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China is set to award crude oil import licenses to four independent refineries in eastern China, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. The license will enable those refineries to import crude directly, rather than asking other refineries to import on their behalf. Those four refineries are Haike Ruilin Petrochemical, Chengda New Energy, Lianhe Petrochemical in eastern Shandong province, as well as Xinhai Petrochemical in neighboring Jiangsu province. The latest approval will be the first for independent refineries this year, since the last 12 companies were approved in May ...

The first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo to be shipped from Sempra Energy’s $10 billion Cameron export terminal in Louisiana is heading to France, shiptracking data from Refinitiv and Kpler showed on Tuesday. Mitsui & Co Ltd, one of the partners in the Cameron project, is the charterer of the tanker, Marvel Crane, that picked up the commissioning cargo. The cargo, which loaded in late May, is set to arrive at France’s Dunkirk on June 18, Refinitiv data showed. Japanese stakeholders of the project were initially expected to import the ...

One of Asia’s top steelmakers warned that it will seek to pass the surging cost of iron ore, which reached a five-year high last month, on to customers to protect its margins. “There’s no immediate risk of an inability to secure iron ore supplies or make steel due to supply bottlenecks,” JFE Holdings Inc. Chief Financial Officer Masashi Terahata said in an interview. “The problem is the price,” he said. The company will need to pass iron ore costs, as well as other expenses, on to product prices for the ...

Australia on Wednesday cut its wheat production forecast for the 2019/20 harvest by more than 11% as an unrelenting drought across the country’s east coast threatens crops for a third year in a row. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) pegged production of the country’s largest rural export at 21.2 million tonnes, down from its previous estimate in March of 23.9 million tonnes. That would be 14% below the 10-year average of 24.7 tonnes, and mean a third straight year of lower-than-average production – crippling ...

Oil prices fell more than 2% on Wednesday, weighed down by a weaker demand outlook and a rise in U.S. crude inventories despite expectations of extended supply cuts led by OPEC. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were down $1.69, or 2.71%, at $60.60 a barrel by 0907 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down $1.56, or 2.93%, at $51.71. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) cut its forecasts for 2019 world oil demand growth and U.S. crude production on Tuesday. A surprise increase in ...

BP today released the 68th annual edition of the BP Statistical Review of World Energy (BP Stats Review), the most comprehensive collection and analysis of global energy data. This year’s edition highlights the growing divergence between demands for action on climate change and the actual pace of progress on reducing carbon emissions. “The longer carbon emissions continue to rise, the harder and more costly will be the necessary eventual adjustment to net-zero carbon emissions” Bob Dudley, group chief executive Key findings from the BP Stats Review 2019 include: Global energy ...

Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are close to reaching an agreement on extending production cuts, the energy minister of the United Arab Emirates said on Tuesday. Speaking at the International Economic Forum of the Americas, Energy Minister Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui said that given existing oil inventories the output curbs should remain in place or be extended “at least until the end of the year.” The “right decision will be a rollover,” said al-Mazroui, noting he favors continuing the curbs. OPEC and producer allies including Russia ...

Uncertainty over oil supply and demand fundamentals is making it tougher for Russia and Saudi Arabia — the architects of the OPEC+ deal — to reconcile their differences over the framework for an extension of their output pact into the second half, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Current demand growth “neither will support exiting the production agreement, nor is bad enough to reinforce more cuts,” Goldman Sachs Head of Commodity Research Jeffrey Currie said in an interview in St. Petersburg. Combined with uncertainty over Iranian exports and growing U.S. ...

The US Energy Information Administration on Tuesday cut its outlook for 2019 oil prices by $3.50/b for WTI and $2.95/b for Brent in response to rising uncertainty about global oil demand growth. EIA now expects Brent to average $66.69/b in 2019, down from $69.64/b in last month’s outlook. It held its 2020 Brent outlook steady at $67/b. EIA sees WTI averaging $59.29/b in 2019, down from $62.79/b in last month’s outlook, and $63/b in 2020, unchanged. “Demand-side concerns became the most salient issue during the past month and contributed to ...

World share markets snapped a seven-day winning streak on Wednesday as the White House took a tough line on trade talks with China, while an impending reading on U.S. inflation was set to refine the odds of an early cut in interest rates there. Europe’s main markets followed Asia by declining early on. London’s FTSE, the DAX in Frankfurt and CAC40 Paris were down 0.2% to 0.4% as traders trimmed some of June’s 4% gains. [.EU] Benchmark government bond yields fell as caution grew. FX dealers kept the dollar near ...

China’s central bank moved to shore up the yuan with a stronger-than-expected fixing and a planned bond sale in Hong Kong. The People’s Bank of China set its reference rate at 6.8930 per dollar Tuesday, 0.2% higher than traders’ and analysts’ average forecast of 6.9089. The strong bias in the daily fix — which restricts the onshore yuan’s moves by 2% on either side — is the largest since Bloomberg started releasing the survey estimates in August 2017. The central bank also said it plans to sell bills in Hong ...

The dollar edged lower for a second consecutive day on Wednesday on growing expectations of a U.S. rate cut next week while high-yielding currencies suffered due to ongoing trade tensions. Against a basket of its rivals, the dollar edged 0.1 percent lower to 96.64 and just above a 2-1/2 month low of 96.46 hit last week. Trade differences between the world’s two biggest economies are starting to reflect in data with Chinese factory inflation slowing in May while recent comments by Fed officials have become increasingly cautious. “The prospect of ...

Greece is on its way to fully lifting remaining restrictions on capital transfers this year, the governor of the country’s central bank said. “We are on a good path for the full lifting of capital controls this year,” Yannis Stournaras, head of the Bank of Greece, told Reuters on the sidelines of an investments conference in Athens. Athens imposed capital controls in June 2015, when Greece’s government had come to the end of its bailout extension period without agreeing on a further extension with its creditors. At the time, the ...

The U.S. economy may be pushed into a “Trump recession” if Washington follows through on its threat to impose new tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods, the president and CEO of a U.S.-based trade organization said. Speaking to CNBC at the CES Asia technology conference in Shanghai, Gary Shapiro from the Consumer Technology Association called tariffs an “economic fence” and said they are “not a good strategy” to help Washington resolve its trade dispute with Beijing. “They are taxes, they hurt consumers, they hurt American companies,” Shapiro ...

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