Oil Prices Are Rising on Renewed Optimism Over Chinese Demand
- Europe is considering its options to tighten sanctions vis-à-vis Russian LNG imports into Europe, having banned LNG transshipment operations from 2025 onwards, whilst gas importers keep on buying more.
- Thanks to higher utilization rates and the recent (surreptitious) launch of Arctic LNG 2, Russia increased its total LNG exports by 5% year-over-year in January-September 2024, to 24.4 million tonnes.
- The share of Russian LNG in the European Union’s total LNG imports rose ton 20% in the first half of 2024 compared to 14% a year earlier, with France becoming the main destination country for Yamal LNG flows.
- TotalEnergies, the national oil firm of France, holds a 20% stake in Yamal LNG which it did not relinquish as opposed to its stake in Arctic LNG2 and its membership in the board of directors of Novatek.
- According to Kpler data, France-bound flows are almost guaranteed to reach an all-time high this year, with only 7 more cargoes required to surpass 5.27 million tonnes from 2022. Read more