The US oil and gas rig count climbed seven to 545 in the week ended May 5, rig data provider Enverus said, as the number of oil rigs tested one-year highs. The number of oil-focused rigs climbed 10 to 417, leaving them just two rigs shy of 12-month highs seen in early April. The number of active rigs chasing mainly gas, which had been at a 13-month high the week prior, fell back three to 128. Among the major named basins, the Permian saw the biggest uptick, with the addition ...

Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday thanked Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern oil producers for supplying liquid medical oxygen (LMO) to help the country in its battle with the COVID-19 crisis. In a series of tweets, Pradhan also welcomed offers by Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar to supply containers for the next six months and for an assurance of a steady commercial supply of LMO to India. “Deeply appreciate the initial gesture of goodwill with complimentary LMO supplies particularly from UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia,” Pradhan said. ...

MISC Bhd expects the recovery in oil demand following the Covid-19 vaccine rollout and stable oil price environment will pave the way for increased activity levels in the global offshore exploration and production space. MISC, in a Bursa Malaysia filing yesterday, stated its offshore business segment will be very selective on growth opportunities as it focuses on its new floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) project in hand. The segment will continue to monitor the market for the next major project as and when the right opportunity arises as its ...

Iran needs to focus on developing its refining and petrochemical sectors, so that it eventually does not have to export crude and expose itself to international sanctions, according to the country’s former oil minister Rostam Ghasemi, who is now running for president. “In my expertise and experience in the area of oil, my priority is processing crude oil into oil products,” Ghasemi told S&P Global Platts in an exclusive interview. “This must happen, because it guarantees our national security in the global oil market, even under sanctions. Under any conditions, ...

U.S. petroleum inventories have returned to normal after ballooning during the Saudi-Russian volume war and first wave of the coronavirus epidemic last year. Total stocks of crude oil and refined products outside the Strategic Petroleum Reserve last week were just 17 million barrels, or 1.4%, above the pre-epidemic five-year average for 2015-2019. Small remaining surpluses to the five-year average in both crude (7 million barrels) and products (11 million barrels) were not significant given the historic volatility in both time series. Surpluses in crude (75 million barrels) and products (101 ...

British wholesale gas prices fell on Friday morning after rising all of this week, with temperatures forecast to go up from tomorrow. The within-day contract TRGBNBPWKD was down 2.40 pence at 67.10 pence per therm by 0910 GMT. The weekend contract TRGBNBPWE was 1.50 pence lower at 61.50 p/therm. Prices have been rising this week, so there is some correction today, a gas trader said. Temperatures are forecast to increase tomorrow to an avergae of around 11 degrees over the weekend, before going back towards normal levels next week, Refinitiv ...

The Australian government said on Friday it will commit A$58.6 million ($45.3 million) to boost gas supply, storage and pipeline capacity in its 2021-22 budget, due to be unveiled on May 11. The spending fits with the government’s push for a gas-fired economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic slump, aiming to boost gas supply, drive down prices for manufacturers and avert a looming shortfall in the country’s southern states. “The government will not sit back and allow the shortfall to eventuate – the risk to the economy is too great,” ...

Washington geopolitical analysts increasingly expect the US and Iran to announce a deal by the end of May that will allow for the lifting of sanctions on oil, petrochemical, shipping and other key sectors as soon as the third quarter of this year. European and Asian oil buyers could start negotiating deliveries when such a deal is announced, with most likely waiting until the Biden administration removes sanctions to finalize purchases. Iran would be able to return to pre-sanctions oil production of about 3.9 million b/d next year, analysts predict. ...

The shale industry needs more consolidation to curb volume increases from smaller producers, Scott Sheffield, chief executive officer of top U.S. shale producer Pioneer Natural Resources, said. Privately held firms have been adding rigs and increasing oil and gas production in the Permian Basin of west Texas and New Mexico this year, potentially undermining the efforts of publicly traded companies to focus on shareholder returns over volume growth when the market is well supplied. “I hope other privates are taken out that are growing too much,” Sheffield told investors on ...

The UK government and the country’s oil and gas sector recently agreed a deal to leverage the upstream industry’s capabilities, accelerate the energy transition and help the North Sea reach net zero by 2050. A significant opportunity exists to create a supply of clean, affordable energy by harnessing the North Sea’s natural resources, the UK’s world-class oil and gas and renewables sectors, and connections to substantial domestic and international markets. The North Sea Transition Deal is based around four pillars, with clear targets set for each: • Supply decarbonisation: reduce ...

Even as climate change intensifies the call for decarbonisation, the oil and gas sector will play a pivotal role in Singapore, say EY consultants. The oil and gas sector is widely seen as a sunset industry. Write-downs of around US$145 billion (S$193.7 billion) in asset values globally over the first three quarters in 2020 have added to that perspective. Singapore, while not a domestic oil producer, has high stakes in this sector. The country is a global oil trading hub and a major global refining and petrochemicals center, accounting for ...

Oil prices recovered after a 1% dip in the previous session on buoyant economic data from China and the United States, even as the surging COVID-19 pandemic in India capped prices. Brent crude futures for July were at $68.40 a barrel by 0616 GMT, up 31 cents, or 0.5%, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for June rose 29 cents, or 0.5%, to $65. Both Brent and WTI are on track for a second weekly gain as easing restrictions on movement in the United States and Europe, recovering factory ...

OPEC and its allies have overproduced their quotas by a cumulative 3.316 million b/d through the end of March, with Russia and Iraq the most egregious offenders, according to an internal document seen by S&P Global Platts. Under the terms of the OPEC+ agreement, each country must compensate for any excess production with cuts of equivalent volume below its quota by the end of September. The extra cuts, if fulfilled, could go a long way towards speeding the market’s rebalancing, or provide the OPEC + alliance some breathing room to ...

In 2020, energy production in the United States fell to just below 96 quadrillion British thermal units (quads), down more than 5% from 2019’s record high, according to our Monthly Energy Review. In absolute terms, the drop from 101.3 quads in 2019 to 95.8 quads in 2020 marked the largest annual decrease in U.S. energy production on record. Economic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic that began during the spring of 2020 drove most of this decrease. To calculate U.S. energy production and to compare different types of energy reported in ...

Bunker fuels are readily available for deliveries across key bunkering ports in the US, supported by steady inventory levels. US fuel oil stocks have stood at roughly at the same position in the past two months, averaging 31.72 million bbls in April and 31.63 million bbls in March, data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows. In the most recent week they were gauged, the US fuel oil stocks dropped 2% to 31.61 million bbls on 30 April. Most of the stockdraw was in the Gulf Coast region, where ...