Photo caption: Oil
Donald Trump rattled markets again by threatening secondary sanctions on Russian energy buyers and setting a tighter ceasefire deadline for Moscow, driving Brent crude above $70 as traders also eyed progress on US-China trade talks.
– One of the key tenets of the US-EU trade deal, namely that European countries would buy $750 billion of American energy over the next three years, would be close to impossible to achieve.
– Europe’s total energy imports from the US already totalled slightly south of $80 billion last year, after LNG deliveries ticked in at 36 million tonnes and crude oil supplies soared to a record 74.5 million tonnes.
– Tripling current energy flows would be a Herculean task, with European refining demand handicapped by the closure of four plants in 2025 and regional gas consumption to increase by 1.5% from last year, equivalent to roughly 3 million metric tonnes of incremental LNG.
– The pledge could be further watered down by the EU counting its investments into the US energy sector as part of the $750 billion, as well as Brussels counting new nuclear projects into it even if none of the small nuclear reactors would see daylight this decade.
=== Oilprice.com ===
