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The Permian Basin, home to more than 40 percent of all active U.S. drilling rigs, continues to receive most of the credit for the rapid growth of U.S. oil production; meanwhile, the Marcellus Shale receives the lion’s share of credit for ongoing record-setting levels of domestic natural gas production. But a series of recent information releases demonstrate that the oil and gas boom is spreading into other plays across the nation. Let’s review some examples: North Dakota’s Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) reported last Friday that the state’s oil production ...

Natural gas storage levels in the Midcontinent Producing region — which includes Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri — remain on track to enter winter far below average, due in part to strong local production in the SCOOP/STACK. Also, prices have offered little incentive to inject gas now to withdraw later during the winter. Inventories in the Midcon Producing region sit at 139 Bcf, a deficit of 81 Bcf to the prior five-year average for this time and also considerably below the five-year low of 164 Bcf, according to S&P Global Platts ...

Foreigners withdrew money from Asian bond markets for the third consecutive month in June amid concerns that increasing trade frictions between the United States and China will disrupt the region’s economic growth. Data from central banks and bond market associations showed foreigners sold a total of $1.9 billion of bonds from India, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea and Malaysia in the last month. This year, the United States has announced tariffs on steel and aluminium imports and an initial $34 billion of Chinese imports. It is also threatening another round of ...

Don’t be fooled as Asian currency swings seemed to be impervious amid an uptick in volatility in its global emerging-market peers this month. Cushioned by current-account surpluses across most of the region and by China’s pledge this month of a stable yuan, the average three-month implied volatility for Asian currencies dropped 23 basis points this month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That contrasts with volatility for the wider emerging-market universe, which has climbed 4 basis points amid the twists and turns of the U.S.-China trade fight. “Indeed, the calm ...

The pound extended this week’s decline to drop below $1.30 as a slowdown in U.K. retail sales cast doubt on the argument for an interest-rate hike. Sterling touched a 10-month low as the weak spending followed disappointing inflation data and a tumultuous week of politics. Money-market pricing for a Bank of England rate move next month has slipped to 78 percent, from 84 percent on Tuesday. “Pound suffers on the back of the data with cable below $1.30 but that reading should not be weak enough in order to drive ...

The federal deficit has grown a lot over the past six months. This should come as no big surprise, given the tax cuts approved by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in December and the spending deal reached in February, but it’s still striking to see the actual numbers from the Treasury Department, which last week released data on federal revenue and outlays in June. The U.S. government’s fiscal years begin in October, so we now have data for three quarters of fiscal 2018. The Congressional Budget Office’s latest ...

The Bank of England will nudge up borrowing costs next month, according to economists polled by Reuters this week who have grown a bit more confident Britain will strike a free trade deal with the European Union. Britain is due to part ways with the EU in eight months, ending a 40-plus year marriage, and on Monday Prime Minister Theresa May narrowly won a series of votes in parliament, keeping her newly arranged strategy on how to leave just about on track. May has vowed to stick to her plan ...

Global debt markets are flashing a bullish signal on America’s economic trajectory, leaving Europe and emerging markets in the dust. Money managers in America Inc. debt are shrugging off late-cycle angst and the trade-war fallout thanks to an upswing in earnings — while the rest of the world struggles for traction. The premium to hold high-yield dollar bonds around the globe versus U.S.-listed corporate peers has widened to levels last notched back in 2002, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In other words, rarely has U.S. debt looked in such ...

China’s imported iron ore market extended the narrow fluctuation.

Daily rates on main tanker routes as compiled by shipbroker Charles R. Weber.

Vesper Marine, in partnership with Brand Marine Consultants (BMC), Hanseatic Underwriters and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) have just completed an installation of their AIS-based Guardian:protect system to protect vessels from a hazardous shipwreck within the Singapore Strait entrance channel to the harbour and alert them to its presence. This was a critical installation for a port that weekly sees more than 2,500 vessel calls and unloads more than 11 million metric tons of cargo. Only the Port of Shanghai is busier. The dredger Cai Jun 3 ...

Determining a ship’s fair value can be a very tricky business, especially when you’re the one paying. As such, ship owners are looking at a variety of factors, when they pull the trigger on new acquisitions, whether these are newbuildings or existing carriers, especially in today’s challenging market conditions, when a wrong business decision is often hard to recover from. In an exclusive interview with Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide (www.hellenicshippingnews.com), VesselsValue’s Director of Analytics, Mr. Kaizad Doctor, provides a very useful insight into the process of evaluating ships’ prices, while ...