifting geopolitical expectations.
Regulatory momentum is reshaping the nuclear sector as the NRC granted a 20‑year license renewal for California’s Diablo Canyon plant, extending its carbon‑free output to 2045. Parallel approvals in Poland and Canada signal a global push for both large reactors...
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey signed House Bill 5381, establishing a long‑term plan to lift the state’s generation capacity from 16 gigawatts to 50 gigawatts by 2050. The legislation consolidates fragmented statutes, mandates a five‑year energy development plan, and prioritizes...
AI‑driven data centers are prompting developers to build dedicated natural‑gas power plants, bypassing strained utility grids. SoftBank’s 9.2‑GW Ohio project includes a $33 billion gas plant with Kinder Morgan as the sole midstream partner, while NextEra and Entergy are launching similar hubs...
EcoFlow’s Delta Pro Ultra X (DPUX) paired with the Smart Home Panel 3 delivers a modular, whole‑home battery backup capable of 12‑36 kW output and up to 180 kWh storage. In real‑world tests during two hot‑weather outages, the system kept a 3,000‑sq‑ft house—including two air...
Executives in the nuclear sector are racing to construct new reactors at unprecedented speed to meet the surging electricity demand from AI data centers. The industry faces mounting regulatory, supply‑chain, and financing hurdles, prompting a shift toward standardized, factory‑built designs...
Emerging Markets Choosing Cheap Solar, Batteries, EVs Over Fossil Fuels Electrotech prices collapsed over the past few years. Now, energy-poor countries are adopting electric because it's cheap and scalable. #electrotech https://youtu.be/4LZ7hDsIoiE
The United States is set to ship a record 5 million barrels of crude per day from the Gulf Coast in May 2026, up from 4.9 mb/d in April and 3.97 mb/d in March. The surge follows a sharp decline in exports that...
Ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has plummeted to historic lows, with daily transits now under ten vessels—a roughly 70% decline from pre‑conflict levels. The slowdown follows heightened Iranian missile threats and tighter naval inspections, prompting many carriers to...
JPMorgan Chase warns that the United States’ aging electricity grid has become a national security risk, vulnerable to extreme weather, cyber‑attacks and equipment failure. The bank’s internal report, seen by Bloomberg, highlights that many transmission and distribution assets are decades...
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is drafting a global carbon accounting framework that could become the default metric for U.S. corporations’ emissions reporting. The initiative is proceeding behind the scenes in Geneva, with no public hearings or congressional oversight....
AI‑driven demand is spurring a wave of new data‑center construction, but communities are pushing back. In Port Washington, Wisconsin, voters approved a measure requiring voter approval before granting tax breaks to data‑center projects, a direct response to a $15 billion OpenAI‑Oracle...
Nigeria became a net exporter of gasoline in March, the first time since the Dangote refinery began operations. The refinery processed 565,000 barrels per day of crude, producing 44,000 barrels per day of gasoline, of which 40,000 b/d were exported,...
Texas Attorney General Will Wassdorf announced an investigation into Finnish firm Taaleri’s battery storage project after a complaint alleged that Chinese‑made CATL cells could let Beijing monitor or control the Texas grid. The probe marks the first state‑level action targeting...
The Iran‑Israel conflict has pushed the physical spot price of crude to a record $145 a barrel, more than double the level before the Feb. 28 attacks, while the widely quoted Brent futures linger around $109. The widening gap between futures...
Europe’s aggressive rollout of wind and solar has not uniformly shielded countries from soaring gas‑driven electricity prices. Germany now boasts more renewable capacity than Spain, yet its wholesale power costs still surge when natural‑gas prices spike. By contrast, Spain’s electricity...
The Baker Hughes weekly rig count slipped by three to a total of 545 rigs, with oil rigs unchanged at 411 and natural‑gas rigs falling to 127. Crude oil prices nudged up $0.57 to $98.45 per barrel, yet the weekly...
A new review from Northwestern Polytechnical University and Fuzhou University argues that solid‑oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and solid‑oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) have stalled because research treats materials, electrochemistry, and system engineering as separate problems. The authors map recent advances in...
Today on Volts: in difficult places where power needs to be portable & reliable -- think disaster recovery, or forward military bases -- diesel generators have been the standard answer. I talk today with someone making modular, portable, self-contained nanogrids...
The University of Hawai’i–West O’ahu is allocating $14 million to build solar‑carport canopies with integrated battery storage, slated to begin construction in August 2026. The 1.3‑MW system is projected to generate roughly 2.38 million kWh annually, covering about half of the campus’s net‑zero energy...
China will end its 9 % export tax rebate on photovoltaic modules, cells and inverters on April 1, prompting African power developers to rush purchases before prices rise. Solar accounts for just 3 % of Africa’s electricity but is expanding rapidly through mini‑grids...
China’s Beijing‑Tianjin‑Hebei region has switched 83% of rural homes to gas or electric heating, yet households like Hebei farmer Liu Li now face quarterly bills of CNY 4,000‑5,000 (≈$590‑$730) after subsidies ended. Early policy focused on rapid coal‑to‑gas swaps, neglecting affordability, supply...
Nano Nuclear Energy, a U.S. nuclear fuel company, announced a $230 million-plus investment to revive Argentina’s state‑run Dioxitek New Uranium Plant in Formosa. The deal, structured in two phases, would bring the stalled facility online, produce uranium dioxide domestically and eventually...
The protracted closure of the Strait of Hormuz has lifted Brent crude past $100 a barrel and sent North Sea Forties Blend to a record $147, prompting China to tap its commercial oil reserves and curb refined fuel exports. The...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 3.3% year‑over‑year rise in U.S. consumer prices for March, the steepest increase in two years. The surge is tied to an oil shock sparked by the Iran‑Israel war, pushing gasoline to $4.15 a...
Fluor announced an agreement with X‑Energy to provide Front‑End Loading Stage 2 services for a DOE‑backed small‑modular reactor deployment at Dow’s UCC Seadrift Operations in Texas. The contract covers strategic planning, feasibility studies and cost‑risk mitigation for four 80‑MW reactors, underscoring...
Magic Pen Bio, a Hefei‑based nanotech startup, announced the creation of 20 engineered plant species that emit light without electricity. Founder Li Renhan says the plants need only water and fertilizer, positioning them as a low‑cost alternative for urban illumination...
"Once it's over, things don't go back to normal." The LNG facility in Qatar alone will take 3 to 5 years to rebuild Fertilizer, helium, chip supply chains are all disrupted The strait is a chokehold with no alternative route. This isn't transitory. 🎙️...
GE Vernova’s 2024 spin‑off and the meteoric rise of its Indian transmission‑and‑distribution arm have positioned the company as a premier B2B supplier to utilities. A 2,800% stock gain, a 56% YoY revenue jump and a ₹14 trillion order backlog underscore the...
I’ve been arguing for a while now that the non-petrostates will shift hard to renewable energy, in the interest of national sovereignty. I think it’s time the Democrats start making the same argument. When is the last time we were in...
The Iran‑Iran war and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz have halted roughly 20% of global oil and LNG flows, driving crude toward $100 a barrel and pushing U.S. gasoline above $4 per gallon. Nations that have already built...
The Tony Blair Institute released a new report urging a "policy reset" for the UK’s energy strategy, emphasizing increased North Sea oil and gas drilling alongside accelerated electrification. The think‑tank argues that greater domestic fossil production will boost resilience against...
When it comes to the energy transition I'm a glass half full person. I know: plenty of people would say that's naive. They point to the scale of the challenge. They point to vested interests. They point to hard-to-abate sectors. They're not...
The world has only two options: draw inventories or destroy demand. There is no third option. And while many people point to “global inventories” as a source of comfort, not every barrel in storage is truly available. This is a...
The Trump administration is poised to extend a 30‑day waiver that lets countries purchase sanctioned Russian oil at sea, a measure that currently expires on April 11. The waiver would free roughly 100 million barrels—about one day of global output—as oil prices...
Swiss startup offers lifetime guarantee for second-life batteries #energysky -- via pv magazine global: https://t.co/SO6Izgz4Th
Time to get excited about energy markets? The Bloomberg Energy Spot Subindex is up almost 50% in 2026, to unchanged since 2005! https://t.co/mPF44O7Vkt
Crisil Intelligence forecasts Indian power demand to expand 5.5‑6.5% year‑on‑year in FY27, reaching 1,815‑1,825 billion units. The surge is attributed to El Nino‑driven temperature rises that will lift cooling loads, alongside steady economic growth and a low demand base. In FY26, overall...
this weekend at your cocktail party🍸when they tell you oil prices soared because of Trump, just laugh, tell them oil prices were higher 4-years ago under Biden and move on to the next conversation... https://t.co/PO4tICGIJz
Very cool seeing the wave of empty tankers heading to the US to pick up some desperately needed crude for Hormuz-starved markets. All the tankers on the map below are empty VLCCs (~2 million barrel capacity each) currently heading for the...
Airports Council International Europe warned EU officials that prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz could trigger jet‑fuel shortages across the continent. The warning follows President Trump’s cease‑fire pact with Iran, yet tanker traffic remains well below pre‑conflict volumes. The...
Most state-permitted U.S. solar and wind projects in 19 states received a timely permit #energysky -- via pv magazine usa: https://t.co/arqMrsRyzc
East Coast vs. West Coast - Gasoline Imports Edition: Interesting trend developing in weekly data. The U.S. East Coast, typically the region that imports the most, has imports falling counter-seasonally. The West Coast, which has growing imports, has imports increasing...
State-owned CECEP issued 29.5 million convertible bonds, raising ¥2.95 bn ($432 million) to fund six photovoltaic plants and storage projects totaling 900 MW. The total project outlay is about ¥4.57 bn ($670 million). Meanwhile, China’s polysilicon market saw its seventh consecutive weekly price drop, with N‑type...
America’s Transformer Crisis Has Supercharged a Wave of New Startups #energysky -- via Heatmap News https://t.co/mVSTPVomG8 https://t.co/n88HhSKiEx
Reminder: Weekly export/import data is very noisy. Not because of bad data, but more practical reasons. As weekly export data comes in, just remember to revert back to the more robust Monthly data once they are released. https://t.co/2YmazyDDYX
"Iran has no cards"...except for the straight flush it happens to be holding with control of Hormuz
*PEMEX SAYS OLMECA REFINERY IS SAFE, OPERATIONAL AFTER FIRE It was reported to have been a fire in petcoke storage. The number of people I saw being like "CoInCiDenCe?!" smh
VIDEO COLUMN (2): The Hormuz question. What's happening in the world's most important oil and LNG chokepoint? Let me explain the situation in the strait, and how its shipping lines (and status) are changing, perhaps for ever. @Opinion #Hormuz #IranWar ...
While phys/spot crude $ HAS to reflect immediate supply/demand pressures, and the spread to future cargoes needs to reflect scarcity (backwardation) or surplus (contango), futures $ never NEED to converge—and can remain steeply below—to those same levels in the short/medium-term
