U.S. natural gas futures fell about 3% on Thursday on expectations last week’s storage build will be near normal despite hotter than usual weather, as the shutdown of Freeport’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant in Texas left more fuel available for utilities to stockpile. Prices fell despite a drop in daily output this week and forecasts for hotter than normal weather through at least early July, which should keep gas demand from power generators high as consumers crank up their air conditioners to escape the heat. Analysts forecast U.S. ...

A new Black Sea offshore gas platform was officially launched off Romania on Tuesday and plans to extract gas despite risks posed by war in Ukraine, including mines detected in waters nearby. The project by Black Sea Oil & Gas (BSOG), controlled by U.S. private equity firm Carlyle Group LP, is Romania’s first offshore Black Sea development in three decades. BSOG said it planned to extract 1 billion cubic metres of gas per year, or roughly 10% of Romania’s consumption. Its platform, 120 kilometres offshore, sits around 45 km from ...

Operable atmospheric crude oil distillation capacity, our primary measure of refinery capacity in the United States, totaled 17.9 million barrels per calendar day as of January 1, 2022, down 1% from the beginning of 2021. According to our annual Refinery Capacity Report, 2021 was the second consecutive year of decreasing refinery capacity. We publish two measures of U.S. refinery capacity: barrels per calendar day (b/cd) and barrels per stream day (b/sd). Calendar-day capacity represents the operator’s estimate of the input that a distillation unit can process over a 24-hour period ...

Dutch wholesale gas prices rose on Wednesday morning, with analysts highlighting concerns over slowing European gas storage injections amid curbed Russian gas supplies. The benchmark Dutch wholesale gas contract for July delivery was up 6 euros to 135.25 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0928 GMT, while the August contract gained 6.85 euros to 136.25 euros/MWh. Prices were rebounding after a drop on Tuesday, said analysts at Engie EnergyScan, citing growing concern over European storage injections in recent days. European gas storage continues to show daily net injections and were ...

South Korea will raise domestic natural gas prices for households and commercial users by 7% to 7.7% from July 1 to reflect higher LNG imports costs, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said June 29. It marks the third hike in natural gas rates this year following a 1.8% rise from April 1 and an 8.4%-9.4% increase from May 1. April’s 1.8% rise marked the first rise in nearly three years since the country raised the price by an average of 4.5% in July 2019. “The hike is inevitable ...

The Group of Seven economic powers have agreed to explore imposing a ban on transporting Russian oil that has been sold above a certain price, they said on Tuesday, aiming to deplete Moscow’s war chest. The war in Ukraine and its dramatic economic fallout, in particular soaring food and energy inflation, dominated this year’s summit of the group of rich democracies at a castle resort in the Bavarian Alps. An oil price cap would ratchet up existing Western pressure on Russia from sanctions, which German Chancellor Olaf Scholz insisted would ...

Jobs in the U.S. energy business rose 4% last year, at a faster clip than the country’s overall private sector, led by work in low-carbon vehicles, while positions in fossil fuels fell as the pandemic cut demand, the Department of Energy said on Tuesday. The U.S. Energy and Employment Report showed employment in manufacturing of cleaner vehicles and components — whether hybrid electric, full battery electric, plug-in hybrid, or hydrogen fuel cell — rose about 64,500 or about 25% from last year. Overall jobs in motor vehicles rose 228,100, up ...

BP BP.L has won gas exploring rights in Egypt’s offshore King Mariout concession in the western Mediterranean, the British-based company said in a statement on Tuesday. The concession area, located in the western Nile Delta, covers around 2,600 square km (1,616 square miles) at a depth of between 500 and 2,000 meters. BP owns 100% of the exploration rights area there which enhances the chances of developing future gas discoveries by utilizing the existing infrastructure, the statement added. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Ahmed Ismail; Writing by Enas Alashray; Editing by ...

Dutch wholesale gas prices fell on Tuesday morning, with the easing of some concerns over Russian supply as supplies remained stable, whereas British gas prices rose in response to forecasts for higher demand from electricity plants. The benchmark Dutch wholesale gas contract for July delivery was down 3.35 euros at 126.50 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) by 0815 GMT, while the August contract fell by 5.50 euros to 126.50 euros/MWh. Europe is “still receiving lots of gas and Turkstream pipeline resumed flows,” a European gas trader said. “Bearish outlook will ...

U.S. natural gas futures edged up about 1% on Tuesday on a preliminary drop in daily output and forecasts for hotter weather over the next two weeks that will prompt power generators to burn more gas to keep air conditioners humming. That increase also came on the last day of trade for the July futures contract, which is often a volatile day since trade volume is extremely low. On its last day as the front month, gas futures NGc1 for July delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) rose ...

Greece has been in talks with Italy to see whether it can store gas in the neighboring country as part of efforts to secure supplies if Russian flows are disrupted, Greece’s energy regulator said on Monday. European Union countries and lawmakers last month clinched a deal on a law to fill gas stores ahead of winter as part of their efforts to build a supply buffer. Greece has no gas storage facilities and it would need to store enough gas in other states to cover 15% of its annual use, ...

In 2020, when drought resulted in decreased hydroelectric power, Colombia imported 14.2 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas, which helped the country meet natural gas demand for electricity, according to our recently updated Colombia Country Analysis Brief. More than 65% of electricity generation in Colombia came from hydroelectricity in 2020, compared with more than 80% of Colombia’s annual energy generation in prior years. Because hydropower is the main source of electricity generation in Colombia, droughts can significantly affect the country’s electricity generation mix. Most of the natural gas consumed ...

European Union countries’ energy ministers will on Monday discuss options for how they could jointly curb gas demand, as the bloc grapples with cuts to Russian supplies and prepares for possible further supply shocks. “I plan to present to ministers the concrete steps that I believe we have to make, both at member states’ side and the Commission’s side, to be better prepared,” EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson said on her arrival to the meeting of energy ministers in Luxembourg. The Commission will present an EU plan to coordinate preparations ...

When Russia turns off the gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline for maintenance in July, Europe is starting to worry that it won’t turn it back on again. This week, Russia cut gas flows to Europe to 40% of the pipeline’s capacity, blaming delayed equipment repairs and leaving Germany and other European states racing to find alternative supplies to head off the risk of rationing when winter comes. Now, Europe fears President Vladimir Putin will use a scheduled maintenance programme on the pipeline from July 11 to 21 to ...

The Asian middle distillate market could see diverging fundamentals over June 27-July 1, with ample jet fuel/kerosene supplies capping the distillate’s upside, while the gasoil complex remains strongly supported by growing demand. Front-month August ICE Brent crude oil futures contract stood at $112.90/b at 9:40 am Singapore time (0140 GMT) June 27, up $2.30/b (2.08%) from the 0830 GMT Singapore close on June 24. Jet Fuel/Kerosene ** Asian jet fuel may encounter some headwinds in the week ahead as sources said there was a possibility of healthy availabilities, which could ...