News
Japan has made the first commitments under a $550-billion investment program that made part of its trade deal with President Trump. Those first commitments are worth $36 billion and include what Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has called “the largest natural gas generation facility in history.” The U.S. and Japan sealed a trade deal last summer, featuring a reduction in proposed tariffs—from 25% to 15%—on Japanese imports and a $550-billion Japanese investment pledge for the U.S. economy. Japan also pledged under the deal…
The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 609,000 barrels in the week ending February 13, after increasing by 13.4 million barrels in the week prior. Inventories in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) keep climbing week after week. The Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories rose by 200,000 barrels to 415.4 million barrels in the week ending February 13. This is 310.1 million barrels shy of maximum capacity. US production stopped its fifth week in a row losing…
Shares of BHP Group, the world's largest miner, jumped to a record high in Australia after it posted earnings at the top end of Wall Street expectations. The miner's pivot into copper, aided by a surging rally in industrial metals, offset softer conditions in its iron ore unit. BHP chief executive Mike Henry reaffirmed to investors earlier on a call that the miner is pivoting toward "future-facing" metals. In other words, he explained that the world's largest miner's shift away from operations focused on serving China's steel mills has paid off,…
The history of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), their danger to the ozone layer, and the drive to replace them reminds me of an observation from former CBS news correspondent and commentator Eric Sevareid: "[T]he real cause of problems is solutions." When chemists F. Sherwood Roland and Mario Molina asked where chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) go after leaking from refrigerators and air conditioners or being intentionally released from aerosol cans, they did not know that the answer would lead to the world-shaking discovery that these chemicals were threatening…
Near-term demand for Saudi Arabia’s oil in China is soaring after the Kingdom early this month slashed its official selling prices (OSPs) for Asia to the lowest level versus regional benchmarks in more than five years. In early February, Saudi Aramco cut the OSP of its flagship Arab Light for March loadings to parity with the Oman/Dubai average benchmark, off which the Kingdom prices its crude oil going to Asia. The cut of $0.30 per barrel, to parity with Oman/Dubai from a $0.30 a barrel premium for February, was the fourth consecutive cut…
