West Texas Intermediate is trading near $101 a barrel. National gasoline is $4.44 a gallon. Those are the conditions that usually refill rig lines and permit queues. In Colorado, they have not. As of September 17, 2026, Colorado operators had filed only 335 drilling permits over the trailing 24 months. In the last 90 days, […]
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The U.S. Coast Guard and FBI boarded a Liberian-flagged very large crude carrier bound for Galveston, Texas, and a second energy tanker headed for another Texas port in the Gulf of Mexico after investigators found indications that foreign cyber actors had compromised their networks. Iranian state media claimed hackers seized control of propulsion, navigation, cargo, […]
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The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 now sits on President Donald Trump’s desk after the House passed it 262-159 on September 16. The Senate had already approved it 86-11. The bill targets Russia’s energy sector, officials, banks, oligarchs, and shadow fleet while authorizing the president to impose tariffs of up […]
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The MOU is not a final development contract. Continental and PDVSA said they intend to convert it into a long-term Contrato de Participación Productiva (CPP) in the coming weeks. Once that agreement is signed, Continental would operate the block with a 100% working interest. The announcement was made in Houston during the G20 energy ministers […]
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Moscow is keeping diesel at home through the end of October. That decision lands on a European market that has already lost its old Russian supply line, is watching Saudi crude and product routes seize up, and is about to hear from the Bank of England on interest rates. The combination is not a single […]
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Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR fell 640,000 barrels to 423.4 million barrels. That was a third consecutive weekly draw, but smaller than Wall Street expected. Analysts in a Wall Street Journal survey had looked for a 1.4 million-barrel decline. Commercial crude is now about 1% above the five-year average for this time of […]
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The question in Washington is whether President Trump will treat that extra Russian oil as a problem to sanction—or as barrels he can use to keep gasoline and diesel from becoming a midterm disaster. That is the market story of September 15, 2026. It is also a political story. Prices jumped because Saudi’s safety valve […]
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American oil executives have spent months warning that a prolonged disruption of the Strait of Hormuz would eventually produce a fuel crisis rather than a simple crude shortage. They now say that moment has arrived. Commercial inventories of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel have been drawn down for more than six months. Strategic crude reserves […]
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NASA fire-detection satellites and open-source thermal data captured two intense fires at the Aramco complex in Yanbu on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast, each radiating roughly 40 megawatts of heat—far above the 5–10 megawatts typical of a routine flare. The detections, highlighted in reporting shared by Chris Martenson quoting Mario Nawfal, come as Yanbu has […]
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Oil prices jumped more than 3% in early Asian trading Monday as weekend attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis and strikes in the Strait of Hormuz compounded an already fragile supply picture. By mid-session, Brent was trading near $107–$109 a barrel and WTI around $102–$104, levels last seen in the spring. The immediate catalyst was a […]
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