Crude Prices Deflate as Hormuz Hopes Gain Momentum
Oil markets fell sharply on Friday after U.S. and Iranian officials announced the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Physical spot prices and futures contracts both tumbled, reflecting traders' optimism that resumed Middle‑East shipments will narrow the current supply gap. The move follows weeks of heightened tension that had driven crude to multi‑year highs. Analysts see the price dip as a temporary relief rather than a lasting reversal.
US States Eye Fuel Tax Relief to Curb Pain at the Pump
Rising gasoline prices, driven by the Middle East energy crisis, have spurred state leaders across the U.S. to explore fuel‑tax relief measures aimed at easing consumer costs. Governors and legislators are debating temporary suspensions or reductions of gasoline excise taxes,...
Enconfund Revs up Energy Projects
Thailand’s Energy Conservation and Promotion Fund (Enconfund) is shifting from pure research support to commercial‑scale deployment, targeting projects like waste‑to‑oil and green hydrogen. The fund, financed by a 0.05 baht per litre levy, holds roughly 10 bn baht ($300 M) and spends 5‑9 bn...
FANCO EAGL-1 SMR Regulatory Engagement Advances Construction Pathway in US Nuclear Project
First American Nuclear has submitted a pre‑application regulatory engagement plan to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for its EAGL‑1 small modular reactor, marking the first formal step toward a construction permit. The fast‑spectrum, liquid‑metal SMR targets about 240 MW electrical output per...
North America Just Got Its First New Kind of Lithium Refinery
Mangrove Lithium has inaugurated North America’s first commercial electrochemical lithium refinery in Delta, British Columbia, capable of processing 1,000 tonnes of lithium annually. The facility, dubbed the Single Stack Plant, can supply battery‑grade lithium for roughly 25,000 electric vehicles each...
Oil Prices, Apr. 17, 2026
Energy Intelligence, in partnership with Refinitiv, published its daily oil‑price snapshot for April 17, 2026. The report aggregates international spot and futures prices for crude benchmarks and refined petroleum products. It serves as a real‑time barometer for market participants tracking...
The Bigger Energy Lesson Behind Iran’s Control Over the Strait of Hormuz
Iran announced the Strait of Hormuz is open to commercial traffic, prompting a sharp dip in oil prices and a modest rally in equity markets. The reopening, however, does not erase the underlying geopolitical risk that the strait can be...
Skilled Labor Shortage Threatens US Gas, Data Center Build-Out
A persistent shortage of skilled tradespeople is now spilling beyond the Gulf Coast LNG sector into pipelines, power generation and data‑center construction across the United States. Employers report that the dwindling pool of welders, electricians and pipefitters is inflating labor...
Energy 'Sovereignty' Drives Mexico's Rethink on Gas Fracking
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum signaled a policy shift by allowing unconventional shale‑gas development near the U.S. border, reversing the strict bans imposed by her predecessor. The move aims to boost domestic gas production and lessen Mexico’s reliance on imported U.S....
Birchcliff CEO Upbeat Despite Canadian, Global Gas Market Woes
Birchcliff Energy’s CEO Chris Carlsen remained optimistic at the BMO CAPP Energy Symposium despite weak domestic gas prices and global market turbulence. The Calgary‑based Montney producer highlighted its role in the Rockies LNG consortium, which backs the 2.1 bcf/d Ksi Lisims export project....
Trinidad's LNG Export Renaissance Finds New Momentum
Trinidad and Tobago is preparing a new tranche of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export to the Atlantic Basin, targeting delivery before 2030. The initiative stems from a complex asset swap between ExxonMobil and Shell, two of the world’s largest...
Market View: West Texas Gas Prices Plunge Well Below Zero
West Texas natural‑gas spot prices plunged well below zero as abundant Permian production collided with a maintenance shutdown on a key Southwest pipeline. The bottleneck forced the market to pay shippers to move gas, driving prices into negative territory for...
Polymarket Odds of Hormuz Strait Traffic Normalizing by End of May Spike to 73%
Polymarket’s prediction market showed odds climbing to 73% that Strait of Hormuz traffic will return to normal by the end of May, after a brief peak of 82% following Iran’s announcement of a temporary reopening. The cease‑fire deal prompted a...
Kairos Power Hermes 2 Reactor Construction Begins in Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Construction has begun on Kairos Power's Hermes 2 Demonstration Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, marking the first commercial‑scale Generation IV reactor to receive a Nuclear Regulatory Commission construction permit. The fluoride‑salt‑cooled high‑temperature reactor will generate up to 50 MW of electricity for the...
China Plans To Double Renewable Energy By 2035. That’s The Good News.
On April 17, 2026 China’s National Development and Reform Commission announced a plan to double the country’s non‑fossil energy supply by 2035, using 2025 as a baseline. The roadmap includes massive hydropower projects in Tibet, desert‑based renewable hubs, and a...
From Site Projects to Portfolio Programs: How Industrial Operators Are Rethinking Energy Strategy
Industrial operators are moving from isolated site‑by‑site energy projects to enterprise‑wide portfolio programs. The article explains that fragmented baselines, inconsistent reporting, and local contracts hinder aggregate performance measurement across dozens of facilities. Implementing standardized baselines, centralized real‑time visibility, and a...
MarineTraffic Shows Hormuz Strait Vessel Activity After Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Deal
MarineTraffic data released on April 17 shows a surge in tanker movements through the Strait of Hormuz following the Israel‑Lebanon ceasefire agreement. The platform recorded an average of 45 vessels per day, a 30% increase from the previous week and...
Iran Says Strait of Hormuz Is ‘Completely Open’
Iran announced the Strait of Hormuz is "completely open" following the Israel‑Hezbollah cease‑fire, but Washington reiterated its naval blockade, citing unfinished transactions with Tehran. The U.S. Central Command reported 19 ships intercepted since the blockade began, underscoring lingering tension. Oil...
US Oil Shipments Via Panama Canal Near 4-Year High
U.S. crude shipments through the Panama Canal have surged to roughly 200,000 barrels per day, the highest level since July 2022. The spike is driven by Asian refiners seeking an alternative to Middle‑East oil after a week‑long disruption in the...
Don’t Blame Technology For The Start-And-Stop Transition To Clean Energy
Renewable technologies such as solar, wind and grid‑scale batteries have become cheaper than new fossil‑fuel plants, driving ambitious capacity targets—about 80 % of power‑plant additions over the next decade are slated to be renewable. Electric vehicles now have the lowest lifetime...
Hormuz Is (Apparently) Unblocked. Energy Markets Remain a Mess
Iran’s foreign minister announced that commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is "completely open," a sentiment echoed by President Donald Trump. The news sent Brent crude futures tumbling more than 10% to $89 a barrel, their lowest level since...
PowerSecure to Build Solar and Storage Project for Wyoming Utility Co-Op
PowerSecure, a Southern Company subsidiary, will construct a 1.25‑MW solar farm paired with a 21.6‑MWh battery storage system for Wyoming cooperative Powder River Energy Corporation (PRECorp). The hybrid project is designed to alleviate peak‑demand stress, boost reliability, and lower wholesale...
Taroom: Australia’s New Oil Play
Queensland’s Taroom Trough is emerging as Australia’s first major on‑shore oil play in decades, with early drilling indicating light crude and condensate potential. Pilot production has already begun, providing proof of concept and attracting investor interest. The Queensland government is...
Nat-Gas Prices Rise on Expectations of Hot US Temps to Boost Air-Conditioning
May Nymex natural gas (NGK26) closed up 1.02% as forecasters expect above‑average spring temperatures to drive higher air‑conditioning demand. The rally follows a recent 17‑month low that was sparked by milder weather and elevated storage levels, which sit 5.8% above...
Futures Settle: Hints of New Demand Trump War Fallout, Boosting Nymex Natural Gas
Natural‑gas futures on the NYMEX held a tight range Friday but edged higher as traders sensed a modest lift in near‑term demand. The front‑month contract gained momentum after reports of President Trump’s peace overtures, which eased geopolitical concerns tied to...
Alphabet’s Northern Indiana Data Center Secures Dedicated Power Supply in Landmark NiSource Deal
Alphabet’s Indiana subsidiary has signed a long‑term power agreement with utility NiSource to supply up to 515 MW for a new hyperscale data‑center campus, with deliveries beginning in summer 2026. The deal uses NiSource’s NIPSCO Generation (GenCo) model, aggregating owned generation and...
Greek Shipowner Sends Biggest Oil Tanker Yet Through Hormuz
Greek shipowner Dynacom Tankers sent its Very Large Crude Carrier Atokos, a 2 million‑barrel supertanker, through the Strait of Hormuz with its transponder off, marking the largest non‑Iranian vessel to use the waterway since the conflict began. The transit brings Dynacom’s...
Hold the Champagne: Oil Recovery Faces Weeks of Delay as Supply Chain Shocks Deepen
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has forced oil tankers onto longer, less efficient routes, leaving only seven empty vessels to transit the strait and no fully laden ships delivering product. Around 330 compliant tankers and 102 vessels carrying...
Venture Global Secures Pre-Filing Waiver for CP2 Phase 3 Buildout
Venture Global received a pre‑filing waiver from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the third phase of its Calcasieu Pass (CP2) LNG expansion. The waiver eliminates the need to submit a formal pre‑filing application, potentially shaving months off the project's...
Battery Recycling Still Isn’t Easy. Just Ask Ascend Elements.
Ascend Elements, a battery‑disassembly startup that launched a plant near Atlanta in 2023 and is building a Kentucky facility, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 9 after losing $274 million in federal grants and facing delayed buyer commitments. The collapse reflects broader...
Goldman Says Buy These Dividend-Paying Energy Stocks with Upside Potential
Goldman Sachs analyst Neil Mehta highlighted five dividend‑paying energy stocks as buying opportunities after oil prices plunged 8‑10% on Friday. He expects Brent crude to stabilize around $75 per barrel and sees upside potential ranging from 13% to 28% across...
Electric Vehicle Owners Could Earn Thousands by Supporting Power Grid
A pilot program in Delaware demonstrates that electric‑vehicle owners can earn several thousand dollars a year by letting their parked cars act as a collective battery for the grid. As renewable generation now accounts for roughly 90% of new capacity,...
America’s Wind Market Keeps Building Under Policy Pressure
U.S. utility‑scale wind capacity reached roughly 159.5 GW by January 2026, with onshore accounting for 159.3 GW and offshore a modest 171 MW. Generation climbed to 464 TWh in 2025, representing just over 10% of total U.S. electricity. Developers are targeting 11.8 GW of new wind...
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Stock Market Today: Indexes Soar, Oil Dives After Iran's Foreign Minister Says Strait of Hormuz 'Completely Open' During Ceasefire; Dow...
Iran’s foreign minister announced the Strait of Hormuz was "completely open" during a 10‑day Israel‑Lebanon cease‑fire, sending West Texas Intermediate down 11% to about $84 a barrel and Brent to $89. The plunge hammered the S&P 500 energy sector, which fell...
$10 Billion Upper Zakum Offshore Expansion Project Nears EPCI Awards for the Expansion Works
ADNOC Offshore is closing in on awarding at least three major Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) contracts for the Upper Zakum offshore expansion, a $10 billion program that could lift output by up to 1.5 million barrels per day. The bids...
A Photovoltaic Power Forecasting Method Integrating Physical Mechanisms and Deep Learning
Researchers have introduced a hybrid photovoltaic power forecasting method that merges physical modeling with deep learning. The approach uses a non‑uniform error compensation strategy, a 37‑dimensional feature system, and a dynamic weighted fusion based on four confidence factors. Validation on...
Single Switch High Gain DC-DC Quadratic Boost Converter for Renewable Energy Applications
Researchers Chakraborty et al. introduced a single‑switch quadratic boost converter that achieves high voltage gain for renewable energy systems. The prototype, rated at 200 W and 380 V input, delivers an 11.17× gain with only a 28 % duty cycle and reaches 96 %...
Cincinnati to Turn an Old Landfill Site Into a Solar Power Producer
Cincinnati broke ground on the 10‑MW Center Hill Solar project, converting a 64‑acre, 30‑year‑old landfill into a renewable‑energy asset. The two 4.9‑MW arrays are expected to produce about 18.2 million kWh of electricity each year, feeding city facilities and stabilizing municipal power...
Questions Surround Hormuz Reopening After Lebanon Ceasefire
A ten‑day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect Thursday night, and within days Iran announced it would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran linked the decision to the ceasefire, portraying the lull as a sign of broader regional stability....
India Can Handle the Energy Shock if Iran Ceasefire Holds, Top Government Adviser Says
India’s chief economic adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran said the country can absorb the current energy‑price shock from the Iran war if the cease‑fire holds and extends. He expects oil supply and prices to normalise by the end of Q3 2026, allowing India...
Georgia’s Kulevi Refinery Prepares for Expansion
Black Sea Petroleum (BSP) has launched a 24,000 b/d mini‑refinery at Georgia’s Kulevi port and is already planning a multi‑phase expansion that could lift throughput to 5 mn t/yr (about 100,000 b/d) by early 2028. The initial build cost $150 million and includes utilities and...
Rewiring Global Energy Security
Bruce Douglas, CEO of the Global Renewables Alliance, argues that rapid electrification powered by renewables and smart grids is the most credible path to national security and economic competitiveness. He cites soaring natural‑gas volatility, weaponised supply chains and surging data‑center...
Delta Reframes Net-Zero as an ‘Aspiration,’ but Denies Axing 2030 SAF Goal
Delta Air Lines has softened its climate language, reclassifying its 2050 net‑zero target as an “aspiration” while still pledging to achieve 10 % sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) use by 2030. The airline’s sustainability page removed the 2030 SAF goal reference, but...
Crude Oil Falls 10% as Strait of Hormuz Opens
Oil prices plunged over 10% on April 17 as Iran announced the Strait of Hormuz is fully open, allowing tankers to resume flow from the Persian Gulf. Brent crude fell 10.5% to $89 per barrel and U.S. crude dropped 10.8%...
The World Needs an Oil Buyers’ Club
A U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz is cutting off a quarter of the world’s traded crude oil. The loss of Iranian shipments, combined with reduced output from Gulf producers, is deepening an already severe...
Delhi CM Flags Scrappage; Fitness at Core of ₹4,000-Cr EV Policy Push
Delhi’s ₹4,000‑crore (≈$480 M) electric‑vehicle policy pivots from pure purchase subsidies to a compliance‑driven framework that couples scrappage incentives with mandatory vehicle fitness checks. The draft EV Policy 2026‑2030 offers up to ₹1 lakh per electric car and ₹10,000 per two‑wheeler, but only...
Oil Tumbles 10% and Stock Markets Rally as Iran Declares Strait of Hormuz ‘Completely Open’ – as It Happened
Oil prices plunged about 10% as Brent slipped below $90 a barrel after Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz completely open for navigation. The easing of a major supply‑chain bottleneck sparked a rally across global equity markets, lifting risk‑on assets....
Global Briefing: China Signals Intent to Double Clean Energy by 2035
China announced a strategic plan to double its clean‑energy capacity to roughly 2,400 GW by 2035, roughly a 100% increase from current levels. The roadmap bundles about $1.5 trillion in subsidies, grid upgrades and domestic manufacturing incentives. The move dovetails with Beijing’s...
European Commission Releases Aggregate EED Data Center Data – Operators Report 6.4GW of Installed Capacity Across the EU
The European Commission has released its first aggregated Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) data for data centres, showing 6.4 GW of installed IT power demand and 16.7 TWh of energy use across 776 facilities in 18 EU countries. The dataset, covering 2023‑2024, includes...
Eos Energy Partners with Turbine-X to Develop and Deploy Power Infrastructure for the US AI Data Center Market
Eos Energy Enterprises and Turbine‑X Energy have signed a joint development agreement to build and install up to 2 GWh of zinc‑based battery storage paired with 5.5‑17.5 MW natural‑gas turbines for the U.S. AI data‑center market. The behind‑the‑meter solution is designed for...