Swedish nuclear life-cycle services company, Studsvik AB, announced an agreement with GE Vernova Hitachi (GVH) and Samsung C&T for 1.2 GW of new nuclear energy in Sweden.

Project developer Studsvik selected the GVH boiling water reactor design, the BWRX-300, to be constructed by Samsung C&T. The consortium is targeting first-unit operation in the mid-2030s.

The project location is still undetermined. It’ll be developed at either Studsvik’s existing licensed nuclear site in Nyköping, or Målma in Valdemarsvik.

This latest project for GE Vernova comes shortly after they lost in a competition with Rolls-Royce to construct reactors for Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall. But, GE Vernova has been working with Studsvik’s wholly-owned reactor development subsidiary for several years, making this less of a surprise and more of a confirmation of previous expectations.

Rolls-Royce SMR selected to deliver Sweden’s first new nuclear power for over 40 years https://t.co/IakhRoHKVR pic.twitter.com/eSZmMdSPWX

— Rolls-Royce Press (@RollsRoycePress) June 15, 2026

The new project for GE Vernova is notable though for being one less reactor than they were competing against Rolls-Royce for earlier this year. The project to be developed at Nyköping or Målma will be for four BWRX300s instead of the potential five they would have built at the Värö Peninsula.

The reactor developer Studsvik is probably new to most of our readers, as the company only sees meaningful volume on its home exchange in Stockholm. The company has been in the nuclear industry for over 75 years, with services over a range of engineering-related business segments, to include fuel modeling software used across the commercial US nuclear fleet.

The company only recently entered the reactor development space after they acquired Kärnfull Next earlier this year, leading to their relationship with GVH and Samsung.

With the market cap under $200 million and revenue coming in under $100 million in 2025, the company has gone relatively unnoticed over the recent year. We covered them earlier this year when they acquired KNXT, but investors are still largely uninterested in one of the few plays on the Swedish nuclear renaissance story.

After jumping almost 200% from mid-2025 to the beginning of 2026, the stock has pulled back with the rest of the global nuclear and AI trade.
 

Across the U.S., Americans are paying roughly 30% more for electricity than in 2020.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Cody Good in partnership with the National Public Utilities Council, uses data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration to show the change in average retail electricity prices by state across all sectors from 2020 to 2025.

Where Electricity Prices Rose the Most

Washington, DC saw the largest increase in the country, with average retail electricity prices rising 72% between 2020 and 2025. Maine followed closely at 67%, while Maryland and California rose 52% and 50%, respectively.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

Data shows percent growth in average retail electricity prices across all sectors from 2020 to 2025.

Many of the largest increases were concentrated in coastal and Northeastern markets, where retail electricity prices have climbed sharply since 2020.

The U.S. Interior Tells a Different Story

While most states saw higher electricity prices, a few moved in the opposite direction. North Dakota had the largest decrease, with average retail electricity prices falling 18% from 2020 to 2025.

Nebraska and Wyoming also posted slight declines, each falling 1%.

This contrast shows how electricity costs can vary widely across the country depending on regional generation mixes, fuel costs, grid needs, regulations, and local market conditions.

The Bigger Impact of Rising Electricity Costs

Electricity prices rose across most of the U.S. from 2020 to 2025, but the increases were uneven. This matters because electricity is a core cost for households, businesses, and local economies.

As demand grows from data centers, electrification, and grid upgrades, affordability will remain a key challenge across the U.S.

For questions about the rising cost of electricity, contact the National Public Utilities Council.

Submitted by Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com,

Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines, the world’s largest tanker operator, expects the shipping disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz to continue for longer than previously expected, with no normalization by the end of the year, due to this week’s re-escalation of hostilities.

“Given the current situation, it’s difficult to see operations resuming in any form by the end of the year,” Mitsui OSK Lines’ chief executive Jotaro Tamura told Bloomberg in an interview published on Thursday.

In a quarterly financial report last month, Mitsui OSK assumed that “navigation around the Strait of Hormuz will gradually resume from October 2026 and be normalized in January 2027.”

However, the recent flare-up of hostilities, with the first strikes the U.S. and Iran exchanged in more than a month, has led to deterioration of the situation.

“The situation continues to be well beyond the level of risk we can accept,” the executive told Bloomberg.

Mitsui OSK does not currently plan to return to shipping oil through the Strait of Hormuz, due to the elevated risks, the executive told Bloomberg. The situation needs to de-escalate, and the tanker giant needs to see guarantees and evidence of sustainably safe passage through the chokepoint to consider returning to the route, Tamura added.

Since the re-escalation early this week, traffic at the Strait of Hormuz has slumped to a handful of observable transits per day, although dark crossings have helped sneak more volumes out of the Persian Gulf in recent weeks.

The latest flare-up, however, could discourage some shippers again. As a result, the market grows concerned that the re-escalation is putting at risk the estimated tentative recovery of oil flows from the Middle East in the past weeks.

Resource-poor Japan, for its part, is preparing an energy import diversification plan that will include stipulations about support for pipelines in the Middle East aimed at diverting export oil flows away from the Strait of Hormuz.

Tit-for-tat attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea as well as Sea of Azov have been raging all summer, but Ukrainian forces are now strategically going after smaller ships which yet play an outsized role in repair and logistics related to damaged Russian and central Asian oil infrastructure.

“Ukraine attacked a small service ship involved in planned repair works at the key CPC oil terminal in the Black Sea, a person with knowledge of the matter said,” Bloomberg reports Thursday.

“The Nefrit has almost completed works at one mooring and was set to start replacing some equipment at another, the person said on condition of anonymity as the information is not public,” the report continues.

Crucially, “The attack puts the scheduled works in limbo and raises uncertainty over CPC’s future crude-loading operations, the person said.”

Various videos which have emerged showing that the multipurpose vessel was hit by a naval drone as it was docked in the faraway port of Sochi.

Local media has also said that “earlier, reports claimed that a series of explosions occurred near the port during the attack. A Russian Pantsir SPAAGM system was also spotted near one of the strike locations.”

Starting in July, all hell broke loose when, in tandem with strikes on Russian shipping in the Sea of Azov, Ukrainian attacks on the Novorossiysk CPC terminal forced Kazakhstan to repeatedly shut down the pipeline, causing shipping and insurance rates to more than double. CPC’s loading of tankers has plunged. 

Hence it’s clear that Ukraine is seeking to keep Russia’s Black Sea oil operations crippled, also as it continues to try and hit refineries and loading terminals by air via long-range drones.

Needless to say, the now destroyed Nefrit vessel was vital to rapid repair operations connected to Kazakhstan’s crude exports at offshore rigs, and so these efforts will inevitably be significantly slower.

The Trump administration’s attention to oil supplies coming from Kazakhstan must be placed in the context of the other war and hotspot sill raging: the six-month old war on Iran.

💥 Ukraine’s Navy struck the Russian support vessel Nefrit in the port of Sochi.

The vessel supports Russia’s oil and gas operations, servicing offshore facilities, transporting cargo and personnel, and conducting underwater technical work. pic.twitter.com/2Wyz7TkngQ

— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) September 3, 2026

The administration has been pulling out all the stops to moderate fuel prices that have surged with Iran’s lengthy de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Washington needs alternatives to Gulf oil to keep flowing.

Russia has been waging its own war on Ukrainian shipping and its key ports, particularly the vital national port at Odesa. As part of the latest, Russia has on Thursday hit two vessels with cargo bound for Ukraine in the Black Sea, Interfax freshly reports.

Authored by Andrew Korybko,

He argued that it’s not plotting to test NATO’s resolve, its resilience to immense hardships “should never be underestimated”, suggested that the conflict will end without Ukraine recovering its lost territories, praised the CIA chief for visiting Russia, and called for “someone in Europe” to follow suit.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb bucked the trend of fearmongering about Russia in his interview with Bild. Instead of claiming that it’s plotting to test NATO’s resolve like American media reported was the reason why the CIA chief recently paid an unannounced visit to Moscow, he described such talk as part of Russia’s “information warfare” against Europe. Stubb insisted that his intelligence doesn’t indicate any such plans and argued that Russia wouldn’t attack the world’s most powerful military bloc anyhow.

He also pointed to the unlikelihood of Russia “suddenly mobilizing” forces for a two-front conflict with Ukraine and NATO even though he still believes that a mobilization directed towards Ukraine will occur this fall despite United Russia Chairman Dmitry Medvedev recently denying that there’s any need to. Another of the surprisingly solid points that Stubb made about Russia had to do with its resilience to immense hardships and warned that this “should never be underestimated” by its foes.

He also suggested that Ukraine won’t recover its lost territories upon describing victory for it as simply “surviving, remaining independent, and remaining a sovereign state” but still urged its allies to continue supporting it for their unspecified sake of their own security. Wrapping everything up, Stubb praised the CIA chief’s recent unannounced visit to Moscow for expanding bilateral dialogue in “different formats”, which led to his clarion call for “someone in Europe” to “resume dialogue with Russia” too.

Stubb’s last point echoes what he intriguingly told local media a week prior about how “At some point, dialogue will have to be established on the European side, and perhaps the most important role in this will be played by countries that share a border with Russia.” This followed reports that Britain, France, and Germany – collectively known as the E3 – are preparing to resume dialogue with Russia. It was thus analyzed here that the E3 and the Intermarium might open up rival dialogues with Russia.

The Intermarium refers to the modern-day revival of interwar Poland’s vision of an anti-Soviet alliance between their country, the Baltic States, and Finland, all of which border Russia in the present. Therefore, the abovementioned analysis concluded that Stubb might lead the Intermarium’s dialogue with Russia since regional leader Poland’s government is irreparably divided between the conservative president and the liberal prime minister, which makes it unlikely to agree on this ultra-sensitive issue.

Stubb also expressed interest earlier this year in serving as the EU’s envoy for talks with Russia back when this role was first discussed among the bloc’s members, but the problem is that Putin suggested shortly thereafter that this should be “someone who has not badmouthed us”.

As it turns out, Stubb was recently condemned by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as a terrorist for justifying Ukraine’s attacks against civilian infrastructure, which might disqualify him from this role.

At the same time, Putin might calculate that it’s better for dialogue to occur with Stubb if he initiates it on behalf of Finland, the Intermarium, or the EU as a whole than to rebuff him in that scenario, so the possibility of him entering into some sort of talks with Russia in the future can’t confidently be ruled out.

While all EU leaders apart from Slovakia’s Robert Fico are adversarial to Russia, Stubb is the most pragmatic among them, so he might ultimately be tasked with this role or play it on his own initiative.

Exotic-car collectors continue to shun hybrid Ferraris (Read May’s sportscar report) in favor of legacy V8 and V12 petrol-powered models, pushing used-car values sharply higher.

One possible driver is concern over long-term ownership costs: hybrid and fully electric supercars combine complex electronics, high-voltage battery packs, and sophisticated thermal-management systems, creating the risk of astronomical repair bills as these vehicles age.

Goldman Sachs analyst Christian Frenes, the bank’s equity analyst covering European automakers including Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Stellantis, Renault, Aston Martin, and Porsche Automobil Holding, wrote in a Thursday morning note that the Ferrari Residual Value Index climbed 5.8% in August and 13.8% from a year earlier, reaching 102.25.

That pushed the gauge above its January 2025 level for the first time since the bank began systematically tracking used-Ferrari prices.

Under the hood, Frenes said the US led the rally with a 10% monthly gain, driven by both a more valuable mix of cars and higher underlying asking prices. Great Britain advanced 4.6%, although he cautioned that the increase reflected a specials-heavy mix and that comparable prices declined. Italy rose 1.5%, Japan gained 1.3%, and Germany increased 0.9%.

The big story is that since January 2025, used hybrid Ferrari prices have fallen 13.1%, while non-hybrid models have surged 16.4%. The gap widened again in August, with hybrid prices slipping 0.6% as petrol-powered models jumped 10.4%.

Here’s a snapshot from the report:

1. US exceptional gains continue as all markets improve: Latest August data show month-over-month residual list-price improvements across all regions, with the USA clearly outperforming (+10.0%), driven both by a strong mix and rising underlying list prices. GB also improved by 4.6% month over month, although the gain was driven by a specials-heavy mix; like-for-like prices declined. Italy (+1.5%), Japan (+1.3%), and Germany (+0.9%) all posted moderate gains.

2. US hunger for legacy V8/V12 persists: Since we began tracking in January 2025, hybrid models have moved -13.1% and non-hybrids +16.4%. The latest August month-over-month data further widened the powertrain gap, as hybrids were broadly flat (-0.6%), while non-hybrids posted material gains (+10.4%). The increase was largely driven by continued exceptional US demand for legacy, phased-out V8 and V12 models, which now list 36% and 30% above rest-of-world prices, respectively, in the US secondary market. We continue to believe this trend is best explained by heightened US collector demand following the reveal of the electric Ferrari Luce.

3. Ferrari extends its luxury-peer lead in August: Our newer cross-brand index (April 2026 = 100) shows Ferrari at 114, versus Lamborghini at 109, Rolls-Royce at 105, Bentley at 103, Aston Martin at 102, and McLaren at 96. Nine of the ten largest model-level gainers since April were pre-hybrid Ferrari V8 or V12 models. Hybrid weakness, meanwhile, remains a peer-wide phenomenon, with Bentley hybrids contributing to the largest model-level losers since April.

The report’s most compelling charts show exotic-car collectors shunning hybrid Ferraris in favor of V8 and V12 petrol-powered models:

Collectors are aggressively bidding up the naturally aspirated 812 GTS, powered by a 6.5-liter V12 engine, while avoiding the hybrid SF90 Stradale.

Collectors became especially aggressive in petrol-powered models after Ferrari debuted the all-electric Luce, which has since bombed.

Across the used exotic-car market, Ferraris remain the models most favored by collectors, while McLarens are being shunned.

Professional subscribers can read the full report at our new Marketdesk.ai portal.

Submitted by Julianne Geiger of OilPrice.com

Russia collected 326.2 billion rubles, or about $3.76 billion, in net oil revenue in August, down 22% from a year earlier and the lowest monthly total since February.

Russia’s tax authority calculated August oil revenues using a crude price of just over $59 per barrel. Urals, Russia’s main export grade, averaged almost $95 per barrel during the spring after the Iran war pushed buyers toward barrels outside the Persian Gulf.

Total Russian oil and gas revenue fell 16% year over year in August to 424 billion rubles. Oil and gas provide roughly one-fifth of federal budget revenue.

August oil receipts were more than 60% below July, which included a large scheduled payment from Russia’s profit-based tax on producers.

Moscow also paid refiners more than 197 billion rubles in August to maintain domestic fuel supplies. Refinery subsidies have reached almost 916 billion rubles since January.

Ukrainian drone strikes have repeatedly disrupted Russian refineries this year. Russia responded with restrictions on gasoline and diesel exports and increased fuel imports as domestic supplies tightened.

The refinery outages have also reduced Russia’s ability to absorb its own crude production. Every barrel that cannot enter a refinery must move into storage, find export capacity or remain underground.

Export capacity has developed problems of its own. Ukrainian attacks have disrupted terminals and shipping operations in the Black Sea and Baltic, reducing Russia’s ability to redirect crude displaced by refinery outages.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Thursday that Russia’s recent production decline should reverse as refineries restart.

Rystad Energy expects a deeper hit. The consultancy recently cut its 2026 Russian crude production forecast to 8.95 million barrels per day and expects output to decline to roughly 8.6 million bpd in 2027.

Russia benefited earlier this year from a sharp increase in global oil prices. August brought Urals back near $59, refinery subsidies above $2 billion for the month, fuel export restrictions and additional pressure on crude production.

Chicago rice futures are on track for their largest annual gain since 2003 as the grain that feeds much of the world becomes increasingly expensive amid an intensifying El Niño and diesel-fuel and fertilizer supply disruptions stemming from turmoil in the Strait of Hormuz and the Russia-Ukraine war. Despite encouraging signals of a potential Black Sea peace deal, which sent wheat futures tumbling earlier today, the risk of a broader food crisis next year remains elevated.

Chicago rice futures have surged more than 50% this year, while benchmark Thai prices have advanced for six consecutive weeks. Bloomberg says the rally reflects growing anxiety that adverse weather conditions and elevated agricultural input costs will curb production across Asia, which dominates global rice output and exports.

India’s monsoon rainfall was 13% below normal as of Wednesday, while US rice-crop conditions were weaker than a year earlier.

BMI commodities analyst Bin Hui Ong said monsoon-dependent producers such as Thailand and Indonesia are particularly vulnerable because dry conditions could coincide with critical planting and early crop development periods.

“We think monsoon-dependent Southeast Asian producers, particularly Thailand and Indonesia, are among the most exposed, as the anticipated dry conditions could significantly overlap with critical planting and early crop development periods,” Ong wrote in a note.

Ong said, “We expect the implications to be felt most acutely by net rice-importing and lower-income markets, where higher rice prices can feed directly into food inflation and affordability pressures.”

Rice futures in Chicago have jumped to near two-year highs. If the gains hold through year-end, this would mark the largest annual increase since 2003.

Several countries in sub-Saharan Africa already have limited stock buffers, the analyst added.

Several Wall Street desks, including Barclays and JPMorgan, have warned about mounting food-supply risks next year.

Via Remix News,

The Alternative for Germany has reached a record high of 43 percent in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt for the first time in an Insa poll, which was commissioned by Nius newspaper.

Sven Schulze (CDU, left), Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt, and Ulrich Siegmund (AfD, right), the top candidates, are on stage for the TV debate organized by “Volksstimme” and “Mitteldeutscher Zeitung,” where they are discussing the issues. (Photo by Hendrik Schmidt/picture alliance via Getty Images)

The same poll found that the Christian Democrats (CDU) would receive 22 percent, the Left Party 12 percent, and the Social Democrats (SPD) 7 percent.

The Green Party would receive 5 percent, allowing it to cross the threshold to enter parliament.

Other parties would not have enough votes to enter, including the BSW at 4 percent and the FDP at 3 percent.

While the polling results put the AfD in first place by a wide margin, it also would not be enough for the AfD to win a clear majority in the state parliament.

While 43 percent of voters said they would back the AfD, another 5 percent of voters said they could imagine voting for the party.

If the Greens come under the 5 percent mark, the AfD may still have a chance to secure an absolute majority even with only 43 percent of the vote.

Read more here…

Authored by Monica O’Shea via The Epoch Times,

Australian leaders have pledged to speed up defence cooperation during high level talks.

Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles met U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon and Vice President JD Vance on Sept. 2.

A Pentagon readout of the Hegseth meeting said “both leaders agreed to accelerate force posture initiatives at Australian bases, bolster cooperation in combined logistics, and build greater interoperability through joint exercises. “They also discussed progress on defense industrial cooperation to enable shared capacity for guided weapons and next-generation capabilities.”

Hegseth and Marles also discussed strengthening deterrence in the Pacific and progress on AUKUS.

“The Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister also spotlighted advancements in the AUKUS partnership and welcomed the recent arrival of U.S. Navy sailors in Western Australia to support the commencement of Submarine Rotational Force3West activities in 2027,” the Pentagon readout said.

AUKUS is a trilateral security pact signed by Australia, the United States, and UK in 2021. Pillar One of the deal aims to arm Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, at a total cost of up to A$368 billion.

Meanwhile, Hegseth stressed the need for allies to pull their own weight on defence, while also commemorating the 75th anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty.

Marles described the conversations as “highly productive,” in comments to reporters. It was his first United States trip since he announced Australia’s latest National Defence Strategy in April.

US, UK Submarine Force On Track For Permanent Presence

Australia’s Marles also said U.S personnel were already stationed at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia and preparing the base for the Submarine Rotational Force-West – a permanent U.S. and UK submarine presence.

Marles said the rotation remains “on time and on track” for the end of next year.

In response to questions about whether the U.S. would still hand over submarines given its construction constraints, Marles pointed to the joint benefits of AUKUS.

“What AUKUS is doing is providing more sea days for the Virginia-class fleet for the United States Navy, and more sea days’ worth than a single submarine,” he said.

Calls For Strait Of Hormuz To Be Open

Marles also said he spoke with Vance and Hegseth about the Iran War, but did not “go into details” on the discussion.

“What Iran has done in terms of seeking to restrict the movement of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is completely inconsistent with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. It’s completely unacceptable,” he said.

Australia would also support the U.S. goal of curtailing Iran’s ability to acquire nuclear weapons.

“We’ve also said from the get-go that reducing Iran’s nuclear ambitions is an important measure to be taken as well, and that’s been at the heart of our posture and respect of the conflict in Iran from the beginning …” Marles said.

The war between the United States and Iran started on Feb. 28 after surprise strikes on military installations and leadership.

For months, the Iranian regime has held out, while disrupting global trade by blockading the Strait of Hormuz.

On Sept. 2, U.S. President Trump claimed the vital waterway was under U.S. control and aired the idea of changing the name to the “Trump Strait.”

On critical minerals, Marles said the meetings with Vance and Hegseth also covered the U.S.-Australian critical minerals agreement signed almost a year ago.

That deal has already unlocked $4 billion in investment for secure supply chains, Marles said.