Colombia's New Government OF OLIGARCHS Prepares Fossil Fuel Comeback

By Felicity Bradstock - Jul 17, 2026

• De la Espriella is expected to prioritize oil and gas production while rolling back elements of Petro's green transition agenda.
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• His administration will likely combine a tougher security strategy with a more pro-business approach to energy development.
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• Congressional opposition and declining domestic oil reserves could limit how far the new government can reverse climate policies.
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On 21st June, conservative, Trump-endorsed presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella won the election by just 1 per cent over Iván Cepeda, who was expected to take over the Socialist Party leadership from current President Gustavo Petro. He will be sworn in as president on 7th August, after which we can expect significant changes across the board.

Petro, who was considered Colombia’s first leftist leader, brought about major change during his time in power, overhauling the country’s tax and health systems and supporting a green energy transition. He also attempted to broker peace deals with organised criminal groups, largely to little avail. De la Espriella, known as “The Tiger”, has promised a different approach, with plans to target criminals and build 10 mega-prisons, mimicking the policies of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele. While Bukele has been successful in lowering the country’s homicide rates, many have criticised the leader for committing human rights abuses.

While De la Espriella’s focus is expected to be primarily on reducing crime and violence across Colombia, he is also expected to carry out change in key sectors, including energy. During his Presidency, Petro was vocal about climate change and the need to transition away from fossil fuels. Petro drew up an ambitious plan to make Colombia less dependent on fossil fuels, which focused on economic diversification, renewable energy, greater democratic control over energy systems, and environmental protection.

Petro put Colombia well on its way to achieving greater energy and economic diversification, with non-mining, non-energy exports contributing 52.6 per cent of the total and overtaking mining and energy exports for the first time in at least a decade in 2025. In addition, from 2022 to 2026, Colombia’s renewable energy capacity increased from 200 to 3,600 MW.

Colombia’s oil reserves are declining, making the diversification of energy sources key to ensuring energy security. In recent months, Petro has strongly supported international efforts to tackle climate change and support a global green transition. In May, Colombia held the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, which it co-hosted with the Netherlands in the Colombian city of Santa Marta, at which Petro demonstrated Colombia’s dedication to post-fossil development.

However, the significant shift from Petro’s leftist party, the Pacto Histórico, to De la Espriella’s far-right approach is expected to halt much of Colombia’s climate progress, as the country reverts to dependence on fossil fuels just four years after it committed to a green transition. Many expect De la Espriella to drive the redirection of Ecopetrol, Colombia’s largest oil company, toward hydrocarbons and support faster permitting for energy projects.

As part of his electoral campaign, De la Espriella pledged to exploit fossil fuels to the fullest extent. The economic concerns of recent years have prompted many to support more drilling to bring in vital revenues, as the country’s deficit reached 6.4 per cent in 2025, the highest since the pandemic. Meanwhile, oil, gas, and coal continue to contribute around 5 per cent of Colombia’s GDP. Nevertheless, Colombia is not considered an oil major, with just 0.1 per cent of the world’s proven reserves. This means that if De la Espriella pursues an extraction agenda, he must consider the inevitable decline in the country’s oil reserves.

While some see oil production as key to economic growth, not everyone feels the same way. In the major oil-producing regions of Barrancabermeja and Puerto Wilches, people overwhelmingly supported leftist candidate Iván Cepeda, who won 60 per cent of the vote. After years of exploitation, people in these areas have seen the dramatic impact of oil production on the environment, with ongoing concerns over issues such as water pollution.

Much like President Trump, De la Espriella has pledged to rapidly issue a wide range of decrees rolling back the policies of the Petro government. Former environment minister Susana Muhamad believes, “The new government will probably repeat the pattern set by former presidents Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010) and Juan Manuel Santos (2010–2018), who championed the so-called ‘mining locomotive’ as one of the economy’s main engines.”

Muhamad explained, “They’ll grant permits for extraction and loosen environmental regulations. During the campaign, they even talked about scrapping the national authority of environmental licences (ANLA), the body that oversees the country’s highest-impact projects.” Muhamad expects influence from President Trump to play a role in the new government’s energy and environmental agenda.

While De la Espriella will likely attempt to follow in Trump’s footsteps by overturning the former government’s policies, which were aimed at achieving a green transition and shifting away from fossil fuels, getting new policies through Congress, where the left still holds 68 seats, could be complicated. Policies in certain areas, such as fracking and environmental licensing, cannot be repealed by executive action and must go through Congress. Nevertheless, we can expect De la Espriella to strongly support fossil fuel production, likely at the expense of recent climate progress.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

 

South Korean SMR-powered container ship design certified

Friday, 17 July 2026

The Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering has received Approval in Principle from the American Bureau of Shipping for the conceptual design of a container ship propelled by two small modular molten salt reactors.
 

The AIP award ceremony (Image: KRISO)

As part of the Novel Concept Class Approval process, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) grants an Approval in Principle at an early conceptual design phase to assist the client in demonstrating project feasibility to its project partners and regulatory bodies. Approval in Principle confirms that the proposed novel concept which includes the new technology complies with the intent of the most applicable ABS Rules and Guides as well as required appropriate industry codes and standards, subject to a list of conditions.

Under the certification process for the 15,000 TEU class SMR-powered container ship, the Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering (KRISO), together with Samsung Heavy Industries, was responsible for the high-speed hull design of the ship, the layout design of reactors and major systems, and the development of power operation and control technologies, while the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) is developing a molten salt reactor for marine applications.

KRISO said the conceptual design for which it obtained Approval in Principle is "characterised by the optimisation of the power system, hull shape, and layout design to enhance the safety and operational efficiency of the SMR-propelled vessel". The key features of the power system design include: output sharing through the redundant placement of two SMRs; storage of surplus power and supply when needed using an energy storage system. "Through this, the design was created to efficiently manage reactor output and the ship's power demand, and to secure stable propulsion power," KRISO said.

Conceptual diagram of an SMR-propelled container ship (Image: KRISO)

In terms of hull design and layout, the following were incorporated: a high-speed hull design of 25 knots; a central placement of the reactor to minimise wave impact and the risk of collision accidents; the application of a 15,000 TEU class hull capable of transiting the expanded Panama Canal; improved loading efficiency through the removal of existing fuel tanks and funnels; and an optimal layout of accommodation areas considering crew safety from radiation and visibility standards. "Through these measures, a hull design and layout that comprehensively consider loading efficiency, safety, and space utilization was realised," KRISO said.

In order to consider the impact of ship motion in the marine environment on major systems, such as the reactor, KRISO also conducted tests on scaled-down model ships using its deep-sea engineering tank. Through these tests, the ship's motion characteristics were analysed in various marine environments, and data necessary for designing the hull shape and reactor layout was secured, thereby enhancing the reliability of the conceptual design.

"To apply SMRs to ship propulsion systems, not only the safety of the reactor but also the structure and operational characteristics of the ship and the marine environment must be comprehensively considered,” said Baek Bu-geun, a principal researcher at KRISO and the research leader. "Based on this achievement, we will lay the foundation for the demonstration and commercialisation of SMR-powered ships by conducting follow-up research in stages, including basic design and detailed design considering the ship-reactor interface."

In February 2023, KRISO was one of nine South Korean organisations that signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on jointly developing a molten salt reactor suitable for use in marine vessels. They also agreed to cooperate in the development and demonstration of SMRs for marine use; the development of SMR-propelled vessel/marine system interface technology and response to licences and permits; to nurture experts in nuclear-powered ship operation and establishment of industrial infrastructure.

KRISO President Hong Ki-yong added: "SMR-powered vessels are a next-generation technology that will determine the competitiveness of the future shipping industry, and securing design technology suitable for the marine environment is of the utmost importance. KRISO will continue to strive to enhance the marine applicability of nuclear-powered vessels through research and development in the field of marine engineering and international cooperation, and to contribute to the establishment of related technologies and international standards."

The shipping industry consumes some 350 million tonnes of fossil fuel annually and accounts for about 3% of total worldwide carbon emissions. In July 2023, the shipping industry, via the International Maritime Organization, approved new targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions, aiming to reach net-zero emissions by, or around, 2050.

The MASS Code

Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) 

iStock

Published Jul 17, 2026 6:46 PM by Priyatham Sanjeeva Reddy, Ramidi

[By Priyatham Sanjeeva Reddy, Ramidi]

On 1 July 2026, the International Code of Safety for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) entered its first operational phase. That date will not suddenly empty bridges or dispatch uncrewed container ships across every ocean. It does, however, mark a decisive change in the autonomous-shipping debate. The industry is moving from asking whether autonomy is technically possible to asking whether it can be governed safely at scale.

The International Maritime Organization adopted the non-mandatory MASS Code in May 2026. It applies initially as a voluntary framework for large cargo ships engaged in international trade, while experience is gathered for a future mandatory instrument. This transition matters because autonomous shipping has never been only a navigation problem. It is a system-of-systems problem involving ship design, connectivity, cyber resilience, remote operations, human factors, maintenance, liability and emergency response.

From Demonstration to Operational Reality

The most difficult questions begin where the promotional videos end. A remotely operated ship may have radar, cameras, lidar, satellite links and automated collision-avoidance functions. Yet no sensor suite removes uncertainty. Visibility deteriorates, communications fail, software behaves unexpectedly, and traffic situations become ambiguous. The real test is not whether an autonomous system performs well in routine conditions. It is whether the wider organization recognizes degradation early, transfers control safely and remains accountable when several safeguards fail together.

The Remote Operations Centre Challenge

That places the remote operations center at the heart of the new regime. Shipping companies will need to decide how many vessels one operator can supervise, when active intervention is required and how workload should be managed during simultaneous alarms. A ratio that appears efficient during normal operations may become unsafe when weather, traffic and technical failures affect several ships at once. The industry therefore needs staffing models based on credible worst-case demand, not average workload.

The competence question is equally important. A remote operator is not simply a deck officer working ashore. The role combines navigational judgment with systems monitoring, cyber awareness and the ability to understand the limits of automation. Operators must remain capable of taking control even after long periods in which the system performs correctly. That "out-of-the-loop" problem is well known in other safety-critical industries: people asked to supervise reliable automation may lose situational awareness precisely when rapid intervention becomes necessary.

Training should therefore focus less on ideal voyages and more on difficult handovers. Simulators must expose operators to degraded sensor data, intermittent communications, conflicting targets and incomplete information. Performance should be assessed through decision quality, intervention timing and recovery effectiveness, not merely whether a candidate remembers a procedure.

Who Is Responsible When Control Is Distributed?

Accountability also needs sharper definition. Traditional shipboard command structures identify who has authority and responsibility. Distributed operations complicate that picture. The master, remote operator, automation provider, ship manager, software integrator and communications supplier may all influence an outcome. Unless authority is clearly allocated before a casualty, investigations risk becoming contests over system boundaries and contractual wording.

Companies entering the experience-building phase should create a decision-responsibility map for every critical function. It should identify who may change the voyage plan, who can override automated action, who declares a communications emergency and who authorizes operation in a degraded mode. These arrangements must remain understandable to pilots, vessel traffic services, port authorities and emergency responders who may interact with the ship.

Cybersecurity and Resilient Fallback

Cybersecurity is another operational issue that cannot be treated as a separate information-technology exercise. Autonomy expands the number of systems that receive, process and transmit safety-critical data. A vessel may be physically sound yet operationally compromised through manipulated positioning, corrupted sensor feeds or loss of authenticated control. Resilience therefore requires diversity: independent means of position verification, secure command pathways, local fallback functions and procedures that assume shore connectivity may be unavailable.

Maintenance Without a Full Crew

Maintenance will change as well. Fewer people on board means fewer opportunities for informal detection — the unusual vibration, smell, leakage or temperature change that an experienced engineer notices during a round. Condition monitoring must become more comprehensive, but more data does not automatically produce better decisions. Owners will need thresholds for when a remotely monitored defect requires speed reduction, diversion, attendance by riding crew or withdrawal from service.

This creates a commercial discipline that has sometimes been missing from autonomous-shipping trials. Demonstrators are usually supported by specialists and carefully selected operating areas. Commercial ships must operate day after day with ordinary staffing, maintenance budgets and supply chains. The relevant measure is not whether a prototype completed a voyage. It is whether the operating model remains safe, repairable and insurable across thousands of voyages.

The MASS Code gives the industry an opportunity to build evidence before mandatory requirements arrive. Owners should use this period to document near misses, intervention frequency, communications outages, false alarms and maintenance burdens. Classification societies and flag administrations should encourage comparable reporting so that the sector learns collectively rather than repeating isolated experiments.

Three Principles for Safe Implementation

Three principles should guide implementation.

First, autonomy should be introduced by operational domain. A system approved for a defined coastal route, traffic density and weather envelope should not be assumed suitable everywhere. Second, the human role must be designed, not added at the end. Interfaces, staffing and authority should be developed alongside the automation. Third, degraded operation must be treated as a normal design condition. Safe fallback cannot depend on perfect communications or immediate human understanding.

The new code is important not because it declares autonomous shipping complete, but because it makes disciplined implementation possible. The winners will not necessarily be the companies with the most impressive algorithms. They will be those that can demonstrate controlled risk, competent human oversight, transparent accountability and reliable performance when technology is no longer behaving at its best.

Autonomous shipping has entered its regulatory era. Its credibility will now be determined less by what the ship can do alone than by how well the entire maritime organization supports it.

Priyatham Sanjeeva Reddy, Ramidi currently works in maritime technical and operational roles with a focus on the intersection of ship technical operations and risk management. The views expressed in the article are presented independently and do not represent those of any employer or organization.

The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.

 

Hitachi Machinery, Pronto sign mine automation solutions MoU 

Staff Writer | July 16, 2026 

Credit: Hitachi.

Pronto and Hitachi Construction Machinery announced they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a partnership aimed at advancing open mine automation solutions.  

The companies said they aim to deliver automation solutions that provide customers with a broader range of options to address challenges such as improving mining operations and adapting to changing business environments. 

Miners are increasingly are looking for open automation solutions that can be flexibly deployed according to the operating conditions of each mine, while making use of existing equipment and technologies from different manufacturers and avoiding excessive dependence on a single technology platform or vendor ecosystem, Hitachi Construction Machinery and Pronto said, adding that they share the view that meeting these expectations requires an open ecosystem that brings together expertise in mining operations, mining equipment, digital technologies, and automation technologies, enabling solutions to be flexibly adapted to the specific needs of each mine. 

Pronto’s OEM-agnostic Autonomous Haulage Systems tiered AHS portfolio retrofits onto existing haul trucks from any manufacturer and scales from regional quarries to deep-pit operations. Pronto’s systems have autonomously hauled millions of tons in commercial mixed-fleet operations, with production deployments spanning three continents.  

Hitachi Construction Machinery has long supported mining operations around the world through the provision of mining equipment and by combining their expertise in mining operations, mining equipment, and automation technologies, the companies said they aim to create new value. 

“Mine operators have been clear: they want automation that works with the fleets they already own, not another closed, single-vendor ecosystem,” Pronto chief executive Anthony Levandowski said in a news release. 

“Pronto has proven OEM-agnostic autonomous haulage at commercial scale, and Hitachi Construction Machinery brings decades of mining equipment leadership, a global customer base, and an open autonomy vision that we share.”

 

Paper: Self-driving trucks will redraw US economic map

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau

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The widespread implementation of driverless truck technology in the U.S. could reduce transportation costs by 35%, resulting in significant increases in total interstate trade value, according to new research co-written by a team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign economists. Self-driving truck technology “has a very high potential to change the economic geography of the U.S.,” said Taejun Mo, an Illinois graduate student and lead author of the paper.

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Credit: Photo by Fred Zwicky

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Technological advances in autonomous truck technology are poised to have significant economic ripple effects for U.S. interstate commerce, highway infrastructure and labor costs, says new research co-written by a team of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign economists.

Self-driving truck technology “has a very high potential to change the economic geography of the U.S.,” said Taejun Mo, an Illinois graduate student and first author of the paper.

“We all know that there’s already very good truck transportation infrastructure in the U.S., with a lot of cargo crisscrossing the country,” he said. “But autonomous truck transportation can make everything even more efficient. Human truck drivers cannot drive 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Autonomous trucks can, and their routes can be even more direct since they don’t have to stop. Self-driving technology has great potential to rewrite the economic geography of the U.S., which in and of itself will create new winners and losers.”

The paper, which was published by the Journal of Regional Science, was co-written by Illinois agricultural and consumer economics professors Sandy Dall’erba, William Ridley, Yilan Xu and Hyungsun Yim.

The researchers estimated the widespread implementation of driverless truck technology in the U.S. could reduce transportation costs by 35%, resulting in significant increases in total interstate trade value. But since transportation costs influence trade flows differently depending on each state’s economic specialization, “the impact would vary across states,” Mo said.

According to the paper, the researchers found distinct patterns of increases across specific areas of the country, with the South‐Central and Midwest regions of the U.S. — Mississippi, Kentucky, Arkansas, Kansas and Iowa, for example — exhibiting the highest percentage increases in exports, while the largest absolute values in export increases were concentrated in economically significant states such as California, Texas, Illinois and Pennsylvania.

“Our results underscore the central role that those states play in the U.S. domestic trade network as well as their capacity to take advantage of advances in transportation technology and logistics,” Mo said.

The researchers’ model considered a wide range of goods, including agricultural products, commodities such as crude oil, chemicals, textiles, machinery and electronics.

“It’s not just food or agricultural products that would benefit from autonomous trucking,” Mo said. “The price of some goods is very sensitive to transportation cost increases, which autonomous trucking would bring down. And other goods are driven by local demand or regional supply chains, which would also be cheaper with self-driving trucks.”

The findings point to significant policy implications for transportation infrastructure, trade regulation and economic development in the U.S., the researchers said.

“If a certain geographic area were a major transportation hub in the days before autonomous trucking, it’s possible that it would not be a major hub in the future,” Mo said. “Certain places will benefit, while others will be left behind. There’s inevitably going to be winners and losers in more than one dimension from this gradual transformation of truck transportation infrastructure.”

One of the other potential tradeoffs is that some highly traveled routes will need increased infrastructure investment while others will need less and potentially fall by the wayside.

“If there’s a shift in trade flows, there’s going to be more wear and tear on those roads,” Mo said. “If all these trucks are taking the most efficient route, they’re all going to go through this one route. They’re not going to go through a route that’s farther away. So not only will the most traveled infrastructure degrade faster and need to have more maintenance funds directed to it, the less-traveled routes will also degrade through reduced use and reduced improvement fund.”

Certain workers will also bear the burden of this pivot to automation, Mo noted.

“Drivers and mechanics who previously relied on the truck transportation industry for a career will have to be upskilled and reskilled, otherwise they risk being downsized and displaced,” he said. “The effects of autonomous truck technology will be beneficial to many, but certainly not to all.”

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Journal

Journal of Regional Science

DOI

10.1111/jors.70067 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

The Impact of Autonomous Truck Technology on US Interstate Trade

 

Driving the speed limit cuts millions in fuel costs for less than a minute of your time

New study finds an immediate, cost-effective solution by analyzing 120 million real-world trips

University of Minnesota

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MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (07/16/2026) - A nationwide study by researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities reveals that adherence to posted speed limits could dramatically curb U.S. fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, saving Americans billions of dollars annually while adding less than a minute to the average daily commute.

The paper was recently published in Communications Sustainability, a peer-reviewed journal.

Researchers analyzed over 120 million real-world vehicle trips across the United States, showing that if drivers complied with posted speed limits, it could save an average of $22 million, 6.7 million gallons of fuel and 57,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide every single day for light-duty engine-powered vehicles — which account for 14.6% of total energy consumption in the country.

“We already understand the physics of how speed affects fuel consumption, but quantifying the exact magnitude of those savings at a national scale gives us a clearer picture of the actual impact,” said Bharat Jayaprakash, Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota and lead author on the paper.

Previous transportation research relied on localized, small-scale samples or general assumptions about fuel economy based on laboratory tests. This project marks a major milestone in transportation science. With volatile fuel prices and uncertainty about the expansion of electric vehicles in the marketplace, the study shows that changing driver behavior offers an immediate, cost-effective tool for reducing fuel use and emissions.

The researchers were able to review a large amount of data including driving data on U.S. road networks, speed limits and elevation data from the U.S. Geological Survey. They then calibrated multiple, vehicle specific energy-consumption models using advanced vehicle dynamics software developed by the National Laboratory of the Rockies, formerly known as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

“While internal combustion engine-powered vehicles have become significantly more efficient in the past decades, they have also become much more powerful. Driving fast is easier than ever,” said William Northrop, University of Minnesota mechanical engineering professor and corresponding author on the paper. “Our study examines an obvious yet difficult-to-implement intervention for major fuel savings that can be achieved without replacing our cars: driving slower.” 

The researchers noted that more work is needed to fully understand the impact of driving on fuel and emissions.

“Key remaining challenges of our research are to expand our framework to more diverse roadways and understand the impacts of aggressive accelerations on fuel use and emissions,” added Northrop. “Exploring both speed and acceleration reductions will give us an even more complete picture of real-world fuel savings potential."

Future phases of the project will utilize an instrumented electric vehicle equipped with multi-sensor perception systems to capture micro-scale driving behavior in real time. Sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Local Road Research Board, current research focuses on collecting high-fidelity, real-world drive cycles to precisely model how micro-scale driving habits impact energy consumption and emissions at the fleet level.

The research was partially supported by the National Science Foundation. 

Read the entire paper, entitled “Speeding incurs substantial environmental and economic costs nationwide for negligible travel time savings, on the Nature website.

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Journal

Communications Sustainability

DOI

10.1038/s44458-026-00100-3 

Article Title

Speeding incurs substantial environmental and economic costs nationwide for negligible travel time savings

Article Publication Date

16-Jul-2026

India Proposes Stricter Vehicle Emission Rules To Cut Oil Consumption

By Alex Kimani - Jul 17, 2026

The Indian government has proposed stricter fuel efficiency regulations for passenger vehicles under the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE)-III norms, with the new fuel standards set to take effect on April 1, 2027. Released by the Ministry of Power for public consultation, these rules aim to lower vehicular emissions, decrease reliance on imported crude oil, and shrink the nation's rising oil import bill. 

To capture real-world emissions accurately, the framework will transition from the Modified Indian Driving Cycle (MIDC) to the more comprehensive World Light Duty Vehicle Testing Procedure (WLTP). Under the new rules, M1 category passenger vehicles (weighing up to 3,500 kg, including hatchbacks, sedans, and SUVs) are expected to cut their fuel consumption from 3.996 liters/100 km in 2027–28 to 3.327 liters/100 km by 2031–32. CAFE-3 emission rules will tighten carbon targets from 113 g/km to 76 g/km by 2032, with non-compliance attracting severe penalties ranging from ?2,500 to ?4,500 per gram of excess CO?/km.

Car manufacturers that outperform their fleet-wide targets will earn compliance credits, which they can sell via a market trading system to manufacturers that fall short of the efficiency baseline, avoiding hefty government penalties. Additionally, for the first time, the policy gives regulatory benefits to cars powered by alternative fuels. Automakers selling flex-fuel, ethanol-powered or biofuel vehicles will get a more favorable emission value calculation, rewarding lower lifecycle carbon emissions. This complements the government's simultaneous push for 100% ethanol (E100) vehicles.

Other than lower emissions and lower fuel bills, car buyers are likely to benefit from a broader market selection of hybrids, electric vehicles (EVs) and alternative fuel models. Automakers are planning to launch over 15 new EV models, bringing the total market options to well over 35. Meanwhile, brands like MG are introducing innovative plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) built on new multi-energy platforms to give buyers long-range convenience alongside low running costs. On the downside, more stringent technology mandates are expected to increase vehicle manufacturing costs, potentially driving up upfront sticker prices.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

THE FREE MARKET

Billions in US-funded rare earths flowing to Asian markets: report

Staff Writer | July 9, 2026 | 

Cargo ship vessel leaving the port of Miami. (Stock image by Be Free.)

US-backed rare earths producers are selling much of their output to Japan and South Korea because American magnet manufacturing has yet to catch up with Washington’s drive to build a domestic critical minerals supply chain.

A report from Financial Times shows that rare earth products from MP Materials (NYSE: MP), Energy Fuels (NYSE American: UUUU; TSX: EFR) and Phoenix Tailings, companies that have collectively secured billions of dollars in US government support, are being shipped to Asian customers where magnet manufacturing remains far more established than in the US

China has tightened exports of rare earths and other critical minerals, prompting Washington and its allies to accelerate efforts to secure alternative supply chains for materials used in everything from defence systems to electric vehicles.

“Unless the [US defence] primes move quickly, I will sell out,” Phoenix Tailings CEO Nick Myers told FT. “Other companies are paying top dollar faster.” He said the company’s customers are “primarily in Korea and Japan,” where demand has surged following China’s export restrictions.

The sales underscore the challenge facing the Trump administration’s push to build an integrated domestic rare earths industry. While the US is rapidly expanding mining and processing capacity, downstream magnet manufacturing remains limited, leaving producers dependent on overseas buyers until American demand develops.

Building capacity

MP Materials, the largest US rare earth producer, said sales of its neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) oxide and metal were primarily made through Sumitomo Corp. for distribution to Japanese customers, according to its latest quarterly results.

The company, owner of the Mountain Pass mine in California, has stopped selling mined rare earths to China’s Shenghe Resources under its agreement with the US government. It expects to begin shipping finished magnets to General Motors later this year under previously announced supply agreements with GM and Apple.

Energy Fuels, which received conditional US government funding worth $725 million last month, also expects to export material to Asia in the near term. 

The company has said it plans to ship rare earth oxides to South Korea while advancing its acquisition of Australian Strategic Materials, whose South Korean facility produces rare earth metals. 

Energy Fuels also agreed in June to acquire German magnet maker Vacuumschmelze in a $1.9 billion deal that is expected to increase shipments to the company’s US operations.

China dominates global NdFeB magnet production, accounting for about 90% of output, according to US government estimates. Japan is the largest producer outside China, while South Korea, the US and Europe have smaller or emerging production bases.

Phoenix Tailings, which secured conditional $500 million in government support in June, said the funding will help expand production of rare earth metals and oxides. 

MP Materials, meanwhile, continues to benefit from a federal pricing agreement that guarantees minimum prices for certain products while the broader US rare earths supply chain continues to take shape.

 

Fortescue’s Super Special Fines iron ore stocks at China ports tumble to four-month low

Reuters | July 17, 2026 | 

Stock image.

Stocks of Fortescue’s Super Special Fines, a type of lower-grade iron ore, held at Chinese ports dropped 16.5% to a four-month low in the week to July 14, traders said, as steelmakers rushed to take delivery of cargoes before restrictions by Beijing kicked in.

China Mineral Resources Group (CMRG), the state iron ore buyer, notified domestic steel mills in early July that from July 15 they must not take delivery of Super Special Fines held at ports.

It later widened the restrictions to new purchases of Fortescue’s Super Special Fines cargoes, Bloomberg reported earlier this month.

Inventory of Super Special Fines at some major Chinese ports slumped by nearly 17% week-on-week to 6.01 million metric tons as of July 14, the lowest since mid-March, said three traders.

That represents the steepest weekly fall in nearly nine months, according to one of the traders, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

CMRG is locked in talks with Fortescue on a new supply contract.

The restriction on portside cargoes escalates CMRG’s campaign to assert control over the giant iron ore market, following a months-long standoff with BHP that ended in April.

Fewer deliveries of Super Special Fines cargoes at Chinese ports partly due to a typhoon in China also contributed to the sharp inventory drawdown, an industry analyst said.

(Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

 

ETM battles Greenland over rare earth ‘expropriation’

Staff Writer | July 17, 2026 | 

Managing director Daniel Mamadou. (Image: MINING.COM.)

Energy Transition Minerals (ASX: ETM) says Greenland has effectively expropriated one of the world’s largest rare earth deposits outside China by blocking development of the Kvanefjeld project and refusing to renew the exploration licence underpinning it.

The Australian-listed company says it has invested about $150 million in Kvanefjeld through subsidiary Greenland Minerals since 2013, advancing the project through resource definition, environmental studies and public consultation before applying for a mining licence in late 2020.

Months later, Greenland’s new coalition government passed Act 20, banning projects with uranium concentrations above 100 parts per million (0.01%), halting Kvanefjeld’s application. 

Managing director Daniel Mamadou argues the legislation was designed specifically to stop the project after the government campaigned on opposing its development.

“We’ve got a Greenlandic government that states that it is open for business and that it wants to do more mining projects,” Mamadou said this week on The Northern Miner Podcast. “And yet we have what is the most advanced shovel-ready project in Greenland in rare earth, in critical minerals, that is essentially stopped.”

‘Pack up and go’

The dispute has since widened beyond the mining application. Mamadou said Greenland had routinely renewed the company’s exploration licence every three years, including once after Act 20 became law, when officials maintained the legislation applied only to mining, not exploration. 

The current government has since reversed that position, refusing to renew the permit on grounds the project can never comply with the uranium threshold. ETM argues the decision ignores exploration results from 2025 identifying rare earth mineralization with uranium levels well below the legal limit across largely unexplored parts of the licence area, while also rejecting proposals to separate uranium from the rare earth concentrate and permanently return it underground.

At the centre of the legal battle is whether Act 20 applies retroactively to Kvanefjeld and, if so, whether doing so amounts to expropriation. Mamadou said the legislation’s explanatory notes allow the government to waive the law where applying it would constitute expropriation, yet Greenland has avoided answering that question despite more than three years of arbitration and court proceedings. ETM says its objective is not financial compensation but reinstatement of its mining licence application.

Strategic stakes

Kvanefjeld hosts neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium, rare earth elements essential for permanent magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines and defence technologies. ETM has previously estimated the project could supply as much as 15% of global rare earth production, potentially providing Europe with a significant non-Chinese source of critical minerals as Western governments seek to diversify supply chains.

Greenland’s government has consistently maintained the project lacks community support. Foreign Minister Múte Egede has said residents do not want the mine near Narsaq, reflecting longstanding concerns about uranium and environmental impacts.

Mamadou disputes that characterization, pointing to support from some local labour leaders and opposition politicians while acknowledging the company lost ground in public engagement during the covid-19 pandemic as criticism of the project intensified.

While the Greenland dispute continues through the courts, ETM has broadened its strategy by acquiring the Penouta brownfield project in Spain, which it aims to restart as Europe’s only producing tantalum mine. The company has also assembled an advisory board including former foreign ministers from Denmark and Australia as it continues pursuing Kvanefjeld, which Mamadou still views as ETM’s defining asset.

“Our case comes down to one simple question,” Mamadou said. “Are you expropriating us? Yes or no?”