OIL
Oil
prices set to cap off nightmare month with gains
Reuters, April 30, 2020
Oil prices jumped for a second day on Thursday, lifted by signs the U.S. crude glut is not growing as quickly as expected and clawing background at the end of a month of tumbles wrought by coronavirus fears that caused futures to plumb two-decade lows. Brent crude LCOc1 was up 13.8%, or $3.11, at $25.65 a barrel by 1407 GMT in light trading. The front-month contract for June is set to expire on Thursday. The more actively traded July contract LCOc2 was up $2.51 or 10.4%, at $26.74 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was up 16.5%, or $2.48, to $17.54 per barrel. The U.S. benchmark surged 22% on Wednesday.
‘The first glance at what’s coming’: Oilfield service alerts state of more than 250 layoffs in Alaska
Tegan Hanlon, Alaska’s Energy Desk, April 29, 2020
Four oilfield service companies have alerted the state of sweeping layoffs at their North Slope operations as the coronavirus crushes demand for fuel, oil prices crash and drilling activity declines.
Details
emerge on Trump’s oil rescue plan
Lesley Clark, E & E News, April 30, 2020
The Trump administration is looking at offering two lines of credit to help the beleaguered oil and gas industry as it reels from historically low prices sparked by the global coronavirus pandemic. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette outlined the plan in a call Tuesday with the North Dakota Petroleum Council (NDPC), telling producers that the administration is considering lending facilities with the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve for loans to “help the industry through this pandemic.”
GAS
Cheniere moderates 2020 U.S. LNG growth estimates
Oil & Gas 360, April 30, 2020
U.S. liquefied natural gas company Cheniere Energy Inc cut its growth estimates for LNG exports and investment in new projects industry-wide due to the slump in energy markets and the COVID-19 pandemic. Fuel demand is down 30% worldwide as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, but LNG consumption has been less affected as consumers in Asia and elsewhere use the fuel to heat homes and generate power.
MINING
COVID-19
mining shutdowns hurt silver production the most, gold the least – report
Anna Gulabova, KITCO, April 29, 2020
All the COVID-19 shutdowns have impacted silver mining production the most, according to the Global Data report. The coronavirus pandemic has forced governments across the globe to shut down many non-essential businesses and in some cases that meant mining. The latest report from Global jmData looked at different mining sectors and how they have been affected across the globe. Silver fared the worst, while gold was hurt the least out of all the major mining sectors the report looked at.
POLITICS
What Will—and Won’t—COVID-19 Change about Our Politics?
COVID 19
Seven
challenges COVID 19 raises for the climate agenda
Will Nichols and Olivia Dobson, Wood Mackenzie, April 28, 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic has handed us a global lesson on the prudence of being prepared for a ‘grey rhino’ event – high impact incidents that are likely to happen but are commonly overlooked. But even with this first-hand experience, will this translate into proactivity on the other obvious global risk parallel: climate change? Here we examine seven ways Covid-19 has complicated the global climate agenda