Irina Slav on energy

(Audio version will be added tomorrow.) As Europe cuts purchases of U.S. liquefied gas for price reasons and Citi forecasts Brent will fall to $60 because Hormuz is fine, I thought this could be a good time to take a break from the increasingly deranged world of energy and talk a bit about football. Feel free to call it soccer, I don’t mind. So, the FIFA World Cup is in full swing and, I have to say, it has been quite a pleasant surprise in some ways.

As the Great European Heatwave of 2026 moves east, forcing me to deploy electric equipment for cooling purposes, those in the West who survived the wave are facing more trials. I wish I could discuss another topic, anything else, really, but my sense of duty prevents me, so it’s going to be Europe and energy again. More specifically, gas. Also, emissions trading. Some say the EU is set to end its gas storage refilling season with the lowest volumes in 15 years.

In case any of you had the good sense to spend the last week under a cold rock, Western Europe has been having a bit of a heatwave, with temperatures hitting, and topping, 40 C, which is 104 F. Media are having the field day of field days reporting “excess deaths” from the heat, including drownings (?!) and social media denizens are also having the field day of field days mocking Europeans for not having air-conditioning.

Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Europe is roasting in a heatwave the likes of which have not been seen before, ever, in the history of Europe or Earth, bus drivers in Paris are fainting from the heat and driving their buses into the pavement because the buses have no AC (factually incorrect), and Ecuador just beat Germany at the World Cup, which is always good news.

Remember how the Qatari energy minister last year said they will stop selling LNG to the EU if the carrots in Brussels keep their methane regulation and all the other climate reporting stuff that Brussels has been producing in bovine-level volumes? Then he said it again. And again. And, yes, again. Then he got a partner in warnings when Chris Wright became U.S. energy secretary. And they both said the methane and emissions regulations won’t work for their respective energy industries.

Back in May, when Meta launched a paid subscription service for Facebook and Instagram in a bid to manage its AI costs, which Euronews described as “growing”, I laughed a little the way you laugh when you get one of those “I knew it” flashes. Meta, the report said, was planning to spend between $125 billion and $145 billion this year, most of it on AI. It had to try and recoup some of that from somewhere. That was in late May.

One group of people who has been happy with recent Middle Eastern developments is undoubtedly EV fans. Sales would skyrocket, they said, and they were right. Sort of. EV sales have indeed increased since March, especially in Europe. But, as I have come to enjoy adding, there is a nuance, the nuance being that EV sales in China are down, carmakers don’t believe the European sales rise is permanent, and the U.S. has produced more hard evidence that EVs can’t compete on the free market.

Ben: Hypothetical crisis: Leslie just tried to answer a question, but audibly farted and then threw up. Spin. Chris: Leslie Knope is literally overflowing with ideas for this town. And speaking about methane, have you heard about her plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions? The above quote from “Parks and Recreation” is an all-time favourite when it comes to spinning. The fact that it includes a reference to emissions makes it all the more delicious. But you know what’s even more delicious than that?

Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. A while ago, a friend from Texas sent me a video of a truck carrying a wind turbine blade. One single blade. The thing was so huge no more than one could fit on a truck, and it was a special truck, too, of course, to be able to carry the blade. Naturally, the truck caused a traffic jam while it navigated an intersection.

It would be quite safe to say that the last few months have shown us new heights in intelligence insulting but heights are never final, it seems, and the insults are set to continue in multiple directions. One such direction that has remained outside the spotlight so far is the direction towards sustainable aviation fuels. Remember those? They were supposed to help rid the air transport industry from that heavy dependence on hydrocarbons.