Oil Prices Fell On Wednesday as COVID-19 Cases Continued To Mount In China

Oil prices fell on Wednesday as COVID-19 cases  continued to mount in China, raising concerns about weaker fuel demand at the world's largest crude oil importer, outweighing concerns about escalating geopolitical tensions and tighter oil supplies.

Brent crude futures were down 60 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $93.26 a barrel at 08:01 Saudi Arabian time, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 69 cents, or 0.8 percent at $86.23 a barrel. Indonesia proposes Canada to create group similar to OPEC for nickel  said in a statement Wednesday that Indonesia and Canada are the world's top and sixth-biggest producers of nickel, respectively.

The proposal was made as Indonesian Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia met with Canada's Foreign Trade Minister Mary Ng  on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali on Tuesday.

The minister raised the possibility of trying to “coordinate and integrate” nickel policy like OPEC. , the group of 13 oil-producing nations that often determine world production, the statement said.

Bahlil had previously raised the idea of ​​such a grouping in an interview with the Financial Times last month, although he said Indonesia was still formulating a structure and had yet to reach out to other nickel producers. In Wednesday's statement, Bahlil said a group of nickel-producing countries can ensure optimal performance of the electric vehicle industry and accused countries that produce electric vehicles of pursuing protectionist trade policies.

Through this collaboration, we hope that all nickel-producing countries can benefit from an evenly distributed value creation,” said Bahlil.

Ng said in the statement that the two countries could consider such cooperation and that they both share a common vision to optimize natural resources in a sustainable way.

Indonesia wants to use its nickel reserves to attract investment in nickel processing metals and beyond the supply chain , including electric vehicle battery production and electric vehicle manufacturing in the country. it said in  a report on Wednesday. Shareholders received $415.9 billion  dividends for the July-September period, said wealth management fund Janus Henderson. $46.4 billion.

Janus Henderson said that without the surge in oil companies, dividends for the third quarter starting in 2021 would have been flat overall. Oil and gas companies rallied in the second quarter as energy prices soared after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February. and many delivered exceptional dividends to investors in the third quarter.

As energy prices have fallen from the highs reached in the first half of the year, Janus Henderson does not expect the high level of exceptional dividends to continue. For the full year 2022, Janus Henderson expects dividend payouts to increase by 8.3 percent to $1.56 trillion.

The asset manager has warned that a slowdown in global growth, which is expected in 2023, as central banks hike interest rates to curb rampant inflation could hurt corporate earnings and dividend payments.

Shell's ethane cracker comes online after years of construction After years of work, a massive petrochemical refinery in western Pennsylvania, fueled by the vast natural gas reservoir beneath the Appalachian Mountains, went fully online on Tuesday, the oil manager said and gas giant Shell.

It will produce 3.5 billion pounds of polyethylene per year when it reaches peak output in the second half of 2023, Shell said. , which is used to make everything from plastics to tires to antifreeze.

Shell, the London-based British multinational oil and gas company, had planned to spend $6 billion on the facility.