The International Energy Agency is closely monitoring developments in the Strait of Hormuz, including the recent seizure of a UK-flagged oil tanker, and stands ready to act if needed. The IEA considers that the right of free energy transit is critical to the global economy and must be maintained. The Strait of Hormuz is a vital maritime transit route for world energy trade. About 20 million barrels of oil transit each day through the Strait, or about 20% of global supply. It is also the route for around a quarter ...

Goldman Sachs on Sunday lowered its year-on-year oil demand forecast for 2019 citing disappointing global economic activity, which was further weighed down by milder weather, fuel power demand destruction and historical downward revisions, suggesting lower oil demand growth in 2018. The bank revised down its 2019 oil demand growth forecast to 1.275 million barrels per day (mb/d), from 1.45 mb/d at the beginning of the year. However, this is still above the consensus estimates at about 1.05 mb/d for 2019, the Wall Street bank added. “All else constant, we estimate ...

Russian oil output has recovered to around 11.05 million barrels per day (bpd) between July 1 and July 21 from the 10.79 mln bpd it fell to in early July, according to two sources and Reuters calculations. This is still below June’s average of 11.15 million bpd and lower than Russia has commited to reduce under a global deal. Russian oil production fell close to a three-year low in early July, as output was undermined by a row between Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft and the country’s biggest producer Rosneft. ...

The United States has sanctioned the China’s state-run energy company Zhuhai Zhengrong Co Ltd for allegedly violating restrictions imposed on Iran’s oil sector, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a speech on Monday. “We’ve said that we will sanction any sanctionable behavior, and we mean it,” Pompeo said in remarks in Florida. The move comes amid increased tensions between Iran and the West as well as between the United States and China, which have restarted major trade talks. Republican U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has stepped up its ...

Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) has restarted the Sharara oilfield and lifted force majeure on loadings of its crude oil from the Zawiya terminal, it said on Monday. The oilfield, the OPEC member’s largest, was shut on Friday evening after an unidentified group shut a valve on the pipeline linking it to Zawiya, 49 km (30.4 miles) west of Tripoli. Valve 13 was reopened on Sunday evening, the NOC said, adding production resumed in the early hours of Monday. The oilfield, which had a pre-civil war capacity of around 340,000 ...

Benchmark Dubai crude futures rose in Asia early Monday as market participants mulled the possibility of an escalation in tensions after Iran detained two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday. At 11:00 am Singapore time, September Dubai futures were at $60.85/b, up 68 cents/b from S&P Global Platts’ $60.17/b assessment at the close of trading in Asia on Friday. This was similar to the rise in ICE Brent futures over the same period. The September Brent futures contract rose to $63.37/b at 11:00 am Singapore time (0300 GMT), ...

Oil prices rose more than 1% on Monday, as investors worried about possible supply disruptions in the energy-rich Middle East after Iran’s seizure of a British tanker last week. Brent crude futures climbed $1 a barrel, or 1.6% to 63.47 a barrel by 12:28 p.m. EDT (1728 GMT). West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 56 cents, or 1%, at $56.19 a barrel. Capping gains, force majeure was lifted on loadings of crude at Libya’s Sharara oilfield, the country’s largest, whose closure since Friday had caused an output loss ...

The rise in new suppliers of oil and gas has reduced the ability of Iran to influence global oil markets, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said on Monday. The price of crude jumped on Monday following Iran’s seizure on Friday of a British-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, but had pared initial, steep gains by 1427 GMT. “I am concerned about it,” Perry told a news conference in Jerusalem, referring to the price rise that followed the ship’s capture. “But we find ourselves in a completely different situation ...

Russia’s Surgutneftegaz has sold a cargo of ESPO Blend crude for September loading at the highest premium in nine months, two trade sources said on Monday. The cargo for loading on Sept. 8-14 was sold at $5.30-$5.40 a barrel above Dubai quotes, they said Source: Reuters (Reporting by Florence Tan; editing by Richard Pullin)

The Iranian nuclear deal looks all but dead just one year after the President Donald Trump administration walked away from it and reimposed crippling sanctions on the Islamic Republic. As Iran’s government starts breaking its agreed uranium enrichment limits, European leaders are floundering to keep it alive. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt claimed Monday that the Obama-era deal — signed by the U.S., U.K., Iran, Russia, China, France and Germany in 2015 and intended to provide Iran economic relief in exchange for limits on its nuclear program — “isn’t dead ...

Oil prices rose on Monday on concerns that Iran’s seizure of a British tanker last week may lead to supply disruptions in the energy-rich Gulf. Brent crude futures climbed 79 cents, or 1.26%, to $63.26 a barrel by 1225 GMT. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 74 cents, or 1.33%, at $56.37 a barrel. Last week, WTI fell over 7% and Brent lost more than 6%. “The events in the Gulf have definitely taken the market into more bullish territory in today’s trading,” said Erik Norland, senior economist ...

The announcement of the Baker Hughes rig count used to be a must-watch data point every Friday at 1 PM. Technically that data is now supplied by the entity known as “Baker Hughes a GE Company” and today it seems that data has lost as much relevance as GE has in the S&P 500. For the record, this week’s count of U.S oil rigs in operation (the most widely-quoted data point) fell by 4 to 954. That’s down 79 rigs from the year-ago figure and it is clear that the ...

Oil prices rose more than 2% on Monday on concerns that Iran’s seizure of a British tanker last week may lead to supply disruptions in the energy-rich Gulf. Brent crude futures climbed $1.41, or 2.26%, to $63.88 a barrel by 0840 GMT. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up $1.13, or 2.03%, at $56.76 a barrel. Last week, WTI fell over 7% and Brent lost more than 6%. Tensions surrounding Iran “have likely added to the already strong geopolitical risk premium”, JBC Energy said in a note. Iran’s Revolutionary ...

Iran seized a British oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday escalating tensions with the UK in the critical energy chokepoint, but oil markets were tepid and did not respond with a major upswing. Oil prices gained about 1 per cent on Friday, erasing four days of losses, but did not reach session highs for the day nor react as commodity analysts would have expected. The National explains why the oil market did not react with as much upward swing as prices would have done a few years ...

Escalating tension in the Persian Gulf is beginning to justify renewed optimism that oil will rebound. Money managers boosted their bets on rising crude prices by the most in four months as of July 16, according to data released Friday. That left them exposed to a 7.6% weekly price drop as, for four days, the market focused on a worsening outlook for demand and seemed indifferent to geopolitics. But prices soared almost 2% on Friday with the U.S. saying it shot down an Iranian drone and Iran capturing two British-flagged ...