energyindependence

The Trump administration will put up for auction more than 81 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas companies on Wednesday as part of efforts to boost domestic energy production through regular auctions for offshore leaseholds.
The auction will be the second since the US-Israel war with Iran disrupted global crude oil flows and pushed oil prices to four-year highs. It is the third of 30 auctions provided for under the 2025 law by President Donald Trump on tax cuts and spending.

Chevron said on Wednesday that it has reached updated terms of agreements with Venezuela for its joint ventures in the country and plans to invest more than $7 billion over the next five years, aiming to bring production to roughly 600,000 barrels per day.
The move followed months of separate talks amid a recent announcement by Washington of a deal giving the United States control over about 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s oil reserves. Chevron said it has signed a series of agreements setting new terms for joint ventures in order to support future investments, develop projects and boost production, including additional acreage in the Orinoco Belt.

On Thursday, the White House issued an order introducing restrictions on certain types of foreign electrical equipment for power grids. The order declares a national emergency regime due to foreign supplies of electrical equipment for backbone power systems.

Tajikistan has asked Iran for supplies of 2.55 million tonnes of oil and oil products, seeking to make up for a fuel shortage after disruptions in deliveries from its traditional partner—Russia. Reuters reports this.
According to the request, the republic expects to obtain 2 million tonnes of crude oil, 150,000 tonnes of gasoline, 300,000 tonnes of diesel fuel, and 100,000 tonnes of aviation fuel.

In the first half of 2026, EU countries imported a record quantity of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Russian “Yamal LNG” plant. This was reported on Monday, July 13, by the Financial Times (FT), citing data from the analytics firm Kpler.
According to analysts, over the past six months EU countries purchased 9.89 million tons of LNG from companies. This is 18% more than in the same period last year. The German non-governmental organization Urgewald estimates the value of the purchased gas at roughly six billion euros. The main buyers of Russian LNG were France, Belgium, and Spain.

The Prime Minister of Iraq will travel to Washington on Monday to strengthen strategic relations with the United States. During the visit, a number of agreements in the oil and gas sector are expected to be signed.
The agreements include several memorandums of understanding in the oil and gas sector. Iraq is preparing to attract a number of American companies that will help boost the country’s oil production capacity, a government official, Haider al-Abadi, said.

Liquefied natural gas will become the United States’ second-largest net export industry over the next five years, contributing nearly $1.4 trillion to gross domestic product by 2040, according to a study by S&P Global Energy.
In 2025, the country became the first to export more than 100 million metric tons of LNG in a single year, helped by the commissioning of new production capacity.

China instructed the country’s largest oil refineries to maintain a high level of fuel production amid renewed fighting between Iran and the United States, which poses a risk of disruptions in oil supplies through the Persian Gulf. Bloomberg News reported this on Saturday.

Canada announced on Monday a strategy for the accelerated development of nuclear energy, which includes the construction of up to 10 new large reactors and streamlining the approval process for future projects.
Minister of Natural Resources Tim Hodgson laid out a strategy indicating that by 2035, two new nuclear reactors will be under construction, and another five will be in the planning or development stage by 2040.

Italian energy group Eni SpA said on Saturday that it is holding talks with Venezuelan authorities to help restore the country's energy sector, while the United States is seeking to exert greater control over the vast oil reserves of this South American state.

On Friday, spot-market differentials for West African oil practically did not change amid low trading activity throughout the week.
According to sources, the market for West African crude grades remained largely calm this week.
Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose by approximately 3.4% and 4%, respectively, over the course of the week. The United States threatened to impose a permanent naval blockade of Iran, raising concerns about potential disruptions to oil supplies from the Middle East.

In July, nearly 30,000 tons of petroleum products were shipped to Russia from South Korea. This was reported on Friday, August 7, by Reuters, citing data from ship-tracking systems Kpler and Vortexa.
At least two tankers with destinations in Russia’s Far East were loaded with petroleum products from storage tanks at Ulsan port, the agency notes. According to Kpler and one of the sources for the journalists, one of the vessels has already arrived in Russia but has not yet begun unloading. As the agency’s interlocutors point out, the речь is about diesel and aviation fuel.

On Saturday, the United States carried out new strikes on Iran, targeting forces involved in the missile and drone attack that killed two American service members in Jordan, Bloomberg reports.
U.S. Central Command said the operation was aimed at undermining Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping, as well as punishing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps units responsible for the Friday attack.

Europe’s economy is approaching a critical point: renewed energy inflation, a slowdown in manufacturing activity, and limited budgetary support increase the risk of a technical recession, analysts at BCA Research say.
Outlook remains uncertain. One scenario assumes two consecutive quarters of economic contraction, however a number of resilience factors could keep growth in slightly positive territory.

Kazakhstan is holding talks with Russia on the processing of Russian oil at its refineries. Reuters reported this on Thursday, July 30, citing the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan.
"Negotiations are under way on the processing of Russian-origin oil, followed by the sale of the resulting products within Kazakhstan and the export of part of the products to the Russian Federation", Reuters quotes a statement from a Kazakhstan agency.

The production index of oil products in Russia (as part of the overall industrial production index) in June of the current year was 21.8% lower than a year earlier. These are the data from Rosstat released on Wednesday, July 22. For comparison: in May 2026, this indicator, year-on-year, fell in Russia by 13.5%.

According to Financial Times (FT) information, Russia is expanding its “shadow fleet” of ships intended for transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG). These measures are being taken ahead of the 2027 entry into force of the EU ban on imports of Russian LNG, the outlet reported on Tuesday, August 4, citing data from analytics firm Windward.

Moscow car dealerships are struggling to keep up with demand for new electric vehicles from China: drivers are trying to bypass the fuel crisis that has led to gas station queues and a sharp rise in prices across much of Russia. Reuters reports this.
Increased attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure in recent weeks have limited supplies of gasoline and diesel.

Futures on U.S. stocks fell early Tuesday morning, kicking off a shortened trading week: Wall Street was watching the U.S. conflict with Iran and rising trade tensions between Canada and the United States. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.8% at 12:30 Moscow time. S&P 500 futures fell 0.3%, while Nasdaq-100 futures lost 0.1%. On Monday, U.S. markets were closed for Labor Day.

Fuel consumption in India fell by 2.8% in August compared with the same month of 2025, according to data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell under the country's Ministry of Petroleum.
Total fuel consumption for the month was 18.61 million metric tons. Fuel demand serves as an indicator of the country's oil consumption.