China’s largest offshore oil producer China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) on Monday announced that Liuhua 16-2 oilfield cluster, China’s first independent deepwater oil and gas project, is now in full-throttle production in the South China Sea. CNOOC hailed the new progress at Liuhua 16-2 oilfield cluster as another major achievement after the production commenced at the “Deep-sea No 1” gas field, the first major oil and gas discovery made from China’s self-operated deep-water exploration. Liuhua 16-2, now at full-capacity production, produces over 14,000 cubic meters of crude oil each ...

Japan’s gasoline demand in August is set to slow down after the state of emergency that was imposed in Osaka and the three prefectures surrounding Tokyo — Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama — came into effect on Aug.2. The expansion of the state of emergency, which will be in place till Aug.31, to the four new areas was the government’s latest move to contain the recent surge in coronavirus cases. The country’s gasoline demand for August, the peak demand season, could still increase on the year but will likely be slowed ...

LNG is the fossil fuel poised to have the biggest earnings advantage as the North American midstream sector’s great pipeline buildout cycle winds down, according to a new Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. report. For most midstream companies, 2022 capex is expected to be minimal, “in some cases over 70% lower than 2019 levels for the company,” Bernstein analysts wrote July 29. “This means there is a paradigm shift underway in midstream equities,” the analysts said. “We no longer need companies to spend massive midstream capex to grow,” the analysts ...

A growing global population, land scarcity and fewer young people entering the rapidly ageing farming workforce have propelled agricultural commodities to the top of the list of sectors being closely watched by Jim Rogers, co-founder of the Quantum Fund with George Soros. “I would prefer to invest in agriculture,” said Rogers in an interview with S&P Global Platts from his home in Singapore. “Unless something changes very quickly, agriculture is a very promising place to be in.” Fundamentals of population growth and the availability of land play a big part ...

Oil rose on Tuesday on expectation of a continuous decline in U.S. oil inventories, recouping some losses from the previous session due to lingering concern over rising cases of the Delta coronavirus variant. Brent, the international benchmark for oil prices, rose 60 cents, or 0.8%, to $73.49 a barrel, at 0905 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 63 cents, or 0.9%, at $71.89 a barrel. Both markets dropped more than 3% on Monday. “Some market participants see Monday’s price set-back as a bit exaggerated, considering that we ...

Asia’s light end markets were softer in mid-morning trade Aug. 2, with gasoline dampened by weaker US RBOB-Brent crack spread and lingering worries over Asian auto fuel demand due to COVID-19 restrictions. Asian naphtha is following crude lower, with the market shifting into the H2 September cycle, even as it faces activity brought over from the previous cycle. LPG awaits fresh demand from China and India as Middle East supply is expected to remain healthy for September-loading cargoes. New front-month ICE October Brent crude futures stood at $74.56/b at 0420 ...

Major iron ore producers are awash in a sea of cash, and are likely to remain so despite a recent retreat in the price of the steel raw material. Where they diverge is what they think will be the next big drivers of profit. Rio Tinto, the world’s biggest iron ore miner, posted record first-half profits on July 28, with underlying earnings almost tripling to $12.17 billion from the same period a year earlier. The surging profits were largely built on the back of the rise in iron ore prices ...

The IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol attended the first-ever joint meeting of G20 energy and climate ministers in Naples today and discussed how to achieve net-zero emissions while fostering economic prosperity and ensuring energy security at the same time. The Naples Ministerial, held under the G20 presidency of Italy and chaired by Italian Ecological Transitions Minister Roberto Cingolani, was an opportunity for policy makers from the world’s leading economies to discuss how to transition to clean and sustainable energy systems. The Italian Presidency had invited the IEA to be a ...

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has set the September official selling price (OSP) for its benchmark Murban crude at $73.50 a barrel, the company said on Sunday. The August OSP was at $72.34 a barrel. Sept Murban 73.50 Umm Lulu 73.55 Das 73.20 Upper Zakum 72.70 Source: Reuters (Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Oil Search and Santos have reached agreement on the merger ratio under the proposed merger. Wood Mackenzie research director Andrew Harwood said: “Overlapping interests in PNG, a strengthened financial platform and the potential for further portfolio synergies and optimisation provide strong strategic rationale for the merger. “Combining with Oil Search would immediately increase Santos’ production by over one-third, to around 290 kboe/d. The impact of Oil Search’s portfolio becomes more pronounced by the middle of the decade when it would contribute over half of growth to the combined production output. ...

On July 18, OPEC+, which includes most members of OPEC and several non-OPEC members (including Russia), agreed to increase monthly crude oil production starting in August 2021. On July 19, after the new OPEC+ agreement was made public, the price of Brent crude oil fell 7% from the previous day to $69 per barrel (b). Since then, the price of Brent crude oil has been rising, reaching $76/b on July 30. In early July, members of OPEC+ had adjourned without reaching a new crude oil production agreement, and front-month futures ...

Crude oil futures ticked lower in mid-morning trade in Asia Aug. 2 from the July 30 Asian close after OPEC+ on Aug. 1 increased production levels by 400,000 b/d. ICE October Brent crude futures were pegged at $74.26/b at 0200 GMT Aug. 2, down 83 cents/b from the 0830 GMT Asia close July 30. Middle East crude ** Focus in the coming week is on the release of official selling prices by Middle East producers such as Saudi Aramco and Qatar Petroleum as trade for October-loading crude commences. ** Abu ...

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., or ADNOC’s official selling prices for September-loading crude were largely in line with market expectations and highlight the widening spread between light and heavy crudes, traders told S&P Global Platts. ADNOC widened Upper Zakum’s OSP discount to Murban by 20 cents/b to 80 cents/b for September loading cargoes. “Relatively reasonable reflecting the Upper Zakum/Murban spread [through trade last month].” a trader with a North Asian refinery said. While lighter grades benefitted from strong gasoline and naphtha cracks, demand for medium and heavy crude grades was ...

China is expected to release between 25 million to 30 million barrels from its strategic petroleum reserves in the fourth quarter of 2021 as economic growth powers ahead and inventories are drawn down in the world’s second largest oil consumer, the head of Vitol Asia said Aug. 1. “The underlying demand is there and it is just a question how it plays out in inventories,” Mike Muller told the Gulf Intelligence webinar. “They have released oil from stockpiles. We believe that Chinese petroleum reserves will see a draw of 25-30 ...

The debate over the position of hydrogen in the new energy revolution has come to the fore again thanks to Japan’s hosting of the Olympic Games. The Olympic buses run on hydrogen, and even the Olympic Cauldron is a hydrogen flame. But rather than showcasing how green this miracle new fuel is, it has highlighted its many problems. In the perfect hydrogen scenario, wind farms, solar panels, ebbing tides, waves and other intermittent renewable energy sources would be filling tanks with hydrogen whenever they can, to be used later when ...