New refineries bring down profits for global refiners
Oil refiners across Asia, Europe, and the United States have seen their profitability drop to multi-year-lows. This is a significant downturn in an industry which had previously enjoyed booming returns following the pandemic. It also highlights the global slowdown. This weakness is another sign of a softening consumer and industrial demand in China due to the slowing of economic growth and increasing penetration of electric cars.
OPEC Sees Global Oil Demand Growth Slowing in 2023
World oil demand growth will slow in 2023, OPEC delegates and industry sources said, as surging crude and fuel prices help drive up inflation and act as a drag on the global economy.Fuel use has rebounded from the 2020 pandemic-induced slump and is set to exceed 2019 levels this year even as prices hit record highs. But high prices have eaten into growth projections for 2022 and fed into expectations…
Palantir, Trafigura to Track Carbon Emissions for Oil, Metals industry
Palantir Technologies Inc and global commodities trader Trafigura have set sights on a new market, their chief executives told Reuters on Monday: tracking carbon emissions for the oil, gas, refined metals, and concentrates sector.The companies are building a platform for oil majors and other commodities firms to vet the environmental impact of their supply chains, applying Trafigura's data to Palantir's operating system…
OPEC+ Sees No Need to Meet US Call for More Supply
OPEC and its allies, including Russia, believe oil markets do not need more oil than they plan to release in the coming months, despite U.S. pressure to add supplies to check an oil price rise, four sources told Reuters.The price of international benchmark Brent crude has risen 35% this year towards $70 a barrel, driven by economic recovery from the pandemic and supply restraint by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners in the alliance known as OPEC+.Last week…
Oil Headed for Big Weekly Loss on Demand Worries
Oil prices tumbled on Friday, closing out a week of losses on worries that travel restrictions to curb the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 will derail global economic gains.Daily new COVID-19 cases in the United States have climbed to a six-month high and Japan and China are re-imposing restrictions to halt the spread of the virus.Brent crude oil futures fell 69 cents to $70.60 a barrel at 11:38 a.m.
OPEC+ Agrees New Oil Deal Without UAE Agreement, Source Says
OPEC+ agreed on Friday to add more oil to the market from August and extend the duration of their pact on their remaining production curbs for longer, even though the United Arab Emirates still opposed the extension, an OPEC+ source said.All OPEC+ deals require unanimous approval. The rare development on Friday means the UAE could still derail the plan.
Gunvor Founder Raises Stake, Expands Board
Trading house Gunvor's founder Torbjorn Tornqvist has increased his stake in the firm after a bumper profit year as he bought out some leaving partners and expanded the board to bring in a new generation of managers.The company said Tornqvist, Gunvor's chairman, had raised his stake to 86.9% as of Dec 31, 2020, from 80.01% as of Dec 31, 2019."It is a standard annual fluctuation based on staff turnover," a Gunvor spokesman said.
Oil Slips, Set for 20% Annual Drop in Tumultuous 2020
Global crude prices slipped on Thursday and lost more than a fifth of their value in volatile trade in 2020, as lockdowns to combat the novel coronavirus depressed economic activity and slammed fuel demand.Still, Brent and U.S. crude benchmarks have more than doubled from April's decade lows. The start of coronavirus vaccinations bolstered demand in the fourth quarter, and prices recovered to the highest in about 10 months.On the last trading day of 2020…
OPEC+ Meets to Decide on Oil Output Cuts Easing
OPEC and allies such as Russia meet on Wednesday to decide oil output policy from August amid broad market expectations the group will ease supply curbs as the global economy slowly recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, have been cutting output since May by 9.7 million barrels per day, or 10% of global supply, after the virus destroyed a third of global demand.After July…
Iraq to Further Cut Oil Output
Iraq will further cut its oil output and remains committed to the OPEC+ deal, finance minister and acting oil minister Ali Abdul Ameer Allawi said on Twitter.OPEC and its allies such as Russia are due to decide later this month whether to extend record oil cuts they approved in April. Iraq has shown weak compliance with its output reduction targets in May.+(Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar and Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Saudi Arabia to Reduce Oil Production Further
Saudi Arabia will voluntarily deepen oil output cuts from June as low oil prices are causing huge pain to the kingdom's budget and global demand remains weak due to lockdowns to contain the coronavirus pandemic.The announcement by the kingdom to add 1 million barrels per day (bpd) - equal to 1% of global supply - to the previously announced cuts follows last week's phone conversation between U.S. President…
When Oil Became Waste
A week of turmoil for crude, and more pain to comeThe magnitude of how damaged the energy industry is came into full view on April 20 when the benchmark price of U.S. oil futures, which had never dropped below $10 a barrel in its nearly 40-year history, plunged to a previously unthinkable minus $38 a barrel.In just a few months, the coronavirus pandemic has destroyed so much fuel demand as billions of people curtail travel that it has done what financial crashes…
OPEC, Russia Approve Biggest-Ever Oil Cut to Support Prices
OPEC and allies led by Russia agreed on Sunday to a record cut in output to prop up oil prices amid the coronavirus pandemic in an unprecedented deal with fellow oil nations, including the United States, that could curb global oil supply by 20%. Measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus have destroyed demand for fuel and driven down oil prices, straining budgets of oil producers and hammering the U.S. shale industry, which is more vulnerable to low prices due to its higher costs.
OPEC+ Outlines Record Oil Production Cut; Mexico Balks
OPEC, Russia and other allies outlined plans on Thursday to cut their oil output by more than a fifth and said they expected the United States and other producers to join in their effort to prop up prices hammered by the coronavirus crisis.But the group, known as OPEC+, said a final agreement was dependent on Mexico signing up to the pact after it balked at the production cuts it was asked to make.
Saudi, Russia Closing in on Record Oil Cut Deal
OPEC and it allies held talks on Thursday on record oil output curbs of about 15 million barrels per day (bpd) or more, roughly 15% of global supplies, to support prices hammered by the coronavirus crisis, sources involved in the discussions said.They said the plan included cuts of about 5 million bpd from producers outside the group known as OPEC+ and could be made gradually, as the group seeks to…
OPEC+ Debates Biggest Ever Oil Output Cut as Virus Destroys Demand
OPEC and allies are working on a deal for an unprecedented production cut equivalent to around 10% of global supply, an OPEC source said after U.S. President Donald Trump called on oil nations to stop the oil rout caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The meeting of OPEC and allies such as Russia has been scheduled for Monday, April 6, Azeri's energy ministry said, but details were still thin on the exact distribution of production cuts.
Oil Storage at Sea Approaching Record Levels
Oil traders are storing as much as 80 million barrels of oil on tankers at sea, with further ships being sought as land storage sites fill up fast due to a global glut of stocks, shipping industry sources say.Traders rushed for storage after global oil demand collapsed by a third due to the coronavirus outbreak, and as top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia have refused to curb output so far, creating…
Saudi Arabia's Tanker Power Play Could Backfire
Top exporter Saudi Arabia has chartered an armada of ships to flood the market with additional oil, but in the process has driven freight costs so high refiners are reluctant to take the shipments.That could leave the kingdom stuck with tens of millions of barrels in expensive ships at anchor when the coronavirus outbreak has destroyed oil demand and international prices have lost more than half their…
Coronavirus Spurs Oil Majors to Cancel IP Week Events
The list of parties at London's International Petroleum Week, one of the world's biggest oil industry gatherings, continues to shrink as hosts such as ExxonMobil and Azerbaijan's SOCAR cancel events due to the coronavirus, trading sources said. IP Week is a key oil traders' gathering that takes place every year in February. This year, it is scheduled for Feb. 24-27. Oil majors, national oil companies and trading firms host receptions for networking throughout the week.
US Oil Workers Leaving Iraq After Air Strike
Dozens of U.S. citizens working for foreign oil companies in the southern Iraqi oil city of Basra were leaving the country on Friday, the Oil Ministry said, after a U.S. air strike killed a top Iranian commander in Iraq.The U.S. embassy in Baghdad urged all its citizens to leave Iraq immediately, hours after the U.S. killed Iranian Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.Iraqi officials said the evacuation would not affect operations…
