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Bleak times for UK North Sea
Government consultations on the windfall tax and the exploration licence ban are positive steps, but it is unclear how long it will take for them to yield tangible outcomes
The death knell for UK energy security
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The bloc may find it very difficult to replicate Japan’s approach due to fundamental differences in policy and markets
Europe’s hard choices on gas security
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LNG importers decry EU methane rules
Industry says compliance is near-impossible and have called for more clarity to prevent cargoes being redirected
EU and UK look to security beyond gas
The scars of the Russia crisis have accelerated Europe’s push to wean itself off gas dependence as the growing globalisation of LNG becomes a double-edged sword
Can the UK take its foot off the gas?
While the government might complain about the vicissitudes of the international gas market, the UK's transition away from the fuel is fraught with challenges
Hydrocarbon Processing Refining Databook 2025: Europe, Russia & CIS
EU net-zero polices have shifted refining investment among member states, while across the region countries and companies continue to adjust to changes in trade flows caused by the war in Ukraine
The case for easing EU gas storage rules
The EU would do well to ease its gas storage requirements to avoid heavy purchase costs this summer, with the targets having created market distortion while giving sellers a significant advantage over buyers
EU UK Transport fuel
Anna Kachkova
Peter Ramsay
2 April 2020
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Covid-19 compounds European refiners’ challenges

The demand impact from widespread lockdowns causes an immediate demand headache. But longer-term structural obstacles remain

“The prospects for European gasoline look particularly grim at the moment.” So says Chris Judge, vice-president, crude and oil products at price reporting agency Argus Media and an analyst of European refined products markets for well over 20 years. Or, rather said. As, to put into context the scale of both the short and longer-term challenges facing the European refining sector, Judge uttered these words in late February, before the extent of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on European and global products demand was clear. These short-term challenges are daunting enough in themselves. The grounding of the majority of the world’s planes and strict lockdowns on people’s mobility bite hard

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