Energy News Beat Stand Up – Buckle Up – 10 Huge Stories Welcome to the Energy News Beat Standup, where host Stu Turley breaks down the 10 biggest energy stories reshaping global markets. In this episode, we dive into a world in flux: Russia’s refining capacity is crumbling under Ukrainian drone strikes, Iraq is suspending […]
Continue Reading
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order on July 14, 2026, imposing the country’s first statewide moratorium on new large-scale data centers. The order halts permitting for facilities requiring 50 megawatts (MW) or more of electricity for up to one year while regulators study impacts on the electric grid, water resources, and local […]
Continue Reading
Exelon Corporation, America’s largest electric utility by customer count, is sounding the alarm. Its CEO, Calvin Butler, has warned that the United States could face blackouts as early as 2027. This comes amid surging electricity demand — driven heavily by AI data centers — and chronic underinvestment in new power generation and grid infrastructure. At […]
Continue Reading
China Merchants Energy Shipping (CMES) is doubling down on Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), signaling strong long-term confidence in global crude oil trade despite short-term market volatility. In a recent Lloyd’s List report, the Chinese shipping giant dismissed a nearly 40% drop in VLCC spot rates since late June 2026 as a temporary distortion, raising […]
Continue Reading
As the Strait of Hormuz reopens following the mid-June U.S.-Iran ceasefire and sanctions waiver on Iranian oil sales (valid until August 21, 2026), Middle East crude flows are recovering, and tanker traffic is picking up. However, a key market twist has emerged: Asian refiners, who aggressively sourced non-Middle Eastern crude during the disruption, now have […]
Continue Reading
Coal-fired power plants have long been portrayed as outdated, expensive burdens on the American grid — relics that must be retired to make way for “cheaper” renewables. But the data tells a very different story. Energy Bad Boys (analysts Mitch Rolling and Isaac Orr) have delivered the receipts with a rigorous analysis of real-world operating […]
Continue Reading
The U.S. power grid faces a deepening equipment crisis, with power transformer lead times reaching record highs and constraining everything from routine repairs to major new infrastructure projects. According to recent industry data, standard power transformer delivery times now average 128 weeks (nearly 2.5 years), while generator step-up (GSU) transformers average 144 weeks, with some […]
Continue Reading
In rural Texas, a quiet but transformative shift is underway. Developers are increasingly siting massive data centers in unincorporated areas—where county governments have far less regulatory authority than cities—bypassing the kind of local zoning, public hearings, and citizen pushback that could slow or stop projects in more populated zones. This strategy is playing out dramatically […]
Continue Reading
ENB Pub Note: This is a great article from America Outloud with Mike Ariza and Ronald Stein, and both have been on the Energy News Beat podcast. We recommend connecting with both great resources. An energy “REALITY” reminder is that crude oil by itself is useless black tar, unless you build a multi-billion-dollar refinery to break […]
Continue Reading
US refiners are operating plants at elevated run rates, with some delaying scheduled maintenance amid strong refining margins and steady-to-robust fuel demand. According to a Bloomberg report from June 1, 2026, the industry saw one of its lightest maintenance seasons in recent memory, with an average of only 470,000 barrels per day (bpd) of processing […]
Continue Reading