South Korea's demand for power in the coming years is set to surge on plans by chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to expand production and the building of new AI data centres, according to the country's energy minister. Those AI-driven power needs alone will lift South Korea's demand for power by 25 to 30 gigawatts, the Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment Kim Sung-whan said in a Reuters interview this month. On top of that, the country will also need to contend with [Read more]

Global diesel supply will remain tight due to a lack of spare refining capacity, Russia's ban on exports and the approach of peak winter demand, senior industry executives said on Tuesday. The wars in Ukraine and Iran have impacted refineries in Russia and the Middle East, pushing diesel margins to record levels in Europe and the U.S., while reducing crude supplies to Asia. "There's really a shortage of products because we're missing 2 million barrels a day from Russia, and we're missing [Read more]

Iran threatened the United States with "economic warfare" on Tuesday and said it had fired an advanced missile at U.S. warships, underscoring the risks of further escalation in the war only days after both sides traded blows again. The six-month-old war has been marked by a cycle of pauses followed by periodic flare-ups, with the U.S. last reporting attacks on Iranian targets on Saturday, when U.S. forces struck three Iranian oil tankers. Iranian state media on Sunday reported that Iran fired [Read more]

Oil prices extended gains on Tuesday as risks of a prolonged conflict in the Middle East grew after Iran threatened to retaliate against any new U.S. attacks on its assets, heightening worries over supply disruption. Brent crude futures climbed 49 cents, or 0.5%, to $97.49 a barrel by 0400 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $92.92 a barrel, up $1.44, or 1.6%. Following Monday's Labor Day holiday in the U.S., WTI was playing catch-up to Brent, which absorbed the weekend's [Read more]

Iran threatened the United States with "economic warfare" on Tuesday and said it had fired an advanced missile at U.S. warships,underscoring the risks of further escalation in the war only days after both sides traded blows again. The six-month-old war has been marked by a cycle of pauses followed by periodic flare-ups, with the U.S. last reporting attacks on Iranian targets on Saturday, when U.S. forces struck three Iranian oil tankers. Iranian state media on Sunday reported that Iran fired [Read more]

Argentina's rugged Patagonia is drawing increasing interest from investors searching for sites for mega data centers who are enticed by the region's cool temperatures, renewable energy, shale gas and empty stretches of land. As tech giants known as hyperscalers race worldwide to build server farms and run into roadblocks amid anti-data-center campaigns, projects in initial stages in Argentina are developing without much public attention. Since Argentines have yet to be impacted by large data [Read more]

South Korea and the United States have agreed on the size of Seoul's planned investment in a gas project in Texas at around $22.3 billion, Korean media outlet Edaily reported on Monday, citing unidentified officials and politicians. The project, which would be Seoul's first U.S. investment under last year's trade agreement, aims to build a 6.3-gigawatt gas plant in Encinal, Texas, to meet rising power demand for AI data centres, according to the media reports. The investment would be part of [Read more]

Iran threatened on Monday to retaliate against any new U.S. attacks on its assets, warning that the energy production chain in the region was "sprawling, accessible and exposed" and that U.S. oil and gas companies there shared that exposure. "Strike our assets and you get struck," Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said after U.S. and Iranian strikes on shipping at the weekend that pushed oil prices up to six-week highs at one point on Monday. On Sunday, senior Iranian security [Read more]

Goldman Sachs said oil prices may rally to as much as $120 a barrel if attacks on shipping in the Middle East rise and it recommended bets on natural gas and diesel as a way to capture gains, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday. “Events over the last few days do suggest that the risk of shipping disruptions broadening and intensifying is an important one," Daan Struyven, co-head of global commodities research, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. In addition, the bank said oil could fall to $80 [Read more]

Oil prices extended gains on Monday as tit-for-tat strikes between the U.S. and Iran on vessels sailing in the Strait of Hormuz and other areas heightened concerns of a prolonged supply disruption from the Middle East. Brent crude futures climbed 52 cents, or 0.54%, to $96.80 a barrel by 2354 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $92.14 a barrel, up 66 cents, or 0.72%. Brent rose 7.8% last week while WTI gained nearly 10% after the U.S. and Iran resumed attacks and caused a [Read more]