Tag - oil

 
 

OIL

The Eagle S oil tanker is seen near a Finnish border guard ship and tugboat off the Porkkalanniemi Peninsula in the Gulf of Finland in December. Finland seized the Russian-linked vessel on suspicion it damaged undersea cables amid growing concerns over sanctions evasion and maritime security.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2025
Braving the storm: It’s time to board Russia’s shadow fleet
European sanctions against the Kremlin’s oil vessels are futile without actual enforcement.
Ukrainian Armed Forces fire a mortar toward Russian troops in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on May 16.
WORLD / Politics
May 21, 2025
EU and Britain go ahead with new Russia sanctions without waiting for Trump
The measures would zero in on Moscow's "shadow fleet" of oil tankers and financial firms that have helped it avoid the impact of other sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine.
According to the Fair Trade Commission, Kadoya Sesame Mills and Takemoto Oil & Fat violated the antimonopoly law by repeatedly conspiring to raise the prices of sesame oil sold to food-makers S&B Foods and Marumiya.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 15, 2025
FTC orders sesame oil-makers to halt price cartel, issuing ¥21.98 million fine
The antitrust watchdog said the two firms formed the cartel to secure profits amid rising sesame prices due to production cuts in Africa and a weaker yen.
Idemitsu Kosan President Noriaki Sakai speaks during an interview in Tokyo on April 23.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 11, 2025
Idemitsu to enhance all-solid-state battery business
All-solid-state batteries have shorter charging times and enable vehicles to travel longer per charge, compared with conventional batteries.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on April 17
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 23, 2025
Opposition slams Ishiba's gas price cut while calling to scrap provisional tax
Ishiba's decision would lower gas prices by ¥10 per liter starting May 22, but nixing the provisional gas tax would lower prices by ¥25.
The crude oil tanker New Odyssey arrives at the port in Qingdao, in China's eastern Shandong province on April 15. The U.S. has issued new sanctions targeting Iran's oil exports, including against a China-based independent oil refinery.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 17, 2025
U.S. issues new sanctions targeting Chinese importers of Iranian oil
The move comes as Washington seeks to ramp up pressure on Iran as it reentered talks with Tehran over its nuclear program this month.
The Trump administration, in a desperate bid to cushion trade war inflation, is pushing for cheap oil, but $50-a-barrel will ultimately widen the very trade deficit the U.S. president wants to reduce.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 13, 2025
$50-a-barrel oil is a problem for the U.S. trade deficit
If oil prices fall to $50, under that scenario, total petroleum production in America will probably decline by 1 million barrels a day by the end of 2025.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during a campaign rally in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 10, 2025
Canada’s Mark Carney treads a fine line on climate in a tight election
In a nation whose energy sector is still dominated by oil and gas, the question is how much the new prime minister may need to play down his green resume in order to win.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits a nuclear-powered submarine in Murmansk, Russia, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 31, 2025
Trump threatens Russia oil penalties, citing anger at Putin
The U.S. president also raised the threat of bombing Iran until it signs a deal that renounces nuclear weapons.
Demonstrators hold signs near the White House as they protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2017.
ENVIRONMENT
Mar 22, 2025
What the $660 million Greenpeace verdict means for U.S. activism
Legal experts warn the decision could significantly deter other environmental groups from protesting oil and gas companies around the U.S.
Protesters demonstrate against the Dakota Access Pipeline near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, in 2016.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Mar 20, 2025
Jury finds Greenpeace liable for more than $660 million in damages
The verdict was a major blow to the environmental organization.
The Lakhta Center business tower, which serves as the headquarters of Russia's largest gas producer Gazprom, in St. Petersburg on March 7
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 17, 2025
Gazprom's grandeur fades as Europe abandons Russian gas
Gazprom is arguably the Russian business hardest hit by the international sanctions imposed after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
Bleached and dead coral around Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef, located 270 kilometers north of the city of Cairns, Australia, on April 5, 2024
ENVIRONMENT / Earth science
Mar 17, 2025
From oil spills to new species: How tech reveals the ocean
New technologies are helping to reveal hidden oil spills, speed up the discovery of new species and uncover the impact of light pollution.
The Stratos Direct Air Capture Facility, a joint venture between Occidental Petroleum and asset manager BlackRock, in Ector County, Texas, last July.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / FOCUS
Mar 16, 2025
Carbon capture industry tweaks message for the Trump era
The lobbying strategy is to frame CCS as "an economic competitiveness and American leadership issue."
A worker collects palm oil fruit in Sepang, outside Kuala Lumpur, in 2014.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 10, 2025
The end of cheap palm oil? Output stalls as biodiesel demand surges
Aging plantations and slow replanting have led to lower yields even as demand for palm oil rises from various sectors.
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline along the Dalton Highway in Stevens Village, Alaska, on Sep. 19, 2024
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 5, 2025
Trump says Japan and South Korea want to partner in Alaska pipeline
Japan, South Korea and other countries want to partner with the United States in a "gigantic" natural gas pipeline in Alaska, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, claiming they would invest "trillions of dollars each."
The coal-powered Datang International Zhangjiakou Power Station in Zhangjiakou, in China's northern Hebei province. Many countries support an an aggressive approach to climate change, but face objections by some oil producers and major polluters with rising emissions, such as India and China.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 24, 2025
Nations at odds over major U.N. climate science report
Many countries support an an aggressive approach to climate change, but face objections by some oil producers and major polluters.
Canada faces a tough decision on how to respond to U.S. President Donald Trump's economic threats, particularly regarding energy exports, with options ranging from strategic energy cuts to export taxes.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2025
Weaponizing Canadian oil would rattle Trump
Reducing crude output has the potential to inflict real pain on U.S. refiners and consumers.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands at the conclusion of a joint news conference in the White House in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 14, 2025
India's Modi and Trump agree to trade talks to lower tensions
The agreements came hours after Trump unveiled a roadmap for reciprocal tariffs on every country that puts duties on U.S. imports, including India.
Oil tanker trucks outside an oil refinery in Mumbai
WORLD / Politics
Feb 13, 2025
India scrambles for Russian oil supplies as sellers play sanctions whack-a-mole
Energy executives say existing networks are being reconfigured with selling entities, tankers and insurance providers that are not on Washington’s blacklist.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic