In this week's Market Movers Europe with Marilena Tsimeki:
- Deadline for adoption of deepsea mining regulations
- EU energy ministers gather for informal council
- Nyhamna plant expected to return
- IEA, OPEC monthly reports
Deepsea mining, a potentially crucial element of securing the metals needed for the energy transition, is in focus this week.
The UN-backed International Seabed Authority is set to resume negotiations that could produce a regulatory framework for the commercial-scale extraction of deep-sea minerals rich in battery metals such as cobalt, copper, nickel and manganese.
ISA member states remain divided on the issue, and if no regulations are agreed on before the deadline, private companies will be able to apply for permits to mine parts of "the international seabed area".
In Europe, an informal meeting of EU energy ministers in Spain on July 11 and 12 looks set to produce an updated list of key interconnection projects.
Spain, which now holds the EU presidency, will also be pushing for progress on electricity market reform after talks stalled in June.
Ministers will also discuss market frameworks for hydrogen and renewable gases.
The European gas market will be looking for signs that the Nyhamna gas processing plant will resume operations as planned on July 15.
European gas prices have seen renewed volatility since the start of June, partly due to concerns over the timely return of Nyhamna from maintenance, which was pushed back by one month in mid-June.
Finally, monthly reports from the International Energy Agency and OPEC are due out on Thursday.
These come amid ongoing nervousness in oil markets, with growing skepticism over the IEA’s previous bullish forecast of a 2.4 million b/d increase in oil demand in 2023.
I’m Marilena Tsimeki, thank you for kicking off your Monday with S&P Global Commodity Insights.