Oil prices took a sharp turn today as traders weighed President Trump’s latest “maximum pressure” push against Iran. While a quick glance at today’s oil prices could suggest traders aren’t convinced just yet that the Iran situation could have a profound effect, oil prices are indeed on the rise from their earlier downward trend—a rather quick turn, in fact. Click for full story

The US will impose a 10% tariff on energy imports from Canada and a 25% tariff on energy imports from Mexico, both major suppliers of crude to US refiners. The new tariffs take effect Feb. 4, according to an executive order signed by Donald Trump. Click for full story

Russia’s refining sector, the world’s third largest, has entered its second consecutive unprecedented year with new drone attacks against the largest plants, emergency shutdowns, sanctions, discussions on export bans, tax changes and uncertainties on demand and margins. Click for full story

President Trump's reversal of Biden's climate policies has angered Big Oil executives, who invested heavily in low-carbon technologies under the previous administration. The withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and the removal of subsidies threaten to make Big Oil's transition investments stranded assets. Click for full story

Chevron has started producing oil from the $48 billion expansion of the giant Tengiz field in Kazakhstan. It hopes to reach peak output of around 960,000 barrels per day in the second quarter of this year, the company’s president of international exploration and production, Clay Neff, tells Energy Intelligence. Click for full story

US crude inventories fell 1.02 million barrels, EIA says Futures had advanced earlier in session on Russia sanctions Oil fell after President Donald Trump said he’ll push Saudi Arabia and OPEC to reduce the price of crude, reviving a tactic to control energy prices that he frequently employed during his first term in office. West Texas Intermediate futures slid 1.1% to settle below $75 a barrel, while global benchmark Brent slipped near $78. Click for full story

A decline in shipments in the seven days to Jan. 19 kept four-week flows below 3 million barrels a day for a fourth week. Russia’s seaborne crude exports saw their biggest drop since November last week after outgoing US President Joe Biden imposed sweeping sanctions on the country’s oil trade, with early signs that the measures are reshaping flows. The slump kept the less volatile four-week average below 3 million barrels a day for a fourth week and close to a recent 16-month low, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Click for full story [...]

President-elect to invoke powers on day one: people familiar Actions set to touch full spectrum of the US energy industry President-elect Donald Trump is poised to invoke emergency powers as part of his plan to unleash domestic energy production while seeking to reverse President Joe Biden’s actions to combat climate change, according to people familiar with the matter. The move is set to be among an array of actions Trump will take — starting hours after he’s sworn in on Monday — to deliver on campaign promises to boost domestic energy output. The president-elect is prepared to compel policy[...]

Advisers to President-elect Donald Trump are crafting a wide-ranging sanctions strategy to facilitate a Russia-Ukraine diplomatic accord in the coming months while at the same time squeezing Iran and Venezuela. Click for full story

The European gas market was on high alert Jan. 13 after the Russian military claimed that Ukraine had targeted the Russkaya compressor station, which feeds gas for the TurkStream pipeline, in a failed drone attack on Jan. 11. The benchmark Dutch TTF month-ahead price traded higher early Jan. 13, reaching almost Eur47.70/MWh by 1110 GMT, according to ICE data. Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed TTF month-ahead price on Jan. 10 at Eur45.45/MWh. The Russian military, cited by news agency Tass Jan. 13, said Ukraine had targeted the compressor station using nine unmanned aerial vehicles, all of[...]