Commodities

U.S. House panel subpoenas Big Oil in climate deception probe

By Timothy Gardner

Published

9 months ago

November 2, 2021

letizo News

U.S. House panel subpoenas Big Oil in climate deception probe

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) presides during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing to examine a Republican-led Arizona audit of the 2020 presidential election results in Arizo

By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The head of a U.S. House panel on Tuesday subpoenaed four major oil companies and two lobbying groups for documents related to their actions on global warming as part of a year-long probe into potential climate deception by the energy industry.

Representative Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat and the chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, issued subpoenas to Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:), Chevron Corp (NYSE:), BP (NYSE:) America and Shell (LON:) Oil, and to industry body the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The committee had asked the companies and organizations on Sept. 16 for documents on issues including their role in contributing to climate change, their marketing and lobbying efforts, and any funding of third parties to spread disinformation on climate.

“To date, none of the entities has substantially complied with the Committee’s requests” Maloney said on Tuesday in a memo https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/2021-11-2%20Fossil%20Fuel%20Subpoena%20Memo%20%28Final%29.pdf to fellow members of the committee about the subpoenas https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/Final%20Fossil%20Fuel%20Subpoenas.pdf.

Maloney had announced last week at the end of a hearing on Big Oil and climate disinformation that she would subpoena the companies and organizations, saying much of what the committee had received were publicly-available documents.

Maloney and other Democrats on the committee say oil companies have reaped huge profits for decades while they misled the public on climate change and prevented action to curb it. The companies and organizations deny the assertions.

The panel has received some documents from former Exxon lobbyist, Keith McCoy, who was secretly recorded by environmental group Greenpeace, https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/big-oil-hearing-kick-off-us-probe-into-climate-disinformation-lawmaker-2021-10-27 saying the company’s support of a carbon tax was a ruse, since the company believed the idea would never become law.

Democrats are modeling the probe on the Big Tobacco hearings of the 1990s which took place over many months and eventually revealed that companies buried evidence that cigarettes are addictive and harmful.

In response to the subpoena, Exxon spokesperson Casey Norton said the company has now provided almost 130,000 pages of documents “including internal emails”.

Shell spokesperson Curtis Smith said Shell will continue to cooperate with the committee.

J.P. Fielder, a BP America spokesperson said BP is reviewing the subpoena and will continue working with the committee. BP has provided more than 17,000 pages of documents including internal materials.

Matt Letourneau, spokesperson for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said “we will review” the subpoena.

API spokesperson Bethany Aronhalt Williams said the group will work with the committee.

Chevron did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Commodities

Price of gold falls on expectations of further US Federal Reserve rate hike

Published

3 hours ago

August 8, 2022

letizo News

Price of gold falls: the price of the precious metal on Monday morning slightly decreased on the prospects of further interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve, according to trading data.

The December gold futures price on the New York Comex Exchange is down $2.75, or 0.15%, to $1,788.7 a troy ounce. September silver futures went up 0.24% to $19.89 an ounce.

The precious metals market showed a negative trend on Monday morning, fueled by expectations of further interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve after the release of the country’s labor market data.

Thus, the unemployment rate in July fell to 3.5% from the June level of 3.6%, while the number of the employed in non-farm industries increased by 528,000. Analysts had expected the figure to remain at June’s level. The increase in nonfarm payrolls was forecast at 250,000.

“Support from geopolitical tensions “was countered by the resilience of the U.S. dollar after the release of a credible U.S. jobs report and hawkish comments from Fed officials,” Ravindra Rao, vice president of commodities at Kotak Securities, told Bloomberg news agency.

Commodities

Goldman Sachs oil price forecast 2022: Oil price forecast worsens in Q3 and Q4

Published

3 hours ago

August 8, 2022

letizo News

Current Goldman Sachs oil price forecast 2022: Analysts (NYSE:GS) believe another drop in Brent prices has been driven by low liquidity and growing multiple concerns, including the recession, China’s “zero tolerance” coronavirus policy and the country’s real estate sector, the release of strategic reserves in the US and Russia’s production recovery.

“We believe the possibility of higher oil prices remains high, even given all these negative factors, as the market is in a state of greater deficit than we have expected in recent months,” experts said.

Nevertheless, they worsened their forecasts for oil prices in the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2022 – to $110 and $125 per barrel, respectively, from $140 and $130 per barrel. The forecast for 2023 remained unchanged at $125/bbl.

The previous week the price of Brent had fallen by almost 9%; WTI had fallen by almost 10%. At the moment, futures are near the minimum marks for six months.

Commodities

Why is oil rising in price today after a decline last week

Published

4 hours ago

August 8, 2022

letizo News

Why is oil rising in price? The price of October futures on London’s ICE Futures Exchange for Brent amounted to $95.22 per barrel, which was $0.3 (0.32%) above the previous session’s closing price. At the end of previous trading these contracts grew by $0.8 (0.85%) up to $94.92 per barrel.

The price of WTI futures for September at electronic trades on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) was $89.26 per barrel at that time, which was $0.25 (0.28%) above the final value of the previous session. By market close on Friday, the cost of these contracts grew by $0.47 (0.5%) up to $89.01 per barrel.

The previous week Brent had dropped almost 9% and WTI had fallen almost 10%. Currently, futures are near six-month lows.

The fall in Brent prices was caused by low liquidity and “a growing wave of concerns,” including the recession. China’s “zero tolerance” policy for the coronavirus, the release of strategic reserves in the U.S. and the recovery of production in Russia, experts wrote to Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS).

They worsened their oil price forecasts for Q3 and Q4 2022 to $110 and $125 a barrel, respectively, from $140 and $130 a barrel. The 2023 forecast remained unchanged at $125 a barrel.