Global Energy Crunch and AI Demand Signal Sustained Need for Fossil Fuels

Europe faces a severe natural gas supply crunch with storage levels at a 17-year low ahead of the winter heating season, according to OilPrice.com. The continent's import dependence has shifted heavily to U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG), but competition with Asian buyers and the upcoming EU ban on Russian LNG from January 2027 are tightening the market and pushing prices higher. Unusually high summer demand due to heatwaves has aggravated the problem, leaving gas traders cautious despite the urgent need to refill storage caverns.

Concurrently, major oil companies have reaped a $93 billion windfall in the second quarter of 2026, according to a separate OilPrice.com report. Profits for eight major firms, including ExxonMobil and Chevron, nearly doubled from the same period in 2025. This surge is driven by oil prices soaring to nearly $100 a barrel in May following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the Iran war, which has created the biggest fossil fuel supply disruption in market history.

These intertwined crises demonstrate the world's continued heavy reliance on fossil fuels, with countries paying a premium to secure supplies. The high prices have reignited global discussions around windfall taxes on oil company profits.

Further extending the outlook for hydrocarbon demand, the explosive growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is set to significantly increase global emissions, OilPrice.com reported in a third analysis. Big Tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are seeing carbon emissions skyrocket as they build data centers faster than the clean energy grid can support. A new study in NPJ Climate Action concludes that AI integration will likely expand global CO2 emissions by 0.47 to 1.8 billion tons annually, as efficiency gains are outweighed by its use in optimizing and expanding fossil fuel production.

Amazon's investment in a major natural-gas power plant for a Texas data center, which would be the country's single biggest-emitting facility, signals a trend that could derail tech climate pledges. The research indicates that if the fossil fuel sector sees any economic gain from AI, the resulting "enabled emissions" will exceed any emissions avoided through efficiency.

For Bakken operators, the global landscape underscores sustained, high-value demand for both oil and natural gas. The European LNG dependence highlights a key export market for U.S. gas, while geopolitical supply disruptions support a firm oil price floor. The AI-driven surge in energy demand, particularly for reliable power generation, further solidifies the structural need for hydrocarbons like those produced in North Dakota, even as the energy transition advances.