What's more, G7 and EU countries are weighing seizures of Russian central bank assets for Ukraine aid.
In addition to facing a historic default, two top oil execs say Russia will likely be shut out permanently from global energy markets. The shock of another war on European soil will be a wake up call for the continent, one executive said.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a draw this week for crude oil of 2.445 million...
The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a draw this week for crude oil of 2.445 million barrels, compared to analyst predictions of a 1.533 million barrel build.
The draw comes even as the Department of Energy released 5 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in Week Ending May 13. U.S. crude inventories have shed some 76 million barrels since the start of 2021 and about 18 million barrels since the start of 2020, according to API data.
Distillate stocks saw a build in inventories of 1.075 million barrels for the week compared to last week's 662,000-barrel increase.
Cushing saw a 3.071-million-barrel draw this week. Cushing inventories slipped to 28.242 million barrels in the week prior, as of May 6, according to EIA data—down from 59.2 million barrels at the start of 2021, and down from 37.3 million barrels at the end of 2021.
Oil falls 2% on Powell comments, hopes for Venezuela supply
After hitting seven-week highs, oil prices slumped 2% on Tuesday as Reuters...
After hitting seven-week highs, oil prices slumped 2% on Tuesday as Reuters reported that the United States could ease some restrictions on Venezuela's government, raising hopes that the market could see some additional supplies.
Prices also fell after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned the economy could be hurt by attempts to reduce inflation.
For the first time since May 2020, the Brent international benchmark settled below U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude. Refiners worldwide have scrambled to find alternative energy supplies after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. U.S. reserves are falling and that has raised the price for U.S.-based crudes, said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston.
Brent crude fell $2.31, or 2%, to settle at $111.93 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $1.8, or 1.6%, to settle at $112.40 a barrel.
Okla. engineering school aims to ease industry labor shortage
The University of Oklahoma's Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy hopes to boost enrollment...
The University of Oklahoma's Mewbourne College of Earth and Energy hopes to boost enrollment for oil-related majors to help address the industry's labor shortage. "As we study the needs of the industry, we found we needed to pivot and develop a new petroleum engineer," says college dean Mike Stice.
Stice said enrollment in the school’s college had fallen from 1,400 to a current 377, with 80 set to graduate.
“The real issue we’ve had our entire careers is the cyclical nature of the industry,” he said, explaining one issue impacting the ability to attract students to engineering. Students worry if they will have a job when they graduate, he explained, and when that job isn’t available, they’ll choose alternate careers.
MarketWatch: Dow ends up 430 points Tuesday, after Fed's Powell says a 'softish' economic landing is possible
U.S. stocks finished sharply higher Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said a "softish...
U.S. stocks finished sharply higher Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said a "softish landing" for the economy still was possible. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, 1.34% advanced about 431 points, or 1.3%, ending near 32,655, up for a third straight day in a row. It also marked the biggest daily percentage jump for the blue-chip index since its 1.5% gain on Friday, according to FactSet. The S&P 500 index SPX, 2.02% rose 2%, while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, 2.76% closed 2.8% higher. Powell said there are a number of plausible paths to slowing inflation without sparking a recession, even if it causes Americans some pain, while speaking in an afternoon talk at The Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything event. U.S. retail sales also painted a picture of a healthy economic backdrop, rising 0.9% in April, slightly below the 1% advance forecast by economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. But shares of Walmart Inc. WMT, -11.35% shed more than 11% after the retail giant reported fiscal first-quarter profit that missed expectations.
