Oil prices settled higher Friday but fell around 4% for the week, their second straight weekly loss. In late-morning trading today, WTI futures were up 5.9% at $110.90/bbl, Brent was up 6.6% at $115.00/bbl and U.S. natural gas was up 0.6% at $4.90/MMBtu.
OPEC+ production fell short of targets by 1 million bpd last month, even greater than January’s underproduction.
The global oil market is set for a 700,000-bpd supply deficit in the second quarter, the International Energy Agency said. The group cut its demand forecast by over 1 million bpd for the rest of the year and said consumers in advanced economies should travel less, drive slower and use more public transport to cut down on usage.
Russia’s top gas supplier Gazprom has not booked any space to send natural gas to Germany via the Yamal-Europe pipeline for the month. The supplier is also keeping its current gas transit volumes through Ukraine for April, failing to offer any additional capacity for the nation.
Italy will impose a windfall profit tax of 10% on some energy companies to finance a $5 billion package to protect consumers and businesses from soaring prices.
The U.S. Gulf Coast will see LNG plant construction accelerate in the coming months, with five projects approved in Louisiana and another seven in Texas and Mississippi.
American energy producer Venture Global LNG struck supply deals that will make it one of China’s largest sources of LNG.
U.S. oil exports to India are expected to rise some 11% this year, reports say.
Saudi Aramco’s net profit more than doubled to $110 billion in 2021, the highest since its shares began trading publicly in 2019. The company pledged to hike investments by around 50% this year toward sharply increasing crude and gas production by the end of the decade.
Canadian oil sands producers are set to increase free cash flow by over 60% this year as high oil prices offset heavy upfront investments made years ago.
Shell is taking a second go at gaining approval from British regulators for a large North Sea gas field after the producer’s first plan was rejected over environmental concerns.
The share of U.S. power generation from renewables will more than double from the current 21% to 44% by 2050, the Energy Information Administration predicts.
Equinor expects renewable energy to account for at least 10% of its energy output by 2030.
Occidental Petroleum’s new agreement to sell carbon credits to Airbus could justify the producer to go forward with building the world’s largest carbon capture plant, a key part of its budding energy transition business.
With labor talks for West Coast dockworkers set to begin in the coming months, shippers are preemptively pulling forward holiday-season orders and diverting more cargo to East Coast and Gulf Coast ports.
Throughput at the Port of Los Angeles hit a record 857,764 TEUs in February, up 7.3% from the same time last year. February volumes at the Port of Long Beach rose 3.2% from last year after hitting an all-time high the previous month.
More than 35 ships are waiting to dock in Shenzhen and another 30 are waiting further north in Qingdao, as on-land backups — including warehouse closures and frequent COVID-19 screenings for truckers — slow the movement of cargo in major trade hubs.
U.S. diesel prices averaged a record-high $5.25 per gallon last week, up 40¢ from the previous week and $1 from two weeks earlier.
U.S. rail carloads were up an annual 3.2% and intermodal units were down an annual 7.2% for the first 10 weeks of the year, according to the Association of American Railroads.
Snowplow driver shortages were rampant this winter as state transportation agencies faced greater competition for drivers from private sector driving services.
Over 90% of long-haul truckers — roughly 500,000 U.S. workers — could eventually be replaced by self-driving technology, a new study from the University of Michigan suggests.
CMA CGM is expanding its fleet with orders for a 23,000-TEU megaship, a 7,400-TEU mid-size vessel and charters for at least three under-construction neo-panamax boxships.
Despite a $1 billion revenue gain last quarter, FedEx’s ground parcel unit suffered a $61 billion profit decline due to inefficiencies caused by labor shortages.
Demand for smaller bulk-size carriers could drop after Russia’s ban on certain exports punctures 15% of global trade in fertilizers, among other implications. The Green Markets North American Fertilizer Price Index has doubled in the last 12 months to a new record.
U.S. existing home sales fell 7.2% to a six-month low in February, reflecting rising mortgage rates and continued short supply.
China’s CATL, the world’s biggest maker of batteries for electric vehicles, is considering sites across North America for a massive $5 billion plant to supply customers, including Tesla.
GM invested another $3.5 billion in its self-driving Cruise unit after Japan’s SoftBank Group pulled its investment over questions about the unit’s ability to generate revenue.
The U.S.’s largest credit-reporting firms agreed to cut around 70% of medical debt in collections accounts from credit reports, a significant constraint for many consumers seeking to borrow.
Investors poured over $90 billion last year into companies tied to sustainability efforts.
Agricultural firms, such as Cargill Inc., Bayer AG and Archer Daniels Midland, have opted to continue their operations in Russia due to humanitarian concerns regarding food availability for residents of the nation and other countries.
Hong Kong is easing its zero-tolerance stance against COVID-19, restoring some flights, and reducing quarantine requirements and other restrictions in the face of stiff opposition from businesses and citizens. Nearly 23,000 residents left the city last week to escape the lockdown.
South Korea reported 209,169 new COVID-19 infections Monday, down from a record 621,281 reported Thursday, though the fall in cases is likely attributed to less testing over the weekend, sparking concerns that infections rates could quickly rise again.
Vietnam announced plans to reopen its borders with minimal restrictions compared with the rest of Southeast Asia, requiring air travelers to provide a negative COVID-19 test but not quarantine or show proof of vaccination.
Japan will invest $42 billion in India over the next five years. Suzuki is putting $1.4 billion into an Indian factory to produce electric vehicles and batteries.
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