International

The director of the FBI has warned that the Chinese state has its sights set on U.S. critical infrastructure to compromise U.S. economic and national security. Speaking at the Vanderbilt Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats, Christopher Wray said “The PRC [People’s Republic of China] has made it clear …

Kazakhstan, a non-OPEC oil producer part of the OPEC+ agreement, will consider building an oil pipeline in the Caspian Sea, Russian news agency Interfax reported on Thursday, quoting Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry. The country is also considering the construction of another oil pipeline from Atyrau to Kuryk in the medium term, …

Europe is “returning to petrol”, according to a new article from Yahoo Finance which highlighted Volkswagen’s EV sales as the canary in the coalmine. Sales of Volkswagen’s electric vehicles have declined by nearly 25% in Europe, with a noticeable shift back to gasoline-powered cars amid waning interest in battery-operated models, …

China’s crude oil imports hit a record high in 2023, rising by 10% year-over-year and breaking the previous record from 2020 when the world’s top crude oil importer took advantage of the price crash to gorge on cheap crude. Last year, China’s crude oil imports averaged 11.3 million barrels per …

Kazakhstan exceeded its oil production quota under the OPEC+ deal by 131,000 barrels per day (bpd) in March, due to the weather and heating season requirements, the country’s Energy Ministry said on Sunday, pledging that the non-OPEC producer will look to compensate in the coming months for its overproduction. “Kazakhstan …

Russia has been exporting newly-made copper rod to China disguised as copper scrap in recent months—a new trade avenue for the two regimes that has been evading Western sanctions on Russian copper and export and import duties in both countries, Reuters reported on Monday, citing sources with knowledge of the …

Turkmenistan and the EU discussed the diversification of gas supply routes, Trend reports. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, this topic was discussed in Brussels during the participation of the Turkmen delegation headed by Myrat Archayev, Deputy Chairman of the Turkmengaz State Concern, in a meeting of …

Continued expansion in China’s coal fleet and a slowdown in plant retirements in the United States and Europe in 2023 resulted in the highest net increase in global operating coal capacity since 2016, research group Global Energy Monitor said in its annual survey. While the slower retirements outside China are …

Global coal power capacity hit a record last year driven by China, which built the most new capacity, but also helped by a slowdown in coal power plant retirements across the world. This is according to data from Global Energy Monitor, a transition outlet that tracks energy trends. The data …

The New Zealand government has plans to ban the import of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2040 as part of its net-zero efforts. According to local publication Stuff, a draft document prepared by the country’s Climate Change Commission suggests that “Decarbonising transport will require a rapid increase in electric vehicle …