--- title: "Global Coal Demand Surges As Middle East Energy Crisis Deepens" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/286123759.md" description: "Global coal demand has surged as the Middle East energy crisis disrupts oil and gas supplies. In March and April, coal imports reached their third-highest monthly level, with a 27% increase in shipments to South Korea, Japan, and the EU compared to last year. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has further impacted LNG shipments, leading to an 8% year-on-year drop. Countries are delaying coal plant retirements and shifting policies to enhance energy security amid the ongoing crisis." datetime: "2026-05-12T15:07:20.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/286123759.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286123759.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/286123759.md) --- # Global Coal Demand Surges As Middle East Energy Crisis Deepens _Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via Oilprice.com,_ **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 theFinancial 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 terminal decline have boosted imports.** For example, last month coal shipments to South Korea, Japan, and the European Union surged by 27% from a year earlier, data from BIMCO, the world’s biggest shipowners’ association,saidlast week. **The Asian importers and the European bloc are scrambling for alternatives to gas supply from the Middle East,** currently trapped behind the Strait of Hormuz or not produced at all in Qatar, which halted LNG production as early as on March 2 and two weeks latersustained damagesto the world’s largest LNG complex, Ras Laffan, from Iranian missile strikes. _“The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted LNG shipments out of the Persian Gulf and has contributed to an 8% y/y drop in global seaborne LNG shipments in April,”_ BIMCO said. **South Korea haspushed backthe retirement of coal-fired power generation capacity amid the oil and gas shock caused by the Middle East war.** Europe, for its part, is currently losing the competition with Asia for spot LNG supply, at a time when it needs to fill gas storage sites ahead of the next winter. **Energy security concerns are shifting policy responses, accelerating coal usage across key Asian and European markets, and delaying coal plant retirements,** analysts at Wood Mackenziesay. ### Related Stocks - [OXY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/OXY.US.md) - [BP.UK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BP.UK.md) - [BNO.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BNO.US.md) - [UCO.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/UCO.US.md) - [USO.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/USO.US.md) - [BOIL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BOIL.US.md) - [FCG.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/FCG.US.md) - [OIH.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/OIH.US.md) - [XOP.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/XOP.US.md) - [XES.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/XES.US.md) - [IEZ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/IEZ.US.md) - [LNGZ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/LNGZ.US.md) - [UNG.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/UNG.US.md) - [IXC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/IXC.US.md) - [VDE.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/VDE.US.md) - [IEO.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/IEO.US.md) - [XLE.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/XLE.US.md) - [CRAK.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/CRAK.US.md) ## Related News & Research - [US natural gas futures climb 3% to seven-week high as output drops](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286580886.md) - [Record oil draw from US emergency reserve drives total volumes to two-year low](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286821970.md) - [Cheniere’s Corpus Christi Stage 3 Train 6 produces first LNG](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286934320.md) - [US natgas prices dip ahead of storage report as LNG plant flows slide to 15-week low](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286427244.md) - [IEA chief Birol: commercial oil inventories depleting rapidly, only weeks left](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286746172.md)