To download the full report (PDF document) please click here ENERGY: Brent steadies above $109, Iran threat supports
SINGAPORE, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Brent crude oil steadied above $109 a barrel after rallying for six straight sessions, supported by Iran's threat to halt oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
"I'm a long term bull and what we are seeing is justification as to why you want to be in for the long term," said Greg Smith, executive director of Global Commodities Ltd. Output at PetroChina's Changqing oilfield rivals Daqing -paper
BEIJING, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Oil and gas output this year at PetroChina's Changqing Oilfield reached 40.59 million tonnes of oil equivalent, or 811,800 barrels per day as of Dec 27, China Petroleum Daily reported on Wednesday, rivaling Daqing, the top Chinese oilfield for decades.
Changqing, PetroChina's second-largest oil and gas field, churned out 35 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2010, 5 million tonnes more than in 2009. Japan's Kyushu to restart oil unit Jan 4 after repair
TOKYO, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Japanese utility Kyushu Electric Power Co said on Wednesday it is likely to restart the 500-megawatt oil-fired No.2 unit at its Ainoura plant in Nagasaki, southwestern Japan, on Jan. 4 after unplanned repair work. The company shut the unit on Monday after a steam leak from a boiler tube. Tesoro plans work at Wilmington, CA, refinery
Dec 27 (Reuters) - Tesoro Corp said on Tuesday it plans maintenance on an unspecified unit at its 96,860-barrel-per-day Wilmington, California, refinery.
The company had warned of planned flaring at the refinery from Dec. 28-30, in a notice with South Coast Air Quality Management District. Saudi would replace Iran crude if EU embargoes-sources
DUBAI, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and other Gulf OPEC states are ready to replace Iranian oil if further sanctions halt Iranian crude exports to Europe, industry sources said on Tuesday.
Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi had said that Saudi Arabia had promised not to replace Iranian crude if sanctions are imposed. Shell says Nigeria oil spill contained
ABUJA, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell said on Tuesday that an oil spill offshore Nigeria, the largest in the oil-producing African nation since 1998, has been contained after less than 40,000 barrels leaked into the Atlantic.
The December 20 spill, which Shell said happened while a tanker was loading oil, led to the shutdown of the company's 200,000 barrel per day (bpd) Bonga facility, about 120 km off the coast of the West African nation. AGRICULTURE: US soy, corn drop from 6-wk tops, farmer selling weighs
SINGAPORE, Dec 28 (Reuters) - U.S. soybeans slid 1 percent, after climbing to a six-week top in the last session, while corn eased as higher farmer selling and a broad-based weakness in the global markets prompted investors to book profit.
"The farmers had kept the supply in the physical market very tight until they saw the rally," said Jonathan Barratt, managing director at Commodity Broking Services in Sydney. "Now they are cashing in on the rally, that is the move which has motivated some selling." South Brazil, key Argentina soy critically dry
BRASILIA, Dec 27 (Reuters) - No rain is in sight for thirsty soy-growing areas in southern Brazil and in Argentina, forecasters said, threatening crops already hit by long dry stretches and causing futures prices to jump on Tuesday.
December rainfall in Brazil's southernmost state Rio Grande do Sul has been far below the average, which is bad for newly seeded crops, and the situation is growing critical in neighboring Argentina, the top exporter of soy-derived products. Crop scout Cordonnier cuts S. America crop size
CHICAGO , Dec 27 (Reuters) - Widely followed crop scout Michael Cordonnier has cut his estimates for South American corn and soybean production for 2011/12 and indicated further reductions may be necessary.
"Certainly this is an ominous forecast and if it verifies it would cause more harm to the crops and begin to stress soybeans when they're flowering and setting pods," Cordonnier said. Dry spell still a concern in Ivorian cocoa regions
DAKAR, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Prolonged drought conditions mixed with the dry harmattan wind last week in most of Ivory Coast's cocoa regions could reduce the size and hamper the quality of Ivorian main cocoa crop, farmers said on Tuesday.
The harmattan, which blows south from the Sahara from December to March, is sweeping through most of Ivory Coast's cocoa regions, reducing air moisture needed for the development of cocoa pods. BASE METALS: London copper falls as U.S. housing prices sag
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 28 (Reuters) - London copper dropped, snapping four days of gains, on concerns that demand for the metal used in pipes and electrical wires will wane after a report showed weak house prices in the United States, the world's largest economy.
"There's no safe haven except for cash," said Tan Teng Boo, who helps manage about $350 million at Capital Dynamics in Kuala Lumpur. Peru approves independent review of $4.8 bln Newmont mine
LIMA, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Peru will give independent scientists 40 days to review Newmont Mining's $4.8 billion Conga project, the prime minister said on Tuesday, trying to break a bitter political deadlock that has challenged President Ollanta Humala's young administration.
Prime Minister Oscar Valdes agreed with representatives from 32 towns near the proposed gold mine to have an international team of scientists review the environmental impact study for the project, which would replace a string of alpine lakes with reservoirs. Freeport Indonesia union says halts return to work after strike
JAKARTA, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Workers at Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold Inc's mine in Indonesia halted on Tuesday their return to work after a three-month strike, pending the resolution of a labour dispute, senior union officials said.
The delay in the return to work will push back the resumption of full operations of the world's second biggest copper mine. The Arizona-based company had earlier said it expected full operations at the mine to resume in early 2012. Japan Nov zinc exports up 64 pct, led by China
TOKYO, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Japan's exports of refined zinc surged to 11,712 tonnes in November, up 64 percent from a year earlier, driven by a three-fold jump in exports to China, customs-cleared data showed on Tuesday.
Exports to China increased to 3,578 tonnes, up from 1,191 tonnes a year before, replacing Taiwan as the top importer of Japan's refined zinc and accounting for about 30 percent of total exports. STEEL NEWS: China steel products demand to reach 646 mln T in 2012 - report
SHANGHAI, Dec 28 (Reuters) - China's consumption of steel products is expected to reach 646 million tonnes in 2012, marginally higher than this year's level, the state-owned China Securities Journal reported on Wednesday.
The report said the China Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute had estimated consumption of finished steel products in the world's top steel producer and consumer at 610 million tonnes this year. Japan Q1 crude steel demand seen at near 2-yr low
TOKYO, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Japanese demand for crude steel is expected to fall 6.2 percent from a year earlier to an almost two-year low of 26 million tonnes in the January-March quarter, as a plunge in steel exports outweighs strong demand from the domestic auto sector, the trade ministry said on Tuesday.
The ministry estimates Japan's annual crude steel output for the year to March 2012 at 105.92 million tonnes, 4.87 million tonne, or 4.4 percent, less than a year ago. PRECIOUS METALS: Gold inches down as growth concerns weigh
SINGAPORE, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Gold edged lower tracking falls in industrial metals and equities, as concerns about global economic growth weighed on market sentiment amid thin year-end trading volumes.
"There have been a couple of positive signs on the U.S. economy, but it's hard to be hung up on them too much," said a Singapore-based trader. Russian 11-mo gold output up 4.5 pct at 193.8 T-lobby
MOSCOW, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Russian gold companies produced 193.8 tonnes of gold in the first 11 months of 2011, 4.5 percent more than in the same period of 2010, the Gold Industrialists' Union industry lobby said on Tuesday.
The lobby expects Russia to produce 211 tonnes of gold this year, of which 185 tonnes will be mined. GLOBAL MARKETS: Shares slip in thin trade, oil stays firm on Iran
TOKYO, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Asian shares eased in low volume with many market players away for year-end holidays, while oil kept gains from the previous day on concerns about possible supply disruptions after Iran threatened to stop the flow of oil from the Gulf.
"More people want to bring their positions to neutral ahead of the new year's holidays than look for bargain hunting, and that's keeping prices depressed in low volumes," said Tetsuro Ii, the president of Commons Asset Management in Tokyo. CHART OF THE DAY: LME COPPER - 24 HRS TECHNICAL OUTLOOK BEYOND THE HEADLINES: Iran threatens to stop Gulf oil if sanctions widened
TEHRAN, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Iran threatened on Tuesday to stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz if foreign sanctions were imposed on its crude exports over its nuclear ambitions, a move that could trigger military conflict with economies dependent on Gulf oil.
Western tensions with Iran have increased since a Nov. 8 report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog saying Tehran appears to have worked on designing an atomic bomb and may still be pursuing research to that end. Iran strongly denies this and says it is developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Zambia sees new metal export rules in Q1 2012
LUSAKA, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Zambia's new government will institute new guidelines for metals exports in the first quarter of 2012 that aim to enhance transparency in Africa's largest copper producer, the minister of mines said on Tuesday.
The country's new president, Michael Sata, has expressed concerns that copper exporters are misrepresenting the amount of metal leaving the country. | |
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