Oil surges as China Pushes Tariff Rollbacks
Oil prices rose more than 1% on Tuesday on hopes for a U.S.-China trade agreement and optimism that Washington could roll back some tariffs on Chinese imports.Brent crude futures rose 74 cents, or 1.2%, to $62.87 a barrel by 12:56 p.m. EST (1756 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 68 cents, or 1.2%, to $57.22 a barrel.China is pushing U.S. President Donald Trump to remove more tariffs imposed in September as part of a so-called Phase 1 deal…
Asia's Oil Demand to Rebound in 2020 -FGE
Asia's oil demand growth is expected to more than double to 815,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2020 from 380,000 bpd this year led by China and India, the head of energy consulting firm FGE said on Tuesday.The region will be key in driving a rebound in global demand growth which is expected to drop to 730,000 bpd in 2019 from 1.3-1.5 million bpd in the past two years, FGE Chairman Fereidun Fesharaki said at the Condensate and Naphtha Forum.Still, Brent crude prices are expected to remain in a range of $55-$65 per barrel in the next few years on ample supply as non-OPEC production
OWC, TCE Targets Offshore Wind in India
UK-based Offshore Wind Consultants (OWC) and Tata Consulting Engineers Limited (TCE) have signed an agreement to partner up for upcoming projects in the Indian offshore wind sector.Under the agreement, OWC and TCE will combine its powers to deliver engineering and project management services to Indian offshore wind developments, said the globally focused specialised consultancy providing independent services to the offshore wind industry.OWC, which is part of Oslo-listed energy consultancy group Aqualis ASA…
Pullback in Fracking Sand Use Pressures Producers
U.S. shale oil companies are pulling back on the amount of sand they use to hydraulically fracture new wells, responding to rising prices of the material that are driving up costs. Investors worry a slowdown in sand use, combined with new mining capacity coming online, could lead to a glut of the material and bring down prices. The worries have pressured shares of sand companies. Sand prices soared in the last year as oil companies ramped up shale drilling and production.
Eoltech Wins Repeat Contracts
Wind energy consulting firm Eoltech announced that it won contracts from major French customers to deploy IREC-Index. With this advanced multi-source wind energy index, Eoltech will aim to refine the monitoring of 24 wind farms in France, representing a total output of 500MW. IREC-Index will enable Eoltech’s clients to check the consistency of their fleet’s output against the available wind resource to detect potential turbine performance discrepancies. The specificity…
U.S. Shale Gas Shipment to Arrives in Britain
The first shipment of gas fracked from U.S. shale will arrive in Britain next week, upping pressure on Scotland to reassess its opposition to fracking. Chemicals giant Ineos will be importing ethane, obtained from rocks fractured at high pressure, in a foretaste of larger deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from shale set to reach Europe in 2018. The shipment of ethane, used to make plastics, anti-freeze and detergents, will arrive in Scotland's Firth of Forth on Tuesday, accompanied by a lone Scots piper at sunrise, the company said.
Lack of Investment, Payment Delays dog PDVSA Output
Venezuela, which holds the world's largest crude reserves, is on track to suffer its steepest annual oil output drop in 14 years as it suffers the effects of an economic crisis and years of under investment and mismanagement, according to data seen by Reuters and interviews with company sources and workers. The state-run oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), is struggling to stem a production decline that has accelerated this year as a result of payment delays to suppliers, lack of investment in equipment, and poor planning in the country's vast oil fields.
Traders Lose Millions as LPG Glut Routs Market
U.S. propane buyers cancel cargoes as prices sink. Chinese end-users seek to wriggle out of expensive contracts. Traders in the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) market face a "career-ruining" glut that has led to millions of dollars in losses as Chinese buyers, far from coming to the rescue, are in a stand-off with oil companies to cancel deals. LPG, a historically niche and dislocated market, has ballooned with the advent of U.S. exports due to the shale boom. The United States went from an importer to the largest single exporter of propane in just a few years…
Venezuela's Oil Production Drops as Economic Crisis Bites
Hungry Venezuelans are rioting and looting amid worsening food shortages, but the OPEC country's remote oil fields have been sheltered from the social unrest so far. Venezuela's blistering economic crisis, however, is hitting them full on. Output in the country, which has the world's largest oil reserves, dropped to 2.37 million barrels per day in May, according to OPEC data published on Monday. That's down some 5 percent from April and off nearly 11 percent from 2015, adding to the woes of oil-dependent Venezuela as it wrestles with a brutal economic crisis.
US Refiners Tighten Belts as Golden Era Fades
U.S. independent oil refiners, such as Marathon Petroleum and Phillips 66, are shelving projects and tightening budgets, as a global glut of diesel and gasoline erodes profits, ending a golden era of high refining margins. For the past six years, U.S. refiners have spent billions of dollars on expansion, enjoying bumper profits fueled by growing domestic and global demand for gasoline and diesel amid rising supply of domestic crude. Now however, there are signs that…
Safeguarding Against Safety Concern on FLNG Installations
Press release - Accidental release of cryogenic liquids such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) poses a significant risk to personnel and assets on oil and gas installations. In addressing these risks, Lloyd’s Register Energy has developed a guidance note that provides a consistent methodology to establish cryogenic exposure. Lloyd’s Register Energy’s newly launched guidance note provides a methodology to establish risk-based cryogenic exposure based on a probabilistic approach.
US Oil Drillers Add Rigs in Permian and Bakken
Oil drillers added rigs in the Permian and Bakken shale basins this week, data showed on Friday, another sign that higher crude prices are coaxing producers back to the well pad after a six-month slump in activity. Overall, however, U.S. drillers reduced the number of active rigs by four this week, oil services company Baker Hughes Inc said in its closely followed report. It was the 28th straight weekly decline and brought the total down to 631, the lowest since August 2010. U.S. crude oil futures fell toward $59 a barrel on Friday as concern over Greece and forecasts from U.S.
German Experts Warn Government Against Capacity Market for Power
A capacity market, designed to help unprofitable conventional power plants when green energy is unavailable, is not needed in Germany, studies published by the economy ministry on Thursday said, dealing a blow to companies that want such a mechanism. Economy and Energy Minister Sigmar Gabriel has said he aims to present plans for a new capacity market later this year and his ministry had commissioned the studies to help the deliberations. There are concerns that as Europe's biggest power market exits nuclear energy and switches increasingly to renewables…
Maersk Taking $1.7b Charge on Brazil Assets
Full-year underlying profit guidance unchanged; writedown raises questions over company's oil strategy. Danish oil and shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk moved to shrink its Brazilian petroleum operations on Tuesday, selling its stake in its only producing Brazilian oilfield and saying it will write off $1.7 billion of investments in the country. The write-off affects two exploration areas, Itaipu and Wahoo, which failed to deliver on oil volume expectations, and the Polvo field, both northeast of Rio de Janeiro in the Campos Basin, Maersk said.
Terntank Orders 2 More LNG Fueled Tankers
Terntank proclaims its options on two sister ships to the two LNG powered product tankers ordered in the autumn of 2013. The oil company NEOT also confirmed that they are taking in two of these on time charter. Terntank Rederi AS now has four LNG powered 15,000 dwt product tankers on order at the Chinese shipyard Avic Dingheng Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. The ships will be delivered at three-month intervals so that the first one will be delivered in the spring of 2016 and the fourth in the beginning of 2017.
Oil Producers Hope DC Talks Ease Export Ban
Recent meetings between U.S. oil producers and Commerce Department officials have fueled industry hopes that the Obama administration may soon begin to ease a longstanding ban on oil exports. Although it would require an act of Congress to end the four-decade export ban, some analysts and executives believe the White House may be getting ready to open up the taps a bit, allowing some export of a super-light form of oil known as condensate, which falls into a regulatory gray area.
NY-BEST & DNV GL Jointly Open Service Center
The New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium (NY-BEST) and DNV GL (formerly DNV KEMA) today announced the opening of the new state-of-the-art Battery and Energy Storage Technology (BEST) Testing and Commercialization Center in Rochester, New York. The Center’s services include a suite of test, validation and independent certification capabilities that are necessary to introduce new energy storage technologies into the marketplace and accelerate integration of renewable and distributed energy.
US to Become Major LPG Supplier to China
A deal between China's top refiner Sinopec Corp and Phillips 66 could be a game changer that signals the United States is on track to become one of the top suppliers of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to the world's second-biggest economy. China is the biggest consumer of LPG, a compressed mix of propane and butane, used for heating and transport, and now increasingly being considered for making petrochemicals. As demand in China soars, the U.S. shale boom has led to a surge in production of LPG…
