The repercussions of the ongoing U.S.-Iran war are being felt across the world, with U.S. fuel prices, European natural gas costs and Asian tanker freight rates all jumping sharply since strikes began at the weekend.
Here's a look at the key markets impacted so far:
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The historically low levels of gas inventories across Europe could quickly become a major liability for utilities and industry across the region following the halting of LNG exports by world's third-largest producer Qatar.
More in today's column:
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Some key commodities market price action since the latest Middle East strikes:
European lawmakers are soon expected to unveil new policies on heat used by industry, which could determine if the region can maintain viable & competitive businesses or will experience a further hollowing out of its industrial base.
A key topic for 2026:
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The scrapping of the foundation for U.S. federal climate regulations has upended energy investor narratives that have prevailed so far this decade, and is sparking a re-think on which sectors might now win and lose in the U.S. energy space.
More here:
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U.S. exporters of LNG consumed more natural gas than both households and commercial businesses last year, tightening U.S. gas supplies and putting the LNG export boom squarely in the frame of discussions surrounding rising U.S. energy costs.
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China's epic renewables boom lifts it into rare clean capacity club:
The world's top polluter crossed a critical energy transition threshold in 2025 by deploying more clean power capacity than fossil fuel generation capacity for the first time.
More here:
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Australia's wholesale electricity prices fell to the lowest in four years in 2025, bucking the rising price trends seen elsewhere and validating claims that renewables-heavy power system overhauls can help lower consumer power costs.
More:
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China's unmatched status as the global leader in clean energy technologies is perhaps best underscored by the massive reach of its EV exports, which hit nearly $70 billion in 2025 and spanned well over 150 countries and territories.
More below:
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While N. America & Europe scramble to build data centers needed to run 21st-century businesses, emerging mkts remain anchored to 20th-century products like steel + cement for jobs + economic growth.
That divergence is splitting energy transition trajectories, too.
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Given that the first quarter is historically when Germany's wind production peaks, the projections for continued sub-par output will likely strain national utilities, which must plug any wind shortfalls with higher generation from other sources.
More here:
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Europe's largest wind power producer - Germany - remains in the grips of a years-long bout of sub-par wind electricity production due to below-average wind speeds at turbine level.
The doldrums look set to continue, with forecasts for wind power output coming in below the long-term average thru Q1
Surging natural gas prices in the U.S. and Europe have dominated energy market attention so far this year, but several sector stocks that have hit multi-year highs likely encapsulate the broader themes driving energy investing in 2026 as a whole. More below:
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However, even as coal use in certain primary markets looks to be in terminal decline, there remain a number of countries that are locked in coal use growth phases, and will be hotly contested by exporters in the coming years.
More below:
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Half of the top 10 thermal coal importers in 2025 registered year-over-year drops in purchase volumes, data from commodities intelligence firm Kpler showed, including the top three buyers which cut collective imports by nearly 50 million metric tons.
Thermal coal exporters are on the lookout for expansion opportunities following their first annual contraction in sales volumes last year since COVID-19 slammed fuel demand in 2020. Problem is, growth markets are hard to find.
The year 2025 in the LNG sector will be one for the history books after exports of the super-chilled fuel smashed records and raked in billions of dollars in revenues across the global liquefied natural gas supply chain.
Here's what's on the radar in 2026:
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Today's column digs into uranium, which could become one of 2026's hottest markets:
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For natural gas exporters, the steady decline in fossil fuel generation in such a prominent economy will be a cause for concern, and will likely force them to seek out other buyers for the extra gas supplies they plan to market in 2026 and beyond.
Today's column:
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Japan's energy transition momentum away from fossil fuels will likely accelerate further in 2026 as the country restarts the world's largest nuclear reactor at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa and brings on additional renewable energy generation capacity.
Alongside record renewable energy output, Japan's nuclear rebound has supplied utilities with the largest volume of clean power since 2010, and allowed power firms to cut the use of gas-fired power plants to the lowest in at least six years.
Japan's fleet of nuclear reactors has generated the largest amount of electricity this year since 2011, when a tsunami triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima power plant and sparked a curtailment of most of the country's nuclear reactors.
One of the world's largest oil, gas and coal importers - Japan - has cut fossil fuel electricity generation to the lowest levels in more than a decade so far in 2025, thanks in large part to an ongoing recovery in nuclear power output.
The chief driver of the rise in U.S. carbon intensity has been a roughly 13% increase in coal-fired power generation, which has lifted U.S. power sector emissions from fossil fuel use to three-year highs.
Over the first 10 months of 2025, the United States was the only major power market to increase the carbon intensity of power generation compared to the year before, according to data from energy think tank Ember.
Major Asian economies including China, India, Japan and Vietnam have cleaned up their power generation systems by more than the United States and Europe in 2025, setting the stage for an East-West divergence in energy transition momentum heading into 2026.
To help outline potential grounds for dispute among impacted countries, below is a breakdown of Europe's most gas-dependent nations and key regional gas import trends.
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More opposition as well as further refining of the final plan can be expected over the coming months, which EU authorities hope to pass legislation on in early 2026.
