2019-08-28 12:40:00
U.S., CHINA ESCALATION: $550 BLN
PLATTS - The US will raise the tariff on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports from 25% to 30% on October 1, and raise the current 10% tariff on another $300 billion of Chinese imports to 15% on September 1, President Trump tweeted late Friday.
"Sadly, past Administrations have allowed China to get so far ahead of Fair and Balanced Trade that it has become a great burden to the American Taxpayer," Trump tweeted. "As President, I can no longer allow this to happen!"
Trump's plan to raise these tariffs by five percentage points was in response to China's announcement early Friday that it planned to levy a 5% tariff on US crude imports from September 1, part of a new round of tariffs on $75 billion worth of US goods imports that will be implemented in two batches from September 1 and December 15.
Renewed concerns over spiraling US-China trade tensions caused oil futures to plunge. NYMEX October WTI settled down $1.18 at $54.17/b and ICE October Brent was 58 cents lower on the day at $59.34/b. Following Trump's announcement, ICE Brent slipped further, trading around $58.87/b at 2138 GMT.
"The weakness in oil prices now are almost totally dependent on the daily trade war narrative," Joe McMonigle, an analyst with Hedgeye Risk Management, said Friday.
While the ongoing trade war continues to weigh on prices, analysts said that the 5% tariff on US crude imports will not have a significant impact on the global market.
Paul Sheldon, chief geopolitical adviser with S&P Global Platts Analytics, said that if China ultimately moves forward with the US crude tariff, the impact on US pricing would likely be limited.
"US sales are already well-diversified, and Chinese refiners are not particularly well suited to US light sweet," Sheldon said Friday. "Moreover, the fear of crude tariffs already changed buying patterns over a year ago."
After climbing to a high of 510,000 b/d in June 2018, China imported no US crude in August, September, and October of 2018 and none in January 2019, as trade tensions between the two countries mounted. China imported 247,000 b/d of US crude in May, according to the latest US Energy Information Administration data.
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Earlier:
2019, August, 26, 15:40:00
CHINA FOR U.S. OIL: +5%
China has announced a 5% tariff on imported US crude oil in retaliation for US President Donald Trump’s recent escalation of the countries’ trade war.
2019, August, 21, 12:30:00
U.S. OIL, GAS PRODUCTION UP
U.S. petroleum and natural gas production increased by 16% and by 12%, respectively, in 2018, and these totals combined established a new production record.
2019, August, 14, 12:20:00
CHINA'S OIL THROUGHPUT UP 5.6%
For the first seven months of 2019, Chinese crude throughput rose 5.6% from a year earlier to 369.73 million tonnes, or 12.73 million bpd, the NBS reported.
2019, August, 13, 13:25:00
U.S. PRODUCTION: OIL + 85 TBD, GAS + 729 MCFD
U.S. EIA - Crude oil production from the major US onshore regions is forecast to increase 85,000 b/d month-over-month in August from 8,683 to 8,768 thousand barrels/day, gas production to increase 729 million cubic feet/day from 80,866 to 81,595 million cubic feet/day .
2019, August, 12, 13:00:00
CHINA'S GDP UP 6.2%
The Chinese economy is facing external headwinds and an uncertain environment. GDP growth slowed to 6.6 percent in 2018, driven by necessary financial regulatory reforms and softening external demand. Growth is projected to moderate to 6.2 percent in 2019 as the planned policy stimulus partially offsets the negative impact from the US tariff hike on US$ 200 billion of Chinese exports. Headline inflation rose due to rising food prices and is expected to remain around 2½ percent.
2019, August, 8, 11:20:00
CHINA'S OIL IMPORTS UP 14%
China's arrivals of crude oil last month were 41.04 million tonnes, equivalent to 9.66 million barrels per day (bpd)
2019, August, 6, 12:15:00
CHINA WILL TAKE AFRICA'S OIL
China's CNOOC will get a 55.6% stake in the Sinapa and Esperanca licenses from Sweden’s Svenska Petroleum Exploration AB, whose interest will be reduced to 23.03%, FAR said in a statement on Tuesday. It did not disclose financial details.
