Malaysian billionaire Ananda Krishnan dies at 86
His private investment firm announced that Ananda Krishnan died at age 86. He had a wide range of business interests, from oil and natural gas to telecommunications. The cause of death has not been determined. The tycoon avoided publicity, but became known internationally in the mid-1980s after he helped fund the Live Aid concert organised by rock star Bob Geldof. He started out as a young businessman by setting up a consultancy. Later, he ventured into the oil trading sector and gambling. In the 1990s he expanded into multimedia ventures.
Shell's $6 billion profit beats expectations as LNG offsets a weak refining sector
Shell announced on Thursday that it had exceeded the forecasted profits for the third quarter by 12%. This was due to higher LNG sales, which offset lower oil refining results and weaker trading results. Oil prices dropped by 17% during the third quarter, despite the fact that global refining margins fell sharply due to a weaker economy and the opening of new refineries across Asia and Africa. The company announced that it would buy back an additional $3.5 billion in its shares within the next three-month period, at the same rate as the previous quarter. The company's dividend remains unchanged at 34 cents a share.
BP's third quarter profits slump to $2.3 bln due to a decline in oil demand
BP reported higher than expected third quarter profits, $2.3 billion. This is their lowest profit in nearly four years. The drop in refinery profits and the weakening of oil trading were to blame. The drop of 30% in profits compared to a year ago is due to a slowdown on the global economy and in oil demand in particular in China. This puts pressure on CEO Murray Auchincloss, who has pledged that BP will improve its performance in response investor concerns about its energy transformation strategy. BP's underlying net profit (defined as the replacement cost profit by the company) reached $2.27billion in the third-quarter…
BP warns that weak margins in refining will hit Q3 profits
BP has said that a decline in the refining margins will reduce its third quarter profit by $400 to 600 million dollars compared to the previous three-month period. In a press release, the British group said that it also expects its oil trading results to be poor. Oil refineries around the world are experiencing a decline in profits that is at a multi-year low. This marks a downward turn for an industry which had seen a surge in returns following the pandemic. It also highlights the global slowdown. Rival Shell warned on Monday of a slump in refinery profit margins as well as weak oil product sales in the third quarter. Exxon Mobil, the U.S.
The UK will try Glencore's former head of oil in 2027 on charges of bribery
In 2027, Glencore's former oil head Alex Beard will be tried in London on charges of bribery along with five other former employees of the Swiss commodity trading company. Beard was not asked to enter his plea during a short hearing on Wednesday at London's Southwark Crown Court. He had indicated in his first court appearance that he would plead not-guilty. The 57-year old is accused of two counts of conspiracy for corrupt payments made to officials of government-owned oil companies and to officials of the Nigerian government between 2010 and 2014. Beard is the most prominent commodity trader in Britain to be charged with alleged corruption.
Eni restructures its chemicals business to unlock value and improve profitability
Eni, the Italian energy company, announced on Thursday that it had approved a new structure for its business aimed at developing main units, speeding up a revamp of its chemical business, and integrating both its upstream activities and its trading activities. The new structure aims to unlock some of the "satellite companies" of the group, including Plenitude, Enilive and others. This will be done by bringing in new partners and allowing future public listing. Eni uses a strategy called satellites, where it creates independent entities that are focused on certain businesses and have some autonomy from the group.
Glencore's former head of oil is charged with bribery in a UK court
Alex Beard, former Glencore head of oil, appeared before a London court Tuesday to answer bribery allegations relating to Glencore's operations in Africa. Beard's lawyer told the London Westminster Magistrates' Court that he will plead guilty. The 57-year old is accused of two counts of conspiracy for corrupt payments made to officials of government-owned oil companies and government officials in Nigeria from 2010 to 2014 and in Cameroon, between 2007 and 2008. Beard is the most prominent commodity trader in Britain to be charged with alleged corruption. He joined Glencore from BP in 1995, which was the largest trading desk of that time.
Storage broker: Global IT outage of July caused California fuel storage problems
Storage broker The Tank Tiger said this week that the CrowdStrike IT failure last month, which grounded scores of flights, created new problems in California's fuel markets. U.S. traders were forced to store jet fuel bound for California on waterborne tanks, forcing them to store fuel for California on tankers. The Californian policies to end fossil fuel use have made it difficult to set up new oil and gas pipelines. The Tank Tiger, a clearinghouse for terminal storage in the United States, said that there was no space in California to store petroleum products. California is a major oil trading hub on the U.S.
The global oil demand must rise faster to absorb OPEC+'s hike
According to analysts, data and industry sources, the global oil demand growth must accelerate in the coming months, or else, the market may struggle to absorb a planned increase in oil production by OPEC+ starting in October. The United States and China, the two largest oil consumers in the world, failed to meet expectations for the growth of oil demand during the first seven-month period of the year. This was even before renewed fears about a U.S. economic recession led to a sell-off of global stocks and bonds this week. Oil demand will probably slow down if the economy continues to slow.
Venezuelan Oil Exports Rise on Larger Sales to Asia
Venezuela’s oil exports rose in February to over 700,000 barrels per day (bpd), their highest level in 10 months, pushed by more sales of fuel oil cargoes to new clients in Asian markets, according to Refinitiv Eikon’s tanker tracking data and documents.A growing number of clients with no track record in oil trading has been helping Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA to allocate crude and fuel in Asia, especially since the U.S. Treasury Department halted oil swaps by PDVSA’s long-term customers in the last quarter of 2020 as part of tightening sanctions.These buyers…
Brazil: Petrobras receives $45M in Vitol Corruption Settlement
Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras said that it had received 232.6 million reais ($44.65 million) on Tuesday in a settlement with Swiss energy trading firm Vitol, which was implicated in a sprawling national corruption probe.Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as Petrobras is formally known, said in a securities filing that the settlement was brokered as part of a leniency deal between Vitol and federal prosecutors.The wide-ranging probe, known as Operation Car Wash, uncovered companies paying bribes for Petrobras contracts…
Oil Market Stalls as Absence of Signals Compounds Summer Slowdown
Hedge funds' oil trading largely dried up last week as the normal summer holiday slowdown was compounded by an absence of price or fundamental signals about the future direction of the market.Hedge funds and other money managers purchased the equivalent of 13 million barrels in the six major petroleum futures and options contracts in the week to Aug. 4, after selling 40 million the week before.Portfolio managers have left their overall position little changed since the end of June, according to an analysis of records published by ICE Futures Europe and the U.S.
KPMG Flags Oil Trader ZenRock's Questionable Deals
ZenRock Commodities Trading Pte Ltd is unlikely to continue its core oil trading businesses in the long term, its court-appointed supervisor KPMG Services said in a report that also raised concerns over transactions by the Singapore-based trader.ZenRock was placed under interim judicial management in May after one of its creditors HSBC Holdings PLC alleged that it engaged in a series of "highly dishonest transactions."It is one of four commodity trading firms in Asia's oil trading hub of Singapore which ran into financial…
Trafigura Merging China Oil Operations in New Shanghai Trading Desk
Swiss commodities merchant Trafigura plans to merge its three-year-old crude oil marketing office in Qingdao, in east China's Shandong province, with an oil desk being set up in Shanghai, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter.Trafigura earlier this year created a head oil trader position in its Shanghai office, which has long focused on metals, said the sources. Huang Shufu, from the company's Singapore-based oil team, was made the team leader, they said.Trafigura declined to comment on the merging of the offices or on the appointment of Huang to head the Shanghai oil team.
Oil Traders Vie for Guyana Marketing Deal Despite Price Tumble
Guyana has attracted interest from several oil trading companies for a contract to serve as the marketing agent for the government's share of the country's crude, despite a plunge in global prices, four people familiar with the matter said.Oil major Royal Dutch Shell and commodities traders Gunvor and Mercuria were among the companies that have submitted expressions of interest ahead of the Tuesday morning deadline, the people said on condition of anonymity as they were unauthorized to discuss the matter publicly.Mark Bynoe…
Work from Home: Energy Traders Swap Shouts for Babies, Barking Dogs
SINGAPORE, March 24 -- From banks of screens and giant phones in the office, energy traders worldwide are adapting to a laptop in the bedroom -- and it's going surprisingly well.Working from home has become the new norm in the oil trading hubs of Singapore, London and New York as governments encourage physical distancing to curb the spread of coronavirus.While some energy companies have long had facilities in place to allow off-site access to trading platforms and other technology, others are rapidly installing key equipment and communication systems for the bulk of their trading teams."Working from home…
US Sanctions on Rosneft Trading Shifting Crude Flows
U.S. sanctions on Russian Rosneft's trading arm will disrupt a slice of global crude flows and may prompt refineries in Europe, India and the United States to shift purchases to other crude suppliers, traders said.The United States on Tuesday redoubled efforts to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by barring U.S. dealings with Rosneft Trading S.A., a subsidiary of Russia's state oil major Rosneft, which Washington said provides him a financial lifeline. Russia has called the sanctions illegal and said it plans to consider options in reaction.The ban will likely hit some U.S.
Venezuela Sells Oil to Tiny Turkish Firm
With U.S. sanctions blocking Venezuela from selling oil to the United States, state-owned energy firm PDVSA has turned to several little-known buyers that include a tiny Turkish company with no refineries but ties to President Nicolas Maduro's government, according to internal documents and a PDVSA source.Until recently, some of the world's largest petroleum and refining firms, including U.S. companies Chevron and Valero Energy, lined up to take Venezuelan oil cargoes and PDVSA had a rigorous vetting process to ensure potential buyers had the capacity to pay.But U.S.
ADNOC Seals $5.8 bln Refining and Trading Deal with ENI, OMV
Italy's Eni and Austria's OMV have agreed to pay a combined $5.8 billion to take a stake in Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's (ADNOC) refining business and establish a new trading operation owned by the three partners.The transaction, which expands ADNOC's access to European markets, furthers Eni's diversification away from Africa and gives OMV a downstream oil business outside Europe. It was hailed as a "one of a kind" deal by ADNOC's Chief Executive Sultan al-Jaber."The whole oil and gas industry hasn't seen a transaction of this size and sophistication…
Oil Majors Join Blockchain Platform
Oil majors Chevron and Total, along with major Indian refiner Reliance Industries, have joined the blockchain-based platform Vakt, London-based Vakt said on Tuesday.Vakt, already in use by other major trading firms since the end of last year, is the first of many blockchain pilot schemes for commodities trading to go live.The firm was created in 2017 by a consortium that includes oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell, Norway's Equinor, global energy trading firms Mercuria Energy Group and Koch Supply and Trading, as well as Gunvor Group.Its original shareholders began using the system in November…
