Demand for fossil fuels drives energy crisis

Image:Image: Shutterstock – corlaffra

Across the world, demand for energy is on the rise. Oil prices are booming as economic output returns to pre-pandemic levels, coal prices are hitting record highs and a gas shortage in Europe is placing serious pressure on supply.

This is amounting in a ferocious appetite for fossil fuels creating windfalls for the Australian minerals sector. Newcastle coal prices, are a clear example of surging demand, up 250% and reaching their 2008 peak.

So what’s behind these changes? And what impact is this likely to have on the Australian energy market?

Produced By: Evan Wallace

Featured In Story: Senior Lecturer Dr Lurion De Mello – Applied Finance at Macquarie University

First aired on The Wire, Monday 18 October 2021