US petrochemical producers may have found themselves on the front line of global trade wars, BNEF reports, with China’s dependence on the US for feedstocks (see “Chinese Plastics Factories Face Mass Closure As US Ethane Supply Evaporates”) blunting the impact of its dominations of exports of rare earth metals. China …
Read More »EU Aims for $45 Oil Price Cap and Nord Stream Ban in New Sanctions
The European Commission is set to unveil later on Tuesday its new sanctions package against Russia, which will include a proposal to lower the oil price cap for Russia’s crude to $45 per barrel and to ban the use of Nord Stream infrastructure, sources with knowledge of the plan told …
Read More »China’s Gas Firms Want Power Sector to Prop up Demand
As China’s natural gas demand growth slows, domestic gas producers are lobbying the authorities to raise the number of gas-fired power plants, which they see as the key growth driver going forward, sources involved in advising on energy policy have told Bloomberg. China’s gas demand growth has weakened in recent …
Read More »Japan Imports Russian Oil for First Time since 2023
Per Japanese government instructions, refiner Taiyo Oil has bought a cargo of Russia’s Sakhalin crude to ensure stable production of the LNG plant that supplies gas to Japan, a company spokesperson told Reuters on Tuesday. “At the request of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, we have decided to …
Read More »China’s May Crude Imports at 4-mth Low amid Widespread Refinery Maintenance
China’s crude oil imports fell in May to their lowest daily rate in four months, data showed on Monday, as planned maintenance work at both state-owned and independent refiners picked up. May imports in the world’s largest crude buyer totalled 46.6 million metric tons, equivalent to 10.97 million barrels per …
Read More »China’s Rare Earths Weapon could Kill Europe’s Auto Industry
China earlier this year introduced restrictions on its exports of rare earths. The move marked a new stage in the US- China trade spat, when the two sides no longer tried to out-tariff each other but took to more concrete steps. The problem is, the restrictions don’t just apply to …
Read More »Iran Starts Gas Production from another Infill Well
Iran has started gas production from another infill well in its section of South Pars, the world’s largest gas field, which straddles the maritime border between the country and Qatar in the Persian Gulf. The Iranian company Petropars, which is in charge of operations in Phase 1 of South Pars, …
Read More »Morgan Stanley: OPEC+ Fails to Deliver on Output Pledge
The 411,000 barrels daily that OPEC+ said it would add to oil production in May have not materialized, commodity analysts from Morgan Stanley said. “Notwithstanding the around 1 million-barrel-a-day increase in production quotas between March and June, an actual increase in production is hard to detect,” the team, led by …
Read More »A Major Copper Crunch Is Looming
Copper has become an essential building block in modern construction and energy. In the coming years, the global demand for copper is expected to increase significantly as it is used more widely for renewable energy projects and transmission. The Australian mining major BHP expects the demand for copper to grow …
Read More »Trump’s Coal Comeback Goes Global
In a move that fuses domestic revival with international strategy, the Trump administration has greenlit the expansion of Montana’s Bull Mountains coal mine—unlocking nearly 60 million tons of coal destined for key U.S. allies Japan and South Korea. The approval, announced Friday by the Department of the Interior, comes under …
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