Energy

AgenciesOct.29 — Oil futures rose and were near multi-year highs as an energy supply crunch continued across the globe, while falling temperatures in China revived concerns over whether the world’s biggest energy consumer can meet domestic heating needs.The Brent crude benchmark rose 75 cents to settle at $85.08 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures rose 52 cents to settle at $82.96 a barrel.Prices have been climbing the last two months. Since the start of September, Brent has risen by about 19%, while WTI has gained around 21%.“Supply-demand balances show that the market is experiencing a supply deficit, which is spurring deep inventory draws and driving prices upwards,” said Louise Dickson, senior oil markets analy...

October 20, 2021 at 11:04 am | Economic Affairs

AgenciesNew York, Oct. 19 —— Oil prices pulled back after touching multi-year highs on Monday, trading mixed as U.S. industrial output for September trembled , tempering early enthusiasm about demand.Production at U.S. factories fell by the most in seven months in September as an ongoing global shortage of semiconductors depressed motor vehicle output, further evidence that supply constraints were hampering economic growth.“The oil market started off with a lot of exuberance, but weak data on U.S. industrial production caused people to lose confidence in demand, and China released data that intensified those worries,” said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group in New York.Brent crude oil futures settled down 53 cents or...

October 19, 2021 at 10:46 am | Economic Affairs

AgenciesOct. 19 — China's power shortages hit growth, threatening more pain for global supply chains, while Europe's gas squeeze looked set to continue as Russia's Gazprom showed no sign of hiking exports to the region in October.Coal, oil and gas prices have all rocketed higher in recent weeks hammering utilities and consumers from Beijing to Brussels, raising inflationary pressures and putting at risk a global recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.Europe, which relies on Russia for 35% of its gas supplies, has seen its benchmark gas price rise more than 350% this year. As a result, a slew of European firms that supply gas or power to households and companies have folded.A dozen or so suppliers have already gone bust in Britain.In Asia, p...

October 19, 2021 at 10:44 am | Economic Affairs

AgenciesOct.18— Oil prices hit their highest level of years on Monday as demand recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, boosted by more custom from power generators turning away from expensive gas and coal to fuel oil and diesel.Brent crude oil futures rose 63 cents, or 0.7%, to $85.49 a barrel by 0645 GMT, after hitting a session-high of $86.04, the highest price since October 2018.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 95 cents, or 1.2%, to $83.23 a barrel, after hitting a session-high of $83.73, highest since October 2014.Both contracts rose by at least 3% last week.“Easing restrictions around the world are likely to help the recovery in fuel consumption,” analysts from ANZ bank said in a note on Monday, adding that...

October 18, 2021 at 3:22 pm | Economic Affairs

AgenciesOct.15 — Oil prices kept on climbing, heading for gains of more than 2% for the week, on increasing signs of robust demand and tighter supplies over the next few months as rocketing gas and coal prices stoke a switch to oil products.Brent crude futures rose 62 cents, or 0.7%, to $84.62 a barrel at 0622 GMT, after picking up 82 cents in the previous session. Front-month prices are set to rise for the sixth straight week, up 2.7% this week.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 56 cents, or 0.7%, to $81.87 a barrel, adding to an 87 cent jump on Thursday. The contract is heading for a 3.2% gain on the week, up for the eighth consecutive week.Analysts pointed to a sharp drop in OECD oil stockpiles, to their lowest leve...

October 15, 2021 at 11:47 am | Economic Affairs

AgenciesBEIJING, Oct15 — China’s energy crisis deepened as fuel prices registered to record highs on Friday following cold weather swept into much of the country and power plants scrambled to stock up on coal.The most-active January Zhengzhou thermal coal futures hit a record high of 1,669.40 yuan ($259.42) per tonne early on Friday. The contract has risen more than 200% year to date.Electricity demand to heat homes and offices is expected to soar this week as strong cold winds move down from northern China. Forecasters predict average temperatures in some central and eastern regions could fall by as much as 16 degrees Celsius in the next 2-3 days.Shortages of coal, high fuel prices and booming post-pandemic industrial demand have spar...

October 15, 2021 at 11:44 am | Economic Affairs

AgenciesBEIJING, Oct,—— China will further liberalise pricing for coal-fired electricity and force industrial and commercial power consumers to buy from the market in its latest attempt to deal with an energy crisis that could cripple its economy this winter and into next year.National Development and Reform Commission said in a statement on Tuesday, that effective on Oct. 15, all electricity generated from coal-fired power will be priced via market trading, and that commercial users will have to buy direct from the market or via agents over the grid “as soon as possible”.A widening power crunch in China has forced production curbs across industries such as cement, steel and aluminium as power producers, unable to pay sky-rocketing...

October 12, 2021 at 11:11 pm | Economic Affairs

AgenciesOct.12– Oil prices edged down Tuesday, dropping for the first time in four days, analysts called a breather after weeks of gains fuelled by a rebound in global demand that is contributing to energy shortages in major economies.Power prices have risen to records in recent weeks, driven by energy shortages in Asia, Europe and the United States. Soaring natural gas prices are also encouraging power generators to swap the cleaner-burning fuel for oil.Brent crude was down 6 cents at $83.59 a barrel at 0440 GMT, after touching three-year highs on Monday on the way to a 1.5% advance.U.S. oil fell 13 cents to $80.39 a barrel, having also gained 1.5% in the previous session, in which it reached the highest in around seven years.“There i...

October 12, 2021 at 12:13 pm | Economic Affairs

AgenciesLAUNCESTON: Seaborne thermal coal prices in Asia climbed to fresh record highs last week, with early signs of rising exports not enough to eclipse concerns over coal shortages in top importers China and India.Index has risen by almost 160% since the week to April 30, when it ended at $88.52 and was the last week the price fell from the prior seven-day period.In contrast to the demand destruction likely being seen in India, China's imports have been stronger in year-on-year terms in recent weeks, even if they are still below the peak from last winter and during the peak summer demand period.Benchmark price for Australian high-grade thermal coal at Newcastle Port, as assessed by commodity price reporting agency Argus, jumped to $229....

October 11, 2021 at 3:37 pm | Economic Affairs

AgenciesOct. 8 — Oil prices jacked up Friday by than 4% on week following global energy crunch has pushed prices to their highest since 2014.Earlier in week, Brent hit a three-year high of $83.47.OPEC and allied producers said they would stay the course of gradually bringing back production cuts with global energy demand growing.Meanwhile U.S government said it was monitoring energy markets, which did not announce immediate plans for actions to lower prices. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude touched a high above $80 a barrel briefly.“Oil prices are surging as U.S. Department of Energy has backed off from plans that could curb prices by releasing SPR crude oil and banning U.S. crude exports,” said Phil Flynn, senior anal...

October 9, 2021 at 12:40 am | Economic Affairs

AgenciesBEIJING, Oct. 8 — China ordered miners in Inner Mongolia to ramp up coal production following oil prices jumped on Friday as a record surge in the cost of gas revived demand for the most polluting fossil fuels to keep factories open and homes heated.governments scrambling as the northern hemisphere heads into winter besides rebound in economic activity from coronavirus restrictions has exposed alarmingly low supplies of natural gas leaving traders, industry executives andEnergy crisis, which has led to fuel shortages and blackouts in some countries, has highlighted the difficulty in cutting the global economy's dependency on fossil fuels as world leaders seek to revive efforts to tackle climate change at talks next month in Glasg...

October 8, 2021 at 6:35 pm | Economic Affairs

AgenciesSINGAPORE, Oct 8 — Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) prices for Asia escalated this week following world’s top buyer China faced an ongoing power crunch in addition of low inventory in Europe pushed up competition for the super-chilled fuel.Average LNG price for November delivery into Northeast Asia was estimated at about $37 per metric million British thermal units (mmBtu), up nearly 16% from the previous week, industry sources said.December delivery prices were estimated to be about $38 per mmBtu, they added.Price agency S&P Global Platts' Japan-Korea-Marker (JKM), which is widely used as a benchmark in the spot market, had surged to a record high of $56.326 per mmBtu on Wednesday, before easing later in the week.Gazprom's Chin...

October 8, 2021 at 6:34 pm | Economic Affairs

AgenciesLONDON, Oct. 7 — Soaring gas prices are likely to drive a switch to oil that boosts global crude demand by several hundred thousand barrels per day (bpd) squeezing already tight supply, analysts forecast.Natural gas prices, particularly in Europe, have spiked this year buoyed by a combination of low inventories, low supplies and higher Asian demand.The jump in energy costs has led manufacturers to curtail activity from Spain to Britain and helped sparked power crises in China.And the leap in gas prices is set to send the substitution of oil for gas to generate power to unprecedented levels, Swedish bank SEB has forecast.“This has never happened before at such a global scale. The market has always tried to substitute from costly...

October 7, 2021 at 7:39 pm | Economic Affairs

AgenciesHEMEL HEMPSTEAD, England, Oct. 4 — British military combat fatigues personnel walked in at a BP refinery Monday after government ordered army to help deliver fuel to help compensate for an acute shortage of truckers.Britain’s supply chains for everything from pork, petrol and poultry to medicines and milk have been strained to breaking point by shortages of labour in the wake of the Brexit and COVID crises.Panic buying of fuel amid the shortage of truckers triggered chaotic scenes across major cities last week with queues of drivers stacked up. Some have had fist fights over the pumps while others hoarded fuel in old water bottles.“As an extra precaution, we’ve put the extra drivers on,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s f...

October 4, 2021 at 1:49 pm | Economic Affairs

LONDON: Oil prices climbed more than a dollar on Wednesday, extending overnight gains, highlighting tight supply as demand improves.Prices were also supported as some OPEC members struggle to raise output and by a general sense of energy market shortages amid a power and gas crisis in Europe.US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $1.16, or 1.6%, to $71.65 a barrel by 1055 GMT, adding to a 35- cent gain from Tuesday.Brent crude futures climbed $1.08, or 1.4%, to $75.44 a barrel, after gaining 44 cents on Tuesday.The oil market's focus turned to concerns of tight supply, after Monday's pressure from broad market jitters over the possible default of Chinese property developer China Evergrande Group."Crude is supported by the API ...

September 22, 2021 at 9:24 pm | Economic Affairs

Lahore: 22 Sept— An increase of Rs 2.07 per unit in tariffs for Electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) of August 2021 has been sought by Central Power Purchasing Agency-Guaranteed (CPPA-G)under monthly FCA mechanism.CCPA-G data says that total cost of energy was Rs 103 billion. CPPA-G also sought previous adjustment/supplemental charges of Rs 3.283 billion against use of power of 7.48 GWh.According to CPPA-G total energy generated recorded at 15,679.72 GWh, at a basket price of Rs 6.4653 per unit.The sale to IPPs was reduced by 15.82 GWh, the price of which was Rs 279 million while the reduction in transmission losses was recorded at 476.63 GWh, cost of which is Re 0.20 per unit.National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) w...

September 22, 2021 at 11:03 am | Economic Affairs