pierce Around the world, governments continue to loosen their hold on oil and gas reserves. Just look at a slew of developments this week. Such as Russia finalizing a privatization plan for state producer Bashneft — which will see fellow Russian E&P Rosneft buy the government’s 50.8% stake for $5.3 billion. That plan is a little murky in terms … Read more
Things are topsy-turvy right now in the world’s top gold market, India. Where prices are rising, but warnings are emerging about further big declines in gold imports as 2016 continues. Platts reported yesterday that gold prices across India have been under strong upward pressure. With demand starting to pick up ahead of the fourth quarter wedding and … Read more
Molybdenum stockpiles disappeared. New data from LME shows warehoused metal has plunged to almost nothing since May. Nigeria wooed miners with tax cuts. The country will offer a three-year tax holiday on new mines as it seeks to diversify from oil. Europe’s largest natgas field faced more cuts. Dutch regulators may restrict output from the Groningen field due to earthquake risk. Chile fretted … Read more
It’s been a tough couple of weeks for oil investors. With crude prices having descended back to near $40 per barrel, after making a run close to $50 in mid-August. And news over the weekend suggests things could get worse before they get better. That’s because of developments in one oil-exporting nation that’s been almost … Read more
Big day for nickel yesterday. With prices leaping nearly 20 cents on the day to near $4.60 per pound — marking a nearly 5% move in a matter of hours. And there was one major reason for the jump: more government turmoil for miners in the Philippines. As I’ve been discussing of late, the new … Read more
A very important issue just emerged in the oil and gas world. Driven by an investigation from some of the biggest prosecutors in America. Looking at how the world’s largest E&Ps value their in-ground oil and gas reserves. The Wall Street Journal broke the story yesterday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating Exxon’s reporting … Read more
The investment picture keeps getting bleaker for the world’s most hated commodity. Coal. This week saw another slew of investors officially back away from coal funding. Led by South Africa’s FutureGrowth — the country’s largest specialist fixed-income money manager. FutureGrowth said Tuesday that based on its investing principles it could no longer fund “dirty” coal … Read more
This week in Pierce Points: Peru got a new, $5 billion copper mine. Anglo American has reportedly approved construction of Quellaveco for July 2018. Sibanye Gold attacked organized crime. The company is the first South African miner aiming to be 100% free of illegal mining. China bought unprofitable natural gas. A joint venture is acquiring Chevron’s Bangladesh assets… which the major says don’t … Read more
Last month I wrote about soaring profits for resource companies working in Argentina. With local costs for such firms plunging following the devaluation of the Argentinean peso. And this week the government here confirmed this as one of the best crude markets going on the planet. That’s because of the oil price in the country. Which officials said … Read more
It’s been a wild year for India’s gold importers. With the government moving on a variety of initiatives to reduce shipments into the country — resulting in a 59% fall in imports for the fiscal year to date. And news this week suggests imports could be about to fall even further. Local press in India reported … Read more