Asia to dominate demand growth The supply side of the equation is relatively easy to forecast, given the visible pipeline of projects. However, demand is a lot more difficult to forecast. This is particularly due to the current energy transition, and the differing paths that countries may take to finally reach their ambitious targets. Similar to the pipeline of LNG export projects, we could look at the pipeline of projects for regasification units at destination. Clearly, this is not a guarantee of strong demand. For example, in Europe, there has ...

Asia’s middle distillates markets recorded margin rebounds for the first time in four weeks, despite physical cargo activity toning down in the open trading window week-on-week and outlook remaining mostly bearish in the near-term. A handful of northeast Asia-based refiners were still clearing their August spot sales at the start of the week, but sales remained at discounts of around $1.50 on average – and likewise for July loading spot cargoes. Refining margins GO10SGCKMc1 for the week remained at three-week-high levels of $17.60 a barrel as a reflection of weaker ...

Australia’s Woodside Energy wants to become one of the world’s largest independent producers of liquefied natural gas (LNG). In itself this is not a bad ambition. But choosing to do so by taking over a troubled U.S. LNG project is certainly a brave way of going about it. Woodside WDS.AX said on Monday it has agreed to acquire all of Tellurian TELL.A for a total value of $1.2 billion, including a cash payment of some $900 million, or $1 per share, a premium of 75% to the U.S. company’s last ...

Asia’s naphtha market gained about 5% this week on the back of weakness in crude oil benchmarks, but demand signals remained mixed from some of the crackers in the region, traders and analysts said. The refining profit margin for naphtha shrank about $4 to $67.88 per metric ton over Brent crude on Friday, whilethe backwardation narrowed to $2 a ton. South Korean Hanwha TotalEnergies bought 25,000 tons of naphtha for first-half September loading at low double-digitpremiums this week, while Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical bought a cargo for second-half September at discounts, ...

South Korea’s S-Oil 010950.KS, whose main shareholder is Saudi Aramco 2222.SE, on Friday forecast that third-quarter refining margins would rebound, spurred by peak summer season demand for transport fuel. Over the April-June period, the refiner said it operated the crude distillation units (CDUs) at its 669,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) oil refinery in the southeastern city of Ulsan at 94.6% of capacity, compared with 91.9% in January-March. S-Oil said in an earnings presentation that it plans to shut its No. 1 crude distillation unit some time during the second half of this ...

Dutch and British wholesale gas prices edged higher on Friday morning with volatile wind speeds increasing gas demand from power plants. The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub TRNLTTFMc1 was up 0.70 euros at 32.60 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $10.36 /mmbtu, by 0819 GMT, LSEG data showed. The Dutch September contract was up 0.73 euros at 33.45 euros/MWh. In the British market, the August contract was up 1 pence at 75.25 pence per therm. LSEG analysts said that volatile wind speeds are expected to lead to ...

After years of exploration and more than A$10 billion in losses, Arrow Energy is progressing development of its Surat Gas Project in Queensland. However, declining international LNG prices could undermine the project’s financial returns. Arrow Energy, a 50:50 Joint Venture between Shell and PetroChina, holds significant gas reserves in the Surat and Bowen basins in Queensland, and as at June 2022 was the second-largest holder of proven and probable (2P) gas reserves on Australia’s east coast. Despite this, Arrow has historically supplied relatively small volumes to the east coast gas ...

Russia’s natural gas output in January-June increased by 8.3% year on year to 357.3 billion cubic metres (bcm), Kommersant daily reported on Friday, citing sources familiar with energy ministry data. In June, natural gas output increased by 9.5% from a year earlier to almost 49 bcm as Russia’s largest natural gas producer Gazprom GAZP.MM increased exports and a heatwave boosted demand for electricity, the newspaper said. It also reported that in May-June, Gazprom continued to increase both exports and supplies to the domestic market. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Reuters; Editing ...

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Nicosia (Cyprus) has opened an investigation into a project for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal in Cyprus, on suspicion of procurement fraud, misappropriation of EU funds and corruption. The project aims to create an entry point for natural gas to Cyprus, enabling the country to connect with the wider European gas market, and involves a cost of €542 million – of which approximately €101 million was financed by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme. The construction, which should have been concluded ...

Dutch and British wholesale gas prices edged lower on Thursday morning as supply remained stable while the wind power outlook curbed gas demand from power plants in northwest Europe. The benchmark front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub was down 0.4 euros at 32.30 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), or $10.27 /mmbtu, by 0814 GMT, LSEG data showed. The Dutch September contract was down 0.58 euros at 33.78 euros/MWh. In the British market, the within-day contract was down 1 pence at 74.00 pence per therm. Analysts at LSEG said higher ...

Asia’s naphtha refining profit margin rose on Thursday as crude oil prices slipped, while first-half September and first-half October cargoes continued to trade below $700 per metric ton. The crack gained about $2 at $71.85 per ton over Brent crude in a steady backwardation of $4.50 a ton. On supply side, total exports from the Middle East were assessed at about 2.93 million tons in July, lower than the monthly average of about 4.3 million tons even as some Asian crackers came back from maintenance, data from LSEG Research showed. ...

AVEVA, a global leader in industrial software driving digital transformation and sustainability, today announced a strategic partnership with Meridian Energy Group Inc. (Meridian) to develop a digital twin for the first full-conversion refinery built in the U.S. since 1976, and the first modern “greenfield” advanced technology refinery constructed in the U.S. ever. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in advancing technological innovation and environmental stewardship in the refining industry. Meridian has selected CONNECT, AVEVA’s industrial intelligence platform, and a series of EPC 4.0 solutions to create one unified, data-centric approach ...

Refiner Valero Energy VLO.N reported lower second-quarter profit on Thursday, but managed to beat earnings estimates as strong processing volumes offset a slump in margins. The company’s total throughput volumes, or amount of crude processed, averaged 3.01 million barrels per day, compared with 2.97 million bpd a year earlier. Wall Street had expected its throughput to average 2.96 million bpd, according to LSEG data. “We see continued strength in our U.S. wholesale system with sales exceeding one million barrels per day in the second quarter,” CEO Lane Riggs said. Refiners ...

Asia’s middle distillates markets were upbeat on a physical basis in the open trading window on Thursday, with two jet fuel deals done for the first time in almost a year as Vitol continued its buying spree. Vitol has so far bought a total of 1.077 million barrels of the aviation fuel for loading between mid-July and mid-August from the Straits region and 300,000 barrels loading from the Middle East, Reuters records showed. Several northeast Asia-origin cargoes will still be heading to the West of Suez markets despite the narrow ...

U.S. oil refiners are expected to report sharply lower second quarter earnings from a year ago after a listless summer driving season that weakened refining margins, energy analysts said. Refiners ramped up processing capacity in the three months ended June 30 to 93.5%, compared with 91% in the prior-year period, to meet an expected spike in gasoline and diesel fuel demand that ultimately fell short, according to the Energy Information Administration. Rising diesel inventories over the quarter, fueled by new refineries in the Middle East and higher exports from China, ...