Oil
Brent Jumps Above $70 on Secondary Tariff Fears
Donald Trump continues to be the main newsmaker across the globe, shortening the deadline for Russia to make progress on its Ukraine ceasefire talks, threatening secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian energy. This was enough to lift ICE Brent futures above $70 per barrel, further buoyed by market optimism that US-China trade talks could bear fruition after Trump squeezed out a deal from the European Union.
Ahead of the full OPEC+ meeting this Sunday, ministers from the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee reiterated the oil group’s need for better compliance with oil production quotas, asking non-compliant nations for compensation plans by August 18, OilPrice.com reports.
Qatar has threatened to cut LNG deliveries to Europe if Brussels doesn’t amend its corporate sustainability due diligence directive, which requires regional buyers to find and disclose human rights and climate policy violations in their supply chains.
Problems with the Hammerfest LNG terminal’s compressor system have prompted Norway’s state oil company Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) to extended its three-month maintenance outage at Europe’s largest LNG export facility to August 3.
The rapid rise of power demand from data centre developers has prompted US grid operator PJM, covering most of America’s Mideast, to issue nine top-level emergency alerts over the past five weeks, compared to just one last summer.
Global trading house Vitol Group paid out $10.6 billion through its employee buyback scheme last year, the highest ever payments after its share buybacks soared to a then-record $6.4 billion in 2023, even though the firm’s net profit fell from its 2022-2023 peak.
US President Donald Trump criticized the United Kingdom’s oil and gas policy, describing the North Sea as a ‘treasure chest for the country’ and called on the Starmer government to lower its 78% windfall profit tax to incentivize oil drillers to produce more.
Mexico’s national oil company Pemex reported a net profit of $3.17 billion in Q2 2025, despite its revenues falling 4.4% compared to Q1 on lower oil prices, with the NOC reporting a $5 billion financial stimulus from the Mexican government.
The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation of ADNOC’s $17 billion bid for German chemicals giant Covestro, agreed in October 2024, alleging that UAE subsidies and capital increases could distort Europe’s internal market.
The Russian government imposed a full ban on the exports of gasoline until the end of August, citing runaway domestic prices that have come within a whisker of surpassing the all-time high of ₽76,875 per metric tonne ($970/mt) from September 2023.
US drilling giant Baker Hughes (NASDAQ:BKR) agreed to buy Chart Industries in a $13.6 billion all-cash deal, marking this year’s largest oil services M&A deal to date, boosting its exposure to valve and measurement technology in LNG and gas projects.
Russian-backed Indian refiner Nayara Energy, having appointed a new CEO in Sergey Denisov this week, started legal proceedings against Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) following the unilateral suspension of its Outlook email accounts and Teams.
New coal mining capacity fell to a 10-year low last year, with miners worldwide adding just 105 million tonnes of capacity, however researchers warn that the slowdown in China and India is mostly down to delays in regulatory approvals.
Prices of copper have been easing lately, with the LME three-month contract dipping to $9,760 per metric tonne after Chile asked the Trump administration to include copper in their upcoming trade talks, potentially exempting it from the punitive 50% tariff.
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