Latest news with #WestTexasIntermediateCrude
Business Mayor
15-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Oil prices fall as Trump says US is 'getting close' to Iran nuclear deal
Updated: 19:06 BST, 15 May 2025 Oil prices fell as much as 3 per cent by Thursday afternoon after President Donald Trump said the US was close to reaching a nuclear accord with Iran. The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading at $64.6 per barrel by mid-afternoon, while West Texas Intermediate Crude stood at $61.7 per barrel. Trump told reporters in Doha, Qatar, which forms part of a three-day Middle East tour, that the US was 'getting close to having a deal' that would avoid a 'violent step'. During his first term in office, Trump withdrew the US from an agreement severely limiting Iran's ability to enrich uranium and slashing its nuclear fuel stockpiles. The US instead imposed major sanctions as part of a 'maximum pressure' campaign aimed at restricting Iran's support for armed groups in the Middle East and curtailing its ballistic missile programme. A new deal could see significant sanctions lifted on Iranian energy exports, flooding the international oil market with even greater supply. OPEC+ member countries announced plans earlier this month to boost oil production in June by 411,000 barrels per day, taking the combined increases for April, May and June to 960,000 bpd. And just yesterday, the US Energy Administration revealed that US crude inventories surprisingly increased by 3.5 million barrels last week. This sparked a drop in oil prices, which had surged early this week after the US and China revealed they would cut their reciprocal tariffs on each other for 90 days. Trump's remarks badly hit shares in oil supermajors, with BP and Shell falling 3.9 per cent and 2.1 per cent, respectively, while mid-cap firm Harbour Energy had a 1.8 per cent decline. The overall UK markets have performed comparatively better today than the oil giants, although the FTSE 100 was just 0.2 per cent up at 8,595.8 points by 3pm and the FTSE 250 was flat at 20,816.1 points. However, Asian markets suffered from much weaker sentiment, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closing 0.8 per cent lower at 23,453.2, Seoul's KOSPI 0.7 per cent down at 23,453 and Japan's Nikkei 225 index dropping 1 per cent to 37,775.51. And in Europe, France's CAC 40 was down 0.2 per cent, or 17.5 points, at 7,819.3, while Germany's DAX had flatlined at 23,553. Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: 'The euphoria from Monday's US-China truce has faded, and now markets are waiting to see if further deals materialise from here.' Having already struck a trade deal with the UK, Trump has now claimed India offered to remove all tariffs on imported US goods. Read More Acelyrin falls as Acelyrin reaffirms deal commitment He made the comments in Qatar whilst referencing Apple's intentions to manufacture the majority of iPhones in India instead of China. Many large companies have been scaling back their forecasts in response to the unpredictability resulting from Trump's tariff policies. Easy investing and ready-made portfolios Free fund dealing and investment ideas Flat-fee investing from £4.99 per month Account and trading fee-free ETF investing Free share dealing and no account fee Affiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence. Compare the best investing account for you
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is Energy Transfer Stock a Buy Now?
There are a lot of things about Energy Transfer (NYSE: ET) stock that an income-focused investor will find attractive. The big one is the roughly 6.8% yield that is backed by a growing distribution. But, as with every dividend stock, there's more to the story than just the dividend yield. A little backstory will help you decide whether or not Energy Transfer is a stock you want to buy now. Energy Transfer is a little more complex than most midstream companies. Its core is straightforward. It owns energy infrastructure, like pipelines, that helps to move oil and natural gas around the world. This is largely a fee-driven business, so the volume of oil and gas passing through its system is more important than the prices of those commodities. That said, the master limited partnership (MLP) also acts as the general partner for other publicly traded MLPs. And it owns positions in those MLPs. One business it works with is Sunoco LP (NYSE: SUN), which delivers refined products to resellers. That sounds fancy, but the main business is really just delivering gasoline to gas stations. It has, however, been expanding into more pipeline assets for diversification. The second business partner is USA Compression Partners (NYSE: USAC), which owns the equipment that adds pressure to pipelines to increase the flow of the commodities in the pipeline. In addition to those two public entities, Energy Transfer is also invested in two liquified natural gas operations. As you can see, there's a lot going on here. For income-focused investors who like to keep things simple, Energy Transfer probably won't be a good fit. A peer like Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD) has a much more straightforward business model. The real problem with buying Energy Transfer now isn't what its business is today. It's what the business has done in the past. For example, the dividend has been growing since 2021. In fact, it has more than doubled since the start of 2021. That sounds really good until you realize that the dividend was cut in half in 2020. That was a tough time for the energy sector, given the drop in oil prices during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. The price of West Texas Intermediate Crude, a key U.S. oil benchmark, actually fell below zero at one point during that highly uncertain period. So, in some ways, it makes sense that Energy Transfer cut its distribution in an attempt to ensure it had enough liquidity to muddle through whatever situation came out of the pandemic. However, it's worth noting that Enterprise Products Partners not only increased its distribution in 2020, it has a 26-year-long streak of annual increases under its belt. If you're looking for a reliable dividend stock, Energy Transfer's history suggests that you might be better off elsewhere. However, that isn't the end of the history lesson. In 2016, Energy Transfer agreed to buy Williams Companies. It got cold feet, fearing that the transaction would require taking on a huge debt load and, possibly, cutting the dividend. In an effort to scuttle the deal, the company issued convertible securities, with a material portion going to the then-CEO (and current chairman of the board). The convertible would have, effectively, protected the CEO from the effect of a dividend cut, if the deal had gone through. Energy Transfer was successful in getting out of its agreement to buy Williams, so in some ways, this is a non-issue. But it looks like the CEO took precedence over shareholders, which should probably worry investors. Nothing like this has happened at Enterprise Products Partners. It isn't that Energy Transfer is un-investable. But you need to go in with your eyes open and have a clear grasp of what you are buying. This is not a simple income investment that has proven reliable and has a long history of placing investor interests front and center. Only more aggressive investors will want to own it. For most, stepping down to Enterprise Products Partners' 6.3% distribution yield will probably be a more prudent decision. Before you buy stock in Energy Transfer, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Energy Transfer wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $672,177!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 815% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 162% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of March 24, 2025 Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Enterprise Products Partners. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is Energy Transfer Stock a Buy Now? was originally published by The Motley Fool
