Oil gained as technical support turbocharged a rally sparked by progress in international trade talks, undercutting a US move to restore Chevron Corp.’s ability to pump oil in Venezuela. West Texas Intermediate climbed 1.2% to settle above $66 a barrel, following four sessions of declines. The European Union and the US are progressing toward a deal that would set a 15% tariff for most imports, similar to the one President Donald Trump struck with Japan. That would be a smaller rate than investors feared, with the US president earlier threatening a 30% levy on most goods if an agreement wasn’t reached by Aug. 1. The US benchmark also pushed through its 50-day moving average, triggering a spate of technical buying just ahead of the market’s close. The technical boost erased an earlier slide spurred by the Trump administration’s decision to let Chevron resume pumping oil in Venezuela, raising the prospect of increased supplies flooding into a market already facing the threat of oversupply. US imports of Venezuelan crude have ground to a halt, down from 300,000 barrels a day in January, according to Matt Smith, Americas lead oil analyst at market intelligence firm Kpler. Still, energy products from the Latin American country have already accounted for 15% of waterborne deliveries to the US Gulf Coast this year, he added. “The revocation of Chevron’s license has been to the benefit of China, given barrels have been redirected there,” Smith said. “Perhaps the realization of this, along with the supply issues on the US Gulf Coast, has been a driver behind the reversal of the decision.” Oil prices have been in a holding pattern this month, with tightness in global diesel markets offset by expectations of a deluge of crude supply from OPEC+ as the group raises production quotas. While diesel inventories

TotalEnergies SE reported a big jump in net debt in the second quarter as the French energy major posted falling profit and pointed to an oil market that’s being hurt by slower economic growth. Net debt rose 29% from the previous quarter to $25.9 billion and nearly doubled from a year earlier as the company raised spending including on acquisitions and working capital increased. Its adjusted net income dropped to $3.58 billion, a 23% decline from a year earlier, missing the average analyst estimate of $3.67 billion. “In an unstable geopolitical and macroeconomic environment (tariff war), oil markets remain volatile,” Total said in its earnings statement Thursday. “The market is facing an abundant supply that is fueled by OPEC+’s decision to unwind some voluntary production cuts and weak demand that’s linked to the slowdown in global economic growth.” Having lured investors with hefty payouts in recent boom years, Big Oil companies are now treading a fine line between investment, shareholder returns and mounting debt as oil prices come under pressure from global trade tensions and rising output by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies.  Total, the first oil major to report quarterly earnings, said it will maintain its target level for share buybacks of as much as $2 billion in the third quarter. However, it disclosed that it only repurchased $1.7 billion of shares in the three months through June, down $300 million from prior quarters.  The company’s shares fell as much as 2.5% and were at 52.33 euros, a drop of 1.8% from the close, at 10:36 a.m. in Paris. Net investments amounted to $11.6 billion in the first half notably due to $2.2 billion of net acquisitions of companies such as German renewable producer VSB. It will be in the range of $17 billion to

Dive Brief: Meta announced a deal Tuesday to purchase 100% of the power generated by a Texas solar plant owned by energy developer Enbridge to support its data center operations in the state.  The power purchase agreement accompanied a decision by Enbridge to invest $900 million to finish the 600 megawatt utility-scale Clear Fork solar plant near San Antonio.  The final greenlight on the project comes a few weeks after the signing of Congressional Republicans’ reconciliation package, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which contained a speedy wind-down for solar and wind credits created by the Inflation Reduction Act. Dive Insight: Meta — the tech and social media conglomerate behind platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp —  is one of the largest corporate purchasers of renewable energy and had the largest operating U.S. renewable energy portfolio of corporate buyers in 2023, according to its 2024 environmental report. The company has touted reaching net-zero emissions across its operational portfolio — scope 1 and 2 emissions — since 2020, “primarily” by matching 100% of its data center usage with renewable energy across that same span, according to the report. “We are thrilled to partner with Enbridge to bring new renewable energy to Texas and help support our operations with 100% clean energy,” Meta Head of Global Energy Urvi Parekh said in the release. The Clear Fork solar plant is currently in construction and expected to be completed and “enter in service” in the summer of 2027, the July 22 release said. Canada-based Enbridge expects the project to lead to growth in the company’s cash flow and earnings per share beginning in 2027, the company said in the release.  “Clear Fork demonstrates the growing demand for renewable power across North America from blue-chip companies who are involved in technology and data center operations,” said

Dive Brief: The Department of Energy budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration are leading national labs like the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to each consider laying off up to 1,000 employees, according to recent reports. The group Friends of PNNL, which includes several former PNNL employees, said July 13 in the Tri-City Herald that the lab is considering laying off around 1,100 employees, and Politico reported Wednesday that NREL could let more than 1,000 people go. DOE’s congressional budget justification for 2026 suggests dropping NREL’s total budget from $686 million to $299 million, and dropping PNNL’s from $829 million to $548 million. Dive Insight: DOE spokesperson Ben Dietderich noted that “most of the national labs are operated by third-party contractors” and have discretion with personnel decisions, so the department can’t “confirm anonymously leaked ‘estimations’ of layoffs made by third-party contractors.” “As Secretary Wright has said repeatedly, the Department of Energy is committed to making the American people’s government more efficient while also growing the output of top-quality science at our national labs,” Dietderich said. For nearly all national labs, the Trump administration’s proposed budget would zero out the funding they receive from DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. For NREL, the budget proposes the lab receive $268 million in EERE funding next year, compared with $589 million this year. NREL is “primarily funded” by EERE, said Heather Lammers, a public and media relations manager at the laboratory. “We are currently working with DOE to understand the impacts of the FY25 spend plan,” Lammers said, referring to the president’s megabill. “At the same time, the FY26 appropriations process continues to move forward. We remain committed to our mission of delivering integrated solutions for an affordable, secure and sustainable energy future.” Under the proposed budget, PNNL

China’s imports of three major energy products from the US hit almost zero in June – a potentially sensitive shift as Beijing and Washington resume talks to resolve their differences on trade. Deliveries of American crude oil, liquefied natural gas, and coal have been subject to Chinese tariffs of 10 percent-15 percent since February. The levies were imposed in one of the opening salvos of the trade war launched by the Trump administration, and flows from the US to China have steadily dwindled as purchases have become less economically viable.  That came to a head last month, when China didn’t import any crude oil from the US for the first time in almost three years, according to the latest Chinese customs data. Crude is the most heavily traded commodity in the world and China the biggest buyer. In June last year, its purchases from the US were worth nearly $800 million.  Last month’s deliveries of gas, increasingly a prime US export, were zero for a fourth consecutive month, a collapse that’s partly due to Chinese firms reselling American shipments to more profitable markets in Europe and Asia. Coal purchases, which in June last year were worth over $90 million, shrank to just a few hundred dollars for a second straight month. In the deal reached to end Trump’s first trade war in 2020, China pledged to buy more US energy and farm goods to help shrink its trade surplus. However, Beijing failed to meet its obligations after the pandemic struck and the imbalance worsened, setting up the present round of conflict once Trump had reclaimed the presidency. In the interim, China has been busy diversifying its commodities imports. Most of its crude comes from Saudi Arabia and Russia, with the US just about making the top-10 in the monthly reports from customs.

One Rock Capital Partners, a US mid-market private equity firm, is one of the few remaining bidders for BP Plc’s Castrol lubricants business, people familiar with the matter said, illustrating the potential challenges for the key asset disposal by the oil major. Several big-name energy companies and financial suitors have dropped out and valuation expectations have slipped, according to the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. One Rock is bidding for the entire asset, while Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is only interested in taking a minority stake, the people said. The asset initially drew interest from Saudi Aramco, Reliance Industries Ltd., Apollo Global Management Inc., Lone Star Funds, Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. and Stonepeak Partners, among others, Bloomberg News has reported. The earlier bids valued the lubricants business at $6 billion to $8 billion, the people said. A sale was initially expected to fetch as much as $10 billion. Given the lackluster response, BP has also given access of Castrol’s financials to another potential suitor, which wasn’t around at the initial bidding stages, one of the people said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if BP didn’t hit their $8 billion target, given the pressures buyers know the company is under to deliver divestment progress,” said Will Hares, senior energy analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Deliberations are ongoing and One Rock and CPPIB could decide against proceeding with their offers, the people said. BP may also opt to keep the asset for longer, they said. Representatives for BP, CPPIB and One Rock declined to comment. Shares of BP fell as much as 1.4% on Thursday morning in London after the Bloomberg News report. The stock is down about 0.5% as of 10:09 a.m. local time. Activist Pressure A sale of the lubricants business is part of BP Chief