Crude oil inventories in the United States rose this week by 4.09 million barrels for the week ending April 12, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API). Crude productions, including gasoline and diesel, however, were draws. This comes after the API reported a 3.034 million barrel build in crude inventories in the week prior. On Tuesday, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by another 0.7 million barrels as of April 12. Читать дальше...
The world is finally realizing, after trying to rid itself of nuclear power following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, that the power of the atom will be the heart of clean, reliable electricity generation - not unreliable solar and wind. The latest sign that a nuclear renaissance is beginning to gain steam is news from Bloomberg on Monday morning that Tokyo Electric Power Co. will be loading fuel rods into one of the reactors at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata prefecture. The... Читать дальше...
Oil traders were making big bets amid geopolitical uncertainties, Bloomberg data shows, as 3 million barrels worth of options contracts snapped up by speculators. While the move is largely seen as a Hail Mary, about 3,000 lots of June $250 call options in US crude oil traded for just 1 cent each on Tuesday—trades that Bloomberg likened to a lottery ticket due to the unlikely event that it would actually pay out. But certainly one that would pay out handsomely, if it paid out at all. The trades, according to Bloomberg... Читать дальше...
Tohoku University researchers have made a groundbreaking advancement in battery technology, developing a novel cathode material for rechargeable magnesium batteries that enables efficient charging and discharging even at low temperatures. Details of the findings were published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A. This innovative material, leveraging an enhanced rock-salt structure, promises to usher in a new era of battery energy storage solutions that are more affordable, safer, and higher in capacity. Читать дальше...
Sales of hybrid vehicles in Australia are outpacing that of electric vehicles, a new report released Tuesday night showed. Hybrids outsold EVs three quarters in a row, with 95,129 vehicles sold. Electric vehicle sales in Australia sold just 69,593 over that same period, the quarterly EV Index published by the Australian Automobile Association showed. The report also showed a declining sales trend for ICE vehicles, which fell more than 8% in the fourth quarter of last year, although their overall... Читать дальше...
Via Metal Miner Tata Steel workers associated with the Unite Trade Union at Port Talbot recently voted to strike over plans to replace the site’s two blast furnaces with electric arc furnaces. The decision immediately led to discussions about the near and long-term future of the UK steel industry as well as Tata’s production capabilities. “Around 1,500 Tata steelworkers based in Port Talbot and Newport Llanwern have voted decisively for industrial action over the company’s plan to close its blast... Читать дальше...
Earlier this month, the Science Based Targets initiative caused a revolt among its employees when it announced it would allow the use of carbon credits to offset Scope 3 emissions. The revolt promptly made SBTi change its mind under pressure from those claiming carbon credits were no way to advance the net-zero agenda because all they did was allow emitters to keep emitting. A lot of poor countries would beg to differ, beginning with Guyana—the oil hotspot. Guyana’s president Irfaan Ali made headlines... Читать дальше...
China’s crude oil imports hit a record high in 2023, rising by 10% year-over-year and breaking the previous record from 2020 when the world’s top crude oil importer took advantage of the price crash to gorge on cheap crude. Last year, China’s crude oil imports averaged 11.3 million barrels per day (bpd), up by 10% compared to 2022, according to Chinese customs data compiled by Bloomberg and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). After China lifted the Covid-related restrictions in early 2023... Читать дальше...
China is raising from Wednesday the retail prices of gasoline and diesel to reflect the recent increase in international crude oil prices, the Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday, citing the top economic planner of the world’s second-largest economy. Beginning on April 17, retail gasoline prices will be raised by $27.60 (200 Chinese yuan) per ton, and diesel prices will go up by $27 (195 yuan) per ton, according to a decision of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Under... Читать дальше...
Nigeria’s crude oil reserves have increased by 1 billion barrels while natural gas reserves have jumped by 2.573 trillion cubic feet (TCF), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has said. As of January 1, 2024, Nigeria’s combined proven reserves of crude oil and condensate stood at 37.50 billion barrels, while the reserves of associated natural gas and non-associated gas stood at 209.26 trillion cubic feet, NUPRC’s chief executive Gbenga Komolafe said. Of the oil and condensate reserves... Читать дальше...
The campaign for institutional investors to divest from oil giants like BP and Shell hasn’t made any progress due to the way index providers dominate the market, a new study has found. Only 60 institutional investors worldwide have sold all of their shares in BP and Shell, representing about three per cent and four per cent of their shareholders, a paper published earlier this year by David Whyte of Queen Mary University of London has revealed. These shares have all been promptly bought up by massive... Читать дальше...
India’s largest private refiner, Reliance Industries, has sought to resell U.S. WTI crude within weeks of buying it, anonymous trading sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg, as signs have started to emerge that more Russian crude may have resumed heading to India. Last week, Reliance tried to sell WTI Midland for loading in May to other potential buyers in Asia, Bloomberg’s sources said. Amid issues with payments and stricter U.S. sanctions on Russian crude exports, including sanctions... Читать дальше...
Oil prices have fallen back at the start of this week despite heightened geopolitical risk after Iran attacked Israel with more than 300 missiles and drones. Traders appear to be focused on fundamentals, awaiting a more tangible event for oil markets before pushing prices any higher.- For the first time in more than a year, the US count of drilled-but-uncompleted wells (DUCs) rose in March to 4,522, up 9 wells compared to February, signaling that US production growth is stalling.- Usually, when companies start to build up fracklogs... Читать дальше...
German oil and gas production fell again in 2023 compared to 2022, industry association BVEG said on Tuesday, calling for increased domestic production to reduce dependence on more emissions-generating LNG imports. Last year, Germany’s oil production dropped by 5.9% year-over-year, while natural gas output slumped by 10.4%. The share of domestic gas supply of total German supply was 5.7%, while domestic oil production met about 2.2% of Germany’s oil consumption in 2023, figures by BVEG showed. Germany’s... Читать дальше...
The Biden Administration is unlikely to attempt to dramatically curtail Iranian oil exports after Iran’s attack on Israel, due to concerns about higher oil and gasoline prices in an election year and an unwillingness to further harm U.S.-China relations as Beijing is Iran’s key remaining oil customer, analysts have told Reuters. The U.S. toughening the sanctions enforcement against Iranian oil exports was expected by analysts after Iran launched drones on Israel this weekend. Most investment banks... Читать дальше...
The frontrunner in Mexico’s next presidential elections, Claudia Sheinbaum, will invest billions in new natural gas generation capacity and solar power, Bloomberg has reported, citing a plan presented to local business leaders. The plan also includes upgrading hydropower capacity and expanding Mexico’s grid with 3,850 km of new transmission lines. Sheinbaum will also continue supporting state-owned oil major Pemex but will not focus on this as exclusively as incumbent Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador does. Читать дальше...
China’s first-quarter economic growth data is out and it’s an expectation beater. The country’s GDP grew at a rate of 5.3% during the first three months, versus Reuters economist poll expectations of 4.6%. Oil prices rose following the release of the report. Strong GDP data is normally bullish for oil prices, especially when it comes from a consumer as giant as China. The publication noted, however, that other economic indicators including retail sales, real estate investment, and industrial output... Читать дальше...
The United States will only extend a sanction relief regime for Venezuela if the Maduro government makes progress on commitments undertaken last year to ensure fair elections. This is according to a Reuters report that quoted a State Department speaker who said "Absent progress by Maduro and his representatives in terms of implementing the road map’s provisions, the United States will not renew the license when it expires on April 18, 2024." The report comes on the heels of the news that U.S. and... Читать дальше...
The Federal Government of Iraq (FGI) centred in Baghdad several weeks ago ordered the speeding up of crucial repairs to its own oil export pipeline into Turkey while keeping its embargo on oil exports from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraqi (KRI) based in Erbil in place, a senior source who works closely with Iraq’s Oil Ministry exclusively told OilPrice.com last week. According to a subsequent statement from Iraqi’s Deputy Oil Minister for Upstream Affairs, Basim Mohammed, the pipeline... Читать дальше...
Last year, the U.S. made major lithium breakthroughs with the potential to make the country self-sufficient in the critical battery metal for decades. In September, a group of scientists funded by Lithium Americas Corporation (NYSE:LAC) reported that the McDermitt Caldera, a volcanic crater on the Nevada-Oregon border, houses 20 to 40 million metric tons of lithium deposits. For perspective, that volume is nearly double the 23 million metric tonnes found in Bolivia. In December, the U.S. Department... Читать дальше...
A decade ago, master limited partnerships (MLPs), were a favored investment class for income investors. They have unique tax advantages that resulted in significant advantages over other income equities. In a nutshell, MLPs aren’t taxed at the corporate level. MLPs pass profits directly to unitholders in the form of periodic distributions. This arrangement avoids the double taxation of corporate income and dividends affecting traditional corporations and their shareholders and, all things being equal... Читать дальше...
Canada has spent a lot of time and money building itself up to be one of the biggest global producers of hydropower electricity. The country is second only to China in hydroelectricity production, and has planned to vastly expand its infrastructure to become a hydro superpower capable of supplying a good portion of its own energy needs through hydroelectricity as well as export clean energy and offer considerable energy storage capacity to the Northeastern United States. But those plans have turned... Читать дальше...
