The bloc adopted a dynamic mechanism last year to ensure that the price cap is automatically set every six months at 15% lower than the average market rate for Russian Urals crude. The current price threshold is $44.10 per barrel and is due for review later this summer.

Under the cap, European firms are banned from providing services such as insurance and transportation involving oil sold above the threshold.

Oil prices have soared as a result of the Iran war and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The next price cap review in July would likely see the level rise to at least $65, higher than the previous $60 threshold set collectively by the Group of Seven, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. 

The freeze would keep the price cap at the current rate, thereby limiting the windfall Russia is pocketing from current high oil prices. Other options under consideration include suspending dynamic and automatic increases until the end of the year in light of the exceptional circumstances in the Middle East, or capping any rise to $60 back in line with the G7 level, the people said.

The move would be part of the EU’s latest sanctions package, the bloc’s 21st since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The EU aims to finalize and formally propose a package of new measures in early June. Member-state envoys were briefed on the plans last week. 

Other measures under discussion for the new sanctions package include targeting more banks, oil traders, refineries and crypto operators in third countries used by Moscow to circumvent the bloc’s restrictions. As well, about 20 additional tankers would be sanctioned in the covert fleet of vessels that Russia depends on to move its oil, and eventually that regime would be extended to ships carrying liquefied natural gas, limiting the Kremlin’s ability to create a shadow fleet for LNG.

The EU has so far sanctioned hundreds of vessels and intends to also target ships providing services to the tankers, the people said.

However, the new sanctions are unlikely to include a full ban on maritime services. Several member states continue to oppose that option due to the volatility in the Middle East, and unless the measure is backed by the wider G7.

The main goals of the new package, the people said, are to further tighten the screws on Russia’s energy revenues and its financial sector, as well as starving its military industry of essential supplies. Sanctions require the backing of all member states before they’re adopted, and plans could change before that. Maritime nations such as Greece have often bristled at price-cap changes, while other capitals are particularly sensitive toward what they say are their energy and trade interests.

Other proposals for the next package include trade restrictions on some critical minerals, metals and ores used in Russia’s aerospace sector and to develop the drones it uses to bomb Ukraine’s cities, as well as technologies such as jamming.

The bloc is also considering export controls on about two dozen firms, including companies in China, India, Turkey and Central Asia, that are allegedly still supplying Russia with restricted goods found in weapons or needed to make them.

The EU is also in the early stages of assessing ways to help the clearing house Euroclear Ltd. after a Moscow court judgment allowed for the Central Bank of Russia to potentially seize its assets. That came after the EU approved the use of emergency powers to indefinitely extend a freeze on as much as €210 billion ($245 billion) in Russian central bank assets immobilized. Most of those funds are held through Euroclear.

The EU intends to keep the assets immobilized until the war ends and Russia pays reparations to Ukraine. Several member states, including Belgium, have opposed all efforts to seize the assets outright.

Discussions on introducing a visa ban on former combatants are continuing as well, the people said.

Spokespeople for the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm that coordinates the EU’s sanctions efforts, declined to comment. 

(Updates to reflect EU declined to comment in final paragraph.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

He took the task to heart. Employees say Manifold was immediately demanding, delving into the nitty gritty across the company and putting staff on the spot, at times unpleasantly so. He clashed with Chief Executive Officer Murray Auchincloss, and then was involved in removing him. But the blunt Dubliner also won the backing of one of BP’s biggest investors and most influential critics: activist Elliott Investment Management.

Just months later, the former building-materials boss is out, fired after the company abruptly issued a statement referring to “governance standards, oversight and conduct” — but left investors and analysts guessing about what exactly he’d done. 

People close to BP have offered a range of different reasons for the exit and broader tensions, alleging that it received multiple complaints against him of bullying and aggressive behavior; that he used a personal device for sensitive company information; and that he sought to control the relationship with Elliott while alienating other investors. 

Manifold quickly hit back, issuing a 773-word statement attacking what he said were “lies” being spread about him, defending his efforts to cut costs, and making implied jabs about the spending habits of his fellow directors. A representative provided further detailed comments for this story, reiterating that he was never told about any complaints about his conduct before he was removed, saying he encouraged and facilitated meetings with Elliott for colleagues, and that the use of an external email address was a company-sanctioned workaround to technology malfunctions at BP. 

The sudden firing of a non-executive chairman, followed by Manifold’s very public and spirited rebuttal, has transfixed the London business community as a rare example of ugly boardroom acrimony spilling out into the open at one of Britain’s most-storied companies.

“It’s hard to think of a situation like this; precedents are quite scarce,” said Larry Cunningham, the head of the Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. “I don’t think they owe us a detailed explanation, but it does leave us all to put the dots together.” 

As the details trickle out, the turmoil risks becoming a badly-timed distraction for BP’s leadership just as the company was finally finding its feet after a long period of underperformance. Faced with pressure from one of the world’s most aggressive and successful activist investors, it has been cutting costs, selling assets to reduce a huge debt pile and refocus the business back on oil and gas after a failed pivot to renewables. 

The psychodrama raises questions about the functioning of the board, which has presided over a revolving door of leaders, and received a black eye from shareholders just last month when investors rejected two resolutions at its AGM and penalized Manifold in a protest vote. The result came as a shock to the company, people familiar with the matter said. 

Manifold’s departure has also put the spotlight on two powerful women as BP seeks to reassure investors the turnaround will remain on track: lead independent director Amanda Blanc, a City of London stalwart who runs UK insurer Aviva Plc, is known for her uncompromising style, and was responsible for hiring him last year; and Meg O’Neill, the new CEO handpicked by Manifold himself, who has been in the role for barely two months.

This story is based on conversations with nearly two dozen people familiar with the matter, most of whom asked not to be identified discussing private information. 

“As we have made clear our former chair was removed as a result of unacceptable conduct,” BP said in response to questions. “We have a duty of care to protect all our employees and as such we will never comment on specific people or situations.”

A spokesperson for Manifold said: “Albert was never told — not once, not informally, not by HR, not by the senior independent director, not by any board member — that any complaint had been made about his conduct before he was removed. He had no opportunity to respond because nothing was ever put to him.”

Scandals and Missteps

Manifold’s dramatic departure caps a prolonged leadership upheaval for the company that once rivaled Exxon Mobil Corp. at the turn of the century for the title of the world’s largest publicly traded oil company. 

Today, BP is less than a fifth of the size of its American rival. The company has spent years struggling to emerge from a series of scandals, crises and missteps — most recently the failed strategy to refocus on green energy led by then-CEO Bernard Looney, who was forced to resign in 2023 after failing to fully disclose past relationships with colleagues. 

When Manifold was named as chairman last July, the company was floundering. Looney’s successor Auchincloss and then outgoing chairman Helge Lund had struggled to convince investors even after unveiling a new strategy to refocus on oil and gas. Elliott, Paul Singer’s activist hedge fund, had built a roughly 5% stake in the company and was pushing for faster changes to reverse years of underperformance.

In 11 years as CEO of Irish building materials firm CRH Plc, Manifold oversaw a more than fourfold increase in the company’s shares. People who knew him at the time described him as brash and hard-charging, with one person saying that at times he kept such long hours that some other executives were exhausted keeping up with him. 

A top-five investor in the company at the time described him as a straight talker, but said he was one of the best CEOs he’s worked with. Manifold’s drive was crucial to CRH’s rapid growth, said Claus Bering, a senior adviser for CRH in the Nordic region who worked closely with him. 

“A lot of people find him very demanding, very direct, very precise,” Bering said. “But he was never disrespectful. Some people could call him a bit brutal, a bit demanding, but I’m a Dane. I like it a lot.”

The recruitment process for the new chairman was overseen by Blanc, and run by executive search firm Egon Zehnder, which declined to comment. In the months running up to the appointment, better known UK business figures including former BHP Group Chairman Ken Mackenzie were touted as potential chairs for the 117-year-old BP, but the company eventually turned instead to the lower-profile former executive whose only non-executive director experience was on the boards of LyondellBasell Industries NV and Irish engineering firm Mercury.

Blanc herself has pulled off an impressive turnaround at Aviva since taking over as CEO in 2020. She exited non-core markets, made select acquisitions including a £3.6 billion deal for car insurer Direct Line, and managed to appease Cevian Capital AB, Europe’s largest activist firm. She is from a working-class background — both of her grandfathers were coal miners in Wales — and people who know her well describe her as an efficient and demanding executive.  

When Manifold started in October, he threw himself into a review of BP’s business. He was so engaged in the details that some employees joked about him being an executive chairman. The company’s culture and priorities immediately changed, some people said, particularly with an aggressive push away from renewables and green investments. His demanding and abrasive approach took its toll on staff, some employees said. 

“The board is responsible for setting the strategic vision of the company as set out by the management team,” Manifold’s spokesperson said. “In order to understand the business in depth, a chair must spend time sitting with the company looking at all parts of the business in detail.” They denied that Manifold personally criticized individual employees. 

Manifold hit it off with representatives from Elliott, who were supportive of the direction he was taking the company, people familiar with the matter said previously. The hedge fund has yet to lay out its position in the wake of Manifold’s exit. Elliott didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

But he had confrontations with then-CEO Auchincloss — a BP insider who succeeded Looney — before abruptly removing him and appointing O’Neill as the company’s first external boss and the first female CEO in Big Oil. The former head of Australia’s Woodside Energy Group Ltd., O’Neill is an Exxon alumnus who is known for her no-nonsense approach. 

Auchincloss didn’t respond to requests for comment about his relationship with the former chairman.

BP did not comment on whether the board held conversations to clarify their respective roles, given Manifold’s hands-on approach. But O’Neill told people close to her at the time that she and Manifold were aligned, including on the need for difficult decisions around personnel and the structure of the business, one of the people said. 

By the time she took up her post on April 1, BP was showing signs of stabilizing — the balance sheet was finally being addressed, share buybacks were suspended in February to free up cash and low-returning asset disposals were advancing to help pay down debt. Plus there was a new tailwind: profits were rising on the back of elevated oil prices due to the Iran war. Its shares have outperformed BP’s American rivals at times in 2026. 

O’Neill and Manifold regularly attended meetings with investors and advisors together, and one person who attended said there were no signs of animosity between them. By mid-April, two of BP’s biggest investors told Bloomberg they were supportive of the leadership team, with one noting that Manifold’s capital allocation expertise would complement O’Neill’s operational strength. Speaking this week, one top-40 investor who meets with BP regularly described the combination of Manifold, O’Neill and Elliott as a dream trio for other shareholders. 

And O’Neill quickly made her presence felt, announcing that the company would restructure along more traditional lines, in a move that continues the reversal of changes made under Looney. 

But there were also signs of trouble brewing. 

BP angered a number of investors by refusing to include a resolution from activist climate investor group Follow This in its AGM materials, claiming that it didn’t meet the legal requirements — a position the group disputed. A number of other investors criticized the company and proxy adviser Glass Lewis recommended shareholders vote against Manifold’s election at the meeting because of the concerns raised over transparency and corporate governance. 

The company received a significant protest vote at the meeting — two of its own proposals that would have allowed fully virtual annual meetings and revoked previously approved climate related disclosure obligations were rejected. Just under 82% of shareholders voted in favor of Manifold’s election — a clear rebuke as directors typically receive approvals close to 100%.

BP was surprised by the results of the vote, and Manifold appeared angry with the outcome, some people said. Tensions in the board appeared to increase after the AGM, they said. Manifold’s representative denied this. 

People close to BP described a recent clash between Manifold and company secretary Ben Mathews, who is currently on leave. They didn’t specify what the confrontation was about, but the company secretary’s role includes advising the board on process and corporate governance as part of its deliberation and decision making. 

A spokesperson for Manifold said: “Mr Manifold did not clash with Ben Mathews. They spoke almost every day, worked closely together and had a strong professional relationship. Mr Mathews publicly expressed his support of Mr Manifold in his role on a number of occasions, including to third parties in recent weeks.”

A person who worked in a previous role with Mathews described him as highly competent and a consummate professional, who made sure there were no surprises at board meetings, and was able to deal with big egos. 

In meetings with shareholders this week, Blanc and interim Chairman Ian Tyler said that the company received a serious complaint about Manifold’s behavior last week, which triggered the process that resulted in his removal, but gave little other detail, one investor said. They said they knew going in that Manifold was brash and hard-nosed but that the situation had gone too far. 

On Tuesday, the board decided unanimously to remove Manifold, the company said in its statement. Director Ian Tyler was named interim chair and the company will start a process to find a permanent replacement. 

Manifold has hired law firm Mishcon de Reya, a person close to him said. The spokesperson said on Saturday that he hasn’t made any decisions about legal action. 

The risk now is that the public spat becomes a distraction for BP’s leadership as it seeks to turn around the troubled company. 

Bloomberg spoke with five of BP’s top 40 investors this week, who almost uniformly said they were focused on the company’s strategy and execution. Most said they didn’t expect that would change as a result of Manifold’s exit, although at least one expressed concern about whether his loss would leave a hole. 

“We like Meg O’Neill,” said Brian Kersmanc, a portfolio manager at GQG Partners, which says it holds over 290 million shares in BP. “Her focus is on cost cutting and restructuring initiatives regardless of changes at the chairman level.”

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

At least two shipowners, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive information, said they were in touch with American military forces, which advised them on how best to navigate the waterway. A spokesperson for the US Central Command said US military assets aren’t escorting ships, but the command continues to provide advice to commercial vessels in the region.

One person with knowledge of a transit said a group of vessels was approached by suspected Iranian fast boats during the journey. The boats were turned away by helicopters that suddenly appeared nearby, allowing the person’s vessel to continue away from Hormuz, they said.

Chevron Corp. Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth told Bloomberg TV on Friday that some vessels transiting Hormuz have recently come under attack. On the same day, the US affirmed that deals with Iran to safely sail through the Strait of Hormuz — even those which don’t involve paying a toll — are prohibited.

Some of the ships that have crossed belong to companies that hadn’t transited Hormuz since the war began, according to several people involved in shipping markets. Two people said some ships were entering the Persian Gulf as well as leaving. 

If sustained, the increase in transits could signal that more shipping companies are willing to make the journey, boosting the flow of everything from oil and gas to consumer goods. Until now, transits had largely been limited to vessels operating under bilateral government arrangements or owned by the small group of more-daring shipping executives willing to accept the risks of sailing through Hormuz. 

Regional countries, including the state oil company of the United Arab Emirates, have also sent ships through, while Qatar is quietly exporting liquefied natural gas to key buyers. 

Some of the vessels that crossed in recent days did so with their satellite transponders switched off and have yet to turn them back on. It’s a sign that conventional vessel-tracking methods may understate how many vessels are making the voyage. 

Ship-tracking data show that at least a quarter of the non-Iranian ships stranded in Hormuz since the conflict began have made their way out.

The White House has repeatedly sent conflicting messages on the prospects for a deal with Iran, a pattern that continued on Friday. A fresh agreement between the two nations could potentially open the door for a broader reopening of shipping through Hormuz. 

Owners privately said they hope the agreement would allow for a resumption of Hormuz flows, but that uncertainty remained until its full details were known. Some said that until that agreement was reached, while it might be possible to get vessels out of Hormuz, many owners would remain reluctant to enter. 

TotalEnergies Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said Friday his company would want indications of lasting peace before sending vessels back into the Persian Gulf. 

A sustained resumption to shipping also has the potential to boost oil tanker earnings that are already the highest in a generation in the short-term, if a peace emerges that leaves shipowners comfortable to transit. 

“We would expect, if you like, a frenzy phase to start with,” once Hormuz reopens, Gerasimos Kalogiratos, Chief Executive Officer of Capital Tankers Corp., said on an earnings call this week. He added that tanker costs would stay high in the longer-term as global oil inventories refill barrels lost to the war. 

(Adds new details on US stance in paragraphs 4 and 10)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Just a couple of years after a historic boost to the nation’s fossil fuel exports over Ukraine war-related sanctions against Russia, demand for Norway’s resources is set to persist with another war, in the Middle East, again heightening security of supply worries.

Successive governments on both sides of the political spectrum have pledged to reduce Norway’s dependence on oil and gas — highlighted by experts as a priority for more than a decade to diversify and crisis-proof the economy for a time when those reserves have run out. 

The Nordic nation, which first discovered oil in 1969, has been relatively successful at reducing carbon emissions at home, with pioneering electric-vehicle adoption or carbon capture initiatives. At the same time, it’s exposed to claims of war profiteering over its role as a major fossil fuel exporter.

While Norway has been more prudent than most other resource-rich nations by investing the fossil fuel revenue in its $2.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, it’s struggled to foster a broad basis of industries to underpin its economy.

Combined oil and gas shipment volume has declined from its 2004 peak, yet petroleum is still the dominant export sector in Norway: oil and gas made up 57% of Norway’s goods sold abroad in 2025, and monthly crude sales revenue reached a record after the outbreak of the Iran war. 

Norway’s economic diversity, meanwhile, keeps declining, underperforming that of its Nordic peers. Increasing trade protectionism and the krone’s recent strengthening to multi-year highs are likely to make export diversification even tougher. 

An index of economic complexity shows Norway’s gap with the rest of Nordics has widened already since the early 2000s. The measure, developed by the Growth Lab at Harvard University, explains why wealth developments differ across countries.

With oil and gas providing more than a fifth of Norway’s total gross domestic product, services account for most of the remainder, dominated by health, education and public administration. While the fishing and aquaculture industry is a strong contributor to exports, its share of GDP is at around 3%.

Initiatives on wind power, green hydrogen or battery production have faced various difficulties in past years. Earlier this month, Morrow Batteries ASA, which manufactured cells for energy-storage installations, filed for bankruptcy. It was the latest battery venture in Europe to fail following the much-publicized demise of Swedish group Northvolt AB last year.

While the previous government of Labor Premier Jonas Gahr Store set an aim in 2021 to increase non-oil exports by 50% by the end of the decade, the progress toward that goal has largely reflected the effect of inflation and of weak currency, while only a quarter of the target is achieved if adjusted for those effects.

Cuts in this year’s budget are undermining these efforts, the country’s National Export Council, an advisory body set up to support that goal, said in a report at the end of last year.

Earlier this month, the Energy Ministry announced that it will award 70 new blocks in the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea to its annual licensing round covering the most mature exploration areas on the continental shelf. It also approved plans to reopen three gas fields, with production planned to start in 2028 and continue until 2048.

Anders Opedal, chief executive officer of energy giant Equinor ASA, said in February — before the onslaught of the Iran war — that the company has “a very high bar” for new investments in offshore wind. In April, Equinor halved its stake in local renewables developer Scatec ASA in a further realignment toward its core hydrocarbon business.

Asked whether he is worried about global trends delaying Norway’s transition away from producing oil and gas, Store on Friday referred to how his nation provides more than 30% of Europe’s gas, saying that “for Norway to say we can deliver on that for the coming years is a stabilizer.”

The green transition “will be accelerated after what's happening around the Gulf because countries will say ‘we must be less dependent on something that can be so unstable,’” he added. “We fully support that transition.”

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Among retail customers in France and Germany, EV orders made up more than half of the total for models like the 208 city car and 3008 sports utility vehicle in April and May, brand head Alain Favey said in an interview in Paris. That’s an acceleration from around a fifth during previous months, he said, while demand for electric vans has also climbed.

“The acceleration of demand for EVs is sensational in these countries, which fortunately are key for us,” Favey said. “I’ve rarely seen such a radical shift in such a short time span during my career.” 

EV sales in Europe are growing as more affordable models are available both from domestic manufacturers including Stellantis and Volkswagen AG, as well as Chinese brands led by BYD Co. In both France and Germany, Europe’s largest market where a major new subsidy program is in place, EV sales jumped more than 40% in April, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.

Stellantis — a carmaking behemoth created by the 2021 merger of Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA Group — has been reviewing its strategy in a bid to better allocate spending among 14 brands, many of which cater to the same European mass-market customers. Peugeot is one of the winners from the review that was spearheaded by Chief Executive Officer Antonio Filosa. The nameplate will, alongside Jeep, Ram and Fiat, receive the bulk of future investments.  

Peugeot has “turned a page” after years battling problems with its PureTech engines, Favey said. Excessive cost cuts under previous management also impacted quality, damaging its image, he added. 

The maker of Peugeot 208s also revived its partnership with Dongfeng Motor Corp. this month, marking a shift after the French brand previously pulled back from China. 

Favey presented two new concept cars at the Beijing auto show last month. The Peugeots made in China, based on a Dongfeng platform and larger than the models sold in Europe, won’t be in competition with the European lineup, Favey said.

“Our Chinese partners want to go fast to introduce the new models,” said Favey. “We want to take a bit more time, to make sure these are real Peugeots, very different from what the Chinese brands typically do.”

The brand is set to introduce a total of seven new models by the end of the decade targeting sales of 1.5 million cars sold annually by then. That’s up from 1.1 million from last year. 

These include a revamped 208 city car, due next year, that will be electric only. New technology will include features such as steer by wire, where a control unit electronically transmits driving direction to the wheels, as well as a rectangular steering control center inspired by videogames. Peugeot’s tech innovations could later get used by other group brands, Favey said.  

Stellantis plans to invest more than €1 billion ($1.2 billion) in its Mulhouse car plant in eastern France, President Emmanuel Macron said this week. This will further reinforce the group’s presence in a region where Stellantis’ predecessor company PSA and the Peugeot brand trace their roots. The group already invested to modernize the nearby Sochaux plant, which in 2025 assembled 230,000 Peugeot 3008s and 5008s.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted to give up as much as $4 billion worth of free allowances to oil refiners and other industrial polluters to help them comply with greenhouse gas limits imposed by the state’s 13-year-old carbon market, called Cap-and-Invest. 

Economists and environmentalists said the change may lead to higher emissions and lower prices on the carbon market, which is key to meeting a state mandate to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045. That would slash billions of dollars in revenues that pay for other initiatives to reduce emissions as well as for safe drinking water, affordable housing and wildfire resilience programs. 

But in the wake of Iran war-fueled inflation, New York, Massachusetts and other states have also tempered their climate ambitions. 

“It's no secret that climate policy is at a crossroads, under attack by an openly hostile and well-funded opposition and upended by global economic upheaval,” CARB Chair Lauren Sanchez said Thursday. “Moving forward shows that we can be responsive to affordability concerns.”

More than 200 people queued up to speak at the two-day meeting, underscoring divisions over the future of California’s landmark climate policy, which has influenced other states and nations’ actions to reduce carbon emissions. 

Representatives of petroleum companies, utilities and other industries spoke in support of the carbon market revision, while environmentalists denounced it as a “major handout to Big Oil.”  The mayors of Los Angeles and San Francisco opposed the amendments as regional transportation and air quality officials expressed worries that the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in carbon market revenues for public transit and zero-emission programs would increase pollution in low-income communities. 

“Eliminating these programs could impair our ability to build affordable housing and improve transit in San Francisco, which will help reduce GHG emissions,” said Silvia Solis Shaw on behalf of San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie. 

California sets an annual limit on industrial greenhouse gas emissions that account for about 80% of the state’s carbon pollution. The cap declines each year and oil refiners, cement manufacturers and other companies must acquire allowances, each equivalent to one metric ton of carbon dioxide, to cover their emissions. Polluters can either buy allowances at quarterly auctions or use free ones that CARB gives corporations as an incentive to remain in California. 

In January, CARB proposed further tightening emission limits by removing 118 million allowances from the market to keep the state on track to meet its 2030 targets. That meant oil refiners, for instance, would have to either further reduce emissions or likely pay more for allowances. As California’s already-high gasoline costs soared above $6 a gallon during the war, oil industry executives told officials that would further increase prices at the pump and prompt an exodus of refiners from the state. 

Some state Democratic legislators echoed those concerns and pressed CARB to make changes. The agency subsequently issued a revised proposal that offset the removal of the 118 million allowances with the creation of 118 million new free allowances worth $4 billion. Those allowances would be issued to oil companies and other industrial companies to pay for decarbonization projects through 2035. The amended rule also included an additional $800 million in support to help “ensure no additional cost passthrough at the pump.”

An analysis by economist Meredith Fowlie of the University of California at Berkeley found that “a qualifying refinery could receive free allowances well in excess of its GHG emissions.” That in turn could lead to a rise in emissions and lower carbon prices, she wrote. 

A report from the state Legislative Analyst’s Office concluded the additional allowances would “reduce certainty” that California would hit its 2030 emissions target.

CARB pushed back against those projections at the meeting. The change, said carbon market staffer Michael Turgeon, “doesn’t weaken the integrity of the program. It simply makes it more affordable.”

The Legislative Analyst report said the revision would halve annual auction revenues from about $4 billion on average to $2 billion. CARB executive Rajinder Sahota said Thursday that any revenue drop would be much smaller as only a certain percentage of free allowances would likely be used in any given year.

Under legislation enacted last year, $1 billion of yearly carbon market revenues must be reserved for California’s decades-delayed high-speed rail project. 

An analysis by economists at the University of California at Santa Barbara concluded there could be significantly less money left over to finance many of the climate programs currently funded by the carbon market. 

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The Treasury market rally trimmed yields across maturities by nine to 12 basis points since last Friday’s close. Through May 27, the Bloomberg Treasury Index gained 0.7% on the week, on course for its best weekly performance since Feb. 27, the day before the war started. Two- to 10-year yields declined to weekly lows Friday after US President Donald Trump said a meeting “to make a final determination” on Iran was under way. 

The gains partly eroded after the New York Times reported that Trump left the meeting without a decision having been made. 

“It’s pretty evident they’re going to get a deal done sometime in the next week or so,” Raghav Datla, an interest-rate strategist at Citigroup Global Markets, said. “That builds confidence that you might not see a second-order impact from these oil prices into core inflation.”

Earlier in the session, the 30-year yield touched 4.96%, the lowest level since May 11. 

The weekly moves represent a turnaround from earlier this month, when global bonds tumbled on concern about the war’s impact on the world’s economy. The moves were driven in large measure by elevated oil prices because of a war-related supply shock. Traders, who before March were pricing in two Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts this year, wagered on an increase by mid-2027. 

Less than two weeks ago, the US government’s longest bond yield had reached almost 5.20%, the highest level since 2007. Shorter-maturity Treasury yields reached their highest levels since early 2025 earlier this month.

Over the past week, however, tentative indications that the US and Iran are nearing an agreement that would restore Middle East supply sent benchmark oil prices to the lowest level in six weeks, and Treasury yields retreated.

Residual Risk

“There’s still some residual rate-hike pricing risk, but once a deal is finalized, most of that will be priced out,” Datla said, referring to the roughly 15 basis points of Fed tightening priced into swap contracts linked to the Fed’s policy rate at the end of the year. 

While the market will have difficulty resuming pricing in rate cuts for this year, it has scope to wager on them during the next two years, he said. That’s based not only on oil prices, but also on actual inflation data including the price indexes for personal consumption expenditures released earlier this week for April.

While the 3.8% year-on-year increase in PCE prices was the highest since 2023 and has exceeded the Fed’s 2% target since 2021, the monthly increases were smaller than economists estimated.

This week’s gains for Treasuries also had technical underpinnings. Friday was the last day of the month, in which $324 billion of notes and bonds were sold. Those joined the Bloomberg Treasury Index at 4 p.m. New York time, and index funds and other passive investors conventionally buy them on or around that time in order to match the performance of the index.

Month-end index additions are larger in February, May, August and November, when Treasury auctions are biggest. About $240 billion of notes and bonds were added to the index at the end of March and April.

Index Rebalancing

The index rebalancing spurred heavy trading in Treasury futures, where aggregate volumes for the main contracts in the 10-minute period around it were at least double 20-day average levels. Prices rose to levels short of their intraday highs. 

The weekly advance may fully offset the market’s losses through the end of last week, leaving it close to flat on the month. 

Higher Treasury yields and anticipation of Fed interest-rate increases also are unfolding amid a pattern of upside surprises by US economic activity gauges and record highs for US stocks — including on Friday, suggesting it may take more than lower oil prices to sustain the bond market rally. 

“The US economy remains broadly resilient and supply side price pressures are still working through the inflation data,” Monty Gandhi, an interest-rate strategist at SMBC Group, said in a report. “As a result, we think it will be difficult for a sustained rally in yields without either a concrete geopolitical resolution or signs of labor market deterioration.”

The US Labor Department is slated to release May data on June 5. Economists estimate it will show a slowdown in job creation, to 85,000 new nonfarm jobs from 115,000 in April.

(Adds month-end index activity and updates yield levels.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

In the week ended May 26, money managers switched to a net-short position of 11,316, across seven US benchmark Henry Hub contracts, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In the prior week, investors had a net-long position of 15,270. 

Short-only positions rose 19,639 lots to 437,598, the highest in more than two years, according to the data. 

Prices for benchmark Henry Hub gas have dropped about 10% this year as mild weather dented demand for the heating and power-plant fuel. Robust US production has also pushed inventories above historical averages.

US natural gas has been an outlier in global energy markets this year. While the Iran war has driven up prices for other fuels and oil, America has been flooded with gas supplies. Amid higher crude prices, Texas drillers have increased their oil output, but that’s also meant more gas production as a byproduct. Supplies have been so plentiful in West Texas that local prices have been trading in negative territory. 

Still, in recent days, benchmark US gas prices jumped after a government report showed domestic stockpiles last week increased by a smaller amount than analysts expected. That forced some hedge funds to unwind short positions, pushing prices higher. July gas futures climbed about 10% for the week. 

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The plan sets guidelines for the issuance of green, social and sustainability financing instruments, including loans and bonds, to fund new and existing projects with environmental and social benefits, the National Treasury said in a report published on its website. It also outlines criteria on which financing decisions will be made.

Among projects that would be considered are hydrogen manufacturing, hydropower, geothermal electricity and bioenergy, the framework states. Money may also be raised for electricity transmission, distribution networks for renewable and low-carbon gases, and the development of energy-efficient technologies for industries and households.

“This initiative aims to align the country’s funding strategy with its sustainability objectives, attracting sustainable finance to support South Africa’s decarbonization commitments in a just and inclusive manner,” the Treasury said in the document.

South Africa has been criticized for its slow pace in seeking funding from investors keen to back sustainable and climate-friendly development even as it plans significant expenditure on infrastructure and needs to adapt from its heavy reliance on coal to comply with global climate-change commitments. The framework comes more than five years after the government first said it would outline plans for green bonds.

Meeting South Africa’s environmental targets under international accords including the Paris Agreement on climate change will cost about 250 billion rand for implementation and 3.47 trillion rand for mitigation strategies between 2026 and 2035, the framework states. That’s an average of 372 billion rand a year.

The country aims to raise about 160 billion rand a year from international climate-finance institutions by 2030, with the remainder coming from private-sector lenders and spending.

While the framework aims to address South Africa’s key sustainability challenges, achieving the full environmental benefits of green projects under the program may be constrained by the country’s high reliance on coal for electricity generation, S&P Global ratings said in an assessment published together with the plan.

“The framework’s financing of projects linked to healthcare, education, employment, and food security will help tackle social challenges and strengthen South Africa’s development path,” S&P said. Still, the “broad scope, typical for a sovereign issuer, creates uncertainty regarding future environmental, social, and climate risks and benefits of specific projects,” it added.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The Indian Gas Exchange, the country’s largest gas-trading platform, sold 4.5 trillion British Thermal Units to power firms from April 1 through May 26, according to data shared by the company. That’s an almost 350% jump from the same period a year earlier. 

Large swathes of India have suffered from blistering heat waves this summer, with sweltering temperatures around-the-clock pushing peak electricity demand to new highs during the days and nights.

The nation has used gas-fired power capacity to help meet the demand surge during the hot nights, although the war in Iran has pushed up prices and made the fuel harder to buy than in previous years. That has resulted in supply shortfalls of as much as 5 gigawatts during peak night-time hours, data from Grid Controller of India show.

Natural gas still accounts for just 2% of India’s electricity mix. The country has about 20 gigawatts of gas-fired capacity, which is mostly used as a reserve to meet demand surges in the evenings. This summer, less than half that capacity has been utilized due to shortages of gas.

The entire volume sold to the power sector this summer is regasified liquefied natural gas, said Rajesh Kumar Mediratta, the chief executive officer of the exchange. Companies paid an average 1,769 rupees ($18.55) per million Btu to buy the fuel from the bourse during the April-May period, about 64% more than a year earlier, IGX data show.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Annual emissions in the year to December fell to 458.9 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, with reductions spurred by lower rates of pollution from electricity generation, curbs on natural gas venting and a cleaner transportation sector, Australia’s government said Friday in a quarterly report.

Record wind and large-scale solar generation, along with a surge in battery uptake, has helped make Australia’s main electricity grid the cleanest on record. Electricity emissions were about 26% lower than 2005 levels and nearly 4% below the previous year, according to the report.

The decline in annual emissions is “further proof that what’s better for the planet is better for your pocket — more of the cheapest form of new energy, more storage to back it up, and lower emissions as a result,” Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said in the statement.

Despite a record renewables buildout, Australia has previously warned it is at risk of missing a pledge to reduce emissions to between 62% and 70% of 2005 levels by 2035 without deeper cuts to pollution. To stay on track for net zero by 2050, the country needs to cut emissions by 71% by 2035, according to BloombergNEF.

Lower annual emissions across transport, electricity and stationary energy were partially offset by increased pollution from industrial processes, mainly due to higher steel production, the report said. 

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Through its climate-technology subsidiary, A Healthier Earth, Pure DC says the credits will help expand a market viewed as critical to corporate efforts to limit carbon pollution. The initiative comes as many data centers continue to rely on fossil fuels to meet soaring power demand, driving up greenhouse gas emissions. 

For companies seeking a way to offset the ballooning carbon emissions from running AI workloads, carbon-removal credits represent an essential tool, Alastair Collier, the firm’s chief research and development officer, said in an interview. 

The challenge is that “credits aren’t available and the scale of the market doesn’t exist to satiate demand,” he said.

Pure DC is among companies betting on a quick uptake of AI applications in Europe, where investors and consumers are more concerned with climate goals than in the US. The Oaktree-backed firm last year sought to raise cash from other investors for an implied valuation of as much as £5 billion ($6.7 billion). The goal is to build large-scale AI campuses across Europe and the UK targeting a total capacity of 3 gigawatts that it says could be rented out to technology firms. 

Collier says that by the end of 2029, Pure DC’s annual offering of carbon-removal credits will be as high as 100,000, which is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions of roughly 23,000 passenger cars. The company will also sell credits from its own carbon projects, as well as those created by its partners, he said.

The massive build-out of energy-hungry AI data centers makes them among the few sectors set to see a rise in emissions into 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. That’s in part as they continue to rely on natural gas, it said. Addressing this uptick in emissions means carbon removal will be a necessary component of the data-center boom, Collier said.

Microsoft Corp. has long stood out as by far the largest investor in carbon-removal credits. However, the company has shown signs of adjusting its climate commitments in its efforts to keep up in the AI race, raising concerns about demand for such credits.

Pure DC said combining data-center development with verified carbon-removal services creates “a critical commercial differentiator” that will appeal to hyperscaler customers and global corporates seeking to address residual emissions.

A Healthier Earth, the Pure DC subsidiary, is developing a carbon project in the UK county of Wiltshire. Credits generated will each represent 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide that’s been taken out of the atmosphere via biochar, which is what’s left after heating biomass and other agricultural waste. Biochar, though still a niche corner of the cabon-offsets market, can store CO2 for hundreds of years.

The company aims to complete verification and first credit issuance from its biochar facility before the end of this year. It won’t use any of the credits generated from its biochar projects, or any co-developed projects, to offset its own emissions.

Pure DC has close ties with the UK government, and is currently constructing a data center in Ireland that’s designed to be self-sufficient. Collier worked for the National Grid before joining the firm. 

(Adds BNEF reference. A previous version corrected the final paragraph, to show that Collier worked for the National Grid.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

A decision could be made soon, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. The group had been building toward an 8 billion ringgit ($2 billion) offer for Kuala Lumpur-listed Yinson for about a year. 

Shares of Yinson tumbled as much as 8% on Thursday, the most in more than a year.

Yinson’s net income in the latest quarter plunged 65% from a year earlier to 228 million ringgit and revenue fell 19%. The company cited higher administrative expenses, impairment losses for renewables and green technologies and the absence of previous one-off gains from disposals. Founder Lim Han Weng said Yinson Production remains the group’s primary growth engine, with steady progress on projects under construction, including in Vietnam.

The Lim family may still pursue a transaction with firms other than Stonepeak, some of the people said, adding that no final decision has been made. 

Representatives for Stonepeak, the Lim family and Yinson declined to comment.

Bloomberg News reported last year that New York-based Stonepeak was teaming up with the Lim family, which established Yinson in the 1980s, for a buyout. Some local pension funds with shareholdings in Yinson were also part of the group, which was seeking to do the buyout via a scheme of arrangement. 

The Lim family owned 27.7% of Yinson at the end of April, the company’s website shows. After starting out as a transport and logistics firm, Yinson diversified into energy infrastructure, renewables and technology. 

(Updates with Yinson’s share move in third paragraph.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The warning underscores the challenges facing the UK government’s goal of largely decarbonizing the power system by 2030 to cut emissions and lower bills, even as major utilities continue to invest billions of pounds in both renewables and networks.

The firm with the most green power capacity in the UK had planned to generate 50 terawatt-hours of renewable electricity annually by the end of the decade, a target it has called “ambitious.” However, in its Thursday earnings statement SSE said that target is now unlikely to be achieved, while also pointing to delays affecting some UK onshore wind projects.

Grid capacity is emerging as one of the biggest obstacles to the energy transition. Significant investment is needed both to connect new wind farms and to expand the electricity network across the country. At the same time, local opposition to new infrastructure projects is creating further delays.

For example, SSE said approval for its Cambushinnie substation in Scotland was withdrawn following a legal challenge and will now be reconsidered later this summer.

The company also took a £155.8 million ($209 million) charge on two Scottish wind farms after delays connecting them to the electricity network pushed back construction timelines.

In another setback for clean energy ambitions, SSE said it had paused its standalone hydrogen production projects because of delays to government support for the technology. The company said it will instead focus on hydrogen infrastructure in the Humber region and future hydrogen-to-power projects.

The retreat from some renewable targets comes even as SSE continues to advance its offshore wind developments. Turbine installation at the 1.2-gigawatt Dogger Bank A offshore wind farm was completed earlier this year, with full commissioning expected later in 2026. The project’s second phase, Dogger Bank B, has already installed 20 turbines.

SSE also reported its lowest earnings since 2022. Adjusted operating profit fell 8% to £2.24 billion in the year through March, missing analyst estimates.

Profit at the company’s distribution business dropped 54% from a year earlier because the previous result benefited from a temporary inflation-linked increase in allowed revenues. 

SSE’s shares, which have gained 11% this year, traded little changed in London. 

(Updates with details, comments on 2030 goal)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

At least two cargoes scheduled to load next month from export terminals on the US Gulf Coast were canceled, and some buyers are in talks to terminate more shipments, according to people familiar with the matter. They asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak to the media.

Asian LPG buyers were forced to scramble for more US supplies after the Iran war led to the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz, choking off flows from the Persian Gulf. A key marker for gauging profits from exporting US gas to East Asia, known as the Far East Index-Mont Belvieu differential, has narrowed while shipping rates have jumped, wiping out healthy returns for traders.

India, a major importer that shipped 90% of its LPG from the Middle East prior to the war, turned to the US to partially replace lost supply, but inflated shipping rates have driven up costs and squeezed the nation’s state refiners. For Asian buyers, there’s little relief from the freight surge.

A cargo shipped to Asia through the Panama Canal can either queue for much longer than it did before the war, or pay eye-watering sums to jump the line. The alternative is the route via the Cape of Good Hope, which ties up vessels for longer periods, adding to a tanker squeeze and pushing up rates.

LPG is widely used as a cooking gas in domestic and commercial kitchens across India, or to make plastics in large factories in China.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The gas would come from the Ksi Lisims LNG project, a proposed C$10 billion ($7.2 billion) export plant in northwestern British Columbia, near the Alaska panhandle. 

Under the terms, Germany will agree to buy as much as 1 million metric tons a year of LNG from Canada for 20 years from the early 2030s, according to a statement from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. While those volumes represent only about 1% of Germany’s natural gas imports last year, it’s a significant step in how Europe’s largest economy manages its energy needs.

Bloomberg had reported the news of the deal ahead of the official statement. 

Recent high-level visits between Canada and Germany have accelerated as both countries look for broader realignments in the Trump era. The two sides have deepened cooperation on critical minerals, energy and defense.

The LNG deal is a step forward for the leaders of both countries, who have talked about energy deals but have been hamstrung by Canada’s failure to build the necessary infrastructure. Canada has enormous natural gas reserves, especially in the western provinces, but sends most of its production to the US through pipelines. The country didn’t have an LNG export facility on the west coast until about a year ago, with the startup of the first phase of LNG Canada, which is backed by Shell Plc and other energy companies.  

Germany, as Europe’s largest economy and its industrial powerhouse, has been buffeted by a series of energy crises — first with Russia’s assault on Ukraine and more recently by the war in the Middle East. The buyer of the gas would be SEFE, a former Gazprom PJSC unit nationalized by the German government after the invasion of Ukraine.

The super-chilled fuel currently accounts for about 13% of total gas imports into Germany, with roughly 94% sourced from the US, causing officials to push the state-owned companies to diversify their portfolios. Chancellor Friedrich Merz had set his sights on the Middle East earlier this year, before the Iran war laid bare the fragility of those flows.

Earlier this year, SEFE signed an 8-year LNG sales and purchase agreement with Argentina’s Southern Energy and also announced a tender for 10-year shipments, while Uniper signed agreements in India. 

The agreement “is a powerful and very positive symbol of German diversification away from Russia, and potentially from the US,” Susanne Nies, senior energy researcher at think tank Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, said in an email.

The group behind Ksi Lisims hasn’t yet reached a final investment decision to start construction. But the project has already received regulatory approval, and its investors want to build a facility capable of producing 12 million metric tons a year of LNG.

Ksi Lisims LNG is backed by Blackstone Inc.-funded Western LNG, as well as Rockies LNG Partners and the Nisga’a Nation, an Indigenous group that owns the development land. 

Canadian Energy Minister Tim Hodgson, speaking in a recent interview with Bloomberg News, said European nations are actively looking for a reliable supply of gas to replace flows from Russia and the Middle East, which have been disrupted by war. 

Asked whether west coast LNG could be shipped from Canada to Europe through the Panama Canal, Hodgson said there are multiple options. 

“Some ships will go through Panama, some will go around, some they’ll just trade” to other buyers, in return for LNG cargoes that are closer to Europe, he said. 

European countries don’t want to become overly reliant on American gas, the minister said — partly because of trade tensions with the Trump administration but also because they want the security that comes with having a range of suppliers.

“We can be that alternative,” Hodgson said. “We can be that reliable supplier who will not use energy for coercion.” That could eventually take the form of LNG being shipped via Canada’s east coast or through Hudson Bay in the north, but in the near term, “we have huge increases in supply coming off the west coast, which are music to their ears.”

Ultimately, it makes sense for Canada and Europe to become closer energy partners at a time when global superpowers are looking to use trade as a tool of geopolitical coercion, Hodgson said.

“They’re looking around and saying, how do we create energy security?” he said. “Where can we find a supplier who shares our values? And they look around and they don’t see a lot of choices.”

(Updates with details of the LNG deal in then 3rd paragraph)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Investors in its second funding round included US Innovative Technology, General Innovation Capital Partners and Prelude Ventures, which led the company’s first major funding round in 2024, according to a statement Wednesday. New Jersey-based Thea was spun out of Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in 2022.

Thea plans to begin construction next year on its Eos demonstration system, a nuclear fusion device known as a stellarator that uses powerful magnets to contain a superheated cloud of plasma within a donut-shaped device. The firm expects it to be complete in 2030. That would help validate the fusion concept, when small atoms within the plasma fuse into larger ones, releasing more energy than is needed to sustain the reaction. 

Fusion offers the potential for abundant clean energy when demand for power is climbing, driven by electrified homes, factories, and data centers. But the physics and engineering challenges are significant, and fusion remains unproven at commercial scale. 

Stellarators are considered especially difficult because they require a precise shape to contain the plasma. Chief Executive Officer Brian Berzin said the biggest challenge is completing the design, which should help ease the building process. That will be key to developing commercial versions, which he expects to see in service by about 2034.

“Power plants in this world are not built by Princeton PhDs. They’re built by trades,” he said in an interview. “That’s how utility-scale power gets built.”

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The growing focus on AI shows how quickly investors have shifted their attention from environmentally friendly technology to the expected massive power demands data centers will need.

Transition was founded around the peak of the clean tech investment wave, which in 2022 saw $128 billion pour into startups intent on mitigating climate-harming emissions or improving the health of the planet, according to BloombergNEF. Then artificial intelligence took off, and with it a surge in electric demand from data center projects.

“Data centers were already a big thing and now, with AI, it’s exploding,” said Transition partner David Helgason, a co-founder of game software developer Unity Technologies Inc. “How to fit more compute inside the materials we have, the energy we have, has become a critical thing.”

Climate tech investment is on track to reach $89 billion in 2026, according to BNEF, but with more of that money pouring into firms that support the AI infrastructure boom. Those include startups that provide clean, reliable power for data centers, like geothermal company Fervo Energy Co., which raised $1.89 billion in one of the year’s largest energy IPOs. 

For its part, Transition has backed firms that address bottlenecks in the data center buildout, Helgason said. Those include Olix Computing Ltd., a startup developing faster AI chips, and Invisix, a firm working on semiconductor metrology. 

Other climate-focused startups that don’t have an AI thesis haven’t fared so well. Those include the Transition-backed Running Tide, an ocean-based carbon removal startup that went bust in 2024, citing insufficient demand in the voluntary carbon market. 

“Running Tide still gives me PTSD to think about,” Helgason said. “It was very hard to sell into that market that kind of solution.” 

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

The Umm Al Ashtan, which is managed by Adnoc Logistics & Services, reappeared northwest of Muscat, Oman, loaded with a cargo and listing its destination as India, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The vessel stopped sending a signal around May 2, but at the time was empty and idling near the eastern entrance to Hormuz.

Satellite images show the ship appears to have loaded a cargo at Adnoc’s Das Island export plant, which is in the Persian Gulf behind Hormuz, during the period it wasn’t sending a signal. The pictures show that LNG tankers have been docking at Das Island, even though no vessels broadcast their positions near the plant.

The passage is part of a small flurry of energy flows transiting through Hormuz, with at least two non-Iranian oil supertankers exiting the Persian Gulf. The strait has remained virtually shut to LNG traffic since the war in Iran began in late February — choking about a fifth of global supply of the fuel.

Adnoc has exported three other shipments from the Persian Gulf on tankers that went dark when traversing the waterway. The last of those is currently docking in western India. Adnoc L&S said in an emailed statement that it does not comment on the position, movements, or routing of its vessels as a matter of policy.

Still, the transits represent only a fraction of pre-war volumes, when roughly three tankers carrying the super-chilled fuel exited Hormuz on a daily basis, mostly carrying fuel from bigger exporter Qatar.

(Updates with company’s comment in the fifth paragraph.)

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Their Novandino Litio partnership set its latest projection after wrapping up design work on a project to introduce more direct ways to recover lithium from brine under the Atacama salt flat in northern Chile, environment manager Julio Garcia said. The venture plans to submit an environmental impact study to regulators in June.

After years of testing, Novandino is advancing toward commercial operations of technologies known in the industry as direct lithium extraction, or DLE. They are touted as cleaner and faster than the traditional evaporation method, in which vast quantities of salty water get vaporized in one of the driest places on Earth, raising concerns about microbial ecosystems.

But large-scale commercial success for direct extraction remains largely unproven. The Atacama is a high-stakes proving ground: if DLE works there, it helps de-risk the technology globally. One key facet of the new process is reinjection, in which lithium-depleted brine is returned to the salt flat to preserve hydrological and geochemical balance.

“It will be rigorously monitored to determine that it not only delivers the recovery rates it promises, but also does not generate any type of impact,” Garcia said in an interview from Novandino’s Santiago offices. 

The company has completed years of testing and engineering work on the technologies as it seeks to scale up output to meet demand for electric vehicles and large battery storage, while lowering environmental impacts. The approach combines nano-filtration and mechanical evaporation, along with other technologies already in use at its refinery.

Subject to environmental and other permitting, construction at the project dubbed Salar Futuro will start toward the end of the decade, with full implementation extending into the mid-2030s, Garcia said. Novandino has yet to make a final investment decision. Its previous guidance for the project cost was $2 billion-plus. 

The project would gradually replace part of the traditional evaporation system, while maintaining some ponds for potassium production and pre-concentration. Freshwater extraction would eventually end.

Novandino was formed late last year after lithium supplier SQM agreed to hand over a majority stake in its Chilean brine assets to state-owned Codelco in exchange for extending operations.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Driven by a persistent high-pressure heat dome, the scorching conditions raised average temperatures by 9C to 15C above the norm across the region. London hit a May record of 35C (95F) on Tuesday, according to the Met Office. 

The system pushed away cloud cover across a wide swath of the UK, leading to unusually sunny skies that intensified the heat while also boosting solar power generation. At its peak around midday on Sunday, solar met almost half of the UK’s electricity demand — the highest ever, according to NESO data. The surge in renewable output weighed on Europe’s power market, pushing hourly prices in France below zero around 1 p.m. Tuesday on Epex Spot. 

The searing early season heat is raising concerns about the impact of extreme weather as summer temperatures climb. Longer-term forecasts for the world’s fastest-warming continent show more heat waves in the months ahead, especially as high temperatures drain moisture from soils, meteorologists say. 

Month-ahead power prices jumped as much as 12% on Tuesday to the highest since March in EEX data on concerns about hydro availability and nuclear curtailments this summer as temperatures climb in key rivers used for cooling French reactors. 

In Italy, where air conditioning is more common, power demand is also rising, with consumption on Tuesday expected to reach 46 gigawatts, the highest since April 7, according to Terna.

While the clear skies under the heat dome have been a boon for solar, they’re having the opposite effect on wind speeds. Below-normal wind generation is forecast this week in Germany, Spain, Italy and France, where generation slumped to about 0.5 gigawatts around 1pm, according to RTE data. It has averaged 7.4 gigawatts so far this year. 

The heat is expected to peak Tuesday, before slowly easing toward the end of the week.

“A very hot start to the week,” said Greg Dewhurst, a meteorologist with the UK Met Office. “Record-breaking by day and by night, but a cooler end, especially by Sunday.”

Over the weekend, increased water demand triggered system failures that left about 800 households in Kent and Sussex without water or experiencing low pressure. A burst pipe in the Cotswold village of Bourton-on-the-Water also left nearly 200 households with low pressure. Thames Water is still investigating the cause, but heat waves can damage pipes as demand surges and high temperatures shrink and move soil near buried pipes.

France recorded its hottest May day on Monday, with temperatures in Paris forecast to reach 33C on Tuesday, according to Météo-France.

In France, the heat wave has been directly linked to at least two deaths, government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon said Tuesday on TF1 television. At least five people died from drowning, while others died from heat-related causes during sporting events, she said. 

Daytime highs are forecast to reach as high as 39C in Languedoc in the south on Thursday, according to Météo-France. There are amber alerts in 13 departments in the west of the country.

“Before 1989, heat waves occurred on average once every five years in mainland France. Since 2000, at least one heat wave has been recorded every summer,” Météo-France said in a statement.

Amber warnings for high temperatures are in effect for western Spain, where temperatures could reach 38C on Tuesday. Similar alerts are also active for parts of the UK through Thursday, including London, east and southeast England, and the Midlands.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Global benchmark Brent rose above $100 a barrel after slumping more than 7% on Monday. The US military said it targeted missile-launch sites in southern Iran and boats attempting to lay mines, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it fired at an F-35 fighter jet and several drones after they entered Iranian airspace.

Tehran’s foreign ministry condemned the US attacks as a violation of a ceasefire agreement. A UK naval monitor later said the master of a tanker reported an explosion that caused some fuel to spill from a ship in the Gulf of Oman, though there were no further details of what caused the incident. 

The escalation came against the backdrop of talks to end a war that has upended global energy markets. Negotiations will still “take a few days” as both sides discuss language in an initial document, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in India on Tuesday. 

Oil markets will begin turning their attention to the movement of vessels and the progress of restarting energy assets, Macquarie Group strategists including Vikas Dwivedi wrote in a note Tuesday.

“Visibility to a durable end of the conflict may be significantly improved, but the underlying situation remains far from resolved,” the strategists wrote.

Crude had retreated sharply in the week’s opening session as President Donald Trump posted that the talks were “proceeding nicely,” while also threatening more attacks if they were unsuccessful. That followed a softening last week as the prospects of peace grew and a flurry of ships made their way out of Hormuz. 

West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, was down to around $93, though prices did not settle on Monday due to Memorial Day, meaning the fall reflected the move from Friday’s price.

Oil prices that rallied in March and April are now on pace for a drop in May, as the fragile ceasefire and push to reopen Hormuz outweigh signs of fast-depleting stockpiles. The strait, the key waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flowed during peacetime, remains essentially closed, subject to blockades by the US and Iran.

The two sides have been negotiating a deal that would see them extend the ceasefire for about two months, with Washington lifting its blockade and Tehran reopening Hormuz. Still, sticking points remain, with Tehran saying it must be able to manage traffic through the chokepoint, something the US, Arab states and Europe maintain cannot be allowed.

At present, it’s “premature to consider a peace deal will be reached let alone adhered to,” said Saul Kavonic, senior energy analyst at MST Marquee. “There have been claims by both sides of negotiation success, or the strait opening in the past few months already, only for it to not materialize.”

With Hormuz still largely closed, global oil inventories have been drawing at a record pace, according to a recent tally from the International Energy Agency. That’s put the spotlight on the US, where holdings — commercial and strategic combined — have been contracting at an unprecedented clip.

Highlighting additional challenges, Israel said on Monday it would intensify strikes against Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Tehran has demanded an end to hostilities in that country as part of any deal with the US.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

Growing global demand for inputs into the clean energy industry could cause price increases in the coming years, “unless industrial capacity keeps pace,” Climate Action Ambassador Ravi Menon told Bloomberg News on Friday. 

“You need a price signal and then capital and investments will flow into this and the supply will then start to catch up. In fact, the smart money should already be investing in that now, knowing that there’s going to be demand and prices are going to go up,” the former central banker said. ‘Smart money’ typically refers to institutional investors and hedge funds.

Renewables demand is set to surge as fossil-fuel dependent countries scramble to boost their energy independence against a backdrop of prolonged oil and gas disruptions due to the Iran war. Already, South Korea and the Philippines are among those looking to fast-track such projects, and the S&P Global Clean Energy Transition Index has climbed 37% this year, outperforming the 30% gain in the S&P Global Oil Index.

“The political impetus is in line with the clean energy agenda because how do you make sure you don’t get caught in this situation again?” Menon said. He was the longest-serving chief of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, his tenure lasting more than 12 years before he retired in 2024.

This acceleration in the green transition could increase prices across the renewables sector including for consumers, Menon said. Higher demand and tighter supply for industrial metals and critical minerals, higher fuel costs in the short-term, and countries bringing clean-energy supply chains onshore would all contribute to the trend and ultimately create investment opportunities, he added.

Climate change will also bring longer-term inflationary pressures from increased spending on disaster recovery and adaptation, Menon said.

While there’s no immediate supply crunch thanks to China’s mass production and export of green technology, countries may want to diversify their supply chains to avoid relying on a single source, Menon said.

Still, “the energy security issue relating to renewables is nowhere near the scale of the concentration risk in fossil fuels,” he added.

A renewables rollout could, however, be undermined by a longer-term pivot back to coal, Menon said. It’s a strategy that some of Asia’s largest economies including India have already employed to deal with electricity shortages since the Iran war began in late February. 

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.

US President Donald Trump said Monday that negotiations with Iran over an interim deal to extend their ceasefire and reopen Hormuz were “proceeding nicely.” Trump’s comments, made in a Truth Social post, added to signals that the US and Iran are nearing an agreement. Pakistan’s military chief, Asim Munir, the main interlocutor between the warring sides, told China an agreement is “close to being reached.”

Global energy markets have been upended by the crisis, which began in February when the US and Israel attacked Iran. The conflict spread rapidly across the Persian Gulf region, forcing producers to shut in millions of barrels of daily crude supplies. Hormuz, which links the region to global markets, has been subject to a double blockade by both Tehran and Washington.

There is “a presumption that the Strait of Hormuz is going to be opened in the not too distant future and I think the market is betting that the supply demand situation rebalances and things are going to normalize,” Bart Melek, global head of commodity strategy at TD Securities.

It remains unclear how key differences, including the fate of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, will be addressed. Iran’s Tasnim news agency said the draft agreement could still collapse because the US was obstructing some key clauses, including a demand that its assets be unfrozen.

“A consensus was reached on many of the topics discussed, but no one can claim that the signing of an agreement is imminent,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei told reporters on Monday.

“The two sides may be closer on a ceasefire and Strait of Hormuz reopening framework, but still far apart on the harder issues,” said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo Markets in Singapore, citing sanctions and the nuclear program. “Oil has priced in relief, but not a durable resolution.”

Trading in crude futures was thinner than usual on Monday, with public holidays in the US and the UK. The US break for Memorial Day traditionally marks the start of the summer travel season, a period when demand for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel can be expected to rise.

The US and Iran have developed a memorandum that would extend the ceasefire by 60 days as the two sides seek a permanent deal, the Washington Post reported, citing a senior administration official. If agreed, the strait would be de-mined and reopened in the meantime, the newspaper said.

A full reopening of Hormuz, which in peacetime typically handled around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, would be a relief for energy importers across Asia, including China, Japan and South Korea.

Transits have been running at a fraction of their pre-war pace, although a few vessels have made it through. Among them, a supertanker hauling Iraqi crude to China left the Persian Gulf and crossed the US blockade, ship-tracking data show. In addition, three liquefied natural gas tankers appear to have exited.

Iran said it is seeking to collect a shipping fee for services and environmental protection in the Strait of Hormuz, pushing back on describing it as a toll, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said. It’s unclear if the US would accept that.

The Islamic Republic claimed that 33 vessels, including oil tankers and container ships, had passed through the strait after obtaining permission from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, Tasnim reported on Sunday, citing the force. The Trump administration has said that any toll system is unacceptable.

Trump has been facing growing domestic political pressure to end the conflict, particularly ahead of the November midterm elections that will determine control of Congress. The war has boosted the cost of fuels, with average US gasoline prices hitting the highest since 2022.

Elsewhere, Russia and Ukraine struck each other’s energy infrastructure. Ukraine hit the Sheskharis oil terminal, the largest on Russia’s Black Sea coast; a storage facility; and a major petrochemicals plant. State energy company Naftogaz said Russia targeted oil-and-gas facilities in the east.

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The Italian oil producer, along with Vitol and state-owned oil company Petroci, took a final investment decision Monday on Baleine Phase 3, aimed to increase the project’s oil production to 150,000 barrels a day from 60,000 and raise gas output.

Eni’s teams have finished similar builds in three years or less, but higher crude prices present an incentive to potentially realize the project faster by a matter of months, Brusco said in a phone interview from Abidjan. “There are always opportunities in a project schedule to save some time and of course those are very much linked to the macro, and the macro is favorable.”

A phased approach to projects has been implemented by Eni across Africa, from Ivory Coast to Mozambique, where it’s considering a third floating liquefied natural gas platform.

Baleine Phase 3 includes the development of a floating production, storage and offloading unit. The FPSO will be built in a Chinese shipyard and completed by mid-2028, Brusco said. Upon completion, gas production from the project, expected to more than double to 200 million cubic feet a day, will be supplied to the Ivory Coast.

Eni holds a 47.25% stake in Baleine, Vitol has 30% and Petroci owns the remainder. The explorer signed an agreement with Socar in January to sell 10% of its holding, which is pending government approval.

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The documents show the world’s biggest miner shelved a board-approved solar and battery project at its Jimblebar iron ore mine and deferred a 500 megawatt solar, wind and battery system. BHP also abandoned plans for a lower-emissions iron ore processing facility, that had the potential to prevent 1.7 million tons of emissions a year, according to the report.

Companies across sectors from banking to airlines and energy producers have taken recent steps to dilute commitments to emissions reduction amid rising costs, a lack of available technologies or political pressure. Rio Tinto Group, BHP’s largest competitor, in December lowered its estimated spending through 2030 on decarbonization to $1 billion to $2 billion, from a previous estimate of as much as $6 billion.

As of mid-2025, BHP reduced emissions by 36% from the firm’s 2020 baseline, with progress driven by shifting 70% of the company’s total electricity use to renewable sources, a spokesperson said. However, many of the technologies the resources industry will need to achieve net zero — notably in heavy earth moving and bulk logistics equipment — “are not yet ready to be deployed,” the spokesperson said. 

BHP is running trials with its partners of battery-electric haul trucks and locomotives to “support the acceleration of this technology,” the spokesperson said.

The rollback is likely to intensify scrutiny from investors and environmental groups, who argue that the company’s spending decisions could influence the pace of the nation’s decarbonization ambitions.

(Updated with BHP response in fourth and fifth paragraphs)

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A total of 9.52 gigawatts of solar capacity was added last month, according to data from the National Energy Administration. The monthly figure represents a slight improvement from 8.91 gigawatts added in March, but is a steep drop from the year-earlier level of 45.22 gigawatts when policy changes drove a surge in installations. 

The slowdown, which began early this year, reflects weakening domestic demand following years of rapid renewable energy expansion. The sluggish momentum is also evident in manufacturing. Solar cell output fell 26% in April, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics last week. 

However, exports remained resilient last month, despite the removal of tax rebates for overseas shipments that were expected to damp global demand for the country’s clean tech products. Shipments of solar cells grew 60% by volume from a year earlier, according to data released by China’s General Administration of Customs. 

“With conflict in the Middle East stifling energy passage via the Strait of Hormuz, overseas solar shipments should remain robust through 2H as various nations step up their push toward alternative energy,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Chia Chen said in a note.

China also added 5.49 gigawatts of wind power in April, while newly installed thermal power additions were 3.97 gigawatts, according to the NEA.

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Leaning on practices including dark transits — when vessels cross the Strait of Hormuz with their transponders switched off — Adnoc has been among the most successful producers when it comes to taking supplies out of the Middle East, according to tracking data, traders and people with knowledge of the matter.

Other Middle East producers, along with Western commodity traders, have also sought ways of moving cargoes through Hormuz over almost three months of war, but most lease their tankers, and have found themselves constrained by the risk appetite of the owners.

Adnoc, by contrast, has been using vessels controlled by Navig8, a company that’s majority owned by its shipping and logistics arm, and Wanhua Chemical Group, a joint-venture partner, according to the people, who asked not to be named as the information is not public. These include crude and clean petroleum product tankers as well as gas carriers, the people said.

Adnoc is not alone in attempting to find ways to get its cargoes to market — Qatar has also been unobtrusively exporting through Hormuz in recent days. 

Liquefied natural gas tanker Al Rayyan was spotted north of Muscat, Oman, on Monday after passing Hormuz, and is heading to top customer China, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The tanker stopped broadcasting a signal around May 22, when it had been idling near Qatar’s Ras Laffan export plant in the Persian Gulf. 

The bold gambits highlight the urgency felt by producers, who are rushing to get supply to market in part given limited storage capacity. Adding to the United Arab Emirates’ eagerness, it officially left the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on May 1.

“With the UAE leaving OPEC and finding ways to send ships through Hormuz in the dark, Adnoc has been willing to take more risks in order to get their oil out,” said Matt Wright, senior freight analyst at intelligence firm Kpler.

A spokesperson for Adnoc Logistics & Services said the company could not comment on the position, movements, or routing of its vessels as a matter of policy. Adnoc referred queries to Adnoc L&S.

QatarEnergy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Adnoc’s method allows it to send some recently exited ships back into the Persian Gulf for more cargoes, the people said — so-called shuttle runs that can keep oil and fuels flowing. Once through Hormuz, the vessels typically transfer their cargoes to clients’ tankers in safer waters off Fujairah or Sohar, a known hotspot, or sail to India’s west coast. 

The short runs mean the producer can make the most of proximity to Hormuz, with crudes such as Upper Zakum typically loading at Zirku Island, while naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas are picked up from Adnoc’s mega-refinery at Ruwais. A return journey takes roughly a week.

Adnoc has also exported at least three LNG cargoes through Hormuz using dark transits. The latest was spotted over the weekend, loaded with a cargo and heading to western India, according to ship-tracking data. 

Satellite images show that LNG tankers have been docking at Das Island, Adnoc’s export plant within the Persian Gulf, for at least a month, even though no tankers are broadcasting their positions near the plant.

For Adnoc’s gas exits, empty tankers head toward the eastern entrance of the strait near the Fujairah anchorage, where they stop transmitting signals, before transiting the waterway to load cargoes from Das Island. The vessels resume broadcasting their location only after clearing Hormuz and entering the Gulf of Oman once again.

Still, the successful transits represent only a fraction of pre-war trade flows, particularly for LNG — so far only seven shipments have been identified making it through since the US and Israel started strikes against Iran, compared to roughly three exits a day before the conflict began.

Specific figures on overall crude, gas and fuel cargoes are hard to tally with certainty, given transponders are off — an increasingly common tactic in the area, as a safety precaution. The shadow practice also means it is unclear if the vessels are sailing through the waterway close to Oman or along the Iran-approved northern route, which may involve toll payments.

But the pick up in exits underlines the extent to which more regional producers are able to find informal and temporary workarounds, balancing Iran and the US to avoid either blockade.

Senior US officials have said that the US and Iran are closing in on a deal that could reopen Hormuz, even as President Donald Trump said he would not “rush” into an agreement. Over the weekend, he said that a peace deal with Iran had been “largely negotiated”. Key sticking points remain, however, including Iran’s nuclear program.

(Adds Qatar detail in paragraphs five, six and from paragraph 10.)

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Benchmark futures fell as much as 6.7% after President Donald Trump said in a social media post that “the negotiations are proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner,” although he added that the US would not to rush into a deal.

Most gas from the Middle East normally goes to Asia, but persisting disruptions to flows through Hormuz could intensify competition for a limited global pool of liquefied natural gas. That would complicate Europe’s efforts to refill its lower-than-usual fuel inventories before next winter.

The region’s vast storage facilities are now about 38% full, significantly below the five-year average for this time of the year of just above 50%. While it’s normal for storage to decline in winter and be refilled in summer, this year’s campaign has been slow to take off. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also struck a cautiously upbeat tone, saying the US was going to give diplomacy every chance. “We thought we might have some news last night,” he told reporters in New Delhi. “Maybe today.”

Still, it remains unclear how key differences, including the fate of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, will be addressed. Iran’s Tasnim news agency said the draft agreement could still collapse because the US was obstructing some key clauses, including a demand that its assets be unfrozen.

Dutch front-month futures, Europe’s gas benchmark, fell 4.9% to €46.32 a megawatt-hour as of 8:56 a.m. in Amsterdam. Trading volumes are very thin as many market participants are away because of holidays in the UK and parts of the continent. 

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Indian Oil Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp. and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. — which together control about 90% of India’s fuel retail market — increased gasoline prices in New Delhi by 2.6% to 102.12 rupees ($1.07) a liter and for diesel by 2.9% to 95.20 rupees, according to company statements and website data. Prices have been raised across India, but vary from state to state due to local taxes.

The latest hike brings cumulative increases over the last 10 days to 7.8% for gasoline and 8.6% for diesel. The prices for the fuels are at the highest level since May 2022.

India deregulated retail fuel pricing years ago, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had effectively frozen pump prices for nearly four years. That policy became increasingly difficult to sustain as the Iran war sent crude prices sharply higher and the rupee weakened against the dollar, deepening losses for state-run refiners. 

A surge in fuel consumption during the agricultural harvest season and increasing disparities with non-state retailers have also strained inventories, adding to pressure to raise prices.

Even after the latest adjustment, government-owned retailers are still selling fueling below market-linked levels. Private operators such as Shell Plc are charging more than 116 rupees a liter for gasoline and more than 127 rupees for diesel at outlets across India.

“We expect more action to come by through another retail fuel price hike and a hike in liquefied petroleum gas prices,” said Radhika Piplani, economist at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. said. “The higher prices of fuel would have a bearing on inflation, which we expect to climb to 5.7% on year for the current financial year as against the Reserve Bank of India expectation of 4.6%,”she said.  

The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee is scheduled to meet June 3-5 for an interest-rate decision. Sonal Varma, Nomura Holding Inc.’s chief economist for Asia ex-Japan, expects the central bank to adopt a wait-and-watch approach. The fuel price hikes will have a cumulative impact of 38 basis points on the consumer price index, she said. 

State-run companies are selling diesel to bulk users at premiums of at least 40 rupees a liter above retail pump prices, encouraging commercial buyers and motorists to shift purchases to subsidized retail stations. The surge in demand has led to dry-outs at several fuel stations and raised concerns over supply shortages.

Indian Oil said on Saturday that diesel sales at its retail outlets climbed 18% in the first 22 days of May from a year earlier, while gasoline sales rose 14%.

India has been among the economies hardest hit by the Middle East conflict because of its dependence on crude and fuel shipments passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway that has been mostly blocked since the war began in February.

The government this month introduced a series of measures aimed at containing the economic fallout as higher oil prices pressure the rupee and accelerate foreign investor withdrawals from local equities.

The shares of the state-run fuel retailers rose on Monday. Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum all climbed as much as 4% or more.

(Updates throughout and adds analyst comments.)

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