🔹Russia 🇷🇺 is expected to resume oil exports to Europe 🇪🇺 via Ukraine today, after transit was halted by Ukraine’s 🇺🇦 Ukrtransnafta, earlier this month. The payment Transneft had made to Ukraine’s Ukrtransnafta on July 22 for the transit fees for August didn’t process due to unclear banking regulations from sanctions.

🔹Slovakia’s 🇸🇰 Slovnaft and Hungary’s 🇭🇺 MOL paid Ukraine the transit fees 💵 for August for the Ukrainian section of the Druzhba pipeline as a temporary solution.

🔹Druzhba, which is one of the longest pipeline networks in the world, carries crude 🛢 some 4,000km from the eastern part of European Russia to refineries in the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.Russia normally supplies about 250,000 barrels of oil per day via the southern leg of the route.

🔹USA 🇺🇸 - Fire 🔥 destroys historic flour mill in eastern Oregon. The Pendleton Fire Dep't 🚒 responded to a report of visible black smoke and quickly extinguished a small fire. Officials say the fire reignited around 4 a.m. Wednesday and the building was soon fully engulfed. Grain Craft officials said 🚑 no injuries have been reported.

🔹The Pendleton Flour Mills is owned by Grain Craft, which is the largest independent flour 🌾 milling company in the country 🇺🇸. "Although the building is a total loss, this will be an ongoing emergent situation due to the amount of grain that is [slowly] burning,".

Recent Related News:

💠 Disruptions to US 🇺🇸 food security from fires 🔥 in June at multiple food processing plants and in May. Also in May, a fire 🔥 at Purdue Farms facility in Virginia.

💠 Grain Storage facility in Prosser, Washington, burnt 🔥 down.

Video: Pendleton Fire Dep't social media account

🔹German 🇩🇪 Vice Chancellor announced that public buildings across the country won't be allowed to set heating 🌡 above 19 deg. C (66.2F) this fall. Germany's grid regulator, Klaus Mueller, said that German families would need to cut 20% of their normal energy consumption in order to avoid gas shortages by December.

🔹Germany's 🇩🇪 incoming gas price levy, which is meant to distribute the high costs of replacing Russian gas among all end-consumers from October, has been set at 2.419 💶 euro cents per kilowatt hour💡(kWh). The levy, planned by the German cabinet in a bid to help Uniper and other importers cope with soaring prices 📈.

🔹Salzgitter AG, Germany's second-largest steelmaker, 🔥 is in talks with regulators in a bid to secure exemption from potential gas rationing. Salzgitter makes the pipes needed to connect two planned LNG terminals with the national grid.

🔹Idaho, USA 🇺🇸 - A previous year's potato 🥔 crop cycle is supposed to last through the following August. And before the 2022 harvest comes into the pipeline (it’s just now beginning), consumers are facing the shortage from last year's crop. ”There is not a gap. There are just less potatoes being shipped right now than there normally are this time of year because of the shorter supply that we started the season with,”.

🔹Shippers 🚛 are running low on fresh Idaho potatoes 🥔 statewide and it will take careful planning over the next few weeks to make sure fresh spuds remain on grocery store shelves nationwide. Until this year’s crop is harvested and new shipments begin, shippers are under the gun to keep supply chain issues to a minimum.

🔹“Consumers 🍟 might not notice anything,”. As far as the 2022 potato crop, potato acreage is down 8%, to about 290,000 acres, but better growing conditions should increase yields 🌱.

🔹France 🇫🇷 is contending with its worst nuclear 🏭 outages in decades, putting it at greater risk of blackouts 🔌 this winter. Water levels have plunged in reservoirs and rivers, making it hard to generate hydropower, transport coal and cool nuclear plants, while reducing the efficiency of gas power plants.

🔹In France, 🇫🇷 the state plans to fully nationalize 🔋 Electricite de France SA, the embattled nuclear power utility. Benchmark Dutch gas futures 🔥 for next month extended last week’s gain, 📈 climbing as much as 4.2% in Amsterdam. The price has more than doubled since June.

Recent news -
💠 French 🇫🇷 utility Electricite de France 💡reported that nuclear power stations on the Rhone and Garonne rivers will reduce power generation 🏭 because of increasing water temperatures used for cooling.

🔹Germany 🇩🇪- Many farmers besiege with tractors 🚜🚜🚜 the Bonn Ministry of Agriculture. German farmers revolt against EU climate change policies and the agenda behind them, which, if carried out, will surely bring the agricultural 🌾 industry to its knees.

Background:
💠 German 🇩🇪 farmers have been protesting 🔥 draconian climate change policies against them in the name of curbing nitrates in groundwater.

💠 There is a blackout of farmers 🚜 protests in European corporate media.

💠 German 🇩🇪 farmers have been standing in solidarity with Dutch 🇳🇱 farmers after the Netherlands plan to cut farmers nitrogen emissions.

🔹Water levels on Germany's 🇩🇪 Rhine River continued to decline today, hitting a new threshold. Top companies exposed to falling water levels that would disrupt barge traffic, 🚢 implying they would have to resort to trucks 🚛 or rail 🚂 to transport goods.

🔹Kaub's reading is just 6 centimeters (2.4 inches) from 2018's record low of 25 centimeters (9.9 inches), which then caused the waterway to close.

Background:
💠 Five days ago a warning ⚠️ was issued of the effects of lower levels.
💠 Freight shipping on the river continues but with vessels 🚢 sometimes forced to sail 75% empty.

💠 German 🇩🇪 companies faced supply bottlenecks and production problems in 2018 for this situation.

💠 This is preventing at least two power 🏭 plants in Germany from getting all the coal they need.

🔹Gold coins 💰used as currency in Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 will soon be available in smaller denominations, the central bank says. Sky-rocketing inflation 📈saw people rushing to cash in their Zimbabwean dollars for US dollars, to stop their savings losing value.

🔹This led to a shortage of US 💵 currency and drove up exchange rates, so the central bank reacted by halting loans. But it soon changed tack, and last month issued gold coins worth US$1,800 instead, to ease demand for US dollars.

🔹Inflation topped 256% in July - and the local currency tumbled in worth from Z$108.66 to US$1 at the start of the year, to 🇿🇼 Z$481.85 to US$1 in August. Banks have sold 4,475 of the one-ounce coins 🪙 so far, with 90% having been purchased with local currency.

🔹The Lithuanian 🇱🇹 Siauliai Bank that facilitates cargo transit payments between mainland Russia 🇷🇺 and its exclave of Kaliningrad went through with an earlier announced decision to stop operations in Russian rubles.

🔹The lender is also planning to completely cease operations with Russia 🇷🇺 and Belarus 🇧🇾 in any currency starting in September. Russia’s state rail operator, Russian Railways, 🚅 said today that it continues to successfully settle with Lithuania 🇱🇹 payments for transit to Kaliningrad but that these settlements are not made in rubles.

Background:
💠 Lithuania 🇱🇹 recently attempted to block Russian 🇷🇺 goods to Kaliningrad via rail citing EU 🇪🇺 sanctions. This action violated existing agreements and was reversed.

🔹China’s 🇨🇳 daily coal ⛏ output in July grew 16% year-on-year on growing energy demand. Overall production in July amounted to 372.66 million tons, or 12.02 million tons per day. China’s power 🔋 generation surged 4.5% year-on-year to 805.9 billion kilowatt-hours 💡. Analysts attribute the increase in power demand to high temperatures, 🌡 which has led to an increased use of air conditioning.

🔹South Africa’s 🇿🇦 coal sales to Europe 🇪🇺 have surged following an increase in demand for fossil fuel amid sanctions on Russia. Thungela Resources reported that its half-year profits were 20-times higher 📈 than the year before. South Africa's coal sales to Europe have risen eight-fold. 📈

🔹Australian 🇦🇺 mining firm BHP revealed that its profits jumped nearly 40% 📈 in the past year despite falling iron ore prices, bolstered by unprecedented demand for coal and copper.

🔹European power 💡prices surged to a record high for a fifth straight day. German 🇩🇪 baseload year-ahead power 🔋prices topped 500 euros today — up almost 500% from a year earlier.

🔹Dutch TTF natural gas futures, 🔥 were up almost 8% 📈 today to 237.50 euros a megawatt hour, their highest level since early March. Gas prices in 🇪🇺 Europe were above $2,600 per 1,000 cubic meters earlier today.

Background:
💠 Natural gas flows via Nord Stream 1 to Germany 🇩🇪 remains @ 20% capacity due to failure by Siemens Germany to service and return gas turbine to Russia's 🇷🇺 Gazprom.

💠 Norway 🇳🇴 will limit electricity 🔌 exports to Europe due to low water levels at hydroelectric power stations.

💠 France 🇫🇷 continues to face restrictions on nuclear 🏭 and hydroelectric power 🔋generation.

💠 Germany 🇩🇪 has moved to the second stage of a three-tier emergency gas plan.

💠 Low water levels on Germany's 🇩🇪 Rhine River continues to prohibit full cargo of coal ⛏ transported to coal power plants.

🔹UK’s 🇬🇧 inflation rate 📈 rose to a new 40-year high of 10.1% in July. It is only the fourth time in 70 years that inflation has breached the 10% threshold.

🔹The biggest increases came for bread 🍞and cereals, dairy, meat and vegetables, with the rising cost of food leading to record increases for restaurant and hotel prices. Price rose for other staple items such as pet food, toilet rolls, toothbrushes and deodorants.

🔹Annual energy 💡bills in Great Britain 🇬🇧 are forecast to rise to more than £3,500 from October, with a further jump to more than £4,200 in January expected, up from a current level of just under £2,000.

Related UK developments:
💠 Britain's 🇬🇧 cap on domestic energy prices is expected to rise by 70% in October.

💠 Dockers at England's Felixstowe (8th-largest container 🚢 port in Europe.) ⚓️ are planning eight days of strike action over pay.

💠 Thames Water may have shut down an emergency ☀️ drought plant (desalination plant in Beckton, east London) to save on power costs.

🔹OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al-Ghais - "We are running on thin ice, because spare crude 🛢 capacity is becoming scarce. The likelihood of a squeeze is there". Saudi Arabia's 🇸🇦 production stands around 10.5 million bpd and has a production capacity ceiling of 12 million bpd.

🔹Saudi 🇸🇦 Aramco reported a net profit of $48.4 billion for the Q2 of the year, a record figure and a 90% increase on the year thanks to stronger oil prices.

🔹Exports of crude oil 🛢and condensates from Latin America, excluding Venezuela 🇻🇪, have fallen by 700,000 barrels per day to 3.1 million barrels per day in August compared to high levels in July, as more crude is being used by domestic refineries.

🔹Switzerland 🇨🇭might have to resort to using oil for electricity generation this winter as Europe faces low Russian 🇷🇺 natural gas supply. Major energy-intensive industries in France 🇫🇷are looking to convert gas boilers to run on oil 🛢.

🔹Russia 🇷🇺 proposes a new international standard for trading in precious metals: the Moscow World Standard (MWS) which will become an alternative to the London 🇬🇧 Bullion Market Association (LBMA) known to manipulate precious metals markets to depress prices.

🔹The Russian Finance Ministry, precious metals 🪙 prices will be fixed either in the national currencies of key member-countries or using new monetary units used in international trade—for instance, the new BRICS 🇧🇷🇷🇺🇮🇳🇨🇳🇿🇦 currency proposed by Putin.

🔹It aims to swiftly destroy the monopoly of LBMA and to provide for stable development of the precious metals sector. In essence, Russia 🇷🇺 proposes to create a market for gold, platinum, etc., which will be regulated by countries that control the resources for these metals.

💠Maneco64 talks on this today - link

💠My article from April 9th mentioned the moves to bring down the LBMA. - link

🔹Arizona and Nevada 🇺🇸 face deeper cuts on the amount of water they can draw from the drought ☀️-stricken Colorado River. Under new conservation efforts, 21% of Arizona's annual water allocation from the river system will be reduced in 2023. Nevada will see 8% of water deliveries reduced, and Mexico's share will be cut by 7%.

🔹Lake Mead supplies drinking water 💧and agricultural irrigation to 20 million people across seven states. It also generates hydroelectric 🔋power via water flowing back into the Colorado River via the Hoover Dam.

🔹For the Hoover Dam, 🔋 950 feet is the lowest water elevation at which the lake can produce power. It's currently at 1040 feet. Arizona is allocated nearly 19% of the energy 🔌 generated at Hoover Dam.

🔹Germany 🇩🇪- Shell slashed its refinery output at its Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland fuel-making facility as low Rhine River levels halted the 🚢 flow of goods. Shell did not reveal how much of the refinery’s capacity had been cut. It is capable of processing 345,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

🔹Switzerland 🇨🇭will further tap its strategic fuel stocks as imports along the River Rhine to the land-locked country have almost come to a standstill. The government will release another 490,000 cubic meters -- about 3 million barrels 🛢-- of fuel until the end of September.

Background:
💠 Warnings ⚠️ of Rhine low levels have been recently issued.

💠 Freight shipping on the river continues but with vessels 🚢 sometimes forced to sail 75% empty.

💠 German 🇩🇪 companies faced supply bottlenecks and production problems in 2018 for this situation.

💠 This is preventing at least two power 🏭 plants in Germany from getting all the coal they need.

🔹Venezuela 🇻🇪 had restarted shipments to Europe after 2 years of US sanctions under a deal that allows them to trade oil for debt relief. However, the gov't has now suspended those shipments, 🚢 saying it is no longer interested in oil-for-debt deals and instead wants refined fuels from Italian 🇮🇹 and Spanish 🇪🇸 producers in exchange for crude.

🔹Venezuela's 🇻🇪 own refineries 🏭 are struggling to remain in operation because of lack of investment and lack of repairs. Refined fuels would help them to get back on their feet in terms of energy and industry.

🔹Venezuela's heavy oil 🛢 operations need imported diluents such as heavy naphtha. PDVSA has relied mostly on Iranian 🇮🇷 diluents to turn its extra heavy crude into exportable grades.

🔹US 🇺🇸natural gas prices rise to 14 year highs 📈 as concerns that increasing domestic and European demand for the fuel will result in tighter US supplies ahead of the winter season. Texas' Freeport LNG 🔥is expected to roar back online in October, which will divert more available natural gas supply towards LNG exports, keeping balances tight for the winter season.

🔹The US 🇺🇸 added only 18 billion cubic feet into its natural gas inventories for the week ending August 12. Heading into the fall and winter, this is a comparatively low injection rate. During the same week last year, the inventories gained 46 Bcf. U.S. supplies are still more than 10% below normal levels 📉 for this time of year.

🔹Germany's 🇩🇪 producer price inflation accelerated unexpectedly to a new record high 📈 in July. Producer prices grew 37.2% year-over-year in July, well above the 32.7 percent surge in June. Among other components of the producer price index, prices of intermediate goods increased 19.1% and those for capital goods grew 8.3%.

🔹Evonik Industries AG, the world’s second-largest chemical producer with plants in 27 countries, is substituting as much as 40% of its German gas volumes with LPG and coal, 🔥 and passing some higher costs on to customers. Europe’s largest copper producer, Hamburg-based Aurubis AG, aims to minimize gas use and pass on power costs to customers.

Background:

💠 Low water levels 💧affects trade along Rhine river.

💠 German electricity💡up almost 500% from 1 year ago.

💠 Farmers 🚜 protest climate change policy by German politicians.

💠 German gov't introduces new tax💰on gas users in October.

💠 German politicians continue to play sanction games with Russia's 🇷🇺 gas turbines.

🔹An 8-day strike at the UK's 🇬🇧 largest container port, Felixstowe, could see Britain lose out on nearly £700m ($824m) in trade and "severely disrupt" the supply chain. Maersk, the world’s second-largest container shipping firm, 🚢 said it would avoid the port and instead deliver UK-bound goods to other ports.

🔹Around 1,900 members of the Unite union based at the Port of Felixstowe in Suffolk walked out yesterday in an ongoing dispute over pay. The industrial action is the first of its kind at the port since 1989. Union members which include crane drivers 🏗 and machine operators ⚙️voted by more than 9-1 in favour of strikes.

🔹“Plus all of the products that are on the sea 🚢 which are perishable, which won't be delivered, which will all be waste. Felixstowe, on the Suffolk coast, handles the equivalent of 4m 20-ft shipping containers 🚢 every year.

🔹Norwegian 🇳🇴 owned Norsk Hydro is planning to shutter a 175,000-ton annual capacity aluminum smelter 🔥 in Slovakia. High electricity prices 🔋 is a major factor.

🔹The co. is also facing a workers strike at the largest and most modern aluminium plant in Europe located in Sunndal, Norway. 🇳🇴 The strike will initially lead to a gradual shut-down of 20% of production and a halt in the shipment of products to customers.

🔹The Budel zinc smelter in the Netherlands 🇳🇱, controlled by Trafigura Group’s Nyrstar -- will be placed on care and maintenance from Sept. 1 indefinitely.

💠Europe has lost about half of its zinc and aluminum smelting capacity 🔥within the past year.

💠Europe’s largest copper producer, Hamburg-based Aurubis AG, aims to minimize gas 📉 use.

💠Each ton of aluminum takes about 14 megawatt-hours 💡of power to produce, enough to run an average UK home for more than three years. Zinc requires about 4 megawatt-hours of power per ton.