Ron Bousso

Europe is heading into winter with alarmingly fragile energy supplies as the conflicts in the Middle East and Russia tighten global markets for liquefied natural gas and heating oil, pushing inventories to dangerously low levels.

Europe will face the next winter with alarmingly low energy supplies and heating oil inventories. Global markets for liquefied natural gas and diesel have been severely strained by conflicts. Asia's strong demand and supply route disruptions are impacting European imports. Policy decisions by China and Russia have further complicated diesel availability for Europe.

Breaking down what matters today in global energy markets

Neither full-scale war nor peace is taking hold in the Middle East, trapping energy markets in an uncomfortable limbo that won’t be easy to escape. Worries about the reliability of Gulf supplies are becoming increasingly entrenched among buyers, creating an alarming new norm for the region’s producers.

Europe has been battered by a succession of energy shocks this decade that left it with some of the world’s highest power costs. The bloc is now hoping to rebuild its competitive edge with a multi-trillion-dollar wager on home-grown electricity and renewables that could determine its industrial future.

Bumper oil refining profits triggered by the Iran war are turbocharging Big Oil's earnings, breathing new life into a business many investors had largely written off. The sector looks poised to produce unusually strong returns for several years, but long-term structural changes in oil consumption mean refining’s star will likely fade quickly.

War-driven supply disruptions have turned oil refining into Big Oil's biggest profit engine, but Reuters columnist Ron Bousso says the windfall may prove temporary as capacity returns and energy transition pressures re-emerge.

Breaking down what matters today in global energy markets

BUMPER oil refining profits triggered by the Iran war are turbocharging Big Oil's earnings, breathing new life into a business many investors had largely written off.