Global Coal Demand Surges as Middle East Energy Crisis Deepens

Global coal shipments and imports surged in March and April as buyers scrambled for fuel amid massively disrupted oil and gas supply from the Middle East. The trend has been accelerating in recent weeks, and global coal imports are on track to reach their third-highest monthly level on record, according to estimates by analytics platform Kpler cited by the Financial Times. In the wake of the worst oil and gas supply disruption in history, coal is back in demand, so much so that even countries and regions that believed coal use was in an irreversible…