Super El Niño May Soften Winter Energy Squeeze

AI Summary

A strong El Niño could ease winter energy pressures, even as its regional weather effects threaten crops and contribute to food inflation. The assessment comes amid refining constraints, disruptions to energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz, and elevated European natural-gas prices.

We extensively covered the unusually strong El Niño, its weather impacts by region, and the risks this adverse weather poses to crop production and global food inflation.  UBS's energy team hosted a call Tuesday with meteorologist James Block to assess El Niño impacts for weather markets. The discussion comes amid a global refining crisis and continued disruptions to Strait of Hormuz energy flows, with European natural gas futures approaching 90 euros per megawatt-hour this week. Block offered some relief to energy consumers…