Crude oil prices for spot delivery rose to 2019 highs earlier in the week after the United States said on Monday it would end all exemptions for sanctions against Iran, demanding countries halt oil imports from Tehran from May or face punitive action from Washington.

The International Energy Agency is monitoring developments in global oil markets, and notes that markets are now adequately supplied, and that global spare production capacity remains at comfortable levels.

OPEC is due to meet in June, where the Iran question will no doubt be raised. But oil and gas leaders are taking a cautious approach, with Kuwait's oil minister Khaled Al Fadhel noting that a decision would be taken only after a review of oil prices.

the risk of oil prices heading well above $70/b to the oil market and the global economy, while also saying that if prices were too low it would hit investment in the industry and key oil producing countries.

As the BRENT surges past 73$/barrel, it's expected that Brent trades at a premium with regards to the Brent-Dubai Spread Chart.

Oil futures settled at fresh six-month highs Monday as the market looked at an increasingly tight global supply picture in light of the White House decision. ICE June Brent settled up $2.07/b at $74.04/b, and NYMEX May WTI settled $1.70/b higher at $65.70/b. Monday marked the highest front-month settle for both contracts since late October, just before the US sanctions snapped back.

Gazprom is looking to bypass Ukraine completely with the construction of the 55 Bcm/year Nord Stream 2 pipeline and the 31.5 Bcm/year TurkStream link, though some delays mean some kind of deal with Kiev will be necessary.

France's ambitious energy plan will require substantial investment efforts over the next few years. Against this backdrop, the French government has expressed a willingness to propose a new remuneration framework for the existing nuclear fleet - though the timing and details of such a regulatory change remain uncertain and remote. What's more, the French state has opened the option of increasing its stake in EDF (currently 83.7%) by as early as 2019. If, or indeed when, these developments are implemented it could be credit positive.

The race for investor commitments of cash and eventual market share among developers of small modular reactors (SMRs) globally is on. Developers in the U.S., Canada, U.K., South Korea, Russia, and China, and in other nations are pursuing their technology visions for a variety of designs concepts including light water (LWR), molten salt, HTGR, and other GEN IV types.

Green hydrogen can in principle be shipped around the world to places that are less well endowed with cheap renewable energy sources.

Oil prices rallied by about 3 percent on Monday to their highest since late 2018 as the United States was set to announce that all imports of Iranian oil must end or be subject to sanctions.

"Cooperation will continue between Russia and Saudi Arabia," Ibrahim al-Muhanna said at the International Oil Summit in Paris, stressing that "it is the core of OPEC+ cooperation."

Renewable energy sources generated approximately 33 per cent of Great Britain’s electricity over the first quarter of 2019, according to new figures published by energy consultancy EnAppSys, with wind energy accounting for over 60% of renewable generation.

Oil futures edged up on Thursday as a drop in crude exports from OPEC’s de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, and a draw in U.S. drilling rigs and oil inventories supported prices.

the U.S. sustained its position as the world’s leading oil producer, continuing a pace of 12.1 million barrels a day (mb/d), matching February 2019. In addition, petroleum demand in March was the strongest for that month in more than a decade at 20.7 mb/d.