Oil Falls on Demand Worries, Market Awaits Fed Advice
Oil prices eased about 1% to a one-week low on Tuesday on demand worries following the release of negative economic news from Germany and China, while investors remained cautious ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve decision on interest rates.Brent futures fell 90 cents, or 1.2%, to $73.01 a barrel by 1:36 p.m. EST (1836 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 86 cents, or 1.2%, to $69.85.
Mexico simplifies fiscal regime for Pemex, the state oil company
Mexico announced a plan on Wednesday to simplify the fiscal regime of state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), in an effort to boost a producer whose heavy loans have burdened state coffers. Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexican president, said during the morning press conference Pemex will pay a general tax of 30% on its non-associated gas operations. Sheinbaum explained that the measure was taken to increase "transparency"…
Drone crashes into oil depot in Russia’s Stavropol Region
Vladimir Vladimirov, the local governor of Stavropol in southern Russia, said that a drone had crashed on an oil storage depot. This was the second suspected Ukrainian strike in a row on Russian energy and fuel targets. It followed a period of seven weeks after a fuel station in Tula, Russia was attacked on September 10. Vladimirov, on Telegram, said that there were no injuries in the incident at Svetlograd Oil Depot.
Sources: At least 18 injured by fire at Venezuelan La Salina oil terminal
Sources familiar with the operations of Venezuela's La Salina Oil Terminal said that at least 18 people, including workers, neighbours and firefighters, were reported injured by a fire in a crude oil storage tank. The fire started early on in the morning during a thunderstorm and raged through the afternoon. The facility is near Cabimas, a western city on the shores of Lake Maracaibo, and is operated by the state oil company PDVSA.
Nigeria's Belemaoil resumes oil lease 55 operations after a three-year hiatus
The Nigerian independent producer Belemaoil Producing announced on Monday that it has resumed its operations at Oil Mining Lease 55, after a three year shutdown due to theft-related damage. Belemaoil purchased OML 55 from Chevron Corporation in February 2015, which is located in an area of swampy to shallow waters, about 40km west of Bonny's oil export terminal. Belemaoil's…
China's INE Considers Singapore for Marine Fuel Futures Delivery
The Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) is considering using oil storage sites in Singapore owned by PetroChina Co as a delivery point for its low-sulphur fuel oil futures contract, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.The INE’s move would be the first time a Chinese futures contract would be deliverable outside of China and could boost liquidity for the contract…
Iran's Oil Storage Almost Full as Sanctions and Pandemic Weigh
Iran has slashed crude oil production to its lowest level in four decades as storage tanks and vessels are almost completely full due to a fall in exports and refinery run cuts caused by the coronavirus pandemic, industry data showed.Total onshore crude stocks surged to 54 million barrels in April from 15 million barrels in January, and swelled further to 63 million barrels in June…
Sinopec Adds More Oil Storage at Baishawan
China's Sinopec has started operating the second phase of its Baishawan commercial crude oil storage project in eastern province Zhejiang, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.The project had added four storage tanks with combined capacity of 450,000 cubic metres to its existing 950,000 cubic metres storage capacity, which was put in use in 2009.Baishawan commercial crude storage base is managed and operated by Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co, a subsidiary
IEA: Early Signs of Recovery Visible, But Oil Demand Still Set For Record Fall
Oil demand is still set for a record fall in 2020, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday, but it trimmed its forecast for the drop citing easing lockdown measures.Demand is expected to fall by 8.6 million barrels per day (bpd), the IEA said in its monthly report, raising its estimate by 690,000 bpd compared to last month.Around 2.8 billion people will be living under confinement measures aimed at containing the novel coronavirus at the end of May…
Oil Traders Chase Storage Space in World Awash with Fuel
Oil traders are struggling to find enough ships, railcars, caverns and pipelines to store fuel as more conventional storage facilities fill up amid abundant supply and plummeting demand due to the coronavirus crisis.Dozens of oil tanker vessels have been booked in recent days to store at least 30 million barrels of jet fuel, gasoline and diesel at sea, acting as floating storage…
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…
Coronavirus Leaves China-bound Tankers Stranded
The coronavirus's effect on energy markets is worsening, as the sharp fall in demand in China, the world's largest importer of crude, is stranding oil cargoes off the country's coast and prompting shippers to seek out other Asian destinations.More than 1,360 people have died from the coronavirus in China, which has disrupted the world's second largest economy and shaken energy markets…
India, S. Arabia in New Petro Relationship
India and Saudi Arabia have decided to expand its ‘energy relationship’ into next phase to include Saudi partnership in building additional crude oil storage reserves in India, a new refinery on the west coast of India and investment in retail sector in petroleum.Saudi Arabia is its second-biggest supplier of crude oil after Iraq. It sold 40.33 million tonnes of crude oil to India in 2018-19 fiscal…
Iran building oil pipeline to terminal outside Gulf
Iran is building a $1.8 billion oil pipeline to its port of Jask outside the mouth of the Gulf, the country's oil minister said, as part of plans to protect its exports against potential problems in the region and to boost shipments of Caspian oil.Iran has been planning since at least 2012 to set up the terminal on the Gulf of Oman, just outside the Strait of Hormuz.Tehran has…
KNOT Signs Charter Contract with Total
Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers AS (KNOT), a NYK Group company, has concluded a time-charter contract for a maximum 15-year period starting from 2021 for a shuttle tanker with French oil and gas giant Total for its Brazilian activities.The contract aims to use a 152,000 DWT Suezmax tanker equipped with a dynamic-positioning system built in China by COSCO (Zhoushan) Shipyard Co., Ltd.
Vitol Builds Refinery for New Ship's Fuel
Vitol, the world's largest independent oil trader, has started building a small oil refinery at its storage terminal in Malaysia that will provide low-sulfur fuel for ships, a senior company official said on Monday.The project consists of a crude distillation unit that can process 30,000 barrels per day of crude and is located on the same site as Vitol's oil storage terminal at Tanjung Bin in the southern Malaysian state of Johor…
Sentinel Secures Commitments for Offshore Crude Terminal
Sentinel Midstream LLC has secured shipper commitments needed to move forward on a proposed $1 billion crude export terminal off the Texas coast, the company's chief executive said on Wednesday.The firm's Texas GulfLink project is one of eight proposed U.S. deepwater export projects seeking to load supertankers that carry up to 2 million barrels of crude. Sentinel last week…
Intertek: Independent Hydrocarbon Lab in Iraq
Intertek launched the first independent crude oil, fuel testing and petroleum products laboratory in Iraq. The new hydrocarbon laboratory, located in the port of Khor Al Zubair, will support the increased demand for quality assurance solutions in the petroleum industry across Iraq and will soon be offering octane engine fuel testing of gasoline for the first time in the country.The launch of the 1,300 sq. ft.
Babcock Wins BW Catcher Contract
Babcock said it has been awarded a four-year framework contract for brownfield fabrication and modification projects on the BW Catcher, a floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) owned by BW Offshore. The scope of the contract includes engineering, onshore fabrication and offshore modifications on the FPSO.BW Catcher is on a seven year fixed term and 18 years…
