Author: omc_admin

Elon Musk’s xAI feels more like xxxAI recently.XAI’s products have taken a decidedly NSFW turn this summer, which could prove lucrative for the company — and challenging.In June, xAI released a female AI anime companion that can be instructed to strip down to lingerie and describe sexual situations. Grok Imagine, the company’s AI video generator, launched a “spicy” mode capable of borderline pornographic imagery — with some users finding it quick to generate Taylor Swift deepfakes that showed the singer’s AI likeness topless.It’s a notable embrace of the idea that sex sells and an example of Musk choosing to zig…

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), increased by three million barrels from the week ending August 1 to the week ending August 8, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted in its latest weekly petroleum status report. That report was released on August 13 and included data for the week ending August 8. It showed that crude oil stocks, not including the SPR, stood at 426.7 million barrels on August 8, 423.7 million barrels on August 1, and 430.7 million barrels on August 9, 2024. Crude oil in the SPR stood at 403.2…

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced plans to provide nearly $1 billion in funding to bolster the production and supply of U.S.-based critical minerals and materials, with more than half to be channeled towards battery materials processing, manufacturing and recycling. According to the DOE, the new planned funding programs align with President Trump’s Executive Order, “Unleashing American Energy,” issued on his first day in office, which directed the Secretary of Energy to “ensure that critical mineral projects, including the processing of critical minerals, receive consideration for Federal support.” While Trump’s energy policies have shifted sharply towards fossil fuels and…

CleanGo Innovations Inc. said it plans to construct a green industrial solutions manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia in a joint venture with Sanad Industrial Co Ltd, aiming to service the region’s oil and gas sector. The facility is targeted at producing environmentally responsible chemical products tailored for the oil services industry, not only in Saudi Arabia but across the MENA and Gulf Cooperation Council regions, the company said in a news release. Financial details of the project were not disclosed. The joint venture will be named CleanGo Arabia Ltd. Sanad is controlled by Earth Reservoirs for Oil and Gas Ltd,…

China’s refining and petrochemicals sector saw losses across the industry rise by 8.3% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year, as overcapacity and price wars continue to plague many Chinese industries. Refining and chemicals firms have not been spared from the so-called “involution”, which refers to excessive and self-defeating competition among Chinese companies for limited resources and opportunities. The sector faces the destructive price wars, too, according to a senior executive at the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation quoted by Reuters. Losses in the refining industry alone jumped by more than $1.25 billion (9 billion Chinese…

Mumbai: Lubes maker Gulf Oil Lubricants on Thursday reported a 10 per cent growth in standalone profit after tax (PAT) to ₹96.66 crore during the June quarter.The Hinduja Group firm had posted a standalone PAT of ₹88.02 crore in the first quarter of last year.Revenue from operations during the quarter under review was ₹996.36 crore, 13 per cent up from ₹885.07 crore in the year-ago period, it said. The company further said its board has approved ₹55-crore capex plan for enhancing manufacturing capacity by 70 per cent to 240 million litres.On a consolidated basis, the company said it achieved revenue…

Somehow, the heat hits harder when you’re on holiday.Tourists who hoped to idle on Croatian beaches this week will have instead singed their feet on scorching sand. Families on a break in Madrid will have choked on smoke from a deadly wildfire that ripped through a suburb of the Spanish capital. Visitors to Mount Vesuvius in Italy will have been turned away from the trails as firefighters battled blazes on the volcano’s slopes.And then there are campers in south-west France, where 40% of selected weather stations recorded heat above 40C on Monday, who may have wished they had stayed home.Fierce…

Reliance Industries, India’s biggest buyer of Russian oil, has in recent weeks made rare fuel oil purchases from state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp, seven industry sources said.The purchases suggest the operator of the world’s largest refining complex is diversifying its fuel oil sources as India comes under heavy pressure from Washington over its energy ties with Russia. Reliance and HPCL did not respond to emails seeking comments.Reliance has in recent years snapped up cheap supplies of Russian crude and fuel oil, which have been sold at a discount after Western entities shunned purchases and imposed sanctions against Moscow since the Ukraine…

Copenhagen-based bank Danske Bank Group announced that it has divested from the vast majority of its investments in fossil fuel companies through its Danske Invest fund management unit and Danica pension and insurance business, following the implementation of a new policy that assesses companies’ low-carbon transition plans. Danske Bank introduced its new methodology for investment in companies in the fossil fuel sector early last year, aimed at increasing focus on companies that have credible transition plans. The bank said that the methodology was designed to align with its customers’ investment preferences. Erik Eliasson, Head of Responsible Investment at Danske Bank,…

More details on Trump-Putin talks emerge, with plans for joint press conferenceWe are getting a bit more details about the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, coming from the Russian side, via Reuters.A stuffed bear greets visitors at a shop along 4th Avenue in downtown Anchorage, Alaska. Photograph: Richard Ellis/AlamyThe meeting will begin 11:30am local time in Alaska, so 20:30 BST, 21:30 CEST.Yuri Ushakov, the Kremlin’s foreign policy adviser and former Russian ambassador to the US, briefed the media that the two presidents will have a “one on one meeting” with translators, but also hold a “wider meeting” with delegations and a…