Oil futures fell about 1.5% on Friday, finishing the week lower on declining Chinese demand and hopes of a Gaza ceasefire agreement that could ease Middle East tensions and accompanying supply concerns. Brent crude settled down $1.24, or 1.5%, at $81.13 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude ended $1.12, or 1.4%, lower at $77.16 a barrel. For the week, Brent was trading down more than 1% while WTI fell beyond 3%. “Yesterday’s better-than-expected U.S. GDP growth figures initially supported the crude market,” said George Khoury, global head of education and ...

U.S. crude oil inventories have depleted faster than normal over the last four weeks – squeezing hedge funds running short positions, keeping spot prices firm and the futures curve in a steep backwardation. But with most short positions now repurchased this source of support has melted away and both spot prices and calendar spreads have retreated in recent trading sessions. Commercial crude inventories across the United States depleted by 24 million barrels between June 21 and July 19, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Crude inventories normally deplete at ...

Middle East crude benchmark Dubai extended losses for a third session on Friday despite robust demand from PetroChina while Murban’s premium slumped as most refiners have completed their purchases. IRANIAN CRUDE Imports of Iranian crude have been flowing into the port and refining city of Dalian since late last year, tanker tracking firms and trading sources said, helping sustain the country’s purchases of the oil at near record levels. Vortexa, a consultancy that tracks tanker flows, said 23 cargoes, or a total of 45 million barrels, of Iranian oil was ...

After reporting a smaller than expected drop in second-quarter net profit, Italian energy group Eni ENI.MI promised to accelerate its share buyback and hinted at the possibility of nudging it up in the coming months. A stronger than anticipated performance at the group’s upstream and Gas & LNG divisions supported results, while actions to streamline its portfolio are expected to translate into lower debt at the end of this year, Eni said on Friday Between April and June adjusted net profit came in at 1.52 billion euros ($1.65 billion), down ...

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s oil point man said on Thursday that there was no friction with OPEC+ due to Russia exceeding crude production quotas and that the world’s second largest oil exporter would compensate for its overpumping. Russia on Wednesday unexpectedly announced that itscrude oil production in June exceeded quotas set by the OPEC+ group but said that it would resolve the issue and stick to agreed output levels this month. The news triggered speculation among some oil traders about tension between Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest exporter which leads ...

Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban extended losses on Thursday as most refiners have completed their purchases for September loading cargoes. Indian refiner has bought 1 million barrels of Murban at $1.60-$1.70 a barrel via a tender in addition to the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude it purchased earlier, traders said. SINGAPORE CASH DEALS Cash Dubai’s premium to swaps fell 13 cents to $1.48 a barrel. REFINERY Japan’s biggest refiner, Eneos Corp, restarted the 175,000 barrels-per-day crude distillation unit (CDU) at its Kashima refinery north of Tokyo, on ...

Democratic U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday introduced a bill to hold energy companies accountable if they are found by federal regulators to have colluded with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to raise oil prices. The bill, introduced by Senator Edward Markey and Representative Nanette Barragan, says that if any energy company is found by the Federal Trade Commission to have colluded with OPEC, it would no longer be eligible for new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters. WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND? In May, the FTC accused ...

The Board of Directors of TotalEnergies SE, chaired by CEO Patrick Pouyanné, met on July 24, 2024, to approve the second quarter 2024 financial statements. On the occasion, Patrick Pouyanné said: “TotalEnergies generated robust financial results in the second quarter, with adjusted net income of $4.7 billion and cash flow of $7.8 billion resulting in first half adjusted net income and cash flow of close to $10 billion and $16 billion, respectively. During the first half of 2024, TotalEnergies has completed important steps in advancing the balanced transition strategy presented ...

Oil prices eased on Thursday as concerns over weak demand in China, the world’s largest crude importer, and expectations of a nearing ceasefire deal in the Middle East overcame gains in the previous session after draws in U.S. inventories. Brent crude futures for September fell 59 cents, or 0.7%, to $81.12 a barrel by 0630 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for September slid 61 cents, or 0.8%, to $76.98 per barrel. Both benchmarks settled higher on Wednesday, snapping consecutive sessions of declines after the Energy Information Administration said U.S. ...

Energy – supportive EIA inventory report Oil prices rebounded yesterday due to supportive inventory numbers from the US. The EIA reported that US commercial crude oil inventories fell by 3.74m barrels over the last week. This leaves total commercial crude oil inventories at 436.49m barrels- the lowest since February. Crude oil imports fell 166k b/d WoW, while crude oil exports increased 222k b/d WoW. However, refinery runs declined further over the week, falling 2.1pp to 91.6%, effectively reducing crude inputs into refiners by 521k b/d WoW. Lower refinery rates also ...

Russian crude oil production in June exceeded quotas set by the OPEC+ group but the energy ministry pledged on Wednesday to stick to the required output level in July. It said the production level was assessed by independent sources certified by the OPEC+ deal. These include international consultancies. The ministry said Russia had sent its schedule on overproduction compensation to the OPEC secretariat, and that its oil output had fallen each month starting from April. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, together known as ...

Injections into natural gas storage in the Lower 48 states since April 1 have totaled 950 billion cubic feet (Bcf), according to our July 18 Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report. So far this injection season (April 1–October 31), the amount of natural gas injected into storage (less withdrawals) is 15% (166 Bcf) less than the previous five-year average (2019–23) for the same period and 15% (172 Bcf) less than the same time last year. Despite the decrease in injections, working natural gas inventories in the Lower 48 states remain relatively ...

Refining margins in the two largest US refining centers—the US Gulf Coast and the US Midwest—illustrate how weather and storms can have diametrically opposite reactions on refining margins and regional crack spreads, a July 23 analysis from S&P Global Commodity Insights showed. Hurricane Beryl swept through the US Gulf Texas Coast, making landfall in Matagorda, Texas, early July 8 as a Category 1 storm. While most of the USGC Texas refinery system escaped relatively unscathed, some, like Marathon’s 631,000 b/d Galveston Bay refinery, lost power and was expected to be ...

China’s natural gas demand is expected to grow between 6.5% and 7.7% this year to reach 420 billion to 425 billion cubic metres, the National Energy Administration said in an industry update. The growth is slightly higher than a previous forecast by state energy giant CNPC which pegged the growth at 6.1%. The agency also predicted China’s domestic natural gas production would reach 246 bcm in 2024, up more than 10 bcm from 2023 in another annual increase. Natural gas imports from Russia via the Power of Siberia pipeline will ...

India’s Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), opens new tab has received approval from the United States to resume importing oil from Venezuela despite Washington’s sanctions, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The United States in April re-imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector in response to President Nicolas Maduro’s failure to meet his election commitments, but said some firms would be authorised to trade and operate in Venezuela. The U.S. Treasury Department declined to comment, while Reliance did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment. The news was first ...