Nigeria a Net Gasoline Exporter for First Time in March
Nigeria became a net exporter of gasoline in March, the first time since the Dangote refinery began operations. The refinery processed 565,000 barrels per day of crude, producing 44,000 barrels per day of gasoline, of which 40,000 b/d were exported, giving a net export surplus of about 3,000 b/d. Lower domestic demand, driven by a 40% retail price surge linked to Middle East tensions, left excess fuel for export, primarily to Mozambique and other East African markets. The shift marks Nigeria's transition from a major importer to a potential regional supplier, affecting Europe’s oversupplied gasoline market.
US Inflation Quickens to 3.3pc in March, Gasoline Soars
U.S. consumer prices jumped 3.3% year‑over‑year in March, the fastest pace since mid‑2024, driven largely by a surge in energy costs. Gasoline prices recorded a 21.2% monthly gain, the largest in the BLS record dating back to 1967, while fuel...
Base Oil Prices Remain Elevated Since Ceasefire
Base oil markets remain under pressure despite the US‑Iran ceasefire announced on April 7. Group III spot prices have more than doubled in the United States and risen 70 % in Europe, reflecting the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which blocks...
Japan, Oman Sign Carbon Offset Deal
Japan and Oman signed a joint offset agreement on April 9, creating a Joint Crediting Mechanism to spur decarbonising technologies in Oman. The deal marks Japan’s 32nd bilateral JCM partnership and targets 100 million tCO₂e reductions by FY2030‑31 and 200 million tCO₂e by FY2040‑41. Credits...
Australia to Underwrite Refiners' Spot Fuel Trades
Australia’s Export Finance Australia (EFA) will underwrite spot‑market fuel and crude oil purchases for refiners Viva Energy and Ampol, reducing financial risk and enabling access to otherwise uncommercial cargoes. The government can direct the additional fuel to regions facing tighter...
Japan to Ease Oil Bottleneck, Ensure Stable Supply
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has launched a task‑force to curb oil‑product bottlenecks, directing major refiners such as Eneos, Idemitsu and Cosmo Oil to supply critical facilities directly. The government mandates that monthly volumes match the same...
Indiana Utility NIPSCO Locks Out 1,600 Union Workers
Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) locked out about 1,600 United Steelworkers members on April 2 after their contract expired, demanding acceptance of a final offer. The lockout could hinder maintenance at its coal‑fired Schahfer plant, though the utility says non‑represented...
Diesel Supplies to Poland's Ports at Record in March
Seaborne diesel deliveries to Poland’s Baltic ports surged to a record 776,000 tonnes in March, eclipsing the previous high of 667,000 tonnes set in May 2022. The spike was driven by a planned turnaround at the 210,000 b/d Gdańsk refinery and...
Spain Car Sector Power Demand Unlikely to Grow in 2026
Spain’s automotive sector is seeing a continued drop in production, with output 7.2% lower in early 2026 versus 2025. The shift from internal‑combustion engines to electric vehicles has not yet offset the overall decline, pushing power demand below 4 TWh in...
Iran War to Cut Global Growth: IMF
The International Monetary Fund said it will trim its global growth outlook in the upcoming World Economic Outlook because the war in Iran has created a severe energy supply shock. The conflict has damaged key Gulf infrastructure, including Qatar’s Ras Laffan...
Ceasefire Offers Little Relief to Indian Plastic Makers
Indian plastic converters are facing sharply higher feedstock costs as the US‑Iran ceasefire fails to ease supply constraints. Polypropylene raffia prices have jumped 49% to $1,300‑$1,400 per ton and low‑density polyethylene is up 54% to $1,600‑$1,700 per ton since late...
US-Iran War Sends FuelEU Abatement Price Negative
The FuelEU UCOME‑MGO abatement price turned negative on 7 April, reaching roughly –$25.8 per tonne CO₂e after the US‑Iran war pushed fossil‑fuel prices to record highs. ICE gasoil futures hit an all‑time $1,569.75 per tonne, eroding the traditional green premium for...
Delta Expects Fuel Costs to Double in 2Q
Delta Air Lines said its jet fuel cost will roughly double in the second quarter, rising to about $4.30 per gallon from $2.62 per gallon in the first quarter. The increase reflects a 7‑8% year‑over‑year rise in Q1 and a...
Trump Defends Concessions to Iran
President Donald Trump announced that the United States will permit Iran to retain temporary control over the Strait of Hormuz during a two‑week cease‑fire and will discuss broader sanctions relief. The cease‑fire was declared jointly by the US and Iran,...
Indian Government Raises NBS for N, P, S
The Indian government increased the nutrient‑based subsidy (NBS) for nitrogen, phosphate and sulphur by 10% for the April‑September kharif season, while keeping the potash rate unchanged. Subsidy rates now stand at Rs 47.32/kg for nitrogen, Rs 52.76/kg for phosphate and Rs 3.16/kg for...
Iran Steel Supply Unlikely to Benefit From Ceasefire
Despite a newly announced two‑week US‑Iran ceasefire, Iran’s steel production is unlikely to rebound quickly. Air strikes in late March severely damaged Mobarakeh Steel and Khuzestan Steel, forcing both plants—combined capacity about 14 million tonnes per year—to halt output for months....
Meta Funds El Paso Nat Gas Plant as Interim Power Fix
Meta is financing a 366 MW natural‑gas plant adjacent to its El Paso data center, creating a five‑year bridge to supply power before the utility’s grid can accommodate the load. The plant, built by El Paso Electric’s McCloud Generation, will serve exclusively Meta...
India's Jindal Steel Lifts Syngas Use on Propane Crunch
Jindal Steel has begun using synthesis gas (syngas) to power its galvanizing and colour‑coating lines, extending the fuel beyond its original direct‑reduced iron (DRI) application. The move addresses acute natural‑gas and propane shortages in India, which have been aggravated by...
Malaysia's Petronas Takes Bintulu Urea Plant Offline
Petronas has taken its 700,000‑ton‑per‑year Bintulu urea plant offline after an unplanned technical failure. The shutdown removes roughly 2,000 t/d of urea output, cutting a significant portion of Malaysia’s fertilizer supply. The company expects to restart the unit by the end...
Al Taweelah Smelter Repair to Take up to a Year: EGA
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) announced that repairs to its Al Taweelah aluminium smelter could take up to twelve months after a missile and drone strike on 28 March caused extensive infrastructure damage. The facility, which produced 1.6 million tonnes of cast metal in...
US Fighter Jet Shot Down over Iran: Tasnim
Iranian air defenses shot down a US F‑15 fighter jet over Iranian territory, while state media also posted images claiming an F‑35 was destroyed. The fate of the F‑15 crew remains unclear. At the same time, a US A‑10 Warthog...
Saudi Maxes Yanbu Flows, Taps Storage in March
Saudi Arabia rerouted most of its March crude shipments to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, pushing crude exports to an average of 5.3 million barrels per day and refined product exports to about 800,000 b/d. The 1,200‑km East‑West pipeline reached full...
US Seeks Bids for 10mn Bl Crude Release From SPR
The U.S. Department of Energy announced a second round of exchange contracts to loan up to 10 million barrels of sour crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, with 2 million barrels available in April and 8 million in May. Companies must return the...
Morocco’s OCP to Cut Production in 2Q
Morocco’s OCP Group announced accelerated maintenance that will curtail up to 30% of its second‑quarter production capacity. The shutdown affects key fertilizer lines, including DAP, MAP and TSP, after the firm cited tightening supplies of sulphur and ammonia. Last year...
Australia Turns to Less-Established Urea Origins
Australia’s urea importers are scrambling for new sources after the Strait of Hormuz closure halted the Gulf region, which normally supplies about two‑thirds of the country’s fertilizer needs. Importers have turned to Egypt and Nigeria, but both face Australian Quarantine...
ARA Crop-Based Fame Cheaper than Diesel for First Time
For the first time, European crop‑based biodiesel (FAME) traded below ICE gasoil, with the benchmark Fame 0 discounting diesel by $25‑78 per tonne in early April. The price gap stems from Middle‑East supply shocks that have pushed diesel to multi‑year highs....
Carbon - In Focus: UK ETS Widens Discount to EU in Q1
The UK emissions trading scheme (ETS) front‑year contract widened its discount to the EU ETS in Q1, averaging £14.75 per tonne of CO₂e (about $19) and swinging between £6.85 and £25 per tonne. This is the broadest quarterly gap since...
Northeast US Diesel Exports Surge to Europe
New York Harbor briefly became a net diesel exporter as traders shifted ultra‑low sulfur diesel (ULSD) shipments to Europe. A sharp rise in northwest European jet fuel prices created a price arbitrage window, flipping the usual discount relationship between European...
Saudi Sadara Petchem Site Shuts Down on US-Iran War
Sadara Chemical Company, the Dow‑Aramco joint venture in Jubail, has temporarily halted production after supply‑chain disruptions linked to the US‑Iran war. The shutdown affects its massive ethylene, propylene and polymer output, as well as ethanolamines sold by Sabic and Dow....
Chinese Carbide PVC Could Temper US Exports to Asia
U.S. suspension‑grade PVC (S‑PVC) prices surged over 55% since the Gulf war began, reaching $1,000‑$1,050 per tonne FOB Houston. In contrast, China’s carbide‑based S‑PVC rose about 36% to $815‑$900 per tonne FOB China, remaining cheaper to produce. Because roughly 80%...
Lanxess Raises Sulphur-Based Product Prices by 40pc
German chemicals group Lanxess announced an immediate 40% price increase for its sulphur‑based products, including ultra‑pure sulphuric acid, across its Industrial Intermediates unit. The hike targets key inorganic acids used in semiconductor manufacturing, lithium‑ion battery production, and agrochemical formulations. Lanxess...
Abu Dhabi's Adnoc Raises Apr Sulphur Price by $70/T
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOc) raised its April official selling price for sulphur destined for the Indian subcontinent to $600 per tonne, a $70 increase from March. The ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz has cut roughly half...
US Methanol Price Climbs to 4-Year High
US methanol spot prices hit a four‑year high of 135 cents per US gallon for April delivery, up 10 cents from the previous week. The surge follows a March‑long rally driven by the war in the Middle East Gulf, which has disrupted...
Red Sea AWRP up After Houthi Attack on Israel
War risk premiums in the Red Sea have risen following a Houthi missile strike on Israel, lifting the additional war risk premium (AWRP) to roughly 0.65‑0.75% of hull and machinery value. Insurers note that a portion of the charge—25‑50%—may be...
Germany May Need Coal-Fired Power Plants Longer: Merz
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned that the country may need to keep existing coal‑fired power plants online longer than the 2038 phase‑out schedule if the energy crunch persists. He stressed that abandoning the target prematurely could jeopardise the reliability of industrial...
Low German Middle Distillate Demand Encourages Exports
Southwestern Germany’s oversupplied middle‑distillate market is prompting traders to export diesel and heating oil down the Rhine to the Amsterdam‑Rotterdam‑Antwerp (ARA) hub. Regional heating‑oil prices in Karlsruhe were about €13 per 100 L (≈$14) below the national average, while diesel discounts...
Australia Amends Policies to Ensure Commodity Security
The Australian government is amending the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Act to give Export Finance Australia (EFA) new authority to underwrite, guarantee and finance additional cargoes of fuel, fertilizer and other strategic commodities. The legislation also creates a $823 million...
Iran Clears 20 Pakistan-Flagged Vessels Through Hormuz
Iran announced it will clear twenty Pakistani‑flagged vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, allowing two ships per day after months of near‑total closure due to regional tensions. The move follows earlier passages of two tankers carrying roughly 500,000 and 600,000...
Gulf War May Push Beverage Prices Up
PepsiCo and Coca‑Cola warned that the Gulf conflict is driving up key input costs, especially PET resin, which has jumped about 65% to roughly $1,580‑$1,744 per metric ton since late February. Container freight from East Asia to the U.S. West...
UK DLE Projects Push for Simpler Li Buildouts
Direct lithium extraction (DLE) projects in the UK will only generate cashflow if their process flowsheets are simplified and early engineering is rigorously applied, conference delegates said. Developers face a trade‑off between compressing engineering schedules to meet funding windows and...
Trader Books Large Vietnamese HDG Cargo for UK
A trader has secured roughly 15,000 t of Vietnamese hot‑dip galvanised (HDG) coil for delivery to the UK, despite ongoing uncertainty over the UK’s tariff‑rate quota. The booking follows a leaked proposal that would raise Vietnam’s duty‑exempt quota to about 174,000 t,...
Iranian Steel Plants Damaged by Air Strikes
Iranian steelmakers Khouzestan Steel and Mobarakeh Steel were hit by air strikes attributed to the US and Israel, damaging storage silos, a substation, an alloy‑steel line and power infrastructure. The attacks are expected to reduce billet and slab production and...
Brazil Imposes Duties on US, Canada PE
Brazil’s foreign‑trade chamber approved definitive antidumping duties on polyethylene imports from the United States and Canada, fixing rates at $199.04 per metric tonne for U.S. resin and $238.49 for Canadian resin for the next five years. The decision caps the...
Ensus to Receive £100mn UK Govt Support
UK ethanol producer Ensus, a CropEnergies subsidiary, will receive roughly £100 million ($133 million) in government support to keep its 315,000‑tonne‑per‑year ethanol plant in Wilton on standby. The funding secures the plant’s ability to capture up to 250,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually, a...
Nordic Data Centres to Support Power Demand Growth
Nordic data centre power use is set to surge to 28 TWh per year by 2030, about 5 % of regional demand, up from 8 TWh in 2024. Norway has increased its reserved capacity to 3.5 GW and its queue to 5.4 GW, while Finland,...
Behind-the-Meter Buildouts Hurt Grid: AWS, Dominion
Data center operators, spurred by soaring AI workloads, are increasingly installing behind-the-meter power plants to bypass slow grid interconnection processes, said AWS and Dominion executives at CERAWeek. These private, often fossil-fuel-based facilities act as temporary bridges but risk becoming permanent,...
United Resins Buys 50pc Stake in Brazil’s Florpinus
United Resins, a Portuguese pine chemical derivatives producer, has purchased a 50% stake in Brazil’s Florpinus Industria Quimica. The deal adds 35,000 metric tonnes per year of pine oleoresin and 30,000 tonnes per year of gum rosin processing capacity, plus...
Turkey's Tupras Awards Its Domestic Sulphur Sell Tender
Turkish refiner Tupras awarded part of its domestic sulphur e‑tender for April loading, pricing the commodity at $662‑672 per tonne FCA—an increase of $155‑$183 per tonne from the February round. The awards include 8,850 t from the Izmit refinery at $662‑664/t...
Turkey Enters Containerised Ferrous Scrap Market
Turkey, the world’s largest seaborne scrap importer, has begun receiving containerised ferrous scrap from the UK, a trade previously limited to Asian destinations. The shift was driven by Switzerland‑based Stelaris Resources, which arranged the first deliveries from Mellor Metals and...
Iran Disputes Trump's Claim of Peace Deal
President Donald Trump claimed that preliminary peace talks with Iran were underway and that a deal could be reached within five days. Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf refuted the claim, stating no negotiations have occurred and accusing the US...
