In its ‘Oil Market Report: 2020 vision’, IEA reports that volatility has returned to oil markets with a dramatic sell-off in late May seeing Brent prices fall from $70/bbl to $60/bbl. In addition, supply concerns have not gone away, as oil prices initially increased by 4% after the attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman, before easing back slightly.
BP published its 68th annual Statistical Review of World Energy, reporting that global primary energy consumption grew fast in 2018, driven by natural gas and renewables. However, carbon emissions grew at their highest rate for seven years.
The worldwide demand for cleaner shipping fuel could drive the value of Middle East crude to its lowest ever levels, despite fact that supplies are squeezed. This highlights the fact that the 2020 sulphur cap will hurt countries like Saudi Arabia and Iraq that produce high sulphur fuel.
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency detained the crude oil tanker ‘MT Saiq’ over lack of anchoring permit, on May 21. The vessel was anchored off Pulau Jarak since May 16, and failed to submit a permit to anchor. After the detention, the ship and all of its 25 crewmembers, along with their Captain were detained as well.
Former UK Energy and Climate Secretary Sir Ed Davey urged the private and public sector funds to begin divesting from fossil fuel assets and instead invest in clean or green technology, which will in turn provide good returns. Sir Davey expressed this opinion during the House of Commons discussion regarding the financial and ethical risks of investments in fossil fuel companies by pension funds.
According to Reuters, Russia’s state pipeline monopoly Transneft will compensate all parties for losses incurred from contaminated oil, under the condition that they prove the damage, a government official said on Thursday, May 22, as the first European refinery declared force majeure.
According to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, preliminary production figures for April 2019 show an average daily production of 1,729,000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate, which is a decrease of 24,000 barrels per day in comparison to March. Overall gas sales were 10.2 billion Sm3 (GSm3), which is a reduction of 0.6 GSm3 from the month before.
As Rystad Energy reports, on top of production declines in Iran and Venezuela, ongoing OPEC cuts, Urals contamination outages in Russia and maintenance in Kazakhstan, North Sea production is also facing difficulties. It is expected that North Sea oil production will drop during June, reaching the lowest level since August 2014 as Ekofisk goes into maintenance.
The American Petroleum Institute published its latest Monthly Statistical Report showing that US crude oil production sustained a record-tying 12.1 million barrels per day (mb/d) in April. Moreover, total petroleum demand was the highest for the month since 2007 at 20.2 million barrels per day.
EIA informed that net income for 43 US oil producers totaled $28 billion in 2018, which is a five-year high. According to the net income, 2018 was the most profitable year for these US oil producers since 2013, in spite of crude oil prices that were lower in 2018 than in 2013 on an annual average basis. These companies accounted for about one-third of total US crude oil and natural gas liquids production in the fourth quarter of 2018.
