Europe NEWS

Soaring gas prices that threaten to push up winter fuel bills, hurt consumption and exacerbate a near-term spike in inflation are another blow to a world economy just getting back on its feet after the coronavirus shock. The gas market chaos, which has driven prices 280% higher in Europe this year and led to a 100%-plus surge in the United States, is being blamed on a range of factors from low storage levels to carbon prices to reduced Russian supplies.

Amazon has announced nine new utility-scale wind and solar energy projects in the US, Canada, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. The company now has 206 renewable energy projects globally, including 71 utility-scale wind and solar projects and 135 solar rooftops on facilities and stores worldwide, which will generate 8.5 GW of electricity production capacity globally. With this latest announcement, Amazon is now one of the largest corporate purchasers of renewable energy in Europe.

Oil prices resumed their decline on Monday, falling around 1% as worries about a drop in demand for fuel products in the wake of yet more European lockdowns dominated trading.Germany plans to extend a lockdown to contain COVID-19 infections into a fifth month, according to a draft proposal, after new cases exceeded levels authorities say will cause hospitals to be overstretched.

The six week long futures rally has come to a halt with the increasing lockdown in Europe. As a result, oil prices fell on Wednesday. Brent dropped and was traded at $50.51 a barrel. WTI went down and was traded at $47.28 a barrel. Slower US spendings and substantial decrease in the demand for refined products has adversely affected the market sentiments.

Coronavirus cases continue to rise in the United States and Europe. Oil prices added to the losses of the previous session on Tuesday. WTI slipped by 0.4%, to $45.58 a barrel. Brent fell by 0.5%, to $48.55 a barrel. ANZ Research said, "For the moment, the market is happy to look past these issues as the vaccine rollout begins; however the economic headwinds are building in the short term".

A big decision comes the industry's way as Denmark decides to retire from the North Sea. On Thursday, the Danish Parliament voted in favour of ending the offshore oil and gas extraction. The nation has cancelled it's latest licensing round, saying the country is "now putting an end to the fossil fuel era". Currently, one-third of Denmark's electricity production derives from wind turbines.

US oil prices experienced a substantial loss on Tuesday. The concerns over the drop in the demand have again started to haunt the market. WTI went down by 2% and was traded at $39.48 a barrel. “A viable vaccine is unequivocally game-changing for oil - a market where half of the demand comes from moving people and things around”, said JP Morgan.

New lockdowns are now effective in Europe. And the uncertainty of the US elections has kept the market on the edge. As a result, oil prices have further suffered a drop of nearly 1% on Friday. WTI decreased by 0.8%, to $38.47 a barrel. Brent also went down. European Union's executive commission has predicted that it will not see a rebound in the economy to pre-virus level till 2023.

Oil prices tumbled by more than 3% as this week started. Worries of weakening fuel demand due to lockdown in Europe swept the market. Brent decreased by 3.1%, to $36.78 a barrel. WTI slipped by 3.5%, to $34.55 a barrel. “The lockdown measures announced by the UK and Italy are just adding to the deteriorating European situation,” said CMC.

The Israeli government on Sunday approved an agreement with European countries for the construction of a subsea pipeline that would supply Europe with natural gas from the eastern Mediterranean. The Eastmed pipeline, is meant to transport gas from offshore Israel and Cyprus to Greece and on to Italy. The pipeline is planned to initially carry 10 billion cubic meters of gas/year with the possibility of eventually doubling the capacity.

With the US natural gas prices topping the prices chart in Europe and Asia, the buyers have started cancelling the cargos. The buyers of the two continents have already cancelled the loading of around 20 cargoes from the United States in June. Henry Hub benchmark in Louisiana settled over both the Japan/Korea Marker (JKM) according to the most recent price data.

Lockdowns are easing in some of the European countries and US cities. This has rekindled hope of demand rise in the market and led to the rise in oil prices on Wednesday. WTI showed a significant increase of 8.8% and was traded at $13.43 a barrel. Brent was up by 1.8% and was traded at $20.82 a barrel. Meanwhile, deceiving the market fear, US storages are filling less rapidly.

Oil prices slipped on Tuesday over weak manufacturing data from Europe and Japan. The data shifted the focus of the market from Saudi crisis to the global demand concerns. Brent went down to $64.42 a barrel. WTI decreased to $58.36 a barrel. On the other side of the world, Britain, Germany and France came in support of the US and blamed Iran for the Saudi oil attack.

Poland has won a European Union court ruling That would reduce Russia's control on Opal pipeline in Germany. Poland challenged the European Commission's 2016 decision which allowed Gazprom to use major capacity on the Opal pipeline. “The ruling keeps Poland’s and Ukraine’s energy security at a high level”, said the Polish Energy Minister. The pipeline has the capacity to transport 36 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

Rosneft has decided to load an extra oil cargo from the Pacific port of Kozmino on May 30-31. This is apart from what was decided in the initial loading plan. This decision has come amidst the existing Russian oil export problems in Europe. The extra loading will increase the overall exports from Kozmino in May. It will reach an all-time high of 2.94 million tonnes.

In order to meet carbon emission targets, oil giant Shell has designed a range of Europe-wide plans worth £230m. The programme will start from this year as a part of Shell's three-year target in order to reduce its Net Carbon Footprint by 2% – 3%. The energy major will also invest in the creation of a 300-hectare forest project in Spain. "Shell will play its part", emphasized the firm's CEO.

The Danish Energy Agency has created a hurdle for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project by demanding an environmental assessment of its third route option. Nord Stream 2 is a 1,225 km under-construction pipeline which will increase the reliance of European Union on Russian gas. It is an 11 billion euro project which has been approved by Finland, Sweden, Germany and Russia, while Denmark has held out.

Oil prices slid in the international market on Friday over a warning of the weak global economy from the European Central Bank (ECB). Benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 0.8% to $65.78 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures lowered 0.7% to $56.25 per barrel. Official data released today indicated a 21% drop in China’s February dollar-denominated exports.