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Data briefs
Written in-house from this site’s own datasets with AI assistance, and labelled as such. These are not reported news and they are not attributed to any publisher.
Angola bans exports of quartz and gypsum under a 2024 policy in force January 2026
Quartz is used in semiconductor manufacturing and specialty glass, while gypsum is a primary input for wallboard and cement in construction. Angola's export ban on both materials, in force as of January 2026, restricts access for foreign buyers who had been sourcing quartz and gypsum from Angola.
Vietnam bans exports of raw iron, lead-zinc, chromite, manganese, apatite, rare earths, and deeply processed titanium
Vietnam's export ban, in force as of January 2026, covers a range of raw and semi-processed materials that feed into steel, electronics, fertilizer, and advanced manufacturing supply chains worldwide. Buyers outside Vietnam who previously sourced these materials from Vietnamese exporters must find alternative supply or use more processed forms of the materials.
Indonesia holds 760,000 metric tons of cobalt reserves in 2025
Cobalt is a critical component in lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and portable electronics. Indonesia's reserves of 760,000 metric tons in 2025 position it as a country with a substantial cobalt resource that is relevant to the global battery supply chain.
Greece holds 280,000 thousand metric tons of magnesium compound reserves in 2025
Magnesium compounds are used in refractories that line high-temperature furnaces in steel and cement production, as well as in agriculture and environmental applications. Greece's reserves of 280,000 thousand metric tons in 2025 represent one of the larger national stockpiles of this industrial mineral.
Uzbekistan holds 100,000 thousand metric tons of phosphate rock reserves in 2025
Phosphate rock is the primary raw material for fertilizers that support global food production, and known reserves determine how long a country can sustain or expand its role as a supplier. Uzbekistan's reserves of 100,000 thousand metric tons recorded in 2025 place it among the countries with a significant long-term phosphate resource base.
The U.S. imports 100% of its scandium consumption in 2025
Scandium is used to strengthen aluminum alloys for aerospace and sporting goods, and in solid oxide fuel cells. With a net import reliance of 100% of apparent consumption in 2025, the United States has no domestic scandium production and must source the material entirely from other countries.
The U.S. imports 100% of its arsenic consumption in 2025
Arsenic is used in wood preservatives, semiconductors, and certain glass manufacturing processes. The United States has a net import reliance of 100% of apparent consumption in 2025, meaning no domestic arsenic is produced and the country depends entirely on foreign sources for a material embedded in several industrial supply chains.
The U.S. imports 100% of its strontium consumption in 2025
Strontium compounds are used in pyrotechnics, specialty glass for television screens, and some ferrite magnets. A net import reliance of 100% of apparent consumption in 2025 means the United States produces no strontium domestically and any disruption to foreign supply has an immediate effect on industries that use it.
South Africa mines 71% of the world's platinum in 2025
Platinum is used in catalytic converters, fuel cells, and industrial chemical processes, and has no direct substitute in many of those applications. South Africa's 71% share of world platinum production in 2025 means that events affecting South African mining operations can rapidly affect platinum availability for industries worldwide.
China supplies 75% of the world's vanadium in 2025
Vanadium is added to steel to increase strength and is used in large-scale vanadium redox flow batteries for energy storage. China's 75% share of world vanadium production in 2025 means that steelmakers and battery manufacturers in other countries are heavily dependent on a single national source.
China accounts for 87% of world silicon production in 2025
Silicon is a foundational material for electronics, solar panels, and construction materials such as silicones and sealants. With China supplying 87% of world production in 2025, manufacturers outside China that rely on silicon face limited alternative sources if supply from China is reduced.
China produces 60% of the world's fluorspar in 2025
Fluorspar is a mineral used to make hydrofluoric acid, which in turn is essential for producing refrigerants, aluminum, and semiconductors. When 60% of world fluorspar production comes from China in 2025, disruptions to Chinese output or exports have direct consequences for those downstream industries everywhere else.
From the press
U.S. Dips Into Strategic Oil Reserve Again Amid Supply Disruptions
The United States is dipping into its Strategic Petroleum Reserve again, this time to keep crude flowing to a Louisiana refinery while oil prices climb above $117 per barrel. The reserve, meanwhile, is already…
Why Trump and Carney Haven’t Touched Energy in Their Tariff War
The United States and Canada are locked in an energy trade war – sort of. Although United States President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney have lobbed plenty of blisteringly high tariffs…
6 Million Barrels in Two Minutes Draws CFTC Scrutiny
Oil traders sold futures equivalent to at least 6 million barrels of crude in just two minutes on March 23, shortly before President Donald Trump backed away from threats to strike Iranian power plants. Now…
$120 Oil Is Almost Here, and Trump Has Few Good Options
Brent crude nears $120 as escalating Saudi-Houthi tensions fuel another weekly oil price rally, putting fresh pressure on Trump. Friday, October 23, 2026 The slow creep of oil prices towards the $120 per…
Middle East Physical Crude Slides While Brent Hits Five-Month High
In contrast with the international benchmark futures prices, the prices of physical crudes from the Middle East have softened this week, as oil continues to flow out of the Persian Gulf in ship-to-ship…
Oil India Strikes Natural Gas in Shallow Offshore Basin
State explorer Oil India Limited (OIL) has found natural gas in a previously unexplored formation in the shallow Krishna-Godavari Basin, the Indian company said on Friday. OIL has made the discovery at the…
The Hidden $40-Per-Barrel Cost Driving Oil Prices Higher
When Americans think about the price of oil, they usually focus on the number quoted every day in financial markets. If Brent crude is trading above $100 a barrel or West Texas Intermediate is near $100, those…
U.S. Partner in Venezuela Oil Deal Looks to Hike Crude Production
The privately held company that’s partnering with the U.S. Administration to boost oil production in Venezuela has raised output by about 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) since August and plans to soon add more…
Oil Prices Hold Near $100 as Middle East Risks Offset Peace Hopes
December WTI crude oil is nearly unchanged for the week, but the flat result hides a rough ride. The contract opened at $99.04, rallied to $101.37, then broke to $95.25 before recovering back to its opening…
Renewables Boom Pushes Australia’s Gas Power to Quarter-Century Low
Record renewable power generation and a surge in grid-scale battery capacity pushed Australia’s gas-powered generation to its lowest for any third quarter since 2000, the Australian Energy Market Operator…
European Natural Gas Prices Surge to Highest Level Since 2022
The benchmark European natural gas price jumped by 3% at opening in Amsterdam on Friday as the Middle East escalation continues to restrict Qatari LNG flows and some EU countries started tapping gas in storage…
Brent Hits $114 as Houthi Attacks Threaten Saudi Energy Infrastructure
Crude oil prices were on course to book a sharp weekly gain, with Brent crude on track for gains of about $6 per barrel and WTI registering a much more modest tick higher, from around $99 per barrel on Monday…
Why Trump Can't Afford to Lose The Rare Earth Race
For years, the West has searched for a technological escape hatch from rare earths. Engineers have developed new motor designs, alternative magnet chemistries, and materials that reduce or even eliminate the…
LNG Canada Doubles Capacity as Asia Looks Beyond the Gulf
Last month, Shell (NYSE:SHEL), alongside Malaysia's PETRONAS, China's PetroChina, Mitsubishi Corporation and KOGAS, officially approved the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the LNG Canada Phase 2 expansion…
Rising Crude Oil Imports Reduce China’s Need to Draw from Stocks
China has relied on its huge crude oil inventories since the Iran war hiked oil prices to above $100 per barrel. The world’s biggest crude importer has drawn from its 1.3-billion-barrel stash for most of the…
EU’s Arctic Strategy Excludes Oil and Gas
The European Union will shun crude oil and natural gas produced from fields in the Arctic, recommending that these “stay in the ground” under its new Arctic strategy released this week. The reiteration of the…
Electric Giants Say They Already Have the Tools to Fix the AI Power Crunch
The energy demand boom being driven by the artificial intelligence era is placing unprecedented strain on global energy infrastructure. Not only are the world’s energy production capacities – and especially…
Why Fossil Fuel Demand Can Rise Even as Clean Energy Wins Terrain
French historian Jean-Baptiste Fressoz has offered energy-transition skeptics an appealing historical argument. In More and More and More, he argues that humanity has never really moved from one energy source…
Strathcona Pitches 250,000-Bpd Oil Export Route to Asia
Canadian oil producer Strathcona Resources wants to export up to 250,000 barrels per day of crude from British Columbia’s northern coast using rail shipments and a new marine terminal to reach Asian markets.…
Citi’s $60 Oil Call Meets $112 Brent
Citi sees more upside risk for oil prices despite recovering Middle Eastern crude exports, a considerably less bearish assessment from the bank that predicted $60-to-$65 Brent by year-end just three months…
Iran's Hardliners Push for Nuclear Weapons as U.S. War Drags On
It was once taboo in Iran to publicly speak about developing nuclear weapons. The authorities would often point to former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's religious edict barring the development of…
European Natural Gas Prices Rise on Middle East Escalation
Europe’s benchmark natural gas prices rose on Thursday to nearly 90 euros per megawatt-hour, or the equivalent of $29.50 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), as the escalation in the Middle East raised…
U.S. refineries have been running at very high rates in 2026
The U.S. refinery fleet has run at higher-than-normal rates this year, with refinery utilization averaging more than 95% of capacity between May and September, the highest for those months since 1998. Tight…
Grid Constraints Curtailed 119 GW of Renewables in India in September
Grid, flexibility, and transmission constraints amid limited battery storage forced India to curtail as much as 118.6 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind power capacity in September, data by India’s JMK Research…
Record Fuel Prices Accelerate Europe’s EV Sales
Record-high gasoline and diesel prices across Europe are accelerating a shift toward electric vehicles and hybrids while new registrations of conventional cars continue to plummet by double digits in key…
India's Middle East Oil Imports Jumped 32% in September
India saw its crude oil imports from the Middle East rebound in September to pre-war levels amid higher volumes exiting the Strait of Hormuz, while competition from China for Russian oil resulted in declining…
India Ramps Up Coal Supplies to Record High as Power Crisis Looms
Coal supply for power plants in India is ramping up and will soon normalize, an unnamed senior official from the energy ministry in New Delhi said, as quoted by Reuters. At the moment, coal power generators…
Iran’s Oil Reserves Run Dry as U.S. Naval Blockade Tightens
Iranian oil in floating storage has been drained amid the U.S. Navy blockade, the Wall Street Journal has reported, citing Kpler data that suggests further tightening in global oil supply. “There’s no more oil…
Oil Prices Surge Above $111 as Houthis Strike Saudi Targets
Crude oil prices extended their earlier gains today, with Brent crude keeping above $111 per barrel after the latest reports from the Middle East, featuring more Houthi attacks on Saudi targets. An order by…
Aluminium Gives Up Its War Premium, Copper Stays Elevated
LME Week 2026 kicked off in London on Monday, with industry leaders focused on the macroeconomic outlook for base metals, AI and energy transition demand, as well as critical mineral supply chain resilience.…
Russia’s Northern Sea Route Workaround Supplying Asian Buyers
Asia-bound Russian crude and fuel supplies are being rerouted as the US-Israeli war on Iran and disruptions in the straits of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab choke off traditional crude flows from the Persian Gulf.…
Saudi Crude Exports Hit Five-Month High as Production Falls to Record Low
Saudi Arabia's crude exports rose about 7.9% in August from July to 4.451 million barrels per day, the highest since March, while its oil production fell to a record low of 6.24 million bpd, the Joint…
Why Are Rare Earth Stocks Falling When Prices Keep Rising?
Here is a question that should be harder to answer than it is: China still controls the rare earth spigot, the latest Trump-Xi summit did nothing to loosen its grip, Japan is about to run out of yttrium…
UK Greenlights Major North Sea Gas Field After Years of Legal Battles
A major gas field in the North Sea has been re-approved by the government following years of legal rows with environmental campaigners. The Jackdaw site, a large offshore natural gas field 150 miles east of…
India’s Top State Refiner to Reduce Middle East Term Oil Purchases
India’s largest state-owned refiner, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), will reduce slightly the volumes of Middle East crude oil it will buy under annual term deals in the 2027/2028 fiscal year starting next…
EIA Says US Crude Inventories Sink Further
Crude oil inventories in the United States saw a decrease of 3.1 million barrels during the week ending October 16, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on…
Higher Oil Availability Pressures Middle East Crude Benchmarks
Robust crude oil flows out of the Middle East in recent weeks have started to pressure the key metric of strength for physical supply out of the region. The premium of Oman crude over Dubai, the measure of…
India’s Coal Crisis Deepens as Power Demand Surges
Indian power generators are bracing for a coal supply squeeze, with half of the country’s coal power plant fleet operating with critically low stocks, Reuters has reported, citing higher than usual demand for…
Oil Prices Climb Above $110 as Middle East Supply Fears Persist
Crude oil prices ticked higher earlier today, extending gains from Tuesday as traders continued to worry about the stability of flows out of the Middle East. At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at…
How Bad Would It Get If China Blocks Rare Earths to America?
Taiwan is the next pressure point that will test China's weaponization of rare earth metals. When Japan indicated it would not remain neutral in a Taiwan conflict, Beijing responded by sharply restricting…
Petrobras' Deepwater Push Sets Off a Race for Offshore Vessels
Recently, we reported that the Middle East conflict and subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz has triggered an unprecedented spike in freight and shipping rates, with Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) spot…
Mexico Poised to Approve $12.5 Billion in Renewable Energy Projects
Mexico’s state power utility is today set to greenlight as many as 60 alternative energy projects, most of them solar, that should add 8.2 GW in new generation capacity to the country’s total, according to an…
Europe’s Power Demand Returns to Growth
Despite weakening industrial activity and high energy costs, European electricity demand is bucking years of flailing power consumption. Rising electrification rates and the data center boom are the key…
API: Crude, Product Inventories Continue to Draw
The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 4.93 million barrels in the week ending October 16. In the week prior, US crude oil inventories fell by…
The Middle East's Next Energy Boom Has Nothing to Do With Oil
A new Middle East energy system came into view at the Energy Trading Week Middle East conference in Dubai last month. The region’s world’s-lowest costs for solar energy appeared with enormous potential to…
Norway's Gas Production Plunges 12.6% as Europe Heads into Winter
Norway’s oil and gas production declined sharply in September, with natural gas output falling 12.6% from August, according to preliminary figures released Tuesday by the Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD).…
Geothermal Just Proved It Can Compete With Solar-Plus-Storage on Price
Geothermal has long been the clean, firm power source that was always a few breakthroughs away from being cheap enough to matter. Numbers buried in a Nevada utility filing suggest that day may have arrived.…
Russia’s Oil Export Revenue Slides as Production Declines
Russia’s seaborne crude exports fell to their lowest four-week average in a month after shipments from the Baltic port of Primorsk stopped for several days, according to tanker-tracking data compiled by…
The Next Major Oil Supply Shock Could Come From Saudi Arabia
Houthi strikes on Saudi oil infrastructure threaten production as Brent crude hits $108 and the Brent-WTI spread widens to $5. The LNG Market Gets a New War Premium - Asian liquefied natural gas prices soared…
Saudi Arabia and Asia Locked In Dispute Over 2027 Term Oil Deals
Asian refiners and Middle Eastern producers are currently negotiating the term supplies of crude oil for 2027, as usual. The unusual part is that the Iran war has crippled fixed-term supplies this year, and…
Shipping Crisis Forces Asian Crude Buyers to Use Smaller Tankers
Record-high freight costs are changing the behavior of Asian buyers who are increasingly using smaller tankers and ships under long-term charter deals to pick crude oil supply, refining and trading sources…
Asia’s Coal Prices To Stay High as Supply Drops and Demand Firms
Thermal coal prices in Asia are expected to stay elevated in the coming months as demand is strengthening in the ongoing gas-to-coal switch, while supply from China and Indonesia is falling, Fitch Ratings said…
Copper Needs $332 Billion in New Mines to Avoid Deficit, BloombergNEF Says
While nine out of ten key energy transition metals are back on track to deliver sufficient supply by 2050, a total of $332 billion of investment is needed in new copper mines to avoid a looming copper deficit…
China Moves to Rein In Its Booming Hydrogen Industry
China is eager to avoid overcapacity in yet another clean energy sector as it looks to curb excess hydrogen production amid overheated investments in projects. Over the past years, China, the world’s top solar…
Asian LNG Prices Surge Past $30 as Middle East Shipping Risks Escalate
Liquefied natural gas prices on the Asian spot market topped $30 per million British thermal units for the first time since December 2022, Bloomberg reported earlier today. The price jump follows a report…
Brent Tops $110 as Tanker Attacks Threaten Persian Gulf Supply
Crude oil prices extended their climb today, with Brent topping $110 per barrel again earlier in the day, and WTI back at over $100, as traders turn increasingly pessimistic about the resumption of normal oil…
Robot Wars – How China Has the Robotics Industry in Its Grip
Last year, China started requiring export licenses for rare earth magnets. Within weeks, Elon Musk was telling investors that production of Tesla's Optimus robot had been affected. That's because every…
Germany’s Renewable Power Reform Sparks Investment Backlash
The German electricity market has faced a double whammy this year—soaring wholesale prices amid the energy crisis and a planned reform in the renewable energy and grid access policies. Some small suppliers and…
UK Pays Record Sums to Balance Grid as Transmission Falls Behind
The UK is among the most ambitious states when it comes to a transition to a net-zero economy. Also, the UK is struggling with some of the highest electricity prices in Europe—and is paying significant sums to…
Qatar Offers Lebanon 2 Gas Plants and 20 Years of LNG Piped Through Syria
Qatar is offering to take over Lebanon's power supply problem at no upfront cost to Beirut. A draft program seen by Reuters has Qatar building two gas-fired power plants within three years and QatarEnergy…
Pakistan’s Growth Slows as Hormuz Crisis Hits Industry
The Middle East crisis is threatening Pakistan’s tentative recovery from the brink with the help of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as soaring energy prices and the lack of regular LNG supply from Qatar…
Why Canadian Oil Is Lagging Even As Global Crude Soars
The oil price rally resumed its upward trajectory on Friday after the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the sinking of the Singapore-flagged container ship following an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps…
Wright Says Gas Prices Peaked As Brent Holds Above $108
Brent crude futures briefly tagged $109.99 a barrel in overnight trading before retreating from five-month highs during the Asian session and into European trading, as signs of recovering Middle Eastern supply…
Mozambique Pitches Sasol and ROMPCO on $250 Million Gas Project
Mozambique is in discussions with South African energy firm Sasol and pipeline company ROMPCO to potentially invest in a new $250 million gas project offshore Mozambique that could send more gas to South…
Qatari LNG Cargo Heads Through Red Sea to Europe in Rare Suez Run
A Qatari LNG cargo is traveling north in the Red Sea to deliver gas to Europe via the Suez Canal in a rare shipment on the shortest but dangerous route to Europe amid the Houthi threats to tankers in the…
China’s Solar Exports Keep Falling as Beijing Mulls Export Controls
Chinese exports of solar power equipment extended their declining trend this year with a 6.4% drop in September from a year earlier, while China’s authorities consider export controls and/or bans on a dozen…
Woodside Resumes Work at Australian LNG Project after Greenpeace Stunt
Australia’s Woodside Energy on Monday announced it had resumed work on the soon-to-be-commissioned Scarborough project offshore Western Australia, which is set to export LNG to global markets and supply gas to…
Japan’s Electricity Prices Surge 25% as LNG and Coal Costs Soar
Japan’s average power prices jumped by over 25% at the start of this week from the previous week amid soaring LNG and higher coal prices. The nationwide power price rose by over 25% week-to-week to $0.19…
China's Coal Production Slumps 6.8% as Winter Supply Fears Grow
China’s coal production last month fell by 6.8% on the year to a total 385 million tons. The monthly total was, however, an increase on August, Bloomberg reported, citing the country’s statistics agency. China…
India's Crude Oil Import Bill Soars 46% as Middle East Crisis Drives Up Prices
India paid $15.4 billion to import crude oil in September, up by 46% from the year-ago import bill of $10.5 billion, as international oil prices and the Indian import crude basket soared amid reignited…