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Saudi Crude Exports Fall to 6-Month Low as Refineries Cut Back
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Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, cut shipments in April to the lowest level in six months as overseas refineries bought less due to seasonal maintenance and the kingdom burned more oil at home to power air conditioners. Shipments dropped to 7.44 million barrels a day from 7.54 million barrels a day in March, and to the lowest since 7.36 million in October, according to data released Monday by the Joint Organisations Data Initiative in Riyadh. Exports also declined for Qatar, whose shipments slid to the lowest since at least 2002, as well as for fellow OPEC members Iraq and Kuwait, the data show. Oil companies typically shut refineries for maintenance in April and May in preparation for higher summer demand. Saudi Arabia is planning to boost crude production to 10.5 million barrels a day in the next few months as higher summer temperatures boost demand for electricity […]
bloomberg.com
China deploys state enterprises to economic stimulus effort
China’s slowing investment, which hit a 16-year low in May, has forced Beijing to press the country’s lumbering state groups into service, demanding that they ramp up spending in an attempt to avert an economic hard landing. The move is a setback for Beijing’s efforts to make the country’s 160,000 state-owned enterprises more like their private sector peers. SOEs, which account for about a fifth of economic output, trail far behind private companies in terms of profitability. Despite their inefficiency, SOEs’ share of overall fixed-asset investment reached 35.4 per cent in May, the highest since 2011, official data showed last week. “SOEs are useful at the moment but it can’t go on like this forever,” said Larry Hu, head of China economics at Macquarie Securities in Hong Kong. “As returns get lower and lower, SOEs lose usefulness as tools of macroeconomic policy and become a burden on the state. You have to pour in more and more credit to get the same impact.”
USABC awards $4M to SiNode Systems to develop advanced silicon-graphene anode materials for EV batteries
The United States Advanced Battery Consortium LLC (USABC), a collaborative organization of FCA US LLC, Ford Motor Company and General Motors, awarded a $4-million contract to SiNode Systems Inc. for development of advanced anode materials for automotive lithium-ion battery applications. The competitively bid contract award is 50% cost share-funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE). The 30-month program will focus on the development of silicon-graphene high-energy anode material appropriate for vehicle applications and the development and scale-up of pouch cells that exhibit anode performance metrics that exceed the minimum USABC targets for active materials development for electric vehicles. SiNode Systems is pleased to be a recipient of this grant and is proud to contribute to USABC’s battery technology research and development programs. We believe our advanced anode materials technology will be an enabler in improving the performance and reducing the cost of advanced batteries for vehicle electrification. —Samir […]
California power grid prepares for heatwave, possible natgas shortage
California will have its first test of plans to keep the lights on this summer following the shutdown of the key Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility as temperatures in the Los Angeles area are forecast to hit triple digits this week. With record-setting heat and air conditioning demand expected in Southern California, the state’s power grid operator issued a so-called “flex alert,” urging consumers to conserve energy to help prevent rotating power outages – which could occur regardless. Electricity demand is expected to rise during the unseasonable heatwave on Monday and Tuesday, with forecast system-wide use expected to top 45,000 megawatts, said the California Independent System Operator (ISO), which manages electricity flow through the state. That compares with a peak demand of 47,358 MW last year and the all-time high of 50,270 MW set in July 2006. That could put stress on the power grid, particularly with the […]
BP moving fast on Egyptian gas
British energy company BP said Monday it was putting a deepwater natural gas project in Egypt on the fast track to development. BP and its regional partner, the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co., sanctioned a fast-track scheme to bring 300 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to the domestic Egyptian market from the deepwater Atoll development by the first half of 2018. “BP is proud to progress the acceleration of the Atoll project which will bring critical gas to the Egyptian market,” BP Regional President Hesham Mekawi said in a statement. BP at one time produced almost 40 percent of the oil in Egypt through its regional partnerships and nearly 30 percent […]
