Category: ENB Publisher Picks

The U.S.–Venezuela oil deal does more than reroute barrels. Its second-order effects strike at the heart of China’s two-decade oil-for-loan model in Caracas: who controls production, who prices the crude, who books the cargoes, and who decides whether Beijing ever gets repaid.

Clark Savage423

President Donald Trump’s late-August 2026 arrangement with North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) grants the company 100-year rights over 17 fields in Lake Maracaibo and the Orinoco Belt, holding an estimated 65 billion barrels—about one-fifth of Venezuela’s proven reserves. NABEP plans as much as $100 billion in infrastructure investment. The U.S. government receives rights to […]

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Beyond Coal? India, Indonesia, and Vietnam Didn’t Get the Memo. Should Someone Tell Michael Bloomberg That Coal Is Not Quite Dead Yet?

Clark Savage373

Michael Bloomberg has poured more than $1 billion into campaigns to retire coal plants in the United States and globally. In 2019, his philanthropies committed $500 million to the Beyond Carbon effort. In 2021, he launched a drive to close a quarter of the world’s remaining coal plants and cancel all proposed ones by 2025. […]

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Chinese refiners are paying record premiums for Russian ESPO crude as cheap sanctioned barrels from Iran dry up and Venezuelan oil moves onto the open market.

Clark Savage476

November-loading ESPO from Kozmino is trading at more than $7 per barrel over Brent, with some offers to independent refiners reaching $10, according to traders cited by Bloomberg and OilPrice.com. That is a sharp reversal from the deep discounts China extracted for years. ESPO loads on Russia’s Pacific coast and reaches Chinese ports in less […]

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Diversified Energy is buying Elliott-backed Birch Permian Holdings for about $1.8 billion, its largest deal in 25 years, and using Carlyle-backed asset-backed securities to scale a PDP platform in the Midland Basin without a large equity raise.

Clark Savage382

The transaction, announced September 2, 2026, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary conditions and a $50 million break fee. It expands Diversified Energy Company (NYSE/LSE: DEC) from a multi-basin PDP consolidator into a scaled, operated Permian producer with integrated midstream and water infrastructure. Deal structureGross purchase price is […]

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Russia’s surprise return to a G20 finance meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, this week laid bare a widening rift.

Clark Savage428

European attendees openly scorned the presence of Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who attended at the invitation of the Trump administration—the first in-person Russian participation since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. German Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil called the signal “quite troubling” and insisted “you cannot simply return to normality.” European officials refused […]

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What Is the Reason for the 1000% Increase in Power costs to Consumers?

Clark Savage400

American electricity customers are facing sticker shock that goes far beyond ordinary inflation. In the nation’s largest grid region, PJM Interconnection—serving 65 million people across 13 states and Washington, D.C.—capacity prices have risen from roughly $29 per MW-day in the 2024/2025 auction to $270, then $329–$333 per MW-day in subsequent auctions. That is an increase […]

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The White House’s August 31, 2026 fact sheet details a landmark oil agreement that grants North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) 100-year concessions on 17 Venezuelan fields holding roughly 65 billion barrels of proven reserves.

Clark Savage590

The U.S. government receives a 35% equity stake in NABEP’s corporate parent via the Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital, a guaranteed right to buy 20% of offtake at production cost, and a right of first refusal on the remaining 80%. U.S. governance rights include veto power over board appointments, a requirement that a […]

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UK refineries are being killed off by high carbon costs. How U.S. Blue States are following the same playbook

Clark Savage374

Britain’s downstream oil sector is shrinking in real time. Two refineries closed in 2025—Grangemouth in April and Lindsey in August—leaving only four operating sites: Fawley, Humber, Pembroke, and Stanlow. Liquid fuels still account for 47 percent of UK final energy consumption. There are no scalable near-term substitutes for diesel in freight, agriculture, and construction or […]

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