Tuesday, November 5, 2024

National Petroleum News

Holiday schedule for US economic and other data

The Columbus/Indigenous Peoples Federal Holiday on Monday, October 14, will affect the release of major economic, energy, and commodities reports during the week of Oct. 13. Treasury Department will announce the release date of the Monthly Budget in October. Due to reporting requirements for the end of fiscal year, the September report was delayed. The schedule is below. The times are in EDT/GMT. Certains Treasury announcements may change. Columbus/Indigenous Peoples holiday. Bond markets, Federal Reserve, International Monetary Fund and federal government offices are closed. Stock markets are open.

Dangote Refinery: Nigeria must enforce crude oil supply to local refiners

The Dangote Oil Refinery called on Nigeria's regulator of upstream oil to enforce a law which stipulates that producers supply local refineries. It said that the lack of enforcement increased its operating costs. The 650,000-barrel-per-day capacity refinery, built by Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote on the outskirts of Lagos for $20 billion, has struggled to get sufficient supplies from Nigeria, where vandalism and low investment impede oil production. In a Friday statement, Dangote…

Production from Nigeria's Ikike Field to Start

Image courtesy TotalEnergies

TotalEnergies, OML99 operator (40%) in partnership with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC, 60%), announces the start of production from the Ikike field, in Nigeria.Located 20 kmoff the coast, at a depth of about 20 meters, the Ikike platform is tied back to the existing Amenam offshore facilities through a 14 km multiphase pipeline. It will deliver peak production of 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by the end of 2022.The Ikike project is designed to minimize greenhouse gas emissions: estimated at less than 4kg CO2e/boe.

China's Sinopec Finds Shale Oil at Shengli Field

A unit of state-run oil Chinese and gas major Sinopec Corp has found an initial 458 million tonnes (3.34 billion barrels) of geological shale oil reserves at its Shengli field, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.Shengli, in Shandong province, is one of China's largest conventional oil and gas fields but Sinopec, has been exploring the Jiyang trough at the deposit for unconventional resources in a bid to bolster production.In 2019, the company, which operates China's biggest shale gas project in Chongqing, agreed to study shale oil potential in the Dongying trough at Shengli with Royal D

PipeChina to Buy $56B Worth of Pipelines

Illustration - hanmaomin

China took a major step in the reform of its national oil and gas pipeline network, with newly formed PipeChina agreeing to buy pipelines and storage facilities valued at 391.4 billion yuan ($55.9 billion).Under the deal, PipeChina, known formally as China Oil and Gas Pipeline Network, will take over oil and gas pipelines and storage facilities from state-owned energy giants PetroChina and Sinopec, in return for cash and equity in the pipeline company.The creation of PipeChina is aimed at providing neutral access to the country's pipeline infrastructure…

Country-by-Country Look at Dropping Fuel Demand

© Prod. Numérik/AdobeStock

It's hardly news that the COVID-19 pandemic has sent most every market into tumult, most notably the oil and gas market as political power plays flood the world with oil precisely when demand has plummeted. Here we provide some recent insights on just how steep falls in fuel demand has been as lockdowns to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus limit the movement of more than 4 billion people.UNITED STATESU.S. fuel demand has dropped 28% in the last four weeks, the Energy Information…

China's Crude Imports from Saudi Slip, Russia Up 31%

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China's March crude oil imports from top supplier Saudi Arabia fell 1.6% from a year earlier, while purchases from No.2 supplier Russia rose 31%, Reuters' calculations based on customs data showed on Sunday.China's March crude oil imports rose 4.5% year on year to 9.68 million barrels per day (bpd) as refiners stocked up on cheaper cargoes despite falling domestic fuel demand and cuts in refining rates due to the impact the COVID-19 pandemic.Shipments from Saudi Arabia were 7.21 million tonnes…

Global Petroleum in Offshore Namibia 'Data for Equity' Deal

Image credit: Global Petroleum

Oil company Global Petroleum has exchanged part of its stake in offshore Namibia Block, 2011A (PEL0094), with NAMCOR, for a right to get access to pre-existing 3D seismic data over the block."This key data, acquired by previous licensees in 2010, covers the Company's Welwitschia Deep prospect and Marula lead, and will enable precise mapping of these features," Global said."Once this is complete, Global will update Prospective Resources and chances of success for Welwitschia Deep and Marula…

CNPC Finds Reserves From Pre-salt Field at Tarim

China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said it has found oil and gas reserves from a pre-salt area, where the resources are trapped under a layer of salt, for the first time in the country.Daily oil production from the area, located at Tarim oilfield in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, is estimated to be 133.46 cubic meters and daily gas output to reach 48,700 cubic meters.The pre-salt oil is found from a 8,882-metre well, the deepest onshore well in Asia, CNPC said in a statement on Monday.CNPC expects total oil reserves at the pre-salt oilfield in the Tarim Basin region to reach 310 million tonnes a

Pipeline Fire Kills Three in Lagos

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A fire on a pipeline owned by Nigeria's state oil company in the commercial capital Lagos killed three people on Sunday, a Reuters witness said.The blaze broke out in the Abule-Egba district of the southwestern megacity. Residents said it started shortly before 8 p.m. (1900 GMT).A Reuters television camera operator counted three dead bodies at the scene. The fire burned nearby houses and vehicles.Another witness, resident Ayo Adewale, said there were "many dead people". Reuters was unable to verify the claim.Many fires on pipelines in Nigeria…

PetroChina's oil and gas trade turnover up 5% in 2019

(Photo: PetroChina)

PetroChina Co Ltd, China's leading energy firm, expanded its oil and gas trade in 2019, recording a rise of nearly 5% from prior year to exceed 500 million tonnes oil equivalent, according to a statement posted on the website of parent firm China National Petroleum Co on Thursday.PetroChina International, better known as Chinaoil, the trading arm under the state-run PetroChina, achieved "significant" growth in pre-tax profit last year, the report stated, without providing any numbers.Exports of refined fuel hit a record of more than 18 million tonnes, with first shipments of gasoline to Nigeria and Indi

China Opens Up to Foreign E&P Firms

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For the first time, China will this year allow foreign companies to explore for and produce oil and gas in the country, opening up the industry to firms other than state-run energy giants, as Beijing looks to boost domestic energy supplies.The long-awaited opening accompanies a reshuffle of the so-called "midstream" pipeline business, but experts say it may not excite immediate interest from global drillers because of the poor overall asset quality of China's hydrocarbon resources.From May 1, foreign firms registered in China with net assets of 300 million yuan ($43 million) will be allowed to take part

CNPC Pulls Staff from Iraq Oilfield

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China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), a top investor in Iraqi oil, has withdrawn about 20 employees from the West Qurna-1 field operated by U.S. major Exxon Mobil because of tensions in the region, a company source familiar with the matter said.CNPC made the move on Sunday after last week's killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq, the Beijing-based source said, adding that the state firm has kept staff in place at two other fields.Tehran retaliated with missile attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq on Wednesday…

NLNG Okays Train 7

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Shell, Total, and ENI on Friday signed the final investment decision (FID) to give the go-ahead for the construction of Train 7 of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) project.The new train is expected to boost output by 35% to 30 million tonnes per year, NLNG said in a statement, and will arrest a decline in Nigeria’s LNG output. NLNG operates six LNG processing units, known as trains, on Bonny Island. Nigeria LNG said it would boost its liquefied natural gas output by more than 30%.According to reports…

China's Longest Ethane Pipeline Starts Operation

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China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said its Xinjiang oilfield unit has delivered 500,000 cubic meters of ethane after being put into operation a week ago, the company stated on its website on Wednesday.Construction work on the 371 kilometer-long pipeline, which is expected to be China's longest ethane pipeline, began on June 20. It links CNPC's gas field in Junggar Basin and Dushanzi petrochemical complex, the company said.The gas field in Junggar Basin, which started operation in October…

China to Launch State Pipeline Group

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China plans to launch its long-awaited national oil and gas pipeline company on Monday, part of a sector-wide reform aimed at providing fair market access to infrastructure and boost investment in oil and gas production.Most of the country's pipeline infrastructure is controlled by energy giant PetroChina, CNPC's listed arm, and small, non state-owned oil and gas producers and distributors often don't have access to the pipelines at competitive rates, analysts have said.This also hinders companies from investing in oil and gas exploration as they are concerned about access to the pipelines.Beijing start

CNPC's $8.5 Bln Gas Storage Project Starts Construction

© 
Sergey Pakulin / Adobe Stock

China National Petroleum Corp's (CNPC) unit Liaohe Oilfield of CNPC kicked off construction of its gas storage group project in Panjin city in Liaoning province on Wednesday, the state-backed China News Service said.The project, jointly invested in by Liaohe Oilfield of CNPC and the Panjin government to the tune of about 60 billion yuan ($8.5 billion), is aiming for storage capacity of 11.5 billion cubic meters, according to China News.The Liaohe project is expected to become the biggest underground natural gas storage center in northeast China and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the media said, witho

Petrobras to be World's Largest Oil Producer

Brazil’s Petrobras is on track to become the world’s largest oil producer among publicly listed companies by 2030, based on Rystad Energy’s latest data and forecasts.Brazil’s biggest-ever oil auctions in November were generally deemed to be disappointing, receiving muted interest from international exploration and production companies.However, national oil company Petrobras could not have asked for a better outcome. The world’s fastest growing oil producer gained nearly full control of more than eight billion barrels of oil in the Buzios field…

Big Oil Stuns Brazil in Back-to-back Auction Flops

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Major global oil firms snubbed a second Brazilian oil auction in a row on Thursday, passing up offshore blocks and forcing officials to reconsider a bidding system that gives a privileged position to state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA.The only block awarded in Thursday's bidding went to Petrobras, as the Brazilian state-run firm is known, and Chinese state firm CNODC, a unit of China National Petroleum Corp, which offered the minimum bid. Four other blocks received no bids.The result, following a lack of foreign interest in an even bigger Wednesday round…

Chevron Seeks to Shrink Nigerian Presence

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Chevron is seeking to sell several Nigerian oilfields as part of a global drive to reshape its portfolio as it focuses on growing its U.S.