China’s copper import surge has peaked. The country sucked in a record 4.67 million tonnes of refined copper last year, making it the single most important physical driver of the pandemic recovery rally. This year, the import pulse has slowed, with volumes sliding by 10% over the first half and the monthly total dipping below 300,000 tonnes in both May and June. High prices and Beijing’s attempts to fade last year’s stimulus have taken some of the heat out of the Chinese market. Equally significant is the wave of scrap ...

PetroChina’s oil product export quotas in the second batch allocations may fall to 2.8 million mt, a company source told S&P Global Platts on Aug. 2, raising fears that the state-run firm may struggle to cut inventories, while keeping run rates at relatively lower levels. The state-owned oil giant has been running out its quotas of 9.81 million mt allocated in the first batch, resulting in a sharp drop in July and August outflows. With the expected second round of allocation, PetroChina may get a total 12.61 million mt quotas ...

Russia’s crude oil exports decreased by 8% in January-July 2021 year-on-year to 129.104 mln tonnes, the Central Dispatching Department of Fuel Energy Complex reported on Monday. Russia participates in the OPEC+ crude production cuts agreement, due to which supplies to other countries are declining as well. In July, crude oil exports rose by 8.4% to 18.69 mln tonnes. Exports of the Russian oil to non-CIS countries went down by 9.1% in seven months to 122.01 mln tonnes, and increased by 13.2% in July to 17.82 mln tonnes, while exports to ...

A severe tightening of the global LNG market resulted in a considerable drop in European imports during July, with seasonably low physical receipts falling by a further third both year on year and month on month. According to data from S&P Global Platts Analytics, import levels are very close to those seen in January when Asian spot LNG prices hit record highs, despite the Platts JKM benchmark currently holding a narrower premium over Europe. Across Europe’s liquid traded hubs with LNG regasification terminals, namely France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the UK ...

Jordan’s state grain buyer has issued an international tender to buy 120,000 tonnes of milling wheat sourced from optional origins, European traders said on Monday. The deadline for submission of price offers is Aug. 4. A new tender had been expected after Jordan purchased 60,000 tonnes in its previous tender for 120,000 tonnes of wheat last week. Shipment in the new tender is sought in a series of possible combinations in 60,000 tonne consignments in 2022. Possible shipment combinations are Feb. 1-14, Feb. 15-28, March 1-15 and March 16-31. Jordan ...

Summit Oil and Shipping Co Ltd on Monday said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Commonwealth LNG for liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply to Asia, including Bangladesh. The deal includes 1 million tonnes per year (MTPA) of LNG offtake from Commonwealth’s 8.4 MTPA facility currently under development in Cameron, Louisiana to Summit Oil, a unit of Bangladesh-based Summit Group. Commonwealth can deliver U.S.-sourced LNG, providing diversification of supply for Bangladesh and the pricing stability associated with Henry Hub, said Farid Khan, vice chairman of Summit Group. Summit Oil ...

Iraq’s Ministry of Oil said on Sunday that the country exported 90.46 million barrels of crude oil in July, bringing in revenues of about 6.51 billion U.S. dollars. The average selling price for crude oil in July was 72 dollars per barrel, according to a ministry statement, citing statistics of the State Organization for Marketing of Oil. About 87.45 million barrels were exported from Iraq’s central and southern oil fields via the Port of Basra, while about 3.01 million from the northern province of Kirkuk via the Turkish port of ...

Russia became second by total petroleum exports to the United States in May 2021, with record-breaking deliveries totaling 26.17 mln barrels, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports. The previous record was set in May 2009, when Russia delivered crude oil and petroleum products to the US totaling 25.08 mln barrels. Canada tops the list of petroleum exporters to the US in May with 125.75 mln barrels and Mexico is third (22.56 mln barrels). Russian petroleum products account for the bulk of deliveries to the United States. Crude oil export ...

Iran has pumped steady amount of crude in July despite a 15-month record production reported by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a survey shows. Reuters news agency’s analysis of data released by OPEC members in July showed that Iran’s exports was steady over the month compared to June when it had exported more than 600,000 barrels per day (bpd). The survey found, however, that the OPEC had pumped 26.72 million bpd of crude in July, up 610,000 bpd against June and a record since April 2020. The increased ...

Russia’s energy ministry said on Friday it filed a proposal for the government to start a procedure for a ban on gasoline exports. “The energy ministry proposed to the government to launch an urgent procedure of banning exports of gasoline,” the ministry said in a statement. It said earlier that the ban may help to reduce domestic prices for gasoline after they rose in recent months, which is a sensitive issue for Russia ahead of the September parliamentary election. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Olesya Astakhova, writing by Maria Tsvetkova; editing ...

Egypt’s General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) tendered on Friday to buy an unspecified amount of wheat from global suppliers for shipment from Sept. 24-Oct. 4 for payment using 180-day letters of credit. GASC Vice Chairman Ahmed Youssef said the authority was seeking to buy cargoes of soft and/or milling wheat from the United States, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Poland, Argentina, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Paraguay and Serbia. Tenders should reach GASC by noon (1000 GMT) on Monday. The results should come out after 3:30 p.m. (1330 GMT) ...

Some of China’s major fertiliser companies said they would temporarily suspend exports to assure supplies in the domestic market, the state planner said on Friday, after prices in one of the world’s top grain producers hit record levels. China is the world’s top exporter of phosphate, and shipped 3.2 million tonnes of diammonium phosphate fertiliser in the first half of this year to major buyers such as India and Pakistan as well as 2.4 million tonnes of urea, according to customs data. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said ...

Ukraine’s grain exports rose to 2.47 million tonnes in July, the first month of the new 2021/22 July-June season, up 136,000 tonnes from a year earlier, agriculture ministry data showed on Friday. That included 694,000 tonnes of wheat, 821,000 tonnes of barley and 939,000 tonnes of corn, the data showed. Ukraine plans to thresh around 76 million tonnes of grain in 2021 compared to 65 million tonnes in 2020. The government has said grain exports could rise to 56 million tonnes in the 2021/22 season including 20.7 million tonnes of ...

A government agency in Pakistan is believed to have bought about 220,000 tonnes of wheat in an international tender for up to 500,000 tonnes which closed this week, European traders said on Friday. The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) was believed to have bought all the wheat at an estimated $304 a tonne c&f all for September shipment, they said. Trading houses Dreyfus and CHS each sold 110,000 tonnes. No purchases were reported for the August shipment position also sought in the tender. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Michael Hogan)

Oil major Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to buy 3 million mt/year of LNG from Tellurian’s proposed Driftwood LNG export terminal in Louisiana, the companies said in a joint statement July 29. The 10-year agreement is similar in terms to ones Tellurian signed with commodity traders Gunvor and Vitol earlier in the summer. Total offtake commitments to Driftwood LNG now stand at 9 million mt/year, just shy of the expected 9.2 million mt/year two-plant first phase of the project. Each plant is expected to have up to four liquefaction trains. ...