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Jamie Smyth and Verity Ratcliffe, Financial Times
Oil prices have surged over the $100-a-barrel threshold for the first time in almost four years, says the Financial Times, as “traders bet widening conflict in the Middle East would lead to weeks-long supply disruptions”. The newspaper adds: “Traders warned that the oil sector was facing one of its greatest ever challenges, with Iran’s attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz affecting production in countries responsible for about a quarter of global crude supply.” The Times says: “The widening conflict across the Middle East has sent the price of Brent crude to within touch of $120 a barrel for the first time since 2022…The dollar rose against a basket of currencies as investors expected higher energy prices to stoke inflation. Analysts at Goldman Sachs, the American investment bank, said the price could exceed the peak of $146 set in 2008 if the flow of tankers through the Strait of Hormuz did not start to recover before the end of the month.”
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that “G7 finance ministers will discuss a possible joint release of petroleum from reserves co-ordinated by the International Energy Agency, in an emergency meeting on Monday aimed at tackling the surge in oil prices”. It adds: “The meeting comes as US president Donald Trump faces pressure to halt the steep rise in the crude oil price since the start of the war. The average US petrol price rose to $3.45 a gallon by Sunday, from $2.98 a gallon a week ago, and is destined to go higher unless Trump can reverse the trend. The increase in oil prices over the past week has triggered global fallout, threatening an inflationary surge that could do lasting damage to economic growth across the world. China, India, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Italy and Spain are among the biggest importers of crude, leaving them heavily exposed to price shocks.”
Reuters has a summary of “governments’ actions in response to oil price surge”. The Independent reports: “Trump says oil spike is small price to pay for ‘safety and peace’ as energy chief reassures Americans that pain at gas pump will last ‘weeks…not months’.” Reuters says that the EU is “examining energy taxes, network charges and carbon costs as possible areas for short-term measures to ease pressure on industries hit by high energy prices, a document seen by Reuters showed”. Politico reports: “At an emergency meeting of commissioners on Friday as energy prices soar, Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s top team sought to build support for their energy strategy, which includes replacing imported oil and gas with homegrown green energy.”
Vladimir Soldatkin and Dmitry Antonov, Reuters
Reuters reports that the war in Iran has fuelled a “significant bump” in demand for Russian oil and gas, the Kremlin said on Friday, boosting exports which have been battered by sanctions linked to Russia's war in Ukraine. The newswire adds: “The Russian oil, which was selling at a discount of $10 to $13 before the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on 28 February, is now commanding a premium of $4-5 over Brent upon delivery to India in March or early April.” Bloomberg columnist Javier Blas lists the “oil pipelines that could decide the Iran war”. A separate Bloomberg article reports that “Germany is seeing unusually strong solar power output in March, helping to cap electricity prices even as the conflict in the Middle East drives up the cost of energy worldwide”. The Financial Times carries an article under the headline: “Middle East war strengthens case for renewables, say clean energy experts.”
Citing diplomatic sources, Reuters reports that China is “in talks with Iran to allow crude oil and Qatari liquefied natural gas vessels safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz”. The newswire also reports that Bangladesh has “imposed daily limits on fuel sales after panic buying”, while South Korea says it will “cap domestic fuel prices for the first time in nearly 30 years to contain a spike in prices”.
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The Independent: “Iran war sends shockwaves through African fuel market and economies.” Bloomberg reports that India has raised prices for its most widely used cooking gas for the first time in almost a year due to the crisis. The Independent: “Oil built the Persian Gulf. Desalinated water keeps it alive. War could threaten both.” Reuters: “Japan should use nuclear plants to offset Iran crisis, opposition party head says.”
Ajit Niranjan, The Guardian
Many outlets cover a new study published on Friday in Geophysical Research Letters that, according to the Guardian, reveals that global warming is “occurring more rapidly with the heating rate almost doubling”. The newspaper adds: “It found global heating accelerated from a steady rate of less than 0.2C per decade between 1970 and 2015 to about 0.35C per decade over the past 10 years. The rate is higher than scientists have seen since they started systematically taking the Earth’s temperature in 1880.” Bloomberg notes that the authors say this the “first statistically significant evidence of an acceleration of global warming”. CNN begins its article: “Is the world getting hotter, faster? It’s a big question which has been puzzling and dividing scientists for years. A new paper says it has the answer, and it’s not good news.” Nature notes continuing dissent among some scientists: “Not everyone agrees with the latest estimate of a rate of 0.35C per decade. Climate scientist Zeke Hausfather at Berkeley Earth [and Carbon Brief’s contributing science writer]…says the authors’ methods for removing natural fluctuations are ‘imperfect and will leave some remaining effects’. Robert Rohde, chief scientist at Berkeley Earth, says he estimates that the current warming rate is more like 0.30C per decade.” New Scientist and the Daily Mail are among other outlets covering the study. Carbon Brief also has a detailed summary of the study’s findings.
Bloomberg
China has “downplay[ed]” the development of solar energy in the draft of its 15th “five-year plan”, with no specific target for solar installations by 2030 and only “few and far between” mentions of the industry, reports Bloomberg. The outlet says that, instead, the country focuses more on other initiatives that support energy transition, while setting the goal of “doubling offshore wind power capacity” and targets for nuclear and pumped hydro. The “absence” of solar energy does not signify a “rejection”, but rather signals a “strategic shift”, according to energy news outlet International Energy Net. The outlet says that a series of plans, such as the construction of zero-carbon industrial parks and the cultivation of hydrogen energy and green fuels, all provide “core guidance" for the future development of the solar industry. State news agency Xinhua publishes the list of 109 major projects outlined in China’s plan, including seven projects to build a new energy system. In addition, green hydrogen has been included as a major project for “cultivating and developing new industries and new tracks”, says the newswire. Bloomberg adds that “China is maintaining the pressure on its nuclear power giants to deliver more reactors with an ambitious new target, despite a string of misses in recent years”. [See Carbon Brief’s detailed Q&A on “What does China’s 15th ‘five-year plan’ mean for climate change?”]
While participating in the deliberation of the Jiangsu delegation on the sidelines of the “two sessions”, Chinese president Xi Jinping has called local authorities to “study new situations and solve new problems” and remove “institutional and structural barriers” that constrain the “new quality productive forces”, according to state news agency Xinhua. The party-affiliated newspaper People’s Daily carried an article under the byline Jin Sheping – used to signal the thoughts of party leadership on economic matters – stating that the growth target of 4.5% to 5% is a goal that considers both “domestic economic operations and changes in the external environment”. An editorial by the state-supporting Global Times says the target “firmly” shifts development toward green transformation. Another Xinhua article says that China will continue to contribute strength to “global sustainable development” through “firm actions”. There is also ongoing analysis of China’s new five-year plan and government work report in the South China Morning Post, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Climate Home News, Jiemian, China Daily, Business Green and Table Briefings.
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