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OIL RUNS ON SAND: THE GLOBAL RESOURCE CRISIS NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT

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Everyone knows oil runs the world. Fewer people know that the industry extracting it depends on something even more consumed, more contested, and far less regulated. Ask most people which natural resource the world extracts the most of, and they will say oil. The correct answer is sand.  AI Generated Theme Image According to UNEP's third Sand and Sustainability report, released in May 2026 and compiled by 27 international experts, global sand extraction has now reached approximately 50 billion tonnes per year, five times what the world mined in 1970, making it the most extracted solid material on Earth after water. The global sand market was valued at $569.4 billion in 2024, and yet, unlike oil, it operates under almost no international regulatory framework governing how it is extracted, traded, or protected. For the oil and gas industry, this is not an abstract environmental concern. It is a supply chain issue. Sand and the Oil Well Hydraulic fracturing, the dominant method by whi...
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THE NORTH SEA DILEMMA: HOW TRUMP, KEIR STARMER, AND ANDY BURNHAM ARE SHAPING THE FUTURE OF BRITISH ENERGY

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For decades, the North Sea has been one of Europe's greatest energy success stories. From the first commercial discoveries in the late 1960s to the oil boom of the 1970s and 1980s, the basin transformed the United Kingdom into a major hydrocarbon producer, generated hundreds of billions of pounds in tax revenues, and supported entire communities across Scotland and northeast England. Today, however, the North Sea finds itself at the center of a global debate that extends far beyond oil and gas. It is now a battleground between energy security and climate ambition, economic pragmatism and environmental responsibility, and increasingly, between three influential political figures: former UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, newly appointed Prime Minister Andy Burnham, and United States President Donald Trump. AI Generated Theme Image The Rise of the North Sea At its peak, the UK Continental Shelf produced more than 4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. While production has declined...
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AFRICA'S PETROLEUM ENGINEERS ARE LEAVING

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The continent is not just losing oil revenue. It is losing the minds needed to reverse the decline, and the institutions meant to stop that from happening are running on empty. AI Generated Theme Image When the Strait of Hormuz closed in February 2026, and crude prices spiked sixty per cent within weeks, the conversation everywhere turned to tankers, sanctions, and supply routes. Very few people asked the more uncomfortable question: When the next shock hits, will Africa have enough of its own engineers to respond to it independently? The honest answer, right now, is no. That is not a political statement. It is an institutional one, and it starts with money. KAUST in Saudi Arabia was built with a $10 billion founding endowment drawn directly from state oil revenues, a figure that has since grown to $20 billion. Texas A&M, the academic engine of the Permian Basin, recently became the first university in Texas to cross $1 billion in annual research expenditure. The University of Mine...
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WHY DANGOTE REFINERY STILL IMPORTS FUEL BLENDSTOCK

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Nigeria’s energy landscape is undergoing a monumental shift, anchored by the operations of Africa’s largest petroleum refining facility. The 650,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Dangote Refinery has consistently captured global headlines as a beacon of domestic self-sufficiency.  AI generated theme image However, recent regulatory data highlights a more complex operational reality: a persistent and strategic reliance on international imports to supplement its vast refining capabilities. According to official statistics published by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), the mega-refinery imported over 1.46 billion litres of gasoline blendstock and chemical intermediates during the first five months of 2026. This substantial volume of imported secondary feedstock underscores an intricate industrial truth: achieving domestic energy security is not merely about processing raw local crude, but about optimizing downstream output through a carefully balanc...
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TOR ANNOUNCES AN EXPANSION, A NEW PETROCHEMICAL PLANT AND A HISTORIC JUBILEE CRUDE SUPPLY

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Ghana's downstream sector is having a defining year, and the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) sits at the centre of it. Between a fresh expansion announcement from the top, a long-promised petrochemical plant, and the country's first sustained local crude supply deal, TOR is signalling an ambition it hasn't carried in decades.  Sectional View-  Tema Oil Refinery The headline move came in January 2026, when TOR's Chief Executive, Edmond Kombat, disclosed that the refinery would begin work on an entirely new processing unit. According to Argus Media, Ghana's state-owned Tema Oil Refinery plans to begin a new 100,000 barrel-a-day refinery and petrochemical plant initiative this year, according to Kombat — though no details were provided at the time on the scope or timeframe of the project, and TOR did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The new-build sits on top of TOR's existing recovery. Argus reported that TOR's existing 45,000 barrel-a-day refinery resu...
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JOURNALIST SENTENCED TO SEVEN DAYS IN PRISON OVER SPRINGFIELD-PETRACO CASE

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Journalist and Publisher of The Herald newspaper, Larry Dogbey, has been sentenced to seven days in prison after an Accra High Court found him guilty of contempt. The ruling was delivered on Thursday, June 25, 2026, by Justice Isaac Addo. Following the judgment, Dogbey confirmed the conviction in a social media post, criticizing the court's decision and defending The Herald's coverage of a dispute involving Springfield Exploration and Production Limited (SEP) CEO Kevin Okyere and multinational energy trading firm Petraco SA. According to Dogbey, the newspaper's reports were based on a petition allegedly filed by Petraco SA with several Ghanaian state institutions, including the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO), the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), and the Attorney-General's Department. “Justice Isaac Addo of an Accra High Court has just convicted me and sentenced me to seven days imprisonment in the case involvin...
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THE HORMUZ SHUTDOWN SO FAR: THE DETAILS

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The Strait of Hormuz, a vital maritime passage transporting about 20% of the world’s oil, has been effectively closed for 100+ days. This closure commenced on February 28, 2026, after coordinated strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran.  Map of the Strait of Hormuz www.bloomberg.com On June 11, 2026, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officially declared the strait closed to all vessels, including oil tankers and commercial ships, warning that any vessel attempting passage would be targeted. While the U.S. Central Command contests this claim and asserts naval-coordinated commercial transit continues, tanker traffic remains approximately 95% below the pre-conflict average of 94 daily transits, with some days seeing as few as two. The disruption’s severity is rooted in the strait’s geography. At its narrowest, the waterway spans only 21 miles, with shipping lanes occupying about 2 miles on each side. Under normal conditions, nearly 20 million barrels of oil flow daily thro...
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