Free Republic

The oil market is shrugging off President Donald Trump’s threats to impose heavy tariffs on countries that buy Russian energy exports. Trump has given Russia until Friday to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine. If Moscow does not comply, the U.S. will impose 100% “secondary tariffs” on countries that buy Russian exports, the president has said. This would in theory force countries to choose between buying Russian oil or trading with the U.S. India, China and Turkey are the most exposed as the three biggest importers of Russian oil. Trump on Wednesday targeted India with a 25% tariff for buying...

India on Monday denounced as unfair the mounting pressure from the United States and European Union over its continued purchases of Russian oil. Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said the country would safeguard its economic interests amid threats of steep tariffs from President Donald Trump. What did New Delhi say about trade with Russia? "The targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable," said Jaiswal, asserting the country's sovereign right to secure energy supplies in line with its needs. "Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security," he added. Jaiswal also...

India will keep purchasing oil from Russia despite U.S. President Donald Trump's threats of penalties, two Indian government sources told Reuters on Saturday, not wishing to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. On top of a new 25% tariff on India's exports to the U.S., Trump indicated in a Truth Social post last month that India would face additional penalties for purchases of Russian arms and oil. On Friday, Trump told reporters he had heard that India would no longer be buying oil from Russia. But the sources said there would be no immediate changes. "These are...

Donald Trump recently announced that the United States would help Pakistan develop its "massive oil reserves," suggesting it could export oil to India in the future. In response, Baloch leader Mir Yar Baloch has written an open letter to the US president, highlighting how encouraging the exploitation of Balochistan's oil reserves would make the US complicit in enabling ISI to enhance its global terror networks. In his letter, the Baloch leader warned against allowing Pakistan's radicalised military and rogue ISI, long accused of sponsoring Al-Qaeda and various proxy groups responsible for the deaths of thousands of US soldiers in Afghanistan,...

Pipeline agreement between the USA and Alberta, Canada on July 29, 2025. The agreement, led by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, deliberately bypassed federal approval from Ottawa Preliminary work on the pipeline is expected to begin within months, positioning it as a key step in enhancing cross-border energy ties. Alberta finalizing a $350 million deal with the United States for a new mid-capacity crude oil pipeline from northern Alberta to Montana—occurred on July 29, 2025. The agreement, led by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, deliberately bypassed federal approval from Ottawa to avoid delays seen in past projects like Keystone XL, focusing instead...

"This trade generated as much as $70 billion for Iran, propping up the regime and its nuclear weapons program." China is reportedly using a “dark fleet” to conduct secret ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian oil in an effort to evade U.S. sanctions on Tehran’s tankers. CBS News sent a crew to scout an area roughly 80 nautical miles from Singapore and found four ship-to-ship transfers occurring; all the “dark fleet” tankers had their transponders switched off, and “clearly do not want to be identified,” the outlet reported. “Both ships have a net or something, a tarp, deployed over the stern, covering...

At least two vessels loaded with Russian oil bound for refiners in India have diverted to other destinations following new U.S. sanctions, trade sources said, and LSEG trade flows showed. The U.S. Treasury Department this week imposed sanctions on more than 115 Iran-linked individuals, entities, and ships, some of which are involved in transporting Russian oil. U.S. President Donald Trump has urged countries to halt purchases of oil from Moscow, threatening 100% tariffs unless Russia agrees to a significant peace deal with Ukraine. Three ships - the Aframaxes Tagor and Guanyin and the Suezmax Tassos - were scheduled to deliver...

US President Donald Trump on Saturday said that he had heard that India might no longer buy oil from Russia, though he acknowledged he was not certain about the claim. "I understand that India is no longer going to be buying oil from Russia. That's what I heard, I don't know if that's right or not. That is a good step. We will see what happens," Trump told ANI. Trump's remarks come days after his tirade against India for buying Russian oil and the White House's decision to levy 25 per cent tariffs on all exports to America and an...

The move to develop the Amu Darya field aligns with the Taliban’s goal of self-sufficiency, but can the cash-strapped regime go it alone?In late July, Afghanistan’s Taliban-run government decided to pursue unilateral development of the Amu Darya oil field, at least for the time being. It seems unlikely the cash-strapped regime will be able to maximize the potential of the oil field without foreign investment, but it will still be able to collect millions of dollars in revenue by going it alone. The move aligns with the Taliban’s oft stated goal of self-sufficiency. However, international investors may be troubled by...

Vitol Group handed a record $10.6 billion to its executives and senior staff through share buybacks last year, as the fallout of the energy crisis continued to deliver extraordinary riches to the world’s commodity traders. The share repurchase — almost certainly the highest such payout in the industry’s history — means privately held Vitol has distributed over $31 billion to its partners in the past decade, according to the company’s audited annual accounts seen by Bloomberg News. The numbers show how the disruptions that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have handed a spectacular bonanza to a small group of commodity...

No, your car isn’t running on liquefied dinosaurs. The good stuff, unless you want a stable environment, of course. Image Credit: Alexander Knyazhinsky/Shutterstock.com At some point, you have probably heard somewhere that oil comes from dinosaurs, as if every time you fill up at the gas station, you are pumping refined velociraptor into your Volvo. It’s a vivid image, but it’s not true. Despite how widespread the belief is, oil isn’t made from decomposed dinosaurs. “For some strange reason, the idea that oil comes from dinosaurs has stuck with many people," geologist Reidar Müller from the University of Oslo explained...

In a remarkable move, President Donald Trump’s administration has successfully reopened a key oil reserve in the Pacific Ocean after it was offline for a decade. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum led the charge to restart the Santa Ynez Unit in just five months. The region is estimated to contain 190 million barrels of recoverable oil. The reserve is capable of providing 80 percent of regional production. The effort had been delayed for years under previous administrations due to bureaucratic red tape. The Santa Ynez Unit, which had been out of operation since 2015 due to an oil spill caused by...

Six days before polls closed in the New York City mayoral primary, and hours after former Mayor Michael Bloomberg injected an extra $5 million into former Gov. Andrew Cuomo's mayoral PAC, a group of Muslim Americans began mobilizing nationwide. A few donors told ABC News they knew they couldn't match Cuomo's donors, but believed a small jolt might give Zohran Mamdani a final push in the Democratic primary.

Not soon after the general election, and within two weeks of each other, two major financial institutions have left a United Nations Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). This is after they joined three years ago, pledging to require environmental social governance standards (ESG) across their platforms, products and systems. According to the "bank-led and UN-convened" NZBA, global banks joined the alliance, pledging to align their lending, investment, and capital markets activities with a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, NZBA explains. Since April 2021, 145 banks in 44 countries with more than $73 trillion in assets have joined NZBA, tripling...

Following the winter storm in February 2021, all three members of the Public Utility Commission and six members of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas board of directors resigned. The CEO of ERCOT was also fired. During the February 2021 winter storm, transmission companies inadvertently cut power to parts of the natural gas supply chain when ERCOT ordered the utilities to reduce power demand or risk further damage to the grid. That decision aggravated the problem as natural gas producers were unable to deliver enough fuel to power plants. At the same time, some wells were unable to produce as...

Uganda and Tanzania are set to begin work on a massive crude oil pipeline a year after the International Energy Agency warned that the world risked not meeting its climate goals if new fossil fuel projects were not stopped. The two East African countries say their priority is economic development...Eighty percent of the 1,440km- (895 mile) pipeline, whose construction will begin in a few months, will be in Tanzania including a terminal-storage facility in Chongoleani.French energy giant Total Energies and Chinese energy firm CNOOC International also have a stake in the $5bn (£4bn) venture.Because of the waxy nature of Lake...

Oil prices extended their slide during Tuesday trade in Asia as Iranian state media announced a ceasefire deal, easing investors’ concerns over supply disruptions.US West Texas Intermediate crude last slumped by 2% to $67.13 per barrel, hitting its lowest level in nearly two weeks. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was down 1.8% to $67.17 a barrel. Late on Monday, Trump announced what he called “a complete and total” ceasefire between Israel and Iran in a post on social media, which he said he hoped would become permanent. Iranian state media announced Tuesday a ceasefire has been “imposed on the enemy.”…

Two large California oil refineries are shutting down, triggering mounting concerns from state legislators, industry groups and many others.Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson of the Gardena district bluntly described his concern during a recent Sacramento hearing.“This is a tremendous loss,” Gipson told NBC Los Angeles, referring to the looming closure of the Phillips 66 plant near L.A. "The jobs that it holds, the individuals… working each and every day, those individuals live in my district, they shop in my district, they add to the economy in my district."Shutting down refinery powerhousesThe Phillips 66 and Valero’s Benicia sites are set to close...

U.S. oil prices retreated from weekly highs as markets assessed the potential for a reprieve in Middle East turmoil following a week of escalating tensions. The U.S. crude oil price benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, fell 8% to less than $68 a barrel, the lowest level since mid-June. The global Brent crude price benchmark likewise fell about 8%. Major stock indexes ended the day in positive territory. Just after 1 p.m. Monday, Iran said it had launched missiles toward a U.S. base in Qatar. Reports suggested the missiles had been intercepted. Markets viewed the strikes "as more of a symbolic retaliatory...

Following the US bombing of its nuclear sites, Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil chokepoint. Rather than direct retaliation on the Iranian mainland, the US should counter this threat by seizing Kharg Island, the terminal through which 90% of Iran’s oil is exported. Additionally, the US should issue an ultimatum to Iran’s two navies—the IRGC’s coastal patrol and the regular blue-water navy to either dock and surrender or be sunk, thus ensuring freedom of navigation without a broader, destructive war on Iranian soil.