OIL Markets have been experiencing dehorning by the bears with the benchmark BRENT trading at $69.45/bbl and WTI Crude trading at $66.12/bbl. We have seen a short squeeze on Natural Gas to $4.34/mmBtu pricing as plays within the COTs Reports have had sluggish skewness pushing prices higher currently at $4.50/mmBtu.Tread cautiously as this is thin ice.

While pipeline gas supplies from Russia cover less than 5% of Europe’s fuel needs after most major routes have been closed since 2022, the nation remains the second largest supplier of LNG to the EU. Purchases hit a record last year, with Spain, France and Belgium being the biggest buyers.

Last year, Ukraine received 724 million cubic meters of gas from abroad, according to estimates from ExPro Consulting in Kyiv. About a third of that was later re-exported to western neighbors, which used the nation’s storage sites.

While Europe has managed to diversify its supplies since the energy crisis three years ago, this heating season has served as a reminder of the region’s vulnerability, especially given its growing reliance on volatile LNG flows.

While Europe has managed to diversify its energy supplies since the 2022 crisis — making a phaseout of Russia’s fuel potentially less challenging — this winter has served as a reminder that the region remains vulnerable.

Europe was not yet out of an energy crisis that began with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Gazprom, opens new tab said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Thursday, the same volume it has shipped each day since Nov. 12.

Russian gas is still being sold in significant volumes to Slovakia and Hungary, as well as to the Czech Republic which does not have a direct contract. Smaller volumes are going to Italy and Serbia.

"We are ready to supply [gas], though little depends on us here. This is why agreements on that should probably be made directly by consumers and the country ensuring transit," Novak said on the sidelines of an event in Sochi.

With the platform, Türkiye will launch the second phase of production at the Sakarya Gas Field, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Friday.

What many aren’t aware of is that Russia remains one of the continent’s most important energy suppliers, and the European Union’s goal to end its dependence on Russian fossil fuels by 2027 will be hard to achieve.

Europe's fire season typically peaks in June to September, but climate change increases hot and dry conditions that have contributed to the fire season starting earlier and burning more land.

Russian gas is delivered to Turkey via the Blue Stream and TurkStream pipelines, while a number of countries in southeast and central Europe still import Russian gas via TurkStream and onshore pipeline infrastructure.

Benchmark futures rose as much as 2.4% on Monday. The market has been sensitive to geopolitical events and outages this summer, even with storage sites exceeding targets ahead of Europe’s heating season.

Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev initiated a telephone conversation with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi on 9 August to discuss the situation around the Kursk NPP.