US CFTC fines energy traders
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission ordered TOTSA TotalEnergies Trading SA on August 27 to pay a fine of $48 million for alleged gasoline price manipulation. Ian McGinley, CFTC Director of Enforcement, said that the CFTC had "guarded the integrity of the market in numerous cases during the past 20 years" by detecting these benchmark-related scheme and prosecuting them. The U.S. regulator has fined several companies for what they call oil and gas market malpractice. Here are some examples. The CFTC fined TOTSA $48 million in March 2018 for attempted market manipulation.
Oil Prices Fall as Demand Woes Eclipse U.S. Stimulus
Oil prices slipped into negative territory on Wednesday as faltering fuel demand from the spread of the coronavirus outweighed a massive pending U.S. economic stimulus package.Brent crude was down 45 cents, or 1.66%, at $26.70 per barrel at 1029 GMT after earlier rising to a high of $28.29.U.S. crude was down 10 cents, or 0.42%, at $23.91 after a high of $25.24 per barrel.U.S. senators and Trump administration officials have reached an agreement on the $2 trillion stimulus bill which is expected to be passed through Congress later on Wednesday.Still…
Singapore LNG and YTL PowerSeraya Appoint New CEOs
Singapore-based energy company YTL PowerSeraya and LNG terminal operator Singapore LNG Corp (SLNG) announced that they have appointed new chief executive officers (CEOs).YTL PowerSeraya said that han Swee Huat has decided to step down as CEO of the Group with effect from 15 January 2019. Chan plans to retire but will continue to serve as an advisor to parent company YTL Power International.He will be succeeded by industry veteran John Ng, who was most recently the CEO of Singapore LNG Corporation (SLNG).
North Sea Oil Market Sounds Alarm on Oversupply
The North Sea physical oil market is letting off a distress signal - crude is once again being stored on ships – as production increases from major exporters threaten a fragile balance between global supply and demand.Reuters data shows nearly 7 million barrels of North Sea crude held on ships that have been static for at least two weeks, unable to find immediate buyers, up from virtually nothing a few weeks ago."Over the past two weeks, North Sea floating storage has trended higher, reversing a pattern of decline in place through much of July…
China's Crude Oil Futures Boom Amid Looming Iran Sanctions
A U.S. decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran is supporting China's newly established crude oil futures, and may spur efforts to start trading oil in yuan rather than dollars, traders and analysts said.Since launching in March, Shanghai crude oil futures have seen a steady pick-up in daily trading, while open interest - the number of outstanding longer-term positions and a gauge of institutional interest - has also surged.Traded daily volumes hit a record 250,000 lots last Wednesday, more than double the day before…
Inatech Opens in Houston
Energy trading risk management (ETRM) systems provider Inatech expanded its global operation with a new office in Houston to better support its U.S. clients at a time of unprecedented change in America’s oil markets.“The U.S. physical oil market is changing from an import market to an export one, and this presents new challenges for oil trading firms in terms of trades, hedging, transporting and accounting for each barrel,” said Inatech’s CEO Jean-Hervé Jenn. “With our new presence on the ground, we will be proactive in grasping the tremendous opportunities presented by the profound change currently underway in U.S.
Cushing's Market Clout Wanes Amid U.S. Crude Export Boom
The volume of oil sitting in 300 steel tanks in a nine-square-mile radius in Cushing, Oklahoma has long been a key barometer for the health of U.S. crude supply and the nation's benchmark for daily trading of billions of dollars in the commodity. But those tanks could soon drain to levels near effectively empty, even as U.S. oil production soars past a new record of 10.4 million barrels per day. Oil supplies have fallen before in Cushing for a variety of seasonal or market-driven reasons. But this time, there is no shortage of crude in the market. In fact, U.S. production is straining pipeline and storage capacity.
Oil Edges Up But U.S.-China Trade Tensions Weigh
Trade dispute between U.S./China unsettles markets as U.S. drillers add 11 rigs drilling for new oil. Oil markets stabilised on Monday after having lost around 2 percent last Friday as concerns grew over the impact on global growth from an intensifying trade dispute between the United States and China, as well as increased U.S. drilling activity. Markets were also eyeing the situation in Syria after reports - denied by the Pentagon - that U.S. forces had struck a major air base there. Brent crude futures were up 39 cents on the day at $67.50 a barrel by 0912 GMT. The price approached its lowest in three weeks last week.
Riverstone Unit Mulls Sale of WA Refinery
TrailStone Group, a start-up commodity merchant backed by private equity firm Riverstone Holdings LLC, has retained Tudor Pickering & Holt to sell or find strategic alternatives for its Tacoma, Washington refinery, two people familiar with the transaction said on Thursday. The refinery, known as U.S. Oil, needs a capital infusion to pursue additional projects, including plans to expand into renewable energy, one of the people said. "We hope to identify a partner/investor with significantly added liquidity…
Rising U.S. Supply Knocks Oil Prices Again
Physical crude price falls as exporters chase customers; U.S. crude inventories rise. Oil fell for a third day on Wednesday, under pressure from concern about rising U.S. production and how much it would hurt efforts by OPEC and its partners to control global supplies. Brent crude futures fell 26 cents to $62.46 a barrel by 1028 GMT. The price has lost 11 percent since hitting a high above $71 in January. It has now wiped out all the 2018 gains. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 40 cents to $58.79 a barrel. The American Petroleum Institute (API) said on Tuesday that U.S.
Asian Floating Storage Declines as Crude Market Tightens
Strong demand is tightening the market but rising US output could sap efforts to rebalance market. The amount of oil stored on tankers around Singapore has dropped sharply in the last months, the latest indication that OPEC-led supply cuts are successfully tightening crude markets even as U.S. exports have soared. Shipping data in Thomson Reuters Eikon shows around 15 super-tankers are currently filled with oil in waters off Singapore and western Malaysia, storing around 30 million barrels of crude. That is half the number of ships in June and down from 40 tankers holding surplus fuel in mid-2017.
Oil Near Two-Year Highs as Market Tightens
OPEC to meet this month to discuss production cut pact. Oil prices rose on Friday, nearing their highest levels in more than two years, with buyers attracted by expectations of an extension to a global pact to cut output that has reduced oversupply. Global benchmark Brent futures traded up 45 cents at $61.07 a barrel at 0914 GMT, approaching levels around $61.70 a barrel last seen in July 2015. Brent has risen around 38 percent since its low in 2017 reached in June. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude traded at $54.92 a barrel, up 38 cents. WTI is around 31 percent above its 2017 low hit June. This week's U.S.
Brent Oil Stays Above $60
Brent oil held above $60 a barrel on Monday, near its highest since mid-2015, on expectations OPEC-led production cuts would be extended beyond March although rising Iraqi exports put a lid on prices. Brent crude futures were up 10 cents or 0.2 percent to $60.54 per barrel at 1:39 p.m. EDT (1739 GMT), close to its highest level since July 2015. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were 14 cents or 0.26 percent higher at $54.04 a barrel. "The market has rallied pretty significantly and I think it's predicated on the fact that the Saudis and Russians are continuing the cut agreement…
Noble Group sells Oil Unit to Vitol
Oil liquids unit to be sold for about $580 million. Struggling commodities trader Noble Group agreed to sell its Americas-focused oil trading business to Vitol for about $580 million as part of a debt-cutting strategy, and warned of a big loss for its third quarter. Monday's move came after Reuters reported late on Friday that Vitol, the world's largest oil trader, was nearing a deal to buy Singapore-listed Noble's oil liquids unit. Noble, whose founder Richard Elman took advantage of a commodities bull run to build it into one of the world's biggest traders after starting it in 1986…
China's Crude Splurge is OPEC's Best Friend
China's crude oil imports surged to the second-highest on record in September, but this isn't a sign of supercharged demand in the world's second-biggest economy. It's rather a shuffling of where oil is being stored around the globe and a couple of factors that caused a temporary boost to Chinese import demand. China's crude imports jumped to 37 million tonnes in September, equivalent to 9 million barrels per day (bpd), according to preliminary customs data released on Oct. 13. This was up from August's 8 million bpd, but it's worth noting that August was an eight-month low.
Revolution or Evolution? Iraq Mulls Oil Trading Changes
There is little doubt that Iraq's mooted shift to using Dubai crude futures from long-standing price assessor Platts will shake up the trading of Middle East oil, but is it a once-off shock or the first of the dominoes to fall. Iraq's state oil marketer SOMO has asked its customers for feedback on a planned move to use Oman futures traded on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) instead of the average of Platts' Oman-Dubai quotes in pricing its main Basra grade. While this may seem an esoteric issue to those outside the cosy world of physical oil trading…
Oil Market Marches on Toward Backwardation
Oil traders are increasingly convinced the market will rebalance over the next year with a major drawdown in crude and products stocks. Conviction about market rebalancing is showing in a big rise in the calendar spreads for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and especially Brent crude in the last two months. Calendar spreads, which measure price differences between any pair of contracts with different delivery dates, are closely tied to changes in the supply-demand balance. Calendar spreads are conventionally…
Hedge Fund Short Covering Lifts Oil
In recent weeks short covering, rather than long building, has driven oil prices higher, which suggests fund managers are becoming less bearish about prices rather than more bullish. Hedge funds and other money managers continued to reduce their short positions in crude and refined fuels in the week to July 25, pushing prices higher. Hedge funds reduced total short positions in the five major futures and options contracts linked to crude, gasoline and heating oil by 71 million barrels, according to data published by regulators and exchanges.
At Noble Group, Staff Exits and Debt Increase Risks
Noble shares fall as much as 49 pct after overhaul plan. Noble Group is slimming down drastically to its core Asian coal-trading business, but that may not be enough to revive its fortunes due to a staff exodus, shrunken balance sheet and debts of more than $3 billion, analysts and industry sources say. Once Asia's largest commodities trading house, Singapore-listed Noble is a shadow of what it was during the boom years, when it snapped up assets from sugar mills to coal mines and expanded globally to rival Glencore and Trafigura. In a dramatic overhaul announced on Wednesday, it sold its U.S.
Physical Oil Market Tightens as Refiners Scramble for Crude: Kemp
Physical crude markets are at last showing signs of tightening as record refinery consumption in the United States coincides with a slowdown in oil exports from the Middle East Gulf. U.S. refineries processed an average of almost 17.3 million barrels of crude per day last week, an increase of 620,000 barrels per day (bpd) compared with the same week in 2016. Fuel consumption by U.S. motorists remains largely flat but U.S. refineries are seeing higher demand for gasoline and diesel from Latin America where supplies have been hit by local refinery problems.
