Isaac Valero

I’m thrilled to join the outstanding @Energy4Europe team as Head of International Relations. It’s been my honor to serve President @vonderleyen and Secretary-General Juhansone over the last trying years. They have brought EU leadership to the next level. Now, let’s do this!🇪🇺💪🏻🌍

Security in the Gulf and in Europe are interlinked. I extended our full solidarity to the Gulf Cooperation Council and its members @GCCSG @jasemalbudaiwi as they face unprovoked attacks from Iran. Recent events demonstrate very clearly why Iran should never have nuclear weapons. Grateful also for the solidarity and mediation efforts many Gulf States have shown in response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Times are calling for a closer partnership between Europe and the Gulf countries. The EU-GCC Summit later this year offers us the perfect opportunity to further strengthen our relations. I’m looking forward to continuing the discussions in Cyprus next week.

I welcome the European Parliament's vote implementing the EU-US trade deal. This anchors our renewed partnership in democratic support and will reinforce stability and predictability to our joint markets of 800 million people on both sides of the Atlantic

For the first time ever, we're at @CERAWeek as an institutional partner. And for good reason: the EU now buys more U.S. LNG than the rest of the world combined—which has helped us replace Russian gas, stabilize our markets, and avoid winter shortages.

At today's meeting of the Oil Coordination Group the EC and EU countries discussed latest developments in the Middle East concerning the EU's oil #SecurityOfSupply, with a special focus on jet fuel and diesel. More details in the news ⬇️ link.europa.eu/jxDwHh

Spoke with the Egyptian Minister for Petroleum & Mineral Resources Karim Badawi on the energy situation amid the conflict in the Middle East. We are fully focused on ensuring energy security and we will continue to work together. 🇪🇺 🇪🇬

Good meeting with @DrSJaishankar today. At the EU-India Summit in January, we concluded our Free Trade Agreement – the mother of all deals – and signed a Security and Defence Partnership. Now we are focused on efficient implementation, to deliver for the people of Europe and India as soon as possible. We also discussed developments in the Middle East and in Ukraine. De-escalation, stability and energy security are our shared objectives.

In praise of the dreaded European working group economist.com/europe/2026/03…

In yesterday's ad hoc meetings of the Gas Coordination Group and the Oil Coordination Group, the EC 🇪🇺 and EU countries coordinated & assessed the situation concerning the EU’s #SecurityOfSupply in view of the continued disruptions in the Middle East ⬇️ link.europa.eu/8Kkggp

Thank you @EmmanuelMacron for organising a call with G7 partners to discuss a coordinated response to the concerning situation in Iran and the Middle East. We are focused on minimising the impact on security and the global energy market. @eucopresident and I recalled that the immediate priority is to keep energy flows moving, especially navigation through the Strait of Hormuz - critical for the global economy. Enforcing the oil price cap will help stabilise markets and limit Russia’s revenues. This is not the moment to relax sanctions on Russia. We both welcomed today’s decision by the IEA to make 400 million barrels of emergency reserve oil available to ease tensions in global energy supply. We agreed to work closely with partners in the region to prevent broadening of the conflict and restore stability.

Today, @IEA Member countries unanimously agreed today to carry out the largest ever oil stock release – making 400 million barrels from their emergency reserves available amid market disruptions from the Middle East conflict. Read more 👉 iea.li/46WnKxr

I welcome the decision by IEA Member countries to carry out coordinated oil stock release amid the current market disruptions sparked by the conflict in the Middle East. In times of hardship, unity and global cooperation are essential. ↓

EU's von der Leyen: Returning to Russian fossil fuels in the current crisis would be a strategic blunder.

Europe’s first responsibility is to protect our citizens and prepare for the impacts of the conflict in the Middle East. We are already seeing the impact of the situation in the Middle East on energy ↓ twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

D-G @JorgensenJuul met today with Qatari Minister of State for Energy Affairs, Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi. They discussed the impact of the ongoing regional conflict on the global energy industry and ways to ensure #SecurityOfSupply. More details ➡️ link.europa.eu/nMTgHQ

H.E. Minister Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi meets the European Commission’s Director General for Energy His Excellency Mr. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, met today with Her Excellency Mrs. Ditte Juul-Jorgensen, the Director General for Energy at the European Commission. Discussions during the meeting, which was held virtually, dealt with the impact of the ongoing regional conflict on the global energy industry and ways to ensure the security of energy supplies. His Excellency Minister Al-Kaabi underlined the State of Qatar’s commitment to remain a reliable energy supplier and looked forward to continuing and strengthening its long-standing energy cooperation with the European Union. On her part, Her Excellency Juul-Jorgensen expressed the European Union’s solidarity with Qatar in light of the current regional tensions and reaffirmed the importance it attaches to the stability and security of global energy supply. #Qatar

Today @eucopresident and I had a VTC with Leaders of Middle East countries on the latest developments of the war in Iran. We are working together to bring back peace and stability. The EU is committed to partnership, security, and prosperity in the region. Read our joint statement here: link.europa.eu/xR7gtk

@shanaka86 We have also engaged and are cooperating closely with both demand and supplier countries, as well as with key industry stakeholders, to exchange up-to-date information and ensure coordinated action.

@shanaka86 The EU has around 100 bcm of strategic gas storage capacity, which has been complemented in recent years by a significant expansion of LNG regasification capacity, now reaching approximately 250 bcm per year, currently operating at roughly half of that capacity.

Somewhere in the Indian Ocean right now, a liquefied natural gas tanker that left Qatar bound for a European terminal is changing course toward Asia. Not because of a military order. Not because of sanctions. Because a Japanese utility just offered four dollars more per million BTU than the German buyer on the original contract, and the ship’s owner did the arithmetic. On March 2, Iranian drones struck QatarEnergy facilities at Ras Laffan and Mesaieed Industrial City. Qatar declared force majeure. The world’s largest LNG exporter went dark. Twenty percent of the entire planet’s liquefied natural gas supply disappeared from the market in a single afternoon. Europe gets roughly twelve percent of its gas from Qatar. Nord Stream has been on the floor of the Baltic since September 2022. Europe now depends almost entirely on seaborne LNG for the gas that heats homes, generates electricity, and feeds the chemical industry. The ships carrying that LNG are sailing toward whoever pays the most. Asia pays the most. China, Japan, South Korea, and India together absorb eighty to eighty five percent of Qatar’s LNG in a normal year. Their buyers are state backed. Their reserves are strategic. Their willingness to pay reflects survival calculus, not quarterly earnings guidance. Asian spot LNG surged to $23.80 per million BTU within 48 hours of the Qatar halt. A three year high. European TTF gas prices jumped fifty percent in the same window. This is not a supply disruption. This is a live auction for civilizational energy conducted on the open ocean, and Europe is losing it to buyers with deeper sovereign balance sheets and shorter supply chains. The math is unforgiving. European gas storage sits at roughly sixty percent. Normally that is comfortable for March. But the refill season runs from April through October, and the marginal molecule of gas that Europe needs to reach ninety percent storage before next winter is now competing against Chinese strategic reserve procurement, Japanese utility panic buying, and South Korean industrial rationing avoidance. Every cargo that flips from Rotterdam to Yokohama is a cargo that does not fill European storage. Every week the Qatar halt continues, the refill math deteriorates. The United States can ramp LNG exports. It is ramping. But shipping capacity is the binding constraint. There are a fixed number of LNG carriers on the planet and every one is now being bid on by buyers who understand that this winter’s heating season is being decided by charter rates signed this week. The war that was supposed to neutralize threats to Western energy security has produced the single largest disruption to Western energy supply since the 1973 embargo. The cargoes are not being seized. They are not being sanctioned. They are being outbid. And the bidders are the same Asian economies whose cooperation Washington needs for every other strategic priority it holds. The ships are turning. The price is the compass. And Europe has no counteroffer that the ocean respects. open.substack.com/pub/shanakaans…