On July 7, 2025, the Brent crude oil price stood at 69.62 U.S. dollars per barrel, compared to 67.93 U.S. dollars for WTI oil and 69.92 U.S. dollars for the OPEC basket. Prices rose slightly that week, following signs of an increase in demand.Europe's Brent crude oil, the U.S. WTI crude oil, and OPEC's basket are three of the most important benchmarks used by traders as reference for oil and gasoline prices. Lowest ever oil prices during coronavirus pandemic In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic resulted in crude oil prices hitting a major slump as oil demand drastically declined following lockdowns and travel restrictions. Initial outlooks and uncertainty surrounding the course of the pandemic brought about a disagreement between two of the largest oil producers, Russia and Saudi Arabia, in early March. Bilateral talks between global oil producers ended in agreement on April 13th, with promises to cut petroleum output and hopes rising that these might help stabilize the oil price in the coming weeks. However, with storage facilities and oil tankers quickly filling up, fears grew over where to store excess oil, leading to benchmark prices seeing record negative prices between April 20 and April 22, 2020. How crude oil prices are determined As with most commodities, crude oil prices are impacted by supply and demand, as well as inventories and market sentiment. However, as oil is most often traded in future contracts (whereby a contract is agreed upon, while the product delivery will follow in the next two to three months), market speculation is one of the principal determinants for oil prices. Traders make conclusions on how production output and consumer demand will likely develop over the coming months, leaving room for uncertainty. Spot prices differ from futures in so far as they reflect the current market price of a commodity.

Urals Oil rose to 66.46 USD/Bbl on July 11, 2025, up 2.31% from the previous day. Over the past month, Urals Oil's price has risen 2.96%, but it is still 18.42% lower than a year ago, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for Urals Crude.

Naphtha rose to 557.42 USD/T on July 11, 2025, up 1.24% from the previous day. Over the past month, Naphtha's price has risen 0.61%, but it is still 19.95% lower than a year ago, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. Naphtha - values, historical data, forecasts and news - updated on July of 2025.

While ADB’s renewable energy investments were slightly under a billion dollars in 2015, the overall renewable energy market is healthier than ever. Bloomberg New Energy Finance, through an analysis of the levelized cost of electricity for onshore wind and solar photovoltaic energy, has stated that these two renewable energy sources are fully competitive with coal across the lifetime of a power plant, with onshore wind being the cheapest source of electricity in Germany. A cycle where new renewables slowly out-compete fossil fuel generation, and create a market where it becomes more economical to develop renewables and less economical to back fossil fuel plants, may have already begun. The countries of developing Asia and the Pacific region have a roadmap for the future, and while difficult challenges of policy, questions of economics, and limitations of technology may slow progress, it will not stop the region’s continuing, and growing, development of clean energy solutions. Beyond its financing targets, ADB pledges to aid the developing countries of Asia and the Pacific region in overcoming any and all of the barriers preventing greater adoption of clean energy.

East Asia Renewable Energy Market size was valued at USD 30.87 Billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 75.90 Billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 6.2% from 2026 to 2032.

East Asia Renewable Energy Market Drivers

Government Initiatives and Laws: Many Asian countries are enacting favorable laws and regulations to encourage renewable energy usage. Subsidies, tax credits, and feed-in tariffs are examples of incentives that help renewable energy projects succeed and attract investors. China announced in its 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) a target to increase non-fossil fuel energy consumption to approximately 20% by 2025 and 25% by 2030, with installed renewable capacity expected to exceed 1,200 GW by 2030.

Energy Security Concerns: With expanding energy consumption in Asia, there is a growing need to lessen reliance on fossil fuel imports. Renewable energy, notably solar, wind, and hydropower, provides a home supply of energy, improving energy security. Bloomberg New Energy Finance reported that between 2020 and 2022, solar module prices in China decreased by approximately 25%, with utility-scale solar levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) falling to USD 29-39/MWh in 2022.

Technological Advances and Cost Reduction: Continuous developments in renewable energy technology have resulted in significant cost savings in energy generation, particularly solar and wind power. Japan's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy reported that renewable energy development between 2020-2022 reduced fossil fuel imports by approximately 8.5%, saving an estimated USD 12.7 billion in import costs.

The average price of ethylene worldwide amounted to some *** U.S. dollars per metric ton in 2023. The global production capacity of ethylene reached approximately ****** million tons in 2022. Petrochemical products Ethylene is the most commonly used petrochemical globally. A major part of its production is used to produce polyethylene, a common plastic material that accounts for roughly ** percent of global thermoplastic production. Other ethylene-derived products include ethylene glycol, ethylene dichloride, and styrene. Apart from ethylene, other widely produced petrochemicals are propylene, methanol, and paraxylene. Together they account for over ** percent of the global upstream petrochemical capacity. Petrochemical prices Petrochemical prices are highly dependent on the price of oil and related products. Feedstock costs represent the largest share of petrochemical production costs, ahead of fixed costs, power, and transportation. As with oil prices, the price of petrochemical products fell sharply during 2020, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. That year, petrochemicals such as ethylene, propylene, or benzene registered the lowest price in recent years, although they picked up shortly after.