World oil prices move higher as US strike killed Iranian commander
Oil prices jumped to the highest level in more than three months on Friday after the United States killed a top Iranian military commander in Iraq, sparking fears that escalating conflict in the region could disrupt global oil supplies.
Brent crude ended the session up 3.6% or $2.35 at $68.60 a barrel, off the session peak of $69.50, the highest level since the mid-September attack on Saudi oil facilities. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled up $1.87 or 3.1% at $63.05 a barrel. The session high was $64.09 a barrel, its highest since April 2019.
More than 840,000 front-month WTI contracts changed hands, while Brent trading volumes surpassed 464,000 lots, both the highest since the Saudi attacks.
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Gold prices jump
Gold prices jumped 1% to a four-month high on Friday as tensions flared in the Middle East after a senior Iranian military official was killed in a US air strike, sparking safe-haven bids.
Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, and top Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed in the air strike on their convoy at Baghdad airport.
Spot gold hit its highest since Sept. 5 at $1,543.66, and was up 0.8% at $1,540.80 per in the Asian close on Friday. US gold futures gained about 1% to $1,543.30 per ounce.
For the week, spot gold has gained about 2%, heading for a fourth consecutive weekly increase.
Among other precious metals, silver hit a more than two-month high of $18.25 and was last up 0.8% at $18.17 per ounce, while platinum rose 0.4% to $982.66, heading for about 4% weekly gain. Palladium climbed 0.3% to $1,964.87, on track for a more than 3% weekly gain.
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Euronext wheat falls in 2019 despite late rally
Euronext wheat closed with an annual decline after a year-end rally only partly offset a price drop linked to a recovery in European production. March milling wheat, the most active contract on the Paris-based exchange, settled 0.25 euros, or 0.1 percent, down at 188.75 euros ($212.08) a tonne after a shortened session on Tuesday ahead of the New Year holiday. The contract was consolidating below Monday’s six-month high of 189.75 euros. That peak came after a rally in international wheat markets linked to an initial US-China trade agreement, steady export demand and global harvest concerns. Over the year, spot futures on Euronext, including the current March contract, showed a 7.1 percent decline from the 203.25 euro close at the end of 2018. European Union common wheat production rose 14.5percent this year from the drought-hit 2018 harvest, according to the European Commission.
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Natural gas production to slow in 2020
A new report says natural gas production in 2020 will start to pull back on its healthy growth. Energy analysis firm Enverus on Tuesday said the rapidly accelerating natural gas production nationwide since 2017 will likely fall, given low prices, challenges from producers and only minimal growth in demand. Overall natural gas production is up 32 percent since December 2016 or 23 billion cubic feet per day despite falling prices that are now about $2.64 per thousand cubic feet of natural gas. With natural gas demand only about 6 percent higher in 2019 despite a boost in production, Enverus Senior Director of Strategy and Production Rob McBride said it’s a challenging environment for natural gas producers.
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China’s iron ore shines with biggest annual gain
Dalian iron ore futures rose on Tuesday to end 2019 with a near 141 percent surge from last year, outperforming other commodities, due to supply disruptions and China’s still healthy demand for the steelmaking raw material.
The Dalian Commodity Exchange’s benchmark iron ore contract , with May 2020 expiry, ended the holiday-thinned trade 0.5 percent higher at 648.50 yuan ($93.03) a tonne amid firmer steel futures and iron ore spot prices. On the Singapore Exchange, the front-month January iron ore contract was up 1.2 percent at $91.25 a tonne. Spot cargoes of benchmark iron ore with 62 percent iron content for delivery to China jumped by $1 to settle at $93 a tonne on Monday, data from SteelHome consultancy showed.
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Coal India’s total production up 7.2pc
Coal India’s total coal production achieved was 58.02 million tonnes in December 2019 compared to 54.14 million tonnes in December 2018, recording a growth of 7.2 percent.
For the period April- December 2019, the coal production stood lower by 5.8 percent at 388.41 million tonnes compared to 412.44 million tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year, the company said. Total offtake was 53.63 million tonnes in December 2019 compared to 52.61 million tonnes in December 2018, recording a growth of 1.9 percent. For the period April- December 2019, the coal offtake was lower by 6.2 percent at 417.26 million tonnes compared to 444.63 million tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year, the company added.
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Trump administration’s push for US uranium production
In a clearing on Forest Road 305, about 15 miles south of Grand Canyon National Park, an enormous steel headframe towers beside a retention pond. Beneath the headframe, a mine shaft drops 1,400 feet into the earth. This is the Canyon Mine, which opened in 1986 to extract uranium.
A handful of employees work during the week, but the mine has not produced a single ounce of the mineral, which is used to produce weapons and keep the country’s 96 nuclear reactors operating. As demand for uranium has plummeted, the price is too low for US companies to compete with other countries and still turn a profit. Uranium is processed in just seven facilities in the US, including the White Mesa Mill in Utah. Curtis Moore, vice president of marketing and corporate development for Energy Fuels in Lakewood, Colorado, which owns Canyon Mine, said the mine’s inactivity isn’t too concerning. The US imports most of the uranium it uses because it’s cheaper to buy from other countries, including Canada.