Category Archives: Commodities

Opec and allies extend oil production cuts to end of July

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Nigeria and Iraq also agree to cuts as prices begin to recover with coronavirus lockdowns easing

Opec, Russia and allies have agreed to extend record oil production cuts until the end of July, prolonging a deal that has helped crude prices double in the past two months by withdrawing almost 10% of global supplies from the market.

The group, known as Opec+, also demanded countries such as Nigeria and Iraq, which exceeded production quotas in May and June, compensate with extra cuts in July to September.

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Trafigura investigated for alleged corruption, market manipulation

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Exclusive: oil trading division of global commodities trader thought to be target of probe

Global commodities trader Trafigura is under investigation by US authorities for alleged corruption and market manipulation relating to oil trading, the Guardian has learned.

The Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is leading a far-reaching probe into the activities of the oil and metals trading house, including its operations in South America.

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Polémico proyecto de fracking en Argentina amenazado por la pandemia de coronavirus

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El confinamiento y la caída del precio del petróleo ponen en juego el futuro de un enorme yacimiento petrolífero argentino

En las próximas semanas, se esclarecerá si el mundo vuelve a los combustibles fósiles tras la pandemia o si da un paso adelante hacia una economía limpia, mientras el FMI (Fondo Monetario Internacional) y Argentina deciden si van a continuar ofreciendo su apoyo a los inmensos yacimientos de petróleo y gas de Vaca Muerta, en Patagonia.

El objetivo del proyecto es explotar el segundo depósito más grande de esquisto del planeta (después de la Cuenca Pérmica, en Texas), pero su futuro es incierto debido al confinamiento forzoso provocado por COVID-19, que ha causado el descenso más drástico en el precio del crudo de los últimos treinta años.

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Supertankers drafted in to store glut of crude oil

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Ships able to carry 2m barrels chartered for $335,000 a day to store oil unwanted during the Covid-19 pandemic

Giant oil tankers are being used to hold record amounts of crude at sea due to a global oversupply that threatens to overwhelm the world’s storage facilities.

A record 160m barrels of oil has been stored in “supergiant” oil tankers outside the world’s largest shipping ports following the deepest fall in oil demand in 25 years because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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EY ordered to pay whistleblower $11m in Dubai gold audit case

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Court rules accountancy firm breached code of ethics in its dealings with a refiner

A former partner at the accounting firm EY has been awarded $10.8m (£8.6m) in damages after being forced out of his job when he exposed professional misconduct during an audit of a Dubai gold refiner.

The high court in London ruled on Friday that EY had repeatedly breached the code of ethics for professional accountants in its dealings with one of its clients, Kaloti Jewellery International.

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Shell unveils plans to become net-zero carbon company by 2050

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Firm to cut carbon intensity by selling more green energy but critics say first step must be to stop new drilling

Royal Dutch Shell plans to become a net zero-carbon company by 2050 or sooner by selling more green energy to help reduce the carbon intensity of its business.

Ben van Beurden, Shell’s chief executive, said the company must focus on the long-term “even at this time of immediate challenge” caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Major oil-producing nations agree historic 10% cut in output

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Saudi Arabia and Russia reach truce after collapse in demand caused by coronavirus

The world’s largest oil producers have agreed a historic deal to cut global oil production by almost 10% to protect the market against the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Members of the Opec oil cartel and its allies have agreed to withhold almost 10m barrels a day from next month after the outbreak of Covid-19 wiped out demand for fossil fuels and triggered a collapse in global oil prices.

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Opec, Russia and other oil producers make draft deal to cut output

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Mexico holds out against scale of reductions which would amount to 10m barrels per day, or 10% of global supply

Opec countries and allies led by Russia have agreed in principle to cut their oil output by more than a fifth and said they expected the United States and other producers to join in their effort to prop up prices hammered in the coronavirus crisis.

But there was some confusion after Mexico apparently refused to sign up to its share of cuts under the deal, which would have been 400,000 barrels per day. The Mexican energy minister Rocio Nahle Garcia tweeted that her country had suggested a cut of 100,000 barrels.

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Oil rig closures rising as prices hit 18-year lows

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Global producers running out of storage for surplus due to coronavirus crisis

Global oil producers have begun shutting down their oil rigs on the largest scale in 35 years as the coronavirus continues to drive market prices to their lowest level since 2002.

Related: More than 4,000 North Sea oil rig jobs cut amid Covid-19 crisis

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Urgent call to head off new debt crisis in developing world

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Covid-19 crisis is raising borrowing costs for poorer nations just as commodity exports, tourism and remittances sent home fall

Rapid action is needed to head off the risk of a new debt crisis in the world’s poorest countries amid evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic is raising borrowing costs and hitting commodity exports, according to a leading campaign group.

A Jubilee Debt Campaign report said some of the world’s most vulnerable nations were being hit by a double whammy of increasing debt interest bills and the tumbling price of oil and other raw materials.

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FTSE on course for biggest fall since financial crisis

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World markets plunge on back of coronavirus-driven recession fears and threat of oil price war

Global stock markets have suffered their biggest falls since the 2008 financial crisis and trading was temporarily suspended on Wall Street after an oil price crash rattled investors fearing a coronavirus-driven global recession.

Dealing in shares on the main US indices was frozen within minutes of the opening bell, as circuit breakers were triggered by a 7% fall on the S&P 500. Once trading resumed 15 minutes later, the Dow Jones Industrial Average completed a fall of more than 2,000 points for the first time ever – a fall of more than 7%.

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Saudi Arabia price war wipes billions from value of major oil firms

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Royal Dutch Shell and BP lose more than £32bn from their combined market value

Saudi Arabia’s oil price war has wiped billions of pounds from the market value of the industry’s biggest companies after oil markets recorded one of the biggest price slumps in history.

The decision of the world’s largest oil-producing nation to increase its production even as the coronavirus outbreak stalls global oil demand triggered a 30% drop in oil prices on Monday morning.

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Oil price plunges 20% as Saudis vow to step up production

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Move follows Russian refusal to join Opec-led production cut aimed at keeping prices high

The price of crude oil has plunged by more than 20% after Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, said it would step up production from next month, flooding global markets and most likely depressing petrol and diesel prices.

Brent crude futures slid 30% to $31.02 a barrel in chaotic trade on Monday morning, before recovering slightly to $36.06, a drop of 20% on Friday night’s close. It was the worst one-day fall for brent since the start of the first Gulf war in 1991. US crude fell 27% to $30.

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World Bank accused over ExxonMobil plans to tap Guyana oil rush

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Washington DC-based bank grants funds to redraft south American state’s oil laws by lawyers linked to oil giant

The World Bank is to pay for Guyana’s oil laws to be rewritten by a legal firm that has regularly worked for ExxonMobil, just as the US producer prepares to extract as much as 8bn barrels of oil off the country’s coast.

The World Bank has pledged not to fund fossil fuel extraction directly, but it is giving Guyana millions of dollars to develop governance in its burgeoning oil sector, as the south American country prepares for an oil rush led by ExxonMobil and its partners.

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New train blockade piles pressure on Trudeau in Wet’suwet’en pipeline fight

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Group of about 20 blocked Canadian National Railway Co rail line near Edmonton, capital of the western province of Alberta

Demonstrators opposed to a Canadian gas pipelinehave blockaded another railway line in the west of the country, adding to pressure on Justin Trudeau to solve a two-week protest.

Freight traffic in eastern Canada has already been stopped for days after campaigners blockaded a main line in Ontario. Protesters across the country have taken up the cause of the Wet’suwet’en indigenous people who are seeking to stop the C$6.6bn (US$4.98bn) Coastal GasLink gas pipeline project in British Columbia.

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Oil and gas firms ‘have had far worse climate impact than thought’

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Study indicates human fossil methane emissions have been underestimated by up to 40%

The oil and gas industry has had a far worse impact on the climate than previously believed, according to a study indicating that human emissions of fossil methane have been underestimated by up to 40%.

Although the research will add to pressure on fossil fuel companies, scientists said there was cause for hope because it showed a big extra benefit could come from tighter regulation of the industry and a faster shift towards renewable energy.

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UK taxpayers funding African fossil fuel projects worth $750m

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Watchdog reveals huge sum ploughed into ‘world’s dirtiest fossil fuels’ despite climate vow

UK taxpayer funds totalling $750m (£577m) have been invested in new fossil fuel projects in developing African countries despite the government’s public commitment to tackling the climate crisis, according to an international watchdog.

Global Witness found that a London-based investment group raised $1bn from the UK government over 16 years and spent three-quarters of this supporting oil and gas projects in some of Africa’s poorest countries.

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Isabel dos Santos responds to Luanda Leaks investigation

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Former Angolan president’s daughter and her husband deny corruption accusations

Isabel dos Santos issued the following statement on Thursday after being formally named as a suspect by the Angolan attorney general in connection with a criminal inquiry into embezzlement at the state oil company Sonangol.

The allegations which have been made against me over the last few days are extremely misleading and untrue.

We will seek to clarify our position in relation to the latest accusations.

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Libya oil production nosedives as Haftar ignores calls to end war

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Increasingly erratic general shows no sign of relenting despite international pressure

Libya’s oil production and exports have almost ground to a halt as the increasingly unpredictable Gen Khalifa Haftar, the military leader in the country’s east, ignores international calls to seek a negotiated political settlement to the civil war.

World leaders had convened in Berlin on Sunday to endorse plans to entrench, monitor and enforce a ceasefire intended as a precursor to the disarming of militias and political talks in Geneva to build a reunified government, and a fair distribution of oil revenues between the east and west of the country.

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What are the Luanda Leaks?

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Leak has shown how Africa’s richest woman built her empire, but how did it happen?

Isabel dos Santos, the billionaire daughter of the former president of Angola, claims to be a self-made businesswoman, but a cache of documents investigated by the Guardian and partners appears to tell a different story.

The Luanda Leaks are a trove of 715,000 emails, charts, contracts, audits, and accounts that help explain how Dos Santos built a business empire worth an estimated $2bn.

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