The oil price is rising sharply, but the American Energy Agency expects oil to become cheaper again in the coming months. In the first quarter of this year, less renewable energy was produced in the Netherlands because there was less wind, but in five years the share of renewable energy has increased fivefold to almost 20%. As far as solar energy is concerned, the Dutch Homeowners' Association is sounding the alarm now that it has discovered that according to the law, after the abolition of the netting scheme, solar panel owners are allowed to pay more in feed-in costs than they receive for the electricity.
The price of oil has climbed over the past week, from $64,86 a barrel last Wednesday, June 4, to $68,00 at the time of writing (Wednesday afternoon, June 11). An increase of 4,8% in one week.
There is optimism about trade deals between the US and China after negotiators from both countries reached an agreement in London. That would mean an economic boost, which would increase demand for oil. In China, the country's oil imports have fallen to a four-month low, according to data from Chinese customs.
On the other hand, the US has not yet succeeded in reaching a nuclear deal with Iran. Trump has previously threatened Iran with bombardments and now, according to Reuters, Iran is threatening to attack US bases in that case. The tensions are also supporting the oil price. The production increases of OPEC+ continue to have a downward effect on the oil price.
US Energy Agency expects oil price to fall
The US Energy Agency (EIA) said in a forecast released earlier this week that crude oil prices will fall in the coming months due to rising global oil inventories. Last month's forecast expected oil inventories to grow by 0,4 million a day this year. That number has doubled in the latest forecast.
Brent crude oil became cheaper in May for the fourth consecutive month, the EIA said in its new forecast. The average price in May was $64 per barrel, down $4 from April. The EIA predicts that Brent prices will have fallen to an average of $61 per barrel by the end of this year and will average $2026 per barrel in 59.
Such a price drop also affects U.S. oil production, which is expected to fall from a record high of 13,5 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2025 to around 13,3 million barrels per day in the last quarter of 2026, according to the EIA.
Diesel also rose in price last week. On June 11, the fuel cost €119,17 per 100 liters (from 4.000 liters), while last Wednesday it was €118,38.
Gas supply level is slowly increasing
Gas on the TFF futures market is at €11 per MWh on Wednesday afternoon, 35,590 June, which is lower than on 5 June when it was €36,393 per MWH. The filling level of the Dutch gas supply is slowly increasing, but at 39,7% it is still behind the average in the European Union. That is 51,8%, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE).
The daily average of electricity fluctuated on the Epex Spot day ahead last week between €28,73 per MWh (8 June) and €79,46 (11 June).
Less wind energy and more coal in the first quarter of 2025
The Dutch electricity sector emitted 2025% more greenhouse gases in the first quarter of 40 than in the same quarter a year earlier, according to new CBS figures. This is because more electricity was produced (and exported) and less electricity was imported from the countries surrounding us, in particular Belgium and Germany. There was also less wind, which resulted in less renewable energy being produced.
More coal was used by energy companies, which leads to more emissions than the use of natural gas. The electricity sector's share of total emissions was 20% in the first quarter of 2025, compared to 15% in the same quarter of 2024, according to Statistics Netherlands.
Share of green energy more than doubled in five years
The CBS also published figures on the entire year of the share of renewable energy in 2024. That was 19,8% of the total energy consumption in the Netherlands. In 2023, that was 17,4%. According to the statistics agency, this increase is 'mainly because many new offshore wind turbines have been put into use and because more biodiesel has been used for road transport'. In a period of five years, the share of renewable energy has more than doubled, according to the figures.
Total energy consumption was 1807 petajoules (PJ), 1% higher than in 2023. 12% more renewable energy was consumed. The largest amount of renewable energy comes from biomass such as wood, manure and food waste (121 PJ), followed by wind (116 PJ) and solar (78 PJ). Consumption of wind energy increased by 2024% per year in 20. This is mainly due to the commissioning of new offshore wind turbines. Just over half of wind energy was generated by onshore wind turbines last year.
Energy from biomass decreased by 10%, mainly because less biomass was co-fired in power stations that use coal as the main fuel, according to CBS. In 2024, 9% more solar power was generated. A small increase compared to previous years. In 2024, 9% more solar power was generated. A small increase compared to previous years.
Soon you will pay net for solar panels
Last week, Vereniging Eigen Huis concluded from answers to its questions to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) that solar panel owners run the risk of having to pay a net amount for solar power that they supply to the electricity grid after the abolition of the net metering scheme (in 2027). "As it turns out, the law allows the feed-in costs to be higher than the feed-in compensation," Vereniging Eigen Huis said in a statement. The association calls on politicians to legally guarantee that the compensation for solar power is net positive. "Otherwise, this would be disastrous for the energy transition. We fear that households will then massively switch off their solar panels or remove them from their roofs. And you can completely forget about consumers buying new panels."