Emc & Associates Limited

14/05/2026

With the Gulf of Hormuz shut, approximately 50% of the world’s exports of Sulphur are not making it to international export markets. Countries like UAe, Qatar & Iran & Kuwait are major exporters of Sulphur to make SulphuricAcid

Sulphur is the key feedstock for Sulphuric Acid which is used especially in the production of Copper & Nickel, to strip the metal from its’ ore, which may put a halt on many Greentech projects until various oil & gas fields in Arabia return to production that are currently ‘Shut-in’ as ‘sour’ gas and oil fields contain sulphur which is common in Arabia.

Stocks of Sulphur & Sulphuric Acid may last most or all of this year and possibly some of 2027, but prices of both commodities have already risen 400-500% with no end in sight to the Gulf of Hormuz closure.

Copper and Nickel are widely used in electrical, marine and industrial applications as well as BESS & EVs putting a hold on every country’s Energy transition

America is the largest importer of sulphur, for its’ extensive agricultural and industrial needs, particularly Fertiliser production.
Ammonium sulphate is used to boost yields of Corn Wheat Rice & Soyabeans, so expect many country’s agricultural production to be significantly lower this year, possibly even Famines in East Asian countries which rely on Chinese exports of fertilisers.

14/05/2026

The Treasury department issued $25bn of new 30-year bonds on Wednesday, with the high yield at auction reaching 5.046%.

Earlier in the day, yields on US debt, which move inversely to prices, rose after official data showed wholesale inflation had jumped to 6% in April, its highest level since 2022.

“Financing the debt is getting much more expensive,” said Ed Al-Hussainy, a portfolio manager at Columbia Threadneedle.

The sale comes as the conflict in the Middle East drives a surge in fuel prices that has pushed up costs for businesses across the US. Inflation is corrosive to long-term debt, and concerns about the bout of higher price growth have helped drive the 30-year yield up roughly 0.4% since the start of the war.

April’s producer price index was up sharply from a 4.3% year-on-year gain in March and 3.4% before the war began in February, according to Wednesday’s data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“Everything that you buy is going to end up on a truck somewhere — and those trucks have to run mostly on diesel. So you’re seeing the broad-based influence of energy across the economy,” said Brett Ryan at Deutsche Bank. “It’s not looking to be a fun summer for US consumers.”

Wholesale prices are often seen as a forerunner of consumer inflation, which has already risen to a three-year high of 3.8% in April.

Good morning, Asia. While you were sleeping, one of our most-read stories was about the US Treasury department’s $25bn auction and what it means for markets and the economy. https://ft.trib.al/xoOlbh4

14/05/2026

With the Gulf of Hormuz shut, approximately 50% of the world’s exports of Sulphur are not making it to international export markets.

Sulphur is the key feedstock for Sulphuricacid which is used in the production of Copper & Nickel which may put a temporary halt on many Greentech projects until various oil & gas fields in Arabia return to production that are currently Shut-in as ‘sour’ gas and oil fields contain sulphur which are common in Arabia

Copper and Nickel are widely used in electrical, marine and industrial applications.

America is the largest importer of sulfur, for its’ extensive agricultural and industrial needs, particularly Fertiliser production, Ammonium Sulphate which is used to boost yields of corn, wheat, Rice & Soya beans

14/05/2026

With the Gulf of Hormuz shut, approximately 50% of the world’s exports of Sulphur are not making it to international export markets.

Sulphur is the key feedstock for Sulphuricacid which is used in the production of Copper & Nickel which may put a temporary halt on many Green tech projects until various oil & gas fields in Arabia return to production that are currently Shut-in as ‘sour’ gas and oil fields contain sulphur which are common in Arabia

Copper and Nickel are widely used in electrical, marine and industrial applications.

America is the largest importer of sulfur, for its’ extensive agricultural and industrial needs, particularly Fertilizer production. Ammonium sulfate which is used to boost yields of Corn Wheat Rice & Soyabeans

01/05/2026

EXON & CHEVRON DEFY TRUMP PRESSURE TO BOOST OIL PRODUCTION (www.ft.com/)

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Exxon and Chevron defy Trump pressure to boost oil production

US supermajors stick to prewar strategies despite White House plea for more drilling to curb soaring petrol prices

Exxon said there had been ‘no change’ to its strategy in the Permian Basin, while Chevron said ‘the crisis has not prompted any change to any of our plans’ © AFP via Getty Images
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Stephanie Findlay in Houston

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ExxonMobil and Chevron have defied calls from the White House to increase oil production, resisting pressure from an administration that is struggling to end the biggest energy crisis in decades.

Exxon’s chief financial officer Neil Hansen told the FT there had been “no change” to the company’s strategy in the Permian Basin, the dominant US oil and gas region, while Chevron’s finance chief Eimear Bonner said “the crisis has not prompted any change to any of our plans”.

The Iran war has slashed production across the Gulf and hit refining operations in the Middle East and beyond, triggering an energy shock that threatens to fuel inflation across the world.

Oil prices on Thursday rose to $126 a barrel, the highest level since the start of the war, while US petrol prices have soared to more than $4 a gallon, undermining President Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to bring them below $2 and make life cheaper for Americans.

The government has released oil from the strategic petroleum reserve and called for more drilling from the industry, but the two US supermajors are holding firm on their prewar strategies.

“There’s really no need for us to shift up because we’re already up, we’re already in high gear,” Hansen said. “That doesn’t mean we aren’t looking at the potential to expand that but there are limitations.”

Bonner said “we could grow in the Permian but that’s not the strategy we have. Our strategy is to grow free cash flow, not grow production.” She added: “You wouldn’t expect us to be changing our plans significantly on the back of eight weeks of disruption.”

Their comments came as the groups released their first-quarter results on Friday.

Exxon reported net income of $4.2bn in the three months to the end of March, down 46 per cent on the same period a year ago in a drop that was primarily the result of a $3.9bn paper loss on hedges linked to cargoes that have not yet been delivered. The company said it expected the mismatch to unwind in future months as contracts were completed.

The oil group has the highest exposure to the crisis in the Middle East, with operations in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar accounting for 20 per cent of its oil production last year. Exxon in April warned that the conflict would cause a loss of 6 per cent of its global production in the first quarter.

“This quarter demonstrated that ExxonMobil is a fundamentally stronger company than it was just a few years ago, built to perform through disruption and across market cycles,” chief executive Darren Woods said in a statement. Exxon said it would pay a second-quarter dividend of $1.03 a share.

Chevron, which is less exposed, reported net income of $2.2bn in the first quarter, a 37 per cent drop over the same period last year, but said it had $2.9bn worth of paper losses.

The company’s production rose by 500,000 barrels a day compared with the first quarter of 2025 as a result of the integration of US oil and gas producer Hess, higher production in the “Gulf of America” and growth in the Permian Basin.

Chevron shares rose 0.8 per cent in pre-market trading, extending their gain this year to 27 per cent. Exxon stock was up 0.4 per cent.

Both Exxon and Chevron, whose chief executive Mike Wirth was among a group of executives who met Trump this week, said they were running their refineries at record rates, capitalising on the high price of diesel and other refined products.

Breaking news: ExxonMobil and Chevron have defied calls from the White House to increase oil production, resisting pressure from an administration that is struggling to end the biggest energy crisis in decades. https://ft.trib.al/dBbBpSl

01/05/2026

Why Staff Diversity can make huge differences:

23/04/2026

Every member of your staff should have a Job Description, they’re entitled to it by law, you need it to manage them and they need it to know what you expect of them, so it needs to includes deadlines, quality standards and frequency of work your business requires.

But l do things differently: each employee should write their own Job Description !!

Why ?

1. You find out what each member of staff thinks their jobs really are and you can be sure that the jobs everyone hates doing won’t be in their individual Job Descriptions and several members of staff will all claim to do the easy jobs. So, need to ensure the least attractive work is spread across the staff, or assigned to those best able to complete it.

2. Every job description should identify another job in your company that they should train up in, to ensure redundancy is built into your team and it should also specify someone else they need to train up, how to do their job in their absence or illness or promotion.

3. The easiest way to improve staff is for the most productive staff (often not the longest serving) to explain / teach all the other staff who do those particular jobs proficiently. This buddying relationship should be specified in each Job Description. This will create redundancy for every single important job and improve your firm’s

4. Before you employ some new to your business, it’s important to make sure your existing staff can’t manage the extra work that you think is required to justify taking on a new member of staff.

This is where plays a significant role and your whole company’s will initially reduce, until the new member is fully trained and collaborating well with your existing staff.

Taking on a new person is expensive, in writing up a new Job Description, advertising, taking enquiries & interviewing. A missing component of any new employee is and how a new employee ‘fits in’ and cooperates with your existing teams.

Then you need to have some sort of & program so that they start contributing to your company from Day 1 and introduce them to your staff that will be working with.

Any Program will mean sacrificing one or more members of staff, to train them, so your employment costs will not only rise as you lose a member of staff to train them, but the new member of staff will take one or more members of staff offline whilst they induct a new member of staff.

5. If you want to support your staff & maximise , then look at how they work, see what hindrances are reducing their work flow, review if there are regular obstacles you can address (like printers that repratedly break down)?

6. Much more to come, daily …

28/12/2025

LATE SHOPPER RUSH SAVE BOXING DAY SALE (BBC)
An evening surge in shoppers keen on Boxing Day bargains drove a decade-high increase in footfall for the annual sales, figures suggest.

It was up by 4.4% across all UK retail destinations including high streets and shopping centres compared to the same day last year, according to data from MRI Software.

Footfall also remained strong on Saturday, and MRI anticipated the strong post-Christmas shopping momentum to continue into the new year.

But higher footfall does not necessarily translate into higher spending, and Barclays has forecast that consumers would spend £1bn less on this year's Boxing Day deals.

By 3pm on 26 December, it appeared there had been a muted reaction to the sales, according to early MRI data with high street visits down 1.5% compared to 2024 and shopping centre visits down 0.6%.

MRI counts footfall in more than 660 retail locations across the UK and retail analyst Jenni Matthews said that as the day progressed, it became clear that shoppers were deciding to head out but just a bit later in the day.

"The boost in activity was driven by a peak in visits across all UK retail destinations from 5pm - 11pm averaging +9.6% versus an average increase of +3.1% from 6am-5pm," she said.

With many stores not reopening until 28 December, Ms Matthews said it was likely that hospitality and leisure venues would have benefited from the increase in foot traffic.

"This is an early indicator that the retail sector may well end the year on a positive note given the challenging times faced at the beginning of the year," she said.

Shoppers were also out in force on Saturday, according to the MRI data, with footfall across retail destinations up by 1.6% compared to 27 December last year.

Figures suggest the surge in post-Christmas shoppers was the strongest in a decade.

08/12/2025

FIRST FALKLANDS ISLE OIL FIELD COULD BE DRILLED IN 2028 (www.thetimes.com/)
The Falkland Islands’ first oil field is on the cusp of getting the go-ahead, 15 years after it was discovered. Oil could be flowing from the Sea Lion Field by early 2028 if the $1.7 billion project proceeds in line with timescales set out by its operator, Navitas Petroleum.

The Israeli company told investors recently that it remained on track for a final investment decision by the end of this year, pending final approval from the Falkland Islands government.

The first two phases of the development will target production of more than 300 million barrels of oil, promising to bring newfound wealth to the islands but also raising the risk of reigniting geopolitical tensions with Argentina over their sovereignty. A spokesman for the Falkland Islands government told the Telegraph that extracting the oil was “a political and community priority for the Falkland Islands”.

“If a hydrocarbons industry is successfully established, it will provide transformative opportunities for the people of the Falkland Islands, leading to financial and political security,” they said.

Sea Lion Field, 136 miles north of the Falkland Islands, is thought to contain more than 900 million barrels of oil. It was discovered in May 2010 by Rockhopper Exploration, which once hoped to bring it into production as early as 2017. However the high costs and logistical challenges of developing the field in the wild waters of the South Atlantic Ocean have meant that the project has been repeatedly delayed.

Rockhopper remains quoted on London’s junior Aim market and its shares have rallied by about 16% so far this month on hopes that the field is finally going to proceed.

Navitas own 65% of Sea Lion, having acquired its controlling stake in 2022 from Harbour Energy, which had acquired it through the takeover of Rockhopper’s original partner Premier Oil.

Rockhopper retains the other 35% stake and earlier this year raised $140 million to fund its share of the development, funds which are now held in escrow pending a final investment decision.

Sam Moody, Rockhopper’s chief executive, told investors in September that it was “more hopeful than ever” of reaching a final investment decision by the end of this year.

Rockhopper said the plan was for the field to be “developed in a phased manner”, with the first phase targeting 170 million barrels and the second phase targeting an additional 144 million barrels.

The first two phases are both expected to be developed using the Aoka Mizu floating production, storage and offloading vessel, currently in use at the Lancaster field in the North Sea, with peak production targeted at 55,000 barrels per day. Subsequent phases would need a new production vessel.

According to Navitas documents, the oil and gas at Sea Lion lie about 1.6 miles beneath the sea bed, in water depths of almost 1,500 feet.

Argentina fought the 1982 Falklands war over the sovereignty of the islands it calls Las Malvinas and in the past has threatened to bring charges against oil explorers.

In September last year the UK and Argentina agreed to a “new era of constructive cooperation within the bilateral relationship”, aimed at “promoting human and economic development and strengthening links between the islands and the continent”.

However Argentine president Javier Milei used a speech to the UN this September to reiterate claims that the islands were “illegally occupied”.

Navitas Petroleum says $1.7 billion project is on the cusp of getting the go-ahead, 15 years after it was discovered