More than 160 offshore rig workers plan walkout amid rising tensions between unions and oil companies
North Sea workers are preparing to strike at oil rigs across the ageing basin over the coming weeks in a sign of growing tensions between trade unions and oil companies.
The Unite union said on Monday that more than 160 offshore rig workers would take part in a 24-hour strike from Wednesday that could “severely disrupt” UK fuel supplies.
Continue reading...US president says Zelenskyy ‘more difficult to deal with than Putin’ after ‘energy ceasefire’ collapses
Donald Trump has called Ukraine’s renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries “a disgrace” and criticised Volodymyr Zelenskyy after an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine failed to take hold.
Ukraine resumed strikes on Russian oil refineries after Zelenskyy said Kyiv was abandoning a ceasefire unilaterally declared by Trump on Sunday, having briefly halted its attacks to demonstrate its readiness for peace talks. Russia had continued its strikes on Ukrainian power plants.
Continue reading...Analysts say fuel will take weeks to ship and quantity is too small to affect prices, while full deal is unlikely to be met given damage to Russian refineries
Donald Trump’s deal with Vladimir Putin to temporarily lift sanctions on US imports of Russian diesel will have little “meaningful” effect on motorists and businesses in the US and overseas, energy and foreign policy analysts have predicted.
The US president infuriated Volodymyr Zelenskyy when he announced the deal on Friday, writing on Truth Social that the agreement with his Russia counterpart to supply millions of tonnes of diesel was essential to reduce fuel prices in the US, which have soared after his decision to go to war against Iran.
Continue reading...Ousted Venezuelan president and Cilia Flores have been in jail in New York since early January
The deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted for alleged conspiracy to commit torture, according to Manhattan federal court papers unsealed on Thursday.
The superseding indictment was unsealed shortly before Flores appeared at court in her ongoing push for pretrial release – which was denied by Judge Alvin Hellerstein. Maduro and Flores have been jailed in New York City since early January.
Continue reading...Responding to a Guardian report that revealed thousands of tonnes of fuel was transported to Russia, Seoul said it was investigating the cases
South Korea will take legal action if it finds that shipments of fuel from its ports to Russia broke domestic law, the government has said, responding to a Guardian report on the trade.
The government, in a statement issued by the foreign and trade ministries and the customs service, said that it is “checking additional information concerning the loading cases reported by the Guardian” and “if the verification establishes that our laws and regulations have been violated, it plans to act in accordance with the law”.
Continue reading...Pablo Quirno says move is part of Argentinian government’s strategy to peacefully assert sovereignty over the islands
Argentina’s foreign minister has told an audience that included the British ambassador that his government would stop the Falkland Islands from exploiting its offshore oilfields as part of a strategy to take sovereignty.
During a speech at a thinktank event in the Argentinian capital, Pablo Quirno condemned the British government for failing to open negotiations over the islands and facilitating a significant offshore oil project in its waters.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Guardian analysis finds more than 150,000 tonnes of fuel was shipped to Russian ports in July and August, some using sanctioned tankers
Fuel is being shipped from South Korea to Russia via sanctioned tankers as Moscow scrambles for supplies amid the war in Ukraine, a move one expert said “undermines” Seoul’s public backing for Kyiv.
Guardian analysis of port records and ship-tracking data found that in July and August over 176,000 tonnes of fuel, mostly diesel, was loaded at several South Korean ports on to seven tankers that made 14 voyages to Russia’s far east.
Continue reading...Union says staff left with no choice but industrial action after breakdown in pay talks with Texas oil firm Apache
A looming strike by oil workers in the North Sea could “severely disrupt” UK fuel supplies, the Unite union has said, adding that staff were left with no choice after a breakdown in pay talks with the Texas oil company Apache.
The union said Apache workers had “emphatically” backed strike action after being given what it said was an unacceptable pay offer that amounted to a real-terms pay cut for many employees, at a time when the company was “raking in eye-watering profits”.
Continue reading...Ministers discuss drawing down EU countries’ reserves after Donald Trump threatens to cut off US supplies
Britain is in talks with European allies over releasing emergency diesel stockpiles after Donald Trump threatened to cut off US supplies of the fuel.
Ministers held calls with counterparts from the European Commission (EC), Germany, France, Italy and Ireland on Thursday to discuss whether to draw down reserves after the Trump administration told Germany and France to release their stockpiles to help ease soaring global energy prices or face a US export ban.
Continue reading...Alternative ways being used to move fuel out of Gulf region, but flows of refined products such as diesel still constrained
Exports of crude from the strait of Hormuz have largely returned to levels seen before the outbreak of the Iran war, as oil producers and the shipping industry have found alternative ways of transporting crucial fuel out of the Middle East.
Pipeline exports and ship-to-ship transfers are among the methods being used, according to analysts tracking the situation, while the US military continues to escort some vessels. However, flows of refined products such as diesel remain constrained, pushing prices higher.
Continue reading...US president blames attacks for driving up fuel prices before midterms, though analysts say his Iran war is main cause
Ukraine is pressing on with strikes on Russian oil refineries, defying Donald Trump, who blames the attacks for exacerbating a global diesel shortage and pushing up fuel prices.
Kyiv struck an oil facility in Russia’s southern Samara region overnight, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday in a statement on social media. The Ukrainian president added that a Russian vessel in the Black Sea was hit, as well as a launch and storage site for attack drones in the Oryol region.
Continue reading...EU to push member states to cut tax rate below duty on gas, with 11% surge in sales also put down to fallout from Iran war
Sales of residential heat pumps increased 11% across Europe in the first six months of the year as the Iran war sent oil and gas prices rocketing and some countries lowered electricity taxes.
Homeowners bought 1.16m heat pumps across 12 European countries, up from 1.05m in the first half of 2025, according to the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA).
Continue reading...The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said the missiles were aimed at Taif and the Yanbu area on the Red Sea, the main alternative route for Saudi oil
Saudi Arabia says it intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, with the latest attacks pushing oil prices to a one-week high over fears of spiralling supply disruptions.
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said the missiles were aimed at Taif in western Saudi Arabia and the Yanbu area on the Red Sea, with the Houthis claiming their attacks were aimed at “a sensitive target” in the capital Riyadh and on Saudi Aramco facilities in Yanbu.
Continue reading...Fuel costs have risen to levels not seen since early April, adding to risk of inflation and interest rate hike
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Australian diesel prices could surge above $3 a litre if Donald Trump cuts off US diesel exports amid floundering negotiations with Iran.
Fuel costs have risen to levels not seen since early April, adding to inflation risks and making another hike in interest rates all but certain.
Continue reading...Trump says further talks possible as barrel of Brent crude falls to below $100 for first time in two weeks
Iran has pushed back on claims that it dropped former preconditions for reopening the strait of Hormuz in surprise talks held in New York under the mediation of Qatar between Tehran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, and Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Trump said the three-hour talks held in a room at the UN headquarters had gone very well and been very productive. He suggested further talks were possible imminently, which led to the price of a barrel of Brent crude to fall to below $100 (£75) for the first time in two weeks. Witkoff said the talks had been “encouraging, constructive and successful”.
Continue reading...Authorities accuse Ukraine of trying to disrupt poll and say 1,600 drones in total intercepted, while at least two people killed and oil refinery damaged
Hundreds of drones targeting Moscow and its surrounding region killed at least two people and damaged a major refinery on the final day of the country’s parliamentary elections, authorities said on Sunday.
The capital’s mayor said that more than 1,600 drones had been intercepted and shot down, 450 of which were aimed at Moscow.
Continue reading...Michael Marra supports development of the North Sea sites, calling for a ‘more rational’ approach to energy policy
Scottish Labour’s new leader Michael Marra has backed the development of the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gasfields in the North Sea in one of his first acts after being elected, calling for a “more rational” approach to energy policy.
On Saturday, the MSP for North East Scotland won a near two-thirds majority to lead the party in Holyrood, becoming Scottish Labour’s 11th leader. He replaces Anas Sarwar after his shock decision to resign in July to join Andy Burnham’s new government as a trade minister.
Continue reading...The militant group in Yemen captured the islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish, near the chokepoint of the Bab al-Mandab strait
Yemen’s Houthi militants have seized two strategic islands in the Red Sea, reinforcing the Iran-backed group’s ability to control a key shipping route, as concerns mount that the world is facing a new oil supply crisis.
The seizure of the islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish is the latest in the militant group’s swift advance across Yemen’s Red Sea coast, after the capture of the port of Mokha and Perim island in the Bab al-Mandab strait.
Continue reading...Public offering of Aliko Dangote’s Nigerian oil refinery business could swell his net wealth by two-thirds
The fortune of Africa’s richest person could swell by two thirds to nearly $60bn (£44bn) after his refinery in Nigeria listed publicly in the continent’s biggest-ever initial public offering.
If Monday’s flotation of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals on the Nigerian exchange goes to plan, then Aliko Dangote will add a further $23bn (£17bn) to his $35bn net worth.
Continue reading...Riyadh has increased use of East-West pipeline since start of war on Iran to bypass closure of strait of Hormuz
Saudi Arabia has shut down a critical oil pipeline, accusing militants in Iraq of launching drone attacks on the export route being used to bypass the lockdown of the strait of Hormuz.
The world’s largest crude oil exporter has increased its use of the 745-mile (1,200km) pipeline running across the Arabian peninsula, which links Abqaiq, near the Gulf, to the port of Yanbu, on the Red Sea, since the US-Israeli war against Iran began.
Continue reading...