2023-12-14 21:09

NEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The primary data source on U.S. energy markets has struggled this year to depict weekly changes in the country's oil supply and demand, leaving some investors conflicted on how to parse information about the world's top oil producer and consumer. For decades the market had brushed over a so-called "adjustment" in the EIA's weekly inventory report due to its relatively negligible size. But that has changed in the past year as the agency consistently posted outsized adjustments, also known as unaccounted for barrels, sowing confusion among market participants despite changes to improve the quality of the data. WHAT IS THE ADJUSTMENT NUMBER? The adjustment number is a figure the EIA reports each week that serves as a balancing item when the administration's supply and demand data do not align. Adjustments are normal within the data, which, given the report's quick weekly turnaround, have to account for some margin of error. However, market participants have consistently complained this year about larger adjustment figures. The EIA posted an adjustment number of minus 1.42 million barrels per day (bpd) in the week to Dec. 1, the largest negative adjustment on record. In the week to Dec. 8, the adjustment was minus 1.05 million bpd, the third largest negative adjustment on record. WHAT'S CAUSING THE LARGER ADJUSTMENTS? Earlier this year, the EIA studied larger adjustment numbers, as the average annual adjustment in 2022 was the biggest in records dating back to 1973. The assessment found two root factors: crude oil blending accounting that overestimated domestic consumption, and under-reported oil output, the EIA said in March. As a result, the EIA said it would change its surveys to get more accurate crude output data, and also change its accounting methods for crude oil blending. BUT WHY ARE THE ADJUSTMENTS STILL LARGE? The EIA relies on surveys from market participants to capture weekly data. But no dataset is perfect, especially weekly datasets pulled from estimates and sample surveys. The EIA encourages data users to treat the weekly data as a snapshot of trends and compare it to more vetted monthly data. "I know that our weekly data informs a lot of decisions in the market, and that the volatility is not useful. This is why we continue to work on improving our data collection and analysis," said Warren Wilczewski with the EIA. WHY DOES THE VOLATILITY MATTER? The frequency, transparency and expansiveness of EIA's data mean that market participants around the world depend on it to make investment decisions related to the crude market. Release of the data on Wednesdays typically moves the massive crude futures market. But as the adjustments have grown larger, some have grown warier about the data's depiction of the energy landscape. "The market has been losing faith in the weekly data over the last year or two, leaving the report to be viewed as increasingly irrelevant, given the magnitude of the adjustment factor and its unpredictableness," said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst for the Americas at Kpler. EIA's accounting changes around crude oil blending have actually added confusion instead of clarity, Smith added. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/us-eias-crude-accounting-issue-hasnt-gone-away-despite-changes-2023-12-14/

2023-12-14 20:59

Dec 14 (Reuters) - A copper-colored bull who mysteriously wandered on to train tracks near a major New Jersey transit hub on Thursday, disrupting rail service to and from New York City, has been tranquilized and taken to a local animal sanctuary. The bull, sporting a pair of long, pointy horns, astonished commuters near Newark's Penn Station shortly before 11 a.m., when he was spotted wandering along train tracks sunken below a rail platform, according to videos posted to the X social media service. Multiple law enforcement agencies eventually wrangled the bull and corralled him in a fenced lot near Newark Liberty International Airport, local media reported. A spokesperson for the Newark Department of Public Safety did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Skylands Animal Sanctuary and Rescue in Wantage, New Jersey, said it had taken in the tranquilized bull and named him Ricardo. "Safe, but heavily sedated," the animal sanctuary said in a Facebook post, including a photo of the animal lying in a pile of hay, resting up after his morning out in the city. There was still no word from authorities about where the bull may have come from or how he may have found his way onto the tracks. Local radio station WCBS 880 reported that he had escaped from a slaughterhouse, citing unnamed sources. Pastoral farmland is non-existent in the urban neighborhood surrounding the terminal, although Newark is home to several meat-packing companies. The bovine caused delays up to 45 minutes between Newark and New York City's Penn Station on Thursday morning, affecting both Amtrak inter-city and NJ Transit commuter service, NJ Transit said on X. Newark is not unfamiliar with the phenomenon of wandering bulls, however. Another stray steer was found near train tracks in New Jersey's largest city in 2006, according to a New York Times report, eluding police for eight hours before being captured. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bull-strays-onto-new-jersey-train-tracks-delaying-new-york-service-2023-12-14/

2023-12-14 20:57

SANTIAGO, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Workers at Antofagasta's (ANTO.L) Centinela copper mine in Chile have voted overwhelmingly to approve a new labor contract, their union announced on Thursday, averting a possible strike. The contract was approved with 347 votes in favor and 26 against. Earlier this week, union leader Luis Redlich said workers would go on strike on Dec. 19 if the contract talks failed. With the deal, the nearly 400 members of the Centinela District Workers' Union obtained a bonus of 19.6 million Chilean pesos ($22,700), plus a nearly $3,500 preferential loan benefit. The contract "is a historic gain for mining workers," said Redlich, adding that the contract would last 34 months, with the next negotiations starting eight months before the end. The union employees rejected an earlier contract proposal last month, looking to make up for lower production-linked bonuses and to improve working conditions. Last year, Centinela produced 247,600 metric tons of copper, according to government data. The company, which does not typically comment on its negotiations, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ($1 = 864.8000 Chilean pesos) https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/workers-chilean-copper-mine-approve-contract-offer-2023-12-14/

2023-12-14 20:49

Dec 14 (Reuters) - BP (BP.L) has restarted its Olympic Pipeline that had leaked roughly 25,000 gallons of gasoline near Mount Vernon in Washington state, a source familiar with the pipeline's operations said on Thursday. The pipeline was restarted following repairs, integrity testing, and regulatory approval of the restart plan, the source said. The company has been cleaning up the spill since Sunday with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and local officials. Nearly 7,000 gallons had been recovered, according to the latest update from BP and the EPA on Wednesday, which added that at least one American beaver, one pine siskin bird, and one mallard duck died due to the spill. The leak was caused by a tubing failure inside a concrete vault that connected one of the pipelines to a pressure sensor, and the main pipeline was shut down by Monday after detecting a loss in pressure. Gasoline was 2 cents stronger at 5 cents a gallon under NYMEX January gasoline futures in the Pacific Northwest market, traders said on Thursday. Around 2,100 feet (640 meters) of boom remained deployed to contain the spill and no gasoline or sheen has been seen on the Skagit River, while State Route 534 reopened to one-way traffic, according to BP and the EPA. The Olympic Pipeline had ruptured in June 1999, spilling over 230,000 gallons of gasoline that caught fire near Bellingham, Washington, and killed three young people. The explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 led to the largest oil spill in U.S. history that left 11 rig workers dead and caused $70 billion in damages. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/bp-cleaning-up-25000-gallon-gasoline-spill-washington-state-2023-12-14/

2023-12-14 20:46

BRASILIA, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Brazil's Congress on Thursday overturned a presidential veto that had struck down the core of a bill to limit Indigenous land claims, setting up a likely clash at the Supreme Court. Indigenous groups had supported President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's veto, while the bill had the backing of the powerful farm lobby. In a joint session of both chambers, lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to annul Lula's veto of a policy limiting claims to ancestral lands where Indigenous people lived in 1988. The issue is expected to be decided by the Supreme Court, which ruled in September that the deadline was unconstitutional. Lula created the first Ministry of Indigenous Peoples when he took office in January and has vowed to recognize pending land claims. In October he vetoed the core of the bill, a move seen as a major victory for the country's 1.6 million Indigenous people. Many of them have struggled to defend land rights threatened by the advance of Brazil's agricultural frontier into the Amazon region. The number of land conflicts has increased as Brazil's farm sector has boomed in recent decades into a global powerhouse. Indigenous communities across the country claim land that farmers have settled and developed, in some cases for decades. The core of the bill that Lula had vetoed sought to establish in law a cut-off date for new reservations on lands where Indigenous people did not live on Oct. 5, 1988, when Brazil's Constitution was enacted. Brazil's congressional farm caucus argued that greater legal security would curtail often deadly land conflicts. "There is no lack of land for Indigenous people in Brazil. What is missing is support so that they can develop and enjoy the land they already own," said opposition lawmaker Ciro Nogueira on social media. Indigenous leaders and advocates say protecting their lands is the best way to preserve the Amazon rainforest, which scientists say is crucial to curbing climate change. Celia Xakriabá, one of only two Indigenous members of Brazil's Congress, called Thursday's vote "a defeat for the climate agenda." Groups of protesters from some of Brazil's 305 tribes, wearing feathered headdresses with painted faces, danced and chanted outside Congress in support of the presidential veto. Leaders warned that the legislation backed by the farm lobby would lead to more violent conflicts. Among the protesters, Indigenous Peoples Minister Sonia Guajajara told Reuters she was hoping Lula's veto would stand because the deadline threatened claims to ancestral lands that are vital for the survival of Indigenous culture in Brazil. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-congress-overturns-lula-veto-limit-indigenous-land-claims-2023-12-14/

2023-12-14 20:35

Most Fed officials see lower interest rates next year US dollar hits 4-month lows; 10-year yield lowest since July Palladium advances 11% in best session since March 2020 Dec 14 (Reuters) - Gold prices touched a 10-day high on Thursday as the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields slipped after the Federal Reserve signalled an end to its monetary policy tightening cycle. Spot gold rose 0.4% to $2,034.31 per ounce by 3:17 p.m. ET (2017 GMT). U.S. gold futures settled 2.4% higher at $2,044.90. "Fed's dovish pivot was telegraphed over yesterday's FOMC meeting and very pragmatically gave a green light for markets to price in a more aggressive Fed cutting cycle on the horizon, and we expect that the market will run with it," said Daniel Ghali, commodity strategist at TD Securities. "This is extremely positive for gold prices, given that investor demand was one of the missing pieces for the rally to new all-time highs to be sustained." Lower interest rates decrease the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion and weigh on the dollar. The dollar slipped to a four-month low, while the U.S. benchmark 10-year yield dropped to its lowest level since late July. Seventeen of 19 Fed officials projected lower interest rates by end-2024, after the central bank kept interest rates steady for the third meeting in a row, as was widely expected. Markets are now pricing in around an 77% chance of a rate cut in March from the Fed, according to the CME FedWatch tool. The European Central Bank also left interest rates unchanged as expected on Thursday. Spot silver rose 1.6% to $24.13 per ounce, while platinum gained 2.6% to its highest since September at $958.51. Palladium surged 11% to $1,102.44, set for its best session since March 2020 after hitting a five-year low earlier this month. After FOMC, the yield curve started to roll over and investors rushed to buy commodities, which is a major driver for the rise in palladium, said Daniel Pavilonis, senior market strategist at RJO Futures. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/gold-touches-one-week-high-fed-hints-lower-us-rates-next-year-2023-12-14/