Coal demand for power generation in China is set to be lower than previously thought due to high rainfall boosting hydropower production, according to China's Coal Transportation and Distribution Association. Hydropower generation in China jumped by 42.9% in the last third of April compared to the same period last year and is “very likely to maintain double-digit growth,” Reuters quoted Feng Huamin, an analyst at China Coal Transportation and Distribution Association, as saying at a market seminar on Wednesday. During the…

Global oil demand growth is expected at just 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) this year, due to weak first-quarter consumption in developed economies, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday, cutting its growth forecast by 140,000 bpd from its assessment last month. Weak deliveries of middle distillates in Europe and the United States were “enough to tip OECD oil demand in the first quarter back into contraction,” said the agency, whose demand growth projection is now less than half of the growth OPEC expects…

Bitcoin underwent its fourth “halving” earlier this month, and while this typically results in a bullish spike in prices, this year will see a major reckoning in this digital space–and the winners will be those with the lowest all-in costs and the smartest energy setup.  The path to profitability is paved by energy sources, with crypto mining now under intense scrutiny for threatening the stability of the grid and, in some cases, causing electricity prices to skyrocket on the excessive demand.  …

U.S. shale producers have been preaching and practicing capital discipline since the price crash of 2020 and haven’t deviated from their pledge to focus on shareholder returns instead of oil production growth since then. Some of the biggest independent U.S. shale firms may have started to finally please investors with meaningful returns, but they have angered consumers. Some of these consumers of retail gasoline, diesel, and marine fuels allege that the ‘discipline’ in capital allocation has actually been a collusion to boost…

Oil prices have pulled back sharply to a three-month low as a combination of demand concerns and easing geopolitical premium take a toll. Last week, the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) reported that U.S. crude inventories declined by 1.362 million barrels, smaller than the Wall Street consensus at 1.430 million barrels. The smaller-than-expected fall came hot on the heels of a large 7.3M-barrel build in U.S. crude stocks in the previous week, the largest weekly increase since February. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates…

The Middle East is expanding its renewable energy and clean tech sectors at an accelerated pace, as several countries plan for economic diversification beyond oil and gas. While fossil fuels may continue to provide massive revenues for countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, these Middle Eastern states are ensuring they hold a competitive position in the future of international energy through the development of major wind, solar, green hydrogen, and other renewable energy projects.  Several countries in the Middle East have long…

London-listed Anglo-American has unveiled a "clear, compelling, and decisive plan to unlock significant value from its portfolio." This strategy involves selling its platinum and diamond business units while concentrating on copper, positioning itself to prosper off the 'Next AI Trade' as data centers and power grids will use an enormous amount of the base metal to 'power up' the digital economy. Also, it's a move to thwart a hostile takeover attempt from BHP Group.  Anglo was forced to radically transform itself into…

Crude oil inventories in the United States fell this week by 3.104 million barrels for the week ending May 3, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API). Analysts had expected a 1 million barrel build. For the week prior, the API reported a 509,000 barrel build in crude inventories. On Tuesday, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by 0.6 million barrels as of May 10. Inventories are now at 367.8 million barrels—the highest point since last April, but well…

Recently the Senate Budget Committee held a hearing to discuss a recent report that accused “Big Oil” of a “decades-long deception campaign” to misinform the public about the dangers of climate change. Sharon Eubanks, a former federal litigator, proposed that the government should pursue legal action against the petroleum industry, drawing parallels to the litigation against Big Tobacco in the past. Eubanks, who previously led the racketeering lawsuit against the tobacco industry, argued that major oil and gas…

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to visit China on May 16-17 for discussions with President Xi Jinping, in part to discuss expanding energy and trade partnerships. The state visit, initiated by Xi, will cover topics such as China's Belt and Road Initiative as well as the situation in the Middle East and Asia, and Ukraine. Putin will be accompanied by key officials including Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu, foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, and executives from major…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has launched his fifth term with a rare shake-up of the government that analysts say is driven by the need to manage a long and increasingly costly war of aggression against Ukraine and the fallout from Moscow's mounting confrontation with the West. Putin on May 12 removed Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu – long seen as one of Putin's closest confidants and mentioned periodically as a possible presidential successor -- and replaced him with acting First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov, a 65-year-old economist…

Via Metal Miner The Construction MMI (Monthly Metals Index) remained firmly in a sideways trend, only budging upward by 1.28%. The rising price of iron ore PB fines in China had the heaviest impact on the index, holding it more up than down. After that, the next biggest factor was European commercial 1050 aluminum sheets. Meanwhile, all other components of the index’s metal prices trended sideways or down. Despite this, the recent ban on Russian aluminum and copper could impact aluminum and copper prices and snowball into the U.S. construction…

Kazakhstan reawakened a divisive issue among the OPEC+ group with regard to oil production quotas. Kazakhstan said on Tuesday that it felt it should be allowed to increase its crude oil production in 2025, Interfax reported, despite its membership in the group that seeks to maintain balance in the global crude oil markets. Kazakhstan’s energy ministry said it had not requested an increase to its allowable production levels for 2025. Kazakhstan, as a member of the OPEC+ group, stated its desire to pump more oil ahead of the OPEC+ meeting to…

AI washing might be a phenomenon you’ve never heard of, but it is rapidly on the rise. Overplaying claims about artificial intelligence in the hope of creating a ‘halo effect’ around their company and boosting their stock price is a new fad, spanning across a variety of sectors. The current wave of AI hype is boosting companies that emphasise their use of AI, with some, like Nvidia, seeing their stock price rise over 500 percent since the start of 2023. This has left many companies eager to jump on the bandwagon, even if their…

Armenia and Azerbaijan negotiators continue to disagree on key provisions of a bilateral peace treaty, officials in Yerevan and Baku said on May 11 after the foreign ministers of the two nations ended two days of fresh negotiations in Kazakhstan. The Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers were meeting in the Kazakh city, Almaty, in talks aimed at reaching a lasting peace treaty between the longtime South Caucasus rivals. “The parties agreed to continue negotiations on open issues where there are still differences,” both ministries…

The week began positively with robust U.S. gasoline demand and improved Chinese consumption, but optimism waned as Tuesday's higher-than-expected U.S. inflation data weighed on oil prices.Plunging Diesel Cracks Bring Refinery Run Cuts Back on the Agenda- Higher supply of diesel is eating into middle distillate cracks, with the profitability of making middle distillates halving compared to this year’s February peak levels, prompting run cuts in Europe and Asia.  - Asian diesel cracks have fallen to $15 per barrel, half of the $29 per…

Gasoline prices in the United States are expected to see a slight drop of up to 10 cents per gallon by Memorial Day weekend, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said on Tuesday. “I do not expect #gasprices to trend higher ahead of Memorial Day,” De Haan said on X today. “Prices could cycle in some areas that see such, which is normal, but I expect the national average to drop 5-10c/gal by the holiday weekend. Low-to-mid $3.50s/gal,” the petroleum analyst added. AAA estimates showed on…

U.S. oil and gas supermajor Chevron ousted Tesla to top the list of the most shorted large-cap stock in the Americas in April, the Shortside Crowdedness Report from Hazeltree showed on Tuesday.   Bets that Chevron’s shares would fall jumped in April as oil prices declined in the second half of the month with a tentative easing of the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. In addition, Chevron’s proposal to buy Hess is getting increased scrutiny from regulators and politicians, while the supermajor is locked in an arbitration…

Gasoline prices in the United States are expected to see a slight drop of up to 10 cents per gallon by Memorial Day weekend, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said on Tuesday. “I do not expect #gasprices to trend higher ahead of Memorial Day,” De Haan said on X today. “Prices could cycle in some areas that see such, which is normal, but I expect the national average to drop 5-10c/gal by the holiday weekend. Low-to-mid $3.50s/gal,” the petroleum analyst added. AAA estimates showed on…

Hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and battery electric vehicles made up 18% of all new light-duty vehicle sales in the first quarter of 2024, down from an 18.8% share in the fourth quarter of 2023. Battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales fell for the first time since the onset of Covid in 2020, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Tuesday, citing estimates from Wards Intelligence. This slight decline in the EV market share was driven primarily by a drop in BEV sales, which declined from 8.1% of the total light-duty…