Geopolitical cataclysm in the Middle East – global fallout and the impact on the European energy markets

The next interactive discussion of the Brussels Energy Club will focus on the following topic:

Geopolitical cataclysm in the Middle East – global fallout and the impact on the European energy markets

This special session will take place in person on Thursday, 2 April 2026, from 2 pm to 5 pm, at TUSIAD, Avenue des Gaulois, 13, Brussels 1040, and will include a networking reception.

Background

Europe is going through unprecedented times. The optimism of the early post-Cold War years is well and truly behind us, and new geopolitical realities have firmly set in. Serious questions are being put to the rules-based system of global order, which Europe helped to build. The foreign and security policies of the world’s hegemonic states are becoming more difficult to predict by the day. As the latest geopolitical cataclysm in the Middle East deepens, global energy markets once again start to rattle. Europe has endured no shortage of pivotal crisis moments testing the resilience of its energy markets, most of which have been driven by external geo-economic and geopolitical shocks. The current crisis we are now facing, driven by the conflagration in the Gulf and seeming to be of game-changing significance, is not in itself exceptional.

But the questions on the table now are how deep this will become, how long it will last and perhaps most importantly, how the international energy markets will adapt. This particularly relates to the market for global LNG, which is already tightening significantly, and how European buyers of gas will be able to secure a supply in yet another accelerating price environment. The EU’s stark dependence on gas imports is once again becoming exposed, and vexing questions confront our governments at both the European and national levels as to how Europe’s security of supply will be assured in the months ahead.

Please join us for the next session of the Brussels Energy Club, where we will evaluate how global energy markets will respond to the current disruptions to oil and gas production in the Gulf, as well as assess the geopolitical environment within which the industry is now compelled to operate. Key questions which we will evaluate during this session will include:

• The state of the damage to oil and gas production facilities in the Gulf region

• Disruption to LNG traffic in the Strait of Hormuz

• How global gas markets are adjusting to damage and disruptions

• The evolving gas price environment

• Implications for European buyers of LNG and gas consumers

• Policy options: market intervention measures, supply management and pricing

• The geopolitical level – the state of conflict in the Middle East and possible end games

• The geopolitical level – implications for the war in Ukraine, Russia and Europe

Like all meetings of the Brussels Energy Club, this is a session not to be missed.

Agenda

2:00 PM – Session 1: Assessment of global LNG and the implications for European gas markets.

Guest speaker:

James Taverner

Executive Director, Global Gas and LNG

S&P Global Energy CERA

3:30 PM – Networking coffee break

4:00 PM – Session 2: Geopolitical assessment, challenges and options for Europe

• The Middle East – Iran and the GCC

Dr Marat Terterov

Head of the Brussels Energy Club

Former-visiting lecturer in Middle East Studies

The Brussels School of International Studies/University of Kent (UK)

• Europe, Russia, Ukraine

Dr George Niculescu

Head of Research

European Geopolitical Forum, Brussels

Former-NATO International Staff, Brussels

5:00 PM – End of the session followed by a networking drink

Speaker information

James Taverner is Executive Director, Global Gas and LNG, S&P Global Energy CERA, with a particular focus on Northeast Asia (Japan, South Korea, and China). His expertise includes quantitative analysis and model building of supply, demand, and price fundamentals; analysis of government policy and regulation; and gas market development. James was the project manager and lead researcher for the major S&P Global Multiclient Study "The New Map of Global Gas," an in-depth analysis of the potential impact of unconventional gas on supply, demand, trade, and price in the global market. He has contributed to numerous other studies, including "Global Gas Reset," "LNG in Transportation: Challenging Oil's Grip," and "Solving the Tangram: China Regional Gas and Power Scenarios." He is based in London and has previously worked in the S&P Global offices in Paris, Beijing, and Tokyo, where we worked with local clients and international companies targeting those markets. James holds a Master of Arts from Cambridge University, United Kingdom.

Dr Marat Terterov is an acclaimed expert and practitioner of international relations with a DPhil from St. Antony’s College, Oxford University. The subject of his DPhil was Middle Eastern political economy, public enterprise reform and privatisation. Dr Terterov’s expertise has expanded over the last 20 years to include global energy investment processes, international energy security and Eurasian geopolitics. He has been associated professionally with international publishing firms, think tanks, academic institutions and business development forums since the late 1990s. Between 2008 and 2022, Dr Terterov was an advisor, negotiator and trainer for the Brussels-based Energy Charter Treaty, whilst also lecturing at the University of Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies. He is currently the Principal Representative of the Brussels Energy Club ASBL, a corporate networking platform connecting energy professionals and enabling business projects across the global energy chain. He has a significant public profile on the internet, having published widely on the subject matter of his expertise. He contributes regularly to public debates on energy and geopolitics at high profile international events.

Dr George Niculescu is the Head of Research of the European Geopolitical Forum in Brussels (since 2012), and author of its current flagship publication “Geopolitical Trends” (http://shop.gpf-europe.com/products/id/egf-geopolitical-trends-fall-2025-279/). In 2019, he earned his PhD degree in Political Sciences from the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration (NSPSPA) in Bucharest. His PhD thesis addressed “Western Confrontation with Russia at the Beginning of the 21st Century: Security Scenarios Planning in the Area from the Baltic Sea to the Wider Black Sea (Inter Marium)”. Dr Niculescu completed Advanced Studies at the George C. Marshall Centre in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London. From 2004 to 2010, he worked as a NATO staff officer focusing on partnerships and cooperation mostly with countries from the Greater Black Sea Area (GBSA). In 2016-2018, he performed as Team Leader for a CSDP Study under the EU’s HIQSTEP (High Quality Studies for the Eastern Partnership) programme. Dr Niculescu was involved in various international research projects and published extensively on GBSA geopolitical, geoeconomic, and regional security affairs.

Further information and participation

Registration is required for participation in this meeting. 

Participation in this meeting is free for members and guests of the Brussels Energy Club.

Please contact us at info@brusselsenergyclub.org for more information about this meeting. 

The meeting may be recorded and, at a later stage, appear on the Brussels Energy Club YouTube channel. We reserve the right to quote participants in our subsequent publications, following the granting of permission by speakers.