Oil prices edged down on Wednesday having climbed about 3 percent in the previous session, with worries about the global economy and forecasts of swelling U.S. production hurting sentiment. Brent crude oil futures were at $60.37 per barrel at 1215 GMT, down 27 cents or 0.45 percent. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 43 cents, or 0.83 percent, at $51.68 a barrel. U.S. crude output is expected to rise to a new record of more than 12 million barrels per day this year, the Energy Information Administration said on ...

A visitor to one of BP’s natural gas fields in Wyoming a few years ago might have noticed an odd sight: smartphones in plastic bags tied to pumps with zip ties. This was an early test of a multistate initiative by the oil giant to link a network of Wi-Fi sensors to an artificial intelligence system—one that now operates the Wamsutter field in Wyoming with far less human oversight than before. Artificial intelligence has come to the oil patch, accelerating a technical change that is transforming the conditions for the ...

U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, primarily heading to Asian markets, will continue to experience an uptick in export volumes, thanks in no small part to production levels in the Haynesville Shale formation that underlies large parts of southwest Arkansas, northwest Louisiana and east Texas. The shale prospect is undergoing a bit of a renaissance and looks set to smash its historical natural gas output record dating back to 2011 sometime this year. Research conducted by Oslo, Norway-headquartered research outfit Rystad Energy suggests Haynesville Shale alone was able to add ...

Integrated oil companies’ refining margin data suggest little relief in the downstream segment when companies announce financial results for the fourth quarter of 2018. Refining was seen as a bright spot for oil companies after prices crashed in 2014, but updates from Austria’s OMV and France’s Total this week and data from BP earlier in the month suggested that cushion is not what it was following a period of weakness, particularly for Atlantic region gasoline margins. Total’s European Refining Margin Indicator, a snapshot of the European market published Tuesday, fell ...

The U.S. will make major strides towards energy independence in the next two years as oil production and exports hit new highs, according to the Department of Energy. U.S. oil production, already at an all-time high this year, will increase by another 2 million barrels per day by 2020, the agency’s statistics bureau projects. The same year, the nation will start exporting more crude oil and fuel than it imports, the Energy Information Administration said in in its latest forecast. American drillers pumped an average 10.9 million bpd in 2018, ...

Oil prices steadied on Wednesday after climbing about 3 percent in the previous session on expectations that OPEC-led production cuts will tighten supply and that possible Chinese stimulus might help the global economy. Brent crude oil futures were at $60.70 per barrel at 0940 GMT, up 6 cents or 0.1 percent. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 7 cents, or 0.13 percent, at $52.04 a barrel. “It seems the oil market is looking at Saudi Arabia’s aggressive supply cuts and Chinese aggressive stimulus,” said Jonathan Barratt, chief investment officer ...

A global cyclical recession in the world economy is expected, Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih told delegates at the Future Sustainability Summit in Abu Dhabi. “A lot of resilience has been built into the global economy through regulatory systems. Companies and governments have built better fiscal positions,” Falih said. “I’m not ruling out a cyclical recession, and there will be one sooner or later, but I don’t see it as a big shock to the global economy and I don’t see it spilling over into the global economy.” On Monday, ...

The year has barely begun but it’s already shaping up nicely for OPEC, with crude rebounding sharply after the worst fourth-quarter performance since 2014. A new production cuts deal with Russia and thawing U.S.-China trade relations have given the market a boost. But for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, good news often comes hand-in-hand with bad news. For that, look no further than the Permian basin. The biggest shale play in the U.S. is set to pump 3.8 million barrels a day this month, according to Energy Information Administration ...

Data is starting to emerge on 2019 refinery works in Europe, predominantly for now in the Mediterranean. In other news, Poland’s largest refiner PKN Orlen said its average total model refining margin in the fourth-quarter of last year fell 24% quarter on quarter, and 9% year on year, to $4.80/b. Poland’s second-largest refiner, Grupa Lotos, said its average model refining margin in the fourth-quarter of 2018 rose 13% quarter on quarter and was up 20% year on year to $8.47/b, according to figures published on the company’s website. Grupa Lotos ...

UK bank HSBC has slashed its 2019 Brent oil price forecast by 20% to reflect stronger assumptions on US oil supply strength and uncertainties over the pace of global oil demand growth. The bank said it now expects average spot Brent prices of $64/b for 2019, down from $80/b previously, with Brent rising to average $70/b in 2020 and 2021, down from $85/b and $75/b respectively. In the US, HSBC is forecasting a WTI Brent discount of $7/b in 2019, moderating to $2/b by 2021. “In the past three months, ...

Oil prices are expected to oscillate close to current levels well into the next decade, averaging around $65-70 per barrel through 2023, according to an annual survey of energy professionals conducted by Reuters. Despite the recent slump in oil prices, forecasts have edged down by less than $5 per barrel compared with the last annual survey conducted at the start of 2018 and have changed little over the last three years. Long-term expectations for the average price of Brent crude remain anchored around $70 per barrel, close to the $72 ...

Baku will host next meeting of OPEC+ where the members and non-cartel countries will measure the impact of the reduction of production on the oil markets to ensure a balance between supply and demand, Azerbaijan in February, Trend reports citing Suhail bin Mohammed Faraj Faris Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Industry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The minister noted that the ministerial committee for production control will examine at its meeting expected in February in Azerbaijan the commitment to the agreed reduction rate between the OPEC member countries ...

Nigeria recorded crude oil export worth N11.5 trillion in nine months, from January to September 2018, rising by 48.01 per cent from N7.77 trillion recorded in similar period in 2017. The value of crude oil export in the nine-month period is over N2 trillion more than the N9.12 trillion budgeted for 2018 and about N3 trillion more than the 2019 budget proposal. According to data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics’ [NBS], Foreign Trade Statistics for the Third Quarter of 2018, crude oil export in the nine-month period accounted ...

Oil and gas company Ophir Energy Plc said on Tuesday full-year production exceeded its own forecast, a day after it rejected Indonesian oil and gas group Medco Energi Internasional Tbk PT’s potential buyout offer. Ophir, which historically focused on Africa, has of late been concentrating on Asia, purchasing some assets from Australian peer Santos Ltd last year. The Southeast Asian assets performed better than expected and have returned cash flow of about $110 million in 2018, or about half the initial purchase price, interim CEO Alan Booth said, adding that ...

Iraqi Kurdistan-focused oil producer Genel Energy said it sees 2019 output rising on last year’s level to around 37,000 barrels a day and said it expects to generate free cash flow even if crude prices sink to as low as $20 a barrel. Genel is boosting output at its flagship Tawke and Taq Taq oilfields with new wells, adding that at an average of $45 a barrel it expects free cash flow in 2019 to rise to more than $100 million. The company had a cash pile of $164 million ...