Shale production tumbles as VLCC armada heads east

Oil production from the top seven shale regions in the U.S. is set to tumble to levels not seen since 2018 as drillers scale back in response to the recent price collapse, the Energy Information Administration said. Crude output from seven major shale formations expected to fall by a record 197,000 barrels per day in …

Repeat of Oil’s Sub-Zero Plunge Unlikely as June Expiry Nears

Oil’s historic crash below zero looked increasingly like an aberration as the June contract rose for a fourth day in its last session of trading before expiring. Amid growing signs of a nascent recovery in demand, deepening production cuts and optimism that the world is getting closer to finding a vaccine for the coronavirus, futures …

Commodities Bounce Back on Chinese Stimulus Anticipation and Vaccine Hopes

Freight prices jumped on Monday with front month Capesize futures up over 10% on anticipation of a large stimulus package out of China later this week. This created a knock-on effect into the smaller vessels with the Panamax front month futures up over 5%. Oil futures performed well with a USD 3.00 move higher, as …

Capesize turns the corner with robust Pacific routes

Capesize market seemed to turn around on better freight rates in key routes as cargoes volume returned. Thus, the Capesize 5 time charter average recorded at $2,394 on Friday, up by $402 day-on-day. Despite the rebound, Capesize rates were still almost in historical all time low, thus it may be too early to conclude that …

OPEC+ battles to cut, investors bet to buy

OPEC+ is responding to the oil market’s collapse with an urgency never seen before. The alliance’s program of production cutbacks this month is well on the way to trimming 9.7 million barrels of daily crude output – roughly 10% of global supplies, according to tanker-tracking data, interviews with physical crude traders and refiners, and assessments …

China Home-Price Growth Accelerates in Property Market Boost

China’s house-price growth accelerated in April as the central bank’s credit easing gave the property market a much-needed lift out of the coronavirus shutdown. * New-home prices in 70 major cities, excluding state-subsidized housing, gained 0.42% in April, National Bureau of Statistics data released Monday showed. That’s up from a 0.13% increase in March. * …

Sub-$2,000 a new norm for Capesize

Capesize market seemed to dive to a new low with each passing days, prompting trade participants to think if the market has bottomed or another V-shape recovery is around the corner. Gone are the heydays of the boom days when spot cape was trading high toward $200,000 per day in the 2008 and instead the …