Sources confirm that Egypt has awarded the tender for 20 LNG winter cargoes to Egypt.
Four trading sources said on Friday that Egypt's recent bid for 20 cargoes (cartons) of liquefied gas to cover winter demand following a sharp decline in domestic production has been fully allocated. It is the first time Egypt issued an tender to cover the winter demand since 2018. This year, the most populous Arab nation has become a net gas importer. It has purchased more than 50 cargos and abandoned plans to be a reliable European supplier. The tender was issued on September 12 by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and covered the demand for the 4th quarter of 2024. It was awarded with a deferred-payment basis lasting six months.
Mercuria Teams Up with Envysion for Project Investment
Trading house Mercuria and Singapore-based asset manager Envysion Wealth Management have agreed to co-invest in mining and energy projects, as default-hit banks tighten their purse strings and leave commodities firms seeking other funding.The deal, signed on Wednesday, will see Mercuria present potential projects for investment to Envysion, founded and led by former Julius Baer banker Veronica Shim. Envysion will then decide whether to participate via a fund with a start-up amount of $100 million to $200 million.Such tie-ups between companies…
Oil Traders Bet on Economic Upswing in 2020
Crude oil traders are betting the market will tighten significantly next year, even as the major statistical agencies predict production will outstrip consumption and oil inventories will rise.Most of the divergence can be explained by differing assumptions about global growth in 2020.The International Energy Agency (IEA), the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are all projecting that the oil market will be in surplus in 2020.Each of the three agencies is forecasting that…
Swiss, Brazil Try to Unravel Petrobras Affair
Crimefighters in Switzerland and Brazil pledged to intensify cooperation to resolve the sprawling corruption case linked to state oil firm Petrobras in which around 700 million Swiss francs ($701 million) remain frozen in Switzerland.Switzerland has so far returned roughly 365 million Swiss francs ($365.6 million) to Brazil related to Petrobras and construction firm Odebrecht, the Swiss Office of the Attorney General (OAG) said on Tuesday, including 9 million francs in March.Around 70 related criminal proceedings are under way in Switzerland…
GasLog: LNG Demand Grew 9% in 2018
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is expected to have increased by 9%, from 288 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) in 2017 to 313 mtpa in 2018, said GasLog.The Monaco-based owner, operator and manager of LNG carriers said in a stock exchange announcement that China’s LNG imports increased by approximately 16 mtpa, or 41%, to 54 mtpa in 2018, driven mainly by continued coal-to-gas switching in the industrial, commercial and residential sectors.South Korea, Pakistan, Thailand and Mexico also experienced strong growth in LNG imports during 2018. The outlook remains robust…
Oil Prices Surge After OPEC Rebuffs Trump
Oil prices jumped more than 2 percent to a four-year high on Monday after Saudi Arabia and Russia ruled out any immediate increase in production despite calls by U.S. President Donald Trump for action to raise global supply.The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC states, including top producer Russia, gathered in Algiers on Sunday for a meeting that ended with no formal recommendation for any additional supply boost to counter falling supply from Iran."The market's still being driven by concerns about Iranian and Venezuelan supply," said Gene McGillian, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford.
Bangladesh Drops Trafigura in LNG Talks as Gunvor Advances
Bangladesh has terminated talks with Swiss-based commodity trader Trafigura to install a small floating liquefied natural gas (LNG ) import terminal due to delays in agreeing terms, while rival trader Gunvor advances with a separate project. Once considered an energy backwater, Bangladesh's LNG demand is set to hit 17.5 million tonnes annually by 2025 after importing its first cargo last month, and as traders target Southeast Asia's booming gas markets to boost sales. Swiss-based commodity traders Trafigura, Vitol and Gunvor were all pursuing LNG import projects in Bangladesh…
Fundamentalists Complain About New Generation of Commodity Speculators
Traditional commodity traders are lamenting the rise of a new generation of hedge funds who show little interest in the fundamentals of conventional supply and demand analysis. The newcomers are blamed for distorting prices, making markets impossible to trade, and forcing the closure of some long-established specialist commodity funds. The target of this criticism is not always well-specified: it variously includes high-frequency computer-driven traders, momentum-chasing hedge funds and macro funds dabbling in energy markets. But the newcomers are operating on a scale never seen before in energy markets…
Vitol, Nigeria's Shoreline in $350 Million Oilfield Deal
European trading house Vitol has reached a $530 million deal with Nigeria's Shoreline to finance an oilfield in exchange for access to some of the 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil it produces, the Nigerian company said on Thursday. Vitol has done other pre-financing deals for preferential access to oil and refined products in Kazakhstan, Iran and elsewhere. The agreement with Shoreline, finalised on Thursday, will provide the company with cash to refinance existing debt and further develop OML 30 in Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region. The field currently produces 50,000 bpd and has an estimated 1 billion barrels of oil reserves.
Where's the Money? Oil Traders Ask as Peak Demand Looms
Traders still see opportunities in oil trading as Mercuria bets on power markets in U.S., China. For major trading houses that ship millions of barrels of oil every day, the prospect of diminishing fuel demand and a shift to renewable power poses a brain-racking challenge with few obvious solutions. "It is a very fair question - what the hell are we going to do?" said Ian Taylor, chief executive of the world's top oil trader Vitol, which trades seven percent of the world's oil. "It's not obvious. We will still have a business, I'm sure, but it may well be a very different business," he told the Reuters Commodities Summit.
Bangladesh shortlists Trafigura, Gunvor for LNG Terminals
Bangladesh has shortlisted global commodity traders Trafigura and Gunvor to arrange the installation of two floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals in 2018 as the country transforms into a major LNG consumer. "Trafigura and Gunvor have been shortlisted out of 13 companies for two 200 million cubic feet/day LNG import terminals," a director at state-run energy firm Petrobangla's LNG division told Reuters. Petrobangla will hold talks with the companies and deals will then be finalised, he added. Industry sources say Bangladesh wants the terminals, also known as Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRU), in place in 2018.
Limits of Analysis on Commitments of Traders: Kemp
Futures and options markets play an increasingly important role in pricing crude oil but little is known about the identity and behaviour of market participants or their impact on prices. The only comprehensive information on traders’ positions regularly available comes from the commitments of traders (COT) reports issued weekly by regulators and exchanges. In theory, these reports offer a wealth of information of how positions change over time, which can be correlated with prices and should support lots of useful research. In practice, the information is less useful than it appears, because of the way it is compiled and published.
BP, Eni Deepen Blockchain Trading in European Gas
Oil majors BP and Eni are deepening their foray into blockchain technology, starting to run blockchain trades in parallel with their live trading systems, according to developer BTL Group. The energy traders, together with Austria's Wien Energie, had previously tested BTL's Interbit blockchain platform over 12 weeks, carrying out trades in European natural gas. For example, the blockchain system found a discrepancy in the volume allocation of a trade of French gas sold by Eni to BP, eradicating a mistake that would have cost time at a later stage, a spokesman for BTL said. Eni and BP declined to comment.
Egypt Weans Itself off Foreign Gas
Egypt seeking to defer up to 25 LNG cargoes this year-trade; talks with trade houses and producers ongoing. Egypt is holding talks with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) suppliers to defer contracted shipments this year and aims to cut back on purchases in 2018, as surging domestic gas production squeezes out demand for costly foreign imports. Cairo's desire for gas self-sufficiency by the end of 2018 bodes ill for traders having to reshuffle LNG out of the country amid concern over the impact on global gas prices if replacement markets for the world's eighth-biggest importer of the super-cooled fuel are not found fast enough.
Sinopec Mulls Acquisition of Chevron's South African Assets
Chinese giant now lone bidder, auction near end; sssets estimated to be worth $1 billion. China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) is nearing an agreement to buy a majority stake in Chevron Corp's South African assets, which are estimated to be worth $1 billion, two people familiar with the transaction said. The sources said Sinopec, Asia's largest oil refiner, was the last bidder remaining, and close to a deal with Chevron after an auction that spanned more than a year. The people declined to be identified because they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.
Gunvor Borrows $500 mln for U.S. Ops
Swiss-based commodities trading house Gunvor Group said on Monday it had secured $500 million in loans to support its newly established energy operations in Houston in the United States. The company said its U.S. team would initially trade refined products, natural gas and bitumen. In spite of the weakness in the oil price this year, Gunvor has managed to secure funding for its operations. In August, it raised $200 million in project financing to upgrade its 88,000 barrel per day Rotterdam oil refinery. A weaker oil price tends to be a boon to refiners, who can profit from more generous refining margins.
Commodity Traders Barter with Post-Sanction Iran
Global oil traders have entered into rare barter deals with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), supplying Iran with much-needed gasoline in exchange for high-quality fuel oil, after most economic sanctions against Tehran were lifted in January. Commodity traders Swiss-based Vitol and Glencore , for example, have won the right to lift a combined total of at least 200,000 tonnes per month of Iranian fuel oil from March through May, according to four trading sources with knowledge of the deals. "The big traders resumed moving gasoline to Iran shortly after sanctions were removed.
Noble's LNG Traders to Join Glencore
Three liquefied natural gas (LNG) traders at Asia's biggest commodity trade house, Noble Group Ltd, including two co-heads of the team, are leaving to join rival trader Glencore, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Noble and Glencore declined to comment. The sources said that Noble will continue to trade LNG, having restarted its London-based trading desk in 2014. Noble will still have about five people involved in the LNG business. The departures come after a tough period at Noble. The company's shares have shed more than two-thirds of their value in the past year…
Jordan Taps Shell for LNG Supply Tender
Jordan has awarded half of its four-year, up to 78-cargo liquefied natural gas (LNG) buy tender to Royal Dutch Shell which will cover deliveries in 2016 and 2017, overlooking commodity traders for the business, trade sources said. Two traders said Shell had clinched the first two years of supply under the tender, but it was not clear whether Jordan has awarded deliveries for 2018 and 2019 or if this will be re-tendered at a later date. A trader involved in the tender said all participating trading houses had received regret letters from Jordan's National Electric Power Company following the tender's award this weekend. Reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic
Glencore Slump Spoils Appetite for IPOs
Private trade houses less likely to become asset heavy; Olam, Noble, Glencore experiences urge caution. Two shareholder revolts in the space of six months at listed commodities firms Noble and Glencore have taught their private rivals an unforgettable lesson - think twice before going public or amassing large physical assets. Noble's stock is trading near its lowest since the 2008 global financial crisis and Glencore's touched an all-time low on Tuesday due to plunging commodities prices and earnings. "In the last two years you were possibly better off being private and not being listed…
