Mohsen Faghfouri Azar

Middle East Oil Benefits as China Buys Less African Crude

China has long been building inroads into Africa, while the U.S. backs down from the region, leaving a gaping hole in the West’s influence over the “final frontier”. Now, however, we’re seeing all that soft power and oil-backed loans fizzle out as various think tanks note that China is increasingly …

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Russia Dethrones U.S. as Top EU Natural Gas Supplier

Russia became the biggest supplier of natural gas to Europe last month, for the first time since 2022, replacing the United States at the top spot. “It’s striking to see the market share of Russian gas and [liquefied natural gas] inch higher in Europe after all we have been through, …

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Is China’s Oil Demand Set for a Major Bounce back?

Since the mid-1990s, China’s extraordinary economic expansion almost singlehandedly drove a supercycle in key commodities prices it required to power such growth, including oil and gas. In 2013, it became the world’s largest net importer of total petroleum and other liquid fuels and, as late as 2017, its still high …

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