Wall Street Journal (August 1)
“President Trump moved Thursday to extend tariffs to essentially all Chinese imports, escalating a trade conflict that is poised to hit U.S. consumers in the pocketbook and roiling financial markets…. Wall Street was rattled by the news.” The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all closed lower. “Oil prices sank almost 8%, their biggest drop since February 2015.”
Tags: China, Dow Jones, Financial markets, Imports, Nasdaq, Oil, Rattled, Tariffs, Trade conflict, Trump, U.S. consumers, Wall Street
Wall Street Journal (June 18)
“The boom in U.S. oil production…has become a strategic advantage against authoritarian governments that want to use oil as a weapon. Europe’s weak economy doesn’t have to cope with an oil shock, and the U.S. can squeeze Iran’s exports without damaging the global economy.”
Tags: Authoritarian, Boom, Economy, Exports, Iran, Oil, Production, Shock, Strategic advantage, U.S., Weapon. Europe
Financial Times (March 26)
“Ten years ago, you knew where you stood with your energy suppliers. Oil companies sold road fuel, while utilities supplied electricity and gas. Today those lines of demarcation are blurring: utilities can fill up your car and oil companies want to keep your lights on.” This will make for a “period of intensified competition and instability, as companies that were previously able largely to forget about each other are now forced to battle for dominance.”
Tags: Blurring, Competition, Electricity, Energy, Fuel, Gas, Instability, Intensified, Oil, Suppliers, Utilities
LA Times (November 5)
Though the “Trump administration slapped tough U.S. sanctions on Iran’s energy, banking and shipping industries,” there are “gaping holes” as the White House “granted waivers to the six largest importers of Iranian oil.” China, India, South Korea, Turkey, Italy and Japan accounted for “more than 75% of Iran’s oil exports last year.”
Tags: Banking, China, Energy, Exports, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Oil, Sanctions, Shipping, South Korea, Trump, Turkey, U.S., Waivers
Oil Price.com (October 18)
“An estimated 20 million barrels are destined to flow from Iran to China over the next few weeks, up from the usual 1 to 3 million barrels each month.” The Trump administration is unlikely to halt Iranian oil. Furtive shipments from Iran to India” also “demonstrate the limits of U.S. power.” Even after the November 4 deadline, “discounts, off-the-books shipments, bartering and other clandestine maneuvers should keep some Iranian oil flowing.” The deals are simply too “hard to pass up for would-be buyers.”
Tags: Buyers, China, Clandestine, Deadline, Discounts, Furtive, India, Iran, Oil, Shipments, Trump, U.S.
The Economist (August 4)
“Earth is smouldering. From Seattle to Siberia this summer, flames have consumed swathes of the northern hemisphere.” And humanity is not rising to the challenge. Three years following the Paris Accord, “greenhouse-gas emissions are up again. So are investments in oil and gas. In 2017, for the first time in four years, demand for coal rose. Subsidies for renewables, such as wind and solar power, are dwindling.” While “it is tempting to think these are temporary setbacks and that mankind, with its instinct for self-preservation, will muddle through to a victory over global warming. In fact, it is losing the war.”
Tags: Coal, Demand, Earth, Emissions, Gas, GHG, Global warming, Humanity, Oil, Paris accord, Renewables, Self-preservation, Setbacks, Smouldering, Solar power, Wind
Reuters (March 27)
Oil prices are holding firm, “supported by concerns that tensions in the Middle East could lead to supply disruptions, although further rises expected in U.S. crude output loomed over markets.”
Tags: Crude, Firm, Middle East, Oil, Output, Prices, Supply disruptions, Tensions, U.S.
Institutional Investor (March 1)
New York City “is aiming for full divestment of coal, oil, and gas from its $189 billion retirement system–but could get sued in the process” if such a move is deemed contrary to fiduciary duty. If they successfully divest the roughly $5 billion in assets linked to fossil fuel, however, “New York’s pension funds would be the first major U.S. retirement system to rid itself of fossil fuels.”
Tags: Coal, Divestment, Fiduciary duty, Fossil fuel, Gas, New York, Oil, Pension fund, Retirement
Newsweek (January 18)
“As 2018 begins, the United States has become the largest producer of gas, oil, and coal in history. Its stock market is at record levels. The economy is growing at a 3 percent rate—and unemployment may dip below 4 percent, even though some commentators have claimed over the last decade that it likely would never fall below 5 percent again. The auto, steel, manufacturing, financial, agricultural, and high-tech industries are ascendant.”
Tags: Coal, Economy, Gas, Manufacturing, Oil, Producer, Stock market, U.S., Unemployment
Nordic Business Insider (November 17)
“Norway’s $1 trillion pension fund wants to ditch all oil and gas stocks.” The irony of the proposed move is that the Government Pension Fund of Norway has become the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund by investing Norway’s oil and gas revenue. The move is not being proposed as a bet against petroleum, but rather to mitigate risk through diversification. “The fund’s exposure to fossil fuel markets is currently double that of a standard global fund.”
Tags: Diversification, Fossil fuel markets, Gas, Norway, Oil, Pension fund, Risk, Sovereign wealth, Stocks
