Tag: oil

Following the theories that Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) and the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) ordered to cut the oil exports in the central and eastern regions, several major oil companies had no choice but to stop their operations. 

Reuters reports that oil prices hit high on Friday, January 17, but were little changed during the week as the sluggish economic growth in the world’s biggest crude importer, China, raised concerns over fuel demand and countered optimism from the signing of the China-U.S. trade deal.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA)  U.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Proved Reserves, Year-End 2018 report, informs that U.S. oil and natural gas proved reserves had another record-breaking year. Specifically, in 2018, U.S. crude oil and lease condensate production increased 583 million barrels (17%) from 2017’s production level, and imports of crude oil decreased 73 million barrels (-3%) from 2017’s import level. U.S. natural gas production increased 12% (3.7 Tcf) in 2018, and natural gas imports decreased 5% (144 Bcf) from the 2017 level.

Reuters reports that Iran is unlikely to block the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s busiest oil-shipping channel, in retaliation for the killing of Qassem Soleimani, due to fear of aggravating its Gulf allies as well as China.

UAE’s oil and gas company ADNOC is on track to increase its crude oil production capacity to 4 million barrels per day by the end of this year. In fact, Dr. Sultan bin Ahmad Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State and ADNOC Group CEO highlighted the impact of global economic trends on energy demand and outlined the UAE and ADNOC’s response to the fast-evolving energy landscape, saying that "This economic outlook means both the short and long-term demand for energy remains robust. Over the next two decades, we will see growth of at least 25% in energy demand. This is a rate of increase that no single source can satisfy and presents the key challenge of how to produce more energy with fewer emissions."

The Energy Transition and Extinction Rebellion has led the energy news agenda and stimulated reflection, however the impact on exploration drilling is not yet apparent, according to Westwood Energy.

Oil prices dropped an almost 1% on Wednesday, following a surprise build in the U.S. crude inventories led by  a concern within the trading and analytical communities that a new round of tariffs on Chinese goods might be imposed in the following days.

In its monthly preliminary oil output figures for October, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate informed of an average daily production of 1,828,000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate. This represents an increase of 264,000 barrels per day compared to September.

Freight rates to ship US crude to Asia are still on the rise, with costs to charter a supertanker increasing to a record $12 million on October the 3rd. This development comes as an aftermath of US's sanction against two units of COSCO, alleging that they were involved in transporting crude out of Iran.

The recent oil price jump could lead to further momentum for service sector margins, according to Rystad Energy. Namely, 60% of the top 50 oilfield service (OFS) contractors already improved margins and increased operational efficiency in the first half of 2019.