U.S. Crude Oil Inventories, High European Gas Prices: Your Daily Energy News

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News highlights gathered by Industrial Info and IIR Energy (Sugar Land, Texas) dealing with the energy markets.

POWER
Will Europe's High Gas Prices Prompt a Switch to Coal? - Many of northern Europe's largest economies have sharply boosted natural gas-fired power generation so far in 2025, helping to lift regional gas prices to their highest since early 2023. Gas-fired output during January in Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Poland all jumped by well over 10% from January 2024's levels to their highest for that month since at least 2022, according to data from LSEG. But the pace of gas consumption going forward may start to slow as regional gas prices have now climbed above the price of coal-fired generation, which may spur some power firms to cut gas output and raise coal-fired generation instead. This switch-out of gas for coal is especially likely in Germany and Poland, where coal-fired power holds a larger share than natural gas of national generation systems. (Reuters)

CRUDE OIL
Iran Calls for OPEC to Unite Against Potential U.S. Oil Sanctions - Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian urged members of the Organizaton of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to unite against possible U.S. sanctions on the country, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would seek to drive Tehran's oil exports to zero. Iranian crude oil exports currently stand at around 1.5 million barrels per day (BBL/d), with the majority going to China. The loss of such a volume, equal to about 1.4% of total world supply, would be significant for markets. (Reuters)

U.S. Oil Inventories Increase Sharply - U.S. crude oil inventories (excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR)) increased 8.664 million barrels for the week ending January 31. Gasoline inventories rose again, up 2.233 million barrels, and distillates were down 5.471 million barrels week-on-week. SPR inventories increased 300,000 barrels last week as part of the buy-back plan, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). U.S. refinery runs were higher week-on-week, up 160,000 BBL/d to 15.349 million BBL/d, for the week ending January 31, according to the EIA. (IIR Energy)

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About IIR Energy
Energy asset information on power plants, oil refineries and natural gas infrastructure is now more important than ever. A unit of Industrial Info Resources, IIR Energy provides infrastructure information on these assets, as well as real-time tracking of planned and unplanned interruptions affecting the commodity-trading community. We are the number one source for information about power plant outages, refinery turnarounds and midstream natural gas disruptions.

About Industrial Info
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).