The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) weekly estimates of natural gas storage capacity utilization published on July 12, 2019, exceed 50% in all regions for the second straight week. EIA updates estimates of underground storage capacity utilization by region each week in the Natural Gas Storage Dashboard. EIA created this metric to help analysts easily assess how full natural gas storage stocks are by region. The utilization estimate measures the weekly volume of working gas in a region compared with the amount of working gas capacity in a region. Underground ...

British wholesale gas for immediate delivery fell on Monday as low demand, in part due to high wind power generation, pushed the system into oversupply. * Within day gas fell 1.0 pence to 28 pence other therm by 0740 GMT. * Day-ahead gas was 0.2 pence higher at 29.00 pence per therm. * The system was oversupplied by 24.3 million cubic metres (mcm) with demand forecast at 132.0 mcm and supply seen at 156.3 mcm, National Grid data showed. * Peak wind generation is expected at 10.3 gigawatts out of ...

BP has agreed to form a 50:50 joint venture with Bunge – a leader in agriculture, food and ingredients – that will create a leading bioenergy company in one of the world’s largest fastgrowing markets for biofuels. BP will combine its Brazilian biofuels and biopower businesses with that of Bunge to create a world-scale, highly-efficient producer of sugarcane ethanol in Brazil, BP Bunge Bioenergia. BP’s interest in the new venture will grow its existing biofuels business by more than 50%. Ethanol produced from sugarcane is one of the most carbon-efficient ...

Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd., an Australian-based developer of terminals to export its namesake fuel, plans to re-domicile in the U.S. and list its shares in New York as the company concentrates on projects in North America. Its board has approved a plan to swap shares currently traded in Sydney for ones that will be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, LNG Ltd. said in an emailed statement. The moves, which are expected to be completed by the year-end or in early 2020, have been in the works for about two ...

China National Offshore Oil Co (CNOOC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) on upstream exploration and development, oil refining and liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade, state-backed China News Agency reported on Monday. The MOU was signed on the sideline of a state visit by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. Under the agreement, companies will share the latest know-how in developing ultra-acidic natural gas fields, the report said, citing a statement from CNOOC Group. The two companies will consider enlisting CNOOC’s ...

U.S. natural gas prices are falling again. The intense and widespread heat that we have been seeing is now expected to subside. Forecasts over the next two weeks have trended considerably cooler. With prices so low, EIA has turned more bearish on gas prices, with its recent July STEO putting 2019 Henry Hub spot prices at $2.72 and $2.87 in 2020. “EIA: Summer natural gas prices on track to be the lowest since 1998.” Support and resistance now stand at $2.22 and $2.32, respectively Crazy low. . RSI has been ...

China imported 5 million tonnes of crude oil via the China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline in the first half (H1), up 2.7 percent year on year, according to the Kunming Customs in southwest China’s Yunnan Province. The customs statistics available on Sunday showed that the import value amounted to 17.27 billion yuan (about 2.51 billion U.S. dollars), up 9.2 percent year on year with the average import price reaching 3,443.8 yuan per tonne, up 6.4 percent year on year. Meanwhile, the imports of natural gas from Myanmar amounted to 1.68 ...

Asia’s chemical market outlook is dim amid rising supply, while demand is seasonally weak in the third quarter. Sinopec refinery and petrochemical complex in Qingdao, Sentiment is bearish, with trading dulled by poor macroeconomic data evident in weakened June manufacturing activity, as the year-long US-China trade disputes eroded market confidence. In the vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) market, supply could remain long notwithstanding production cuts in China because of continued weakness in demand. While Chinese VAM producers lowered run rates – as reflected in the domestic average operating rate of 68% ...

Refiners and analysts see stronger refining margins resulting from the International Maritime Organization’s impending requirement that ships use lower-sulfur bunker fuel, but waning global demand for crude and refined products could more than offset that optimism. Many across the industry have been scanning price, inventory and flow data to measure when and how IMO 2020 will impact their operations and profit margins as the January 1 deadline for cleaner bunker fuel looms. The new requirements call for ships to use 0.5% sulfur bunker fuel, down from the current 3.5%. Shippers ...

Asian spot prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) slipped this week tracking a fall in European gas prices though traders anticipate prices to bottom out soon ahead of peak winter demand. Spot prices for September delivery to Northeast Asia LNG-AS are estimated to be about $4.60 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), down 10 cents from last week, trade sources said. Prices for cargoes delivered in August are estimated to be $4.20 per mmBtu, down 20 cents from last week, they added. Traders are likely waiting for the European gas ...

China imported 5 million tonnes of crude oil via the China-Myanmar oil and gas pipeline in the first half (H1), up 2.7 percent year on year, according to the Kunming Customs in southwest China’s Yunnan Province. The customs statistics available on Sunday showed that the import value amounted to 17.27 billion yuan (about 2.51 billion U.S. dollars), up 9.2 percent year on year with the average import price reaching 3,443.8 yuan per tonne, up 6.4 percent year on year. Meanwhile, the imports of natural gas from Myanmar amounted to 1.68 ...

Turkey has been advancing its presence in the eastern Mediterranean for drilling activities of oil and natural gas as Egypt, Greece, Greek Cyprus, and Israel make efforts to create a regional energy structure that will exclude Turkey from the Mediterranean hydrocarbon market. Having no hydrocarbon discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean yet, Turkey has sent three ships into the coastal waters of Cyprus to drill for gas and a fourth seismic vessel will deport soon despite mounting tensions with the European Union and the United States. Following “Fatih” drilling vessel dispatched ...

Head of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) said Iran’s crude oil and gas condensate refining capacity has increased by 38.8 percent since 2017. According to Ali-Reza Sadeq-Abadi, currently the country’s refining capacity has reached 2.15 million barrels per day (mbpd) up 600,000 bpd from 1.55 mbpd at the beginning of the Iranian calendar year of 1396 (March 21, 2017). “Daily processing capacity of the country’s refineries is expected to increase by 250,000 barrels by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 19, 2020) to reach ...

Permian Basin gas prices averaged their highest since mid-March during the week just passed, propelled by rising summer demand in local and regional markets. Over the past seven days, cash prices at Waha have averaged 97 cents/MMBtu, up from negative territory during the first week of July. On Friday, prices were down nearly 40 cents from the prior-day settlement, trading around 37 cents/MMBtu, preliminary data from S&P Global Platts showed. Forecasts calling for cooler weekend temperatures and lower demand led Friday’s decline in prices. Through mid-July, though, more summer-like temperatures ...

Chinese oil refiners want changes to tax laws on the consumption and sale of fuel oil in order to start producing low-sulphur marine fuel when new global clean fuel rules start in 2020, four executives at Chinese oil companies said this week. China’s central government must waive a 1,218 yuan ($177.11) per ton consumption tax and offer rebates of the 13% value-added tax currently levied on fuel oil to allow the country’s refiners to economically produce the very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) needed to meet the rules, officials at China ...