The US Department of Energy announced up to $39 million in federal funding for cost-shared research and development projects in order to improve oil and natural gas technologies. Selected projects will fall under two DOE Office of Fossil Energy funding opportunity announcements. The National Energy Technology Laboratory will manage the projects under both FOAs.
Argentina’s first national offshore licensing round took place on 16 April 2019, in Buenos Aires. Of the 38 blocks offered in an open bid round, 18 were licensed. The round attracted bids from 13 companies, with the winning bids reaching a total of US$718.28 million. All majors participated in the bidding, except from Chevron.
Six petrochemical storage tanks caught fire at the International Terminal Co. storage farm at Houston’s sprawling Deer Park refining complex, on March 17. The fire spread quickly, and managed to affect a total of seven filled. These tanks include gasoline, xylene, naphtha and lubricant base oil. All employees are accounted for, and no injuries have been reported.
Indian refiners are to lift 8 million barrels of Iranian oil in April, a decrease of 12% in comparison to March because the nation is under discussions with the US to renew the waiver from US sanctions against Tehran, Reuters reports.
Rystad Energy expects Oman’s gas production levels to exceed oil by 2023, due to an impressive increase in the development of gas fields in the sultanate. Namely, Oman’s oil-gas production mix will shift from around 35% gas in 2015 to more than 50% in 2025. Rystad Energy also estimates that by 2025 oil production will decrease by 200,000 bpd more, as output from older fields continues to fall.
With new, stricter regulations coming into force regarding fuels’ sulphur content, the quality of bunkers delivered to ships is of high importance; they need to meet the agreed purchase specifications and applicable global and local regulations. Nevertheless, there are cases in which ‘bad bunkers’ are delivered, which may lead to damages to ship engines, disputes between owners and charterers, even detentions and fines.
In 2018, the sale of bunker oil in the Rotterdam bunker port fell from 9.9 million m3 to 9.5 million m3. This reduction can be explained by the decline in sales of heavy fuel oil from 8.3 million m3 to 7.9 million m3. On the other hand, the throughput of LNG as bunker fuel increased considerably from 1,500 to 9,500 tonnes. What is more, the introduction of the ‘Timetobunker App’ was successful.
In its Energy Outlook for 2019, BP reports that the transport sector will continue to be dominated by oil, despite the increasing penetration of alternative fuels, and particularly electricity and natural gas. Oil used in transport will rise by 4 Mb/d (220 Mtoe), with most of that demand deriving from increased use in aviation and marine, rather than road transportation.
UK P&I Club issued a circular concerning the Venezuelan Sanctions the US imposed to PDVSA on January. The Club addressed that PDVSA has been made a target of the US. In the meantime, a number of General Licences have been issued with authorisations of varying duration to allow U.S. citizens to wind down existing business with PdVSA or its subsidiaries.
in 2018, around 450 kb/d was shipped to the US. The decrease in exports also shows the collapse of production over the same period from 3.4 mb/d to about 1.3 mb/d today. In quantity terms, in 2019 the US will rise its crude oil production by more than Venezuela’s current output. In quality terms, it is more complicated, IEA notes.
