COVID 19
WHO
Says 70 Vaccines in the Works, With Three Leading Candidates
Lisa Du, Bloomberg, April 12, 2020
There are 70 coronavirus vaccines in development globally, with three candidates already being tested in human trials, according to the World Health Organization, as drug makers race to find a cure for the deadly pathogen.
Pentagon
awards $415 million contract for units to decontaminate N95 masks
Ryan Browne, CNN, April 13, 2020
The Pentagon announced a major contract for 60 decontamination units that will allow millions of N95 masks to be reused amid a shortage of personal protective equipment for medical professionals treating coronavirus patients. The $415 million contract will allow for the acquisition of “60 Battelle Memorial Institute Critical Care Decontamination Systems (CCDS), that can decontaminate up to 80,000 used N95 respirators per system per day, enabling mask reuse up to 20 times,” according to a statement from the Pentagon. The Defense Department said six units have already been delivered to multiple US cities including two to New York, and one each to Columbus, Ohio, Boston, Chicago and Tacoma, “providing the ability to sterilize 3.4 million masks a week, reducing the need for new masks by the same number.”
OIL
What
does the US-backed Opec+ deal mean for the world?
Anjli Raval, Derek Brower and David Sheppard, Financial Times, April 13,
2020
Opec agreed the biggest ever oil output cuts with the backing of Russia, the US and the wider G20 group of nations in an effort to bolster crude prices that the coronavirus outbreak has helped push to 18-year lows. The question now is what the agreement means for the future of the energy industry and whether it will help oil prices recover.
GAS
FERC
stops Kenai LNG environmental review
Mirza Duran, Offshore Energy, April 13, 2020
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is temporarily suspending an environmental assessment of a proposal to bring the closed Kenai LNG plant in Alaska back online as an import facility. FERC said on April 8 it would suspend the environmental review for the project until the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration performs an “equivalency determination” related to a proposed vaporizer at the facility. Trans-Foreland Pipeline, a unit of Marathon, proposes to the PHMSA to have the trim vaporizer within the liquefied natural gas storage tank impoundment area, according to FERC.
MINING
A
gold price rally to $2,000 would not be a surprise
Neils Christensen, Kitco News, April 13, 2020
Gold prices have pushed to nearly an eight-year high, and this is only the start as investors should keep an eye on the precious metal’s long-term outlook, according to one gold fund executive. In a telephone interview with Kitco News on Monday, Peter Grosskopf, chief executive officer at Sprott Inc., said that the gold market’s future looks bright as the global economy deals with unprecedented stimulus during a time of unprecedented uncertainty. “Investors should continue to consider gold as a unit of currency or a purchasing power that can maintain its value against other assets,” he said. Grosskopf’s comments come as gold prices have soared well above its previous long-term resistance levels at $1,700 an ounce. June gold futures last traded at $1,764.10 an ounce, up 0.64% on the day.
POLITICS
In
bid for unity, ex-rival Sanders backs Biden to challenge Trump
Trevor Hunnicutt, James Oliphant, Reuters, April 13, 2020
Senator Bernie Sanders on Monday endorsed his longtime rival former Vice President Joe Biden, a move aimed at unifying a Democratic Party long fractured along moderate and liberal lines ahead of the election match-up against President Donald Trump.