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Chloe Taylor, CNBC
International Energy Agency (IEA) head Fatih Birol has warned that oil supply disruptions due to the conflict in the Middle East will increase in April, reports CNBC. The outlet adds that Birol said in an interview with the In Good Company podcast that the current energy crisis is more extreme than any that the world has seen before. He also said that the IEA was considering another release of strategic oil reserves, the article notes. Reuters reports that the crisis would now “hit” Europe's economy, as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz continues to curb supplies, according to Birol. It adds that the “lack of jet fuel and diesel which has already affected Asian countries” is now likely to affect Europe. The Wall Street Journal says Birol pointed to the IEA’s advice to governments to impose energy-saving measures such as work-from-home days and speed limits for cars.
The Guardian has a roundup of how the world is responding to the energy crisis. France is considering new actions to electrify the economy and cut dependence on imported fossil fuels, according to Le Monde. In Germany, the Financial Times reports that the economy minister Katherina Reiche has said the country should reconsider its long-standing opposition to nuclear power. The Guardian reports on how Asian nations such as South Korea and the Philippines are planning to burn more coal due to the energy crisis. Reuters reports that African governments have imposed fuel price increases amid increased global oil prices and Bloomberg reports that Colombia will also raise petrol prices this month. Another Reuters story reports that India is using its on-going shortage of cooking gas to accelerate a shift towards piped gas instead.
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The Financial Times reports on the “global wave of energy rationing”, with countries from Bangladesh to Zambia imposing measures to curb fuel use. Climate Home News reports on how, faced with the energy crisis, a growing number of people in Nigeria are ditching their backup generators for solar power systems. An Italian official tells Bloomberg that Italy is working on an extension of a fuel tax cut it approved last month, to ease the impact of the energy crisis. Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has called for mandatory targets for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in the EU to be changed, noting there was “no prospect” of reaching the goal of 6% by 2030, according to the Financial Times. CNBC reports that electric-vehicle demand in the US and Europe is getting a boost from the energy crisis “just as auto giants pivot back to combustion engines”. Reuters reports on a similar upward trend in demand in Asia. The state of Western Australia has invoked “emergency powers” to force fuel suppliers to provide information on their supply chains, according to Bloomberg. Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Australia is considering measures to force domestic gas exporters to prioritise local supplies.
Curtis Williams, Reuters
US exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) reached “an all‑time high” in March as plants ran at full capacity and new units started up, according to preliminary data from financial firm LSEG, covered by Reuters. The newswire says US shipments to Asia more than doubled from the previous month, after the Middle East conflict took around 20% of the global LNG supply offline. This has forced customers who “depended on cargoes that transited the Strait of Hormuz to try and find alternatives”, it explains. Reuters also reports that Russia exported more LNG in the first quarter of 2026 than it did a year earlier, “with shipments to Europe increasing”.
Bloomberg reports that Saudi Arabia’s oil exports dropped by half in March “after Iran effectively prevented tankers from leaving the Persian Gulf”. The outlet notes that the drop “would have been much bigger if Saudi Arabia hadn’t been able to divert crude to export terminals on the Red Sea”. The Financial Times reports that Gulf nations are considering new pipelines to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.
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Oil companies have been making more than €80m a day in "war profits" across the EU since the start of the war, according to a Greenpeace-commissioned study covered by Agence France-Presse. The Economist argues that war in the Middle East could make African countries more attractive places to drill for oil. Bloomberg reports that Canadian international trade minister Maninder Sidhu has “plugged his nation as a stable and reliable energy supplier amid the latest jump in oil prices”. Leaders from South Korea and Indonesia have held talks in which they discussed energy security, including the latter’s role in securing LNG and coal supplies “amid global uncertainty”, according to Reuters. Brazilian oil firm Petrobras has announced a 55% increase in jet fuel prices following a surge in oil prices linked to the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to Reuters. The Guardian has an analysis piece that notes: “Experts say the US believes it is entitled to resources it desires – a perspective president [Trump] has supported for decades.”
Daniel Sanderson, The Times
Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, has “reversed” his government’s position on domestic oil and gas drilling as energy prices soar amid the energy crisis, reports the Times. Swinney said at a pre-elections hustings that the war in the Middle East “changes the balance of the arguments”, although he still supported climate compatibility assessments for new projects. The Scotsman describes this as a “major shift” in the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) position on new oil and gas developments, making “a clear departure from the position taken by his predecessors, Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf”. The Independent reports that Swinney also said he was “wholly committed” to renewable energy.
A Daily Telegraph article about the UK chancellor is headlined: “[Rachel] Reeves backs North Sea drilling.” It references her saying “I’m very happy that we are” extracting fossil fuels in the North Sea, while appearing on BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show. The Politico London Playbook notes that the remark “could well be about current operations, which the energy secretary [Ed Miliband] publicly supports too”. DeSmog reports on the “vested interests lobbying for North Sea oil and gas expansion” in the UK, citing Carbon Brief’s recent factcheck of various false and misleading claims being used to make the case for more drilling. The Guardian reports on similar lobbying efforts around Europe, pushing fossil fuels as a solution to the energy crisis. The Guardian also has an explainer piece looking at the claims about how North Sea drilling could lower energy bills in the UK.
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Reeves tells BBC News that government support for people’s energy bills, inflated by the Iran war, would be based on household income. The Daily Express reports that the opposition Conservative party has pledged to “axe carbon taxes in a bid to save British industry”. Bloomberg reports that there was a record surge in the price of petrol and diesel in the UK last month, due to the war in Iran. BBC News has an article about “the huge task of rewiring Britain's electricity grid from top to bottom”. British Gas is launching new tariffs for people in the UK with plug-in solar panels to help those in smaller houses, flats and with balconies get 50% off electricity, according to the Daily Express.
Chelsea Harvey, E&E News
Scientists studying the long-term effects of climate change are “warning that a recent NOAA decision to discontinue an atmospheric dataset will disrupt their monitoring of sea ice and create a gap in crucial observations of Arctic ice thickness”, reports E&E News. It adds: “The researchers say NOAA’s termination of the dataset on 18 March weakens one of the world’s leading models of long-term changes in ice thickness and scientists’ ability to project future changes. ‘Any gap in this dataset would reduce our ability to assess long-term trends in Arctic sea-ice thickness,’ Zack Labe, a climate scientist and sea ice expert with the nonprofit Climate Central [and Carbon Brief contributing editor], said in an email.” Last week, Carbon Brief covered the latest data: “‘Very alarming’ winter sees Arctic sea ice hit record-low for second year running.”
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