Columbia Energy Exchange

Nearly a month after a ceasefire, the US-Iran deal seems to have all but collapsed as both nations have slipped back into active conflict. On Sunday, Tehran announced that the Strait of Hormuz is once again closed—a move President Trump immediately countered, stating the waterway will remain open "with or without Iran." Since then, both the US and Iran have reportedly begun new attacks, and the President said the US will reinstate its blockade to become the "guardian" of the strait, even floating a controversial plan to charge commercial ships to ensure their safe passage. 
We are in a critical window where both sides are aggressively trying to redefine their leverage in the Persian Gulf region, yet neither has fully abandoned the negotiating table. The U.S. can't maintain its high-stakes engagement indefinitely. 
So are we right back to square one? Is this perpetual state of uncertainty the new normal for the Strait of Hormuz? What realistic leverage does Washington still possess on the nuclear front? And with senior Houthi leaders announcing their involvement, how does the collapse of this deal reverberate throughout the Persian Gulf region? 
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff discusses the current and unpredictable state of affairs in the strait, and how it could play out in the coming weeks and months, with Suzanne Maloney, the vice president and director of the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution.
Suzanne's research focuses on Iran and Persian Gulf energy. She has advised Democratic and Republican administrations on Iran policy, including as an external advisor to senior State Department officials during the Obama administration and as a member of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's Policy Planning staff during the administration of George W. Bush. Earlier in her career, she served as Middle East advisor for ExxonMobil Corporation.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.

In the 23 days since the US and Iran agreed to a ceasefire, strikes have returned, following a familiar pattern: Iran attacks vessels using an internationally backed sea lane in Omani territorial waters, the US retaliates against Iranian military infrastructure, and Iran strikes back at US bases across the region. This week, alongside funeral processions for the assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, both physical and verbal attacks escalated.
Yet, both the US and Iran are still signaling they prefer diplomacy over a return to full-scale war. Despite this week's events, Brent crude oil prices are only $5 above levels that preceded the war. Some 200 million barrels of oil stranded on vessels and in storage have managed to exit the straits since late May.
But this crisis is far from over. Inventories of crude oil and oil products have been severely depleted. The trapped oil that has exited Hormuz represents only several weeks of supply, perhaps eight million barrels per day of production remain shut in, and Qatar has yet to restore its LNG production.
Today, host Daniel Sternoff sits down with Center on Global Energy Policy experts Anne-Sophie Corbeau and Karen Young to consider the near- and long-term outlook for energy markets. They discuss what's at stake for Iran, how renewed strikes impact traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, and how a sustained uptick in hostility could impact the LNG market heading into winter.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff, Bill Loveless, and Daniel Sternoff. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.

Grid operators sit at the center of many of the biggest forces reshaping the global energy system. They're navigating rising electricity demand, a lack of transmission infrastructure, shifting regulatory policies, and maintaining the tricky balance between affordability, reliability, and the need for dispatchable power. 
Both here in the US and around the world, operating a reliable and resilient grid—in the face of increasingly severe weather and complex interconnection demands—is more difficult than ever. And these challenges are felt well outside the power sector. Spiking utility rates in some regions have turned electricity into a major political issue.
So, what does the future of grid planning tell us about the ultimate pace of the energy transition? How can system operators manage the surge in demand from AI and data centers without compromising reliability? And how can open-source grid planning tools help both developed and developing markets build a flexible power system for the next 30 to 50 years?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks to Alice Yake about the opportunities but also the challenges in building cleaner electrical grids.
Alice is vice president of GRIDS at Breakthrough Energy, where she leads a team focused on the development of an open-source grid planning ecosystem designed to make energy system modeling transparent, accessible, and trustworthy. Previously, she spent 14 years at the utility Xcel Energy, where she rose to chief planning officer. Before that, she worked for the oil and gas company Occidental. She started her career at Enron.
And for more about the Center on Global Energy Policy's work on electricity affordability, read here.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.

Concerns about the affordability of electricity in the US have been rising along with prices. And while the headlines have pointed to AI and data centers as the underlying factors, the exact causes are more complex. 
The problem reflects a convergence of pre-existing structural failures, including inefficient infrastructure planning, utility incentives that are misaligned with cost efficiency, slow permitting times, and storm damage and wildfire costs. And now, higher electricity demand, including from data centers, is accelerating all of these pressures and adding some of their own.
Today on the show, Bill Loveless speaks to Doug Arent and Robin Millican about their recent reports for the Center on Global Energy Policy that examine the structural roots of rising electricity prices and look at approaches to improving grid investments and resilience.
Doug is a global fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy and the emeritus executive director at the Foundation for the National Laboratory of the Rockies, a nonprofit established to support the Department of Energy lab, where he served for nearly 30 years, rising to the role of deputy associate director.
Robin directs research programs and strategic partnerships at CGEP, leading its research agenda. Previously, she was the head of strategic initiatives and integration at Breakthrough Energy, the global organization founded by Bill Gates to accelerate the transition to affordable, reliable, and clean energy. 
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.

The energy transition is in the midst of its own transition. Spiking electricity demand and geopolitical events are driving up energy prices, while debates over the best sources of generation play out amid supply chain constraints and questions about whether or not the energy crisis in the Strait of Hormuz will accelerate a transition away from oil and gas. 
But underneath all those debates is a more basic question: do we have the data, evidence, and analytical clarity that is needed to understand where the energy world actually stands?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks with Michael Cembalest about "Fighting Words: The Energy Transition in 2026," the latest installment of Michael's annual "Eye on the Market" energy report. It takes a hard look at the state of the energy transition and the many battles shaping the energy world today, from the so-called "primary energy fallacy," which can obscure how much useful energy renewables actually provide, to China's dominance in the sector, to the economics of electric vehicles.
Michael is chairman of market and investment strategy for J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Prior to this role he was chief investment officer for J.P. Morgan's Global Private Bank, and has spent his entire career at the bank, joining the securities division in 1987.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.