Tag Archives: China

Oil prices retreated on Thursday as U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up a trade war with China, even as he announced a 90-day pause on tariffs aimed at other countries. Brent futures fell 77 cents, or 1.18%, to $64.71 a barrel by 0320 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude …

The trade war is prompting China’s LNG buyers to resell the cargoes they are buying from the U.S. as Chinese tariffs on American goods are raising the costs of U.S. LNG imports, analysts and traders have told Reuters. LNG import demand in China has been weaker this year amid comfortably …

Independent refineries in China, often called teapots, raised their run rates in March in a positive sign for oil demand from the world’s largest importer but worry remains about the immediate outlook. The average run rate for the independents last month was 46%, Reuters reported, citing figures from Chinese energy …

Many countries worldwide rely heavily on China for the supply of their solar panels, as the world’s biggest producer of the equipment, contributing 77.8 percent of global production. Recently, there have been rising concerns over potential slavery in the supply chain due to the poor conditions faced by many Chinese …

At a time when analysts expect the global demand for aluminum to rise, a new development in China may significantly impact both aluminum market demand and the country’s internal consumption. That said, market watchers know that any announcement around metals coming out of Beijing these days also has to be …

The price of Russia’s ESPO crude blend, the flagship grade exported from the Russian Far East, slumped to the lowest level since June 2024 and flipped to a discount to the international benchmark as demand from Chinese state-owned firms has weakened, trading sources told Reuters. Cargoes of ESPO for April …

Europe’s gas storage levels this week reached an uncomfortably low level of some 34% full. Germany’s alone has dropped to 29%. Yet LNG imports are about to pick up and, for a change, prices might not surge—thanks to China. Earlier this month, Kpler data showed that China’s imports of liquefied …

South Korean chemicals companies are racing to tap new markets after racking up hundreds of millions of dollars in losses in the face of a deluge of capacity from China, their biggest market. Reliant on exports, firms including LG Chem Ltd. and Lotte Chemical Corp. are feeling the pinch as …

China has not received a single cargo of U.S. liquefied natural gas in 40 days and there are currently no LNG tankers en route to the country, Bloomberg has reported, citing data it compiled from ship-tracking information providers and energy analytics provider Kpler. The purchase freeze was the result of …

Some state-controlled Chinese refiners have reduced purchases of Russian oil loadings for March as they assess the risks of dealing with sanctioned entities and wait for more clarity about a possible Russia-Ukraine ceasefire and potential U.S. sanctions relief on Russia’s oil trade. State-owned refining giant China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, …