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☆ The ‘Bad Boy’ of Shipping Cashes In on Russian Oil
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Joe Wallace | Costas Paris | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Most Western shipping companies stopped moving Russian oil after the U.S. and allies sanctioned Moscow’s prize export. In Greece, home to one of the world’s biggest merchant fleets, tanker owners are doubling down. At the front of the pack is George Economou , a 70-year-old shipping tycoon with a taste for art by Francis Bacon, minimalist superyachts and ventures some rivals say they wouldn’t dare attempt.

☆ Oil Prices Under Pressure on Economic Fears and Gusher of Russian Supply
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Joe Wallace | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Russia is the world’s third-biggest producer of oil. Photo: maxim shipenkov/ShutterstockThis week’s tumble in oil prices has its origins in concerns that the Federal Reserve’s campaign of higher interest rates is slowing the economy and curbing energy demand. But there’s another factor behind the slide: Traders think Moscow hasn’t followed through fully on pledges it made in response to Western sanctions to throttle production. They say Russia keeps pumping and exporting huge volumes of oil to maximize income for its beleaguered economy—crude that has added to a global surplus and undermined Saudi Arabia’s effort to bolster the market.

☆ Russian Oil Prices Surge, Put Sanctions to Test
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Joe Wallace | Andrew Duehren | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Illustration: WSJU.S.-led sanctions designed to throttle Moscow’s fossil-fuel income face a new challenge: a big jump in the price Russia gets for its oil. Booming demand in India and China has pushed the price of Urals crude, Russia’s main grade of oil, up to about $55 a barrel from a daily low of $35 in January, according to commodities-data firm Argus Media. The rally contrasts with a retreat in broader oil markets driven by weakening demand in the U.S. and Europe as economies there slow.

☆ Stocks Fall as Recession Fears Grow
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Matt Grossman | Joe Wallace | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ Saudi Arabia-Led Oil Cuts Run Into Gusher of Alternative Supplies
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Joe Wallace | Anna Hirtenstein | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Nigeria remains vulnerable to outages despite its recent increase in oil production. A burst of supply from a grab bag of smaller oil-producing countries threatens to undermine efforts by Saudi Arabia and its allies to keep prices high. Iran, Guyana, Norway, Kazakhstan, Brazil and Nigeria have pumped more oil since the fall, boosting the world’s supplies even as some of the biggest producers throttled back. Nigeria in particular has seen output bounce, with help from armed guards protecting barges in the vast creeks and waterways of the oil-rich Niger Delta.

☆ Oil Prices Jump as Saudi-Led Group Plans Output Cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Joe Wallace | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Drivers are likely to face more costly gasoline bills if oil prices continue to rise. Saudi Arabia’s output cut sent crude prices higher, but with a host of challenges facing oil markets, including a possible U.S. recession, only the most bullish analysts see prices vaulting back to $100 a barrel soon. Brent futures, the international oil benchmark, jumped 6% on Monday to $84.70 a barrel after Saudi Arabia and other leading members of the OPEC+ cartel said they would throttle production. Prices were on track for their biggest one-day advance since April last year, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent a shudder through energy markets.

☆ Oil Prices Surge 6.3% in Steepest Rise in Over a Year
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Joe Wallace | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Drivers are likely to face more costly gasoline bills if oil prices continue to rise. A Saudi Arabia-led production cut vaulted crude prices 6.3% higher Monday in their steepest one-day increase in more than a year. But with oil markets facing a host of challenges including a possible U.S. recession, only the most bullish analysts see prices touching $100 a barrel soon. Brent futures, the international oil benchmark, jumped to $84.93 a barrel after Saudi Arabia and other leading members of the OPEC+ cartel said they would throttle production. The uptick marked prices’ biggest one-day percentage gain since March 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent a shudder through energy markets.

☆ Iraqi Oil-Pipeline Closure Supports Global Crude Prices
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Benoit Faucon | Joe Wallace | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

An oil well northwest of Kirkuk, Iraq. Oil exports through a vital pipeline account for the bulk of the economy in Iraqi Kurdistan. The closure of a vital oil pipeline in northern Iraq is bolstering international prices and threatens supplies in European countries hunting for alternatives to Russian crude. Producers including Norway’s DNO ASA, London-listed Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. and Dallas-based HKN Energy Ltd. say they have either started to shut wells in semiautonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, or will soon do so if the blockage doesn’t free up. They lost access to the pipeline after the federal Iraqi government said last weekend it had won a long-running arbitration case against Turkey over control of Kurdish crude exports.

Oil has traded this year within a relatively narrow price range. Storage tanks at a California refinery. The economic fears gripping Wall Street have sparked outsize swings in oil prices, exacerbated by trading that investors and analysts say has little to do with the fundamental value of crude. One culprit is an arcane area of trading known on Wall Street as delta hedging, aimed at reducing the risks tied to directional price moves.

☆ Credit Suisse, the Risk-Taking Swiss Banking Giant, Succumbs to Crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Joe Wallace | Eliot Brown | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Credit Suisse Group AG, the Swiss banking giant that liked to live dangerously, has run out of road. The bank struck a deal this weekend to be bought by rival UBS Group AG after an uncontrolled slide in its stock and bonds. The agreement marks the end of 167 years as an independent institution, a humbling comedown for a bank that once went toe-to-toe with U.S. giants on Wall Street and boasted a market value greater than that of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

☆ Surging Chinese Oil Demand Pushes Shipping Costs Sharply Higher
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Costas Paris | Joe Wallace | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Very Large Crude Carriers can each transport two million barrels of oil. China is on an oil-supertanker hiring spree, a sign energy demand has sped up after the world’s second-largest economy limped out of its Covid-19 lockdowns. Traders carry crude to China, the world’s biggest oil importer, in Eiffel Tower-size tankers called Very Large Crude Carriers that each lug two million barrels of oil. The cost of chartering the most coveted type of these tankers, featuring modern exhaust systems, has shot up to nearly $100,000 a day, ship brokers say. That is double the rate from a month ago.

Prateek Gupta is the 43-year-old scion of an Indian family that ran a public metals-and-power company. Even before Trafigura Group said phony nickel shipments could cost it up to $577 million, some people and businesses had decided to steer clear of both Prateek Gupta—the businessman Trafigura says is responsible for the alleged misconduct—and a Swiss firm Mr. Gupta had acquired. Commodity-trading giant Trafigura has accused Mr. Gupta and related companies of committing “systematic fraud.” It says it agreed to buy nickel—a hot commodity, due to the electric-vehicle boom—but instead received other, cheaper cargoes.

☆ Stocks Close With Mixed Results as Rate Expectations Rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Joe Wallace | Gunjan Banerji | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The S&P 500 fell Friday as investors amped up bets on how far the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in the coming months. The broad-based U.S. stock index lost 11.32 points, or 0.3%, to 4079.09, its second down day in a row. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 68.56 points, or 0.6%, to 11787.27.

☆ Stocks Edge Higher After Strong Retail Data
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Joe Wallace | Heather Gillers | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Stocks bobbled Wednesday after data showed a rebound in retail sales, a sign of economic strength that could encourage the Federal Reserve to keep raising interest rates. The indexes spent much of the day in the red, then turned higher. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 110.45 points, or 0.9%, to 12070.59. The S&P 500 rose 11.47 points, or 0.3%, to 4147.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average bumped up 38.78 points, or 0.1%, to 34128.05.

☆ Swiss Trader Trafigura Hit by Suspected Nickel Fraud, Says It Could Lose $577 Million
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Joe Wallace | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Traders and mining companies have raced to tap into growing demand for nickel in electric-vehicle batteries. Trafigura Group thought it was buying containers full of nickel. What showed up wasn’t nickel at all, the giant commodities trader said, describing itself as the victim of a “systemic fraud” that could cost it more than half a billion dollars. The company said Thursday that only a small number of potentially problematic shipments have been inspected, with most still in transit.

The U.S. and its allies agreed to cap the sales price of premium Russian petroleum products such as diesel at $100 a barrel and limit low-value ones such as fuel oil to $45 a barrel, expanding their sanctions on Russia’s oil industry. Just as with the $60 a barrel price cap on Russian crude the U.S. and its allies imposed last year, the agreement will bar Western firms from handling Russian oil products unless they are sold below the set prices. The sanctions aim to keep Russian oil available on global markets to keep prices steady, while also reducing the Kremlin’s revenue in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

The European Union agreed to cap the sales price of premium Russian petroleum products such as diesel at $100 a barrel and limit low-value ones such as fuel oil to $45 a barrel, clearing the way for Western allies to expand sanctions on Russia’s oil industry, according to people familiar with the deal. Following the unanimous agreement between the 27 EU member states, the rest of the Group of Seven advanced democracies, along with Australia, are expected to affirm the deal.

Russia has managed to keep its oil moving to world markets, defying fears that sanctions imposed last month would lead to a plunge in exports. A small office in a suburb of Mumbai helps explain how Russian crude continues to flow. The address is home to an Indian shipping company that didn’t manage a single ship until 2022. It took control of two dozen tankers after the Russian military invasion of Ukraine and has put them to work shuttling Russian crude along newly established trade routes to the Mediterranean, Turkey and India, vessel-ownership and tracking data show.

☆ Stocks Rise as Investors Bet on Slowing Rates, Await Earnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Joe Wallace | Hannah Miao | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

U.S. stocks rose Monday as investors bet the Federal Reserve will dial back its interest-rate increases and braced for a busy week of corporate earnings reports. The S&P 500 added 47.20 points, or 1.2%, to 4019.81. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 254.07 points, or 0.8%, to 33629.56. The Nasdaq Composite moved 223.98 points, or 2% higher, to 11364.41.

☆ Stocks Fall After Weak Economic Data Revive Recession Fears
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Joe Wallace | Eric Wallerstein | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Stocks fell Wednesday after a fresh batch of economic data offered worrying signs of how the economy is weathering the Federal Reserve’s tightening campaign. The S&P 500 lost 62.11 points, or 1.6%, to 3928.86 with each of its 11 sectors in the red. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 613.89 points, or 1.8%, to 33296.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 138.10 points, or 1.2%, to 10957.01. All three major indexes gave up gains made in early trading.

☆ Russia’s Energy Clout Is Waning, Weakening Its Global Influence
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Georgi Kantchev | Joe Wallace | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s use of energy as a weapon of financial war is increasingly backfiring, threatening the core of Russia’s beleaguered economy and curtailing its geopolitical influence. Western sanctions, falling prices for Russian fossil fuels and strategic miscalculations are hurting the country’s oil-and-gas industry while the war in Ukraine is poised to stretch into a second year. Ultimately, the strain will erode Moscow’s status as an energy superpower, according to analysts and former energy officials and executives.

☆ Sliding Natural-Gas Prices Deal Surprise Reprieve to Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Georgi Kantchev | Joe Wallace | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Falling natural-gas prices are providing a relief valve for government coffers and energy-intensive companies in Europe, a fillip for a region that entered winter fearing an industrial meltdown. But prices would have to stay at lower levels for months for factories to raise output significantly, and for the benefits to trickle down to consumers, analysts and companies said.

☆ Oil Market Was Splintered in 2022 by Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( David Uberti | Joe Wallace | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine splintered the global energy market into countries that buy Russian oil and those that don’t. Next year could provide hints about how long the split will last. Through rolling boycotts, expanding sanctions and a novel price cap that took effect this month, Western nations and some of their allies have begun turning away from such imports, pushing Russian producers to find new buyers for millions of barrels of oil each day. Restrictions on diesel and other fuels slated for February could have an even greater impact.

MOSCOW—Moscow threatened to cut oil output in response to Western price caps, setting the stage for an escalation of the energy war that has run parallel to the conflict in Ukraine. Speaking on state television on Friday, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak detailed for the first time Moscow’s possible response to the Western price caps, instituted earlier this month. Mr. Novak said Russia could reduce its production by 500,000 to 700,000 barrels a day—which he described as a 5% to 7% reduction in capacity—by early next year.

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