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Quest Means Business
NVIDIA Launches Tool To Keep A.I. From Going Rogue; Suspects On Bail After Arrests In Alleged U.K. Base Plot; SpaceX Starship Rocket Deploys Satellites, Returns To Earth; Trump: United States Will Win War, Gas Prices Will Fall "Very Soon"; Diesel Prices Rise As United States Considers Export Curbs; CEO Of Greenland Energy Company Speaks To CNN; Inside South Africa's Film Industry. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired September 28, 2026 - 16:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:15]
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Those are the markets. And these are the main events. Red across the board.
NVIDIA launches a new platform to rein in rogue A.I. agents. We are going to hear from one of the companies behind the project.
British officials say five men suspected of plotting to attack a U.K. airbase have been released on bail. President Trump says he would have kept
them in custody.
And SpaceX makes a giant leap in its mission to Mars, sending its powerful Starship rocket into orbit for the first time.
Live from Atlanta, it is Monday, September 28th. I am Lynda Kinkade, in for Richard Quest and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Good evening.
Tonight, NVIDIA is spearheading a new effort to keep A.I. under human control. The chipmaker unveiled a tool that it says will prevent A.I.
agents from going rogue. The Open Agent Safety Platform is designed to let companies monitor every action taken by an A.I. agent, and NVIDIA says it
is capable of putting them in quarantine if they move outside their boundaries.
The NVIDIA CEO says the platform is being used by more than 100 companies, including some of the biggest firms in tech and finance.
Jensen Huang has largely dismissed concerns that A.I. poses an existential threat. He says any A.I. regulations should promote its growth rather than
slow it down.
NVIDIA shares have underperformed those of other chip makers this year, even as its profits and revenue soar. The company has now set aside another
$150.00 to buy back its stock. Shares closed two percent higher after that announcement.
Clare Duffy is in New York and joins us now live. Good to see you, Clare.
So of course, NVIDIA makes most of the chips that power this A.I. boom we are seeing. It now wants to provide the safety infrastructure around those
A.I. systems. Is this a natural extension of its business or does it give more control to NVIDIA over this entire A.I. ecosystem?
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes. Lynda, I think the answer to both of those questions is yes, I think this is a natural extension, both of
NVIDIA's business, which, as you said, the company provides much of the chips, but also the software that is running A.I. workloads today.
And CEO Jensen Huang has also talked about the need to continue to accelerate A.I. development, as you said there, he has sort of downplayed
these concerns about A.I. risks. Rogue A.I. risks, and said, all of this is just a matter of needing to control ai technology better. He actually
proposed essentially the product that they have rolled out today in an interview with Anderson Cooper last week. Take a listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENSEN HUANG, CEO, NVIDIA: We need to monitor them much more continuously.
We need to create -- now, the two things that I just described needs new technology, and what I mean -- these two things, whether it is an a much
more advanced container, the ability to monitor agents and monitor the tools that it is using and the files that it is accessing, the network
addresses that its accessing by monitoring it in real time and continuously. If something were to happen and it was, it did something that
was counter its policy counter the privileges that you gave it, it should be detected and shut down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DUFFY: Now that is essentially what NVIDIA has rolled out today. This is software to monitor and contain A.I. agents that companies are running on
NVIDIA's chips. They will ensure that the agents meet those company's policies and shut these agents down if they act beyond their intended scope
of work as we've seen in some of these rogue A.I. agent incidents.
And of course, all of this is very important for NVIDIA's business because it is counting on the A.I. boom continuing to grow. If we do see a
slowdown, whether it is because of regulation or because of companies deciding to voluntarily slow down their work on A.I., that could mean a
slowdown in NVIDIA's business.
KINKADE: So talk to us, Clare, about what changed in the last few months. Why would companies pay for or adopt another layer of A.I. security right
now?
DUFFY: Well, I think it is both these incidents that you've seen of A.I. agents from even some of the biggest A.I. companies, OpenAI and Anthropic,
going rogue, if you will, going beyond their intended scope of work and the sort of labs, the containers that these companies have created to operate
these agents in and hacking other major companies, that is something that if you are a bank or a health care system that is increasingly looking to
use A.I. agents for complex and sensitive work, you do not want to see those agents going beyond what you are expecting of them.
[16:05:10]
And so I think that is why NVIDIA is rolling out this tool and why companies -- you see the list of companies that have already adopted it.
And I also think, you know, this is something that again, it will see continuing companies using A.I. agents for this very complex work.
I also think this is another way for NVIDIA, again, to express optimism in the future of where this is all going, saying, if we can just control this
technology carefully, we can use it for good rather than getting out-of- control.
KINKADE: All right, Clare Duffy interesting stories today to cover. Thank you so much for joining us.
We are going to stay on this. Gecko Robotics is one of the companies NVIDIA is teaming up with on A.I. safety. The firms are working on a platform to
keep A.I. agents from directing robots, vehicles or industrial machinery beyond the limits set by humans.
Gecko says recent incidents have showed that A.I. agents can work around software controls to complete tasks. The company says its partnership with
NVIDIA will ensure the safeguards on physical A.I. advance as quickly as the technology itself.
Gecko Robotics CEO Jake Loosararian joins us now from Pittsburgh. Great to have you with us, Jake.
JAKE LOOSARARIAN, CEO, GECKO ROBOTICS: Great to be on. Thanks.
KINKADE: So you say that A.I. needs to stay within the boundaries set by humans. How do you actually enforce those boundaries? If an A.I. agent
tries to get around them?
LOOSARARIAN: Well, I am excited to talk about this and excited as well to be able to push forward the boundaries of agentic tools that can be
leveraged inside of the physical intelligence layers in the real world, especially in sectors like the military or energy, mining, manufacturing,
et cetera.
And what this is all about is ensuring that we keep humans in control while leveraging this incredible -- these incredible models, and NVIDIA and
Gecko's partnership allows for us to be able to do so, but ensuring that we are able to set the safeguards in place for these sorts of tools to be able
to do what they do best and that is more intelligently go out and gather information and data sets and take actions with our robots.
KINKADE: So, we've already seen A.I. make mistakes within software. Your concern is that, you know, A.I. mistakes are going to be far more serious,
right? If they happen, when they're moving, something damaging something, getting around or shutting something down, especially when it comes to
critical infrastructure or military assets, right?
LOOSARARIAN: Yes. That's exactly right. Yes, what is important to understand is that, you know, agentic tools can be an incredible benefit
for humanity, it can be incredible benefit for the warfighter and enabling our best soldiers and warfighters with the best technology available for
them to be leveraged. But it is critical to understand, you have to have the right safety and protocols in place.
And that's what the Open Agent Safety Platform allows for us to do in concert with NVIDIA. For our deployments, you know, Gecko is one of the
largest, if not the largest deployers of robotics in the real world taking and making decisions that affect such critical pieces of infrastructure
that ensure that lights stay on for us and that our borders are safe and we protect and secure peace around the world.
And it is critical to be able to leverage and use these models, which is a huge advantage for us, especially in the United States, but also leverage
them in a way that's safe and keeps humans in control, and this is how we can bring along with this amazing robotics revolution, the workers to help
create the new way of working in the physical world.
And so that's what I am so excited about with this partnership and is supercharging all of these efforts.
KINKADE: I mean, if an A.I. agent can theoretically find their way around the rules that humans set, I mean, how can you ensure that these safety
systems will work in this case when we've seen testing done in the past and they've failed?
LOOSARARIAN: Well, it is critical, just like in cybersecurity to fight agentic tools with agentic defense approaches and safeguards, and that's
kind of what this platform sets up to do, and you know, for us, it is critical to ensure that no model is put into the real world with the
customer that's trusting the fact that Gecko is able to use robotics and sensors to be able to gather information and then put that into our
cantilever platform for them to make critical decisions about how to operate their critical infrastructure.
And so we will never put a system in the wild, if you will, without it being the right kind of safeguards. We've been able to test that internally
and then deploy it in the real environments. And so, you know, we can talk about these theoretical applications and these theoretical risks, but in
reality, we've been able to safeguard these through mass amounts of testing and quality.
And so that's critical to be able to get right and that is what we've been able to pioneer with this partnership.
KINKADE: Jake Loosararian, I have so many more questions for you, but I have to leave it there for now. Hopefully we can chat again soon. Thank
you.
LOOSARARIAN: We'd love to. Thanks.
[16:10:10]
KINKADE: Well, a source tells CNN that Anthropic CEO Daria Amodei will attend a White House Summit on A.I. tomorrow. Now, he dined with President
Trump at The White House Sunday night. There have, of course, been long standing tensions between the Anthropic company and the executive branch of
the government. Amodei has called for increased regulation on A.I., something that President Trump has resisted.
Trump just announced plans for what he says will be the largest steel plant in U.S. history. He says Mesabi Metallics will put about $15 billion into
the Iowa plant. Now, the factory will process iron ore from Mesabi's new mine in Minnesota. Trump says it will result in more jobs for Americans.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: This deal will be mined, melted and made right here in the USA, which is something very
unusual.
The project is expected to create up to 6,000 new construction jobs, nearly 2,000 manufacturing and mining jobs, and add another $95 billion to the
U.S. economy, which is the number one economy in the world by far.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: Kristen Holmes is at The White House and joins us now live. I want to start with the meeting that trump had last night at The White House with
the CEO of Anthropic. What do we know about what was discussed and what are the plans for this A.I. Summit tomorrow?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We don't have a readout from The White House or from Anthropic on what happened during this
meeting, but just the fact that Amodei is going to be invited back to this meeting on Tuesday with various A.I. leaders gives you some indication that
it didn't go terribly.
President Trump, if they had had a number of arguments, would likely have not invited him to the sit down meeting where Speaker Johnson and several
other tech industry leaders are going to be on Tuesday. I mean, one of the things to point out here is that President Trump has had a number of words
for the Anthropic CEO, essentially mad at him for coming out and raising awareness or raising concerns about the progression of A.I. and what that
might do to human beings.
He is even specifically named him when he is saying that there should not be guardrails on any of this A.I., but again, it goes to show you that at
least something moved in the direction that President Trump liked, given that he is coming now to this second round of actual meetings with these
other leaders.
KINKADE: And, of course, a Trump adviser used an expletive when talking about just how rough the midterms are going to be for the Republican Party.
The President spoke a short time ago. Did he speak to those concerns that the party has for the midterm results/
HOLMES: Not entirely. He talked a lot about Iowa, which, of course, is a state that he won by double digits. He was standing there next to a slew of
Iowa politicians, including Ashley Hinson, who is a congresswoman, but is running for senator. And despite the fact that he won by double digits in
that state, that has now become an increasingly competitive race.
What you heard from President Trump there was telling a reporter that he actually didn't believe the polling out of Iowa, that he thinks he is more
popular than ever, but the people who do believe the polling are his political operation, who are looking around the country and trying to find
opportunities for President Trump to travel to various areas to try and drive voter turnout.
They don't believe he is going to be changing any hearts and minds in terms of Independents or swing voters the way he did back in 2024. The cake is
pretty much baked, is what one official told me.
But they do believe that he has a unique ability, unlike other candidates, to drive out that conservative base. And in an election that they say is
going to come down to turnout, they want to get as many people that are conservatives out there voting and that's why you hear Trump continuing to
say, "pretend like I am on the ballot" despite the fact that his poll numbers are so low.
KINKADE: The cake is baked, I like that saying.
Kristen Holmes outside The White House, thanks so much.
Still to come, a new milestone for SpaceX, its Starship rocket reached orbit for the first time today. We will have more on that, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:16:42]
KINKADE: Welcome back. I am Lynda Kinkade.
British officials say five men suspected of plotting to attack a U.K. airbase have been released on bail, but they will be subject to strict
conditions on their movements. U.S. President Trump says he would not have released the men because their actions might be connected to Iran.
The men were arrested Sunday near the airbase in Western England. U.S. long range bombers have been using the base to fly missions against Iran. Police
say the suspects are all British nationals from the London area, aged in their mid-20s, but that their release does not mean that the investigation
is over.
Well, Nic Robertson has been covering the story and is on the scene in Fairford.
Good to have you there all day for us, Nic. So given that these suspects have now been released on bail, what might that indicate about the level of
evidence against them?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, it certainly seems to indicate that what the police originally supposed about them doesn't --
they don't have in hand at the moment the evidence to support that.
But I think it also reveals, you know, a broader issue that is in play here and that is the sort of incredibly complex, and this is what we've heard
from the head of -- from the Deputy Head of the Counterterrorism Police today, the sort of incredibly complex threat environment, and that is
really what seems to have played out here at several levels, not least because many people in this town were aware that there was some kind of
threat going on towards this British Air Force base that is used by the U.S. Air Force.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON (voice over): Early Sunday, they were cuffed in police custody. Now, the five men arrested on suspicion of terrorism and explosive charges
outside a U.K. base used by the U.S. Air Force are out on bail.
ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER LAURENCE TAYLOR, HEAD OF U.K. COUNTER TERRORISM POLICING: To be very clear, this does not mean that the investigation is
over. They are subject to stringent conditions on their movement and contact with others. They absolutely remain under investigation as we
explore multiple lines of inquiry.
ROBERTSON (voice over): Police, after searching their vans, appear to lack evidence for now to support their suspicions.
TAYLOR: Those vehicles have been subject to extensive examination with the support of military assets and forensic experts.
ROBERTSON (voice over): It was finding those vehicles that triggered this farmer who took pictures of them to raise the alarm.
FARMER, CALLED EMERGENCY SERVICES: First thing I noticed was there is a vehicle on our farm drive, and then I realized there was three of them, and
they're parked in a really strange formation.
ROBERTSON (voice over): Right after she spotted the now released men.
FARMER: It is such a flash moment of seeing them, but there were definitely more than five. We think maybe between eight and 10 of them were there at
that point, and a lot of them had their faces covered.
ROBERTSON (voice over): She called the police hotline 999 and then her friends.
FARMER: I put a message on our village WhatsApp group just saying, because I didn't want people to be scared. I just said, just to let you all know
something very odd has happened today in our -- or tonight in the village and told them what I had seen.
[16:20:11]
And literally within five minutes of that, everything sort of kicked off and armed police arrived.
ROBERTSON (voice over): After then, the bomb squad showed up next, several hundred local residents, including the farmer, evacuated.
But the circumstances leading to the short-lived arrest are raising concerns.
ROBERTSON (on camera): But local residents, including the farmer who called the police, have questions. They say over the past week, the base appeared
to put in place what looked like additional security measures. Big vehicles, concrete blocks blocking the gates, giving access to the
airfield.
FARMER: I just can't process how that base was on such high alert and that the men were even there. Never mind how many and how many they caught, and
they reacted very quickly to the 999 call.
But before that, where were they?
ROBERTSON (voice over): The areas local lawmaker has questions, too.
ROZ SAVAGE, BRITISH LIBERAL DEMOCRAT MP: But I have so many questions that I really want to ask the Secretary of State for Defense, even the Prime
Minister, about who knew what and when.
If there was advance intelligence, then it seems that a lot of people who should have known that didn't know that.
ROBERTSON (voice over): For now, more unknown than known, the U.K. counterterrorism chiefs leaving the possibility open.
The men acted wittingly or unwittingly, working for a foreign state.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON (on camera): You know, and if that was the case, it wouldn't be the first time that that has happened in the U.K. There have been attacks
against politicians, attacks against, for example, a Ukrainian warehouse attacks against individuals that appear to have been, this has gone through
the British Courts in many cases have been sponsored, low-level criminals to perpetrate these actions for a state.
So it wouldn't be the first time, and that is really what we are hearing from officials today, is this sort of complex hybrid type threat
environment out there, even though this base had been threatened by Iran because it had been used by the U.S. Air Force as a base for long range
bombers taking off on missions to target sites in Iran. It doesn't necessarily mean that the Iranian government was responsible, that others
could, you know, other governments potentially could have been responsible behind this.
And this is really what the British officials are up against at the moment. On the one hand, what appears to have been potentially, you know, a serious
threat taken very seriously on the base by the staff and both the RAF and the U.S. Air Force there; and the village, people not knowing much about
it, but aware that its going on, and then some kind of event that happens that misleads the police into thinking it is terrorism and there are
explosives.
And two days later, it appears as if there is not the sort of evidence the police were expecting to get. At least that's how it looks at the moment.
And I think it is perhaps, we should say it is too soon to really judge in detail, but that sort of what appears to have happened today.
KINKADE: And just quickly, President Trump said the U.S. and British officials had these men under surveillance for some time. Have British
officials confirmed that?
ROBERTSON: You know, they have said that they're working with their counterparts. And I think in this case, it would appear to mean the U.S.
Air Force, U.S. Intelligence, perhaps, but definitely Americans. I mean, that seems to be the implication that they work side by side on the base.
They cooperate in all manner of ways, you know, inside the air base.
But what I think we've heard from President Trump gives that idea again or reinforces the idea that there was some sort of threat or something that
the base was responding to by going on to this sort of apparently higher level of sort of threat protection around the base perimeter.
It really, again, is a small light in a sort of very dark room at the moment as people try to grope their way around and figure out precisely
what has happened.
Look, we may never get all the details because this is something that Intelligence authorities will look at very closely, because if this is, as
the Counterterrorism Police suggest, perhaps a foreign state behind it. They will want to -- they will not want to give away what they know and
they will want to -- they will want to really understand fully what has been perpetrated here against this base and the community here.
KINKADE: All right, Nic Robertson, for us, a long day out there for you. Appreciate you. Thanks so much.
[16:25:10]
SpaceX's Starship rocket has returned to earth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seeing all three lit down to two.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KINKADE: During its flight, the rocket reached orbit for the first time ever. Once there, it deployed a batch of new Starlink satellites even
though one of its main engines shut down early. It is the first time Starship has carried operational satellites.
The mission comes as SpaceX is under pressure to prepare for a new moon landing.
Miles O'Brien is following all of this and joins us now live.
Good to see you, Miles.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Hi, Lynda.
KINKADE: So the Starship reached orbit. It was able to deploy all the 26 Starlink satellites. It was able to reenter, but the splashdown ended in a
pretty spectacular fireball.
When it comes to the success of this mission, how would you describe it?
O'BRIEN: Huge success! Don't worry about that splashdown. They weren't trying to recover this vehicle at all. So anything that's even sort of a
soft splashdown, which was what we saw with a subsequent fire, to be sure was not anything of great concern.
The important thing to think about here, there are two things. First of all, it is a big rocket. Maybe, we will get three things. Big rocket, but
its designed to be completely reusable, as if it were like an airliner. You fly to space, you return it, refit it, send it off on its way again. That
obviously, if you can do that and pull that off, and that is a big if, that would save a lot of cost and reduce the cost of getting to space.
The important thing, however, though, is in the previous 13 missions, they were unable to achieve orbit. And until you get to orbit, you're not in
space. But once you're in orbit, you've got the whole universe as your oyster.
The first 275 kilometers, the first 28,000 kilometers per hour are the hard ones. And once you're up there, Newton takes over and you can make your way
to the moon or Mars with a lot less effort. So that was the milestone that happened today, and it is one for the books.
KINKADE: It certainly is. So how much can SpaceX actually learn from a vehicle that survives reentry, but doesn't have a soft landing?
O'BRIEN: Well, you know, there are ways to learn from the previous mission. For example, that particular Starship, when it landed in the Indian Ocean,
it stayed intact and it was able -- the team went out there and was able to look at it as it floated in the ocean and was able to look at the tiles,
determine what the problems were with them, where things leaked, and they actually pasted a few of those tiles that went on that mission number 13
onto mission 14, just for good measure to see how they do.
So you're right, it will be difficult for them to recover what happened, the vehicle in Hawaii, although I don't know, maybe there are pieces of it
that they will gather, but there is plenty of telemetry that they've gathered from this mission to give them some confidence.
And next time, the goal is to recover both the booster, the super heavy booster, which is the part which does most of the work to get it to space
and the Starship itself, back at the launch site in Texas.
KINKADE: Of course, the heat shield seems to be one of the bigger challenges for the Starship. This vehicle survived temperatures of 2,500
degrees Fahrenheit on the way home. What are engineers looking for in terms of the heat shield data right now?
O'BRIEN: That is the key. This was the -- you know, the Achilles heel of the space shuttle where the heat resistant tiles, the thermal protection
system and SpaceX has taken that idea. They are basically -- it is silica. It is basically sand that is kind of machined into a block. It is very
light and its very insulative, but it is also very fragile and that's the trick: How do you put thousands of those tiles on a stainless steel
surface? Make sure they survive the vibrations of that ride into space ascent. That's where they lose a lot of those tiles. And then on return,
make sure they're in place to protect it from the heat of reentry.
Finding a way to do that efficiently is still a big challenge, and in the case of the shuttle, each one of those tiles was custom. It is like a
little snowflake. SpaceX has tried to come up with ways to make it more efficient. Not every one of them is unique. But it remains to be seen how
many of those tiles will have to be refitted, reattached on every flight and if that becomes a big problem, the goal of reusability will remain
elusive.
KINKADE: All right, always good to have you on the show, Miles O'Brien, love talking space stories with you. Thanks so much for your time.
O'BRIEN: You're so welcome.
KINKADE: Well, the stalemate between the U.S. and Iran is weighing on energy markets. Up next, we will discuss how the situation is creating a
diesel fuel crisis.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:29:57]
O'BRIEN: And if that becomes a big problem, the goal of reusability will remain elusive.
LYNDA KINKADE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: All right. Always good to have you on the show, Miles O'Brien.
Love talking a space stories with you. Thanks so much for your time.
O'BRIEN: You are so welcome.
KINKADE: Well, the stalemate between the U.S. and Iran is weighing on energy markets.
Up next, we will discuss how the situation is creating a diesel fuel crisis.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Hello, I'm Lynda Kinkade. There is more QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in a moment. When, as oil prices move higher, President Trump says he is
considering a new aggressive measure to lower the cost of diesel.
And President Trump recently signed a deal to expand the U.S. security footprint in Greenland. CNN spoke to the head of Greenland's energy company
about what that agreement could mean.
Before that, this is CNN, and on this network, the news always comes first.
U.S. President Trump says he wouldn't have released the man suspected of being involved in a terror plot at a U.K. airbase. The five British
nationals, or men aged in their 20s, were released on bail a short time ago after being taken into custody Sunday.
The airbase has been used by U.S. bombers during the war with Iran. U.K. authorities say the investigation is far from over.
SpaceX is celebrating its Starship rocket's trip to orbit. The rocket was able to deploy all 26 of its Starlink satellites. The mission to space was
supposed to last 10 hours, but was cut short after an engine failure.
The Starship returned to Earth and made a controlled landing in the Pacific Ocean.
Pope Leo has concluded his trip to France. The final stop of his four-day visit was in the city of Metz. The pope celebrated Mass at the Cathedral of
Saint Stephen before departing for the Vatican. His trip focused on revitalizing faith in France, addressing clerical abuse and political
topics such as A.I. advancement.
[16:35:08]
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister is in Washington for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Prince Faisal bin Farhan's visit comes as
hostilities escalate between Saudi forces and the Houthis in Yemen. The Iranian-backed militant group says seven people were killed this weekend in
a strike on a market in Yemen's Taiz province.
The Houthis have launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure over the past month. Fighting in the Middle East is sending
oil prices higher. Brent crude is hovering around $105 a barrel. WTI is slightly up as well. Markets are reacting to President Trump's rejection of
an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Mr. Trump said on Monday that the U.S. will win the Iran War very soon and that gas prices will retreat. For now, though, energy prices, including
diesel, remain stubbornly high.
President Trump said again this weekend that he could curb diesel exports to bring the price down at home.
Tom Kloza is the chief energy advisor at Gulf Oil and joins us now live. Good to see you, Tom.
TOM KLOZA, CHIEF ENERGY ADVISER, GULF OIL: Nice to be here.
KINKADE: So, oil is back up at over $100 a barrel after President Trump rejected Iran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. But you say the
biggest story is actually that what we are seeing in the physical markets. What are you seeing beyond the headline oil price that worries you?
KLOZA: Well, you have to remember that the Futures price is for the future, and in this case, for Brent, it's 60 to 90 days from now. And the actual
physical price, if you want to consummate a deal in the North Sea and run a European refinery is closer to $130 a barrel, and it's also about $120 or
$130 if you are in Asia and you are outside the Strait of Hormuz.
These incredibly high tanker rates are adding to the price of crude oil for the refiners ready to process it. But I would mention that refiners are
pretty well off. They are getting over $200 a barrel for diesel, and $145 to $150 a barrel for gasoline. So, they don't need too much foreign aid.
KINKADE: So, how extraordinary is it that gap that you're talking about in the price? About how distorted the global oil market is right now? What
does it tell you?
KLOZA: Well, Lynda, it tells you that the crude oil prices are actually suppressed. I mean, we are probably getting about 13 million barrels a day
out of the Middle East, and that's not bad compared to maybe 17 million before the war. And the world has made an adjustment on crude.
China is not buying as much. There is some demand destruction, and until recently, we have had strategic petroleum sales that have mitigated it. But
those strategic sales run out, and now, we are talking about the possibility of Europe letting go some of their strategic diesel stock to
mitigate price increases in the fourth quarter of the year.
KINKADE: So, President Trump is seriously considering restricting U.S. diesel exports. Could that bring down the price for American drivers and
truckers in the short term, or would it simply push that shortage and higher prices onto Europe and other U.S. trading partners?
KLOZA: I think the likeliest performance would be for prices to drop off a little bit in the beginning of October, if there is a diesel export ban. I
don't expect a ban. I expect maybe some export curbs or speed bumps.
But it fills up the storage very, very quickly, and then you have refinery run cuts, and you are making less gasoline.
And in the United States, if you've got high gas prices, that is the third rail of American politics for the Midterm Elections.
KINKADE: And speaking of the midterm election, President Trump has also argued that increasing U.S. oil production can protect Americans from the
global supply shock. But can American producers actually bring new oil into the market quickly enough to matter?
KLOZA: Well, I would stress that for all of the last three or four presidents, oil production in the U.S. was going up. It was going up
because of price. You know, the prices were high enough, and it was going up because of wonderful advantages in technology.
So, that's not really going to impact things too much. And we have got world-class refining here in the United States. As a matter of fact, if it
were not for the United States, you would be looking at much, much higher prices in Europe and South America.
The problem is, is that if you talk about energy dominance enough, and if you actually suspend or alter exports, you may become more dominant, but
the other continents may became -- become more subdued.
[16:40:04]
So, you know, we are in great shape in North America. Much, much poorer shape in South America, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
KINKADE: Yes, no doubt.
Tom, always good to have you on the program, Tom Kloza, thanks so much for your time.
KLOZA: Thanks for having me.
KINKADE: Well, still to come, Greenland has been thrust into the geopolitical spotlight by President Trump. We will hear from the CEO of the
Greenland Energy Company about the Danish territory's future and its vast natural resources.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KINKADE: Welcome back.
Denmark says it's confident NATO will keep a heightened presence in Greenland and that the broader Arctic region for the long term. It follows
the signing of a security agreement last week with the United States that expands the U.S. military footprint there, while keeping non-NATO countries
out.
Greenland's importance, of course, goes well beyond security, with vast energy and mineral resources drawing interest, drawing global interest.
Greenland energy's company share price has soared since the U.S. secured that deal. CNN's Anna Cooban, spoke with the CEO about what that agreement
could mean for his company and the global oil markets and the island's economic future.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERT PRICE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, GREENLAND ENERGY COMPANY: Our independent engineering report says that it could be up to 13 billion
barrels of oil. And let me just point out, Anna, this is a asymmetrical risk reward. It could be there, but there is significant risk.
If you look at current oil prices at 13 billion barrels, that's over a trillion dollars of potential resource.
ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS REPORTER: And help put that into context. So, 13 billion barrels, in terms of the global oil market or the
amount of oil that we can imagine might be stored underground, how much is that?
PRICE: If you look at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, as an analogy at peak production, they were producing about 1.5 million barrels a day. Here, our
analogy could be up to 2 million barrels of oil a day.
COOBAN: You are seeing your exploration in Greenland as potentially an antidote or a, you know, a safety valve for the world oil market, given
what we are seeing in the Middle East right now.
PRICE: Yes, it won't fix everything, but it will be -- it will provide some security, not only for European oil markets, U.S. oil markets as well.
COOBAN: Greenlanders are understandably wary about U.S. influence. We saw earlier this year Trump say that he wants to buy Greenland, he wants to
annex the territory.
[16:45:05]
We saw this new security agreement just a couple of days ago, announced by Trump.
Is this just the first step towards a full American takeover?
PRICE: No, this is a trilateral agreement with Greenland, Denmark, and the United States. I think, it's very positive development that all three. The
United States, there was a flimsy agreement back in 1951 for security and having certain bases in Greenland. This not only ratifies it, but it gives
it clarity.
And Anna, for companies like ours that are going to be in Greenland for the long term, this is not only our oil project but are also our mineral
projects. This provides us the security to be able to put money in for the long term.
COOBAN: But you could forgive many Greenlanders for thinking that this project is connected to Trump. One of your board members, Carol Craig,
she's she founds a company that's involved with a Trump defense project, the Golden Dome.
Dr. Phil, as well, he's involved with this. He is doing a documentary about your exploits here. He spoke at a Trump rally a couple of years ago. So, is
this linked to Trump?
PRICE: The answer is no. Anna, our investor base-they are Democrats, they are Republican, they are Independents. We are traded on the NASDAQ. So, we
have shareholders from Canada, Denmark, the U.K., and other countries throughout the world. This is about bringing capital to Greenland. It has
nothing to do with the Trump administration.
COOBAN: Is Greenland -- is there a risk that it becomes an ex-Venezuela, where actually you have got this American influence over this huge natural
resource?
PRICE: No, this is -- just to be really clear. This is about Greenlandic sovereignty. This agreement that was just signed was very clear, it was a
trilateral agreement. There is nothing overhanded about it. Our licenses have been valid for a long period of time, and so, this is about respecting
the sovereignty of the Greenlandic people and working through their regulatory process.
COOBAN: So, you said to Dr. Phil in an interview a couple of months ago that conditions are getting easier to operate in the Arctic Circle, the
weather is becoming less severe. I'm assuming that's linked to climate change.
All exploration is your bread and butter, but on a personal level, are you not concerned about where this planet is heading? And would you not want to
invest your energy -- millions of dollars, into renewables?
PRICE: I have done that. I have -- I have invested in renewables. I -- part of one of my projects is a biodiesel plant in Italy. Another project in New
Mexico is a hydrogen with the CO2 fully sequestered. So, I continue to do that, and I will continue to do it. Anna, the world still needs oil.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINKADE: Our thanks to Anna Cooban.
South Africa has become a major player in the global film industry, drawing Hollywood production, streaming giants, and billions in investment.
This week on our Africa Inc. series, Adefemi Akinsanya takes us inside Cape Town's booming production scene, where film is not just entertainment but
an economic engine.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ADEFEMI AKINSANYA, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Cape Town Film Studios is Africa's first custom-built Hollywood-style studio complex. It's been rated
the best of its kind in the developing world. And since December 2010, it has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the South African economy,
while helping to create tens of thousands of jobs, turning what started as a single soundstage into one of the continent's most lucrative production
hubs.
Thank you, Sean.
AKINSANYA (voice over): And it's the brainchild of legendary South African filmmaker, Anant Singh.
ANANT SINGH, CHAIRMAN, CAPE TOWN FILM STUDIOS: We built these studios that we are sitting in, in towards the latter part of the 90s. And once we had
that, it made it -- brought an impetus to large films coming here and lots of series, et cetera.
AKINSANYA (voice over): The "Mad Max: Fury Road", and "Tomb Raider" to black sales and Netflix's "One Piece", Cape Town Film Studios has drawn
some of the world's biggest titles, and the payoff is massive. Over a billion U.S. dollars pumped into the economy, and nearly 100,000 jobs
created in the first decade alone.
To understand how that global footprint translates on the ground, I met with film expert Dr. Liani Maasdorp at the University of Cape Town.
AKINSANYA: How, if at all, is South Africa benefiting from this international attention?
DR. LIANI MAASDORP, LECTURER, CENTRE FOR FILM AND MEDIA STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN: The National Film and Video Foundation estimates that the
film industry is contributing 3.5 billion rand to the local economy.
[16:50:06]
And it's not only creating jobs, they estimate 25,000 jobs, which, by the way, is more than the mining sector. They also estimate that there is a
massive amount of income that's generated via other industries.
So, you can just imagine if a big film production happens in Johannesburg, then, the hotels benefit, the -- you know, the ground transport, the
drivers, the shuttle companies benefit, the restaurants benefit, the catering.
So, there is so many other industries that also benefit.
AKINSANYA (voice over): One of the companies capitalizing on that edge is Blue Ice Africa. Founded in 2015, they have serviced over 70 productions,
including 15 formal co-productions, running up to six shows at once, handling logistics, financing, and equity for Hollywood studios.
Along the way, they have put more than 11,000 South Africans to work on set and tens of thousands more as background cast.
TEBOGO MAILA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BLUE ICE AFRICA: You are sitting with unemployment that has reached now 33.6 percent in the second quarter here.
We feel like we -- like that economic and, you know, engine that basically feeds into creating jobs, creating transferable skills, and you know,
developing a much broader production ecosystem in feeding into transport, feeding into travel, accommodation, feeding into, you know, logistics and
security.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Welcome back. I'm Lynda Kinkade.
Pope Leo is back home after a four-day visit to France. His final stop was in the city of Metz. The pope celebrated mass at the Cathedral of Saint
Stephen. His trip focused on revitalizing faith in France, addressing clerical abuse, and political topics such as A.I. advancement.
Christopher Lamb is in Rome. Good to see you, Chris. So, the pope had four days in France. He talked about migration, military escalation, even the
dangers of A.I. What was the key takeaway?
CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think, this was a very significant visit by Pope Leo, because France, despite it being a highly
secularized culture, there were really very big numbers turning out for the pope. A mass with 800,000 people in the center of Paris.
[16:55:03]
A 150,000 people turning out in Lourdes, a major pilgrimage site for the pope. And I think, it was really striking to see the numbers of young
people who also were there for Pope Leo. The Catholic Church in France, despite having years of declining numbers going to church has seen an
increase in conversions among young people.
Pope Leo mentioning that on the way back from Metz to Rome, saying that he was there to encourage young people, who he said he felt were searching for
something. So, that was a really important part of his visit.
On board the plane, he also addressed A.I., which is something he talked about in France, and he was asked about the threats of A.I. to humanity,
and this is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE LEO XIV, SOVEREIGN OF THE VATICAN CITY STATE If someone were to ask me, am I in panic mode? No, I'm not. I sleep at night. I do think that the
concerns raised by many of the experts, specialists in A.I., should be taken seriously. I don't think that, that is fake news, as some have said,
to try and cause whether financial or some other kind of benefit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAMB: Well, Leo also cited the head of the A.I. company Nvidia, who he suggested was not taking it seriously enough in terms of the risks of A.I.
That's very unusual for the pope to do that. He also said the Vatican has set up a special commission to look at the risks and benefits of A.I. This
is something that Leo has devoted a lot of attention to during his pontificate.
But I think, broadly speaking, the trip to France was a success for Leo. He was able to connect with people, to draw really big crowds, and to deliver
a number of important political messages.
KINKADE: And he also met with survivors of clergy abuse. What do we know from advocates and the survivors about what was said in that meeting?
LAMB: That's right. He met with survivors of abuse for two hours. He met them individually, and he met them collectively. And he talked about the
importance of the church, being vigilant in trying to tackle this ongoing scandal. He said that, you know, work still needs to be done to ensure that
this never happens again, and he wanted to listen to the survivors to hear from them about what they thought the church needed to do.
KINKADE: All right. Christopher Lamb, for us in Rome. Thanks so much for joining us.
And thanks to you for all your company. That is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'm Lynda Kinkade.
Stay with us. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper is next.
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END
