Oil declined after Axios reported the US plans to restart nuclear talks with Iran, reducing the risk of another flare-up in the Middle East conflict. West Texas Intermediate crude slumped 0.7% to settle at $67 a barrel, while Brent settled below $69 after the news service said US Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff plans to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Oslo next week. That followed a statement from Iran’s top diplomat that the country would continue to engage with the UN’s nuclear watchdog. Crude prices have been buffeted by geopolitical events in recent weeks, first surging after the escalation that included direct US strikes in Iran then declining after Tehran’s retaliation was dismissed as largely symbolic. Renewed negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program would further reduce oil’s already-diminished risk premium. Oil’s slump on Thursday also may have been amplified by low liquidity ahead of Friday’s July Fourth holiday in the US. The Middle East developments squelched some earlier strength in prices that was driven by US jobs data showing stronger-than-expected additions in June. Equity markets rose and the dollar gained, making commodities priced in the currency less appealing. The US also took fresh steps to restrict the trade of Iranian oil, including sanctions on companies and a “shadow fleet” of vessels that help Iran export its crude. Oil had rallied on Wednesday against the backdrop of a market flashing pockets of strength. Diesel’s premium to crude in the US earlier hit the biggest in 15 months after stockpiles of the fuel continued to decline. Spreads on the nearest crude contracts are also pointing to tight supplies, with stockpiles at the key storage hub of Cushing, Oklahoma, sliding. The continued outlook for supply dynamics, however, depends on a meeting between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its

Russia’s oil revenue in June slumped to a two-year low as global crude prices fell and the ruble strengthened, meaning each barrel brought fewer rubles to the Kremlin.  Proceeds from the oil industry shrank by almost 30% to 415.6 billion rubles ($5.27 billion), according to Bloomberg calculations based on Finance Ministry data published Thursday. That’s the lowest since June 2023. Russia’s combined revenue from oil and gas taxes fell by a third compared with a year earlier, to almost 495 billion rubles, the calculations show. That’s the lowest since January 2023. A stronger currency means Russia and its oil producers get fewer rubles for every barrel they pump and sell. That erodes the profitability of the companies and strains the federal budget, which depends on oil and gas taxes for about a third of its revenues. Any substantial decline in the tax take from the industry directly affects the nation’s coffers, which are already burdened by multibillion-dollar spending on the war in Ukraine. A stronger ruble also reduces the incentive to export. At the end of April, the Finance Ministry revised its expectation for this year’s budget deficit, forecasting a shortfall much deeper than previously estimated as US tariff policies and OPEC+ supply hikes caused oil prices to nosedive. To cover deficits, the nation taps into its wealth fund, designed to stabilize the economy. The ministry calculated Russia’s June oil revenue based on a Urals price of $52.08 a barrel in May. That’s the lowest price for the nation’s key export grade since March 2023, data compiled by Bloomberg show.  The currency traded at an average 80.4603 rubles per US dollar in May, the strongest in two years, driven by record-high interest rates and expectations of an improvement in relations with Washington. As a result, the country’s oil companies received only 4,190 rubles for

The Republican budget megabill, which makes steep cuts to the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy tax credits, now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk after passing both houses of Congress. The House passed the Senate’s version of the bill 218-214 on Thursday, after Republicans debated through the night and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., used the leadership prerogative of a “magic minute” to speak in opposition to the bill for a record-breaking 8 hours and 44 minutes. Jeffries at one point referenced a June letter 13 House Republicans sent to the Senate, in which the Republicans stated they were “proud to have worked to ensure that the bill did not include a full repeal of the clean energy tax credits, [but] remain deeply concerned by several provisions” cutting back those credits the House version did include. “Every single one of these signatories voted for a House bill that undermines the clean energy economy, noted that it would hurt their own constituents, voted for the bill anyway, then begged the Senate to make a difference,” Jeffries said. “That is not how we should be legislating in the United States House of Representatives … It limped out of the House by a single vote, so every single signatory on this letter could have stopped the bill.” The bill restricts the ability of projects to qualify for the tech-neutral clean electricity 45Y production tax credit and 48E investment tax credit, shortens the timeline for those credits, and ends the 25D residential solar credit after this year. The 25E, 30D, 30C and 45W electric vehicle credits will terminate after Sept. 30. While clean energy advocates and congressional Democrats maintain that the final version of the bill goes too far in slashing IRA credits, some Republicans wanted to see more significant cuts.  Before the House

Dive Brief: Airloom Energy has broken ground on a utility-scale pilot of the novel wind power technology that it says offers better energy density and siting flexibility at significantly lower capital cost. The Bill Gates-backed startup says the southeastern Wyoming project will validate its low-slung turbine design, which captures wind energy using 30-foot, vertically oriented airfoils that move around an ovular trackway about 80 feet above the ground. Airloom plans to begin generating power at the site near Rock River later this year, and begin commercial-scale demonstrations in 2027, according to a timeline posted on its website. Dive Insight: The Wyoming Energy Authority awarded Airloom $5 million in November to “design, build and test a 1 MW demonstration device that validates the company’s innovative, low-profile design.” That description matches what Airloom said about the pilot project in its announcement last week, but Airloom CEO Neal Rickner told TechCrunch on June 25 that the pilot would generate about 150 kW of electricity while using the same parts as future megawatt-scale turbines. Airloom did not respond to requests for comment. The key difference between the pilot- and commercial-scale plants, Rickner told TechCrunch, is the physical footprint: The straightaways run about 100 meters on the former and 500 meters on the latter. Despite the relatively large area inside the trackway, Airloom says its technology offers higher energy densities than traditional wind, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture says requires about 10 times less land per megawatt than solar PV. Whereas a traditional wind turbine has a circular swept area, Airloom’s design sweeps a rectangular area, capturing more wind and conserving more energy, it says. Airloom touts the undisturbed land inside the trackway as fit for complementary uses like livestock grazing, crop production or solar arrays. The design has other advantages over traditional turbines,

Trinidad and Tobago is working to reverse a major slump in gas production and revive a key export industry in the Caribbean nation to boost its economic growth. Energy Minister Roodal Moonilal sees strong potential in the country’s offshore waters at a time when auditors said more gas output must be added to satisfy demand. During the opening of the Society of Petroleum Engineers 2025 Mature Basin Energy Symposium Tuesday, Moonilal said Woodside Energy’s Calypso offshore project is expected to add 700 million standard cubic feet per day to domestic gas production.  “The current and upcoming gas projects will, however, only provide relief in the short to medium term,” he added. Calypso, with reserves of 3.5 trillion cubic feet, is “one of the main projects we would be seeking to accelerate,” Moonilal told Bloomberg in an interview on June 27.  Trinidad and Tobago has seen a 33 percent drop in gas output since 2015. The need to ramp up production comes as the country aims to fill a supply gap and deals with a crippling shortage of foreign exchange.  Natural gas reserves auditors DeGoyler and MacNaughton estimated in its latest report that 58.25 trillion cubic feet of prospective resources were offshore at the end of 2023. The country’s gas production has been declining, and it produced 3.8 billion cubic feet in 2015, Moonilal said. Trinidad and Tobago produced around 2.5 billion cubic feet in the first quarter of 2025, 46 percent of which is exported as liquefied natural gas, the energy minister told Bloomberg Wednesday. The auditors advised the country to fast track gas projects and exploration efforts to “convert prospective resources into reserves and contingent resources, to meet gas demand,” he added. Several projects from BP’s subsidiary in Trinidad and Tobago are planned with the oil and gas major set to

Mozambican President Daniel Chapo said his government and private companies will have to collectively ensure the necessary security is in place to enable TotalEnergies SE to restart construction of a $20 billion gas project that has stalled due to a militant insurgency — and even then risks will remain. The project in the northern Cabo Delgado province along with others that are at earlier stages of development are seen as crucial to the future of the southern African nation, which ranks among the world’s poorest. The French oil major halted work, evacuated workers and declared force majeure in 2021 following an escalation in attacks by Islamic State-linked militants. “Regarding security, it’s relatively stable compared to this past four years, but continuity of this stability doesn’t depend only on the government of the republic but on all partners in that area,” Chapo said in an interview with Bloomberg in Seville, Spain, on Tuesday. “If we’re waiting for Cabo Delgado to be a heaven, we won’t lift force majeure.”  Total’s facility, which will take another four years to complete, will liquefy and export the extensive gas reserves off northeast Mozambique that were discovered 15 years ago. Since then, only one floating plant operated by Eni SpA has come on line. A final investment decision on a third planned venture, Exxon Mobil Corp.’s $27 billion Rovuma LNG project, is expected next year. Mozambique called on nations in the region to help secure Cabo Delgado after its attempts to use mercenaries to halt the violence failed.  Rwandan troops, brought in months after the attacks that led to Total’s evacuation, provided an effective response. The European Council gave the Rwanda Defence Force additional funding in November to help fight the insurgency, but the terms of its deployment remain uncertain. “How long will depend a lot on security