Exxon will pause for several weeks oil production at two platforms offshore Guyana in the third quarter of 2024 to connect them to a new pipeline expected to bring the associated natural gas onshore to a gas-fired power plant. Exxon, whose consortium produces more than 600,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Guyana’s prolific Stabroek block, is working with the government of Guyana on a gas-to-energy project expected to use the associated gas in a new combined-cycle power plant onshore. The proposed project would bring associated…

Abandoning petrol-burning vehicles and adopting low-­carbon technologies to power tomorrow's economy are trends accelerating across the nation. To do this, access to rare earth metals, key ingredients in many of these 'green' technologies, must be sourced domestically - not from China, an emerging national security threat to the US. As the world fractures into a multipolar state, there is a big push domestically to revive America's metals and mining industry and reduce reliance on Asia.  Morgan Stanley analyst Carlos De Alba recently conveyed…

Dutch oil supermajor Shell is considering shifting its listing from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Telegraph reported on Monday, citing the company’s CEO.  According to the UK daily newspaper, Shell is considering “all options” as it bemoans under-appreciation on the London stock exchange.  Year-to-date, Shell PLC’s stock is up 8.68% at $71.63. Last week, Shell said it expected its Q1 natural gas production to beat guidance, though it cautioned that earnings would likely…

Via Metal Miner Nickel prices continued to the upside during the first half of March, taking a momentary pause from their long-term downtrend. However, prices found a peak by March 13, reaching their highest level since October 2023. Following that, the rally collapsed, and prices returned to the downside. Overall, nickel prices fell 5.56% month over month. The Stainless Monthly Metals Index (MMI) fell 3.16% from March to April. Falling Nickel Prices Temper Stainless Sentiment As usual, the Q1 stainless market experienced a seasonal pickup from…

Weaker coal prices and demand and mine closures due to safety checks are set to reduce coal output in China’s largest coal-producing province, Shanxi, by 4% this year, for the first time in seven years, according to a plan announced by the provincial government. Shanxi, which last year produced 29% of China’s coal, is set to see its coal production drop to 1.3 billion metric tons in 2024, from 1.36 billion tons produced in 2023, Reuters reported on Monday, quoting a post on the local government’s WeChat account. In February,…

Weaker coal prices and demand and mine closures due to safety checks are set to reduce coal output in China’s largest coal-producing province, Shanxi, by 4% this year, for the first time in seven years, according to a plan announced by the provincial government. Shanxi, which last year produced 29% of China’s coal, is set to see its coal production drop to 1.3 billion metric tons in 2024, from 1.36 billion tons produced in 2023, Reuters reported on Monday, quoting a post on the local government’s WeChat account. In February,…

From the first moment several months ago when the 7 October attacks by Hamas on numerous civilian targets in Israeli territory were planned by the terrorist organisation and its Iranian backers, Tehran’s key objective has been to widen that war into one involving multiple Arab states on the one side (tacitly backed by China and Russia), and on the other side Israel (and its key Western sponsors, especially the U.S). “We’ve known all along, as has Washington, that this was the plan which is why we’ve done everything to mitigate…

Russia’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports gained over 4% in the first quarter of this year as it increased output to replace sanctioned pipeline gas exports to Europe, Russia’s Kommersant newspaper reported on Monday.  Citing a 4.3% (8.7 million metric ton) increase in unsanctioned LNG exports in Q1 2024 based on data from Kpler, Kommersant.ru said exports to the European Union were rising, while those to Asia were declining. Russia’s LNG exports to Asia for the first quarter of the year saw a 7% decline, which was…

U.S. oil producers are not in a rush to significantly boost production despite oil prices hovering at a six-month high, as multi-year low natural gas prices are holding back drilling in parts of the Permian and costs have increased, analysts and industry executives tell Reuters. Last week, WTI crude prices hit their highest level of the year so far, and the highest since the middle of October 2023, amid geopolitical flare-ups in the Middle East and signs of tightening oil markets. But producers in America, where part of the natural gas is…

Africa’s biggest crude oil producer, Nigeria, is expected to receive a $1 billion loan from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) next month as part of a larger crude oil prepayment facility aimed at shoring up forex reserves and boosting the economy.   “The verification of the crude availability has happened so we expect in the next month to finalize the release of the balance,” Denys Denya, senior executive vice president for finance, administration, and banking at Afreximbank, told Bloomberg. “Based on future…

Fundamentals and geopolitics pushed oil prices to above $90 per barrel last week as more market participants have become bullish on crude.  After sitting on the sidelines in a more risk-off approach for nearly a year, a growing number of financial market participants now believe that oil is a buy, according to Mike Muller, Head of Asia at the world's largest independent oil trader, Vitol.       As Brent oil prices broke above $85 and then $90 per barrel earlier this month, some short-sellers decided…

While other international majors are closing down refineries or converting them to biofuel production, ExxonMobil is expanding its UK site and will start delivering diesel from the expanded Fawley refinery in early 2025. ExxonMobil is investing $1 billion (£800 million) in the main construction phase of a new low-sulfur diesel facility at the Fawley refinery, which is set to help meet Britain’s energy needs today and build the foundations for lower-carbon fuels in the future with the addition of a new hydrogen plant, the U.S. supermajor…

Oil prices retreated at the start of the week on signs that there is a possibility of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. Benchmarks began the week shedding some $1 per barrel, which pushed Brent crude below $90 and West Texas Intermediate below $86, after Israel moved some troops out of Gaza during the weekend. "It appears the catalyst is Israel saying it has withdrawn all troops except one brigade from the Southern Gaza strip, likely in response to growing international pressure and to deescalate tensions after it killed…

Natural gas prices are falling all over the world. There is abundant supply, and demand has been lukewarm this northern hemisphere winter, which was relatively mild. Indeed, the global gas market is in oversupply. This prompted Morgan Stanley to recently forecast a gas glut that we have not seen in decades. It was going to materialize as a result of strong growth in LNG production capacity, the bank’s commodity analysts said. They cited numbers showing that there was 400 million tons in such capacity to date, but another 150 million…

African and Western officials are concerned that the conflicts and coups in the Sahel region could spill over to the coast of West Africa, which hosts several major oil production projects and export terminals. Since 2020, there have been military coups in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, while violence from Islamist insurgents has spiked in recent months. Anxiety has grown over potential spillovers of extremist violence into the coastal countries in West Africa, including Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Togo, all west of Nigeria, Africa's top crude…

Geothermal energy provides one of the cleanest and most consistent sources of renewable energy on Earth. In theory, there is enough geothermal energy under the Earth’s crust to sustainably power the entire planet – so why aren’t we using so incredibly little of it? The issue is tapping into that radiant heat – only a tiny fraction of the Earth’s thermal energy can be accessed profitably. But a team of researchers out of MIT thinks they may have achieved a technological breakthrough with the ability to tap into a whole…

The technology is commercially viable and has the potential to revolutionize gold recovery from electronic waste.ETH Zurich researchers have recovered gold from electronic waste. Their highly sustainable new method is based on a protein fibril sponge, which the scientists derive from whey, a food industry byproduct. The researchers demonstrated this in their paper that has been published in the journal Advanced Materials. Gold recovery with an organic process. Image Credit: ETH Zurich. Click the study paper link for the largest view. Transforming…

While the West has worked hard to wean itself off of Russian fossil fuels in the wake of the country’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin is still raking in the rubles from strong nuclear sector exports. As a result, the Ukraine war grinds on as Russia has managed to sidestep much of the economic damage that sanctions were expected to deliver. However, while the Russian economy is surviving, it certainly isn’t thriving.  In order to stay afloat, Russia needs to explore more alliances and…