The International Energy Agency remains largely in the dark over the real pace of China’s surging oil demand despite long-running attempts to persuade the county to publish official data on consumption and oil stocks, the IEA’s top energy security official said Tuesday.
China continues to turn down requests for information on its oil demand and stock levels in particular, as the country believes it is in its best interest to keep data on sales and releases from its growing strategic petroleum reserves a secret, Keisuke Sadamori told an oil conference in London……………………………………Full Article: Source

A surge in U.S. oil production has pushed the country’s output to the highest level since 1992, threatening the dominance of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
The United States pumped 7.06 million barrels a day in the week ended Feb. 8, up 1 percent from the previous week and extending last year’s 19 percent gain, the Energy Information Administration said this week. OPEC production fell to the lowest level in a year in January, the Paris-based International Energy Agency said in its monthly report, which also came out this week…………………………………….Full Article: Source

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Gold could get a break this week, maybe, in the form of China. That country is back from the Lunar New Year’s holiday and gold bugs will be scanning the horizons for signs of a pickup in physical buying demand and anything that could put a floor on recent gold selling. Getting lots of people nervous, gold dipped below that psychologically important support level of $1,600 an ounce on Friday.
“What can and will probably make a dent in the recent downward direction is the opportunistical buying to take advantage of the sharp recent price decline,” says Frederic Panizzutti, senior vice president at MKS Finance Geneva. “All factors that led gold toward higher levels over the last 3 years are still intact and we would see no reason why the medium term trend would have changed.”……………………………………Full Article: Source

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An in-depth insight into what has been going on in the gold market – and what may follow – emerges in the form of the latest report from the World Gold Council (WGC), the industry body.
On one level, it was the same old story: the “safe haven” metal attracts investment to preserve wealth in a low interest rate, gloomy economic environment. After all, demand for gold hit an all-time high of $236.4bn (£152bn) for 2012 as a whole………………………………………..Full Article: Source

A reduction in crude oil supply from non-OPEC countries due to disruptions is estimated at 875 thousand b/d for February, around 256 thousand b/d less than the previous month, stated a recent market outlook from London based Barclays.
However, ongoing outages in Brazil, Syria and Sudan are expected to disrupt the smooth moving of the commodity, the report added. In Yemen, an average of 50 thousand b/d of production might have been reduced in February as a result of yet another rebel attack on its main pipeline, Marib, last week………………………………………..Full Article: Source

World gold demand from October through December was the second strongest of any quarter on record and 2012 was the second-highest ever for a full year behind 2011, the World Gold Council said Thursday in its quarterly report on demand trends.
Fourth-quarter demand was rose 4% year-on-year to 1,195.9 metric tons, while the value of the gold demand rose 6% to a near-record $66.2 billion, the Gold Council said. Growth in jewelry and central-bank demand exceeded declines in the investment and technology sectors, the report said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Aluminium was once more costly than gold. Napoleon III, emperor of France, reserved cutlery made from it for his most favoured guests, and the Washington monument, in America’s capital, was capped with it not because the builders were cheapskates but because they wanted to show off. How times change.
And in aluminium’s case they changed because, in the late 1880s, Charles Hall and Paul Héroult worked out how to separate the stuff from its oxide using electricity rather than chemical reducing agents. Now, the founders of Metalysis, a small British firm, hope to do much the same with tantalum, titanium and a host of other recherché and expensive metallic elements including neodymium, tungsten and vanadium………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Oil futures rose then turned lower Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a smaller-than-expected rise in last week’s crude inventories. Crude supplies climbed by 600,000 barrels for the week ended Feb. 8. Analysts polled by Platts expected a 2.5-million-barrel climb.
Motor gasoline supplies fell 800,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles declined by 3.7 million barrels, the EIA report said. Analysts expected gasoline stocks to be unchanged, and forecast a fall of 1.6 million barrels in distillate supplies………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said the U.S. should see the biggest output gains among non-OPEC oil producers this year, but it sees the U.S. supply forecast, dependent on growth in shale oil production, as risky.
OPEC, in its monthly report, said the U.S. should increase production by 520,000 barrels per day. It said U.S. production should average 10.51 million barrels a day in 2013 and stand at 10.6 million barrels in the fourth quarter, due to gains in production in the Bakken, Eagle Ford and Permian areas and growth in natural gas liquids………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Oil futures pared some of their losses Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a smaller-than-expected climb in last week’s crude inventories, along with a decline in distillate stockpiles.
Crude supplies rose 2.6 million barrels for the week ended Feb. 1. Analysts polled by Platts expected a three-million barrel climb. Motor gasoline supplies were up 1.7 million barrels, while distillate stocks fell one million barrels, according to the EIA report………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The International Energy Agency said it was too early to revise its estimate for Iranian oil exports amid speculation that the Persian Gulf nation boosted shipments in December. Iran’s crude shipments were 1.2 million barrels a day, the Paris-based agency said in a Jan. 18 report, an estimate it won’t be revising until next month, Diane Munro, a supply analyst at the IEA, said.
That’s down from 1.45 million in November. Reuters reported earlier today that Iranian exports rose to 1.4 million barrels a day last month, the highest level since European sanctions began, citing data it compiled from analysts and shipping and customs data……………………………………..Full Article: Source

The International Energy Agency said it was too early to revise its estimate for Iranian oil exports amid speculation that the Persian Gulf nation boosted shipments in December. Iran’s crude shipments were 1.2 million barrels a day, the Paris-based agency said in a Jan. 18 report, an estimate it won’t be revising until next month, Diane Munro, a supply analyst at the IEA, said.
That’s down from 1.45 million in November. Reuters reported earlier today that Iranian exports rose to 1.4 million barrels a day last month, the highest level since European sanctions began, citing data it compiled from analysts and shipping and customs data………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The lowest oil volatility in 17 years is pushing down options costs, setting up trades that BNP Paribas SA (BNP) and Commerzbank AG (CBK) say will profit when Mideast supply disruptions send prices swinging again.
BNP in Paris recommends buying contracts that pay should crude advance and financing them by selling bearish puts. New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) said the drop in oil volatility is “too much too soon.” Commerzbank sees value in bets on Brent climbing toward $130 a barrel………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Reports about the US shale oil boom being a game changer have proliferated after the November 2012’s prediction by the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) that the United States will overtake Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the world’s biggest oil producer by 2020 and energy self-sufficient by 2030.
While such rosy predictions play well to the IEA’s audience, which is largely American, they don’t stand up to scrutiny………………………………………..Full Article: Source

U.S. energy independence has been a dream since the oil embargoes of the 1970s. But this vision of a “Saudi America” has always been just a dream. Investors and non-investors alike started talking in earnest about realizing that dream last November. That was after the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) latest World Energy Outlook said that the U.S. would overtake both Saudi Arabia and Russia in oil output by the second half of this decade.
Its forecast calls for the United States to be producing 11.1 million barrels a day in 2020 compared to Saudi Arabia’s 10.6 million barrels a day. The IEA’s Outlook went on to say that by 2035 the United States could be almost self-sufficient in energy, and talks about “Saudi America” began to surface………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Morgan Stanley, in its newly released Commodity Manual, just delivered good news for anyone investing in commodities in 2013. The report gives a bullish outlook in 2013 and 2014 for eight of 14 commodities it evaluated. Estimated two-year gains range from 3.05% to 17.3%.
Money Morning Global Resources Specialist Peter Krauth agrees most commodities will perform well. In fact, he projects even higher growth than Morgan Stanley’s outlook. “With central banks on their virtually uninterrupted fiat money-printing spree bound to continue for the next few years, hard assets remain a great place to be,” Krauth says. “That being said, some commodities will undoubtedly do better than others.”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Deutsche Bank has revised up its Chinese oil demand growth projection for the year to about 5% at 468000 bl/day in comparison to 392000 bl/day for the past year.
“Our China economists believe that key drivers of this year’s economic recovery will be corporate and infrastructure investments, which should prove positive for raw materials demand.” the Bank said in a report. Chinese oil demand ended the year on a high note as data for the final months of 2012 reflected a sharp recovery………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Despite recent hiccups in gold prices, if you’re investing in commodities, it is still the best, safest bet, according to Morgan Stanley’s commodities team led by Hussein Allidina. Silver offers a little more risk and reward than gold; Allidina expects it to outperform gold in 2013.
The report also favors soybeans and corn as demand for them is accelerating faster than supply. However, the report warns commodities investors away from aluminum and sugar, two commodities that are acutely oversupplied at the moment………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The world’s most influential oil producer, Saudi Arabia, reduced its oil production towards the end of 2012, causing many to conclude the Kingdom sought to reinforce global oil prices, but the Internal Energy Agency has a different take.
Saudi Arabia had been pumping oil at 30-year highs for most of 2012, but cut back supplies by just below 300,000 barrels per day in December to 9.36 million b/d, the IEA said in its most recent Monthly Oil Market Report………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The Base III norms may not have any impact on the ongoing bull market as Gold was considered ‚riskless asset, according to Przemyslaw Radomski, CFA Founder, Editor-in-chiefl of Sunshine Profits.
The Basel III recomendations have categorised assets in to Tier 1 and Tier 2 abolishing the tier 3 introduced in Base II recomendations. Under these recommendations gold remained eligible collateral with a haircut of 15% just as it was under Basel II………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Palladium prices rose to the highest in 16 months while platinum touched $1,700 a troy ounce for the first time in three months as supply-side problems buoyed the white precious metals.
The announcement on Tuesday that Anglo American would shut down platinum mines with total capacity of 400,000 ounces a year – or 7 per cent of global capacity – has reinvigorated investor interest in the markets for the so-called “platinum group metals”………………………………………..Full Article: Source

In spite of market participants focusing more of their attention on the perception of what global oil demand might be down the road, the nearby fundamentals remains mostly biased to the bearish side. Last night’s API oil inventory report was neutral to bearish after another large build in gasoline stocks (see below for more details).
The World Bank issued their latest global forecast suggesting that the global economy is still fragile as high income countries continue to suffer from volatility and slow growth………………………………………..Full Article: Source

The recent price movement of gold has been frustrating for some people. The yellow precious metal logged its twelfth consecutive annual gain in dollar terms and climbed higher against every major fiat currency in 2012. However, gold has been stuck in consolidation mode and finished the year with its worst quarter in four years. Furthermore, some market participants are claiming the bull market is over.
Gold finished last year about 7.0 percent higher at $1,675 an ounce. It capped the longest streak of annual gains since at least 1920, but gold entered the new year with a less impressive record………………………………………..Full Article: Source

As the most abundant metal in the earth, aluminum actually makes up about 8% of the weight of the planet’s solid surface. The metal is known for its low density, ability to resist corrosion, and wide range of uses. It can be found in everything from soda cans to airplanes with an increasing number of industrial usages in between.
The metal was a hot commodity during the housing-led economic boom, but its price collapsed during the financial crisis, followed by the stock of those companies engaged in its production………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Moderate and slow recovery of the global economy will only allow for a modest increase in energy demand this year, the United Arab Emirates’ governor for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said Wednesday.
“This modest economic growth will continue and will provide a little room for large increase in demand for energy. This year, the global oil market is expected to grow by just 800,000 barrels per day,” Ali Obaid al-Yabhouni said in a speech in Abu Dhabi. “The global demand is expected to grow by just 900,000 barrels per day….mainly from non-OECD countries,” he said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

As Western sanctions have started to take real effect on Iran’s oil exports its production volumes have been reduced sharply throughout 2012, which allowed Iraq to overtake Iran as the second largest producer in OPEC.
Iran’s oil minister, Rostam Qasemi, said that in order to try and maintain a decent position in the OPEC table, and keep the corresponding influence that the position brings, Iran has had to invest $25 billion on upstream oil and gas production since last March, and will need to keep this level of investment up in the future………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Iran has spent almost $25 billion on upstream oil and gas projects since last March but needs to keep investing to keep its influence in OPEC, Iran’s oil minister said on Sunday.
Iranian oil production fell sharply last year, as Western nations tightened sanctions to starve Tehran of funds for its disputed nuclear programme, allowing Iraq to overtake Iran as the oil exporting group’s second-largest producer………………………………………..Full Article: Source

In OPEC’s recent World Oil Outlook, published in November 2012, over the period 2010-2035 primary energy demand in the reference case increases by 54 per cent. In terms of oil, demand increases by over 20 mbd for the period 2010-2035, reaching 107.3 mbd by 2035. The region of developing Asia is expected to contribute 87 per cent of this increase.
Allow me to highlight a few other numbers from the World Oil Outlook. In terms of the Middle East and the Asia Pacific regions, crude oil exports from the former to the latter are expected to increase by six mbd between 2011 and 2035………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Gold rose, capping the longest annual gain since at least 1920, on renewed concern that central banks from Europe to China will take steps to spur economic growth and as U.S. leaders near a budget deal.
Gold futures for February delivery gained 1.2 percent to settle at $1,675.80 at 1:41 p.m. on the Comex in New York, while prices for immediate delivery jumped as much as 1.5 percent………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Gold is the favoured commodity of 2013 with more than 80% of gold executives expecting to see a rise in the price of gold, which will drive increased spending on exploration and merger and acquisitions says the latest PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Gold Price Report released Thursday.
After analyzing the 46 largest Toronto-listed gold mining companies, the firm found that more than 20 of these miners have cash reserves greater than $500 million………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Gold versus Silver. It’s a long-standing debate among precious-metal investors as to which commodity is a wiser investment. Both are seen as a hedge against inflation, as the prospects of ever-weakening currencies could send investors flocking to these hard assets.
Yet silver has an edge over gold in once crucial aspect: It has a wide range of industrial applications and typically sees rising demand as global industrial activity heats up………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Investors almost doubled purchases of commodities this year, at a time when Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley are forecasting higher prices and Citigroup Inc. says the best returns are over.
Money invested in commodity funds increased by $21.6 billion this year, up 92 percent from the gain in 2011, according to Cambridge, Massachusetts-based EPFR Global, which tracks the flows. Hedge funds’ bets on a rally are 51 percent bigger than a year ago, U.S. government data show. Precious metals will lead returns in 2013, rising as much as 25 percent, as grains advance 18 percent and industrial metals 16…………………………………….Full Article: Source

Due to better governance practices and a commodity boom, Brazil’s economy has enjoyed incredible growth over the past 20 years. Brazil is now the largest economy in Latin America and the sixth or seventh largest economy depending upon the metric used.
On the other hand, while Brazil’s GDP per capita has improved, it still ranks at a relatively low 64th in the world - meaning that it is a large economy, but not an especially wealthy one yet (at least not uniformly so). While Brazil has made a concerted effort to build up its manufacturing sector (and reduce the risk of being trapped as a commodity-driven economy), minerals, energy and agriculture are still very significant to the Brazilian economy, as well as the larger global economy……………………………………..Full Article: Source

OPEC does not see increased US oil output as a threat to its interests but is skeptical about current forecasts on the boom of American shale gas production, a senior official of the 12-nation group said.
OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah Al-Badry also said figures supplied by Iran show it producing around 3.7 million barrels a day. That is the same amount as Tehran pumped before international embargos on its crude that took effect this year and had been estimated to have cost it hundreds of thousands of barrels a day in sales………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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“We may be squandering a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Jim Cramer, an opportunity to finally break the back of OPEC. “We currently have the opportunity for our continent to become energy independent,” Cramer explained “But the government is doing next to nothing to make it happen.”
That may seem counter-intuitive at first – after all – lower nat gas prices mean lower energy bills. However, from the industry perspective, lower prices suggest supply will far exceed demand for some time to come………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Opec, the oil producing cartel, has left its output target unchanged, despite concerns about oversupply in the market and soft oil demand as the global economy continues to show signs of weakness.
Ministers meeting in Vienna on Wednesday stuck with their ceiling of 30m barrels a day, which was set a year ago………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Gold is holding above $1,700. And everyone says the economy is recovering. The worriers can stop worrying, say the pundits. The US has plenty of cheap oil. Unemployment is going down. Housing is going up. This is not the time to buy gold, they say. The world is not going to end. You won’t need it.
All year long, we’ve heard analysts tell us that the bull market in gold is over. Most recently Goldman’s top commodity man announced that gold will go down next year, as real interest rates once again turn positive………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Most members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are signaling they’ll keep production policy unchanged at a meeting in Vienna today as the group struggles to agree on a new secretary-general.
While OPEC’s own forecasts show that it’s pumping more than consumers need, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Angola and Ecuador have indicated that supply and demand are approximately in balance, suggesting that the group will stick to its official output target of 30 million barrels a day………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Three consecutive years of smaller U.S. corn harvests are driving inventories of the world’s most- consumed grain to a 39-year low and spurring Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to predict that prices will rise near record highs.
Global stockpiles probably will drop 11 percent to 117.64 million metric tons by Oct. 1, according to the average of 16 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. That would be 13.8 percent of what the U.S. Department of Agriculture expects to be used for food, ethanol and livestock feed, the lowest ratio of inventories since 1974. The USDA is scheduled to update its forecasts at 8:30 a.m. in Washington………………………………………..Full Article: Source

As OPEC meets in Vienna this week, discussions are likely to be dominated by clashes over the appointment of a new leader for the group, leaving it ill-equipped to grapple with a major shake-up under way in the global oil market.
Insiders and analysts say the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has little chance of responding effectively to the shale-oil boom, which is forecast to rewrite global trade movements and turn the U.S. into the world’s largest oil producer by 2020, if it can’t overcome its divisions and agree on a candidate to lead the group for the next three years………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Goldman Sachs has put out a negative call on gold saying that the bull market is over, exactly the sort of market maneuver predicted six weeks ago by “Mr. Gold” Jim Sinclair, the widely followed veteran of the 1970s gold boom.
Then he claimed the bullion banks would look to pull gold down one last time to allow them cover to reverse their own huge short positions in the market. Once this is safely accomplished they will go fully long in their own positions and take the gold price far higher………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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The gold bull market that started during the first quarter of 2001 has now been in play for approximately 11 1/2 years. Since then gold is up over 565%. With the Fed and Central Bankers around the world now gearing up for even more money printing that means that gold prices will continue to strengthen.
In fact, given the average commodity cycle tends to run in a 13 year bull market, gold appears to be in the last 1-2 years of this ongoing uptrend………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Russia, last year’s third-biggest wheat exporter, is bracing for its coldest winter in 20 years, threatening a crop planted into parched soil at a time when drought is already diminishing yields from Australia to the U.S.
The icy blasts predicted by the state weather forecaster through February are a greater threat this season because record heat in southern areas means some crops have yet to enter dormancy and don’t have a protective snow covering. Russia will already have the lowest stockpiles relative to demand in five years when it starts harvesting in July and a damaged crop would further curb supplies available for shipping………………………………………..Full Article: Source

As OPEC members meet in Vienna next week, they have good reason to feel satisfied, Gulf Oil Review said in its market insight released Wednesday. For the first time in history, the average price of the group’s basket of oil has been above $100 a barrel for eight consecutive quarters.
The stability of the oil price, especially in the past three quarters, is remarkable given the many weaknesses in the world economy; the EU debt crisis; sanctions on Iran’s oil; geopolitical tensions in the Middle East; and unplanned supply outages outside this region. While macroeconomic risks abound, the risks of a shock are receding and therefore, so is the prospect of a sharp dip in the oil price………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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OPEC is expected to stick with an output target of 30 million bpd when it meets on December 12. Global oil supplies are comfortable, OPEC secretary general Abdullah al-Badri said on Tuesday ahead of the oil exporting group’s meeting in Vienna next week.
“The market is comfortable as I see it at this time,” he told Reuters on sidelines of United Nations climate talks in Doha………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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The Bank of Korea increased gold reserves 20% last month to diversify investments, boosting holdings for the fourth time since June 2011 and underscoring increased demand by central banks, according to Bloomberg.
The bank added 14 metric tons in November, bringing the total to 84.4 tons, the bank said in a statement today. By value, holdings increased about $780 million to $3.76 billion, equivalent to 1.2% of total reserves, the bank said. “Gold is a physical, safe asset,” the Bank of Korea said in the statement. The precious metal “is a way of diversification, which helps reduce investment risk in terms of foreign-exchange reserves management,” it said………………………………………..Full Article: Source

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Pop quiz: When is the next OPEC meeting? You may be excused for drawing a blank.If you care to put it in your holiday season calendar, the next meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is Dec. 12. Yet the gathering is eliciting the attention of few.
The institution that could once instill fear in oil markets with mere whispers is now lucky to elicit a polite yawn when delegates from its 12 member states assemble in the festive city of Vienna………………………………………..Full Article: Source

Most OPEC ministers and officials say the oil market is balanced, signaling little desire to alter output targets when they meet next month in Vienna. The following table is a compilation of recent comments from officials in the 12 nations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies about 40 percent of the world’s oil.
The group is due to elect a new secretary- general at the Dec. 12 meeting and may renew or change its output ceiling of 30 million barrels a day, which was reaffirmed in June without individual country quotas………………………………………..Full Article: Source

OPEC crude oil output has declined in November to its lowest since January because of disruptions to Nigerian output and reduced supplies from Angola and Libya, a Reuters survey found on Thursday.
Supply from the 12-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has averaged 31.06 million barrels per day (bpd), down from 31.15 million bpd in October, the survey of sources at oil companies, OPEC officials and analysts found………………………………………..Full Article: Source

High oil stockpiles, slowing demand growth and a fragile world economy would normally give OPEC reason to consider supply cuts when it meets next month.
But with turmoil in the Middle East keeping the price of oil well into triple digits, OPEC delegates say the 12-member group is expected to stick with an output target of 30 million barrels per day agreed a year ago………………………………………..Full Article: Source