Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 428,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported

Brent was up $2.35, or 2.41%, to $104.84 a barrel, WTI climbed $2.2, or 2.24%, to $101.97 a barrel.

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $108.18 a barrel on Tuesday,

The Brent price will average $107/b in 2Q22 and $103/b in the second half of 2022, the average price to fall to $97/b in 2023.

Thus, after the slump in March inflows, Russian crude imports by China's independent refiners recovered 35.7% year on year to 2 million mt in April

Russia supplied about 40% of the European Union’s gas demand last year, and about a third of that transited Ukraine, making it a linchpin in the continent’s energy security.

The EU wants to combine faster deployment of renewables, greater energy savings, diversification of supplies from international partners and new tools to accelerate investment in a bid to replace coal, oil and natural gas from Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

The bloc should have at least 1,000 gigawatts of photovoltaics installed in the region by 2030 -- equivalent to roughly the world’s current capacity -- according to a joint letter signed by Austria, Belgium, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Spain to the bloc’s climate chief Frans Timmermans and Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson.

I believe we are in fact in the first global energy crisis, and this is affecting the oil markets, gas markets, electricity markets and coal markets. The world has never seen such an energy crisis.

There have been ongoing talks on the Russian Oil ban by the EU with more developments as the week progresses.