State of play ahead of heading out to the Middle East

Doubtless you couldn't have escaped an escalation of tensions in the Middle East after Israel attacked Iranian nuclear and military sites early on Friday, and Tehran inevitably responded. 

The two have sparred before including last year. But as yours truly contemplates this - over a pre-departure negroni at a Heathrow Airport lounge ahead of a trip out to the region whilst waiting for BA 123 to Doha, followed by Abu Dhabi for a speaking engagement - something feels different this time around. 

For starters, last time Israel and Iran sparred, the former left the latter's oil and gas infrastructure intact. But that doesn't appear to be the case this time around. Over the last 24 hours, Israel has attacked the Shahran oil depot in Tehran. It has also attacked two of Iran’s gas fields, including Phase 14 of South Pars so far.

This clearly indicates that the Israelis no longer see Iran's energy infrastructure as off limits. Worse may (or may not) yet follow as the Oilholic said in a BBC interview on Friday. 

And here's more detail on some of the potential worst case scenarios for the oil markets in your's truly's latest Forbes missive, including, yes, the not-so-likely-at-all possibility of Iran attempting to close the Strait of Hormuz in a fit of consternation. 

But there will be wider near-to-medium-term implications for the oil market and you can fully expect oil futures to post a(nother) near-term spike next week, especially given Israel's attacks on the Iran's oil and gas sites. 

It is just as well that there is plenty of shall we say non-OPEC, non-Middle Eastern oil out in the market as the Oilholic said in an Al Jazeera interview prior to all hell breaking loose. 

Consumers could well have been looking forward to an easing in prices at the pump were it not for this development. 

Where it goes from here is anybody's guess - but if this calms down, it won't take long for market fundamentals to return and drag oil prices lower! The Oilholic knows it feels a million miles away from there right now, but things can change in an instant because that's the nature of the cyclical volatility of the oil market. 

In the interim, as the old British saying, or shall we say the old adage, goes - Keep calm and carry on! More musings to follow soon folks. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Forbes click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Energy Connects click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo I: A delicious negroni at British Airways First Lounge, London Heathrow Airport © Gaurav Sharma, June 2025. Photo II: Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma on BBC World Service © BBC News, June 2025. Photo III: Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma on Al Jazeera English © Al Jazeera, June 2025. 

Speaking at Abu Dhabi Infrastructure Summit

Delighted to announce that yours truly will be speaking and moderating panels at the Abu Dhabi Infrastructure Summit. The theme for the event - due to be held in Abu Dhabi, UAE from June 17 to 18, 2025 - is "designing tomorrow's way of life." Explore the event's wide-ranging agenda here. 

ADIS' inaugural edition combines a conference and exhibition featuring keynotes, panels, and round tables with global senior leaders from the infrastructure and construction sector.

Topics will emphasise advancing construction and infrastructure innovations, driving technological excellence, facilitating partnerships, and redefining urban landscapes to shape the cities of the future sustainably. For more information on yours truly's panels click here, and to register to attend click here. 

I am really looking forward to the deliberations, meeting thought leaders and friends. Join, if you can, for some fantastic industry exchanges and networking in Abu Dhabi. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Forbes click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Energy Connects click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo: Speaker profile of Gaurav Sharma for Abu Dhabi Infrastructure Summit © ADIS, June 2025. 

Bringing 'superintelligence' to the energy industry

The Oilholic was delighted to join the demo day of UK-based energy AI firm Applied Computing in London on Tuesday. 

The firm recently announced a £9 million seed funding round - largest ever for a British AI company's at seed stage - to bring what it describes as "superintelligence" to the energy industry. 

Applied Computing’s flagship product - Orbital - has been built using multi-foundation AI powered by a new class of models built to optimise the physical world. The company's CEO and co-founder Callum Adamson said this was not just language models his team was talking about but also time series, physics and chemical engineering models delivering explainable AI that can be trusted in real-world applications.

Applied Computing claims Orbital utilises "100% of available data from downstream energy facilities" – compared to 8% captured by traditional methods – and is outperforming previously benchmarked state-of-the-art software by 90% in key metrics.

The company offered the attendees, present company included, a demo of Orbital in action. It appears to be going places in its bid to bring AI to the oil and gas sector, which, as Adamson noted, is the most "under-optimised industry on earth." 

Applied Computing sees opportunities across the sector's value chain from refining and petrochemicals to upstream and LNG, although its current focus is on downstream. 

The £9 million seed round has been followed up by strategic hires from Shell, Palantir, BP Launchpad and Imperial College. Applied Computing has doubled in size since January and is now preparing for a Series A in the second half of the year. 

Ahead of the demo, The Oilholic - as announced to the readers of this blog earlier this month - also moderated an industry panel discussion titled - Redesigning Energy: New Technologies Powering the Transition. 

The panel explored the critical role of technologies such as the ones Applied Computing and its peers are marketing, as well as their potential to help reshape the future of energy, industry, and sustainability.

The all star cast of speakers included leading voices from across the world of energy, venture capital, and AI innovation to explore the insights, strategies, and technologies reshaping the energy landscape. 

They included Kari Jordan, Founder of Leaps and Bounds, Ulrika Wising, Senior Energy Executive (a former Centrica, Shell & Macquarie executive), Eliza Eddison, Vice President of Operations at Applied Computing, and Fred Destin, Founder of Stride.VC, all of whom provided many invaluable insights that made for a riveting hour-long session. 

Well that's all for the moment folks! More musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Forbes click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Energy Connects click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo I: CEO and co-founder of Applied Computing Callum Adamson speaks at the demo of the company's Orbital AI. © Gaurav Sharma, June 2025. Photo II (left to right): Gaurav Sharma, Energy Analyst, with Kari Jordan, Founder of Leaps and Bounds, Ulrika Wising, Senior Energy Executive (Former Centrica, Shell & Macquarie executive), Eliza Eddison, Vice President of Operations at Applied Computing, and Fred Destin, Founder of Stride.VC © Westen Macintosh / Applied Computing, June 2025. 

OPEC+, uptick in crude prices & more

For crude traders, the month of June began exactly the way May did - with another 411,000 bpd production hike by OPEC+. 

The move was almost entirely priced in by the global market. And if anything else, prices actually rose a bit to clawback the ground lost in the wake of the Trump Tariffs kerfuffle in April. 

Overall, the crude price - using Brent as a benchmark - is still down by double digits on last year. 

Of course, there are different opinions out there in the market, but respectfully the Oilholic sees little reason to be overtly bullish on oil prices as things stand. 

Here's yours truly's Forbes post on OPEC's move and its wider implications with another hike - most likely - coming in for August from the producers' group. 

All things considered, with the hedges of US shale players not rolling off for another six months in many cases (and as high as 18 months in the case of some), this blogger expects the market in 2025 to be in surplus. 

Furthermore, as The Oilholic noted in an interview with Asharq Bloomberg Business News last week, this isn't just about OPEC+ versus US shale production. 

The market can (and will continue to) expect additional barrels from Canada, Brazil, Guyana and Norway too. 

On balance, we're looking at an oil market surplus in 2025, especially for light sweet crude. 

This then does beg the age-old question (again) - what about investment in oil and gas in the current market and macroeconomic climate? We're in retreat from the Covid-years of frowning upon oil and gas investments to somewhat of a panic on the need for it to ensure security of supply in the energy transition era.

According to the IEF, around $740 billion a year is needed in investments to the end of the current decade assuming a global demand figure north of 100 million bpd. But in 2024, we didn't even cap $600 billion worth of oil and gas investments. So is the industry investing enough? It's what yours truly asked in his latest Energy Connects column (available here). 

Well that's all for the moment folks! More musings to follow soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Forbes click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Energy Connects click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo I: Oil production site. © jplenio / Pixabay, 2018. Photo II: Energy Analyst Gaurav Sharma on Asharq Bloomberg Business News channel. © Asharq Bloomberg Business News, June 2025. 

Moderating panel at Applied Computing's Orbital demo

Delighted to announce that yours truly will be joining Applied Computing's Demo Day proceedings on June 10, 2025 at IET London Savoy Place in London, UK. The Oilholic will also be moderating the panel discussion titled - Redesigning Energy: New Technologies Powering the Transition - where we'll explore the critical role of technologies and their potential to help reshape the future of energy, industry, and sustainability.

The session will bring together leading voices from across the world of energy, venture capital, and AI innovation to explore the insights, strategies, and technologies reshaping the energy landscape, including Kari Jordan, Founder, Leaps and Bounds, Ulrika Wising, Senior Energy Executive (Former Centrica, Shell & Macquarie), Eliza Eddison, Vice President of Operations at Applied Computing, and Fred Destin, Founder of Stride.VC

If you’d like to attend the panel discussion or Applied Computing's full Demo Day, kindly register here. 

Really looking forward to the proceedings and discussions, meeting the Applied Computing tech team and friends from the wider energy industry. 

More soon. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

To follow The Oilholic on Twitter click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Forbes click here.

To follow The Oilholic on Energy Connects click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma, June 2025. Photo I & II: Speaker profile of energy analyst Gaurav Sharma for Applied Computing's Demo Day on June 10, 2025, and details of a discussion panel on how new technologies are powering the energy transition. © Applied Computing, June 2025.