Chinese refiners are paying record premiums for Russian ESPO crude as cheap sanctioned barrels from Iran dry up and Venezuelan oil moves onto the open market.

November-loading ESPO from Kozmino is trading at more than $7 per barrel over Brent, with some offers to independent refiners reaching $10, according to traders cited by Bloomberg and OilPrice.com. That is a sharp reversal from the deep discounts China extracted for years. ESPO loads on Russia’s Pacific coast and reaches Chinese ports in less […]

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Russia’s surprise return to a G20 finance meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, this week laid bare a widening rift.

European attendees openly scorned the presence of Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who attended at the invitation of the Trump administration—the first in-person Russian participation since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. German Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil called the signal “quite troubling” and insisted “you cannot simply return to normality.” European officials refused […]

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The White House’s August 31, 2026 fact sheet details a landmark oil agreement that grants North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) 100-year concessions on 17 Venezuelan fields holding roughly 65 billion barrels of proven reserves.

The U.S. government receives a 35% equity stake in NABEP’s corporate parent via the Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital, a guaranteed right to buy 20% of offtake at production cost, and a right of first refusal on the remaining 80%. U.S. governance rights include veto power over board appointments, a requirement that a […]

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Global Diesel Shortage on the Horizon

If you think diesel prices will ease next year, Wall Street is not with you. On August 31, 2026, CoinBureau founder Nic Puckrin flagged Goldman Sachs for more than doubling its 2027 diesel-margin forecasts, arguing that refineries are being hit from every direction—Middle East strikes, Russian export bans, and winter demand—with diesel at the epicenter […]

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Will NASAPEC Become The New OPEC?

ENB Pub Note: This is from Andrew Koryboko’s Substack, and I find it very interesting. Venezuela is more than just oil; it is about global corruption, and we will be covering that on future podcasts.   The US’ newly formalized control over the majority of Venezuela’s oil reserves and Caracas’ potential withdrawal from OPEC could see […]

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