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Chicago soybean and corn futures slid on Friday with both markets set for weekly declines, under pressure from lacklustre U.S. weekly exports and ample global supplies. Wheat edged higher but the market is poised for a weekly loss on better-than-expected U.S. winter crop prospects. The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade is down half a percent this week, corn has lost 0.8 percent and wheat has given up 1.2 percent. All three markets posted gains last week. Soybeans came under pressure after the U.S. Department of Agriculture ...

Pacific basin benchmark Newcastle coal prices will likely average USD 93.80/t this year, down 1.5% from previous estimates, amid “evaporating demand”, according to economic analysis firm FocusEconomics. Prices in 2020 would average a marginal USD 0.10 less than forecast last month, at USD 87.20/t, according to the analysis firm’s assessments, which are based on an average of projections by 10 economic forecasters. The Global Coal Newcastle index was assessed last at USD 83.50/t, down 17% from the start of the year. “Prices were chiefly pushed down due to evaporating demand ...

A German far-right party is using a simple message to attract voters in a mining region threatened by government plans to phase out coal: jobs are more important than the environment. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s aim to wean Europe’s biggest economy off fossil fuels is the main issue in a September election in the state of Brandenburg, where the Alternative for Germany (AfD) is almost neck-and-neck with her conservatives. “People are counting on us to stop this nonsense,” Steffen Kubitzki, an AfD candidate seeking a seat in the Brandenburg assembly, told ...

Planned and unplanned US refinery outages pushed down global refinery throughput in March, the International Energy Agency said in its latest monthly report. Throughput “plummeted” 2.5 million b/d month on month on “heavier than expected maintenance as well as industrial accidents affecting the heart of the refining industry in PADD 3,” the IEA said. But the “largest annual decline” in the US since Hurricane Harvey in September 2017 helped “propel gasoline cracks from negative levels to solid single-digits,” it said. Gasoline strength boosted global margins in all regions in March, ...

Eastern-based Libyan forces commanded by Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive last week to take control of Tripoli, the capital, plunging the OPEC country into a new round of armed conflict. Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) faces fierce resistance from rival military groups, and oil prices have risen above $70 per barrel on fears of new losses to Libyan production. As a major supplier of oil and gas to Europe and starting point for migrant flows into Italy, much is at stake if the country slips into further turmoil. HOW DID ...

Saudi Aramco is well known as the world’s top crude exporter. If all goes to plan, it may also become the biggest user of the fossil fuel. More than a third of Aramco’s oil is currently fed into its fully-owned and joint venture refineries, according to its bond prospectus. The company plans to double its refining network to handle as much as 10 million barrels a day by 2030, locking in a friendly buyer for the kingdom’s crude. Aramco’s “goal is to provide a reliable destination for its future oil ...

Oil prices rose on Friday as involuntary supply cuts from Venezuela, Libya and Iran supported perceptions of a tightening market, already underpinned by a production reduction deal from OPEC and its allies. Brent crude oil futures were at $71.67 a barrel at 1044 GMT, up 84 cents and heading for a weekly gain of 1.9 percent, their third weekly gain in a row. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $64.53, up 95 cents and set for a weekly rise of 2.3 percent, their sixth straight week of ...

The explosive expansion of American shale oil production is becoming unsustainable for North American companies from Texas to North Dakota. “They will have to invest more in order to grow,” Julie Francis, principal analyst at Wood Mackenzie, told the Wall Street Journal this week. But this year, investors have developed a growing air of caution when pouring money into shale exploration and production companies. Francis likened the situation to trying to fill a leaky cup. After front-loading new wells to produce the highest volumes right out of the gate, the ...

The US oil and gas rig count dropped by eight week on week Thursday to 1,090, resuming a five-month general downward trend even as oil prices remained in the low $60s/b, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics. Oil rigs dropped by 10 to 867, while gas-directed rigs rose by one to 220. Rigs not classified as either oil or gas also declined. Since mid-November, the US rig count has gradually declined, falling by 143 rigs from its recent peak of 1,233 as capital budgets inched down in the wake of ...

America’s hottest oil patch is producing so much natural gas that by the end of last year producers were burning off more than enough of the fuel to meet residential demand across the whole of Texas. The phenomenon has likely only intensified since then. Flaring is the controversial but common practice in which oil and gas drillers burn off gas that can’t be easily or efficiently captured and stored. It releases carbon dioxide and is lighting up the skies of West Texas and New Mexico as the Permian Basin undergoes ...

European Union leaders and the UK on Thursday agreed to delay Brexit until October 31, with a review in June, thus avoiding a situation where Britain crashed out of the bloc on April 12. International investors, particularly those who trade Britain’s volatile currency, cannot say they have not been warned of the damage that a no-deal Brexit would wreak on the UK and European economies. The latest warning was delivered by the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday when it published a special analysis of a no-deal Brexit in its flagship ...

The U.S. dollar on Friday fell to its lowest level since late March, and was set to snap a streak of three consecutive winning weeks. The ICE Dollar Index, a measure of the greenback’s strength against six of its closest trading rivals, was down 0.4% to 96.837, its lowest level since March 28. The index is set for its first weekly loss since the week ending March 12, according to data from FactSet. “The Dollar Index has surrendered much of its gains and is now trading below the 97 mark, ...

If China joined a massive Pacific trade deal, it could create hundreds of billions of dollars in extra income and spur domestic reforms, say analysts, but signing up would be far easier said than done. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) took effect on Dec 30. So far 11 countries have signed up, including Japan, Singapore, Chile and Australia. The US, notably, is not among them, having formally withdrawn from the CPTPP’s predecessor, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, in 2017. After President Donald Trump brought the US out of ...

The German government is expected to halve its economic growth forecast for 2019 to 0.5 percent from 1.0 percent due to weaker exports in the wake of global trade tensions, the news magazine Der Spiegel reported. It said the new forecast for Europe’s largest economy, which is to be released next Wednesday, could still change marginally. The government expects gross domestic product to grow by 1.5 percent in 2020, partly because of positive calendar effects from four public holidays falling on weekends, Spiegel reported. Germany’s leading economic institutes last week ...

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