Category: Highlights

EU energy crisis plan: gas price renegotiation and windfall taxes

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In her annual state of the union speech, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen set out major energy market interventions to manage high prices The European Commission has stepped back from earlier plans to cap the price of Russian gas, proposing instead to set up a new task force with EU member state representatives that will attempt to negotiate deals with key suppliers such as Norway. In her annual state of the union speech before the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday (14 September), Commission president Ursula von der…

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Oil Gains On Crossed Economic Wires

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Continued volatility has seen oil prices gain 1% on Wednesday, as the market attempts to decipher the latest demand growth, US crude inventory data, inflation indications and the impact of China’s COVID lockdowns. As of 3:33 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Brent crude was trading up $0.53, at $93.73, for a 0.60% gain on the day. WTI was trading up $0.83, at $88.14, for a 0.95% gain on the day. Oil prices appear to be reacting, in part, to Wednesday’s release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Producer Price…

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The Energy Market’s Next Crisis: Oil Tanker Shortages

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In the new era of energy shortages, one aspect of the situation has tended to get overlooked: the transport of energy. Demand for tankers has been on the rise since the European Union slapped sanctions on Russia in the spring, and this trend is only going to intensify in the coming months as the EU embargo on Russian oil and fuels enters into effect. Bloomberg reported this week that shipping companies were scrambling to get their hands on as many ice-class tankers as they could ahead of the embargo, which comes into…

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China And Russia Move To Disrupt The Dollar’s Dominance In Oil Markets

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The long-mooted prospect of the end of the U.S. dollar’s hegemony in the global oil and gas markets took another step towards realisation last week with the announcement that Russian and Chinese hydrocarbons giants, Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) have agreed to switch payments for gas supplies to rubles (RUB) and renminbi (RMB) instead of dollars. In the first phase of the new payments system, this will apply to Russian gas supplies to China via the ‘Power of Siberia’ eastern pipeline route that totals at minimum 38 billion…

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Russia’s Energy Blackmail Is Backfiring

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Putin

In early September 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin spelled out his intention to punish Europe for resisting Russia’s assault on the world order and supporting Ukraine louder and clearer than ever before. Speaking at the high session of an economic forum in Vladivostok, Russia, Putin asserted that the confrontation in Ukraine has reinforced Russia’s sovereignty, so in reality, it stands to gain from deepened global polarization and has suffered no significant losses (Nezavisimaya gazeta, September 7). He described the proposal to enforce a price cap on oil and gas exported…

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