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OPEC+ Overproducer Kazakhstan Will Not Cut Oil Output in May
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Kazakhstan doesn’t have any plans to cut its crude and condensate production in May, its energy ministry said on Thursday, as the OPEC+ producer continues to give the group headaches with continuously busting its quota in the deal. Kazakhstan, one of the biggest overproducers under the agreement alongside OPEC’s second-largest producer, Iraq, plans to keep its crude oil and condensate production levels in May the same as in April and slightly higher than in March, Kazakhstan’s energy ministry told Bloomberg via email. The second…
Germany Sees Slump in Wind and Solar Generation
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Germany’s wind and solar power output has slumped to the lowest in ten years since the start of the year, at just 80 TWh over the first four months of 2025, data from climate think tank Ember has shown. As a result, Europe’s biggest economy has ramped up gas and coal generation by 10% from a year ago, with the share of hydrocarbons in its energy mix rising to the highest in seven years. The main reason for the drop in wind and solar generation was low wind speed, which hit total wind power output hard: generation was down 31% on the…
Nigeria Sets Higher Oil Production Target
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Nigeria’s government has set a new, significantly higher, production target for the national oil company, aiming for 2.5 million barrels daily by the end of this year. “When the new NNPC management visited me, I increased their oil production target to 2.5 million bpd from the initial two million barrels given to them by the President,” Nigeria’s petroleum resources minister, Heineken Lokpobiri told the Sun on the sidelines of the Oil Technology Conference Africa Energy Forum. Lokpobiri believes the new target would be easy…
India Ramps Up U.S. Oil Imports Amid Tariff Discussions
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India has been importing a lot more U.S. crude oil as the two negotiate trade relations following President Donald Trump’s launch of a tariff offensive against countries running a surplus with the United States. “I see push and pull factors for India’s imports of US crude in the months ahead,” the head of Vortexa’s Asia Pacific analysis, Ivan Mathews, told news outlet Invezz. In April, India imported 326,000 barrels of U.S. crude daily, which represented a solid 34% increase from March, Vortexa data cited by media…
StanChart: Oil Prices Headed Lower Before Slow Recovery
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According to StanChart, the path of least resistance for oil prices is lower, with prices likely to remain low in the coming months before beginning a gradual recovery due to a sharp fall in U.S. oil output. The eight OPEC+ countries that provided additional voluntary output cuts in 2023 met again on Saturday, with the May meeting ending with a resolution similar to the April meeting. Once again, OPEC+ agreed to accelerate the pace of unwinding of production cuts, with output targets for June (excluding compensation cuts) increased by 411,000 …
Oil-Rich Alberta Could Vote to Separate from Canada
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Alberta could vote next year on whether to separate from Canada if a citizen-led petition gathers the requisite number of signatures requesting such a question to be put to a referendum. That’s what Danielle Smith, the Premier of the Alberta province, which is the heart of Canada’s oil industry, said this week, just after the Liberals led by Mark Carney won the federal election and ahead of Carney’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House. Smith stressed that the provincial government itself would not be seeking…
Southeast Asia Picks Gas Over Green Hype as Power Demand Surges
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Natural gas is gradually going to overtake coal and crude oil as the biggest source of primary energy in Southeast Asia, with a share of 30% by 2050. This is according to a new Wood Mackenzie report, which has become the latest to admit the inevitable: hydrocarbons will be around for much longer than transition advocates want. Currently, Southeast Asia is partial to coal-powered generation thanks to abundant local resources and price considerations. Also, demand for electricity has been on a strong rise in the region, prompting more coal power…
Orsted Warns Offshore Wind Continues To Face Challenges
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Despite posting consensus-beating core earnings for the first quarter, Orsted, the world’s biggest offshore wind project developer, on Wednesday warned of a continued challenging environment for the industry with mounting near-term headwinds. “The offshore wind industry is challenged in the short term with headwinds relating to supply chain, regulatory, and macroeconomic developments,” Orsted said in its Q1 results release today. “We are following the developments in the regulatory landscape closely and continuously assess…
EU Warns of Major Tariffs if U.S. Trade Negotiations Falter
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The European Union is preparing to impose up to €100 billion ($113 billion) in tariffs on US goods if trade talks fail, according to a new report by Bloomberg this morning. The draft list of retaliatory measures will be circulated to member states as early as Wednesday, with a one-month consultation period before finalization. “These import taxes are unjustified and cause economic harm on both sides of the Atlantic,” said EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic. “This situation is not acceptable and we cannot afford…
Tesla Sales Plunge In Both China And Europe
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Tesla's China-made vehicle sales dropped sharply in April, bucking the trend of strong growth among major Chinese EV competitors, according to CNEVPOST. According to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), Tesla sold 58,459 vehicles last month (including exports), down 5.96% year-over-year and 25.84% from March’s 78,828 units. From January to April, Tesla China's total sales fell 18.31% year-over-year to 231,213 units. The report says that in contrast, local rivals posted strong gains. Nio delivered 23,900 vehicles in April—up…
Is It Time to Unlock the Great Lakes' Wind Power Potential?
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“Wind turbines in the Great Lakes have the potential to produce huge amounts of clean energy in one of the most populated regions in North America,” states a recent article by the Canadian Broadcasting Company. But it remains highly uncertain if that dream could become a reality anytime soon. Offshore wind energy development is facing major headwinds in the United States and Canada thanks to a mix of public and political opposition. Wind energy proponents argue that this has to change for the sake of energy security and climate concerns. …
UK's Harbour Energy To Slash 250 Jobs
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Harbour Energy has slammed the government’s “punitive fiscal position” as it announced plans to cut 250 jobs in Aberdeen. The London-listed company, which is the largest oil and gas producer in the North Sea, blamed the Energy Profits Levy and a challenging regulatory environment for the decision. It also noted delays in the ramp-up of carbon capture projects in the UK. The Energy Profits Levy, also known as the windfall tax, was first introduced in 2022 under Boris Johnson’s government and imposed a 75 per cent tax on oil…
Rockefeller Foundation Launches Scheme to Close Coal Plants in Emerging Markets
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The Rockefeller Foundation is launching a Coal to Clean Credit Initiative (CCCI), with which it will aim to support 60 projects by 2030 to help close coal-fired power plants in developing countries. As part of the first efforts of the new initiative, the Rockefeller Foundation will collaborate with ACEN Corporation, GenZero, Keppel, and Mitsubishi for a pilot project in the Philippines, the foundation said on Wednesday. The Rockefeller Foundation, set up by John D. Rockefeller in 1913, said back in 2020 that it had decided to divest from…
How an India-Pakistan War Could Derail Central Asia’s Future
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If India and Pakistan spiral into war, there will be consequences for Central Asia. A war between Pakistan and India would likely have significant ripple effects on Central Asia, given the region's proximity to Afghanistan and flourishing economic ties across the region. The conflict could disrupt trade and energy routes, increase militancy, and draw in major powers like China, Russia, and the U.S., potentially straining Central Asian stability. Intervention by external powers: The Central Asian republics (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan,…
Energy Transfer Aims for FID on Lake Charles LNG Project by End-2025
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Energy Transfer is targeting a final investment decision on its Lake Charles LNG export project in Louisiana by the end of the year as it is progressing with contracting LNG offtake volumes, the U.S. pipeline giant said during the Q1 earnings call. Energy Transfer is developing the project, which will convert its existing Lake Charles LNG import and regasification facility into an LNG export facility. The Lake Charles LNG project is fully permitted, uses existing infrastructure, and benefits from an abundant natural gas supply through existing…
U.S. Freeport LNG Export Plant Set to Resume Service After Outage
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Freeport LNG in Texas is set to take more feedgas on Wednesday in a sign that the U.S. liquefied natural gas export plant is gradually resuming service after an outage on Tuesday, per LSEG gas flow data cited by Reuters. Freeport LNG, the company owning the plant, told the Texas environmental regulators on Tuesday that the interruption of power feed led to the shutdown of the three liquefaction trains at the export facility. Over the years, Freeport LNG has suffered more outages than other U.S. export facilities because it uses only electric motors…
EIA Shows US Crude Oil Inventories Continue To Slide
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Crude oil inventories in the United States saw a decrease of 2 million barrels during the week ending May 2, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration released on Wednesday. Crude oil prices were trading down prior to the crude data release by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. On Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a sizeable build in US crude oil inventories of 4.49 million barrels in U.S. crude oil inventories with draws in gasoline and distillate stocks. At 11:01 am in New York, the…
Saudi Signals and Trump Tariffs Are Cracking the Oil Market
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Low inventories reported today by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) did nothing to staunch the bleeding, with WTI getting gutted nearly 4% on the day, and Saudi rumors throwing another spanner in the works, while new U.S. economic data suggests more pain is in store for the sector. Three weeks ago, eight OPEC+ countries unveiled plans to phase-out their voluntary oil output cuts by ramping up output in May by 411,000 barrels per day--equivalent to three monthly increments. The announcement came at a time when U.S. President Donald…
LNG’s Next Big Threat Isn’t Demand—It’s U.S. Policy
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Winter is over in the northern hemisphere, and demand for heating is in decline, to the likely chagrin of LNG exporters. Demand for the fuel in the key Asian and European markets has weakened this month as peak demand season eases—but the weakening is temporary. Europe imported a record 7.04 million tons of liquefied natural gas from its top supplier, the United States, last month, but this has dropped to 5.88 million tons this month, data from Kpler, cited by Reuters’ Clyde Russell has shown. This is still significantly higher than…
Paris Hosts Critical Talks on Russia-Ukraine War
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High-level officials from key European countries, the United States, and Ukraine are gathering in Paris, days after the latest direct talks between Washington and Moscow that are aimed at ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, Europe's biggest conflict since the end of World War II. The talks are a first chance for face-to-face meetings between senior European and Ukrainian leaders and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff since his latest meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week. Moscow has failed to sign on to a broad cease-fire agreement…
South Korea to Leverage LNG and Shipbuilding in U.S. Tariff Talks
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South Korea will leverage shipbuilding capabilities and the potential to buy more U.S. LNG in upcoming talks on the tariffs next week, South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul said on Thursday. The tariff on South Korea, which U.S. President Donald Trump announced on the so-called “liberation day” on April 2, was at 25%, lower than for some other Asian countries but much higher than a baseline 10% tariff. The so-called ‘reciprocal tariffs’ were suspended last week for 90 days, during which countries plan to plead…
Could Shell or Chevron Make a Move on BP?
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For years, BP has been tipped as a potential target of the next mega-merger deal in the oil industry. Speculation about a blockbuster acquisition involving BP resurfaced again this year after activist hedge fund Elliott bought nearly 5% in the UK-based supermajor and demanded changes, big and fast. BP’s shares have underperformed the stocks of the other four of the Big Oil group – Shell, TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil, and Chevron – ever since 2020. Neither former BP CEO Bernard Looney, with the push toward renewables, nor his successor…
Mining Stocks Rise as Gold Reaches Record High
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The price of gold has climbed to another record high, as anxiety around Donald Trump’s tariff plan and a falling dollar push investors into the traditional safe haven asset. The price of bullion rose 1.5 per cent to break $3,200 (£2,451) per troy ounce for the first time on Friday as equities across Asia fell amid the continued fallout from Donald Trump’s tariff delay. The yellow metal had been caught up in the aggressive sell-off at the height tariff-induced market rout despite its traditional role as a safe haven asset for investors.…
Oil Rig Count Slides Amid Oil Price Turbulence
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The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States fell this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, following a 2 rig dip in the prior week. The total rig count in the US fell by 7 to 583 rigs, according to Baker Hughes, down 34 from this same time last year. The number of oil rigs fell by 9 to 480—down by 26 compared to this time last year. The number of gas rigs rose by 1 this week to 97 for a loss of 12 active gas rigs from this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs were rose by 1 to…
LNG Gains Ground as Emissions Fall, Study Finds
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Has there been a more underrated hero in the climate conversation than natural gas? Once hailed as the darling "bridge fuel" of the Obama era, it’s now regularly flogged by environmental purists who claim that our choice is either solar panels or planetary doom. But a new study from Miami University Ohio just lobbed a pretty compelling truth grenade: switching from coal to gas is cutting carbon emissions. A lot. According to peer-reviewed research, greenhouse gas emissions dropped 7.5% annually as companies swapped coal for natural gas via…
Could Japan’s Nippon Steel Acquire U.S. Steel Under Trump?
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After over a year in the making, the takeover of U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel was thwarted by former President Joe Biden in January due to security concerns. Now, President Donald Trump is considering whether to revitalise the deal, even as he introduces tariffs on Japanese imports. In December 2023, Nippon Steel announced it planned to acquire U.S. Steel for $14.9 billion as part of its plan to expand its U.S. assets. It was expected to make Nippon the third-largest global steel producer, contributing around 86 million tons…
Uncertainty Is Overshadowing Fundamentals in Oil Markets
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Oil market fundamentals appear to have entirely given way to sentiment recently, with Trump's tariff war with China driving prices down.Friday, April 11th, 2025 This week, one may not have noticed that oil markets are still backwardated and that refiners are still buying oil because the general sentiment in oil markets soured to its lowest level in years. Seemingly ceaseless salvos of incremental import tariffs between the US and China frightened the oil markets to such an extent that even Trump’s 90-day delay on implementation…
Oil Nations Scramble to Avert Economic Crisis After Prices Crash
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The April market rout, which crashed oil prices into the low $60s per barrel, is creating additional fiscal challenges to petrostates and oil-producing countries heavily dependent on oil revenues, on top of any tariff-related hardships. As Brent Crude prices sank to $63 per barrel, major producers in the Gulf region, as well as Brazil and Nigeria, are looking to contain the fallout from the price plunge. Russia’s central bank has already signaled that the oil price decline could hit its economy hard. Oil at $60 is about $20 to $30 per barrel…
Trump Admin Boosts Gulf Oil and Gas Reserves Estimate
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The U.S. Department of the Interior has revised upwards the oil and gas reserves contained in the U.S. section of the Gulf of Mexico, which the Trump administration renamed the Gulf of America. According to an analysis done by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf contains an extra 1.30 billion barrels of oil equivalent, compared to previous estimates done in 2021. This means the total of oil and gas reserves in the area stand at over 7 billion barrels of oil equivalent. This is a 22.6% increase in recoverable…
Iran Offers Investment Fig Leaf as Trump Threatens Action over Nuclear Deal
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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has welcomed U.S. investors to his country and reiterated that his country is not pursuing nuclear weapons, a day after the Trump administration sanctioned five entities and one individual for supporting key entities managing and overseeing Iran's nuclear program. “I meet the supreme leader [Ali Al Khamenei] several times each week. He has no objection to American investors in the country,” Mr Pezeshkian said at a ceremony marking National Nuclear Technology Day. “Let them come and invest –…
Nuclear’s Back—but Uranium Supply Isn’t
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The nuclear power industry will need additional uranium supply in the medium and long term to ensure adequate supply for the new era of nuclear energy. Therefore, efforts must begin immediately to secure the supply of the key nuclear fuel, the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in their Red Book report prepared jointly every two years. Nuclear energy has been booming since 2022 as many countries seek to add reliable but zero-carbon electricity generation capacity to meet growing power demand,…
Iraq’s 7 Million bpd Oil Production Goal Draws Swift Response from Chinese Firms
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The recent reiteration by Iraq Oil Ministry of a 7 million barrels per day (bpd) oil production target within the next five years has spurred activity among Chinese firms that continue to dominate the country’s oil and gas sector. As it stands, more than a third of all Iraq’s proven oil and gas reserves and over two-thirds of its current production are managed by Beijing’s companies, according to industry figures. This translates into Chinese companies having a combined direct share in around 24 billion barrels of reserves…
Nuclear Energy Expansion Faces Water Resource Challenges
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A global nuclear energy renaissance is unfolding. Around the world, the public and private sectors are warming to the idea of nuclear energy expansion to meet ballooning energy demand driven by data centers without throwing decarbonization accords out the window. The International Energy Agency projects that the world will produce more nuclear energy in 2025 than ever before. “More than 70 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity is under construction globally, one of the highest levels in the last 30 years, and more than 40 countries around…
European Rearmament Efforts Focus on Air Defense Systems
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Two former senior US military commanders have said Europe's aerial shield is not prepared to meet the scale of the threat from Russia, while the head of the US Navy's air and missile defense task force has told RFE/RL that intercepting incoming fire is "always a cat-and-mouse chase." The comments come as European countries begin a massive rearmament program, agreed last month, with air defenses top of the shopping list. "You see what has happened in big cities in Ukraine. This also would happen in some of the big cities of Europe," Philip Breedlove,…
Unconventional Resources Fuel China's Energy Growth
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In a world where geopolitics and energy security are increasingly intertwined, China's national oil companies have emerged as pivotal actors in securing the nation’s energy future while shaping global energy dynamics. Through bold investments, innovative technologies, and a relentless drive to both secure and diversify their energy sources, China’s ‘Big Three’ NOCs — China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC)…
U.S. Oil Exports to China Set to Stop Amid Tariff War
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China has been buying lower volumes of U.S. crude oil so far this year, and its purchases are set to stop amid the escalating tariff and trade war between the world’s two biggest economies, analysts say. So far this year, American crude oil has accounted for only about 1% of the imports of China, the world’s top crude importer. But the tariff war that U.S. President Donald Trump launched against China in early February dissuaded the remaining Chinese buyers from buying U.S. crude oil. The latest tariff escalation – a 125% U.S.…
Trade War Could Slow Down the AI Boom
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Growth in the AI data center sector could slow due to a global trade war and heightened macroeconomic uncertainties, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). In a Thursday report on AI and its expected impact on global electricity demand, the agency modeled a so-called Headwinds Case, which forecasts slower AI adoption in case bottlenecks, including macroeconomic headwinds, emerge and persist. The Headwinds Case captures the impact of a downside in the outlook for data center deployment, particularly due to slower than expected AI adoption.…
U.S. Shale Faces Toughest Challenge Since the 2020 Oil Price Plunge
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The U.S. shale industry is being hit by the crash in oil prices, which have slumped since President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement last week. Despite the strong relief rally on Wednesday, following President Trump’s 90-day pause of tariff hikes on most countries except China, the U.S. benchmark oil price is now lower than the breakeven for the shale industry to profitably drill a new well. WTI Crude prices were down nearly 1% at $61.76 per barrel in Asian trading on Thursday. That level is already below the average $65 per…
EU Ready to Buy More U.S. LNG to Make Trump Happy
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The European Union is ready to commit to buying more liquefied natural gas from the United States if that would appease President Trump and make him reconsider tariffs on EU imports, the EU’s energy commissioner has said. “There is potential for us to buy more LNG from the US but of course it needs to be on conditions that are also in line with our [green] transition,” Dan Jørgensen said, as quoted by the Financial Times. The commissioner also boasted that the EU was scheduled to install a record amount of new wind and…
Latest Trade War Shot Sends Oil Prices Lower
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Crude oil prices resumed their downward trajectory today after jumping higher on news that most trading partners would get a 90-day pause on tariffs. President Trump’s decision to double down on his tariff offensive against China, raising the total tariff burden on Chinese goods to 125%, effective immediately, has added to bearish sentiment. The move followed China’s announcement of 84% tariffs on U.S. goods in response to Trump’s initial tariffs. Beijing has said it would “fight to the end”. Amid these developments,…
Is Oil Demand About to Surge?
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Benchmark oil prices hit the lowest level since the pandemic panic on Wednesday. Once again, the slump is caused by panic—this time, market panic as U.S. President Donald Trump keeps turning up the tariff heat. For now, everyone seems to be in the grip of fear about what tariffs would do to oil demand. But there is one thing that low prices will definitely do: stoke up demand. The latest oil price crash came Tuesday after Trump said he would impose an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports following China’s retaliation against the…
Standard Chartered: Time To Dial Down the Oil Panic?
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Oil prices earned an unexpected reprieve on Wednesday afternoon, regaining over 3% immediately following U.S. President Donald Trump's surprise decision to pause reciprocal tariffs for 90 days for all except China. After flirting with prices below $60, Brent crude was trading up 3.41% at 2:56 p.m. ET, while WTI was trading up 3.74%, breaching the $61/barrel mark. This week, Brent crude at one point dipped below $60 per barrel after OPEC+ revealed plans to accelerate its phase-out of production cuts. Brent crude for May delivery sank 6.3% to $58.68…
Oil and Gas Industry Bets on Low-Cost Quick-Pay Exploration
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Oil and gas companies are looking to get the most bang for their buck in exploring for hydrocarbon resources. Those lucky enough to have made an early bet on what are now the huge frontier plays, such as Guyana, are seeing exploration expenditures and efforts pay off with large oil and gas discoveries. All others are looking to make the best out of existing infrastructure and explore and drill in well-developed areas close to producing fields and platforms to take advantage of the lower costs for exploration and development. Since conventional…
RIN Prices and Tax Credits Weigh on Biofuel Revenue
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Most US biofuel production numbers are clearly on track to end the first quarter of this year in negative territory either on a quarter-over-quarter or year-over-year basis, Rystad Energy analysis suggests. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the updated statistics for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program on 20 March covering the supply, trade and price dynamics for February 2025. Similar to previous months, we still observe uncertainty around future biofuel policy starts having a tangible impact on the actual supply for…
Geothermal Energy Poised for Significant Growth in the US
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“It’s going to be the decade of geothermal.” That’s according to Cindy Taff, chief executive of geothermal company Sage Geosystems, in an interview in The Hill earlier this year. While Trump is making clean energy cuts left and right, the administration has stayed surprisingly bullish on geothermal, causing bullish outlooks for the burgeoning sector across the United States. While geothermal currently represents only a sliver of renewable energy capacity in the country and lags “10 to 15 years” behind wind and…
China Expands Arms Sales in Central Asia
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China has succeeded in muscling aside Russia as Central Asia’s top trade partner. Now, Beijing appears intent on capturing a share of the regional arms market. Until very recently, China was a non-factor as an arms supplier to Central Asian states. For most of the post-Soviet era, Russia dominated the regional arms market, especially sales to Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. But Russia’s arms exports have plummeted since the Russian army became bogged down in Ukraine, opening up opportunities for other nations, including Turkey,…
Aramco and Sinopec to Expand Petrochemicals Plant in Saudi Arabia
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Saudi oil giant Aramco and China’s top refiner, Sinopec, will expand a joint venture petrochemicals complex in Saudi Arabia under an agreement signed on Wednesday. Aramco and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, as Sinopec is known, own the Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company (Yasref) on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, with Aramco holding 62.5% and Sinopec 37.5% in the venture. The companies signed on Wednesday a so-called Venture Framework Agreement (VFA), which will to pave the way for a major petrochemical expansion at Yasref,…
U.S. Wind Power Growth Will Be 40% Lower Than Expected Due to Trump Policy
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Despite a relatively stable short-term pipeline of U.S. wind power projects under construction, the five-year outlook of America’s wind capacity additions has been significantly limited due to the Trump Administration’s energy policies, Wood Mackenzie said in a new report. The energy consultancy slashed its five-year forecast of new capacity installations to just 45 gigawatts (GW), down by 40% from the previously expected gross additions of 75.8 GW, due to U.S. policy changes and heightened economic uncertainty. Last year saw just 5.2…
Trumps Signs Pro-Coal Executive Orders
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President Donald Trump signed several executive orders on Tuesday that should incentivize the construction of new coal power plants in the latest stark departure from his predecessor. “We're bringing back an industry that was abandoned,” Trump said, as quoted by Reuters. “We're going to put the miners back to work,” the U.S. president added. Coal power plants have declined as share of U.S. generation capacity over the years, especially with the influx of cheap natural gas. Coal plants currently generate a fifth of U.S. electricity,…
China Restricts Rare Earths Exports, Again
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The U.S. stock market bounced back on Tuesday, making the first sizable gains ever since U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a minimum 10% tariff on all imports from 90 countries, roiling financial markets across the globe. However, oil markets have struggled to advance after posting heavy losses to trade at multi-year lows on fears of a full-blown trade war. Brent crude for June delivery slipped 0.4% to trade at $63.94 per barrel at 11.45 am ET on Tuesday, a level they last touched in February 2021, while WTI crude for May delivery was flat on…