Investors bought crude oil futures and options at the fastest rate for almost six months in the week to Feb. 12. Hedge fund managers are becoming steadily more bullish on the outlook for oil prices as Saudi Arabia makes deep cuts in production, sanctions hit Venezuela and Iran, and the U.S. and China inch towards a trade deal. Hedge funds and other money managers were net buyers of 32 million barrels of Brent crude futures and options in the week to Feb. 22, according to position records published by ICE ...

Azerbaijan’s oil and gas condensate output fell by 0.8 percent year-on-year in January 2019 to 3.334 million tonnes, the State Statistics Committee said on Monday. Gas production rose in January to 3.062 billion cubic metres (bcm) from 2.487 bcm a year ago. Azerbaijan produced 38.758 million tonnes of oil in 2018, almost unchanged from 2017, and 30.592 bcm of gas, up from 28.563 bcm produced in 2017. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; writing by Margarita Antidze; editing by Jane Merriman)

Saudi Arabia has signed an agreement to supply Pakistan with crude oil and petroleum products to secure its fuel needs, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Sunday on Twitter. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Pakistan on Sunday and said Saudi Arabia has signed investment agreements worth $20 billion during his visit to the country. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Hesham Hajali; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Russian lender Gazprombank has decided to freeze the accounts of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA and halted transactions with the firm to reduce the risk of the bank falling under U.S. sanctions, a Gazprombank source told Reuters on Sunday. While many foreign firms have been cutting their exposure to PDVSA since the sanctions were imposed, the fact that a lender closely aligned with the Russian state is following suit is significant because the Kremlin has been among Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s staunchest supporters. “PDVSA’s accounts are currently frozen. As you’ll ...

Oman’s Ministry of Oil and Gas on Sunday announced the launch of six petroleum concession blocks for bidding in the 2019 licensing round. The ministry announced the launch of new blocks for investment in oil and gas sector in a tweet. As per the announcement, blocks 58, 70, 73, 74, 75 and 76 will be tendered during 2019 licensing round. The 2019 licensing bid round, which started on Sunday, will end on May 30. ‘Oman has put into place a successful programme to enhance oil output in order to meet ...

Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian gas group Gazprom, said on Monday its hydrocarbon reserves replacement ratio stood at 163 percent in 2018. The company also said that its proved and probable hydrocarbon reserves under Petroleum Resources Management System standards rose by 2.2 percent last year to 2.84 billion tonnes of oil equivalent. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Maxim Rodionov. Editing by Jane Merriman)

The Indonesian government on Monday signed contracts with three oil and gas companies to operate South Andaman, South Sakakemang and Maratua oil and gas blocks. Mubadala Petroleum Holding RSC Ltd will operate South Andaman block off the shores of Indonesian Aceh Province. A consortium led by Spain’s Repsol SA signed the contract to operate South Sakakemang block in South Sumatra. Repsol already made discovery in a nearby Sakakemang block, according to Greg Holman of Repsol Indonesia. Maratua block in Kalimantan will be operated by a unit of state energy firm ...

Oil rose for a fifth day on Monday, on track for its strongest first quarter in eight years, thanks to a growing belief among investors that OPEC’s supply cuts will prevent a build-up in unused fuel, though concern over China’s economy tempered gains. Brent futures were last up 16 cents at $66.41 a barrel by 1850 GMT, having touched a 2019 high of $66.83 earlier in the day, while U.S. futures rose 47 cents to $56.04 a barrel. Oil has risen nearly 25 percent so far this year and is ...

Portfolio managers’ overall bullish position is up nearly 100 million barrels over the past nine weeks. But, with two monthly outlooks released so far this year, EIA has been keeping its WTI and Brent spot forecasts at about the same level, $54.50 and $60.75 respectively. Hardly an exhaustive list here, but I do see mixed signals for the oil market. Here are 4 reasons to be bullish on oil. Rising Demand. Just this past week, EIA forecast that global oil demand will rise another 1.5 million b/d this year and ...

The Lower 48 E&P sector is under pressure from investors demanding greater capital discipline, positive free cash flow and increasing returns. There’s a tug-of-war between value and volume, and value has emerged as the winner. The Lower 48’s independents, who traditionally pursued growth at all costs, must now rein in their impulses and focus on delivering returns to their shareholders. How does this affect their 2019 spending plans, and how do they manage volatile oil prices? Roy Martin, from WoodMac’s corporate analysis team, said: “As US independents release their budgets ...

The future of OPEC+ deal will become clear in April after the situation with sanctions against Iran is clarified, Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov told TASS on the sidelines of the Russian Investment Forum in Sochi. “Everything will depend on how the situation around Iran develops in April. How much the sanctions will be strengthened,” he said. OPEC and other oil-producing countries that are not part of the cartel agreed in December last year to cut production by 1.2 mln barrels per day against the level of October 2018. According to ...

Asian refining margins for 10ppm gasoil rose on Monday to their highest in 12 weeks, buoyed by tightening supply, while cash discounts for the industrial fuel widened marginally on the back of weaker buying interests in the physical market. Refining margins or cracks for 10ppm gasoil climbed to $15.72 a barrel over Dubai crude during Asian trading hours, a fresh high since end-November. The benchmark gasoil margins, which have increased about 19 percent since the beginning of this year, were at $15.27 a barrel on Friday. The recent gains have ...

Coming off a remarkable December, the energy industry kicked off 2019 with record-setting numbers. The American Petroleum Institute’s latest Monthly Statistical Report (MSR) shows the U.S. natural gas and oil industry set multiple records in January, including: Strongest gasoline demand (8.9 million barrels per day, mb/d) for the month January on record since 1945. Record refinery and petrochemical demand for other oils’ in any month (5.7 mb/d) U.S. production of crude oil (11.9 mb/d) and natural gas liquids (NGLs) (4.9 mb/d) Refinery throughput (17.3 mb/d) and capacity utilization (93.1 percent) ...

— Oil prices rose Monday morning, holding on to near three-month highs reached at the end of last week amid a weaker dollar and signs of shrinking global crude supply. — Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading up 0.12% at $66.33 a barrel on London’s Intercontinental Exchange. — West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. oil standard, were up 0.74% at $56.00 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. HIGHLIGHTS OPEC: Brent climbed by 6.7% last week, bolstered by fresh evidence the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries ...

Middle East crude benchmarks Dubai and Oman eased on Monday, down from this month’s peaks as most refiners have completed their sour crude purchases while an outage at the Safaniyah field in Saudi Arabia appeared to have little impact on heavy oil supplies to Asia, traders said. Brent’s premium to Dubai quotes widened to 73 cents a barrel on Monday after the Middle East oil benchmark softened. The Safaniyah field suffered a power outage earlier this month but Saudi Aramco has maintained full contractual supplies to several Asian refiners for ...