Today’s Key Takeaways: Big oil boosts exploration. Rising demand pushes natural gas prices. Trump-Putin Alaska summit sends EU scrambling.
OIL:
Big Oil Boosts Exploration as Energy Transition Sputters
Tsvetana Paraskova, OilPrice.Com, August 12, 2025
- After years of pledging to cut fossil fuel output, Big Oil is pivoting back to large-scale oil and gas exploration as the energy transition slows and conventional energy profits remain strong.
- European majors like BP, Shell, and TotalEnergies are slashing renewable spending, boosting upstream investment.
- U.S. supermajors ExxonMobil and Chevron, already focused on hydrocarbons, are expanding in key basins like the Permian and Guyana while pursuing frontier exploration in Suriname, Namibia, Egypt, and beyond.
After years of public vows to wean themselves off fossil fuels, the world’s biggest oil companies are dusting off their drilling maps and doubling down on exploration. The promised pivot to renewables has sputtered, energy security fears have sharpened, and the payoff from oil and gas remains too rich to ignore. Now, from the Gulf of Mexico to Namibia, Big Oil is chasing new barrels in a world that, by its own admission, will still be burning them for decades.
After spending the early 2020s promising a gradual reduction in fossil fuel production and billions of U.S. dollars in low-carbon energy investments, Europe’s biggest oil and gas firms have dramatically changed their priorities as the energy transition proved much slower than anticipated and the energy crisis exposed shortfalls in conventional energy supply.
The U.S. supermajors, ExxonMobil and Chevron, did not have to pivot back to oil and gas – they weren’t going in the renewable energy direction anyway. But both companies are boosting exploration and seek to add advantaged resources to their portfolios to increase reserves.
GAS:
U.S. Natural Gas Prices Edge Higher on Rising Demand, LNG Export Flows
Pipeline and Gas Journal, August 13, 2025
U.S. natural gas futures edged up about 1% on Aug. 13 after dropping to an eight-month low in the prior session on forecasts for more demand over the next two weeks than previously expected and near-record gas flows to liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants.
That small price increase came despite near-record output, ample supplies of the fuel in storage, and the approach of a storm that could affect the U.S. East Coast as a demand-destroying hurricane next week.
POLITICS:
EU Scrambles to Stay Relevant as Trump-Putin Alaska Summit Looms
OilPrice.Com, August 13, 2025
- The August 15 Trump-Putin meeting has caught Europe off guard, sparking urgent diplomatic moves to avoid being sidelined.
- EU leaders have set strict red lines on Ukraine, including a cease-fire and security guarantees, but face internal divisions, notably from Hungary.
- Despite threats of more sanctions and military proposals, Europe’s influence appears limited compared to Washington and Moscow’s direct talks.
The planned meeting in Alaska between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, has left Europe scrambling.
The European Union, and most other European nations, are seeking to prevent the United States from “falling into a trap” while backing Ukraine diplomatically in every possible way and preparing more sanctions on Russia. But with no new diplomatic initiatives, they are struggling to secure a seat at the table as the continent’s fate appears to be in other capitals’ hands.
It’s fair to say Brussels woke up from its August summer recess slumber with a bang last week. While few thought the US president would crack down on Russia with restrictive measures after failing to impose any meaningful sanctions to date, no one expected him to announce a full-blown, US-Russia meeting at the highest level – the first in over four years – to take place on August 15 in Alaska.
Since the summit was announced, European officials have scrambled diplomatically. They met with US Vice President JD Vance in Britain over the weekend, the bloc’s foreign ministers held a videoconference on August 11, and on August 13 several of the continent’s leaders – including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – will hold another call with Trump.
Several European officials, whom RFE/RL has been in touch with under the condition of anonymity, say the messages from Washington so far have been “chaotic” and apparently several factions within the US administration have different aims for the Alaska meeting.