Kuwait’s state energy company said OPEC+’s latest super-sized supply hike and recent interactions with customers suggest persistent demand growth beyond the summer driving season.   “We’re seeing some potential tightness in the market, which gives us an opportunity to capture market share in the future,” Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah, chief executive officer of Kuwait Petroleum Corp., told Bloomberg TV in an interview on the sidelines of a seminar held by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna.  Tanker tracking by Bloomberg shows that the Gulf state’s crude exports surged to a 19-month high in June as the OPEC+ alliance brought curbed barrels back. Most of Kuwait’s oil flows to Asian countries, including China, Japan and South Korea. Sheikh Nawaf said recent demand has been driven by Asia in particular, noting that KPC’s global business partners have been asking the company if it has additional barrels. There are indications that the customer isn’t concerned about a peak in demand, “certainly in China, and also is looking toward quality of the supplier, and that is us, because we are committed to a low-cost and low-carbon intensity barrel, and will continue for decades to come.” Producers are seeing a market that will continue to grow, Sheikh Nawaf said, with anywhere between 1 million to 1.3 million barrels a day of additional demand growth over the year.  Bloomberg News hasn’t received accreditation to cover the OPEC seminar, despite multiple requests. No explanation has been given. Sheikh Nawaf spoke outside the event. As tensions between Israel and Iran escalated last month into open conflict, KPC communicated closely with its Gulf partners to ensure a steady supply of oil to the market, according to Sheikh Nawaf. There had been concerns that the fighting could disrupt tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint

Oil held steady as traders weighed a large gain in US crude stockpiles against fresh US efforts to crimp Iranian crude exports. West Texas Intermediate swung between gains and losses before settling above $68 a barrel, narrowly extending a winning streak to a third day. US crude stockpiles rose 7.1 million barrels last week, the biggest gain since January, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. At the same time, the US Treasury Department sanctioned 22 foreign entities for their roles in facilitating the sale of Iranian oil. “Despite a material drop in imports week-on-week, a tick lower in refining activity and subdued exports have encouraged a sizeable crude inventory build,” said Matt Smith, Americas lead oil analyst at Kpler. The sanctions helped to soothe investors’ uncertainty surrounding US policy on Iranian exports, just weeks after US President Donald Trump baffled markets by encouraging China to carry on buying Tehran’s crude. Those surprise remarks represented a reversal of years of US sanctions and briefly allayed concerns that the Israel-Iran conflict would severely disrupt supplies. Still, sanctions news will have limited upside until the market sees a material loss of barrels, said Joe DeLaura, global energy strategist at Rabobank. “It’s all kayfabe,” he said. “By the end of the week, all those sanctioned companies will exist under new names in new locations, and the oil will flow.” Renewed Houthi attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea — a key trade route for oil — have also notably failed to inject a risk premium into oil prices. The attacks have so far killed at least three crew members and sank two vessels. “Most ships are already avoiding the Red Sea,” said Rebecca Babin, a senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Group. The developments “indicate some escalation, but do not really change

Dive Brief: Projections around U.S. data center growth and the electricity necessary to power AI are almost certainly overstated due to global constraints in semiconductor chip production, according to a new analysis completed by London Economics International for the Southern Environmental Law Center. Demand forecasts have alarmed utilities that are rushing to add energy resources, despite concerns over impacts on power bills. Projected data center demand from the U.S. power market would require 90% of global chip supply through 2030, according to London Economics. “Such a scenario is unrealistic,” the report concluded. Dive Insight: The United States is rushing to add new generation and transmission to power a variety of sectors — including transportation, buildings and industry — but data centers are expected to require an outsized portion of the resources. The U.S. Department of Energy on Monday published a report estimating an additional 100 GW of new peak capacity is needed by 2030, with half of it needed for data centers. Schneider Electric’s 2030 AI power demand scenarios range from about 16 GW to 65 GW.  The uncertainty, and an “upward bias” in projections identified by London Economics, is putting ratepayers at risk, according to SELC. “Such speculative infrastructure investment creates significant economic risks for ratepayers, who ultimately bear the financial burdens,” SELC Senior Attorney Megan Gibson said in a statement. “Regulators must urgently prioritize transparent, realistic, and evidence-based analyses to ensure infrastructure developments are truly necessary and beneficial, safeguarding communities and promoting sustainable growth in the Southeast and throughout the country.”  The report appears to reinforce some analyst observations that many data center requests appear to be duplicative. Astrid Atkinson, a former Google senior director of software engineering and now co-founder and CEO of grid optimization software provider Camus Energy, told Utility Dive earlier this year that utilities

Mol Nyrt., the Hungarian oil company that’s faced criticism for maintaining strong reliance on Russian energy, sees a pipeline from the Ukrainian port of Odesa as its best bet at diversification. The company wants to gain access to the Odesa-Brody crude pipeline that runs from Ukraine’s Black Sea port to near the nation’s border with Poland – allowing it to get seaborne supplies from a number of global producers, said Szabolcs Pal Szabo, Mol’s senior vice president for value chain management.  Flows could then be routed to Hungary via the southern Druzhba link, which currently carries Russian oil to the country and connects to the Odesa pipeline close to the Ukrainian-Polish border. “The Odesa pipeline would mean access to all sorts of alternative crude due to the sea link,” Szabo said in an email to Bloomberg. “This pipeline would serve regional, EU and Ukrainian supply security.” While Hungary was exempted from the European Union’s Russian crude oil ban in 2022 – allowing the landlocked country to keep receiving Russian crude via Druzhba – the country is under pressure to phase out those supplies amid an EU push to end energy imports from Russia by 2027.  Connecting to Ukrainian infrastructure wouldn’t be straightforward, since Odesa has been a frequent target of Russian missile attacks and the pipeline – which is currently out of commission – would require massive investments. The Black Sea around Ukraine’s coastline has also been heavily mined since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. It would also require political acrobatics from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a pro-Russian leader who’s called on the EU to cut support for Ukraine and end its sanctions on Russia. Orban has locked in a number of energy deals with Moscow and is currently campaigning for re-election by vowing to block Ukraine’s EU accession process.    Mol wants the

The UK’s Lindsey oil refinery has restarted deliveries of fuel, according to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero. “Deliveries from the Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery have resumed,” the department said by email late Tuesday. The UK is well supplied with fuel, it said.  Wholesale supply of fuel by road stopped last week after the refinery’s owner received a surprise liquidation order. The department didn’t give specifics on when deliveries restarted. Trucks weren’t getting into the plant in north England earlier in the day, according to two people familiar with the matter. To contact the reporter on this story:Rachel Graham in London at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story:Alaric Nightingale at [email protected] Nightingale, Rachel Graham WHAT DO YOU THINK? Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

Dive Brief: President Donald Trump issued an executive order Monday instructing the Secretary of the Treasury to publish guidance within 45 days “to ensure that policies concerning the ‘beginning of construction’ are not circumvented” by wind and solar projects that saw their eligibility for the 45Y and 48E clean energy tax credits slashed by budget legislation signed into law on July 4. “It is unclear how the Treasury will amend the ‘beginning of construction’ language while also keeping in mind that a ‘substantial portion of the subject facility has been built,’” Jefferies analysts said in a Tuesday note. This “could be an attempt to pivot back to the House version of the OBBB which had narrowed credit eligibility with ‘begin construction’ AND ‘placed in service’ language.” Prior to the EO, clean energy advocates were already grappling with the anticipated impacts of the legislation, which is expected to slash capital investment in U.S. electricity and clean fuels production by around $500 billion over the next ten years, according to a report from the REPEAT Project. Dive Insight: The executive order appears to make good on a deal Trump reportedly struck with the Freedom Caucus, in which he promised to use his executive powers to further curtail federal subsidies on wind, solar and EVs in exchange for their support, which was necessary to secure the bill’s passage in the House. The order also instructs the Secretary of the Treasury to “implement the enhanced Foreign Entity of Concern restrictions in the law” and “revise any identified regulations, guidance, policies, and practices […] to eliminate any such preferences for wind and solar facilities.” Even before the executive order, the bill’s introduction of tight eligibility standards for projects in development was expected to lead to uncertainty around capital investment. Wind and solar projects must start construction within