By John Liu, Zhu Lin and Abhishek Vishnoi, Bloomberg Markets Live reporters and strategists China’s most promising industries are facing a growing threat of trade restrictions from Western governments, blurring the outlook for stocks that have the potential to fuel the nation’s market growth. The sectors under scrutiny by Europe and the US are as wide-ranging as electric vehicles, wind and solar projects, medical devices and chips, but have one thing in common: they are of strategic importance to President Xi Jinping’s bid for…

Russia’s natural gas giant Gazprom had to shut down more than two dozen producing wells during the spring floods in the Orenburg region to keep the gas-producing wells from flooding, the local Gazprom unit said. River and floodwaters rose early this month in the Orenburg region in southwestern Russia near the Ural River in the worst flooding in the area in 80 years. Water levels in the Ural jumped well above the river’s bursting point.       To avoid flooding of operating wells, Gazprom’s local…

Russia’s natural gas giant Gazprom had to shut down more than two dozen producing wells during the spring floods in the Orenburg region to keep the gas-producing wells from flooding, the local Gazprom unit said. River and floodwaters rose early this month in the Orenburg region in southwestern Russia near the Ural River in the worst flooding in the area in 80 years. Water levels in the Ural jumped well above the river’s bursting point.       To avoid flooding of operating wells, Gazprom’s local…

Saudi oil giant Aramco is proceeding with plans to boost its downstream presence in its most important export market, China, with discussions to buy a minority stake in a Chinese petrochemical company. Aramco has entered into discussions with Hengli Group Co., Ltd. regarding the potential acquisition of a 10% stake in Hengli Petrochemical Co., subject to due diligence and required regulatory clearances, the Saudi firm said in a statement on Monday. Hengli Petrochemical International Pte. Ltd and Aramco signed on Monday a Memorandum of…

U.S. President Joe Biden is announcing on Monday $7 billion in grants to help more than 900,000 low-income households install residential solar power, the White House said. President Biden will mark today’s Earth Day by traveling to Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, Virginia, and is expected to highlight the Administration’s progress “in tackling the climate crisis, cutting costs for everyday Americans, and creating good-paying jobs,” the White House said. The $7 billion in grants will come from the Environmental…

If tensions between Iran and Israel lead to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz this would cause a surge in crude oil and liquefied natural gas prices. The warning comes from analysts with Indian Motilal Oswal Financial Services. The firm acknowledged that de-escalation efforts would help avoid a price spike but noted the importance of the Strait of Hormuz, which currently handles 21 million barrels daily in crude and other liquid energy cargos. In the event of a closure, finding alternative routes for these volumes would be close to…

A wildfire in the vicinity of Fort McMurray in Alberta has prompted the local authorities to issue a warning that local residents must be ready to evacuate if the fire continues expanding. That’s according to Bloomberg, which reported that the fire was raging near a town 25 miles from Fort McMurray. The report recalled that eight years ago another wildfire forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of locals and the suspension of some 1 million barrels of oil in daily production. There were production shut-ins in Canada last year…

Crude oil prices began the week with a loss as fears of an escalation between Iran and Israel dissipated. The latest events in the Middle East appear to have convinced traders there is no immediate danger of an all-out war, so they are unloading their oil positions. This brought Brent crude down below $87 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate to below $83 per barrel. This is bad news for Saudi Arabia, which needs oil prices close to $100 per barrel to balance its budget, according to a new estimate by the International Monetary Fund, which attributed the…

Crude oil prices began the week with a loss as fears of an escalation between Iran and Israel dissipated. The latest events in the Middle East appear to have convinced traders there is no immediate danger of an all-out war, so they are unloading their oil positions. This brought Brent crude down below $87 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate to below $83 per barrel. This is bad news for Saudi Arabia, which needs oil prices close to $100 per barrel to balance its budget, according to a new estimate by the International Monetary Fund, which attributed the…

A couple of days ago, we reported that scores of beleaguered solar companies in Europe are fleeing the continent amid intense competition from China and setting up shop in the U.S., thanks to the latter’s favorable solar and clean energy policies. Notably, Swiss solar module maker Meyer Burger has announced plans to wind up panel production in Germany and move to the United States after failing to garner support from the German federal government. Similarly, battery company Freyr has stopped work at…

The price of carbon dioxide on the European Union’s emissions trading markets, ETS, has taken a bad tumble. On the face of it, this is good news—it means industries covered by the scheme are emitting less. But in this case, fewer emissions mean less money for the transition. Earlier this year, the price per carbon permit on the ETS dropped to the lowest in over two years, at 55 euro, equal to some $58. The drop came as a surprise to ETS architects and supporters in Brussels, who had plans for much higher emission prices with a view…

Renewable energy installations reached record highs in 2023, growing at their fastest pace in decades. 510 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy were added worldwide, representing a 50% increase from 2022, according to figures from the International Energy Agency (IEA)’s annual flagship report on the global status of renewable energy. Projections show that the sector’s expansion will continue to accelerate, with an anticipated 2.5-fold increase by 2030. While this is a promising trend in the right direction, however, experts…

Almost the entire global population breathes air that exceeds the air quality limits set by the World Health Organization (WHO). In this graphic, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu maps the world’s most polluted countries according to IQAir, ranked by their annual average PM2.5 concentration (μg/m³) in 2023. The unit μg/m³ refers to micrograms per cubic meter. What is PM2.5? PM2.5 refers to fine particulate matter, with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less, that can travel deep into your lungs and cause health problems. In 2021,…

Aviation companies worldwide have increasingly been investing in research and development into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to help decarbonise their flights. The aviation sector is considered a hard-to-abate industry, as there is no clear alternative to fossil fuels that can be used to power commercial flight. And yet, governments worldwide are putting increasing pressure on companies to make their operations greener. The most promising fossil fuel alternative to date is SAF, which many airlines are now mixing with conventional fuels to reduce…