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OPEC's oil output rose further in October after an OPEC+ agreement to raise production, a Reuters survey found on Tuesday, though the scale of the increase slowed sharply from September and the summer months.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 28.43 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, up 30,000 bpd from September's total, the survey showed, with Saudi Arabia and Iraq making the largest increases.

OPEC+, comprising OPEC and allies including Russia, slowed the pace of its output increases for October on growing concern over a possible supply glut. Simultaneously, some members are tasked with extra cuts to compensate for earlier overproduction, limiting the impact of increases.

Under an agreement by eight OPEC+ members covering October output, the five of them that are OPEC members - Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE - were to raise output by 86,000 bpd before the effect of compensation cuts totalling 140,000 bpd for Iraq and the UAE.

The survey shows that the actual increase by the five was 114,000 bpd, but declines in Nigeria, Libya and Venezuela offset those gains.

Estimates of output in Iraq and the UAE vary widely, with many outside sources putting the countries' output higher than the countries themselves.

While the Reuters survey and data provided by OPEC's secondary sources show they are pumping close to the quotas, other estimates, such as those of the International Energy Agency, say they are pumping significantly higher volumes.

The Reuters survey aims to track supply to the market and is based on flow data from financial group LSEG, information from other companies that track flows, such as Kpler, and information provided by sources at oil companies, OPEC and consultants.

Source: Kitco

The European Union has agreed with China on stabilizing the flow of rare earth materials and products from China that are critical elements for many high-tech and military products, an official said Tuesday. EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič met with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao in Brussels on Friday to discuss Beijing's export controls on rare earths issued in April and October, and European regulations on semiconductor sales, said Olof Gill, a spokesperson for the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc's executive arm. Like the U.S., Europe runs a huge trade deficit with China — around 300 billion euros ($345 billion) last year. It relies heavily on China for rare earth material and products, which are also used to make magnets used in cars and appliances.

Gill said that the EU welcomed China's recent 12-month suspension of rare earths export controls, and called for a new and stable system of trade in the critical materials. The EU is working with China on an export licensing system to ensure a more stable flow of rare earth minerals to the bloc, he said.

"This is an appropriate and responsible step in the context of ensuring stable global trade flows in a critically important area," Gill said.

Šefčovič said that that Brussels and Beijing were continuing to speak about further trade measures.

"Both sides reaffirmed commitment to continue engagement on improving the implementation of export control policies," he said in an X post.

China is the EU's second-largest trading partner in goods, after the United States. Bilateral trade is estimated at 2.3 billion euros ($2.7 billion) per day.

Both China and the EU believe it's in their interest to keep their trade ties stable for the sake of the global economy, and they share certain climate goals.

Source: Yahoo Finance

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Source: investing

Source: Bloomberg Europe

Source: Bloomberg

The world has failed to meet its main climate change target of limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and will likely breach this threshold in the next decade, the United Nations' Environment Programme said on Tuesday.

The annual Emissions Gap report said because of countries' slow action to reduce planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions, it was now clear that the world would exceed the core target of the 2015 Paris Agreement - at least temporarily.

"This will be difficult to reverse – requiring faster and bigger additional reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to minimize overshoot," UNEP said.

'WE CAN NO LONGER TOTALLY AVOID IT'

Lead report author Anne Olhoff said deep emissions cuts now could delay when the overshoot happens, "but we can no longer totally avoid it".

The 2015 Paris Agreement commits countries to limit the global average temperature rise to 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and to aim for 1.5°C.

Yet governments' latest pledges to cut emissions in future, if met, would see the world face 2.3-2.5°C of warming, UNEP said.

That's around 0.3°C less warming than the U.N.'s projection a year ago - indicating that new emissions-cutting plans announced this year by countries including top CO2 emitter China have failed to substantially close the gap.

China pledged in September to cut emissions by 7-10% from their peak by 2035. Analysts note the country tends to set modest targets and exceed them.

FINDINGS ADD PRESSURE TO COP30 CLIMATE SUMMIT

The findings add pressure to the U.N.'s COP30 climate summit this month, where countries will debate how to kick-start and finance faster action to rein in global warming.

The Paris Agreement temperature goals were based on scientific assessments of how each increment of global warming fuels worse heatwaves, droughts and wildfires. For example, 2°C of warming would more than double the share of the population exposed to extreme heat, compared with 1.5°C . Warming of 1.5°C would destroy at least 70% of coral reefs, versus 99% at 2°C.

Current policies - the ones countries already have in place - would lead to even more warming, of around 2.8°C, UNEP said.

The world has made some progress. A decade ago, when the Paris Agreement was signed, the planet was on course for around a 4°C temperature rise.

But heat-trapping CO2 emissions continue to rise, as countries burn coal, oil and gas to power their economies.

Global greenhouse gas emissions increased by 2.3% in 2024, to 57.7 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent, UNEP said.

Source: Investing