Energy

Iran on Sunday ruled out holding an informal meeting with the United States and other major powers to discuss ways to salvage the unravelling 2015 nuclear deal, insisting Washington must first lift all its unilateral sanctions. “Considering the recent actions and statements by the United States and three European powers, …

In the week since Washington offered to talk with Tehran about reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran has curbed U.N. monitoring, threatened to boost uranium enrichment and its suspected proxies have twice rocketed Iraqi bases with U.S. soldiers. In return, the United States and three allies, Britain, France and Germany, …

The U.N. nuclear watchdog’s chief described his weekend deal with Iran on continued monitoring of its nuclear activities for up to three months as one where data is gathered but his agency is only able to access it afterwards. The International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran announced on Sunday that …

Saudi Arabia’s Sheikh Zaki Yamani, the embodiment of the ascent of Arab petroleum power and the face of the 1973 oil embargo that brought the West to its knees, has died. Yamani was a witness to the 1975 murder of the Saudi king who had plucked him, a non-royal, from …

Iran is studying a European Union proposal for an informal meeting between current members of Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal and the United States, but has yet to respond to it, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday. Iran and the United States have been at odds over who …

Iran said on Monday it will block snap inspections by the U.N. nuclear watchdog from next week if other parties to the 2015 nuclear deal do not fulfil their obligations, a challenge to U.S. President Joe Biden’s hope of reviving the accord. “If others do not fulfil their obligations by …

France, Germany and Britain on Friday condemned Iran’s decision to produce uranium metal, which they said was in breach of commitments made by Tehran to the international community. The U.N. nuclear watchdog said this week that Iran had followed through on its stated plan to make uranium metal, which Tehran …

The United States is weighing a wide array of ideas on how to revive the Iranian nuclear deal, including an option where both sides would take small steps short of full compliance to buy time, said three sources familiar with the matter. Such a modest approach could slow the deterioration …

UN inspectors have unearthed fresh evidence that Iran had undertaken work on nuclear weapons without declaring such activities, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. “Samples taken from two sites during inspections in the fall by the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) contained traces of radioactive material,” the report …

King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy has launched training programs to teach the design and installation of small-scale solar panel systems in Saudi Arabia. It comes after the energy ministry said this week that panels that use solar photovoltaic technology to generate power are now available for installation …

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday welcomed the renewed U.S. willingness to engage with Iran, offered himself as an honest broker and said Saudi Arabia and Israel must ultimately be involved somehow. “We do need to finalize, indeed, a new negotiation with Iran,” Macron told the Washington-based Atlantic Council think …

Iran has deepened a key breach of its 2015 nuclear deal, enriching uranium with a larger number of advanced centrifuge machines in an underground plant as it faces off with the new U.S. administration on salvaging the accord. Tehran has recently accelerated its breaches of the deal, raising pressure on …

Iran will be weeks away from building a nuclear bomb if it stays on its current path, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Monday. In his first TV interview since his appointment was confirmed last month, Blinken said Tehran was months away from being able to produce enough …

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested a way on Monday to overcome the U.S.-Iranian impasse over who goes first in returning to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying a top EU official could “synchronize” or “choreograph” the moves. Zarif’s stance was a shift from his position, expressed in a …

One seldom discussed byproduct of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, which ended with the fall of the Shah and the rise of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979, is the diplomatic, economic and strategic collusion between Tehran and several Latin American regimes — right in Washington’s own backyard. Tehran has worked hard to …

Turkey hopes the United States will return to the nuclear deal with Iran under US President Joe Biden’s administration, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday. Speaking at a joint news conference with Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif in Istanbul, Cavusoglu said Turkey would also like to see sanctions imposed on …

Tehran will not accept US demands that it reverse an acceleration of its nuclear program before Washington lifts sanctions, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Friday. The demand “is not practical and will not happen”, he said at a joint news conference in Istanbul with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut …

Indonesia said its coast guard seized the Iranian-flagged MT Horse and the Panamanian-flagged MT Freya vessels over suspected illegal oil transfer in the country’s waters on Sunday. Coast guard spokesman Wisnu Pramandita said the tankers, seized in waters off Kalimantan province, have been escorted to Batam island in Riau Island …

Syria’s state-run media earlier reported that 200 troops had been flown to US bases in al-Shaddadi on 21 January for future deployment at Omar oil field and Koniko gas field in neighbouring Deir ez-Zor province. It was also reported that the US-led military coalition had dispatched 40 truckloads of weapons …

Iran urged new U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday to “choose a better path” by returning to a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and global powers, but said the opportunity would be lost if Washington insists on further Iranian concessions up front. Under Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, Washington withdrew from …

The United States seeks to lengthen and strengthen the nuclear constraints on Iran through diplomacy and the issue will be part of President Joe Biden’s early talks with foreign counterparts and allies, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. Biden has said that if Tehran resumed strict compliance with the …

Syrian civil defence teams on Tuesday extinguished a huge fire that swept a number of oil tankers loading crude oil from an installation near the country’s main Homs refinery after a blast that hit the depot area, state media said. An explosion had earlier hit a government-owned crude oil transportation …

Apex International Energy (Apex) today announced an oil discovery in Southeast Meleiha Concession (SEM), located in the Western Desert of Egypt. The discovery was achieved at the SEMZ-11X well located 10 kilometers west of Zarif field,the nearest producing field. The well was drilled to a total depth of 5,700 feet …

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday dismissed a claim by France that Tehran was in the process of building up its nuclear weapons, calling it “absurd nonsense”. French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche published on Saturday, said Iran was building …

Iran is in the process of building up its nuclear weapons capacity and it is urgent that Tehran and Washington return to a 2015 nuclear agreement, France’s foreign minister was quoted as saying in an interview published on Saturday. Iran has been accelerating its breaches of the nuclear deal and …

Three European powers on Saturday warned Iran against starting work on uranium metal-based fuel for a research reactor, saying it contravened the 2015 nuclear deal and stressing that it had no civilian use but serious military implications. The U.N. nuclear watchdog and Tehran said on Wednesday that Iran had started …

Oil prices rose on Wednesday to their highest since February 2020 after Saudi Arabia agreed to reduce output more than expected in a meeting with allied producers, while industry figures showed U.S. crude stockpiles were down last week. Brent crude rose as much as nearly 1% to $54.09 a barrel, …

The European Commission said on Tuesday it regretted that Iran has resumed 20% uranium enrichment at an underground nuclear facility, breaching a 2015 nuclear pact, but believed that the accord was worth saving. “We are highly concerned by the measures taken by Iran. This action is in breach of Iran’s …

South Korea’s foreign ministry is reviewing whether a senior diplomat would be visiting Tehran on Sunday as planned, an official said, after Iranian forces seized a South Korean-flagged chemical tanker in Gulf waters and detained its crew. The incident comes amid tensions between Tehran and Seoul over Iranian funds frozen …

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps seized a South Korean-flagged tanker in Gulf waters and detained its crew, Iranian media said on Monday, amid tensions between Tehran and Seoul over Iranian funds frozen in South Korean banks due to U.S. sanctions. Seoul confirmed the seizure of a South Korean chemical tanker by …

Iran has resumed 20% uranium enrichment at an underground nuclear facility, the government said on Monday, breaching a 2015 nuclear pact with major powers and possibly complicating efforts by U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to rejoin the deal. Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Iran’s arch foe Israel, said the move was …

Iran has told the United Nations nuclear watchdog it plans to enrich uranium to up to 20% purity, a level it achieved before its 2015 accord, at its Fordow site buried inside a mountain, the agency said on Friday. The move is the latest of several recent announcements by Iran …

An Iraqi oil tanker was evacuated after a mine was discovered attached to its hull, and explosives experts were working to make it safe, Iraq’s military said on Friday. The tanker was in international waters about 28 nautical miles (52 km) off Iraq’s coast in the Persian Gulf and supplying …

Iran has slashed the amount of natural gas it exports to Iraq and threatened further cutbacks over unpaid bills, increasing the likelihood of more electricity shortages in Baghdad and other major cities. Iraq has been receiving 5 million cubic meters a day since Iran cut its daily exports from 50 …

In June, the United States imposed sanctions on half a dozen oil tankers managed by established shipping firms. It was a major escalation of American attempts to choke off Venezuela’s oil trade. Within weeks, a little-known company based in the United Arab Emirates took over management of several tankers that …

Saudi-Russian relations have reached an “advanced level of cooperation”, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister said on Saturday. Speaking at a press conference with Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman after a meeting of the Saudi-Russian Joint Committee, Alexander Novak said that visits between the Kingdom and Russia have …

Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency on Friday rejected the UN atomic watchdog chief’s suggestion that reviving Iran’s nuclear deal after a new U.S. administration comes to power would require striking a new agreement. In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, Rafael Grossi, who heads the IAEA that …

Reviving Iran’s nuclear deal under U.S. President-elect Joe Biden would require striking a new agreement setting out how Iran’s breaches should be reversed, U.N. atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said. Biden, who takes office on Jan. 20, has said the United States will rejoin the deal “if Iran resumes strict …

Germany will make a 1.5 million euro ($1.83 million) contribution to Thyssenkrupp’s planned hydrogen electrolysis plant in Saudi Arabia, the second commitment this month under a broader national strategy to support hydrogen technology. Electrolysis is a carbon-free process – if powered by renewable electricity – to extract “green” hydrogen from …

EU foreign ministers will evaluate grounds for sanctions against Turkey over a Mediterranean gas dispute on Monday before the bloc’s leaders decide whether to make good on their threat to impose punitive measures. Ministers will not take decisions at their meeting on Monday, leaving that to Thursday’s summit of EU …

Iran has instructed its oil ministry to prepare installations for production and sale of crude oil at full capacity within three months, state media said on Sunday, ahead of a possible easing of U.S. sanctions after President-elect Joe Biden takes office. They quoted President Hassan Rouhani as saying that Iran …

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 …