Oil prices stabilised on Friday, heading for their first weekly rise since the end of November, as additional sanctions on Iran and Russia ratcheted up supply worries, while a surplus outlook weighed on markets. Brent crude futures edged up 7 cents to $73.48 a barrel by 0434 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $70.11 a barrel, up 9 cents. Both contracts are on track for a weekly gain of more than 3% as concerns about supply disruption from tighter sanctions on Russia and [Read more]

Canada is examining the use of export taxes on major commodities including uranium, oil and potash it exports to the U.S. if President-elect Donald Trump goes ahead with his threat to impose tariffs, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. Export levies would be a last resort for Canada and retaliatory tariffs against U.S.-made goods and export controls on certain Canadian products, would be more likely to come first, the report said, citing officials familiar with the discussions inside [Read more]

U.S. coal traders have exported the highest volume of thermal coal in six years over the first eleven months of 2024, and look set to ship out even greater volumes in 2025 once President-elect Donald Trump takes office. U.S. exports of coal used in power generation hit 32.6 million short tons from January through November, according to ship-tracking data from Kpler. That was the highest volume for that period since 2018, and will have generated roughly $4 billion in revenues for the U.S. [Read more]

Oil prices were little changed in Asian trade on Thursday as forecasts of weak demand and a higher-than-expected rise in U.S. gasoline and distillate inventories stemmed gains from an additional round of EU sanctions threatening Russian oil flows. Brent crude futures were up 14 cents at $73.66 a barrel at 0519 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 6 cents to $70.35. Both benchmarks rose over $1 each on Wednesday. OPEC cut its demand growth forecasts for 2025 for the fifth [Read more]

The discount on Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy crude versus the North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) widened on Wednesday: * WCS for January delivery in Hardisty, Alberta settled at $12.45 a barrel under the WTI benchmark, according to brokerage CalRock, having settled at $12.25 a barrel under the U.S. benchmark on Tuesday. * Global oil prices settled more than $1 higher after the European Union agreed to an additional round of sanctions threatening Russian oil flows [Read more]