“Chinese oil imports in August plummeted 12.5% from a year ago.  This is according to new preliminary data from the General Administration of Customs reported by Dow Jones.

The 18.4 million metric tons reported is the lowest level since October 2010, DJN said.

This is the result of slowing economic activity.

“Since downstream demand is fairly sluggish, refiners don’t have the incentive to process much,” the wire quotes Zhu Chunkai, an oil analyst at Shandong-based energy consultancy Chem99.”

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WTI is currently down  $0.11@ $96.31 while Brent is up $0.40 @ $114.69….

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Please make it so !

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Gold is up at $1,705 currently and is expected to move higher on monetary policy from the U.S. and the ECB…

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“Chinese iron ore inventory continued to grow at 25 major ports in the week ending September 3, according to the latest iron ore price report from Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

Inventories of imported iron ore rose by 1.86 million tonnes to 102.53 million tonnes.

Xinhua said the iron ore market will continue to be oversupplied in the near-term and that “the downward trend seems irreversible”.

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Hope you had the stamina to pick some up in the mid $1500s…

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WTI is up $0.38 at $96.85….

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LONDON—Investors with risk appetite may want to look at gold stocks, particularly those of companies ripe for takeover, analysts say.

A gap between the price of bullion and gold-mining stocks has emerged, and history shows that it likely won’t last long. Equities should catch up to gold prices and close the valuation gap.

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12,000 South African gold miners have followed their platinum miner counter-parts by going on strike from Gold Fields. Gold Fields is the world’s 4th largest gold mine, and the strike is costing the firm 1,660 ounces of gold a day in lost production according  to Gold Fields’ spokesman Sven Lunsche.

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AMPA, Fla. — T. Boone Pickens said natural gas vehicles can survive just fine without Congress approving his so-called Pickens Plan.

“It’s going to happen, and you don’t have to have Washington do it, thank God,” Pickens said at Wednesday’s energy luncheon hosted by POLITICO.

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WTI is flat to down now that Isaac has passed. Brent on the other hand remains up a bit this morning.

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“Copper consumption in China, the world’s biggest user, is expected to expand this year at the slowest rate since 1997 as economic growth cools, according to Beijing Antaike Information Development Co.

Usage may increase 5 percent to about 7.7 million metric tons supported by demand from the power industry, Yang Changhua, who’s studied the market for more than a decade, said in a phone interview from Beijing. “It could turn out to be even lower, and we’re not optimistic about next year,” Yang said yesterday.”

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“(Reuters) – Energy investors have taken bets for years on what they thought was an important indicator of future energy production: the weekly rig count data provided by oil service firms.

They may want to be careful about how much money they put on the table.

A Reuters analysis of the data, and interviews with officials at companies involved in collecting and compiling it, shows that it may sometimes be an arbitrary and misleading gauge subject to revisions.”

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“BANGKOK (AP) — Crude prices fell Wednesday after finance ministers from the world’s leading industrialized economies called on oil producers to increase output and said they stood ready to ask the International Energy Agency to release strategic reserves.

Benchmark oil for October delivery fell 72 cents by late afternoon Bangkok time to $95.61 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 86 cents to finish at $96.33 per barrel on the Nymex on Tuesday.

Brent crude fell 80 cents to $111.78 in the ICE Futures exchange in London.”

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Worries are mounting in Australia that a slowdown in China will bring recessionary times to the land down under.

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“Gold is poised to climb the most in two years as prospects for additional economic stimulus by governments from the U.S. to China stoke demand for the precious metal as a bet against inflation, a survey showed.

Bullion for immediate delivery may reach $1,800 an ounce by the year-end, extending gains this year to 15 percent, according to the median forecast in the Bloomberg survey of 15 traders and analysts at a conference in Hyderabad in South India on Aug. 25. That would be the most since a 30 percent surge in 2010, data compiled by Bloomberg show.”

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“Gasoline climbed to the highest in almost four months and oil gained the most in a week after a refinery explosion in Venezuela killed 39 people and Tropical Storm Isaac shut rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. stock futures rose as shares of Apple Inc. rallied.

Gasoline futures jumped 3.3 percent to $3.18 a gallon at 8:21 a.m. in New York and oil advanced 1.3 percent. Nasdaq 100 Index futures rose 0.7 percent as Apple increased 3 percent after its $1 billion court victory over Samsung Electronics Co., which plunged the most in almost four years. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index (SXXP) added 0.4 percent and the euro rose versus 13 of 16 major peers. Spain’s 10-year bonds halted a three-day drop.”

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Gold traders are the most bullish in nine months after investors’ bullion holdings expanded to a record on mounting speculation that central banks will do more to bolster economic growth.

WTI is down $0.33 at $95.94

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