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The United States issued a new general license on Thursday to replace an earlier waiver for the sale of Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products loaded on tankers as of March 12, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. The license, which expires on April 11, replaces and supersedes a similar 30-day sanctions waiver issued on March 12. While the main terms remain identical to those in the license issued earlier, Thursday's waiver specifically excludes transactions involving North [Read more]

TORONTO - National Bank and CIBC have committed to measuring how their fossil fuel financing compares with how much money they direct toward renewable energy, but not to making those numbers public. The measure, known as the energy supply ratio, is meant to provide a simple way to see how much banks are helping, or hindering, the push toward a low emissions economy. National Bank says in its latest proxy circular that, following discussions with advocacy group Share, the bank agreed to [Read more]

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney has endorsed a statement from Canada and its allies expressing their willingness to contribute to efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz more than two weeks into the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. The statement does not say how they propose to help, although Defence Minister David McGuinty says Canada is "considering" aiding Iran's neighbours if they seek assistance from the NATO alliance. In response to the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes launched on its territory [Read more]

  OTTAWA, ON, March 19, 2026 /CNW/ - We condemn in the strongest terms recent attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels in the Gulf, attacks on civilian infrastructure including oil and gas installations, and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces. We express our deep concern about the escalating conflict. We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial [Read more]

Goldman Sachs said on Thursday that risks to oil prices remain skewed to the upside both in the near term and into 2027. The bank added that the persistence of several past large supply shocks highlights the possibility that oil prices could remain above $100 per barrel. Benchmark Brent crude surged above $119 a barrel on Thursday after Iran attacked energy facilities across the Middle East in response to Israel's strike on its South Pars gas field, marking a sharp escalation in a war that [Read more]

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Thursday said in a post on X that President Donald Trump's administration has no plan to implement restrictions on oil and gas exports. (Reporting by Bhargav Acharya; Writing by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Ryan Patrick Jones) [Read more]

An overnight jump in oil prices on the heels of a hawkish Federal Reserve policy meeting has further narrowed the window for the interest rate cuts President Donald Trump has demanded and upped the odds that his nominee to lead the U.S. central bank may need to tighten borrowing costs early in his tenure. A recent escalation in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, with oil and gas facilities being directly targeted, drove benchmark crude prices above $118 a barrel before they fell back on Thursday [Read more]

German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil is examining additional ways to relieve consumers from rising fuel prices due to the Iran war, including introducing a windfall tax on oil companies, his ministry said on Thursday. The money gained from the tax could be used to finance an increase in the commuter allowance, for example, among other measures being considered to lighten the load of low and middle income families, the ministry said. Germany is not facing an energy supply shortage, but as [Read more]

The U.S. may soon remove sanctions from Iranian oil that is stranded on tankers to help lift global supplies and reduce prices, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday. "In the coming days, we may unsanction the Iranian oil that's on the water. It's about 140 million barrels," Bessent told Fox Business Network's "Mornings with Maria" program. "So, depending on how you count it, that's 10 days to two weeks of supply," he added. Bessent said the addition of sanctioned [Read more]