Iran's Economy Faces Near-Zero Growth as National Protests Surge

By ZeroHedge - Dec 17, 2025

• A wave of protests, including human rights campaigns and labor strikes, has swept across Iran since early December 2025, driven by both social and economic factors.
• 
  
• Iran is experiencing a major economic crisis, with the IMF projecting only 0.6 percent real GDP growth and inflation forecast to surge to 43.3 percent in 2025.
• 
  
• The grim economic outlook is attributed to a combination of chronic mismanagement, systemic corruption, international sanctions, and the financial damage from a brief war with Israel and the United States in June 2025.
• 
  

Since early December 2025, a wave of protests has swept across Iran, ranging from human rights campaigns in major urban areas to labor strikes in industrial hubs.

As Statista's Tristan Gaudiat reports, part of the growing popular unrest concerns the accelerating use of the death penalty by the Iranian regime (more than 1,000 executions documented so far in 2025), while the country's economic situation has significantly deteriorated.

Iran is currently facing one of its most severe economic and social crises of the decade, as the country grapples with near-zero GDP growth, soaring inflation and escalating social and geopolitical tensions.

According to the IMF's latest projection (October 2025), Iran’s real GDP is expected to grow by just 0.6 percent in 2025, a sharp decline from previous years (+3.7 percent in 2024, +5.3 percent in 2023).

Inflation, meanwhile, is forecast to surge to 43.3 percent, one of the highest rates in the world, as the national currency (rial) continues its dramatic depreciation.

You will find more infographics at Statista

This grim outlook underscores the depth of Iran’s economic issues, driven by a combination of chronic mismanagement, systemic corruption and the impact of international sanctions.

The escalation of the conflict with Israel and the United States this year has further deteriorated the situation.

After a brief but intense war in June 2025, causing billions of dollars in damage in Iran, the United States imposed additional sanctions, targeting Iran’s oil, banking and shipping sectors.

The reimposition of the United Nations' “snapback” sanctions in late 2025 has also added to the pressure.

By Zerohedge.com

MULTIPOLARITY

Why Is India Joining Forces With Russia In The Arctic?

By Simon Watkins - Dec 17, 2025

• India and Russia deepened their strategic partnership with a new logistics pact granting mutual access to military bases.
• 
  
• The deal embeds India in Russia’s Arctic ambitions, linking New Delhi to a region central to Russia’s nuclear forces and vast untapped oil, gas, and mineral reserves.
• 
  
• Russia now supplies over one-third of India’s crude, and Putin pledged uninterrupted fuel flows, complicating U.S. efforts to shift India away from Russian oil.

The visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi just over a week ago seems to have been overlooked by many geopolitical observers, which is surprising. It represents one of the most consequential recalibrations of India–Russia ties in years -- combining defence access, energy guarantees, and diplomatic symbolism -- at a moment when global alignments are shifting faster than ever. At the heart of the visit was the ratification of the ‘Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Support’ (RELOS) pact, a deal that quietly extends India’s and Russia’s military cooperation into Russia’s Arctic ports and the Northern Sea Route (NSR).

This remote region’s Kola Peninsula hosts roughly half of Russia’s fleet of nuclear?powered, nuclear?armed ballistic missile submarines, including 12 strategic nuclear submarines carrying up to 192 nuclear?capable ballistic missiles, plus dozens of cruise?missile and special?purpose nuclear submarines. This means the Arctic operates effectively as Moscow’s second?strike capability if its main domestic nuclear forces were destroyed. The region also remains a key site for testing advanced systems, including hypersonic missiles, nuclear?powered torpedoes, and cruise missiles, and Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom also maintains nuclear power plants in the Arctic, further entrenching its nuclear presence. Beyond its nuclear arsenal, the Russian Arctic is also home to some of the world’s largest untapped reserves of oil, gas, and critical minerals. Estimates suggest the region holds over 35,700 billion cubic metres of natural gas and over 2,300 million metric tons of oil and condensate, the majority of which are located in the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas, lying on the south side of the Kara Sea. The region also holds vast deposits of nickel, cobalt, and rare earths essential for modern industry. For the Kremlin, exploiting this wealth is not only an economic imperative but a strategic one: revenues from Arctic energy projects provide the financial backbone for sustaining military modernisation and weathering Western sanctions.

Related: Norway Plans Stronger Sabotage Response Readiness for Grid Operators

Against this backdrop, the RELOS agreement allows the armed forces of both countries to use each other’s bases, ports, and airfields for refuelling, repairs, resupply, and maintenance. The pact also covers joint exercises, training missions, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief. However, its specific strategic implications are far-reaching on both sides. For India, by allowing its warships to refuel and resupply at Russian ports such as Murmansk and Vladivostok, the agreement gives New Delhi a tangible foothold in the NSR, a corridor that can shorten Europe–Asia shipping distances by nearly 40% and significantly enhance both trade and naval mobility. Operationally, access to Russian facilities enables Indian forces to sustain deployments far from home without relying exclusively on Western partners. Indeed, even before this latest pact, Indian troops took part in the 12-16 September Russian-led ‘Zapad’ military manoeuvres, along with Belarus, according to Russian state news agency TASS. These drills also included rehearsals for the use of tactical nuclear weapons for the first time. And finally, on a symbolic level, RELOS embeds India within Russia’s Arctic project, signalling its arrival as a player in polar geopolitics, projecting influence into a region that has long been central to Moscow’s ambitions.

On the other side of the equation, reciprocal access to Indian bases and facilities gives Moscow a reliable presence in the Indian Ocean, in which it has long sought to expand its naval footprint but has lacked reliable partners. The ability to refuel, resupply, and repair in Indian ports also strengthens Russia’s capacity to project power into the Indo?Pacific and to participate more actively in joint military exercises. Politically, India’s involvement with Russia in the Arctic helps to legitimise Moscow’s ambitions in the region, and more broadly signals that the Kremlin is not isolated, despite rising Western sanctions. Closer cooperation with India additionally opens pathways for marketing Arctic hydrocarbons and mineral resources to Asian buyers, reinforcing the NSR as a future trade corridor for Moscow. And militarily, the pact deepens offensive and defensive interoperability between the two forces, embedding Russia within India’s wider logistics network and ensuring that its vessels can operate with greater flexibility. In strategic terms as well, anchoring ties with India helps Russia offset Western attempts to contain its influence, while securing a major Asian partner willing to institutionalise defence cooperation at a time when Moscow’s options elsewhere are narrowing. In the shorter term, perhaps the most immediate benefit to Putin is the implicit endorsement from his Indian counterpart that the cornerstone energy relationship between the two countries is far from over, despite increased pressure from the West.

Since the start of the Ukraine war, New Delhi has emerged as one of the largest buyers of Russian crude, second only to China. In 2024, Russia supplied nearly 36% of India’s total crude imports -- around 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) -- at steeply discounted prices compared to global benchmarks. Even after the U.S. imposed tariffs of up to 50% on Indian goods to pressure New Delhi into reducing purchases, India has maintained its reliance on Russian energy, arguing that affordable supplies are essential for its fast?growing economy. Moreover, during his very recent December visit, Putin pledged “uninterrupted shipments of fuel” and described Russia as a reliable supplier of oil, gas, and coal. Having earlier rolled out more sanctions to deter India from continuing to use Russian oil and gas, Washington recently augmented these with its oil and gas supply offer for India. These seek to push several key elements of the ‘India-U.S. Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership’ plan that was sketched out in February during meetings between President Trump and Prime Minister Modi. These plans – like Russia’s involving India – also include military elements, formalised in a new initiative -- the ‘U.S.-India COMPACT (Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century’. This sees Washington expanding its defence sales and co-production with India to strengthen interoperability and defence industrial cooperation. On broader commerce as well, the two sides set a new goal for bilateral trade -- to more than double the current figure, to US$500 billion by 2030. Delivering on these broad agreements, with their many moving parts, is the U.S.’s next challenge in keeping India on side, but its longstanding military, political, economic and energy relationship with Russia may prove very difficult to break.

By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com

Big Oil Shuns Mexico as Pemex’s Struggles Continue

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Dec 17, 2025

• Pemex remains financially strained, with nearly $100 billion in debt, weak cash flow, and ongoing production declines.
• 
  
• New joint venture contracts have failed to attract Big Oil, with recent awards going to small local firms.
• 
  
• Production growth remains elusive, putting Mexico’s 1.8 million bpd target by 2030 at risk.

Mexico’s state oil giant Pemex is struggling to reverse a years-long decline in oil and gas production while trying not to incur additional liabilities on top of its already massive pile of $100 billion debt that makes it the world’s most indebted energy firm.  

Petroleos Mexicanos, as Pemex is officially known, has received major government support this year under Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum.

Unlike her predecessor and mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, incumbent President Sheinbaum has signaled openness to foreign firms participating in the Mexican upstream sector, although Pemex still keeps majority stakes in joint projects.

This year, Sheinbaum’s administration has launched a new contract framework for joint ventures, the so-called mixed contracts. In mixed development allocations, Pemex can enter into an agreement with one or more private firms.

Pemex has just awarded the first five of 11 planned joint venture contracts for this year, Reuters reported this week, citing sources with knowledge of the development and a document it has seen.

None of these contracts, however, were awarded to a major international firm. All five agreements for onshore development blocks were with four little known local companies—Consorcio Petrolero 5M del Golfo, Geolis, Petrolera Miahuapan, and Cesigsa, according to the document Reuters has reviewed.

These small domestic players are unlikely to move the needle in Pemex’s quest to stop production declines and cash bleeds, analysts say.

True, Pemex signed earlier this year a $1.99 billion deal with Carlos Slim’s Grupo Carso, which will drill 32 wells in three years. Australia’s Woodside Energy, which inherited the huge offshore Trion field in the Perdido Fold Belt in its merger with BHP Petroleum, has made a final investment decision to develop the resource, with first oil targeted for 2028.

Despite touting interest from some oil majors, Pemex appears to have failed to attract big international companies to the new joint venture contracts.

Under López Obrador, foreign investors backed off Mexico as the former president sought a “Mexico first” energy policy and undid most of the open-market reforms in the energy sector of his predecessor Enrique Pena Nieto that had attracted majors to the country.

Current President Sheinbaum is more open than López Obrador to foreign participation in Mexico’s upstream, but it seems that Pemex’s massive debt and failure to pay contractors and partners on time are putting off Big Oil.

“There's always the doubt about whether Pemex can honor its commitments, given that paying suppliers remains an issue,” an unnamed industry source told Reuters earlier this month. Companies with outstanding bills to be paid by Pemex include Italy’s Eni, as well as oilfield services giants SLB, Halliburton, and Baker Hughes.

The joint ventures with small domestic firms are unlikely to raise Pemex’s production much.

Oil production hasn’t seen a major bump this year. Output fell in early 2025 and grew by just 17,600 barrels per day (bpd) in the third quarter compared to the second quarter.

Pemex and Mexico target 1.8 million bpd in oil production by 2030, up from about 1.64 million bpd currently.

Pemex will need to halt the decline in oil production from mature fields and boost output from new fields to reach the 2030 target, analysts at BBVA Research said.

Government support for Pemex has also increased under President Sheinbaum, with Mexico issuing new $12-billion debt to back the state oil company.

This injection of funds has strengthened the linkage between the state and the state oil firm, supporting a higher rating for the company, Fitch Ratings said in August when it upgraded Pemex’s ratings.

However, Fitch warns that Pemex’s financial profile remains weak with persistent negative funds from operations (FFO), squeezed EBITDA due to lower crude prices and production, tight liquidity, and unrelenting losses in the downstream business.

At June 30, 2025, Pemex had as much as $98.8 billion in debt. Interest expense was $2.0 billion—more than half of the second quarter’s EBITDA. Expected leverage through the rating horizon exceeds 15x, Fitch said.

“Production and development of new fields have declined in the last few years, making exploration and production (E&P) capex a top risk,” the rating agency noted.

Big Oil appears to have also noted that risks would be greater in Mexico’s upstream than in other oil provinces competing for the majors’ capital budgets and development plans.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

 

Israel-Egypt Nat Gas Deal 'Purely Commercial,' Says Cairo

By Alex Kimani - Dec 18, 2025

Israel's agreement to supply Egypt with 130 billion cubic meters of natural gas worth $35 billion through 2040 has been approved after pressure from Washington, with Egypt emphasizing the deal is "purely commercial," according to Egypt's State Information Service, adding that the deal was struck by private energy companies with zero government involvement.

Under the agreement, Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX), NewMed Energy (OTCPK:DKDRF)(TASE: NWMD) and Ratio Petroleum Energy (TASE: RTPT) will supply Egypt with natural gas from Israel's Leviathan gas field, guaranteeing a set price for its economy.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed on Wednesday that he has approved the $35 billion deal with Egypt, Israel’s biggest gas deal in history. Whereas the Egyptian government appears keen to avoid appearances of cozying up to a geopolitical rival following the  two-year war in the Gaza Strip, observers have predicted that the agreement could help repair strained relations between the two countries.

The Leviathan gas field is a massive natural gas reservoir in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, located approximately 130 km (81 miles) west of Haifa, Israel. Discovered in 2010, it is one of the world's largest deep-water gas finds and has been a "game-changer" for Israel's energy independence and regional foreign relations. Operated by Chevron (39.66% interest), with partners NewMed Energy (45.34%) and Ratio Energies (15%). Leviathan is estimated to hold approximately 600 billion cubic meters (bcm) of recoverable natural gas resources.

Over the past couple of years, Egypt has seen its ambitions to become a regional natural gas supply and LNG export hub go up in flames, with a series of setbacks turning the country from a net exporter of the vital commodity to an importer. Egypt's natural gas production has experienced a significant and rapid decline in recent years, particularly since its peak in 2021 at around 6.6 bcf/d. Data from early 2025 indicated an eight-year low of below 5 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d).

The main reason for the decline is the natural depletion of existing gas fields, including the massive Zohr field, which accounts for about 40% of Egypt's total gas production. Production at Zohr has dropped by about a third since 2019. Lack of New Discoveries and Investment have also taken a toll, with few significant new gas fields discovered since Zohr in 2015. 

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

 

Nigeria’s Top Oil Regulator Leaves Amid $10B Investment Push

By Alex Kimani - Dec 18, 2025

The abrupt resignation of Nigeria’s top petroleum regulator shortly after the launch of one of the country’s largest oil block auctions in years has sparked fresh concerns. Gbenga Komolage, head of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, and Farouk Ahmed, head of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, have both resigned.

Their exits came after Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man and the owner of the giant Dangote Refinery, criticized Ahmed for allowing cut-price fuel imports that threaten local refineries. Dangote submitted a petition against Ahmed with a leading anti-graft agency on Wednesday. However, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has nominated two people to replace the two, with the Senate expected to do so in the coming weeks.

Nigeria's Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) recently launched its 2025 licensing round, offering 50 oil and gas blocks (onshore, shallow water, frontier, deepwater). The auction is expected to attract $10 billion in investment, boost reserves by 2 billion barrels, and increase production by 400,000 barrels/day, using a new digital, transparent process under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) designed to attract local and international investors and enhance energy security.

Nigeria has been struggling to meet its OPEC+ quota in recent years, thanks to years of underinvestment coupled with rampant theft and pipeline vandalism. Africa’s largest oil producer saw crude output average ~1.5 million bpd in 2024, well below its 1.8 million bpd target. In 2022, NNPC reported losing up to 95% of its production at the Bonny terminal to theft, driven by widespread illegal connections. However, government interventions have helped reverse this trend: Nigeria's crude production jumped from 1.1 mbpd in 2022 to 1.83 mbpd in October 2025, reclaiming its place among the continent's top producers thanks to the government's new laws, fiscal incentives, and efforts to combat theft and vandalism.

Meanwhile, Western energy majors including Shell Plc (NYSE:SHEL), Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX), TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) and Seplat Energy Plc have increased gas output in Nigeria in a bid to strengthen the country’s electricity supply for industries and households. Average daily electricity generation clocked in at 5,700 MW in the final quarter of 2025, good for a nearly 40% increase from two years ago.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

West Africa Oil Faces Crisis as Global Surplus Builds

By Charles Kennedy - Dec 18, 2025

Millions of barrels of Nigerian and Angolan crude remain unsold in the December and January loading programs, as they struggle to compete with ample supply and cheaper cargoes, traders and analysts have told Reuters. 

Nigeria alone had about 20 million unsold cargoes as of December 17, two traders told the publication. In addition, there are a lot of Angolan cargoes still waiting for buyers for the December and January loadings. 

As many as 26 cargoes remain unsold, signaling that there is a lot of supply from other producers and much of this supply is cheaper than West Africa’s.

China, for example, has accelerated purchases of Saudi crude oil for January to the highest volumes in five months, after the world’s top crude exporter slashed its official selling prices for Asia to the lowest premium over benchmarks in five years.  

Chinese refiners have nominated almost 50 million barrels in total of Saudi crude volumes for January loading, about 10 million barrels higher compared to the December volumes and the highest level Chinese refiners have booked for one month since August this year.  

Oversupplied markets will keep oil prices under pressure next year, and the U.S. benchmark will average below $60 per barrel, the monthly Reuters poll of analysts and economists showed at the end of November. 

The U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, is expected to average $59 per barrel in 2026, according to the poll of 35 analysts and economists. That’s lower compared to the $60.23 per barrel forecast in the previous month’s survey.

Despite geopolitical flare-ups in recent days, Brent Crude prices slipped to the lowest level since May below $60 per barrel amid persistent concerns about a large oil glut in early 2026. Even a blockade on sanctioned tankers carrying Venezuelan crude ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump did not move prices for more than a day. 

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

A New Solar Material Is Pushing Efficiency Beyond Theoretical Limits

By Alex Kimani - Dec 17, 2025

• Perovskite solar cells offer much higher efficiency than silicon.
• 
  
• Cambridge researchers have developed a far more stable perovskite structure, stacking ultra-thin layers at atomic precision to improve charge flow and dramatically extend carrier lifetimes.
• 
  
• Commercial momentum is accelerating, with firms like Longi and Qcells setting new efficiency records.

For years, perovskites have been hailed as the "holy grail" of solar energy thanks to their promise of highly efficient and cheaper solar cells. Perovskites are a class of materials with similar crystalline structures with high superconductivity, high magnetoresistance, and high ferroelectricity, making them a potential replacement for silicon. Perovskite thin-film PV panels can absorb light from a wider variety of wave-lengths, allowing them to reach efficiencies of around 40% compared to silicon's theoretical limits around 30%. Unfortunately, perovskites are notoriously unstable and highly susceptible to degradation when exposed to common environmental factors.

But now researchers at the University of Cambridge have unveiled a new halide perovskite that’s much more stable than conventional perovskites by fine-tuning them at the atomic level,  opening the door for more powerful, durable and efficient devices.

The researchers used a vapour-based technique to create two- and three-dimensional perovskites one layer at a time, enabling them to accurately determine the thicknesses of the perovskite films down to fractions of an atom. Indeed, the scientists are able to create perovskite layers on the Angstrom level--or a tenth of a nanometer. They then meticulously stack these layers atop each other in a way that their atoms align perfectly, allowing their electrons and holes (the electrons’ positively charged opposites) to move freely in a process similar to the one used to make commercial semiconductors.

In effect, the layers act like one-way streets that guide charges and prevent them from wasting energy as heat. The researchers have achieved energy difference between the layers exceeding half an electron volt and extended the lifetime of electrons and holes to more than 10 microseconds, much longer than usual.

“Changing the composition and performance of perovskites at will – and probing these changes – is a real achievement and reflects the amount of time and investment we’ve made here at Cambridge,” said Professor Sam Stranks, who co-led the research. “But more importantly, it shows how we can make working semiconductors from perovskites, which could one day revolutionize how we make cheap electronics and solar cells.”

Perovskite technology has been advancing at a rapid pace. In 2012, scientists finally succeeded in manufacturing thin-film perovskite solar cells, which achieved efficiencies over 10%. But since then, efficiencies in new perovskite cell designs have skyrocketed: recent models can achieve 30%+, all from a thin-film cell that is (in theory) much easier and cheaper to manufacture than a thick-film silicon panel.

Last year, giant Chinese solar panel manufacturer Longi announced it has achieved a power conversion efficiency of 34.6% for a perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell, a new world record, beating the company’s previous record of 33.9% set in November 2023. The European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) certified the results .Longi is among the world's largest and leading solar manufacturers.

“We achieved this result by optimizing the thin film deposition process of the electron transport layer, developing and using high-efficiency defect passivation materials, and designing and developing high-quality interfacial passivation structures,” the company said in a statement, without providing further details.

Longi has broken the world record for solar cell efficiency more than a dozen times over the past four years. The company’s latest world beaters have actually surpassed the Shockley-Queisser (S-Q) theoretical efficiency limit of 33.7% for single junction solar cells.

Meanwhile, Qcells, a subsidiary of South Korea’s giant conglomerate Hanwha Corp, set a world record for the efficiency of a large-area silicon solar cell with a top layer of perovskite, a development that could dramatically shrink the size of projects and slash costs.

Qcells achieved a cell efficiency of 28.6% on a large commercial-sized cell known as an M10 using the technology, considerably higher than 27% efficiency for crystalline silicon cells and around 21% for traditional commercial silicon solar panels. Longi’s higher efficiency is for much smaller cells.

"If you have 100 solar panels in the field, but you can get the same power output for only 60 or 80 of them, now you're digging less holes, you're using less rails, you have less labor to install it," Danielle Merfeld, Qcells' chief technology officer, told Reuters.

Qcells’ discovery comes at a time when extensive land use by large solar projects is increasingly becoming a major challenge. For instance, California's Solar Star Project is among the largest solar energy facilities in the world, boasting 1.7 million panels spread over 3,000 acres north of Los Angeles. In comparison, a natural gas power plant located 100 miles south of Solar Star produces the same amount of energy on just 122 acres.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

IMPOSSIBLE SCI-FI-TEK MEETS THE GRIFTER

Trump’s Truth Social Merges With Nuclear Fusion Company in $6 Billion Deal

By Michael Kern - Dec 18, 2025

• Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the operator of Truth Social, has agreed to an all-stock merger with nuclear fusion firm TAE Technologies, valued at roughly $6 billion.
• 
  
• The deal is a strategic pivot to address the massive electricity demand from the artificial intelligence sector, transforming the social media company into a vertically integrated tech and energy giant.
• 
  
• The new entity plans to build a 50-megawatt fusion pilot plant starting in 2026, marking an attempt to become one of the first publicly traded commercial fusion energy firms.

Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the operator of Truth Social, announced Thursday it has reached a definitive agreement to merge with TAE Technologies in an all-stock deal valued at roughly $6 billion. The move effectively turns a social media company into a deep-tech player, targeting the massive power requirements of the artificial intelligence boom.

The deal, which is set to close in mid-2026, would create one of the first publicly traded fusion energy firms. TMTG is putting up $200 million in cash at signing and another $100 million when the merger paperwork is officially filed.

For TMTG, the deal offers a bridge to the physical infrastructure world. For TAE, it provides a massive cash injection and a direct path to the Nasdaq.

The tie-up comes as the tech world faces an increasingly desperate hunt for electricity. AI data centers are devouring power at rates the current U.S. grid was never designed to handle. This has sparked a "nuclear renaissance" among big tech firms; Microsoft recently signed a deal to help revive the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, while Amazon has been buying up data center sites located right next to existing reactors.

Unlike traditional nuclear fission, which splits atoms, TAE focuses on fusion, the same process that powers the sun. It has long been considered the "holy grail" of energy because it creates almost no long-term waste and cannot suffer a meltdown. The catch has always been the timeline; scientists have been promising commercial fusion for decades without quite getting it to the finish line.

TAE says it is finally ready. Based in California and backed by more than $1.3 billion from the likes of Google and Chevron, the company plans to start building a 50-megawatt pilot plant in 2026. If that works, they intend to scale up to much larger 350- to 500-megawatt facilities.

The deal essentially bets that the future of tech is as much about the "pipes" and the power as it is about the platforms. By bringing TAE Power Solutions, a subsidiary that builds energy storage for data centers, under the same roof as Truth Social, TMTG is attempting to build a vertically integrated tech and energy giant.

Despite the $6 billion valuation, the merger is not without risk. Nuclear fusion remains one of the most difficult engineering challenges on the planet. While TAE has operated five experimental reactors over 25 years, moving to a utility-scale plant is a massive leap that will face intense regulatory scrutiny and technical hurdles.

If the 2026 construction goal holds, the company would be moving at a pace rarely seen in the nuclear industry. The deal still requires the green light from shareholders and federal regulators before it can close.

For now, the merger stands as one of the most unusual bets in the energy sector. It suggests that the next phase of the "AI revolution" might not be won by the companies building the software, but by whoever can figure out how to keep the lights on.

By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com