G7 Seeks to Disrupt Russian Exports With Tighter Oil Price Cap
by OilPrice.com
19 Feb 2025 at 7:00am
The Group of Seven is looking to send a big anti-Russia message on Feb. 24, the three-year anniversary of Putin's invasion of Ukraine, with a potential tightening of an oil price cap intended to further hurt revenue for Russia's war machine. Bloomberg has revealed a G7 draft statement Tuesday calling for member nations to collectively redraw the price limit, which is currently set at $60 a barrel for crude oil. The document spells out pressure for Russia to "incentivize it to negotiate a meaningful peace" in Ukraine; however, it's anything but?

EU Blacklists More Russian Shadow Tankers in New Sanctions Round
by Charles Kennedy
19 Feb 2025 at 6:30am
As U.S. President Donald Trump pushes for talks with Russia for an end to the war in Ukraine, the EU on Wednesday agreed on a new package of sanctions against Moscow, including a ban on Russian aluminum imports and the designation of 73 shadow fleet vessels. A day after senior U.S. and Russian diplomats met in Saudi Arabia to begin talks about the potential end to the war in Ukraine, the envoys of the 27 EU member states agreed on the 16th sanctions package against Russia, aiming to show resolve in the EU efforts to deny Putin more revenues from?

Goldman Sachs: Ukraine Peace Won?t Hike Russia?s Oil Supply
by Tsvetana Paraskova
19 Feb 2025 at 5:15am
Potential sanctions relief on Russia in case of a ceasefire or peace deal for Ukraine will not boost materially Russia?s oil supply to the market, according to Goldman Sachs. As the U.S. and Russia launched talks on Ukraine and potential U.S.-Russia economic rapprochement, oil market participants and analysts have started to consider the possibility that if the peace talks are successful, sanctions on Russia?s oil exports could be eased. Goldman Sachs, however, sees Russia?s oil supply to the market constrained by the self-imposed?

China?s Clean Energy Investments Near Total Global Spend on Fossil Fuels
by Tsvetana Paraskova
19 Feb 2025 at 4:00am
Chinese investments in clean energy rose again in 2024, to the equivalent of $940 billion, which was close to the total global investments in fossil fuels last year, Carbon Brief, a UK-based research group, said in a new report on Wednesday. Last year, China?s investments of $940 billion, or 6.8 trillion Chinese yuan, were also of a similar scale to the overall size of the economy of Saudi Arabia, according to Carbon Brief?s research based on analysis of Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). The research?

Saudi Utility Giant Buys Engie Energy Assets in Kuwait and Bahrain
by Tsvetana Paraskova
19 Feb 2025 at 3:00am
Saudi Arabia?s utility giant ACWA Power has agreed to buy the stakes of France?s Engie in four gas-fired power plants and water desalination facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait for a combined $693 million. The acquisition, viewed as strategic by the Saudi group, includes an operating capacity of 4.61 gigawatts (GW) of gas-fired power generation and 1.11 million cubic meters per day (m3/day) of water desalination facilities, as well as the related operations and maintenance companies in Kuwait and Bahrain, ACWA Power said on Wednesday.?

Iranian Oil Exports to China Rebound
by Irina Slav
19 Feb 2025 at 1:30am
Iranian crude oil flows to China have rebounded this month after a U.S. crackdown on shipments launched in late 2024 decimated them in January. In a last-minute push to sanction Iran, the Biden admin blacklisted a number of tankers, trading entities, and shipping companies as participants in sanctioned oil trade. The February average of Iranian oil exports to its biggest buyer is set to average 1.74 million barrels daily, according to preliminary data from Kpler cited by Bloomberg. The figure is an 86% increase from January flows. The boost in?

Brazil Joins OPEC+
by Irina Slav
19 Feb 2025 at 12:30am
Brazil has joined OPEC+ two years after the group extended an invitation, but its membership will not be binding with regard to production cuts, the country?s energy minister said. At the announcement of the Brazilian government?s decision to join the group, Mines and Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira described OPEC as ?a forum for discussing strategies among oil-producing countries. We should not be ashamed of being oil producers. Brazil needs to grow, develop and create income and jobs,? the AP reported. Brazil is already?

Oil Prices Inch Higher on Caspian Supply Disruption and Cold Weather in the U.S.
by Irina Slav
18 Feb 2025 at 11:33pm
Crude oil prices rose today following a drone attack on the Caspian Pipeline Consortium and cold weather in the United States, both disruptive to production. At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $75.90 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $71.91 per barrel. A statement by the Russian government said that flows along the Caspian Pipeline Consortium infrastructure had dropped by between 30% and 40% on Tuesday following the terrorist attack that involved seven unmanned aerial vehicles, per a statement by the CPC. Reuters said?

Is Petrobras? New Discovery Reviving Brazil?s Pre-Salt Oil Boom?
by Alex Kimani
18 Feb 2025 at 5:00pm
Recently, we reported that Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been pressing the country?s environmental regulators to approve oil drilling near the mouth of the Amazon River, arguing that revenue from this new fossil fuel supply could help finance a transition to green energy. Located in the Equatorial Margin, the offshore site, Bloc 59, is about 160 kilometers (99 miles) off Brazil?s eastern coast. Brazil?s environmental regulator rejected a license in 2023, citing issues such as the risk of oil spills that could?

Ukraine Peace Talks Could Sink Brent Oil by $10
by Tsvetana Paraskova
18 Feb 2025 at 4:00pm
The start of the U.S.-Russian talks on ending the war in Ukraine adds another bearish geopolitical factor for oil prices this year. As top U.S. and Russian officials are meeting in Saudi Arabia to discuss the possible end of the war without Ukraine?s participation, the market is starting to come around to the potential of eased access to Russian oil supply. If talks result in a deal and a possible sanctions relief on Moscow?s crude oil and petroleum product exports, oil prices will ease by up to $10 per barrel for the Brent benchmark,?

Forget Ukraine: The Russia-U.S. Summit in Saudi Arabia is All About Money
by Cyril Widdershoven
18 Feb 2025 at 3:00pm
The diplomatic onslaught by the Trump Administration during last weekend's Munich Security Conference is still reverberating across Europe. The unexpected affront by Trump?s representatives, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Hegseth, has not only put the Transatlantic relationship on hold but is also seen as a significant move by the Administration to circumvent European partners and Ukraine?an unprecedented effort by the U.S. to impose a peace deal with Russia. In the coming weeks, all eyes will be on Saudi Arabia, where?

The Economics of Solar Power
by Haley Zaremba
18 Feb 2025 at 2:00pm
When the massive Ivanpah solar plant was finished in the Mojave Desert in 2014, it was touted as the future of solar power and a cutting edge approach to clean energy. The plant was the world?s largest solar thermal plant when it was built, spreading over 5 miles of federal land. It cost about $2.2 billion and received loan guarantees worth $1.6 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy. Now, barely over ten years later, it?s already closing.  Called ?concentrated solar? or ?thermal solar,? the technology?

Europe?s LNG Tango: A Love-Hate Relationship with Reality
by Julianne Geiger
18 Feb 2025 at 2:00pm
The European Union, ever the conflicted protagonist in its own energy saga, is gearing up to throw its weight around in the global LNG market?again. A leaked draft from the European Commission suggests Brussels will ?immediately engage? with LNG suppliers to stabilize energy prices, all while still pretending it?s on track to kiss fossil fuels goodbye by 2050. The cognitive dissonance is almost admirable. At issue is Europe?s chronic dependence on imported gas. Having sworn off Russian pipeline supplies (at least officially),?

What Does the U.S.-Russia Meeting in Saudi Arabia Mean for the Middle East?
by RFE/RL staff
18 Feb 2025 at 1:00pm
Saudi Arabia is hosting one of the most important diplomatic meetings between Russia and the United States in years. On February 18, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Riyadh. The meeting will aim to restore the fraught ties between the two countries. It will focus on ending the war in Ukraine, where Washington has led its European allies in helping Kyiv against a Russian invasion that began three years ago. Experts see the talks as a sign that Saudi Arabia is seeking to assume a central?

Majority of Brits Support Green Taxes for Carbon Reduction
by OilPrice.com
18 Feb 2025 at 12:00pm
According to new research, just over half of Brits are in favour of introducing taxes to encourage a reduction in households? carbon footprint. According to a survey from EPC and energy efficiency platform epIMS, the most-favoured tax of those surveyed was a waste management levy, with a quarter of respondents supportive of a tax on the failure to recycle properly. Just 44 per cent of UK household waste was recycled in 2022, according to government statistics, with this rate going down instead of improving in England. While eight environmental?