Crude prices will likely reach $100 per barrel for the first time since 2014, and OPEC has no leverage to prevent such a scenario, an analyst has warned. “Nobody wants to get caught short, full in the knowledge that more Iranian barrels are poised to be removed from the market,” Stephen Brennock, oil analyst at PVM Oil Associates, said in a research note published on Monday, as quoted by CNBC. [...]

If you can’t get them to keep quiet, ignore them, appears to be the playbook currently in use by OPEC. Tweets by US President Donald Trump demanding that OPEC boost its oil output as a means of lowering prices worldwide have been met with silence by the global fossil-fuel energy bloc. [...]

Washington is fiercely fighting for Germany’s energy market, trying to sell more of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the country, and to wrestle one of the biggest energy consumers away from Russian energy giant Gazprom. Germany currently gets around 60 of its natural gas imports from Russia. [...]

The US has repeatedly denounced the Russian-European joint venture to build a direct gas pipeline from Russia to the center of the EU via the Baltic Sea. Apart from lambasting Berlin for colluding with Moscow, Washington has already laid the groundwork for sanctions against companies involved in Nord Stream 2. [...]

One of the world’s longest gas pipelines – the Power of Siberia – which is being created to deliver natural gas from Russia to China, is almost complete. The sides are now getting ready to ink a contract on another major pipeline. Agreement on the Power of Siberia 2 or the ‘Western Route’ for the supply of Russian gas from the Far East to China might be signed in the first half of 2019, [...]

The tax and trade policies of Donald Trump are, in fact, what have contributed to the surge in oil prices, a US economics professor told RT, adding that the US President’s tough words to OPEC are a political stunt. On Thursday, Trump accused OPEC’s Middle East producers of “pushing for higher and higher oil prices” and demanded “they stop it,” adding that the US is “protecting those [...]

In the first physical settlement of the Chinese yuan-denominated oil futures contract, five companies will deliver a total of 600,000 barrels of Middle Eastern crude grades to buyers of the September futures contract. [...]

During their August 18 summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel noted that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project is profitable for both sides and should not be politicized. Speaking to Radio Sputnik, Gerhard Mangott, a political analyst from Austria's Innsbrook University, shared his views on the EU's energy issue. [...]

The majority of Germans support Nord Stream 2, a poll revealed Monday. It also showed that most dismissed Donald Trump’s negative comments on the pipeline as a tactic to promote US liquefied gas in Europe. Two thirds of respondents support the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline because it would help provide Germany with a more reliable supply of natural gas, according to the the Forsa poll, which [...]

When reports emerged that India and China are in talks about forming an oil buyers’ club, OPEC was probably too busy with its upcoming June 22 meeting to concern itself with that dangerous alliance. Now, it may be time for it to start worrying. “The timing is right. The boom in US oil and gas production gives us greater leverage against OPEC,” the Times of India quoted an Indian official as [...]

US President Donald Trump has demanded that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries do more to stop the surge in global gasoline prices. "The OPEC Monopoly must remember that gas prices are up and they are doing little to help. If anything, they are driving prices higher as the United States defends many of their members for very little $’s. [...]

Beijing’s retaliatory measures against US tariffs can include penalties on oil coming to China from America. A cut in Chinese purchases of US oil may benefit Iran’s sales and anger Washington. “The Chinese may just replace some of the American oil with Iranian crude,” said John Driscoll, director of consultancy JTD Energy Services, as quoted by Reuters. [...]

The US is force-feeding Europe its liquefied natural gas, which is three times more expensive that buying it from Russia, Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen said after signing a gas-supply contract with Moscow until 2040. While US politicians are accusing Europe of being dependent on Russian gas, they forget that “American liquefied gas is two or three times more expensive than Russian [...]

US will have hard time convincing key EU members to offset overreliance on Russian piped gas with US LNG. Russia's largest gas producer Gazprom and the European Commission have recently resolved a seven-year anti-trust dispute. Much of this comes amid President Donald Trump’s so-called American energy independence push as well as both US and several EU members thrust to wean Europe off of geopol [...]

By trying to bring an end to the Russo-European Nord Stream 2 project, the US is pursuing its own economic interests rather than taking care of Europe's energy security. Washington is seeking to boost sales of its own expensive liquefied natural gas to Europe, thus undermining the Old Continent's competitiveness. [...]

US President Donald Trump has reportedly asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel to withdraw its support for the Nord Stream 2 project and allegedly promised to negotiate a new US-EU trade deal. CEO of the Austrian energy giant OMV Rainer Seele doesn't see a problem with dependence on the Russian gas, as, according to him, such dependence is mutual, DPA reported. At the same time, he slammed US effo [...]

The project is beneficial both for Russia and European countries and doesn't pose any threat in terms of the EU's dependence on Moscow's energy supplies, the director general of the Austrian oil and gas concern OMV, Rainer Seele, told DPA. Decisions on the issue of the remaining permits for the construction of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline are likely to be made in late summer 2018, Rainer Seele s [...]

In this special double header episode of the Keiser Report, Max and Stacy compare the real data and future for fracking using actual balance sheet results and investor complaints on the absence of any profits as of yet. From Bloomberg and CNBC, headlines warn that fossil fuels face squeeze as the cost of renewables plunge and just as the surge in natural gas supply from fracking absolutely obliter [...]

Get ready for a spike in oil prices up to $100 a barrel – a level not seen since 2014 – in 2019, Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts forecast. Bank of America Corp said Brent futures, trading as high as $78 on Thursday, are expected to reach $90 in the second quarter of 2019, depending on geopolitical developments and other factors, with a risk it could hit as much as $100 per barre [...]

The preparations have been launched just over a month after Berlin gave its go-ahead to the project. Engineers have started to prepare the construction site for the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline by the shore of Germany's coastal resort of Lubmin, a representative of Nord Stream 2 AG told Sputnik. [...]

Prices for crude may skyrocket to $100 per barrel as soon as next year as major supply risks in Iran and Venezuela are likely to strain global energy markets, say analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. According to the bank, Brent futures, currently hovering around $77, will reach $90 in the second quarter of 2019 due to the larger cut in world inventories. [...]

The EU won't support the Nord Stream 2 project as it attaches great significance to the gas pipelines going through Ukraine in context of diversification of supply routes, that's the message from the head of the European Energy Commission Dominik Ristori. Sputnik discussed this with Justin Dargin, global energy scholar at the University of Oxford. [...]