Russian scientists and local oil field services companies claim to have created a technology for thermochemical gas fracturing that could be an alternative to hydraulic fracturing and could increase oil production by between 1.7 and 6 times, Russia’s news agency RIA Novosti reports, citing the University of Tyumen’s press service. [...]

The Turkish Stream gas pipeline project will be implemented on time, regardless of the new US law that expands sanctions against Moscow, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Friday. Novak explained that the contracts concerning the construction of the gas pipeline were concluded, and the construction was underway. [...]

Iran has resumed oil swap operations in the Caspian Sea in a bid strengthen the country’s strategic position in the region, local Mehr news agency reported Monday. An oil tanker arrived to Neka terminal earlier in the month to discharge oil for swapping purposes for the first time in seven years, the Iranian Petroleum Ministry was cited as saying by Mehr. [...]

Oil prices continued to fall on Thursday after substantial losses the previous day, dragged down by a surge in US inventories. The major benchmarks were down over a dollar with Brent crude trading at $51.87 per barrel. [...]

China has become the world’s largest producer of solar energy, according to a new report from the country’s energy administration. The most populous nation on Earth nearly doubled their capacity for solar power in 2016, but they still have a very low per-capita rate for solar power use. [...]

Turning their backs on climate science and the consensus of governments and civil society across the globe, the world's biggest banks are dangerously advancing the climate crisis by pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into the world's most polluting fossil fuel industries, according to a new report published Tuesday. [...]

Chile’s main solar power plants are supplying so much electricity that they have to give it away for free or face prices going down. The glut has been driven by the country’s booming copper industry. Chile’s growing energy demand has prompted the development of 29 solar farms to supply the central grid. [...]

Germany, the fourth-largest economy in the world and a leader in renewable energy, produced so much energy this weekend from its solar, wind, hydro, and biomass plants that power prices went into negative territory for several hours. Consumers were being paid to use energy. [...]

French Energy Minister Segolene Royal said she is examining legal means to ban the import of shale gas from the United States. According to media reports, she told lawmakers in the National Assembly that France should prohibit fracked gas imports within its borders due to a ban on hydraulic fracking introduced for environmental reasons. [...]

An investigation into a massive global oil bribery scandal has been launched by authorities in the US, Britain, and Australia, after leaked confidential files indicated that some of the world’s most powerful corporations were part of the racket. [...]

Russia has all the chances to emerge “as the de facto leader of the major oil producing nations of the world, accounting for almost 73 percent of the global oil supply”; and in fact has already taken some of the required to do so, according to US-based oil expert Rakesh Upadhyay. “Russia has played a master stroke in the current oil crisis by taking the lead in forming a new cartel, but i [...]

As the world's media attention is currently fixed on the conflict in Syria, and to a lesser extent Ukraine, there has been an ongoing economic conflict occurring against Russia. Economic sanctions against Russia have turned out to be a double edged sword, hurting European exporters and manufacturers as much as Russian importers and consumers. [...]

A new White House plan to combat climate change and update transportation systems would impose a fee of $10 per barrel of oil to fund $300 billion in spending over the next decade. President Barack Obama is expected to make his case to Congress next week. Promoting a “21st century clean transportation system,” the Obama administration unveiled its transportation budget Thursday, first to [...]

The Copenhagen City Council on Tuesday is expected to approve a vote to divest the city's investment fund, worth 6.9 billion kroner, or roughly $1 billion USD, from all its fossil fuels holdings. If the vote passes, the Danish capital will sell off its stocks and bonds in coal, oil, and gas in its continued effort to become "the world’s first CO2-neutral capital by 2025," Mayor Frank Jensen told [...]

A case can be made that for Moscow it would be a tremendous waste of hard-earned foreign exchange to try to counter a rig against their currency they simply cannot beat, as the entire fiat financial power of the US is against them. Russia’s Central Bank by now should be all-out selling rubles for gold, and building Russia’s gold reserves. Well, it is happening, somewhat. [...]

"The arguments against divestment are all quickly falling away," said Jamie Henn, communications director for 350.org, after United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged financial leaders to double their clean energy investments by 2020 at a global investor summit on Wednesday.   [...]

While the dangers of a power system based on the burning of fossil fuels are increasingly apparent, a new report on Monday argues that a rapid, affordable energy transformation is, in fact, within our grasp. Within 15 years, the United States could slash greenhouse gas emissions from power production by nearly 80 percent below 1990 levels without increasing cost and, at the same time, meeting i [...]

Confirming API data overnight, DOE reports that while total inventories of crude rose less than expected (+234k vs +2.1mm exp.) Gasoline and Distillates saw a massive build once again. Gasoline inventories rose 8.44mm barrels (following last week's 10.6mm record build) is the biggest 2-week inventory build in history. Crude has crashed back from overnight "China is buying oil" demand hopes. [...]

Step-by-step Russia, China and other emerging economies are taking measures to reduce their dependence on the US dollar, F. William Engdahl notes, referring to Russia's crude oil benchmark initiative; the move could deal a dramatic blow to the "petrodollar's" dominance. [...]