Just days after the Biden administration signed a new military aid package worth billions of dollars to Ukraine, Kyiv launched a series of suicide drone attacks on Russian oil refineries. Biden's top officials have pleaded with Kyiv to stop attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure because of the fears that turmoil in crude markets would send pump prices in the US higher ahead of the presidential elections in November.  "Our region is again under attack by Ukrainian UAVs," Smolensk Governor Vasily…

Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) booked slightly higher earnings for the first quarter than analysts had expected, thanks to higher oil and gas production that offset part of the weaker refined product margins and low natural gas prices. Chevron reported on Friday earnings of $5.5 billion, or $2.97 per share, for the first quarter of 2024, down from $6.6 billion, or $3.46 per share, for the first quarter last year.   Analysts had expected earnings per share of $2.92 for January to March 2024. The annual drop in Q1 earnings…

Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) booked slightly higher earnings for the first quarter than analysts had expected, thanks to higher oil and gas production that offset part of the weaker refined product margins and low natural gas prices. Chevron reported on Friday earnings of $5.5 billion, or $2.97 per share, for the first quarter of 2024, down from $6.6 billion, or $3.46 per share, for the first quarter last year.   Analysts had expected earnings per share of $2.92 for January to March 2024. The annual drop in Q1 earnings…

Oil prices are set to post a gain this week as a combination of inventory declines, a slowdown in U.S. manufacturing, and escalating tensions in the Middle East boost bullish sentiment. Friday, April 26th 2024Even if headed towards the first weekly gain since early April, oil prices have so far failed to break out above the psychologically important $90 per barrel mark. A higher-than-expected draw in US crude inventories, a notable slowdown in US manufacturing that sparked hopes of a June interest rate cut, and continuing tensions in…

1. BHP-Anglo Merger Could Create World’s Largest Copper Miner - The global mining sector might see a whirlwind of M&A activity over the upcoming weeks should the world’s largest miner BHP Group succeed in taking over Anglo American, its UK-based peer. - Potentially creating the world’s largest copper mining company, BHP’s power move is conditional upon AngloAmerican first splitting off its South African platinum and iron ore units. - AngloAmerican shareholders, with the company currently boasting a $34 billion…

June West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures have experienced significant volatility this week, ultimately poised to close higher following a late-week recovery. This recovery was significantly influenced by positive economic remarks from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, which countered earlier market fears driven by economic data and geopolitical developments. Economic Weakness and Market Sentiments Throughout the week, oil markets were beleaguered by concerns over a slowing economy exacerbated by persistently high interest rates.…

Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict The UN envoy for Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, has resigned from his post, slamming the country’s rival parties and external meddlers for making it impossible to work toward elections and political stability. Bathily sees further instability on the horizon in Libya. He also struck out against dangerous external actors who are meddling in other countries from Libya. While Bathily’s resignation is not hugely significant, the reasons for it are, and his absence is likely to lead to an uptick in destabilizing…

By the time you read this, it is likely that the two largest American oil companies, Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX), will have reported their calendar Q1 results, due out on Friday morning. We cannot know at this point exactly what they will say, but based on analysts’ estimates we can be pretty sure that both will report EPS that is significantly less than they showed in the same quarter last year. That is a dynamic that is expected to apply to most of the energy sector, and yet, as this chart for the SPDR Energy sector ETF (XLE) shows,…

Europe is on edge, more so now that the U.S. has approved a $61-billion aid package to Ukraine after much stalling. The spy dens of the Cold War are back in operation, and the propaganda machines are running in full force, far beyond anything the Cold War could have produced and spread. Germany has detained two suspected Russian spies for allegedly planning to sabotage U.S. military facilities there. Germany has also arrested four others for spying for China. One of those arrested was tied to the top candidate for European elections in June for…

ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) reported on Friday underwhelming earnings for the first quarter that were lower than consensus estimates, due to declining natural gas prices and refining margins and non-cash adjustments. The U.S. supermajor booked first-quarter earnings of $8.2 billion, down from $11.4 billion for the first quarter of 2023. Earnings per share were $2.06 for the first quarter of 2024, down from $2.79 for the same period last year. Exxon’s Q1 2024 earnings per share were below the analyst consensus forecast of $2.19 compiled…

Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) reported lower-than-forecast profits for the first quarter of the year, as refining margins halved from the year-ago period and refinery maintenance affected product sales. The U.S. refiner reported on Friday first-quarter earnings of $748 million, down from $1.3 billion for the fourth quarter and $1.96 billion for the first quarter of 2023.   Adjusted earnings per share for Q1 2024 came in at $1.90, below the analyst consensus estimate of $2.20 in The Wall Street Journal. Lower refining margins…

The fact that a record 90% share of all new car sales in Norway are electric has failed to make any impact on the country’s oil demand, indicating that hopes of rising EV uptake making an immediate dent in global oil demand are unrealistic.   Last year, 82.4% of all new passenger cars sold in Norway were fully electric, up from 79.3% in 2022, according to the Norwegian Public Roads Administration and the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV). This share has jumped to over 90% this year, but the impact on Norway’s oil demand…

The global economy is likely to continue on its current strong course, according to a poll among economists conducted by Reuters. While this is bullish for oil, some of the implications will likely keep prices range-bound. Global GDP growth could reach 2.9% this year, the 500 respondents Reuters polled said. This means that central banks will be hard put to start cutting rates, meaning borrowing costs will remain elevated for longer. "We are continuing to be surprised by the resilience of the global economy. Now, part of that is we entered…

China’s dominance over EV supply chains risks making U.S. subsidies for the industry unusable, South Korea has said. Subsidies for EV manufacturing, including components, under the Inflation Reduction Act seek to reduce sourcing from China. Yet China controls almost the entire EV supply chain. This means few if any companies involved in EV manufacturing in the U.S. would be able to benefit from the incentives, South Korea’s trade minister told the Financial Times. According to data from Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, Chinese…

The entire base metal complex has been bullish in the current year, led by a 37% surge by tin and 17% by copper despite a weaker Chinese market and the U.S. dollar strengthening against major world currencies. Last week, copper prices soared to a two-year high just shy of $10,000 per ton largely spurred by a combination of positive investor interest--as evidenced by increasing bullish positions in Comex futures--and supply concerns due to mine-supply downgrades. Still, the Chinese market continues to send mixed signals. On one hand, macro…

U.S. natural gas producers and shippers could be one of the big winners of the latest advances in Artificial Intelligence.  The surge in data centers amid the booming AI technology development is set to lead to higher U.S. natural demand and prices by the end of the decade, according to investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.    Natural Gas To Meet Some of Power Demand Spike Electricity demand to power the data centers is soaring and so is demand for grid connections. While many tech companies prefer to power their AI development…

Heat pumps are hotting up as governments worldwide search for alternatives to gas boilers. They can both warm and cool buildings and are powered by electricity, rather than fossil fuels, helping to decarbonise homes and offices. Governments worldwide are beginning to invest heavily in the technology as they strive to trade old boilers out for innovative heat pump technology to support a green transition. We have long relied on fossil fuels to heat residential and office buildings. Most boilers continue to be powered by natural gas, which contributes…

University of Michigan engineers have designed new chemical reactor to make an important ingredient for plastics, adhesives, carpet fibers, household cleaners and more from natural gas. The idea could reduce manufacturing costs in a post-petroleum economy by millions of dollars. The research paper has been published in the journal Science. The reactor creates propylene, a workhorse chemical that is also used to make a long list of industrial chemicals, including ingredients for nitrile rubber found in automotive hoses and seals as well as blue…

Chevron launched its first production at its Tengiz oilfield expansion project in Kazakhstan on Thursday, with completion of the final phase of the expansion set for the first half of next year, enabling an additional 260,000 barrels per day of crude oil output, or an additional 12 million tons per year.  “This is a significant step towards completion of the Future Growth Project (FGP). It is also important progress for the modernization of the existing base business at Tengiz and demonstrates TCO’s commitment to safely and reliably…

Via SchiffGold.com, What is Nvidia? If you’re a committed gamer the question may sound like nonsense. Nvidia, which was founded in 1993, is a tech company that makes GPUs and other products. It originally specialized in making products for the video game industry, that assisted in 3D rendering. If you were a committed gamer, you probably owned their products. If you weren’t, you might not have heard of them. But with sudden advances in artificial intelligence, it has been everywhere in the news because its products can also be used…