Commodities
U.S. shipping companies increase shipments of uranium and palladium to the U.S. from Russia
In October 2022, U.S. shipping companies imported $732 million worth of goods from Russia – the highest amount in five months. Russian exports to the U.S. were limited to nuclear fuel, fertilizers, and platinum group metals
In October 2022, the United States imported $732.4 million worth of goods from Russia – 2.2 times more than in September ($332.1 million). This is the highest amount in monetary terms in the past five months, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. A disruption of such important shipments could hurt even the S&P 500 index.
Among U.S. shipments
In the spring of 2022, the U.S. banned imports of Russian oil and petroleum products, diamonds and seafood, and in the summer also imposed a 35 percent tariff on imports of Russian steel, certain aluminum products, rubber, wood, etc., which resulted in a five-fold drop in merchandise imports from Russia as compared to February’s figure of $2.6 billion.
As detailed data from U.S. authorities show, October shipments from Russia to the U.S. were effectively reduced to nuclear fuel, mineral fertilizers, and platinum group metals. These goods are not under sanctions, and U.S. importers are making the most of trade opportunities.
Russia stopped publishing customs and foreign trade statistics in February
Russia’s imports of enriched uranium (uranium fluoride) from the United States in October totaled $184.7 million, the highest since November 2016 (then it was $236.5 million). There were no shipments of uranium from Russia in September 2022, according to U.S. customs statistics.
Russia is the largest supplier of enriched uranium to the United States, accounting for more than a quarter of all imports of the product ($644 million) in January-October. During the same period the Netherlands shipped $569 million worth of enriched uranium to the United States, Germany $527 million and Great Britain $482 million (these shipments are believed to be in the interests of the URENCO corporation, which owns enrichment facilities in the Netherlands, Germany and Great Britain).
Earlier, we reported that large U.S. companies by market capitalization are beginning to think more about cutting investments and personnel – a survey.
Investing.com–Oil prices rose on Friday, heading for a second consecutive weekly gain as optimism around China’s economic growth lifted market sentiment.
The were last up 0.8% to $76.6 a barrel, and expiring in February was up 1.1% to $73.3 a barrel.
Oil had gained sharply in the previous session after data showed growth in Chinese factory activity.
Both contracts were on course for second consecutive weekly gains, with WTI 1.3% and 0.9% higher.
Chinese stimulus hopes support oil prices
China’s grew in December, a Caixin/S&P Global survey showed on Thursday, but at a slower pace than expected.
An official survey released on Tuesday also showed that China’s manufacturing activity barely grew in December. However, services and construction fared better, with the data suggesting that policy stimulus is trickling into some sectors.
Beijing has signaled looser monetary policy for 2025 and has doled out a raft of major stimulus measures since late September, in order to boost its sluggish economy.
China’s central bank has indicated that it plans to lower interest rates from the current 1.5% “at an appropriate time” in 2025, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
Traders assess EIA data amid oversupply concerns
{{8849|US crude oil inventories declined, while gasoline and distillate stocks saw significant increases as demand softened during the week ending December 27, the reported on Thursday.
The EIA stated that dropped by 1.2 million barrels last week, falling short of analysts’ expectations for a 2.8 million-barrel decrease.
Latest EIA surveys have shown that U.S. oil production remains near record levels, and the incoming Donald Trump administration is likely to agree to policies that would focus on ramping up domestic fossil fuel production.
This comes amid worries about potential oversupply driven by anticipated production increases from non-OPEC nations, further underscoring an oversupply scenario.
The International Energy Agency recently said that the oil market will remain adequately supplied, despite a rise in demand forecast for 2025.
(Peter Nurse contributed to this article.)
Commodities
Biden to ban new oil drilling over vast areas of US Atlantic, Pacific waters, Bloomberg News reports
(Reuters) – President Joe Biden is set to ban new offshore oil and gas development across 625 million acres (250 million hectares) of U.S. coastal territory, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
The ban, to be announced on Monday, rules out the sale of drilling rights in stretches of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, said the report, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.
Biden is leaving the possibility open for new oil and leasing in the central and western areas of the Gulf of Mexico, which account for around 14% of the nation’s production of these fuels, the report said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment outside of business hours.
The ban would solidify Biden’s legacy on addressing climate change and his goal to decarbonize the U.S. economy by 2050.
The New York Times (NYSE:) reported that a section of the law Biden’s decision relies on, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, gives a president wide leeway to bar drilling and does not include language that would allow President-elect Donald Trump or other future presidents to revoke the ban.
Biden, Trump and Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, all used the law to ban sales of offshore drilling rights in some coastal areas.
Trump tried in 2017 to reverse Arctic and Atlantic Ocean withdrawals Obama had made at the end of his presidency, but a federal judge ruled in 2019 that the law does not give presidents the legal authority to overturn prior bans.
(Reuters) – Russian rescue workers have cleared more than 86,000 metric tons of contaminated sand and earth on either side of the Kerch Strait following an oil spill in the Black Sea last month, the emergencies ministry said on Saturday.
The oil leaked from two ageing tankers that were hit by a storm on Dec. 15. One sank and the other ran aground.
More than 10,000 people have been working to shovel up viscous, foul-smelling fuel oil from sandy beaches in and around Anapa, a popular summer resort. Environmental groups have reported deaths of dolphins, porpoises and sea birds.
The emergencies ministry said on the Telegram messaging app that oil-tainted soil had been collected in the broader Kuban region in Russia and in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Kyiv in 2014.
The ministry published video footage showing dozens of workers in protective suits loading bags of dirt onto diggers and others skimming dirt off the sand with shovels.
Russia’s transport ministry said this week experts had established that about 2,400 metric tons of oil products had spilled into the sea, a smaller spill than initially feared.
When the disaster struck, state media reported that the stricken tankers, both more than 50-years old, were carrying some 9,200 metric tons (62,000 barrels) of oil products in total.
The spill involved heavy M100-grade fuel oil that solidifies at a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) and, unlike other oil products, does not float to the surface but sinks to the bottom or remains suspended in the water column.
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