Filtered by Subscriptions: Energy Use setting Energy
We expect global crude production to rise by around 2.5% in 2025 as the unwinding of OPEC+ voluntary supply cuts stretches all through next year. But non-OPEC+ oil producing nations will also play their part in raising supply even if we think US oil …
14th March 2024
The winner of Russia’s election may be a foregone conclusion but the outlook for its oil and gas sector isn’t. A tightening of sanctions is an ever-present risk and the outcome of the war is uncertain. Our central case is that sanctions don’t prevent …
13th March 2024
China’s government is planning further fiscal loosening and hinting at rate cuts this year, with the aim of boosting economic activity. We think the policy backdrop is sufficient to support commodities demand this year, although for metals used in …
6th March 2024
Despite OPEC+’s decision to extend its voluntary production cuts until the end of June, we still forecast oil prices to drop back by end-2024. We continue to expect OPEC+ to raise output in the latter half of the year and other producers will plug the gap …
4th March 2024
Although the US’ trade in electricity with Canada and Mexico is small compared to its overall energy trade, it should grow as clean energy capacity rises and grid connections improve. Canada should continue to be a net exporter as hydropower flows south …
28th February 2024
Carbon price not out of the woods yet …
22nd February 2024
The precipitous drop in US natural gas prices won’t persist for the rest of the year. Prices should rise by Q4 as US production growth slows and LNG exports rise. US natural gas prices have collapsed recently, falling around 18% week-on-week and 23% …
14th February 2024
Saudi Arabia has cut oil output significantly over the past year or so but that hasn’t prevented global oil prices from falling. Despite Aramco’s announcement today that it is postponing plans to raise production capacity to 13mn bpd, we think looming …
30th January 2024
JODI data on global oil and natural gas consumption paint a nuanced picture of global energy demand. While oil demand growth slowed towards the end of last year, consumption of natural gas was recovering from the worst of the energy price crisis. We …
29th January 2024
Energy prices seem historically high at first glance. However, that is not strictly the case. After adjusting for inflation, oil and US natural gas prices are already at or below pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, gas prices are still very high in the EU and …
19th January 2024
The downward trend in the EU carbon price since early 2023 has been driven by lower demand for pollution permits on the back of industrial weakness and growth in cleaner energy sources. With energy-intensive activity in the bloc set to stay weak, and …
17th January 2024
Perhaps surprisingly, the latest escalation in Middle East tensions has not prompted a surge in oil prices. We think this is because, so far, oil output is unaffected. Moreover, we suspect it also reflects concerns about weak demand, strong supply growth …
16th January 2024
Output from Nigeria’s oil refinery sector has been in terminal decline, inflating the fuel import bill at a time when the economy is already suffering from a shortage of hard currency. The new Dangote refinery and President Tinubu’s broader plans to …
4th January 2024
The high profile announcements from COP28 around renewable capacity pledges and fossil fuel usage are ambitious, but strike us as either overly optimistic or vague. While we think renewable energy consumption will increase markedly, fossil fuel usage is …
21st December 2023
The attacks in the Red Sea are the third major disruption to maritime transport this year, alongside low water levels in the Panama Canal and collapse of the Black Sea Grain Deal. Much will depend on how long the disruptions last, but we think that they …
19th December 2023
The target from COP28 to triple global renewable generating capacity this decade is encouragingly ambitious. But as our Climate Reporting Tools show, the goal will be easier to achieve in some countries than others, and attention will also be needed on …
14th December 2023
Europe’s natural gas price will continue its downward trend in 2024-25 as more LNG supply enters the market . And while there may be some recovery in demand as prices fall, we think there has been a structural shift down in European gas consumption. While …
8th December 2023
China’s commodity imports mostly rose in November, but there was a sharp drop in crude oil imports. We think that non-oil commodity import volumes will hold up in the coming months on the back of looser fiscal policy, but current high stocks could …
7th December 2023
Rising OPEC+ output in Q2 2024 should leave global crude supply less constrained than we had previously expected. This, together with only modest growth in global oil demand, should push the crude market into a small surplus in Q4. Accordingly, we have …
4th December 2023
In this Global Economics Update , we describe eight of the biggest risks to our economic forecasts for 2024. The unusual nature of this cycle and uncertainties surrounding the transmission of monetary policy mean that the biggest risks relate to central …
30th November 2023
Guyana’s oil production looks set to grow quickly over the next few years even if the total volume can only play a small role in raising global supply. That said, substantial reserves and low break-even costs should mean that it can continue to produce …
27th November 2023
Coal prices in both Europe and Asia will fall next year as growth in demand eases. But the fall in Europe should be larger as we expect demand there to outright contract. This should ensure that coal prices in Asia trade at a premium to prices in Europe …
22nd November 2023
The US and China once again backed the G20 goal of tripling global renewable energy capacity this week (from 2020), a goal which would help to keep the path to net zero emissions by 2050 on track. However, the speed of the energy transition is uncertain, …
17th November 2023
The Vaca Muerta shale formation will alleviate some of the pressure on Argentina’s fragile balance of payments position by substantially reducing the country’s gas import bill and raising oil export revenues. While this is good news for the crisis-ridden …
8th November 2023
The underperformance of wind and solar equities since early 2021 has largely been driven by higher interest rates, which disproportionately affect the cost of renewables projects. But while the days of ultra-low financing costs are behind us, our …
2nd November 2023
We think the cautious oil market reaction to the outbreak of conflict in Israel probably reflects the huge uncertainty about the eventual outcome, but also a somewhat lower “Middle East” risk premium. For context, the Brent crude oil price has risen by …
26th October 2023
EU natural gas prices have risen in recent weeks highlighting that a reliance on LNG imports is not without risk. That said, prices should fall back next year as a significant amount of LNG export capacity comes online, first in the US and then in Qatar. …
25th October 2023
Argentina’s oil and gas production growth has slowed sharply recently due to pipeline capacity constraints. New projects should ease these bottlenecks, and production should rise from 2024. Admittedly, the expected increases in output are not large enough …
After several years in a post-Fukushima wilderness, nuclear power’s ability to provide low-emission and reliable electricity generation has slowly brought it back into favour around the world. Several countries, particularly in Asia, are likely to bring …
19th October 2023
The reported deal that is close to being reached to lift US sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector in return for competitive elections would help to raise the country’s oil output from very depressed levels. But the sector requires enormous investment to …
16th October 2023
The conflict between Hamas and Israel will negatively affect Israel’s natural gas exports. However, the bigger concern for global natural gas prices is the risk of the conflict spreading. The European natural gas price has risen by about 30% w/w to €48 …
12th October 2023
Note: We discussed the outlook for oil prices and the geo-economics around the conflict between Israel and Hamas in a Drop-In on 9th October. Click here to watch the recording. First and foremost, the renewed fighting between Hamas and Israel since the …
9th October 2023
The attack by Hamas on Israel on Saturday has led to widespread casualties and deaths, and the declaration of war by Israel’s prime minister. From an economic perspective, the experience from the 2014 Gaza war suggests that the effects on Israel’s economy …
The sell-off in bond markets has taken a breather today, helped in part by softer data on the US labour market. However, the scale of the moves over the past week has invoked comparisons to previous financial crises that have been caused by sharp moves in …
4th October 2023
Strong production growth has helped to pull US natural gas prices below 2019 levels for most of this year. But prices should rise by the end of 2024 as production growth is set to ease and exports will surge when LNG export capacity rises by nearly a …
2nd October 2023
Investment in the green transition is unlikely to rise quickly enough this decade to help achieve net zero by 2050. But a greater focus on areas including renewables and electric vehicles will still probably push up investment’s share of global GDP by …
25th September 2023
Note: Join our online briefing on Tuesday, 19 th September about oil prices and the risks to the global inflation outlook. Register here . While we think Saudi Arabia and Russia’s supply cuts, which have sent oil prices surging in recent weeks, will be …
14th September 2023
China’s energy demand has been a bright spot in the gloom of an ailing property sector and disappointing economic growth. We think China’s crude oil and natural gas demand will rise further next year, however, coal consumption should fall as hydropower …
30th August 2023
Price volatility in the wake of news of possible strike action at Australian LNG export terminals serves as a reminder that natural gas markets are still carrying the scars of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. High volatility is likely to remain until …
21st August 2023
Saudi Arabia’s announcement yesterday that it would extend its unilateral oil production cut of 1m bpd into September sent the Brent crude oil price climbing to $85 per barrel, where it remains today. We think the price will remain at around this level …
4th August 2023
The spot price of Asia LNG should trade at a premium to Europe’s TTF gas at end-2023 given stronger demand growth in Asia and the fact that LNG is more costly to produce. The spot price of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Asia has periodically moved …
12th July 2023
We recently held a Drop-in titled “Industry’s decarbonisation challenge – From aviation to property”, which you can view on-demand here . This Update addresses some of the questions we received during the event, including those that we did not have time …
3rd July 2023
Note: We’re holding a 20-minute briefing on the challenges that aviation and other key industries face in decarbonising at 10:00 EDT/15:00 BST on Thursday, 29th June. Register now . Despite jet fuel being a fairly small share of total oil consumption, …
21st June 2023
Having fallen steadily for much of the last year, European natural gas prices surged last week. The catalyst was constrained supply. Given seasonally high stocks and subdued demand, we are not worried yet about another price spike. But Europe has to avoid …
12th June 2023
Preventing large-scale leaks of methane from Turkmenistan’s creaking infrastructure would be a welcome sign of emissions-cutting efforts broadening out from carbon dioxide to include other harmful greenhouse gases too. But while Turkmenistan has become …
8th June 2023
The aviation sector is pinning its hopes on sustainable aviation fuel to help cut its carbon footprint over the coming decades. But any ramp-up in biofuel usage would pit aviation against the needs of other sectors and industry officials are becoming more …
25th May 2023
China’s refineries pumped out more oil products than at any point in their history in the first four months of this year. This is perhaps not too surprising given that the removal of COVID-19 restrictions was always going to give a boost in demand. But a …
The long-awaited inclusion of WTI Midland into Dated Brent is now taking place in a gradual month-long process that started on 2 nd May. The inclusion of Midland could be a factor weighing on the Brent-WTI price spread in the coming months, but we …
24th May 2023
The key message from the latest China PMIs is that whilst China’s economy is likely to grow strongly this quarter, momentum is fading. This will be one factor weighing on commodity prices in the near term. China’s Caixin manufacturing PMI fell from 50.0 …
4th May 2023
JODI data show that oil demand held up in advanced economies at the beginning of the year. We suspect this won’t last though as weakening economic activity drags on demand over 2023. The data also show that natural gas demand in Europe fell in February, …
26th April 2023