Houston's oil and gas sector is expected to shed thousands of jobs next year as falling crude prices slow drilling activity, marking one of the sharpest pullbacks for the industry in recent years, according to a new Greater Houston Partnership forecast.

In announcing the U.S. had seized an oil tanker off Venezuela on Wednesday, President Donald Trump said of its crude, “We’ll keep it, I guess.”

Investment banks and the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecast a significant oil market oversupply in 2026, driven by weak demand and rising production, predicting average crude prices will drop below $60 per barrel.

Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro says escalating pressure from the US comes down to one thing: Washington wants to grab the South American nation's vast oil reserves.

The oil industry is heading towards collapse due to the failure of the regulator and government to resolve a host of issues including the recovery of sales tax and exchange rate losses, port infrastructure constraints and planned digitisation of retail outlets across the country.

Venezuela’s collapsing oil industry has become a central arena for the Trump administration’s broader strategy to reassert U.S. influence in Latin America, raising geopolitical tensions and deepening uncertainty around the country’s future production.

The Forum for Energy Accountability has raised an alarm, warning that continued probes by the Nigeria's National Assembly on the oil industry is unhealthy

FREE TO READ] Higher insurance costs, western sanctions and damage to infrastructure could erode Russian profits

Canadian banker-turned-oil-tycoon Adam Waterous, an industry outsider who lives in a Rocky Mountain tourist town, not energy hub Calgary, has a plan to cement his company's status as one of North America's fastest-growing oil companies.

Terrebonne and Lafourche are expected to gain from the first oil and gas lease sale since the passing of the One Big Beautiful Bill.

Caracas condemned the U.S. seizure as an “act of international piracy" and “blatant theft” of sovereign resources. Follow Newsweek's live blog.