Category: Middle East (Economy, Finance, Business)
12 March 2021
1) There are some estimated 3.2 million abandoned oil and gas well sites. To plug a well cost as much as $150,000 each. Estimates are that abandoned oil and gas wells cover more than 2 million acres in the U.S., and if that land is restored, it could deliver billions of dollars in benefit for a fraction of the cost of restoration. Cleaning up these wells and restoring the land around them would safeguard against the harmful impacts of abandoned oil and gas infrastructure such as methane leaks and groundwater contamination. Two specific ecosystem benefits are agricultural products, like food from farms, and carbon sequestration.
2) With the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, companies abruptly shuttered their offices and instructed employees to work from home indefinitely. Companies at first thought the shutdowns would last a couple months, but one year later, millions of workers are still working remotely. This has amounted to a ‘remote work experiment’ on a scale never seen before, and here’s a little of what’s been learned. Employers have become more nimble, loosening restrictions on where employees can work, and equipping them with the tools to do so. Meetings aren’t always necessary, working a standard eight-hour shift may not be the best schedule for everyone, sitting at a desk doesn’t always mean you’re being productive and perhaps you miss your coworkers more than you thought you would. Some companies plan to remain 100% remote post-pandemic, while others, including companies like Reddit and Microsoft, will take a hybrid approach, giving workers more flexibility about where they work. But companies have also found cost savings, by reducing the office space needed, which is a major cost factor for businesses.
3) Chinese imports of Iranian crude oil will hit 856,000 barrels a day in March, the most in almost two years and up 129% from last month. Crude shipments from Iran to the province of Shandong, home to a quarter of China’s refining capacity, have surged so much they’re causing congestion at ports and filling up storage tanks, according to traders and analysts. The waiting time for tankers looking to offload in Shandong is estimated to be 12 days. Most refiners and traders are reluctant to purchase Iranian crude for fear of repercussions that can include being cut off from the American banking system and having cargoes seized by the U.S. Navy. Iranian cargoes are heavily discounted due to the sanctions.
4) Stock market closings for – 11 MAR 21:
Dow 32,485.59 up by 188.57
Nasdaq 13,398.67 up by 329.84
S&P 500 3,939.34 up by 40.53
10 Year Yield: up at 1.53%
Oil: up at $65.91
10 March 2021
1) There is an insatiable global appetite for sand, one of the world’s most important but least appreciated commodities. The problem, however, is this resource is slipping away. It is the world’s most consumed raw material after water and an essential ingredient to our everyday lives. Sand is the primary substance used in construction when using concrete. Sand, is used to make the glass found in every window, computer screen and smart phone. Even the production of silicon chips uses sand. The world consumes roughly 40 to 50 billion tons of sand on an annual basis, which has tripled over the last two decades, far exceeding the natural rate at which sand is being replenished. Desert sand grains are too smooth and rounded to bind together for construction purposes, instead sand from rivers and ocean shores is needed.
2) The oil giant Exxon is looking to enter the carbon-capture technology business, and Exxon says it’s ready to go all-in. This is a business of capturing carbon dioxide and storing it underground, which is far easier for a company like Exxon than building out renewable energy capabilities, as its European competitors are doing. The main use of captured CO2 is to extract more oil out of the ground, anyway. Exxon’s strategy is to cut emissions but pared back capital spending and a low breakeven price for oil. Experts have raised questions about the economics of carbon capture technology. Exxon has had to slash its operations budget last year to stay afloat, which resulted in job cuts that several employees described as haphazard. Morale inside the company has suffered as a result.
3) Fears are growing that the national average cost of gasoline could hit $3 a gallon by Memorial Day. With OPEC’s decision not to meaningfully boost oil production despite rising demand, the price at the pumps will soon breach $3 a gallon. Early in the coronavirus pandemic, OPEC slashed its oil production as demand for gasoline fell sharply. Presently, the national average price of gasoline is $2.76, up 30 cents from $2.46 a month ago. Last week gasoline demand reached the highest level in nearly a year, rising 15% from the prior week and now close to pre-pandemic demand. President Biden’s recent decisions to cancel the Keystone XL oil pipeline while also halting new drilling on federal land are playing no role in rising gas prices. There is no shortage of pipeline capacity and U.S. producers have little incentive to install new rigs on federal land since some existing wells remain shut down. With the economy improving, demand for gasoline has been rising, so with oil production not increasing, gasoline prices must rise.
4) Stock market closings for – 9 MAR 21:
Dow 31,832.74 up by 30.30
Nasdaq 13,073.82 up by 464.66
S&P 500 3,875.44 up by 54.09
10 Year Yield: down at 1.55%
Oil: down at $63.97
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By: Economic & Finance Report
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26 January 2021
1) Amid rising doubts, both with the Republicans and Democrats, of passing President Biden’s $1.9 trillion dollar coronavirus relief package, some economists call the bill a good step that will help America’s struggling economy and warning that if not passed, then the nation would likely reverted to a recession in early 2021. The $1.9 trillion dollar coronavirus stimulus proposal is designed to jump-start the nation’s sputtering economy as well as accelerate vaccine distribution to control the deadly pandemic. Presently, the plan calls for a one-time $1,400 direct payment to eligible Americans, which would be in addition to the $600 check sent out this month, making a total payment of $2,000. Additionally, there is a supplemental unemployment benefit of $400 a week, up from the present $300 a week.
2) It’s considered that President Biden’s early actions in office will have effects on oil’s outlook, both short and long term. The first actions were revoking approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline and rejoined the Paris climate agreement. Biden administration’s aim is to reduce long-term oil demand as the move away from fossil fuels accelerates. But if all the promises made by the President this first year are kept, oil demand in 2021 is expected to get a 350,000 barrel-per-day boost. The cancelling of the Keystone pipeline is likely to be muted as other world markets take up the production, because Iran and Venezuela have removed about three million barrels per day production from the current market, with other middle east producers are also cutting back on their production.
3) As the demand for fossil fuels is being limited, people are wondering if the electric car’s moment has arrived at last? While rapid advancement in electric cars and batteries is evident, a shortage of electric car chargers is one of the hurdles EVs face to displace the gas-powered vehicles. Presently, transportation accounts for more than a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Still, the popularity of EVs and hybrid vehicles is already surging. Yet, despite an avalanche of promising news, the shift away from gas-fueled cars remains stubbornly marginal with green vehicles being just 2 percent of the cars sold in the United States. There are electric Hummers, an electric Mustang, and an electric Harley-Davidson motorcycle, with car manufacturers planning to triple the number of non-gas-powered models by 2024 to 203. Ford Motor Co. plans an electric version of its popular F150 pickup. Still roughly 1.5 billion gas-powered cars and trucks are still in operation.
4) Stock market closings for – 25 JAN 21:
Dow 30,960.00 down by 36.98
Nasdaq 13,635.99 up by 92.93
S&P 500 3,855.36 up by 13.89
10 Year Yield: down at 1.04%
Oil: up at $52.88
21 January 2021
1) More automation is entering the American economy in an unexpected segment of business- the recycling sorting of trash . . . a dirty, low-paying, mind-numbing job that is hard to fill simply because so few people are willing to do that kind of work. The 300-pound robot sorts through an unending line of trash. It uses artificial intelligence and computer vision to detect recyclables, and is able to pluck a hunk of plastic off a conveyor belt, then place those bits into sorting bins using a vacuum gripper. The robot sorts glass, plastic and paper into the appropriate bins, leaving metal on a conveyor. It is designed and built by AMP Robotics. There are 600-plus recycling facilities in America, which process some 67 million tons of waste, which is a labor intensive, and therefore costly endeavor, but the $300,000 robot, which can work 24/7, will lower cost by eliminating the human sorters. The Louisville, Colorado based company has sold or leased a100 of its robots since 2017 to more than 40 recycling facilities in North America, Europe and Japan.
2) The civilian space transportation company, SpaceX has purchased two floating deepwater oil rigs to convert into floating launchpads for its Starship rocket. Each were purchased for just $3.5 million dollars. These two rigs have been renamed Deimos and Phobos, presumably in homage to the Martian moons. The Starship is the enormous rocket that SpaceX is developing to meet the goal of launching cargo and as many as 100 people at a time on missions to the moon and Mars. SpaceX has been publicly hiring for offshore operations positions since last year, when the company posted that it was building a team of engineers and technicians to design and build an operational offshore rocket launch facility.
3) The Israeli company StoreDot has announced a new design for an electric-car battery that can be charged as fast as filling up your gas tank. This faster-charging capability will make EVs more accessible to the general public. The new battery is a lithium-ion battery that will be manufactured by Eve Energy in China. The company has produced 1,000 sample batteries compliant with Li-ion battery certifications. Current electric-car batteries can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 12 hours to charge, with a typical EV taking about 8 hours to charge from empty to full.
4) Stock market closings for – 20 JAN 21:
Dow 31,188.38 up by 257.86
Nasdaq 13,457.25 up by 260.07
S&P 500 3,851.85 up by 52.94
10 Year Yield: down at 1.09%
Oil: down at $52.96