Still, Qatar, a mediator between the sides, said the two US officials — envoys for President Donald Trump — are not set to meet Iranian counterparts directly and downplayed the prospects of a major breakthrough in talks to permanently end the four-month war.

US-Iran “technical meetings” haven’t stopped, a Qatari foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday. Chief negotiators aren’t involved in these discussions, he said, which will instead be held between lower ranking representatives.

The arrival of Kushner and Witkoff in the Persian Gulf state follows an agreement between the US and Iran to end days of tit-for-tat attacks over the Strait of Hormuz. Their skirmishes threatened to undermine a ceasefire and the prospect of advancing an interim peace agreement signed earlier this month.

Iran’s foreign ministry underlined the continued tensions by saying there were “serious challenges” with the implementation of aspects of the memorandum of understanding. “It is necessary for the other party to fulfill its commitments,” a spokesman for the ministry said on Tuesday.

Among the issues yet to be resolved is the release of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets. Qatar’s foreign ministry said no funds have yet been transferred to Iran.

Tehran said arrangements are “proceeding in a favorable manner” and officials will likely hold talks with Qatar on Wednesday about that.

Another contentious point is the future management of the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies normally flow. Iran is determined to control the passage of maritime traffic through the critical waterway, which was all but shut when the conflict started in late February, leading to a surge in energy prices.

Prices have fallen significantly since the MOU was signed, with traffic through the Strait of Hormuz picking up. It’s still significantly below pre-war levels.

Earlier, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said the country wants to work out an agreement with Oman, which borders the southern side of the strait, to oversee ships passing through it. Iran will move forward with its own plans “if for any reason Oman is not interested in doing so,” he said.

Iran has signaled ships may have to pay fees of some sort to go through Hormuz, something strongly resisted by the US, Europe and most Gulf Arab states. Oman has insisted it will abide by international maritime law, but privately warned European officials that some sort of payments may be inevitable, Bloomberg reported last week.

The interim deal said Iran wouldn’t charge tolls for 60 days but left open the possibility of ships being forced to pay some fees after that.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

July is the main planting month for monsoon crops such as rice, soybeans, cotton and pulses. If the forecast holds, the rainfall could help farmers boost sowing, reducing risks to crop output, food inflation and rural incomes.

The monsoon delivers the bulk of India’s annual rainfall, replenishing groundwater reserves and supporting agricultural activity. Below-normal precipitation has in the past prompted authorities to restrict exports of key farm commodities to secure domestic supply. In May, the government banned sugar exports through Sept. 30.

Poor precipitation has so far disrupted sowing, with India recording a rainfall deficit of more than 40% so far this month. The latest forecast by the weather bureau points to normal to above-normal precipitation in the first week of July. However, the outlook remains sensitive to rainfall distribution, as heavy downpours over a short period could also create disruptions.

“I want to stress that the distribution of rainfall is more important than the quantity of rainfall received” within the next three to four weeks, said Harsha Muragod, an analyst at Expana.

The area under monsoon-sown crops including rice, oilseeds, corn and cotton fell to 18.27 million hectares (45 million acres) as of June 25, down almost 23% from a year earlier, according to farm ministry data.

For Vinod Patidar, who grows peanuts, black gram and soybeans across 25 acres in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, the late arrival of rains has pushed back sowing, shifting the harvest further into the season. He began planting peanuts on Monday, about two weeks behind schedule.

“My fields desperately need rain, and it’s all in God’s hands now,” Patidar said. “We’re already running late.”

India has identified 315 districts vulnerable to below-normal rainfall, including 111 high-priority areas with limited irrigation, the farm ministry said this month after a review held by Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Contingency plans will guide crop choices, water use and emergency measures across 12 states, including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Scant rains have kept the weather hot in many parts of the country, boosting demand for electricity for cooling and irrigation, an activity that farmers carry out after sunset to avoid the heat. That has kept evening power demand elevated. As a result, evening supply shortfalls have returned after a brief early-June respite.

Heat waves are a major driver of electricity demand in India, but lack of rain can cause unusual consumption surges during the monsoon months. In 2023, the nation witnessed that year’s highest power demand in September, as a result of weak rains.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Demand over the past five years surpassed the government’s expectations, said Ren Yuzhi, director‑general of the planning department at the National Energy Administration. The growth of artificial intelligence, electric vehicles and other emerging sectors is compounding the problem for energy planners trying to map out the next five.

Deliberations extend to potentially rethinking China’s geography and where electricity is consumed, after decades of building up power networks to serve the massive cities in the east.

“Forecasting future energy demand — especially electricity — is a key challenge in the next planning cycle,” Ren said in an exclusive interview on Friday, after his agency released more details on the energy component of China’s new five-year plan that runs through 2030.

“AI computing centers and the development of electric vehicles are important factors,” he said. “EVs, in particular, have seen faster growth in recent years — especially this year — and charging demand has risen significantly.”

Understanding future energy demand is critical for the planners guiding trillions of dollars in investment in China’s more centrally planned economy. The task is made more complicated by the country’s transition to cleaner but less consistent renewable energy.

China now expects an average annual increase in power demand of around 600 billion kilowatt-hours in the next five years, according to the NEA, which would be more than Germany produces in a year. That compares to 570 billion kilowatt-hours over the past five years, said Ren.

Marked Shifts

The implications of getting it wrong can be seen in the marked shifts in China’s energy policy over the past five years. 

In 2021, planners estimated China would need about 4.6 billion tons of coal equivalent a year by 2025, a 14% increase from 2020 levels. Instead, demand grew so fast that total production ended up at 5.13 billion tons last year. 

A series of power shortages in 2021 and 2022 led to an about-face in the country’s policy around coal. 

In April 2021, President Xi Jinping said the country would strictly control coal-fired power generation projects, as well as limit the increase in coal consumption through 2025.

But after the shortages, which occurred during a period of disruptions related to the pandemic, skyrocketing global energy prices and a drought that shriveled domestic hydropower output, authorities changed tack. China kept its green energy ambitions, but miners were also pushed to boost output to record levels and hundreds of new coal power plants were approved.

Officials said the new coal plants were intended to backstop the country’s fleet of intermittent wind and solar plants, which saw an even greater surge in growth following the power shortages. But power output from fossil fuels still rose 19% from 2020 to 2025, and is up another 3.4% this year through May. 

China’s current plans call for peaking coal by 2030. To achieve that, clean energy will need to grow swiftly and be flexible enough to handle all additional demand. 

Traditional industries like steel continue to consume vast amounts of energy, while new sectors like AI and advanced manufacturing are becoming important new sources of demand. At the same time, China wants to shift energy use from fossil fuels to electricity, which will add further strains to the grid, Ren said. 

“We will not only need to meet traditional demand, but also the growing needs of people’s daily lives,” Ren said. “Increasingly, new areas are having a significant impact.”

Those new sources of demand are prompting policymakers to reconsider how energy and industrial capacity are geographically distributed, he said. Rather than continuing to transmit large volumes of electricity from western China to the eastern seaboard, authorities are weighing a shift toward relocating energy-intensive industries westward, closer to renewable resources.

“The western region has traditionally focused on exporting coal, electricity, and natural gas,” Ren said, referring to a point made earlier Friday at a press briefing by NEA deputy director Wan Jinsong “Going forward, it is more likely that the west will export finished products and computing power.”

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The $1.4 billion development is one of the largest integrated wind and battery energy storage projects in Central Asia. 

It will combine a 1GW wind farm with a 600 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) designed to improve grid stability and support the integration of renewable energy.

Once operational, the facility is expected to generate enough electricity to power around 880,000 homes in southern Kazakhstan while avoiding approximately 2.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year. 

The development also includes the construction of more than 400 kilometres of overhead transmission lines to strengthen the region’s electricity network.

Hitting renewable goals

The project is being led by Masdar in partnership with W Solar, Qazaq Green Power, a Samruk-Kazyna Fund company, and the Kazakhstan Investment Development Fund.

The Zhambyl wind project supports Kazakhstan’s target of sourcing 15% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030, rising to 50% by 2050. It also contributes to Masdar’s ambition of expanding its global renewable energy portfolio to 100GW by 2030.

Kazakhstan’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Yerlan Akkenzhenov, said, “Our partnership with Masdar drives renewable energy development and propels Kazakhstan toward carbon neutrality,” adding that “This project will strengthen regional energy security and bring cutting-edge technologies to the renewable energy sector.”

New RTC project announced 

Alongside the ceremony, Masdar signed a roadmap agreement with Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development to explore the country’s first Round-the-Clock (RTC) clean energy project. 

The initiative aims to provide continuous utility-scale renewable power and in its initial phase could supply up to 200 MW of baseload electricity for data centres and AI infrastructure.

The agreement will support site identification, technical studies, and stakeholder engagement as the project advances.

Masdar Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi said that this project would help deliver reliable and affordable clean energy for Kazakhstan’s emerging industries. 

Warming bilateral relations

The Kazakhstan initiative builds on Masdar’s growing portfolio of large-scale renewable energy projects. 

In 2025, the company broke ground on a 24/7 solar and battery storage project in Abu Dhabi, combining a 5.2 GW solar photovoltaic plant with a 19 GWh BESS capable of delivering up to 1 GW of continuous baseload power.

Nurlan Zhakupov, Chief Executive Officer of Samruk-Kazyna, described the project as an important milestone in the strategic partnership between Kazakhstan and the UAE.

“The 1GW wind farm opens a new chapter in the cooperation between Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates and reflects our shared commitment to advancing a low-carbon economy, deploying innovative technologies and building a sustainable energy future for Kazakhstan.”

The Iran war and Qatar’s temporary export impasse brought a supply deficit, which has been filled by a combination of rising exports from elsewhere, demand substituting fuels – particularly within power plants, or pulling supplies from storage – at a much smaller extent compared to oil, however.

Most of these dynamics appear illustratively in Europe. Storage remains in deficit that largely originates from last year. Overseas natural gas imports hold up well and show no meaningful drop over the past months, despite the Middle East’s supply outage. 

The weather impact in Europe

The now-ebbing heat wave, however, leaves some marks. With hydro and nuclear power suffering from the heat and drought, natural gas power plants were in use more often than normal, especially during the evening hours. 

This additional demand seems to prolong the storage deficit somewhat, namely in France and Belgium. The past weeks’ weather impact on power markets became a hotly commented topic in Europe.

Within hours, markets shifted from abundance around noon to scarcity in the evening, when air conditioners kept humming but the sun set and solar generation dropped. Simultaneously, intraday power prices swung widely, reaching peaks so far only witnessed during cold winter evenings.

The answer may lie in battery storage

These sharp moves up and down the power generation curve likely has already been partially eased by the growth of grid battery storage capacity. With data only partially available, the impact is still difficult to gauge. A look abroad, to Australia or California, where grid battery storage is available at scale, suggests that this phenomenon could disappear as quickly as it appeared. 

On the back of significant cost reductions, battery storage has become clean energy’s boom segment, and the early adopters experience lower power prices overall, more reliability, and lower natural gas power generation. With all the attention on data centres, these observations are worth noticing.

Power scarcity is not the issue, but rather adequate alignment of the combo electrification boom on both the supply and demand side of the market. Only where this alignment is mismanaged do grid challenges seem to appear. 

Even though the natural gas market should see a similar supply improvement compared to oil and long-term pressure on prices, we stick to our neutral view.

Summer weather risks are here to stay a bit longer. After the summer, Europe’s storage deficit should narrow.

XRG’s latest acquisition covers the Meseta Buena Esperanza, Aguada Villanueva, and Las Tacanas blocks, which are operated by YPF. 

Italian energy major Eni has also acquired a 32% stake in the same assets, while YPF will retain the remaining 36%. The Final Investment Decision (FID) is expected to take place in the second half of 2026. 

A statement said that the transactions remain subject to customary regulatory approvals. 

Strengthening Argentina’s LNG export ambitions

The deal comes at a time when geopolitical tensions have severely restricted LNG supplies through the Strait of Hormuz. 

However, this project is designed to connect Vaca Muerta’s vast unconventional gas resources with international markets through a planned 12 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) LNG export facility.

XRG said the assets will provide long-term gas supply for floating LNG facilities while also supporting condensate production.

Mohamed Al Aryani, President of International Gas at XRG, said the investment strengthens the company’s role in the development of a significant new LNG supply source.

“Argentina has the potential to play an increasingly important role in meeting the world’s growing demand for natural gas, and projects such as Argentina LNG will be important to unlocking that opportunity,” he said.

Horacio Marín, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of YPF, said the agreements represent another milestone in the development of the Argentina LNG project.

Guido Brusco, Chief Operating Officer of Global Natural Resources at Eni, said, “Vaca Muerta is one of the world’s richest unconventional basins in terms of resources: our participation positions us across the entire value chain, from Argentine upstream to the supply of LNG to international customers, creating value while contributing to global energy security.”

What the deal means for XRG

XRG has previously announced a joint development agreement with YPF and Eni for the Argentina LNG project.

The company, which was launched in 2024, is an international lower-carbon energy and chemicals investment company, with an enterprise value of over $80 billion.

For XRG, the Vaca Muerta acquisition fits neatly into its goals to capitalise on the energy transition while focusing on emerging economies. 

XRG’s global gas and LNG portfolio includes interests in the Absheron gas and condensate field in Azerbaijan, Offshore Block 1 in Turkmenistan, the Area 4 concession in Mozambique’s Rovuma Basin, including the planned Coral North FLNG and Rovuma LNG developments, along with the Rio Grande LNG project in the US. 

Under an agreement with the Interior Department, Duke will voluntarily terminate its lease valued at $129 million located in the Carolina Long Bay Area and invest the same amount in additional generating capacity, the agency announced Monday.

Duke aims to invest the refunded money in projects such as nuclear generating facilities and grid upgrades before the end of the year, according to a company statement.

The Trump administration’s decision to terminate the North Carolina lease is part of broader White House strategy that’s resulted in the cancellation of billions of dollars in offshore wind leases held by companies such as Invenergy LLC and TotalEnergies SE.

Duke acquired the lease in 2022. It said the area could support up to 1.6 gigawatts of wind energy, enough to power 375,000 homes by 2032. The utility announced in 2025 it was pausing development in the area as it reevaluated costs and conditions, WRAL reported.

Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, he has followed through on a campaign pledge to block new wind projects and thwart other renewable developments. These moves have continued despite surging demand from power-hungry data centers and new factories.

(Adds comment from Duke Energy.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The so-called Mission 300 program is the biggest attempt yet to boost energy access on a continent that’s home to about 80% of the 570 million people globally who have no access to power. 

The program is expected to see tens of billions of dollars invested to reach a target of 300 million connections by 2030 as the development institutions push governments to enact power-industry reforms to woo private investors in exchange for funding. 

“The momentum that we’ve been working on is starting to pay off,” Anna Bjerde, the World Bank’s managing director of operations, said in an interview. “Governments have to double down on reforms because nothing flows in an area where there’s uncertainty. There’s no investment flowing to uncertainty.”

To date the program, created in 2024, has brought power to more than 50 million people. So far 36 countries have produced compacts, detailed plans on how to boost power access, under the program and that number is expected to rise to more than 40 in 2026, according to Bjerde.

This year the African Development Bank plans to approve projects itself to bring power connections to as many as 15 million people, said Kevin Kariuki, the lender’s vice president for power, energy, climate and green growth. Those projects include a program of about $59 million to roll out mini-grids in Eritrea, one of the world’s most isolated nations. 

“Some bragging rights are in order. We are currently the most active multilateral development bank in Eritrea,” Kariuki said in an interview. “It’s in countries where there is almost nothing that transformation can be most visible.”

The African Development Bank has three projects in Eritrea including one that will bring power to more than 300,000 people.

Eritrea, which has been led by Isaias Afwerki since 1993, has fought wars against its neighbors and has been in default to the World Bank since 2012.

Other programs set up under the Mission 300 umbrella are also expected to get underway this year.

Zafiri, a $176 million platform set up to buy equity stakes in companies that provide off-grid power to help them expand, expects to make its first investments this year, according to Andrew Herscowitz of the Rockefeller Foundation, which helped set it up.

Nations in east and southern Africa are also being pushed to develop cross-border trading in power through interconnected grids. 

“We’re really back into power pools,” Bjerde said. “If Africa can get these pools to work, you can lower costs across borders and take advantage of countries with surpluses.”

Next Africa newsletterhereAppleSpotify anywhere you listen

(Correct spelling of name in 11th paragraph. The story was first published on June 25.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The country is estimated to have bought about 5.29 million tons of the super-chilled fuel this month, according to the ship-tracking researcher, comparable to last year’s traded volumes. 

Lower domestic output, depleting storage levels, a hot summer, and international prices falling from highs reached during the peak of the US-Iran war all contributed to the uptick. While the nation’s LNG imports have been sluggish over the past months, as buyers choose cheaper pipeline gas, the renewed appetite could intensify competition with other buyers in Asia and Europe before winter.

China’s domestic gas production fell 2.1% year on year to around 21.7 billion cubic meters in May, the first annual decline for the month in more than a decade, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The drop in output is mainly due to offshore disruptions and maintenance at some processing plants, according to Go Katayama, a principal insight analyst for LNG at Kpler.

Storage levels were around 46% at the end of May, below the five-year seasonal average, and are expected to fall further by end-June, Katayama said. “This leaves China with a relatively thin inventory buffer ahead of July and August, supporting continued spot LNG purchases.”

The war in the Middle East has choked shipments from the Gulf, which typically supplies about a third of China’s LNG, though the drop in deliveries from Qatar has mostly been offset through other sources, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.

Demand in China is expected to remain elevated through August, though it should soften in the fourth quarter as domestic production recovers and petrochemical gas consumption weakens, Katayama said. Total imports this year are seen at 63.8 million tons, slightly below the 2025 level, as elevated spot prices continue to weigh on industrial use, he said.

More News:

• Pakistan LNG is seeking to purchase a cargo on a DES basis for June 30-July 4 delivery
• GAIL India purchased an LNG cargo on a DES basis for July 25-Aug. 10 delivery at the low-to-mid $14/mmbtu range
• Pakistan is seeking to buy liquefied natural gas for delivery this week as a string of attacks in the Strait of Hormuz disrupts flows of the super-chilled fuel
• A liquefied natural gas tanker docked at a US-sanctioned storage unit in Russia’s Murmansk region, the first time the vessel has loaded blacklisted fuel and the latest sign of Moscow’s efforts to expand exports despite Western sanctions

Drivers:

• European natural gas climbed as the fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran was put to the test by strikes over the weekend, despite both sides agreeing to halt attacks for now
• China’s 30-day moving average for LNG imports on June 28 was 178k tons, 11% higher than this time last year, according to ship-tracking data
• European gas-storage levels were ~48% full on June 27, compared with the five-year seasonal average of ~63%
• Europe’s 30-day moving average for LNG imports was 158k tons/day on June 28, 1.3% higher than the five-year seasonal average, according to ship-tracking data
• Estimated flows to all US export terminals were ~18.8 bcf/day on June 28, down 2.4% w/w: BNEF

Buy tender:

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Brent was near $72 a barrel after jumping as much as 1.9% at the start of trading, while West Texas Intermediate was around $70. Both sides will stand down for now and vessels can move freely before peace talks resume this week, according to a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Oil has erased almost all of its gains since the US and Israel first attacked Iran at the end of February. About a fifth of the world’s crude and liquefied natural gas traveled through the Strait of Hormuz before the conflict, and a resumption in negotiations offers the prospect of a more permanent peace deal that will see a full reopening of the key waterway.

“The market feels increasingly comfortable treating these moves as tactical rather than structural,” said Haris Khurshid, chief investment officer at Chicago-based Karobaar Capital LP. “Until something fundamentally changes, traders are happy to fade both the rallies and the sell-offs.”

Tehran targeted the Kiku over the weekend. The very large crude carrier had loaded about 2 million barrels of oil in Qatar and last signaled its location off Fujairah, a United Arab Emirates port in the Gulf of Oman. 

Oil and natural gas shipments through the strait — which had picked up again following an interim agreement between the sides — eased following the latest flare-up. Shipowners will likely remain wary of crossing the chokepoint and hundreds of ships remain trapped in the Persian Gulf.

Over the weekend, a Saudi Aramco-operated helicopter crashed in Ras Tanura — Saudi Arabia’s energy heartland — near the Persian Gulf coast, the country’s press agency said, without elaborating on the cause. It wasn’t immediately clear if the incident on Sunday affected any energy facilities.

Elsewhere, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that the country faces fuel supply problems including queues at gas stations. He confirmed that a full ban on diesel exports is among measures under discussion to mitigate supply tightness.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

State-owned Pakistan LNG released a tender over the weekend seeking to procure a shipment for June 30 to July 4 delivery, with offers due on Monday, according to a document on its website.

The unusually prompt purchase request underscores how buyers remain unable to count on cargoes transiting Hormuz, a key conduit for about a fifth of the world’s LNG. Pakistan has been grappling with an energy shortfall since the war disrupted shipments from its top supplier, Qatar, forcing purchases of pricier fuel fuel from the spot market over the past few months.

On Saturday a ship carrying Qatari oil was attacked in the strait, days after a Singapore-flagged container ship was hit. Following the strikes, the Joint Maritime Information Center — which liaises between navies and merchant shipping — raised its threat level in the region to substantial.

Transits of inbound and outbound LNG carriers through the waterway have paused since then, ship-tracking data show. That includes an empty LNG tanker that was heading into the gulf via the strait before U-turning on Friday. It  has remained in the Gulf of Oman.

It isn’t guaranteed that Pakistan will purchase a shipment, and the country often scraps tenders if a delivery from Qatar is freed up or the prices are too high.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The Arctic Express, which changed its flag to Russian in May, loaded fuel at the Saam floating storage unit, which holds gas from the Arctic LNG 2 project. Both Saam and Arctic LNG 2 have been sanctioned by the US.

The shipment suggests Russia is continuing to expand its fleet of vessels to circumvent Western restrictions. Including Arctic Express, at least 21 ships have been used to ferry LNG from sanctioned Russian projects, according to a Bloomberg analysis of tracking data. The biggest obstacle to increasing exports from Arctic LNG 2 remains the shortage of vessels capable of transporting the fuel to willing buyers.

The tanker, which was commissioned in 2007 and was formerly managed by a Greek company, changed ownership to St Petersburg-based Smp Techmanagement LLC around May 13, according to ship database Equasis. 

Smp Techmanagement owns three other LNG vessels that are part of Russia’s dark fleet. Bloomberg News couldn’t immediately find an email address or phone number for the company.

Russia added four other tankers —  that until recently serviced Oman’s export plant — to its shadow fleet earlier this year. Arctic LNG 2 exported over 400,000 tons of the fuel in May, a record high for the facility which began shipments in 2024, ship data shows.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The helicopter went down at around 6 am local time, according to the Saudi Press Agency. The cause of the crash remains unknown. 

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy said investigations are underway to determine the circumstances that led to the crash. 

“The relevant authorities have launched a full investigation to determine the cause of the crash,” the ministry said in a statement. 

The ministry also extended condolences to the families of those who lost their lives.

Several Gulf countries expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia, conveying their sympathies with the families of the victims. 

The incident comes just two days after Aramco began loading crude oil from the export terminal in the Ras Tanura refinery on 26 June, which was shut for nearly four months. 

In March, Aramco had paused operations at the site as a precautionary measure after it was hit in a drone attack as part of the US-Iran conflict. 

Located on the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, the Ras Tanura complex is home to one of the region’s largest refineries, with a processing capacity of around 550,000 bpd. 

The facility also serves as one of Saudi Arabia’s most important crude export terminals.

It is one of Aramco’s oldest and largest refining facilities and plays a key role in the country’s domestic refining operations and global crude exports.

SunZia, as it’s called, will be the country’s last landmark wind project for some time. After this year, annual onshore wind power additions are forecast to decline until 2030, according to BloombergNEF.The biggest reason is President Donald Trump’s assault on renewable energy, and wind in particular. He has vowed to block new wind development in his second term. But Trump isn’t the only culprit: inflation, supply challenges and local opposition have complicated development since the Biden administration. The wind industry also has to contend with the end of lucrative tax credits this year, tariffs and long waits to connect to power grids.

“The development pipeline faces a lot of uncertainties,” said Diego Espinosa, a wind analyst for research firm Wood Mackenzie.

The wind sector is also losing out to other renewable energy sources. Even in the Trump era, solar easily provides the most new annual capacity, while batteries are also besting wind capacity additions each year. Solar generation is cheaper and faster to install, a critical factor in an era of surging demand from power-hungry data centers.

“Solar costs have continued to come down more than previously expected, and wind costs have been rising the past couple of years,” said Harrison Sholler, an analyst for BloombergNEF.

Developers of wind have fewer places where it makes economic sense to install their sky-high turbines compared with solar. And large swaths of those locations have already been built out — such as in the Texas panhandle — further limiting opportunities, Sholler said.

The wind industry has known that solar enjoys some inherent advantages, but it didn’t expect the breadth of Trump’s anti-wind campaign. The industry prospered during Trump’s first term despite him hating turbines long before entering politics.

In Trump’s second term, his administration has taken a series of actions to stop wind development. On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order calling for a moratorium on approvals of wind projects on federal lands and waters, a decree that was ruled illegal in December by a federal judge in Boston. The administration also issued stop-work orders for five offshore wind farms, which were lifted after developers challenged the decrees in federal courts. Several clean energy groups accuse the Pentagon of halting security reviews of proposed turbines, which are needed to complete projects. The groups sued earlier this month to lift the alleged suspension, which they say is impacting more than 100 projects worth nearly $50 billion in investments. The US Defense Department didn’t respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit and allegations that the agency is blocking approvals.

David Carroll, chief executive officer of renewable developer Engie North America, said the inability to get permitting approvals has placed the wind industry in a precarious position.

“You’ve got capital investments that are just frozen,” said Carroll, who is also chair of the trade group American Clean Power Association. “You have boards of companies questioning whether they should continue to develop wind here in the US.” 

Engie is still going to try to complete the more than a dozen wind projects that have been stalled by the permitting freeze, Carroll said. 

“But we are not placing a lot of investment in the development of new wind at this moment, because the risk profile is too great,” he said. 

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The Houston-based shale producer is poised to win the auction for the driller backed by private equity firms Warburg Pincus and Kayne Anderson, the people said. A deal could be announced in weeks, said the people, asking not to be identified because the details aren’t public. 

Deliberations are still fluid and a different bidder could still emerge, the people said. The company’s owners could also decide to retain the asset, they added.

Magnolia fell 1.5% to $26.78 at in New York trading Friday, giving the company a market value of about $5.1 billion. 

Representatives for Magnolia didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. Representatives for Warburg Pincus and Kayne Anderson declined to comment. 

A deal for WildFire would boost Magnolia’s presence in the Eagle Ford Shale basin of south Texas. 

Private equity firms are shopping several closely held oil and gas companies worth tens of billions of dollars after the Iran war pushed crude prices higher. Publicly traded companies in the US shale patch have embarked on consolidation over the past few years to gain scale and lower costs as some of the top well sites get drilled up.

WildFire operates more than 2,000 wells with the equivalent output of more than 50,000 net barrels of oil per day, according to its website. The company is run by a management team that previously operated WildHorse Resource Development Corp. before selling to shale-gas pioneer Chesapeake Energy Corp. in 2019 for $1.9 billion. 

(Updates trading and comment line.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Jon Jaye is heading to Expand, the largest US gas producer, after nearly 16 years with Exxon, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing career moves. Jaye will join Dan Turco, Expand’s executive vice president for marketing and commercial, who joined from Exxon last year. 

Several other US natural gas traders are also leaving Exxon, the people said. Among them are Jonathan Sadik, Exxon’s head of natural gas financial trading, who is also poised to join Expand. Chris Giddings and Clay Patterson are joining ConocoPhillips. And Collin Link recently moved to Freepoint Commodities LLC, a merchant trading company. 

Exxon declined to comment on the specific departures but said in a statement that “attrition is consistent with historical norms, and we continue to successfully recruit key talent across our trading hubs in support of ambitious growth plans.”  

A Freepoint Commodities spokesperson confirmed Link had joined the company. Expand and ConocoPhillips declined to comment. None of the traders responded to requests for comment.

Exxon has built up its trading division in recent years as it seeks to capture more profit from the company’s vast network of pipelines, refineries and chemical plants. The company revised its compensation policy about two years ago to allow some traders to be paid cash bonuses in addition to stock awards.

But it has a more conservative approach to trading than some rivals, making it challenging to retain top performers in an industry known for risk taking, large bonuses and high employee turnover. The company faces competition for traders from companies like Expand, which also wants to exploit arbitrage opportunities around their physical assets, as well as from merchant traders and hedge funds. 

Expand, formed by the merger of Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Southwestern Energy Co. in 2024, has increased its marketing staff 50% to about 60 in past year to sell more of its gas directly to end-users, who previously bought through trading houses and other marketing companies. Its headquarters is in Southwestern’s former main office, about a mile away from Exxon’s campus near Houston. 

Jaye was based in Houston as Exxon’s head of natural gas and power trading for two years, according to his LinkedIn profile. He took over the position from Jason Coy, who left to join the quantitative hedge fund Squarepoint Capital LLP in 2024.

Leading oil trading firms Vitol Group, Trafigura Group and Gunvor Group all made higher-than-usual profits this year as the US-Iran war disrupted energy supplies and oil and gas markets globally. However, it’s still too early to say if 2026 will rival the industry’s record haul after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. 

Exxon’s first-quarter earnings took a hit of about $3.7 billion due to derivative positions linked to physical deliveries of cargoes. Chief Financial Officer Neil Hansen told investors in April that these were paper losses only and would fully unwind over time, resulting in “material” profits. 

Separately, Tracey Gunnlaugsson, President of Exxon’s trading business, is retiring and will be replaced by Alex Volkov, according to people familiar with the matter. Volkov previously oversaw the integration of Pioneer Natural Resources Co., which Exxon bought for about $60 billion two years ago. 

Gunnlaugsson’s retirement and Volkov’s appointment were reported earlier by Reuters.

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Financial terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed in EDF’s Friday statement. KKR declined to comment, including on the deal valuation. 

The KKR deal comes after LS Power LLC had been in advanced talks to buy EDF’s North American renewable power business, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month. At the time, LS Power was discussing paying more than €4 billion ($4.6 billion) for the unit, Bloomberg News reported.

KKR has spent years building out its power portfolio, focusing on renewables and gas assets, as demand for electricity grows rapidly. The investment giant agreed in September to pay $10 billion for a 45% equity stake in Sempra’s infrastructure arm, which builds liquefied natural gas projects. Days later, TotalEnergies SE agreed to sell a stake in North American solar assets to KKR in a deal valuing the portfolio at $1.25 billion including debt. 

The KKR moves have mirrored a larger pick up for takeovers in the  US power industry as energy producers and utilities race to meet insatiable demand from massive data-center projects. In May, NextEra Energy Inc. agreed in May to pay about $67 billion in stock for Dominion Energy Inc. in the largest power acquisition ever.

French state-owned utility EDF operates a portfolio of 5.6 gigawatts of renewable assets in the US and Canada, according to the statement. That’s enough to power more than 4 million US homes. 

EDF is raising funds to help finance the construction of nuclear reactors in France and the UK to replace part of its aging atomic fleet. That investment, costing tens of billions of euros over the next two decades, coincides with falling French power prices, putting the utility’s balance sheet under pressure.

(Adds KKR declined to comment in second paragraph.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Brent crude slipped below $74 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was near $70 on Friday. Both benchmarks climbed more than 2% in the previous session — the first increase this week — after the container ship Ever Lovely was struck by an unknown projectile while sailing southeast of Oman.

Ships had been openly transiting the waterway following early progress toward a lasting agreement to end the US-Iran war, adding millions of barrels to the global market. Further talks between Washington and Tehran are likely to be protracted on issues including nuclear policy, but oil futures have rapidly declined recently and are on track for a third weekly loss.

A White House official said it was too soon to say who carried out the strike on the vessel. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there were no deaths or environmental damage, and that it was able to continue sailing.

The attack has rattled the fragile confidence of shipowners and crews, though ships continued to transit through the narrow corridor on Friday. A handful of tankers turned around early on Thursday after reportedly getting warnings from the Iranian Navy, while the International Maritime Organization said it was pausing its evacuation operations in the strait.

Two key exit routes through Hormuz have emerged because the normal one through the middle is thought to have been mined. One is near Iran, while the other hugs Oman’s coastline and is protected by the US. Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority said Thursday that any transit happening in routes outside its framework would not be protected by “safe-passage guarantees.”

Late Thursday, US President Donald Trump said the strait was open. He made the remarks at the White House while saying Iran would buy US farm goods with money from unfrozen assets, a claim disputed by Tehran.

The attack caused a “short-covering move,” said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president for trading at BOK Financial Securities Inc. “If you add in a market that has been extremely oversold, prices are more likely to move into a ‘back and fill’ correction before any new selling emerges.”

Earlier this week, Gulf oil was streaming out of the waterway at the fastest pace since the war began. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it sees Gulf exports now running at almost two-thirds of normal levels, while the pace of visible global inventory declines has slowed.

Gulf producers have been rapidly raising output, but are finding it difficult to secure tankers to ferry the oil out. Iraq has been forced to order a production halt at one of its key fields due to the shortage. The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar are all boosting supply.

Iraq is seeking a higher OPEC production quota to recoup oil sales lost during the war, even raising the prospect on it could consider leaving the group. The country’s oil ministry later said an exit hasn’t been proposed, and consideration of a move isn’t the government’s official position.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

At least eight empty vessels have congregated off the Ras Laffan facility after most transited through the Strait of Hormuz over the past week, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Another tanker in the Gulf is on its way to the plant, while two other Qatar-linked ships are approaching the eastern entrance of Hormuz, the data shows.

QatarEnergy operates Ras Laffan, the world’s largest LNG export facility, but output has been largely halted since Iranian attacks damaged two production trains and the war led to a near-closure of Hormuz. Higher exports depend on safe passage through the strait, with an attack on a cargo ship renewing concerns and leading to one LNG tanker U-turning before entering.

QatarEnergy — which exported nearly a fifth of global LNG supply last year — has been testing equipment and performing necessary maintenance to prepare for a rapid output increase. Several production trains have been operating at reduced capacity so that the plant can deliver shipments to neighbors, but also be able to raise supply when necessary, Bloomberg previously reported.

Qatar plans to return to normal LNG output within weeks from the undamaged parts of its facility, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said in an interview with the Financial Times this week. The 10-day moving average of exports from Ras Laffan have more than doubled in the past month, but they are still about 80% below year-ago levels, ship-data shows.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

This, coupled with the US Treasury's decision on 22 June to defer Iranian oil sanctions until August 21, has also paved the way for a rapid ramp up of production. 

Thus, as producers across the Gulf restored output faster than expected, Brent crude fell to around $73 per barrel, while WTI teetered close to $70.

According to Rystad Energy, shut-in crude production in the region reached 9.6 million bpd, down from 11.7 million bpd, and the consultancy now expects output to return to prewar levels by the end of 2026, instead of Q1 2027. 

“Two million barrels a day came back online in three weeks, and the recovery is spread across the region,” said Aditya Saraswat, MENA research director at Rystad Energy.

Rystad also expects total regional outages to fall below 2 mbpd by the end of Q3 2026, as producers continue bringing fields back online ahead of earlier expectations.

The International Energy Agency also reported that shipments through the Strait of Hormuz rose in early June, thanks to “ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman, lifting total flows from a May low of 9.6 mb/d to around 12 mb/d.”

The June 2026 Oil Market Report by the IEA also noted multiple ways in which markets responded to the crisis, helping keep oil prices below $150 per barrel:

• Global markets drew down inventories, while the IEA released its largest-ever emergency stock, bringing additional barrels to market. 
• Refineries across countries quickly made adjustments to make up for the decline in the region's refined product exports as well as the losses of Middle Eastern crude oil.
• China, the world's largest crude oil importer, cut its imports by 40% between February and May, helping ease supply pressures in the global market
• Crude exports from other suppliers, particularly the US, increased, while Gulf producers found alternative routes to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.

UAE and Saudi Arabia take the lead

Saudi Aramco resumed crude loadings at Ras Tanura on 26 June after a nearly four-month suspension, signalling another important step towards restoring Gulf exports.

Two Very Large Crude Carriers operated by Bahri were seen loading crude at the world’s largest oil export terminal, while another vessel waited offshore.

Saudi Arabia strengthened its position through extensive use of its East-West pipeline during the conflict, which links eastern oilfields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. 

The UAE too depended heavily on the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline during the crisis, and is poised to double its capacity by next year.

Saudi Arabia along with the UAE emerged as the most resilient producers throughout the conflict, as they were able to maintain exports using infrastructure that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz. ​

Together, they account for around 65% of the crude still being produced across the region during the disruption. 

“Saudi Arabia is on track for a record 4.5 million bpd through Yanbu this month. The supply picture is clearly improving,” said Saraswat.

The IEA noted that a “full recovery [of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz] will not be immediate, however, as mines will have to be removed from the main shipping lanes and supply chains will take time to normalise.”

In spite of this, companies such as ADNOC, Iraq's SOMO, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, and QatarEnergy have all launched tenders for July cargoes. 

The Iran outlook 

​Iran, meanwhile, is recording the sharpest rebound. “Iran is moving fastest because its shut-in was shorter and upstream damage was limited,” explained Saraswat.

Due to easing sanctions, the naval blockade lifted, and shipping activity gradually resuming, Rystad estimates Iranian production could rise from approximately 2.4 million bpd today to 3.1 million bpd by August. 

If sanctions relief extend beyond August, production could climb to 3.3 million bpd by the end of the year, exceeding pre-conflict output.

Strait of Hormuz: the biggest uncertainty 

Despite the improving situation, concerns surrounding the Strait of Hormuz remain.

According to Saraswat, storage facilities across the Gulf are currently estimated to be only 50% to 60% full after producers relied heavily on inventories to maintain exports during the disruption. 

Unless tanker traffic returns to normal levels soon, producers may once again have to curb output as storage capacity fills, according to Rystad.

Although crude loadings and shipping activity have resumed, security concerns persist after a commercial vessel was struck by an unidentified object in the Strait of Hormuz this week, briefly reigniting fears over the durability of the ceasefire.

“The variable that will determine how quickly prices settle at a new level is Hormuz transit volumes,” Saraswat said, adding that “The diplomatic agreement is a necessary first step, and physical tanker flows through Hormuz are what we are watching now.”

A shipment of the nation’s Al-Shaheen grade was sold this week to Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical Corp., which sought supplies for August to September, according to traders familiar with the matter. The volumes were sold by trading house Mercuria Energy Group Ltd., they said.

Some of the same grade, as well as Qatar’s Marine and Land varieties, were sold to an Indian refiner last week, said the traders, who asked not to be named as they may not speak publicly.

The deals represent the first observed transactions for Qatari crude to refiners in Asia since the war began, although the country has been much more active in reviving production and exports of liquefied natural gas.

In addition, state-owned QatarEnergy on Thursday issued its first crude oil sell tender since the Iran war began. It’s offering cargoes over July and August, which can either be picked up within the Persian Gulf or via ship-to-ship transfer at locations just outside the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil futures have cratered this month, although prices ticked higher on Thursday after an attack on a cargo ship in Hormuz, renewing concerns about safe passage through the waterway. Increased activity through the strait had seen crude exports from the United Arab Emirates rebound, as well as sales from Iraq and Kuwait.

Qatar has been able to get LNG tankers into and out of the Persian Gulf through the strait. It plans to rapidly boost production of the super-chilled fuel once the waterway fully reopens, restoring most export capacity in two months, said other people familiar with the matter.

There’s been increased tanker activity near Qatar’s Ras Laffan facility. The Kiku, a Greek-owned supertanker, was loading 2 million barrels of Qatari crude from the Al-Shaheen floating storage and offloading terminal, ship-tracking data show. 

Kiku appeared in the Persian Gulf on June 19, after last broadcasting from the Gulf of Oman on June 13, making the very large crude carrier one of the first mainstream tankers to enter the gulf since the US-Iran deal.

Separately, state-owned QatarEnergy had also offered a cargo of gasoline for export next month, from its Mesaieed refinery in the Persian Gulf, in a sign that wider processing operations are ramping up.

QatarEnergy — which is responsible for the country’s energy supply, including oil, products and LNG — didn’t respond to a request for comment. In addition, Apex Shipping & Energy Ltd. in Greece, listed as manager of Kiku on the Equasis database, didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.

(Updates with Qatari sell tender in fifth paragraph.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

There can be “no question” that the current tensions in the Middle East have accelerated demand for renewable energy, Kerry, who is co-executive chair of investment manager Galvanize, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Guy Johnson. 

“I think if you talk to knowledgeable folks in the business world, while they don’t make a lot of noise about it right now, they are moving forward,” he said.

The comments come as oil has erased its wartime gains after flows through the Strait of Hormuz ramped up following progress on a US-Iran peace deal.

Kerry pointed to investments in Texas and the United Arab Emirates as examples showing how even governments not necessarily ideologically aligned with the green shift are moving toward the economic logic of renewables.

The “UAE, for instance — an oil and gas producing country — they are building out 19 gigawatts of battery storage and have put four new nuclear plants online, and they have one of the largest solar fields in the world,” Kerry said. Texas “is now massively building out onshore solar and wind.”

Kerry is in the British capital for London Climate Action Week, where politicians, academics and business leaders have gathered to discuss how to address rising temperatures as Europe deals with a heat wave that’s shattered records across the continent.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Every half-decade, Chinese leaders publish a five-year plan outlining economic and societal goals, and then follow it up with several sectoral schemes with more detailed targets and strategies. This year, the broader plan came out in March, and sectoral plans have begun trickling out in recent weeks, including ones on jobs and urban renewal. 

The plan’s release comes at a seeming inflection point for China’s energy transition. Years of rapid build-outs of solar and wind farms have showed that the country has the means to expand clean energy fast enough to power its growing economy, while chipping away at its world-leading emissions. But that’s also put unprecedented strain on the electricity grid, leading to rising curtailment and a slowdown in new renewable installations.

Energy was already a major component of the broader five-year plan. It called for China to peak its coal and oil during the 2026-30 period, double non-fossil fuel energy over the next decade, and focus on developing technologies like hydrogen and nuclear fusion. It also sought to make progress on a major gas pipeline from Russia, and boost capacity of generating technologies like nuclear, offshore wind and pumped hydro storage.

Key targets from the new energy plan include:

Some other details from the plan:

• Wind and solar will account for more than 50% of total installed power capacity.
• It targets 160 gigawatts of pumped hydro and 300 gigawatts of battery storage capacity, along with 50 gigawatts of virtual power plants for demand response.
• It targets 2 million tons of green hydrogen production capacity by 2030, nearly double what’s currently online and under construction.
• Oil output will be maintained at around 200 million tons a year, while natural gas production will steadily increase.
• The country will rationally plan and construct natural gas power plants and promote domestic construction of gas turbines.
• Develop more than 100 million tons a year of coal production capacity that is ready to produce when needed.
• Develop future technologies, such as nuclear fusion, space-based power plants and superconducting transmission.

(Updates with additional details from plan)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The UK group has “the technology that fits our specifications” and “fits the high-level criteria,” Studsvik CEO Karl Thedeen said in an interview at the Swedish political week Almedalen. He also stressed that no decision has been made and that the process is ongoing.

Earlier this month, Sweden’s Videberg Kraft AB picked Rolls-Royce to supply it with several new small nuclear reactors to help meet surging power demand in the decades ahead.

Rolls-Royce is emerging as one of Europe’s leading contenders in the race to commercialize so-called small modular reactors. The company has signed contracts with Great British Energy–Nuclear to develop the UK’s first SMRs and is advancing plans with utility CEZ to deploy its technology in the Czech Republic. Another Swedish partnership would further strengthen its position as governments across the continent turn to nuclear power to bolster energy security and meet climate goals.

Studsvik’s project involves developing new nuclear generating capacity of as much as 1,400 megawatts. A special purpose vehicle, or SPV, will be established to develop it. Studsvik recently submitted an application to the government for state support. 

“If you compare to Videberg Kraft that selected Rolls-Royce, they were a customer and they wanted a vendor. We are a partner looking for other partners,” Thedeen said.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Umm Al Ashtan, a tanker owned by Adnoc Logistics & Services, appeared inside the gulf next to Adnoc’s Das Island LNG export plant on Wednesday after not sending a signal for nearly two weeks, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. That suggests that the vessel traversed the Strait of Hormuz recently with its transponder turned off.

More vessels have been turning on their transponders as they sail in and out of the Gulf in recent days, reflecting the improving security situation around Hormuz. While some ships have begun broadcasting their entire journeys in and out of the gulf, others, like Umm Al Ashtan and Adnoc’s Abu Dhabi II and Al Bateen, are still choosing to push through Hormuz in the dark.

Signaling from within the Gulf, though, is a shift from recent months when Adnoc’s vessels have avoided doing so due to safety concerns.

Adnoc didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

For about two months, Adnoc’s ships have halted at the eastern end of the Strait of Hormuz, switched of their transponders to traverse into the gulf, then restarted sending signals once out again with a cargo. At least six Adnoc LNG shipments were exported using this strategy since late-April, according to satellite and ship data.

More LNG vessels have been able to move openly through the waterway after the US and Iran signed an interim peace deal, with at least six empty tankers traversing the strait to come into the Gulf since Monday, as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates expand exports of the super-chilled fuel. Most of these ships were sending a signal while going through the waterway.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Some 239 gigawatts of proposed solar, wind and hydropower capacity across 10 Indian states — about 90% of the total — face high or critical vulnerabilities to compounding weather events like tornadoes, wildfires and extreme floods, Zurich Insurance Group AG said in an assessment published Thursday. 

“It hits the balance sheet,” Mark Fletcher, head of Zurich Resilience Solutions for Asia Pacific, said in an interview. “If your solar panel is less efficient, you’re generating less revenue. If your wind farm is blown down and you have four or five turbines damaged, you have a business interruption on the revenue side, but you also have a direct cost to fix that.”

The findings underscore the scale of the challenge for India — the world’s third-largest carbon dioxide emitter — to transition its vast energy system, even as it makes rapid progress toward a target to raise the share of electricity generation capacity from non-fossil fuel sources to 60% by 2035. Adding ever greater volumes of solar panels or wind turbines won’t be sufficient if the physical hardware cannot survive extreme weather conditions.

Project developers are increasingly finding that an ability to prove they are responding to climate risks is a “condition of capital” to secure financing, Fletcher said.

“Capital is not infinite,” said Ajay Hegde, head of commercial insurance at Zurich Kotak General Insurance, a local unit of Zurich Insurance. “It will then definitely flow towards the ones which show a lot more resilience, versus those which don’t show the resilience.”

Vulnerabilities are most pronounced for solar projects, which accounted for nearly 70% of the 871 planned assets assessed in the report. And while developers routinely model the potential impacts of extreme wind, there’s less attention paid to the risks from hail, which poses a particular threat in prime solar corridors in Rajasthan and Gujarat. 

Hail strikes don’t only threaten shattered panels, they can also induce microscopic fractures that silently degrade a solar plant’s output over time, eating into a project’s revenue. Meanwhile, in drier regions, prolonged droughts compound problems by caking dust onto modules, forcing operators to choose between diminished generation and costly, water-intensive cleaning cycles, Zurich said.

Projected losses as a result of climate damage could be roughly halved to $27 billion with early investment on resilience measures of about $4.6 billion, according to the report.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The assesment comes as a part of the forum's Energy Transition Index 2026, which measures how well national energy systems function in three key areas: security, sustainability, and equity. It also assesses how prepared governments are to facilitate the shift towards clean energy.  The report, published in collaboration with Accenture, found that momentum across regions slowed due to disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, even though global investments in clean energy crossed $2.3 trillion last year.  

“Despite growing headwinds, 60% of countries improved their overall scores, although balanced progress is becoming more concentrated, with only one in four countries improving across all three dimensions,” the report said. 

A 'fracturing' of the energy transition 

The report added that the Hormuz interruption has exacerbated the issues already plaguing energy systems, showing that they are still vulnerable to geopolitical shocks, with import-dependent emerging economies being most impacted. 

Countries are under rising and uneven strain due to supply risks and structural limitations, which has consequences for long-term sustainability, affordability, and resilience.

“The energy transition is not reversing, but it is fracturing,” said Roberto Bocca, Head of the Centre for Energy and Materials, World Economic Forum. “In a more volatile geoeconomic environment, security, affordability, and resilience are central to sustaining progress. Closing the gap between ambition and delivery will require stronger foundations, including more diversified and resilient energy systems, faster infrastructure build-out, and capital that can reach markets where it is needed most.”

Nordic countries take the lead

According to the ETI, Sweden took the top spot, followed by Finland, Denmark, Estonia, and Norway, respectively.

Other advanced economies like Singapore also performed well, moving up ten spots on better policy signals, while the US saw a little decline despite stronger performance in security. Germany maintained its position with consistent gains, while Japan saw a slight improvement.

The Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan region saw a decline of 0.9% overall, indicating weakening performance and readiness. Despite this, Saudi Arabia improved its ranking through investments in large-scale battery storage, rapid deployment of renewable energy sources, and increased financial support. 

Published ahead of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian, China, the ETI report also highlights China’s fast deployment of clean energy systems. With $627 billion invested in clean energy in 2025 and ongoing large-scale renewable capacity expansion, China continues to be Asia's top performer.

This remained the case even though the difficult regulatory and investment climate somewhat offset improvements in infrastructure, energy intensity, and affordability. 

Although ranked 70^th on the ETI, India achieved one of the biggest increases in readiness, which was fuelled by advancements in human capital and infrastructure, making it a crucial participant in the upcoming stage of the transition.

AI and the growing electricity demand

Electrification, cooling, digital infrastructure, and AI all contributed to a 3% increase in the world's electricity demand, which is becoming a key barrier to the transition. Although they contribute over 80% of demand growth, emerging nations still have infrastructure deficiencies and greater financing costs.

In the meantime, clean-energy funding is still quite concentrated, with around 75% going to a small number of economies, despite record overall investment. This widens the gap between where capital is deployed and where demand is growing.

However, to navigate this challenge, AI may come to the rescue. 

“The energy transition is entering a more disruptive and challenging phase, making enterprise resilience an increasingly important priority for business leaders,” said Muqsit Ashraf, Global Lead for Industry and Enterprise at Accenture. “Organisations that use technology and AI to improve adaptability, strengthen decision-making, and respond more effectively to change will be better positioned to navigate uncertainty and sustain long-term growth.”

Tackling geopolitical uncertainties 

While the Energy Transition Index (ETI) 2026 shows improvements in energy system performance, it appears increasingly challenging to sustain progress. 

Energy systems must now balance decarbonisation, security, and affordability in an increasingly uncertain environment. According to the World Economic Forum, three key measures must be taken for this to happen: 

• Governments should “Diversify across fuels, import partners, supply chains, and critical minerals” to reduce vulnerabilities. Energy systems should be stress-tested against multiple disruptions, including supply shocks and extreme weather events. Investments in grid modernisation and storage can strengthen resilience, while portfolios combining renewables will help maintain reliability. 
• Greater emphasis must be placed on grids, flexibility, and delivery capability. “Digitise application processes, coordinate environmental review, and pre-designate infrastructure corridors to compress timelines,” the report added. 
• The most important yet challenging aspect for governments will be growing investments and policy stability. Accordingly, they must establish predictable regulatory frameworks, long-term procurement schedules, and transparent market rules.

In a press statement, the forum said that tackling these measures will help in “restoring investability through stable policy frameworks and targeted capital flows, particularly toward the emerging economies that will drive the majority of future demand growth.”

Data centers will account for almost 10% of the National Electricity Market’s underlying demand by 2050 — four times their current share, the Australian Energy Market Operator said in its biennial Integrated System Plan. The report confirmed that the lowest-cost pathway is a system built around renewable energy, connected through transmission and distribution networks and firmed with storage and natural gas.

“Our plan is to deliver more cheaper, cleaner energy, using our sovereign sun and wind energy to shield our grid from global volatility,” said Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen.

Australia’s slowing economy has been propped up by a massive surge in investment into data centers. That comes as the nation’s world-beating uptake of solar and rapidly aging coal generation helped to cause increased volatility and made the country a test case for the global energy transition. 

Households are set to continue to contribute to the massive shift in generation through further uptake of solar panels and batteries. That will see their grid-supplied energy needs fall 44% to 20 terawatt-hours by 2025, despite increased uptake of electrical vehicles and appliances, according to the report.

“Households are already part of the solution,” said Jackie Trad, chief executive officer of the Clean Energy Council. “Rooftop solar is set to quadruple by 2050 and home batteries are taking off,” 

More than a third of suitable dwellings in the National Electricity Market — which supplies about 85% of the nation’s population — have rooftop solar, which is set to rise to 56% by 2050. Meanwhile, small-scale battery capacity is set to jump to 35 gigawatts by 2050, from 5 gigawatts in April. 

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

“We are positioning ourselves early to serve the growing national demand for clean, round-the-clock power,” said Adani in a video address to shareholders on Wednesday in conjunction with the annual general meeting of his conglomerate’s flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd. 

The tycoon said the group will enter the nuclear energy space through a business called Adani Atomic Energy, has identified land for the project and is targeting a 10 GW capacity by 2035. That would be enough power for millions of households. 

Last year, Bloomberg reported that Adani Group is in talks with a northern Indian state to build a commercial nuclear energy project, giving Asia’s richest person a headstart in a sector that India is opening up to private firms.

Adani, who is also celebrating his 64th birthday on Wednesday, said Adani Power Ltd. is implementing India’s largest ever private sector investment of over 2 trillion rupees ($21.1 billion), with a target of 45 GW capacity over the next five years.

The billionaire did not mention his past US legal troubles or their recent resolution, but said his conglomerate is defined by “not the noise that surround us, but the strength of our response.”

His roadmap for the ports-to-energy group points to a renewed focus on expansion and growth as he moves past the phase of intense scrutiny due to the US probes, which previously impeded the ability of the group’s companies to raise money abroad.

US Indictment

American prosecutors had unveiled an indictment against Adani back in November 2024. Last month, the US Justice Department moved to drop criminal charges against Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani in connection with an alleged bribery scheme in India. That happened shortly after the two men agreed to pay a total of $18 million to settle a parallel Securities and Exchange Commission civil fraud case. 

Adani Enterprises separately reached a deal to resolve a Office of Foreign Assets Control’s sanctions probe for $275 million. The Adanis and the company did not admit any wrongdoing. 

In his speech Wednesday, the tycoon said the Adani Group made a record investment of over 1.5 trillion rupees in infrastructure in the year ended March 31, or more than 30% of India’s total new private-sector capital expenditure for the period.

Adani said his group is also building a national aerospace platform that spans manufacturing, MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) services and pilot training.

Adani Enterprises’ shares have climbed about 35% this year, giving the flagship company a market valuation of almost 3.9 trillion rupees. 

The total market value of the group’s nine-listed companies has returned to levels last seen in January 2023, before US short-seller Hindenburg Research released a scathing report that accusing the conglomerate of widespread corporate misconduct. Adani has denied those fraud allegations. 

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.