In recent times, natural gas and crude oil in Europe; Asia's coal, electricity, etc. are in short supply because of strong demand, triggering a sharp rise in prices and increasing concerns about the global energy crisis. Comprehensive media latest news, Russian officials "let it out", Europe's gas crisis or will ease; China's development and Reform Commission basic "combination", coal supply will also improve; Oil prices are set to continue to rise as supply gaps persist, with the world's largest asset management agency saying on Tuesday that $100 is highly likely.

Europe's gas crisis: Despite previous media reports that Russia is holding off on increasing gas supplies to Europe, mainly to await the approval of Nord Stream 2, the latest news, according to two officials with knowledge of Russian energy policy, said that Russia wants European gas prices to fall by about 60% in the longer term. A prolonged price rise would undermine the biggest buyer's demand for supplies from Gazprom. This is seen as the Kremlin publicly expressing concern that rising prices will damage demand, and Europe's gas crisis is expected to ease!

European benchmark natural gas prices have hit record highs in recent weeks amid energy shortages. Fears of a pre-winter supply shortage have emerged, with not only Europe's gas stocks at their lowest seasonal levels in at least a decade, but also limited pipeline transport and competing with Asia for liquefied natural gas. Benchmark European gas futures - front-month contracts at the Dutch hub - were trading on Tuesday at about 88 euros per megawatt-hour, or about $1,150 per 1,000 cubic meters. Earlier this month it reached 162 euros per megawatt-hour, equivalent to more than $2,000 per thousand cubic meters.

International oil prices continue to hit record highs amid supply shortages. On Tuesday, Lary Fink, chief executive of BlackRock, the world's largest money manager, said there was a good chance that oil prices would rise to $100 a barrel before long, especially as many governments and investors oppose investments in fossil fuels. "Inflation has entered a new regime," Fink noted. "There are a lot of structural reasons behind this. Short-term policies related to the environment, restricting the supply of hydrocarbons and inflating energy prices will continue for some time."

Blackstone co-founder Stephen Schwarzman said the global energy shortage is so severe that it has the potential to cause social unrest. "We will eventually face a severe shortage of energy," he told a conference in Saudi Arabia. "When there's a shortage, prices go up, maybe a lot. In that case, people around the world will be very unhappy, especially in emerging markets."

In addition, the energy crisis may be spreading to the United States. Because the latest data showed that coal stocks at U.S. power plants fell to their lowest level in at least 24 years, as generators burned coal faster than miners could pull it out of the ground. Federal government data released Tuesday showed inventories fell to 84.3 million tons in August. That's the lowest number recorded since 1997, when Bill Clinton began his second term. As the global economy recovers from the pandemic, demand for electricity and the fuel it produces is soaring around the world.

That has pushed natural gas prices to all-time highs in some areas, with the knock-on effect of utilities burning more coal as a lower-cost alternative. Overall U.S. inventories have been steadily declining for years as natural gas generators and renewable energy replace bulky, aging power plants. But this year's inventory decline suggests that it could not have come at a worse time given the approaching winter, when utilities are running down reserves.

In the United States, power producers are expected to increase their coal consumption by 19 percent this year, but miners have been limiting capacity for years, which will limit output growth to less than 10 percent in 2021. That forces generators to consume the dirtiest fossil fuel reserves and heightens concerns about winter supplies. "Our customers' coal inventories are at very low levels," Joe Craft, chief executive of Alliance Resource Partners LP, a mining company based in Oklahoma, said on a conference call Monday.

As the global energy crisis spreads, inventories are falling rapidly. Total inventories could shrink to 50 million tons by the end of the year, said Matt Preston, director of North American coal market research at Wood Mackenzie Ltd. "Inventories are falling rapidly," he said. "If it's a cold winter, which a lot of people say it's going to be, we're going to see some problems." That is unlikely to change any time soon. Natural gas producers are not ramping up production, so prices for the fuel used by many households are likely to remain high until next year.