Roaring trades: oil majors’ secret success story

<p>Big oil firms keep one part of their business hush-hush: trading. Amid an almighty oil shock, the majors’ trading arms are <a href="economist.com/business/2026/06/28/big-oils-sec…; rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">raking it in</a>. But competition is mounting. We look at the Trump administration’s <a href="economist.com/business/2026/06/30/donald-trump…; rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">messy attempts</a> to regulate frontier AI models, and how that may cost America its AI edge. And why the biggest music tours are <a href="economist.com/culture/2026/06/15/harry-styles-…; rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">going to fewer places</a>. </p><br><p>Guests and host:</p><ul><li>Matthieu Favas, commodities editor</li><li>Shashank Joshi, incoming Washington bureau chief</li><li>Vicky Jessop, culture writer</li><li>Jason Palmer, co-host of “The Intelligence”</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Topics covered: </p><ul><li>oil majors, oil trading</li><li>AI, frontier models, American regulation</li><li>music business, concert tours</li></ul><p><br></p><p><em>Get a world of insights by </em><a href="subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus"; rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>subscribing to Economist Podcasts+</em></a><em>. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our </em><a href="myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Econ…; rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>FAQs page</em></a><em> or watch </em><a href="youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY"; rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>our video</em></a><em> explaining how to link your account.</em></p><br><p><br></p>

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