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. 

Crude thoughts ahead of OPEC+ decision

The question some in the oil markets are asking is will OPEC+ hike production again over the weekend for a third consecutive month in a row. The Oilholic is not among them - a hike is most likely coming, quite possibly of the same volume seen in the previous two announcements, i.e. 411k barrels per day (bpd). 

That's because OPEC has quite overtly shifted from defending a price level to protecting its market share, as yours truly said in a BBC interview this morning. For its part, the oil market is pricing this in already and at some point soon - were this continue - sub-$60 per barrel Brent crude prices beckon. 

Some OPEC ministers and others allocating higher production say the market should remain cognizant of rising demand. However, global demand growth is currently just north of 1 million bpd. That can be serviced by non-OPEC production growth alone. 

A glut beckons with plenty of oil in storage on land and on sea, as the Oilholic wrote on Forbes overnight. A group of eight within OPEC+, or shall we say the powers that be led by the Saudis, have so far unwound 44% or 960k bpd of the 2.2 million bpd in cuts announced in 2022. So how far will they go? And what's the stomach for the fight within OPEC's corridors?

Well, we've been here before in 2015-16, when the Saudi minister at the time Ali Al-Naimi attempted to clobber non-OPEC, especially US shale, producers. In the process, both sides ended up inflicting deep flesh wounds but no knockout blows, as oil prices plummeted to $30 per barrel, before recovering. 

Al-Naimi was sent packing into retirement by the Saudi king and the US oil patch suffered investment delays and thousands of job losses, but survived and saw another wave of consolidation. 

Ultimately, both back then and this time around, those contributing to headline US hydrocarbon production are driven by the spirit of private enterprise, not some unified collective like OPEC producers who can collectively hike or cut output. This spirit and agility keeps them afloat at trying times, if not avoid pain. 

Many shale producers are currently hedged at $70+ per barrel levels with the hedges slated to decouple in six to 18 months time. Therefore, the earliest a hit will be noted would be in 2026 to early 2027 when production stateside will likely plateau or start sliding lower. So are we in a prolonged fight for crude market share and will it work in OPEC's favour? Only time will tell. 

But for context, back in the summer of 2016, the US was producing north of 8.5 million bpd despite all the pain in oil patch. In May 2025, as yet another battle for market share commences - in very different circumstances commences - that figure is north of 13 million bpd. Go figure! 

That's all for the moment folks. More musings to follow soon in line with market developments as they happen. 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: Gaurav Sharma, Energy Analyst at Oilholics Synonymous, on BBC Business Today on May 28, 2025. © BBC News, May 2025. 

Media missives from Emerson Exchange 2025

With Emerson Exchange 2025 - the thought leadership event of global engineering services, industrial automation and technology giant Emerson - drawing to a close on May 22, the Oilholic enjoyed a fascinating and engaging week out in San Antonio, Texas, US. 

An action-packed week included insightful 1-on-1 discussions, panel chats, a product launch and wider interactions on the global energy and industry mix, and, where it is heading to with the "plant or factory of the future." 

All of The Oilholic's blog entries for Emerson Exchange may be found here. Yours truly also provided insight and an exclusive interview to Forbes from the event as detailed below. 

• Emerson To Seamlessly Integrate Its Industrial Automation Tech Stack, May 20, 2025
• $40 Billion Of Asset Deals In 4 Years, Room For More, Says Emerson COO, May 22, 2025

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: Emerson Exchange 2025 held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, Texas, US. © Gaurav Sharma, May 2025. 

On AI and more at Emerson Exchange 2025

As the week progressed, Emerson Exchange 2025 came into its element sparking discussions under the event's core them of accelerating innovation. 

Over 300 presentations, client engagements and panels took place covering AI, automation, IIoT, predictive analytics, smart industrial equipment and more. 

The industrial sectors covered included traditional energy, renewables, power and utilities, chemicals, mining, pharmaceuticals, automotive, and food and beverage, but to name a few. 

Speaking of AI, the Oilholic moderated a TechTalk session titled - Industrial AI: Driving Smarter, Safer, and More Sustainable Operations. Subject matter experts on the panel included: Heiko Claussen, Chief Technologist, Emerson, Nate Harris, Global AI Sales Lead, Data & AI, Microsoft, Lynn Comp, Global Head of Sales for the AI Center of Excellence, Intel, and Clint Schneider, VP of Technology at Emerson's Final Control Business.

The panel touched on how AI is rapidly reshaping industrial operations, enabling predictive insights, process optimization and greater sustainability. At the heart of the discussions was AI deployment across the global industrial and manufacturing complex to enhance decision-making, improve efficiency and address complex operational challenges.

Cybersecurity and a re-skilling of the workforce - key facets of the ongoing industrial
transformation - also came under scrutiny, with a discussion on the workforce of the future and zero trust security architecture. 

Whichever way you look at it dear readers, in the quest for improved throughput and a lower carbon footprint (which are joined at the hip in the Oilholic's opinion) - an embedding of AI with safeguards into process systems, turning information and data into actionable insights, and a shift toward optimized autonomous operations are all but inevitable. 

Emerson is eyeing massive opportunities in this sphere and has been repositioning its business via acquisitions, divestments and bolt-on transactions worth $40bn in just the past four years alone. Here's this blogger's exclusive interview on the subject for Forbes with the company's Chief Operating Officer Ram Krishnan. 

The logic slots in particularly well in the case of the global oil and gas industry that's constantly learning to do more with less, at a time of cyclical volatility and lower oil prices.

And if you happened to tour the technology exhibits at Emerson Exchange, various solutions being showcased pointed to exactly that. 

Elsewhere, yours truly also hosted leadership conversations for Emerson on the sidelines of the event. Over a dozen members of the company's divisional and corporate leadership team kindly took part in the conversations to share their invaluable industry insight. 

As a teaser they included, Emerson COO Ram Krishnan, CSO Mike Train, CTO Peter Zornio, CMO Vidya Ramnath, and Emerson's AspenTech business CTO Claudio Fayad among others. The recordings will be published in due course by the Emerson team, and the Oilholic will alert you when they are online. So, watch this space. 

Well, that's a wrap from Emerson Exchange 2025 until next time. Its been a memorable, insightful and exciting week here in San Antonio. 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 email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo I: AI TechTalk at Emerson Exchange 2025. © Denise Clarke, May 2025. Photo II: Behind the scenes at the recording of Leadership Conversations with Emerson at Emerson Exchange 2025 hosted by Gaurav Sharma © Scott Leech / Brandspeak Communications, May 2025. 

Boundless automation at Emerson Exchange 2025

While the doors of Emerson Exchange 2025 opened on Monday, formal proceedings got underway on Tuesday morning with a keynote from Emerson CEO Lal Karsanbhai.

The global industrial technology and software vendor's boss said his industry is facing dynamic markets in an evolving industrial landscape. 

"Emerson is moving in the right direction with purpose, conviction and agility in automation, shaping what's next for global industries," he noted.

Flagging $40 billion worth of transactions from Emerson over the last four years, Karsanbhai said the company was also displaying remarkable agility from within via "boundless automation", and an ever improving offer of software premised integrated solutions that both the markets and his company's customers have come to expect of it. 

The Emerson CEO also lauded his company's acquisition of industrial software leader AspenTech for $7.2 billion because it supported "a software driven approach to shape the future direction of travel for Emerson."

To that end, Karsanbhai also delivered a teaser of 'Project Beyond' - Emerson's new product suite that seamlessly integrates its entire industrial automation technology stack. 

Following the keynotes came the formal launch of Project Beyond, hosted by yours truly alongside Peter Zornio, CTO of Emerson, Claudio Fayad, CTO of AspenTech, Nina Schwalb, Head of AspenTech DataWorks inmation, and Dave Denison, Vice President of Software Applications at Emerson Automation Solutions. 

The quartet described how Project Beyond brings industrial AI together with contextualized data across a diverse set of automation environments – embedded, edge and cloud – to "unlock flexibility, safety, sustainability and performance" to facilitate "boundless automation." 

For more details on the actual launch itself, here's this blogger's report for Forbes. At the launch, a statement by COO Ram Krishnan noted that Emerson was looking for an increased take-up of its integrated product offer from energy, power and utilities, chemicals, mining and pharmaceuticals. 

“Companies are eager to modernize automation and keep pace with the promise of new technologies like AI without ripping and replacing their existing infrastructure or dealing with the pain and costs of integrating new applications and millions of fragmented data points,” Krishnan added.

“Project Beyond will use the power of software-defined control to introduce an entirely new, scalable, seamlessly integrated infrastructure with automated data contextualization to turn trapped data into powerful operational efficiencies.”

Following the product launch, and the commencement of the conference program, the event's technology exhibition also opened its doors to visitors showcasing Emerson's hardware and software solutions based on the six "building blocks" of Project Beyond. 

They include - computing power, networking and connectivity, data operations, app marketplace, AI orchestration and a zero-trust security architecture for industries. Overall, an exciting day's outing with plenty more to follow soon. 

On that note, its time to say goodbye for now. 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 email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo I: Lal Karsanbhai, CEO of Emerson delivers his keynote at Emerson Exchange 2025. © Gaurav Sharma, May 2025. Photo II: Launch of Emerson's 'Project Beyond' on May 20, 2025. © Keith Larson / Endeavor Business Media. Photo III: Glimpses of the technology exhibition at Emerson Exchange 2025 © Gaurav Sharma, May 2025. 

Getting started at Emerson Exchange 2025

The Oilholic has arrived in San Antonio, Texas, US for the week-long Emerson Exchange 2025. It is the thought leadership event of engineering services, industrial automation and software giant Emerson. 

The event - being held at the city's Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center - is expected to draw in nearly 4,000 attendees from over 50 countries, representing 300-plus companies integral to the global industrial and manufacturing complex. 

The theme for this year's event is Accelerating Innovation. Over the course of the week, attendees can expect around 300 presentations as part of a varied content program. 

Yours truly will also take part in the program, including a panel on industrial AI on Wednesday, details of which will follow soon. While this blogger's interest is in the energy segment, over a dozen industries would be represented here from pharmaceuticals to food and beverage. 

Emerson Exchange 2025 will also hold an exhibition spread over a 130,000 square foot exhibition hall with nearly 100 exhibitors showcasing over 500 industrial solutions. Expect a few product launches too. Looking forward to an exciting action packed week out in Texas. 

More soon as the week progresses! 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 email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo: Gaurav Sharma at Emerson Exchange 2025 © Gaurav Sharma, May 2025. 

Visiting a 'sustainability lighthouse' factory

Earlier this year The Oilholic headed to Le Vaudreuil in Normandy, France, some 115 km northwest of Paris, to get up close to Schneider Electric's ongoing smart factories drive. 

Its plant in the French commune is one of 11 such sites around the world where digitalisation and automation are in full swing to improve throughput, and, of course, to demonstrate the efficacy of Schneider Electric's solutions to existing as well as potential customers. 

Essentially, the global energy management and automation vendor has converted a 50-year-old brownfield site - of around 14,000 square meters that produces its hardware - into a fully functional staging post for automation solutions banking on EcoStruxure - its IIoT solutions suite. 

Here is yours truly's feature for Forbes on the site visit and the company's motivation for the exercise that Le Vaudreuil is an integral part of. The said transformation was several years in the making.

Schneider Electric embarked on the journey in 2018, and now in 2025, a fully automated Le Vaudreuil is yielding some impressive results. Power consumption is down by 36% and CO2 emissions lower by over 80%. Furthermore, the delivery lead time has improved by 70%.

As the battle for a slice of the industrial automation market heats up, such sites will prove invaluable for the company as showcases for live action demonstrations if one may use the expression - something it happily flags. 

What's more, the drive has seen Schneider Electric bag accolades from the World Economic Forum (WEF) which has designated the Le Vaudreuil plant as a "sustainability lighthouse" - i.e. a leader in sustainable industrial processes. Six other such manufacturing sites owned and operated by the company have also bagged the WEF badge. 

Overall, this blogger was delighted to have gotten up close to view how AI, IIoT, predictive analytics, robotics, machine learning, and more, keep the factory of the future going. So, here's a big shout out to Schneider Electric's team at Le Vaudreuil who spared their time to show The Oilholic around, demonstrate the plant's kit and processes, answer queries and provide the necessary data for research purposes.

That's all for now 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 Motley Fool click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo I: Gaurav Sharma, energy analyst, Oilholics Synonymous (third from right in high visibility jacket) with the team at Schneider Electric's 'sustainability lighthouse' factory in Le Vaudreuil, Normandy, France © Nicole Love Lloyd / Schneider Electric, 2025. Photo II: Gaurav Sharma outside Schneider Electric's Le Vaudreuil factory in Normandy, France.

The scramble to lower oil price forecasts

The Oilholic has been on record noting there is little to be bullish about oil at this stage of the trading cycle. Recent events have not only proven this to be the case but amplified the prevailing bearish sentiment.

With OPEC+ determined to ramp up production despite tepid demand and US President Donald Trump's administration resuming nuclear talks with Iran carrying the possibility of a settlement - a bit of a mad scramble to lower oil price forecasts is taking place. 

Banks and brokerages are all lining up to lower their prior forecasts. Last week, Goldman Sachs told clients it now expects Brent crude to average $60 per barrel for the remainder of 2025 and around $56 in 2026. Both projections are lower by $2 from their previous level. Goldman Sachs also cut its forecast for WTI crude by $3 per barrel to an average of $56 for the rest of 2025 and $52 in 2026. 

It is by no means alone. Morgan Stanley has also trimmed its oil price forecasts for the remainder of the year. It revised its Brent projection down to $62.50 per barrel in the third and fourth quarters of 2025; a downward revision of $5 per barrel from the previous forecast.

Meanwhile, Barclays has cut its Brent forecast by $4 to $66 per barrel for 2025 and by $2 to $60 a barrel for 2026. ING cut its Brent forecast too for the remainder of 2025 down to $62 per barrel from $68.

Citi also cut its three-month price forecast for Brent down to $55 per barrel on Thursday, from a previous estimate of $60 per barrel. It has however maintained the $60 projection for its long-term forecast. And ANZ maintained its already low oil price target over the next three months of $55 per barrel but warned of risks "firmly skewed to the downside."

Away from banks and brokerages, the US Energy Information Administration - statistical arm of the Department of Energy - cut its average Brent oil spot price forecast for 2025 and 2026 in its latest short-term energy outlook published on May 6.

The EIA currently sees the Brent spot price averaging $65.85 per barrel in 2025 and $59.24 per barrel in 2026. In its previous outlook published in April, it projected the Brent spot price to average $67.87 in 2025 and $61.48 in 2026.

Expect more downward revisions over the coming weeks unless mildly bullish sentiment returns via a combination of one or more of three developments: (1) US-Iran tensions revert to pre-talks level, (2) OPEC+ reverses course, and/or (3) an easing of US-China trade tiffs unfolds. 

Even in that eventuality, the uptick is likely to pull Brent up to around the $70 mark in the Oilholic's opinion, and well shy of the $80+ levels the bulls crave. Well that's all for now folks, more musings to follow over the course of the month. 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 Motley Fool click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo: Oil production site. © jplenio / Pixabay, 2018. 

Media missives from India Energy Week 2025

With India Energy Week 2025 drawing to a close on February 14, the Oilholic capped a fascinating and engaging week out in Delhi by hosting pivotal industry panel sessions at the event on subjects ranging from bridging the energy transition's investment gaps to harnessing the power of shale oil and gas.

All blog entries for India Energy Week may be found here. Yours truly also provided insight to Energy Connects ahead of the event as detailed below: 

• India's oil demand growth offers abundant opportunities for global suppliers, February 4, 2025.

And here are selected Forbes copies in chronological order based on soundbites and insight from the event. 

• Is India’s Energy Sector Heading For A Big Investment Boom? January 28, 2024
• India’s Modi Renews Pledge Of 500 GW Green Energy Capacity By 2030, February 12, 2024
• Tough But Doable? Financing Net Zero May Require $4 Trillion By 2050, February 13, 2024
• India Won’t Clobber Consumers To Meet Climate Targets, Says Oil Minister, February 13, 2024

And that's a wrap for this year's India Energy Week. 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 Motley Fool click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2025. Photo: Gaurav Sharma (far left)hosts a panel at India Energy Week 2025 © dmgevents, February 2025. 

GMIS 2024 and industrial safety manifesto launch

The Oilholic recently had the privilege of speaking and moderating at the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) in Abu Dhabi, UAE on December 5, hosted by the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development at the inaugural Abu Dhabi Business Week, with a key theme of building resilience across the global industrial, manufacturing and petrochemical complexes. 

The summit deliberated at length the challenge of ensuring safety and security for key infrastructure in the digital age. In line with this thinking, a first-of-its-kind Manifesto for Global Industrial Safety was launched at the event to widespread recognition and support from leaders and experts across the global industrial ecosystem. 

Developed by the Global Initiative for Industrial Safety (GIFIS) in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Lloyd’s Register Foundation, the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS), and the Cambridge Industrial Innovation Policy (CIIP), the manifesto sets a new global benchmark for safety and sustainability in industrial practices.

Each year, approximately three million deaths worldwide are linked to insufficient safety measures and dangerous working conditions, resulting in an economic loss of 3.9% of global GDP, according to the International Labour Organisation. Cognisant of this, the manifesto offers a strategic blueprint for stakeholders to harness technology and effectively address safety risks for workers around the world. 

In doing so, it outlines guiding principles and vital contributions required from industry, government, academia, regulators, and international organisations to accelerate the safe adoption of technology in new industrial processes and to integrate technology-enabled safety solutions in traditional industries. 

Delivering a keynote address at the event, post-launch, Dr. Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cyber Security for the UAE Government, said the manifesto underscores the importance of continuing to prioritise safety, security, and collaboration. 

"Partnerships, communication, and information-sharing are vital to maintaining this progress and achieving a resilient and secure future." More so, as the global cybersecurity market booms in the digital age, as recorded by yours truly in a Forbes missive from the event. 

An exciting event agenda also saw several topics of interest deliberated throughout the day-long event. Proceedings included a fireside chat hosted by yours truly on pioneering industrial resilience by leveraging technology and the pivotal role of leadership in industrial safety, with Barbara Frei, Executive Vice President Industrial Automation, Schneider Electric and Courtney Gregoire, Vice President and Chief Digital Safety Officer, Microsoft. 

Both Barbara and Courtney touched on best practices from an OT and IT perspective as industries and whole sectors embrace IIoT, AI and robotics. 

Later in the day, and to bring the event proceedings to a close, the Oilholic also moderated a panel session titled 'Built to Endure: Resilience in High-Stakes Industries.'

Panellists included Amer J Siddiqi, Executive Director, Mubadala, Hazeem Al Suwaidi, CEO, Borouge and Hesham Awda, COO, NMDC Energy Offshore. They offered their respective takes on why building resilience in high-risk industries requires a multi-faceted approach that combines technology, strong leadership, and a culture of safety. 

This now incrementally involves the deployment of advanced technologies, such as predictive analytics and machine learning, to anticipate potential disruptions before they occur.

As global supply chains become increasingly interconnected, industries’ ability to endure and adapt to challenges will be a defining factor in their long-term success, happened to be the verdict of the panel, and the wider GMIS discourse. 

Offering a parting food for thought - for governments and businesses alike, resilience has become a strategic asset that not only safeguards operations but also drives sustainable growth. Keep reading, keep it here, keep it 'crude'! 

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To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2024. Photo I: GMIS 2024. Photo II: Dr. Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cyber Security for the UAE Government speaks at GMIS. Photo III: Gaurav Sharma hosts a fireside chat with Barbara Frei, Executive Vice President Industrial Automation, Schneider Electric and Courtney Gregoire, Vice President and Chief Digital Safety Officer, Microsoft. © GMIS 2024. 

Speaking and moderating at GMIS 2024

The Oilholic is delighted to be back in Abu Dhabi, UAE for GMIS 2024, being held here on December 5 as part of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Business Week. Yours truly will be hosting one fireside chat and one panel session at the event with distinguished industry thought leaders. 

Please do join if you can for some fantastic and insightful industry dialogues. Here are the details of the sessions:

Thursday, December 5, 2024 @ 12:30 GST

Pioneering Resilience: Technology and Leadership in Industrial Safety

With: 

- Barbara Frei, Executive Vice President Industrial Automation, Schneider Electric

- Courtney Gregoire, Vice President and Chief Digital Safety Officer, Microsoft

(Click image to enlarge)

Thursday, December 5, 2024 @15:15 GST

Built to Endure: Resilience in High-Stakes Industries

With: 

- Amer J Siddiqi, Executive Director, Mubadala

- Hazeem Al Suwaidi, CEO, Borouge

- Eng. Hesham Awda, COO, NMDC Energy Offshore

(Click image to enlarge)

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 Motley Fool click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2024. Photo © GMIS 2024. 

Speaking and moderating at ADIPEC 2024

Delighted to announce that yours truly will be moderating and speaking at ADIPEC 2024 - the world's largest energy conference and exhibition - in Abu Dhabi, UAE, from November 4 to 7. Explore the event's program touching on critical energy issues, latest technological developments, and energy transition through groundbreaking innovation, visionary leadership and action here.

And more on the Oilholic's panels and sessions here. 

Looking forward to the deliberations, meeting thought leaders, fellow industry professionals and colleagues. 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 Motley Fool click here.

To email: journalist_gsharma@yahoo.co.uk  

© Gaurav Sharma 2024. Digital event banner courtesy of dmgevents.