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Hedge Funds Primed for Oil Rebound With Increase in Bullish Bets

The momentum behind wagers on rising oil prices picked up steam as U.S. drilling slows and producers face potential credit line cuts. Money managers’ long position in West Texas Intermediate crude climbed by 6.1 percent in the week ended Sept. 22, the most since January, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The jump in longs and a decline in shorts boosted their net-long position by 15 percent. U.S. crude output is down 470,000 barrels a day from a four decade high of 9.61 million in June, data from the Energy Information Administration show. Explorers idled U.S. oil rigs for a fourth week, Baker Hughes Inc. said Sept. 25. The latest round of credit line reevaluations is under way, and almost 80 percent of oil and natural gas producers will see a cut in the maximum amount they can borrow, according to a survey by the law […]

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U.S. support for Syria rebels illegal, Putin says ahead of Obama meeting

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during an opening ceremony of the MAKS International Aviation and Space Salon in Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, Russia, August 25, 2015. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday branded U.S. support for rebel forces in Syria as illegal and ineffective, saying U.S.-trained rebels were leaving to join Islamic State with weapons supplied by Washington. In an interview with U.S. networks recorded ahead of a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, Putin said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad deserved international support as he was fighting terrorist organizations. Obama and Putin are scheduled to talk on Monday after Putin addresses the United Nations, although White House and Kremlin officials have disagreed on what the two leaders will discuss and even who initiated the meeting. "In my opinion, provision of military support to illegal structures runs counter to the principles of modern international law and the United Nations […]

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Saudi Arabia withdraws overseas funds

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Saudi Arabia Has Withdrawn Billions From Markets, Estimates Show

Saudi Arabia has withdrawn as much as $70 billion from global asset managers as OPEC’s largest oil producer seeks to plug its budget deficit after crude slumped, according to financial services market intelligence company Insight Discovery. "Fund managers we’ve spoken to estimate SAMA has pulled out between $50 billion to $70 billion from global asset managers over the past six months," Nigel Sillitoe, chief executive officer of the Dubai-based firm, said by telephone Monday. "Saudi Arabia is withdrawing funds because it’s trying to cut its widening deficit and it’s financing the war in Yemen," he said, declining to name the fund managers. Saudi Arabia is seeking to stem a decline in its finances after a 50 percent drop in oil during the past 12 months. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority’s reserves held in foreign securities have fallen about 10 percent from a peak of $737 billion last August to […]

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Venezuela Economic Crisis to Only Get Worse, Barclays Says

A ship arrives at the port in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, on Aug. 24, 2015. Venezuela is suffering the deepest economic crisis in its history with output expected to contract 9.1 percent this year, Barclays Plc said Friday. The economic contraction will likely reach 16.5 percent between 2014 and 2016, while inflation over that period will exceed 1,000 percent, Barclays wrote in a note to clients. “It is impossible to understand why the government is not reacting to this reality, why it has not taken measures to alleviate the economic distortions that are destroying the real income of Venezuelans,” Barclays said. President Nicolas Maduro will not likely announce any changes in economic policy before congressional elections Dec. 6, the bank said. With support for the ruling Socialist party at around 19 percent, the country is politically divided as it also battles low prices for oil, which accounts for 95 percent […]

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Brazil pledges to slash emissions by 43%

Brazil pledged on Sunday to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 43 percent by 2030 as its contribution to a United Nations climate agreement, but said it will include reductions from past efforts against deforestation to help it reach the target. President Dilma Rousseff presented the country’s pledges during a speech at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, noting the targets are more ambitious than those of most developed countries and that Brazil will not need external support to achieve them. Brazil already curbed emissions by 41 percent between 2005 and 2012, largely through fighting deforestation. Rousseff reaffirmed the country’s commitment to ending that illegal practice in the Amazon , as stated during a joint announcement with U.S. President Barack Obama in June, but fell short of declaring a freeze on deforestation in general as many environmental groups had sought. Emissions from deforestation worldwide account for 15 percent of […]

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China carbon trading not all bad news for commodities: Russell

The China Central Television (CCTV) building is seen next to a construction site in heavy haze in Beijing’s central business district, January 14, 2013. – China’s planned national cap-and-trade carbon emissions system may at first appear to be yet another bearish factor for commodity demand in the world’s largest consumer of natural resources. In theory, limiting the amount of carbon emissions by setting a price per tonne and then making polluters pay for permits above their allocated limits will serve to raise costs for carbon-intensive industries, such as steel, aluminum, power generation, copper smelting and oil refining. A cap-and-trade system is only effective when it raises the cost of polluting to the point where the polluter limits output or invests in new technology or takes other steps to reduce emissions. Of course, a polluter can try to raise prices for the goods they produce, but this assumes that they […]

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Why Volkswagen’s Problems Don’t Include China

Volkswagen has been rocked by a diesel-emissions scandal that has shaken its executive suite and prompted investigations by governments around the world. But there is one place where the German company so far remains untouched: China, where diesel fuel is mainly for trucks only. Regulators have been silent, and Volkswagen has declined to answer questions about the China market. But so far the diesel-emissions scandal hasn’t involved any of the products Volkswagen makes with its joint-venture partners in its biggest single market. In fact, diesel passenger cars are extremely rare in China. According to IHS Automotive, China produced just 9,046 diesel cars in 2014, a paltry tally in the country where total passenger vehicle sales reached 19.7 million last year. Diesel is crucial to the Chinese economy, widely used in sectors ranging from manufacturing, agriculture, power generation to industrial transport, though diesel is currently plentiful because of the country’s […]

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Nepal Restricts Driving to Head Off Fuel Shortage

Photo A transport worker sat at the India-Nepal border on Sunday. Supply trucks from India stopped entering Nepal last week. Credit Prakash Mathema/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images KATHMANDU, Nepal — Nepal started imposing restrictions on vehicles’ movement on Sunday amid concerns about limited supplies of fuel and other essential commodities from India. Trucks carrying supplies from India stopped entering the country last week as protests followed the adoption of Nepal’s new Constitution. To address the shortages, officials in Nepal said cars would be permitted to run only on alternate days based on the last digit of their license plate number. Siva Tripathi, an official at the Nepal Ministry of Supplies, said Indian security personnel and customs officials had barred supply trucks from entering Nepal, citing orders from New Delhi. “Transportation has come to a complete halt since Thursday,” he said. “So we are facing the shortage of some essential […]

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Shell abandons contentious Arctic exploration after poor results

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