2025-06-27 02:16

WASHINGTON, June 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. will not complete scheduled deliveries of crude oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until the end of the year due to maintenance, as much as seven months behind schedule, the Department of Energy said on Thursday. Former President Joe Biden's administration scheduled 15.8 million barrels of deliveries to the SPR from January through May. So far this year only 8.8 million of that has been delivered to the reserve. Sign up here. "Due to site maintenance, the SPR rescheduled crude oil secured from previous solicitations, as well as exchanges, through December 2025," an Energy Department spokesperson told Reuters. Biden carried out several sales from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve including 180 million barrels in 2022, the largest ever, in an attempt to control spiking gasoline prices after Russia invaded Ukraine. President Donald Trump vowed on his first day in office in January to fill the SPR "right to the top", in an effort to support the domestic oil industry, but it is taking time. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has estimated it would take $20 billion and years to refill the reserve to the level it was before the sales. Trump's tax-and-spending bill allocates about $1.5 billion for purchases and SPR maintenance. Wright has also blasted Biden's large sale from the reserve, saying it caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. When asked for a breakdown of those damages, his department said the 180 million barrel sale resulted in $2 million in emergency repairs, $35 million in costs to move the oil and $243 million in costs from delays to congressionally-directed maintenance. The Biden administration said in November it had bought back 59 million barrels for the SPR after the 2022 sale at an average price of less than $76 a barrel, far lower than the $95 a barrel at which it sold oil in 2022. That resulted in a profit of about $3.5 billion, Biden's DOE said at the time. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-will-not-complete-oil-deliveries-into-its-reserve-until-year-end-2025-06-27/

2025-06-27 00:22

June 26 (Reuters) - Recent U.S. inflation data has been "quite positive" but some of the inflationary effect of tariffs may just be delayed, Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said on Thursday. "We've been basically saying, Hey, we need to go slow until we have more clarity on what's happening with tariff-related inflation,'" Kashkari said, of how the Fed is looking at interest rate decisions. Sign up here. Businesses are going to pass on as much of the higher costs from tariffs as they can, he told the Montana Chamber of Commerce in Helena, Montana. "We've also heard a lot of businesses saying, Hey, we don't want to pass on cost increases yet because if the tariffs come back down to something more normal, why would we want to anger our customers if it's going to be a temporary thing?" Kashkari said. It's also remarkable, he said, how products often "find their way around and through barriers," a suggestion that he is watching to see if businesses find ways to avoid the biggest tariffs, which could limit the total impact on inflation. At the moment there's a lot of uncertainty and trade negotiations are under way, he said. "We still need to get a better assessment of what impact tariffs are going to have on the economy," he said. "We just don't know yet." https://www.reuters.com/business/feds-kashkari-says-more-clarity-needed-tariffs-impact-inflation-2025-06-27/

2025-06-27 00:18

June 26 (Reuters) - Options markets suggest the probability of a disruption of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz is just 4% following the Iran-Israel ceasefire, Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note on Thursday. Fears that Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz after U.S. strikes on its nuclear facilities sent Brent crude futures to a high of $81.40 on Monday, but concerns eased in the wake of the truce declared the next day, sending crude back below $68. Sign up here. The sharp drop in the geopolitical risk premium likely reflected traders' recent experiences with major geopolitical shocks without significant oil disruptions, Iran's restrained response, strong U.S. and China incentives to avoid large disruptions, and the likely shift to large inventory builds from the fall, Goldman analysts said. Options markets see a 60% chance that Brent will stay in the $60s in three months and a 28% probability they would exceed $70, Goldman analysts said. Were oil flows to be disrupted through the Strait of Hormuz, Brent would climb to $90 a barrel, they said. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/oil-market-reflects-slim-chance-supply-disruption-goldman-analysts-say-2025-06-27/

2025-06-26 23:29

China had committed to removing non-tariff countermeasures in May talks China's dual-use restrictions slow rare earth licensing process Trump says there might be a separate deal with India WASHINGTON, June 26 (Reuters) - The United States has reached an agreement with China on how to expedite rare earth shipments to the U.S., a White House official said on Thursday, amid efforts to end a trade war between the world's biggest economies. President Donald Trump earlier said the United States had signed a deal with China on Wednesday, without providing additional details, and that there might be a separate deal coming up that would "open up" India. Sign up here. During U.S.-China trade talks in May in Geneva, Beijing committed to removing non-tariff countermeasures imposed against the United States since April 2, although it was unclear how some of those measures would be walked back. As part of its retaliation against new U.S. tariffs, China suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets, upending the supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world. "The administration and China agreed to an additional understanding for a framework to implement the Geneva agreement," a White House official said on Thursday. The understanding is "about how we can implement expediting rare earths shipments to the U.S. again", the official said. A separate administration official said the U.S.-China agreement took place earlier this week. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was quoted as saying by Bloomberg: "They're going to deliver rare earths to us" and once they do that "we'll take down our countermeasures." On Friday, China's commerce ministry said the two countries recently confirmed details on the framework of implementing the Geneva trade talks consensus. It said China will approve export applications of controlled items in accordance with the law. It did not mention rare earths. While the agreement shows potential progress following months of trade uncertainty and disruption since Trump took office in January, it also underscores the long road ahead to a final, definitive trade deal between the two economic rivals. China has been taking its dual-use restrictions on rare earths "very seriously" and has been vetting buyers to ensure that materials are not diverted to U.S. military uses, according to an industry source. This has slowed down the licensing process. The Geneva deal had faltered over China's curbs on critical minerals exports, prompting the Trump administration to respond with export controls of its own preventing shipments of semiconductor design software, aircraft and other goods to China. In early June, Reuters reported China had granted temporary export licenses to rare-earth suppliers of the top three U.S. automakers, according to two sources familiar with the matter, as supply chain disruptions began to surface from export curbs on those materials. Later in the month, Trump said there was a deal with China in which Beijing would supply magnets and rare earth minerals while the U.S. would allow Chinese students in its colleges and universities. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/trump-says-deal-related-trade-was-signed-with-china-wednesday-2025-06-26/

2025-06-26 22:37

Peace deal expected to be signed in Washington on Friday Sources say agreement aims to secure Rwanda's gradual withdrawal US seeks end to conflict, access to critical minerals June 26 (Reuters) - Congolese negotiators have dropped a demand that Rwandan troops immediately leave eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, paving the way for a U.S.-brokered peace agreement to be signed between the longtime foes on Friday, four sources told Reuters. Rwanda has sent at least 7,000 soldiers over the border, according to analysts and diplomats, in support of the M23 rebels, who seized eastern Congo's two largest cities and lucrative mining areas in a lightning advance earlier this year. Sign up here. Rwanda has long denied providing arms and troops to M23 and says it is acting in self-defence. Congolese and Rwandan officials are expected to sign a peace deal in Washington on Friday following a diplomatic push by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to end years of conflict with roots in Rwanda's 1994 genocide. The agreement also aims to attract Western investment to the two countries' mining sectors, which boast deposits of tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium, while giving the U.S. access to critical minerals. Sources told Reuters earlier this month that Washington was pushing for Rwanda to withdraw its troops before the deal's signing, a pre-condition that was also included in a U.S.-prepared draft authenticated by diplomats. But that timeline was certain to face resistance from Rwanda. Kigali considers Congo-based armed groups an existential threat, particularly the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which includes remnants of Rwanda's former army and militias that carried out the genocide. Three sources told Reuters that the new version of the agreement aims to obtain the withdrawal of Rwandan troops from eastern Congo over several months, while two of them said the withdrawal would be conditioned on operations against the FDLR. The sources - three diplomats and a Congolese official - asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the talks. Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told Reuters on Thursday that under the agreement the "lifting of defensive measures in our border area" would be contingent upon the FDLR's "neutralisation". Tina Salama, spokesperson for Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, told Reuters that Kinshasa was intent on securing the "disengagement or total withdrawal" of Rwandan forces from Congolese territory. A State Department spokesperson said it did not comment on ongoing diplomatic negotiations. It remains unclear how far the agreement to be signed on Friday will advance beyond a declaration of principles agreed in April. Technical experts from the two countries initialed a draft peace agreement last week, saying it addressed issues related to territorial integrity, "a prohibition of hostilities" and the disengagement, disarmament and conditional integration of non-state armed groups. It also referred to a mechanism agreed as part of an earlier Angolan-backed peace effort to monitor and verify the withdrawal of Rwandan soldiers and Congolese military operations targeting the FDLR. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/congo-drops-demand-immediate-rwandan-troop-pullout-sources-say-2025-06-26/

2025-06-26 22:08

HOUSTON, June 26 (Reuters) - Ethane traders Satellite Chemical USA and Vinmar International have received U.S. government letters allowing them to load ethane on vessels destined for China but prohibiting unloading ethane in China without authorization, sources familiar with the matter said. The letters received Wednesday from the U.S. Department of Commerce follow a licensing requirement imposed several weeks ago on ethane exports to China, stalling shipments and leading vessels to drift or anchor around the U.S. Gulf Coast. Sign up here. The letter could be perceived as the administration preparing to lift the restriction, industry sources and analysts said. Even so, there would likely still be some reluctance to load ethane - which is extracted from U.S. shale gas and primarily used as a petrochemical feedstock - as China-bound vessels could be stuck in limbo depending on how long the full-path restriction plays out, said AJ O'Donnell, an analyst at Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. The U.S. also sent similar letters to Enterprise Products Partners (EPD.N) , opens new tab and Energy Transfer (ET.N) , opens new tab on Wednesday, Reuters reported exclusively. China's Satellite Chemical Co Ltd (002648.SZ) , opens new tab, the parent of Satellite Chemical USA, and Vinmar declined to comment. Around half of all U.S. ethane exports head to China, and the halt in flows has pushed ethane prices lower on worries of domestic oversupply. The restrictions are likely to cut into profits of top ethane producers. Supertanker Gas Bluebonnet loaded for China's Satellite Chemicals at Energy Transfer's Nederland facility in Texas on June 12 and was near the Panama Canal on Thursday, ship tracking data on LSEG and Kpler showed. At least nine other tankers were drifting or anchored along the U.S. Gulf, while two were moored at loading docks. In the near term, export terminal operators such as Energy Transfer and Enterprise could benefit as they can push their buyers to load at the docks, industry sources said. Still, Enterprises Morgan Point dock near Houston could see lower volumes as a result of the ethane restrictions, Tudor Pickering Holt & Co's O'Donnell said. Chinese petrochemical firms use ethane, extracted from natural gas, as a feedstock because it is a cheaper alternative than naphtha, while U.S. oil and gas producers need China to buy their natural gas liquids as domestic supply exceeds demand. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/satellite-chemical-vinmar-get-us-govt-letters-preventing-ethane-unloading-china-2025-06-26/