Tim Holt highlighted the Middle East's role in providing fuels like green hydrogen to countries like Germany, where it would be an important step in its energy diversification, as it would benefit from taking hydrogen from countries in the world that have the right conditions at lower cost to produce it.

China will pursue its strategy to reduce the share of coal in its energy consumption, aiming to reach 17.3% of non-fossil energies in its total energy consumption in 2022, up from 16% in 2020.

Croatia and Slovenia have decided to strengthen their energy cooperation, especially in the field of gas and nuclear power.

Sinopec's crude oil production almost reached 280 mbl in 2021 (39 Mt, -0.2% on 2020), including 250 mbl in China (stable) and 30 mbl overseas (-1.8%).

Brent rose $1.41, or 1.3%, to $113.89 a barrel, WTI was up 95 cents, or 0.9%, at $106.91.

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $113.39 a barrel on Monday

Since late February, thermal coal prices have surged globally as traders and end-users seek out potential replacements for Russian fossil fuels.

The sanctions against Russia are the hardest we have seen against any country to date and in particular the decision to freeze $600bn of Russian foreign reserves is a first, which will have huge consequences in the long-term.

The dependence on Russian natural gas in Germany is so great that if supplies from Russia were to be stopped and the remaining quantities of natural gas distributed to Europe, Germany would have to reduce its natural gas consumption in the heating gas sector or in the industrial sector by 100 TWh per year .

During this week’s visit, the Director General will travel to one of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants.