Oil markets have largely ignored Trump’s threats to impose 100% secondary tariffs on any country that buys Russian exports, with prices dropping significantly on Tuesday morning.
Freight rates for Russian Urals crude from Baltic ports to India have dipped again in July, falling to $5.0–$5.3 million per Aframax shipment—down from $5.5–$5.7 million in June—as more tankers become available.
Oil fell as U.S. President Donald Trump reignited his global trade war, while his latest plan to pressure Russia into a ceasefire with Ukraine didn’t include new measures aimed directly at hindering Moscow’s energy exports.
Mol wants the EU and other affected nations to take part in “revitalizing” the Odesa pipeline, which the company says would also provide an alternative to Russian oil for Serbia. Hungary and Serbia are currently building a pipeline connection.
The 27-member bloc imported a total of 69 billion cubic meters (2.44 trillion cubic feet) of gas in the January-March period, down two percent quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year. Pipeline gas accounted for 55 percent or 38 Bcm while liquefied natural gas (LNG) contributed 45 percent or 31 Bcm, according to the Commission’s latest quarterly gas market report.
While official statements treat each case in isolation, the sheer number and pattern demand attention. Kremlin critics and Western analysts are urging transparent, independent investigations. But in Putin’s Russia, that’s highly unlikely.
Russia’s government is weighing the possibility of some tax relief for the giant gas firm Gazprom, which would be paid for by potentially higher taxes on other Russian natural gas producers, a source in the Russian government told Reuters on Monday.
OPEC+ will make its August oil production decision on the fly during the upcoming July 6 meeting, Russia confirmed on Friday, suggesting there would be no pre-negotiating behind closed doors.
Now, these concerns appear to have taken the back seat in the face of a fresh dose of Middle Eastern instability and energy supply uncertainty—especially in gas. Almost a third of China’s gas imports come as LNG from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, the WSJ noted in its report, citing Rystad Energy figures. Russia, in turn, is China’s third-largest supplier of LNG, after Australia and Qatar. But it is China’s biggest pipeline supplier, via the Power of Siberia 1, with flows this year set to reach 38 billion cu m, according to S&P Global.
“G7 members must fully ban imports of Russian energy – oil, coal, natural gas, uranium. Canada, with the world’s fifth-largest oil reserves and as a top-three uranium producer, can help fill the gap.” The statement was made this week by the head of the G7 research group, a University of Toronto political science professor.
But can Canada really replace Russia entirely on the global energy scene? That might be tough.