Norway May Join OPEC Meeting
Norway has been invited to and is considering attending the OPEC meeting on April 9 as an observer, and would reduce output provided there is broad support to do so, the country's oil ministry said on Monday.The ministry reiterated in an email to Reuters that Western Europe's largest oil producer was ready to make unilateral cuts to production if it benefits its economy, but said there were no ongoing talks with oil companies in Norway."If a broad group of producers agrees on significant cuts in production…
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…
Rystad Expects Oil Price Rally in H1 of 2020
The energy research and business intelligence company Rystad Energy expects that a short-lived price rally through the first half of 2020 as oil prices approach $70 a barrel.It will then lose momentum and be replaced by a need for additional production cuts by Russia and the cartel of oil producing countries, OPEC, the Norway-headquartered firm said.“We retain our bullish stance for the second half of 2019 and first half of 2020 as we anticipate OPEC+ to extend production cuts through 2019…
Malaysia Agrees to Extend Oil Output Cut
Malaysia will extend its oil production cuts by another six months after the agreement between OPEC and other oil producers to reduce global supply ends this year.OPEC and non-OPEC producers agreed at a meeting in Vienna on Friday to a new level of production cuts from January to June 2019, setting it at 1.2 million barrels per day from the current rate of 1.8 million barrels per day."Malaysia has agreed to continue its voluntary commitment by reducing its total oil output by 15…
Qatar Quits OPEC to Focus on LNG
Qatar said Monday that it will leave the oil cartel OPEC on January 1 after nearly 60 years. The announcement was made in a series of tweets.Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, announced Qatar’s withdrawal from OPEC and said the organization was informed.Qatar is one of the cartel’s smallest oil producers, but is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas.The abrupt annoucement from the small, gas-rich…
Russia's Energy Minister: High Oil Prices Benefit No One
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told Rossiya state TV that high oil prices are not beneficial to anyone, after the OPEC and non-OPEC group of oil-producing countries ruled out any immediate increase in crude output."All countries should aim to reach one goal: a balance of demand and supply. High oil prices are not beneficial to anyone," Novak said in an interview recorded in Algiers where the OPEC and non-OPEC countries were meeting…
Oil Rises as U.S. Sanctions on Iran Squeeze Supply
Oil prices rose about $1 a barrel on Tuesday as U.S. sanctions squeezed Iranian crude exports, tightening global supply despite efforts by Washington to get other producers to increase output.Brent crude futures rose $1.13 to $78.50 a barrel, a 1.5 percent gain, by 10:48 a.m. EDT (1448 GMT).U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained $1.10, or 1.6 percent, at $68.64 a barrel.WTI's discount to Brent <CL-LCO1=R> widened to as much as $10.38 a barrel…
Exxon Expects More Oil from Guyana's Offshore Block
Exxon Mobil Corp and its partners now expect the large Stabroek oil block offshore Guyana to contain about 25 percent more recoverable resources than estimated, they said on Monday.Exxon and U.S.-based partner Hess Corp said more than 4 billion barrels of oil equivalent could be recovered from the Stabroek block, which is part of one of the biggest oil discoveries in the world in the last decade.The previous estimate was 3.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent…
Rising Oil Prices Herald Next Phase in Cycle
Oil prices are now in the top half of the cycle, with benchmark Brent on Thursday trading above $80 per barrel for the first time since November 2014.In real terms, prices averaged $75 per barrel over the course of the last full cycle, which lasted from December 1998 to January 2016.The recent rise in prices sends a strong signal about the need for more production and slower growth in oil consumption.In the next few months, the narrative will…
Rising Oil Prices Boost US Economy
U.S. net petroleum imports have fallen to the lowest level in more than half a century as a result of the shale revolution, which is profoundly changing the impact higher oil prices have on the economy. Since the 1860s, the United States has been the world’s largest producer and consumer of oil, which means it has a complicated relationship with oil prices. Rising oil prices benefit some businesses and workers at the expense of others, and the same has been true about a sharp price fall.
Iran Deal Withdrawal, Other Global Issues Risk Higher Oil Prices - Goldman Sachs
Oil prices are at risk for further gains due to the United States' decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, coupled with rising tensions in other oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, Goldman Sachs said in a note Wednesday.The investment bank's current forecast is for Brent crude to hit $82.50 a barrel by the summer; it is currently trading around $77 a barrel. The harsher approach by the United States could result in an initial loss of about 500…
OPEC Hopes for Oil Market Stability in 2018
OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said on Monday he hoped a global deal to reduce oil production would help restore stability to global oil markets in the course of the year, he told Azeri TV station Real TV in an interview. "We are beginning to see that the stability is gradual but still returning to the market," Barkindo said during a visit to the Azeri capital of Baku, adding that oil producing countries participating in the deal members are currently focused on extending the deal to December 2018.
Peak Oil Demand and its Implications for Prices: Kemp
Even if oil consumption reaches a peak and then starts to fall, the world will still need large quantities of oil for many decades to come. The prediction is contained in a thoughtful paper co-authored by Spencer Dale, chief economist of BP, and Bassam Fattouh, director of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. "Global oil demand is likely to continue growing for a period, driven by rising prosperity in fast-growing developing economies," they wrote in a paper published on Monday.
Feast or Famine? Oil Market in 2018
In the Bible, Joseph was interpreting Pharaoh’s dream of seven fat and seven thin cows, but he might have been talking about the oil market (“Genesis”, chapter 41, verses 29-30). Just as Pharaoh’s kingdom experienced a cycle of feast and famine, depending on the Nile inundation, the oil market swings between periods of undersupply and oversupply. “The problem of oil is that there is always too much or too little,” as Myron Watkins, professor of economics at New York University…
The waning power of the petrodollar: McGeever
When the Federal Reserve begins reducing its holdings of U.S. Treasuries as expected later this year, some of the most consistent buyers of U.S. bonds over the last 15 years may be less than willing to fill the breach. Before the financial crisis, the flow of "petrodollars" was one of the most powerful forces driving the U.S. bond market and the dollar, as oil exporters invested their booming trade surpluses into Treasuries. But that flow isn't what it once was, and may be about to dry up further.
Singapore Fuel Oil Trading Heats Up
Singapore fuel oil trading volumes have soared after the 380-cst front-month time spreads widened by around $1 per tonne from the previous day's close, in what could develop into an aggressive trade strategy that occasionally rattles this market. The 380-cst March/April time spreads on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) saw about 700,000 tonnes in contracts trade after physical trading in the S&P Global Platts Market-on-Close (MOC) price assessments concluded at 0830 GMT on Tuesday.
Volatility and Cyclicality in Oil Prices - will this time be different? Kemp
Extreme volatility and strong cyclicality have been the defining characteristics of oil prices and the industry since the first modern oil well was drilled in Pennsylvania in 1859. Oil prices are much more volatile than the prices of manufactured goods or services, and in this they resemble other industrial and agricultural commodities. Volatility is apparent at all time scales from the very short term (tick-by-tick and daily movements in futures prices) to the longer term (month-to-month and year-to-year).
OPEC Secretary General meets Kuwait’s Emir
His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Emir of the State of Kuwait, received on January 9 , HE Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), accompanied by HE Issam A. Almarzooq, Kuwait’s Minister of Oil and its Minister of Electricity & Water, at Bayan Palace, Kuwait City. The Emir commended the OPEC Secretary General on the recent successful meetings the Organization has held among OPEC Member Countries and with non-OPEC nations.
OPEC Secretary General meets Qatar's Energy and Industry Minister
OPEC Secretary General, HE Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, met with HE Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry of Qatar on Saturday, 7 January. The two officials review the year 2016, including the major activities and recent achievements such as the historic and landmark Algiers Accord, the subsequent Vienna Agreement, and the Declaration of Cooperation between OPEC and participating non-OPEC oil producing countries. These historical agreements were a direct result of the close…
Saudi Arabia Engineers Shift in Market Sentiment: Kemp
Saudi Arabia has transformed sentiment in the oil market by assembling an unprecedented coalition of oil producing countries to agree output cuts in 2017. Saudi officials have obtained pledges from OPEC members to cut production by almost 1.2 million barrels per day and from non-OPEC members by an extra 560,000 bpd during the first half of 2017. In the process, Saudi negotiators wrong-footed many hedge fund managers, who had established large short positions in futures and options last month expecting there would be no deal or only a very weak one.
