Energy

Iran’s Guardian Council watchdog body approved a law on Wednesday that obliges the government to halt U.N. inspections of its nuclear sites and step up uranium enrichment beyond the limit set under Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal if sanctions are not eased in two months. In retaliation for the killing last …

Israel received its most advanced warship on Wednesday, describing the German-made vessel dubbed “Shield” as a bulwark for vulnerable Mediterranean gas rigs as tensions with Tehran soar over the assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist. The Saar-6 corvette that docked in Haifa port, and three of the same model …

Maritime border talks between Lebanon and Israel scheduled for Wednesday have been postponed, and U.S. mediators will now contact the two old foes separately, Israeli and Lebanese officials said on Monday. The negotiations were launched in October with delegations convening at a U.N. base to try to resolve a dispute …

Turkey’s seismic exploration vessel Oruc Reis returned to port on Monday from disputed Mediterranean waters, less than two weeks before a European Union summit where the bloc will evaluate possible sanctions against Ankara. NATO members Turkey and Greece have conflicting claims to continental shelves and rights to potential energy resources …

An Iranian scientist long suspected by the West of masterminding a secret nuclear bomb programme was killed in an ambush near Tehran on Friday, likely to provoke confrontation between Iran and its foes in the last weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency. The military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali …

Germany sees a chance to return to a joint transatlantic approach in tackling Iran’s nuclear programme once the new U.S. administration under President-elect Joe Biden takes office, a German official said on Monday. In May 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump quit a deal with Tehran that sought to limit Iran’s …

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group on Monday said it fired a missile at a distribution station operated by the Saudi Aramco oil company in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea city of Jeddah and struck it. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of the claim made by the group’s military spokesman, who warned …

An onshore unconventional oil source with 22 billion recoverable barrels has been discovered, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has announced. The discovery of new oil sources “is a testament to ADNOC’s relentless efforts to unlock and maximize value from the UAE’s hydrocarbon reserves for the benefit of the …

Saudi Arabia called on the UN atomic watchdog agency to continue exposing Iran’s nuclear activities on Wednesday. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should also intensify searches within the Islamic Republic to uncover sites that it may use to conduct undisclosed nuclear activities, the Kingdom’s governor to the agency, Prince …

Saudi Electricity Company, which runs the Kingdom’s power generation and distribution, has unveiled a far-reaching restructuring of its finances and regulatory set-up to “to provide its services with higher levels of efficiency and reliability.” As part of the shake-up, the government will turn its liabilities from SEC – amounting to …

On Aug. 21, a tanker called the Otoman docked at the Jose oil terminal on Venezuela’s coast in the Caribbean to load 1.82 million barrels of heavy crude, according to the state oil company’s internal documents. Yet no tanker with that name is registered in major global shipping databases. Muddying …

The United States is expected to impose sanctions as early as next week on Iranians involved in a violent crackdown against anti-government demonstrations in Iran a year ago, three sources familiar with the matter said on Monday. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the sanctions announcement was …

Egyptian and French naval forces have carried out a joint naval training exercise in the northern Mediterranean amid growing tensions between the two countries and Turkey over Ankara’s gas exploration ambitions in the region. Two frigates were involved in the joint exercise, which is part of the Egyptian armed forces’ …

Oil was largely steady on Wednesday after President Donald Trump falsely claimed victory in a tight U.S. election, despite millions of votes still to be counted and the final result not yet clear. West Texas Intermediate was up 16 cents, or 0.4%, at $37.82 a barrel by 0850 GMT. Brent …

At least three people were killed and more than 50 injured in a gas pipeline explosion in southern Iraq, police sources said on Saturday. The military said in a statement that the cause of the blast was not known. It said nine Shi’ite militia fighters were among the wounded and …

Iran accused the United States on Friday of acting like the “Pirates of the Caribbean” after Washington said it had sold off Iranian crude oil shipments that it seized on their way to Venezuela. Washington said on Thursday it had sold 1.1 million barrels of previously seized Iranian oil that …

The United States on Monday imposed fresh Iran-related sanctions targeting the Islamic Republic’s oil sector, including the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum, in Washington’s latest move to increase pressure on Tehran. The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it was slapping sanctions on key actors in Iran’s oil sector for …

Turkey has extended the seismic survey work of its Oruc Reis ship in a disputed area of the eastern Mediterranean until Nov. 4 – a move that Greece condemned on Sunday as “illegal”. Turkey said Greece’s accusation was “baseless” as tensions between the NATO members flared again in a dispute …

U..S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo voiced deep concern about Northern Cyprus’ reopening part of a beachfront resort abandoned since Turkey invaded the island in 1974, calling it provocative and seeking its reversal, the State Department said on Friday. Pompeo made the comments in a call with Cypriot Foreign Minister …

OPEC and its allies fear a prolonged second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and a jump in Libyan output could push the oil market into surplus next year, according to a confidential document seen by Reuters, a gloomier outlook than just a month ago. A panel of officials from OPEC+ …

The United States on Tuesday slammed Turkey’s renewed push to send a vessel to carry out seismic surveys in the eastern Mediterranean, accusing Ankara of unilaterally stoking tensions and “deliberately” complicating the resumption of talks with Greece. “The United States deplores Turkey’s October 11 announcement of renewed Turkish survey activity …

Lebanon and Israel, formally still at war after decades of conflict, launch talks on Wednesday to address a long-running dispute over their maritime border running through potentially gas-rich Mediterranean waters. The U.S.-mediated talks follow three years of intense diplomacy by Washington and were announced less than a month after the …

Iran does not at this stage have enough enriched uranium to make one nuclear bomb under the U.N. atomic watchdog’s official definition, the agency’s head told an Austrian paper. “The Iranians continue to enrich uranium, and to a much higher degree than they have committed themselves to. And this amount …

Europe’s top oil companies are not yet aligned with UN-backed targets to combat climate change despite their plans to slash carbon emissions and pivot to renewable energy, a report from major investors has found. The study by the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI), which unites investors with $22 trillion in holdings, …

One of the world’s leading energy experts believes that oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia could enjoy a “veritable feast” of oil revenues for many decades before changing patterns of energy use reduce global demand for crude. Jason Bordoff, director of the Centre on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University …

Lebanon and Israel have agreed to a framework for U.S.-mediated talks aimed at ending a long-running dispute along the border between the two nations that have fought several conflicts. Still in a formal state of war, Lebanon and Israel have contested their land and maritime borders for decades, namely over …

Cyprus defied mounting pressure on Thursday to approve European Union sanctions on Belarus ahead of a summit, urging fellow EU governments to also sanction Turkey over its oil and gas drilling in the Mediterranean. Meeting in Brussels for a two-day summit from 1400 GMT, leaders are set to confront Cyprus, …

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday pledged to improve gasoline output and distribution in the fuel-starved nation, as the second of three Iranian tankers carrying fuel entered the South American country’s waters. The once-prosperous OPEC nation is struggling under a collapsing oil industry and U.S. sanctions that have crippled imports …

ACWA Power (Saudi Arabia) has installed 10 meteorological masts out of the 18 planned for studying the wind potential in Peshku and Gijduvan districts of the Bukhara region, where the company will build wind power plants (WPPs) with a total capacity of 1000 MW, the press service of the Energy …

The United States said on Thursday it had renewed a waiver for Iraq to import Iranian electricity, this time for 60 days to enable Baghdad to take “meaningful actions” to reduce its energy dependence on neighbouring Tehran. The waiver will continue to exempt Iraq from U.S. sanctions reimposed on Iran, …

The energy ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Israel discussed possible cooperation and investment opportunities, including natural gas exports to Europe, in a video call on Wednesday, an Israeli statement said. Israel and the UAE signed an agreement on Sept. 15 to establish diplomatic relations, an accord that Energy …

The United States on Monday will sanction more than two dozen people and entities involved in Iran’s nuclear, missile and conventional arms programs, a senior U.S. official said, putting teeth behind U.N. sanctions on Tehran that Washington argues have resumed despite the opposition of allies and adversaries. Speaking on condition …

In 1973, Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries brought the U.S. economy to its knees. Now, the cartel created 60 years ago is more likely to do Washington’s bidding. Since Saudi Arabia and other Arab OPEC members imposed their famous oil embargo as retribution for U.S. support …

Turkey will send a second drill ship to operate in the Black Sea, Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said on Sunday, weeks after Ankara announced its largest ever natural gas discovery in the area. “Our drill ship Kanuni, whose preparation work is continuing, will start drilling in the Black Sea,” he …

Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar has committed to ending a months-long blockade of oil facilities, the U.S. embassy in the country said in a statement on Saturday, but it was unclear if oil fields and ports would reopen. The statement said the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) had conveyed “the personal …

Saudi King Salman told President Vladimir Putin of Russia of his keenness to strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries, with special emphasis on their partnership within the OPEC+ alliance of oil producing countries. In a phone call between the new mega-development of NEOM and Moscow, the two leaders also …

President Tayyip Erdogan told European Council President Charles Michel on Sunday the EU’s stance towards the East Mediterranean would be a test of its sincerity, calling on it to take an impartial stance in Turkey’s row with Greece. NATO allies Turkey and Greece have been locked in a dispute over …

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued new threats to Greece on Saturday as Turkish forces prepared to conduct military exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean amid tension over oil and gas rights. The temperature has soared in the dispute between the two countries since Turkey deployed a research vessel and an …

Greece and Turkey have agreed to talks to avoid accidental clashes in the Eastern Mediterranean, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday, part of efforts to defuse the worsening dispute over energy resources in the region. Germany is also leading a diplomatic push for broader dialogue and German Chancellor Angela …

The United States had decided to cut $100 million in aid to Ethiopia amid a dispute with Egypt and Sudan over a megadam that Ethiopia is building on the Nile, a congressional source told Reuters on Wednesday. Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt have been locked in a bitter dispute over the …

Iraq is seeking an exemption from an OPEC+ deal curbing oil production during the first quarter of 2021 but will adhere to the cuts over the next three months, Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said on Wednesday. Abdul Jabbar has spoken about the exemption to OPEC oil ministers in three …

Turkey said it will hold a military exercise off northwest Cyprus for the next two weeks, amid growing tension with Greece over disputed claims to exploration rights in the east Mediterranean. The long-running dispute between Turkey and Greece, both NATO members, flared up after the two countries agreed rival accords …

President Tayyip Erdogan spoke with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg about developments in the eastern Mediterranean and told him Turkey will continue to protect its rights and interests everywhere, Erdogan’s office said on Friday. Earlier, the EU’s top diplomat said the European Union is preparing sanctions against Turkey that could be …

NATO is looking at ways to avoid accidental clashes in the Eastern Mediterranean while supporting German diplomatic efforts to defuse the worsening dispute over energy resources there, the alliance’s chief said on Thursday. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters the Western alliance was considering so-called deconfliction measures to prevent naval …