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Energy Markets

Fossil Fuels

Refined Products

Tajikistan has enough fuel to last 60 days, despite Russian shortages

The local RFE/RL branch reported that Tajikistan has 60 days worth of fuel reserves. It is also in discussions with nearby countries to secure future supplies. This comes amid acute fuel shortages in Russia, a major trading partner. Radio Ozodi quoted the minister Daler Juma as saying "The export of some types?of petroleum products is still continuing from Russia to Tajikistan." At the same time, some difficulties continue. The broadcaster quoted the minister as saying that Tajikistan worked with Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran to ensure it had the fuel it needed. Tajikistan is a small country with a population of...

Fossil Fuels

Namibia seals deals with China on mining, infrastructure and energy during state visit

China said on Friday that it would increase cooperation with Namibia, particularly in the energy, agriculture, infrastructure and minerals sectors. This was during talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Namibian president Netumbo Nandi Ndaitwah, which took place?in Beijing. Nandi-Ndaitwah is on a 7-day trip to China, since Sunday. He's seeking investment from China, the second-largest country in the world and the top lender. The goal of the trip is to implement the election promises to create jobs and diversify Namibia's economy. "In Namibia we affirm an unwavering commitment (to) this longstanding friendship" between Namibia and China, said Nandi Ndaitwah....

Fossil Fuels

IEA reduces Russian oil production forecasts due to Ukrainian attacks

The International Energy Agency (IEA) lowered its estimate on Friday to reflect the fact that Russian oil production will decline by 3% this year to 8.9m barrels per day due to Ukrainian drone attacks against 'energy infrastructure. Ukraine has intensified drone attacks on Russian energy installations, including oil refineries. The aim is to stop Moscow's war effort. The Paris-based agency stated in its monthly outlook that "continued strikes against refineries, storage and transport facilities have weakened the production outlook. We have therefore cut our Russian Supply Outlook for this year and next by 85,000 barrels a day and 150,000 bpd,...

Fossil Fuels

Bloomberg reports that SoftBank and PayPay are in talks to invest Seven & i.

Bloomberg News reported that SoftBank 'Corp and mobile payment operator PayPay were?in discussions to invest in retail juggernaut Seven & i Holdings. Bloomberg reported that the investment is likely to 'total several hundred billion yen.' Sumitomo Mitsui Card - a division of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group - may also be a shareholder. Could not verify the report immediately. SoftBank, Seven & i PayPay, SMFG and SMFG declined comment. Seven & i operates 7-11 stores around the world, with Japan and America as its two largest markets. The investment would be a great boost to the embattled 'Seven & i', who...

Oil & Gas

India's ONGC plans 13 million bbl of national strategic oil reserves

India's Oil?and?Natural?Gas Corp. will build a 1,75 million metric tons (about 13,000,000 barrels) strategic petroleum reserve at Mangalore, in southern India. The company announced this in a late-night stock exchange filing on Thursday. India, which is the third largest oil consumer and importer in the world, was severely affected by the blockade imposed on the Strait of Hormuz - during the Iran War. Around a fifth (25%) of all energy in the world passes through this?waterway. India has increased its energy cooperation, with countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Japan and others, in order to strengthen its emergency stockpile....

Fossil Fuels

Weekly gain in oil heads as Middle East supply risk persists

The oil price fell on 'Friday, but remained on course for a weekly gain as renewed U.S. - Iran fighting disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. This stoked concerns about supply disruptions. Brent futures fell 68 cents or 0.9% to $75.62 per barrel at 0817 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI), which is a blend of U.S. and Canadian crudes, fell 64 cents or 0.9% to $71.44. Brent was expected to gain about 5% this week and WTI would increase by about 4%. Vandana Hari, an analyst at Vanda Insights who provides oil market analyses, said that although...

Fossil Fuels

The IEA warns that escalation between the US and Iran could threaten oil surpluses in 2027.

The International Energy Agency said that the recent escalation of hostilities between the U.S., and 'Iran, could change its 'forecast of an 'important oi l market surplus next year. The global oil market received some relief last'month, as a peace deal between the U.S.A. and the 'Iran opened the Strait. Its closure had effectively cut off 'as much as 14 million barrels of crude oil per day during the height of the biggest oil supply crisis ever. The agency reported that global oil production rose by 4.1 mbpd in June but was still 9.4 mbpd lower than pre-war levels. The...

Fossil Fuels

Taganrog evacuates following drone attack on Taganrog's Ilsky Oil Refinery

Local officials said that a drone strike caused the fire at the Ilsky oil refinery in southern Krasnodar, and authorities in Taganrog evacuated residents after another strike. The authorities reported that preliminary information indicated no injuries. In recent months, Ukraine has intensified its attacks on 'Russia's energy infrastructure and other infrastructure to undermine Moscow’s war effort. The Ilsky refinery with its capacity of?around 138,000 barrels per day has been attacked before. Fuel shortages and price increases across Russia are a result of the attacks on oil refineries. Yury Slyusar, the Governor of Rostov, said on Telegram that fires are being...

Oil & Gas Exploration

India's TCS rises on revenue beat and AI momentum Fueling Recovery Hopes

Shares of India's largest?software exporter,?Tata Consultancy Services, advanced by more than 4% the day after beating a?quarterly revenue estimate.?Deal wins and increasing AI-related revenues raised hopes for a slow earnings recovery. TCS traded 1.8% higher, at 2,086 Rupees, at 9:59 am IST in Mumbai. This boosted the?Nifty50 index by 1.1%. The IT index rose about 2%. The results of the IT company kicked off India's first-quarter earning season, which saw earnings downgrades due to a slowdown in client spending and concerns that AI could disrupt the business models of software companies. TCS's quarterly sales increased 14% over the previous year...

Fuel Oil

Sources say that the Saratov refinery in Russia has been shut down since Wednesday after a drone attack.

Two sources familiar with the matter said that Russia's Saratov refinery stopped processing oil on Wednesday due to damage caused by a drone attack. In recent months, Ukraine has increased its attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure to try and undermine Moscow's military effort. Fuel shortages have been reported in Russia as a result of the attacks, with long queues at fuel stations, higher fuel prices and fuel exports being restricted. This week, the largest oil refinery in Russia, Omsk, halted its operations after a drone attack by Ukraine. Roman Busargin, the governor of Saratov region, said in a Telegram message...

Oil & Gas

Syria gains voting rights in the chemical weapons watchdog

On Thursday, member states returned Syria's voting right to the global chemical weapons watchdog after a "significant change in circumstances", as they called it, since the fall of Assad. Syria was stripped of its rights by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in 2021 after it was found that its forces had repeatedly used poisonous gas during the civil conflict. This was largely symbolic but sent a message to Syria that any breach of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention prohibiting the use of chemical weapons on the battlefield would not be tolerated. The OPCW stated that "after...

Fossil Fuels

Sources say that Indian BPCL, and Japan's Taiyo Oil purchase US crude through tenders.

According to sources in the trading world, India's Bharat Oil Corp and Japan's Taiyo Oil purchased 'crude' from the United States this week, as refiners sought to diversify their supplies amid the Middle East conflict. Four sources claim that BPCL purchased West Texas Intermediate crude oil from Vitol. The refiner has booked an Aframax Tanker that can?carry up to 600,000.0 barrels of crude oil, according to two of the witnesses. They added that the oil was purchased at a price premium of?around 6 per barrel over dated Brent. A separate trader reported that Taiyo Oil purchased 2 million barrels for...

Crude Oil

Oil & Gas

The IEA warns that escalation between the US and Iran could threaten oil surpluses in 2027.

The International Energy Agency said on Friday that the recent escalation of hostilities between the U.S., Iran, and other countries could change its forecast of an oil surplus next year. Global supply increased in June after the Strait of Hormuz was reopened, but it still lagged behind pre-war levels. Last month, global oil markets were given some relief as a peace deal between the U.S.A. and Iran allowed the opening of Strait of Hormuz. The closure of this strait had effectively cut off up to 14 million barrels of crude per day during the height of the biggest oil supply...

Crude Oil

India's ONGC plans a 1.75 million tonne national strategic oil reserve

India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp, India's largest explorer, will build a 1,75 million metric ton national strategic petroleum reserve at Mangalore (in southern India), the company announced in a late-night stock exchange filing. India, which is the third largest oil consumer and importer in the world, has been severely affected by the blockade of Strait of Hormuz following the Israeli-U.S. attack on Iran. Around a fifth (25%) of world energy passes through the waterway. To strengthen its emergency supply, the 'South Asian nation' is increasing its energy cooperation with other countries, such as Japan and the United Arab Emirates....

Crude Oil

The strategic oil reserves will support the crude demand until 2028

Analysts and officials have said that governments are planning to purchase millions of barrels by 2028 in order to replenish 'emergency reserves' depleted due to drawdowns. This is to fill a void?in the global supply caused by a U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran. They say that this could increase demand for crude oil, which would absorb a portion of the global surplus expected after OPEC+ decided to increase production. The government has reduced emergency reserves following supply disruptions related to the conflict that have removed estimated 1.5 billion barrels of global inventories in this year. Calculations based on International Energy Agency...

Mining

Mineral Resources

Mineral Resources

Gold is under pressure due to Middle East tensions, which are driving up rate bets

Gold prices eased Friday, and were on track for a weekly decline. Higher oil prices linked to the Middle East conflict fueled inflation fears and raised expectations of tighter U.S. policy. By 2:10 pm EDT (1810 GMT), spot gold was down 0.4% at $4,103.23 an ounce. It had fallen 1.7% in the past week. U.S. Gold Futures for August were around 0.7% lower, at $4.113.70 an ounce. Bart Melek is global head of commodity strategies at TD Securities. He said that the major 'factor' here was the resumption of tensions between Iran and the U.S. Investors are not keen to...

Mineral Resources

As tensions between the US and Iran fuel fears of rate hikes, gold is expected to lose value this week

Gold was down on Friday and set to lose a 'weekly loss' as concerns about the Federal Reserve tightening monetary policy were fueled by rising crude oil prices and tensions between Iran and the United States. By 1106 GMT, spot gold had fallen 0.4% to $4105.97 an ounce, a decline of about 1.6% over the past week. U.S. Gold Futures for August Delivery fell 0.6% to $4114.80 an ounce. Han Tan, Bybit's chief market analyst, said that spot prices "may again test $4,000 per ounce as a psychological support level should tensions escalate and oil prices extend their recovery." The...

Mineral Resources

EGA will ramp up Al Taweelah's alumina refinery within days to 50% capacity

Emirates Global Aluminium announced on Friday that its Al Taweelah refinery in Abu Dhabi had restarted the production of feedstock for aluminum smelting. The restart has raised expectations of a faster than expected recovery in aluminium production, after disruptions caused by war with Iran. It also added pressure on benchmark prices for aluminum at the London Metal Exchange. The contract was last down 1.5%, at $3.152 per metric ton. In early July, EGA announced that it would restore production at the Al Taweelah Complex earlier than expected, although hot metal production could take up to one year to return to...

Mineral Resources

Gold prices to drop this week as Gulf attack reinforces rate-hike betting

Gold?edged down on Friday - and was on course for a 'weekly drop, on fears that escalating U.S. - Iran tensions would fuel inflation. This could keep the Federal Reserve hawkish in its monetary policy. Gold spot fell by 0.2%, to $4.113.02 an ounce at 0735 GMT. It was on track for a weekly drop of 1.5%. U.S. Gold Futures for August?delivery fell 0.4% to $4121.90. Tim Waterer is the chief analyst at KCM Trade. He said that gold was in consolidation mode after yesterday's gains. Traders were hesitant to commit to further upward movement due to the uncertainty surrounding...

Mineral Resources

Copper stablises in the face of Iran's escalation fears

Copper prices were flat on Friday as fears faded of an economic hit and a drop in metal demand due to a spate of tit for tat attacks between the U.S.?and Iran. The benchmark three-month copper price on the London Metal Exchange was?largely steady, with a drop of only 0.01% at $13,487.5 per metric ton as of 0700 GMT. The red metal prices are now close to the levels they were at the beginning of the week. This is the culmination of a few volatile days, during which fears about a new round in the conflict between the U.S. Prices...

Mineral Resources

Gold prices to drop this week as Gulf attack reinforces rate-hike betting

Gold prices rose on Friday as the dollar weakened, but were on course for a weekly decline on fears that the escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran could fuel inflation. This would keep the U.S. Federal Reserve in a hawkish policy direction. As of 0303 GMT spot gold was up by 0.2%, at $4,128,92 per ounce. It is heading for a weekly decline of over 1%. U.S. Gold Futures for August Delivery were unchanged at $4,139.50. Dollars were at their lowest level in a week, which made greenbacks priced bullion more accessible to holders of other currencies. Tim Waterer...

Mineral Resources

Andy Home: The aluminum supply shock has revived long-idled Western Smelters

The Iran War has caused a supply shock that is reviving the old Western aluminum smelters. Magnitude 7 Metals in the U.S. is reactivating its New Madrid smelter located in Missouri. Over the Atlantic, Norwegian producer Hydro announced the partial restart of the Slovalco joint-venture smelter. The two plants were idled due to low aluminum prices and a spike in energy prices that followed the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Washington and Brussels are both desperate to reduce their reliance on an import of a metal used in a wide range of industries. The return of these zombies smelters will not...

Mineral Resources

Copper rebound, Middle East conflict escalates no longer a concern

The dollar, which had recently surged, was stabled and copper rebounded on Thursday as the market looked beyond the escalation of Gulf hostilities. Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was up 1.62% to $13,379 per metric ton at 0700 GMT. The Shanghai Futures Exchange's most traded copper contract rose 0.16%, to 103.160 yuan (15,182.65) per ton. This was a slight improvement from the earlier drop of 1.32%. Although the copper market is still watching Middle East conflict developments closely, investors have "tended to price in an expectation that any escalated tensions will be brief and a solution?will be...

Mineral Resources

Iron ore is in short supply as fears of a possible disruption to the supply counteracts a weakening demand

Iron ore prices were range bound on Thursday as investors weighed the potential supply risks arising from a strike threat by some BHP iron ore employees against a seasonally weakened demand in China, the world's largest consumer. As of 0304 GMT, the most-traded contract for?iron?ore on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange increased 0.27% from 745.5 Yuan ($109.66), a metric tonne. As of 0254 GMT, the benchmark August iron ore contract on Singapore Exchange fell 0.18% to $98.85 per ton. BHP's Port Hedland Iron?ore operation in Western Australia may see hundreds of workers walk off their jobs next week. This would be...

Mineral Resources

Gold drops over 1% and oil increases after Trump declares Iran peace deal "over"

Gold prices fell more than 1% after the?U.S. Donald Trump declared that the interim peace agreement with Iran is "over", which sent oil prices soaring and revived fears of inflation. Gold spot fell by 1.4% at 1027 GMT to $4,049.92 an ounce, its lowest price since July 2. U.S. gold futures for August delivered fell 2.3% to $4.059.80/oz. Oil prices rose by more than 6% following a statement from?Trump that the Memorandum of Understanding signed with Iran in June to end their four month conflict was "over", and that he did not want to engage Tehran. UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo...

Mineral Resources

India Silver Import Curbs Create Shortages, Push Premiums to Six-Month High

India's import restrictions have caused shortages on the world's largest market for precious metals, driving premiums up to their highest levels in six months despite a weaker than usual demand. India's lower imports, which meet more than 80% its silver demand by purchasing it overseas, could have a negative impact on the global price of silver, as well as help narrow its trade deficit and reduce pressure on its currency, the rupee. Chirag Thakkar, the chief executive officer of Amrapali Group Gujarat - a major silver importer - said that "Silver Imports are almost at a standstill, creating a severe...

Mineral Resources

Gold falls as oil increases after Trump declares Iran peace deal "over"

Gold prices dropped more than 1% on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump declared that the interim peace agreement with Iran had "ended". This sent oil prices up and fuelled fears of inflation, as well as higher U.S. rates. Spot gold dropped 1.02%, to $4,063.67 an ounce, by 0850 GMT. It had fallen to its lowest level since July 2, earlier in the session. U.S. Gold Futures for August Delivery fell 1.97% to $ 4,074.80/oz. Trump stated that the Memorandum of Understanding signed in June with Iran to end a four-month conflict was "over" and added that he did not...