IIR's March 25 Market Scorecard Brings You Breaking Geopolitical News

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Stay current with the latest geopolitical events, and more importantly, instantly connect to how these events may impact you and your business strategies.

Event	MarCon*	IIR Comment	Outlet	IIR News
Israeli delegations visit Washington amid U.S. misgivings over Gaza war		Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant arrived Monday in Washington for talks with the Biden administration on weapons and U.S. support as relations between the longtime allies grow increasingly strained over Israel's campaign in Gaza... Aid groups have warned that such an operation (Rafah) could deepen Gaza's humanitarian disaster. Half of the enclave's 2.2 million population already face catastrophic levels of hunger, a U.N.-backed report concluded last week. Famine may already have reached some communities.	Washington Post	U.S. Rig Count, Summit Midstream Partners: Your Daily Energy News
Moscow concert hall attack: Why is ISIL targeting Russia?		ISIL's Afghan branch - also known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K) - has claimed responsibility for the attack and United States officials have confirmed the authenticity of that claim, according to the Reuters news agency. Russia is in Syria and fighting against Daesh [ISIL] like the United States. That means they see such countries as hostile," Aslan told Al Jazeera. "They are now in Moscow. Previously they were in Iran, and we will see much more attacks, maybe in other capitals," he added.	Aljazeera	Energy Transition Will Drive up Demand for Distribution Transformers, Worsening Supply-Demand Imbalance
Oil benchmark Brent nears $86 on heightened supply concerns		Oil benchmark Brent hovered close to $86 a barrel on Monday as hostilities intensified between Russia and Ukraine and in the Middle East. The upward trajectory is linked to belief that a sticky recession is being fought off, with interest rates in major economies expected to fall by the summer, while the OPEC+ group of oil producers has extended supply curbs into the second quarter. Concerns over global oil supply are being heightened, meanwhile, by attacks on Russian energy facilities and Ukrainian energy infrastructure as well as fading hopes of a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict, said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, president of NS Trading, a unit of Nissan Securities. Another Russian oil refinery had half of its capacity knocked out in a drone attack over the weekend.	Reuters	30 Million Hydrogen Jobs by 2050: Where Will the Skills Come From?
Big Oil's green-bashing stokes backlash		Top oil executives have been sharply criticized for pushing back against the viability of the clean energy transition at a U.S. conference, with campaigners denouncing an industry claim that the shift away from fossil fuels is "visibly failing on most fronts." "At the same time, the cost of converting and moving to a lower-carbon society, if that cost is too high for consumers to bear, they won't pay. And we've seen that play itself out in Europe, with some of the farm protests and the yellow vest protests a year or so ago," he added.	CNBC	Ohio Approves Massive Shell-Backed Solar-Battery Storage Project
Natural Gas News: Testing Multi-Year Low on Renewed Selling Pressure		The US natural gas market is exhibiting a sharp downward trend, influenced by a combination of milder weather forecasts, abundant gas storage, and disruptions in liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. One significant factor is the service outage at Freeport LNG's Texas plant, leading to lower gas flows to LNG export plants. Reduced drilling activities from major firms have led to a decline in gas production, approximately 4% over the past month. Considering these factors, the short-term market forecast for US natural gas is bearish. The combination of high storage levels, reduced production, and fluctuating demand pressures prices downwards.	NatGas Weather	Gas Prices Inching Higher, but This Isn't 2022
An EU Carbon Tax Will Upend The Global LNG Market		The global LNG market could face a sea change in prices and trade flows later this decade if the European Union includes LNG in its carbon border tax. The EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), commonly known as the "carbon border tax," was launched on October 1 in the first transitional phase for imports of several carbon-intensive groups of products into the European Union. The first phase of the EU's carbon import pricing legislation will not impose levies on the products-such will apply from 2026. However, importers of iron and steel, cement, aluminum, fertilizer, hydrogen, and electricity into the EU will be asked-as of now-to report on the volume of their imports and the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions embedded during their production, although they will not be paying any financial adjustment at this stage.	OilPrice	LNG Remains Hot Commodity Despite Emerging Concerns
Week 03/18/24 - 03/25/24		Not going out like a lamb is this March as the world witnessed a terror attack in Moscow which had France raising its terror alerts and other countries concerned. Though an Israeli delegation is heading to Washington, it's unlikely to achieve an agreement where there is not an imminent Rafah operation. This geopolitical unrest continues to push energy commodity prices higher at a time when Central Banks appear to have fended off the worst of an economic downturn, which has pundits espousing that a tighter, undersupplied hydrocarbon market looms this Summer. Seems like as Easter weekend beckons that a lion's roar is being heard from Mr. Oil Market along with Big Oil.
*MarCon (Market Condition 1-5, with 5 being the highest impact) indicates directional bias or price effect for the relevant commodity (Oil, Natural Gas, Chemicals, etc.) and is graded by our team of experts here at IIR.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).