BUSINESS
Trade wars won’t make American farming great again
The US trade war will hurt food exports and increase the agricultural trade deficit
BUSINESS
The black market for oil will continue to thrive
Unless Western governments are ready to accept higher prices, Russia, Venezuela and Iran will continue to evade sanctions
BUSINESS
US reliance on Saudi Oil is nearing its endgame
The energy market is no longer a constraint on American foreign policy in the Middle East.
WORLD
Oil Markets: OPEC+ faces an internal foe in 2025 — Kazakhstan
The cartel will find one of its members chafing even more than usual against oil production quotas
WORLD
Oil's war premium will fade after Israel's strike on Iran
The first tentative conclusions from the bombing are bearish
BUSINESS
Coal is powering the energy transition more than we’d like to admit
Electricity consumption is accelerating faster than renewable sources can provide for it. And so the world keeps turning to the dirtiest of fossil fuels
WORLD
Middle East War: Saudi Arabia practices neutrality on Iran and Israel
Arab nations in the Persian Gulf are now whispering neutrality when it comes to Israel and Iran
BUSINESS
The cheating game inside the OPEC+ oil cartel
The group can’t blame anyone but itself for some members’ noncompliance
BUSINESS
OPEC+ Faces a New Problem: A Texas gas pipeline
The new path to market for Permian Basin shale gas could could foil oil producers’ plan to curb output
BUSINESS
Big oil’s buyback bonanza for investors has a sustainability issue
The industry has enjoyed a bonanza leading to bumper payouts to shareholders via buybacks, but sustainability remains in question
BUSINESS
OPEC+ delays oil output hike kicking the can down a very uphill road
With prices slipping, the cartel delays a planned supply increase
BUSINESS
Food costs are falling, as farmers help slay the inflation dragon
Bumper harvests in wheat, corn and soybeans mean food prices are falling
WORLD
LNG: Europe’s energy savior is a vulnerability
The continent hasn’t emerged from its energy crisis yet
WORLD
OPEC+ says goodbye to its $100-a-barrel oil quest
Pumping more crude now can be advantageous. But the shift comes at a difficult time for Saudi Arabia
BUSINESS
Biden, BP and the high-stakes sequel to deepwater horizon
The British petroleum giant is back in the Gulf of Mexico as the US gets stuck between the black stuff and going green
BUSINESS
US: $200 billion of M&A wasn't enough in oil patch
The industry consolidated over the last decade in part thanks to moderating oil prices. There are still too many energy companies chasing too little capital
BUSINESS
Exxon’s $60 billion fight with Chevron will reshape big oil
The rights to an offshore field containing 11 billion barrels of oil are at stake in an arbitration dispute
BUSINESS
Chocoholics won’t be the only victims of cocoa’s surge
The cocoa deficit is so large — three consecutive years of shortfalls, and potentially a fourth one coming — that sky-high prices are needed to curb consumption meaningfully. But the last few weeks of daily record highs have more to do with financial factors than fundamentals. Meanwhile, there is growing concern about the generally small sized trading firms in the cocoa sector collapsing
BUSINESS
Expect nickel and gas prices to be lower for longer
Irreversible reduction in production costs of nickel and gas mean that conventional wisdom of commodities markets – low prices cure low prices, and high prices cure high prices – has been turned on its head. It may be bad news for producers – and their shareholders — but cheap nickel and US gas are good news for the planet
INDIA
Qatar’s gas push has a hidden motive — Murdering coal
By flooding the market, the Middle Eastern country is hoping to make LNG plentiful and cheap enough to stimulate demand. Put simply: Qatar is trying to reassure Asian nations they can count on gas providing the necessary bridge to kill coal without risking either their finances or their energy security
BUSINESS
OPEC+ can trade short-term oil pain for long-term gain
Strategically, pumping more oil will put a lid on oil prices. With Brent trading comfortably above $80 a barrel, the cartel risks stoking growth of its arch-rivals in Texas and New Mexico. Better to accept some short-term pain now, in the form of somewhat lower prices, to win a larger market share later
BUSINESS
Surging Cocoa Prices: A meltdown in chocolate is coming
The world needs higher cocoa prices to encourage re-planting millions of old trees. If every farmer applied a little more fertilizer, and had pesticides at hand, production could recover. That, or projected chocolate demand growth needs to slow, if not fall. Market forces will eventually rebalance the market, but everyone must brace for a few years of higher prices
BUSINESS
Big oil’s boring quarter was great news for investors
ExxonMobil Corp, Chevron Corp and Shell Plc all did in the fourth quarter what they’d promised: Start new oil and gas projects; cut costs; reward shareholders. Together, the Big Three returned more than $80 billion to shareholders last year, up from $78 billion in 2022 despite lower oil and gas prices, lower refining margins and fewer trading opportunities
WORLD
The world is transitioning to American oil from Saudi crude
By scrapping Aramco's expansion plan, Riyadh has conceded what was already an open secret: There’s insufficient demand for so much extra Saudi oil in the foreseeable future. That, however, is very different from saying that global appetite for additional crude is diminishing. World oil demand is poised to accelerate before peaking later in the 2030s, much of it from American sources
