Market News - Gold, Oil & Forex

As energy companies explore innovative ways to increase clean power production and gain public support for new projects, many solar firms are investing in developing dual-purpose operations that utilise agricultural land for solar farms. A common criticism of solar farms is that installing panels on arable land for the sole purpose of energy production restricts land use for other purposes. However, installing solar panels on agricultural land, where farming practices can still take place,...

Crude oil inventories in the United States saw a massive increase of 17.4 million barrels during the week ending August 7, according to new data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday. The increase brings commercial stockpiles to 424.4 million barrels, according to government data, which are now just 2% below the five-year average for this time of year. The EIA’s data release follows API’s figures that were released a day earlier, which reported that crude...

Norwegian aluminum producer Norsk Hydro's Alunorte plant in Brazil, one of the world's largest alumina refineries, reduced output by 50% following disruptions to natural gas availability. Bloomberg reports that disruptions to NatGas availability at Alunorte forced a 50% reduction in output and sent aluminum prices in London to a seven-week high. Hydro said production would return to full capacity once gas supplies normalize. Aluminum rose nearly 2% in London and traded at $3,373 a metric ton....

Indian state-controlled oil refiners continue to search the market for spot crude supply as term deliveries are constrained by the ongoing crisis in the Middle East and its key oil chokepoint, the Strait of Hormuz. Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) are looking to buy a combined 6 million barrels of crude oil via spot tenders, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing tender documents it has seen. HPCL is seeking up to 4 million...

The IEA has slashed its 2026 global oil supply forecast, with output now expected to plunge 4.3 million barrels per day this year as the failure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz pushes the market deeper into deficit. The latest forecast is considerably worse than the 3.7-million-bpd decline the agency projected just last month and would leave global supply at 102.02 million bpd, its lowest forecast for 2026 yet. Supply is now expected to fall 1.27 million bpd short of demand for the year,...

The UK could see a power supply margin shortfall during the solar eclipse on Wednesday amid high demand in the new heatwave that is sweeping through Britain and the rest of Europe this week. There is no risk to customer supplies, but a notice has been issued to the market and power generators as the eclipse will block sunlight between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. local time on Wednesday evening. The National Energy System Operator issued a notice today to encourage market actions to increase system...

Brent Crude oil prices rose above $89 per barrel in early trade in Europe on Wednesday as Iran and the United States offered contrasting claims about who controls the Strait of Hormuz. Brent Crude prices were up by 0.64% at $89.60 in the morning in Europe, and WTI Crude was rising by 0.94% at $83.90, amid persistent supply concerns and risks despite claims from the U.S. that traffic at Hormuz had normalized. Iran, for its part, said on Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed unless...

Oil flows from the Middle East have normalized, with Sunday traffic alone above pre-conflict averages, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said on Tuesday in a claim that appears not to be backed by ship-tracking data. On Tuesday, Secretary Wright posted on X that “Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the U.S. military and our gulf allies, the seven-day average for oil leaving the Strait of Hormuz is currently up to almost 9 million barrels per day.” He went on to add that “When combined with...

A drone has struck a power station at the Zawiya oil export terminal in Libya, suggesting continued attacks on one of the country’s main oil hubs. The power plant is in close proximity to the largest oil refinery in Libya, the AP noted in a report on the news. The attack follows earlier ones that caused an explosion at an oil storage tank. No one has claimed responsibility for the drone attacks, the AP also reported.  The tank, according to the company operating the facility, had 4.5 million...

Russia has started importing fuels from India, Bloomberg reported today, citing Kpler data that shows one cargo of 42,000 tons of gasoline from Nayara Energy’s Vadinar refinery arriving in Russia earlier this month. The Vadinar refinery is partly owned by Rosneft, which supplies the crude oil that is processed at the facility. Those shipments were disrupted last November, after the United States sanctioned Russia’s largest oil exporter. The Vadinar cargo was loaded in mid-June, the report said,...

Whatever officially occurs next in the on-again/off-again negotiations towards a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran, unofficially Tehran knows that it has established de facto control over both the world’s two key maritime energy transit routes -- the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait -- for at least as long as the Islamic regime remains in place in Iran. Washington, London, Brussels, Beijing, and Moscow know it too. The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively controlled by vast...

The Middle East conflict and the heightened threats to shipping in the Red Sea have prompted China to boost the use of the Arctic to move containers from the Chinese east coast to Europe. The fast-melting Arctic ice offers an alternative shipping route in the summer as the Houthi threats to shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait make cargo operators more cautious in transiting the key chokepoints in the Middle East. Shipping through the Arctic is not something new, but this time...