Chinese oil buyers are spoilt for choice right now even as lockdowns hurt demand as they can opt for everything from discounted Russian crude and sanctioned Iranian oil to regularly-taken Middle Eastern barrels. While a wave of sweeping anti-virus curbs has put a dent in current consumption, China has an …
Read More »Ukraine to Suspend Gas Flow through Transit Point for Europe
Reuters reports that Ukraine will suspend the flow of gas through a transit point which it said delivers almost a third of the fuel piped from Russia to Europe through Ukraine, blaming Moscow for the move and saying it would move the flows elsewhere. Ukraine has remained a major transit …
Read More »UAE and Saudi Ministers Oppose NOPEC Bill, Saying it will Raise Oil Prices
Senior OPEC ministers opposed a new US bill aimed at regulating production, saying such measures would lead to more chaos in energy markets. UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazroui told CNBC that OPEC is being unfairly attacked over the energy crisis and that actions by US lawmakers to disrupt an …
Read More »China’s LNG Buyers See Virus Curbs Cutting Demand through Summer
Liquefied natural gas buyers in Northern China are concerned virus-linked curbs on travel and industry will persist through summer, further limiting demand. Respondents to a government survey expect LNG imports in Northern China, which accounts for about a third of the nation’s deliveries, to drop by at least 20% for …
Read More »IEA: Renewable Energy to Grow to New Record in 2022
The world will set a new record for renewable power capacity this year led by solar energy in China and Europe, but growth could lose steam in 2023, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday. A record 295 gigawatts of new renewable power capacity was added in 2021 despite supply chain …
Read More »China’s Changing Climate Action Roadmap
The energy price surge and crunch in late 2021 and the ongoing crisis in Ukraine have renewed global momentum for replanning energy transition roadmaps. While some suggest accelerating clean energy transitions to cope with surging energy prices, others are taking the opposite approach. For example, Germany, a pioneer in the …
Read More »Ukraine War Revives France-Spain MidCat Gas Pipeline Project
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Madrid has revived calls to build a huge gas pipeline between Spain and France dubbed MidCat that would boost Europe’s energy independence from Russia. What is MidCat? Initially launched in 2003, the 190-kilometre (120-mile) Midi-Catalonia (MidCat) pipeline would pump gas across the Pyrenees from Hostalric just …
Read More »EU Plan to Cut Russian Gas may Come with $214 Billion Price Tag
The European Union is “massively” underestimating the cost of weaning itself off Russian natural gas by billions of euros unless it can speed up its shift to renewable energy. Europe is so reliant on gas that even cutting Russian supplies still means governments could be on the hook for about …
Read More »Venezuela Begins Imports of Iranian Heavy Oil for Refining
Venezuela has begun importing Iranian heavy crude to feed its domestic refineries, Venezuelan oil company PDVSA announced. Iran and Venezuela last year initially agreed to a swap deal, with PDVSA importing Iranian condensate to dilute and process its extra-heavy oil for export, Reuters reported. In return, Venezuelan crude is being …
Read More »Novak: Russia’s Crude Production up in May
Russia’s crude oil production is on the rise so far in May, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told TASS news agency on Monday. Russia’s crude oil production slipped by half a million bpd in March, by a full million bpd in April, with many analysts stating concern that those barrels …
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