Final Investment Decisions (FIDs) planned across the oil and gas value chain in 2020 are set to focus on natural gas developments, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. The company’s report, ‘Global Oil & Gas FIDs in 2020’, reveals that FIDs targeted for this year in the upstream and midstream sectors are heavily weighted towards gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG). This includes projects in the leading LNG exporters of Australia and Qatar, as well as in the key growth regions of North America and Africa. Will ...

U.S. oil production from tight formations increased in 2019, accounting for 64% of total U.S. crude oil production. This share grew because of the increasing productivity of new wells that were brought online during 2019. Since 2007, the average first full month of oil production from new wells in regions tracked by the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) has increased. The growing initial production rates have helped oil production from tight formations to increase despite the slowdowns in drilling activity when oil prices fell between 2015 ...

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud said all options are open at an OPEC+ meeting in early March, including further cuts in oil production, Al Arabiya television reported. But he added that it was too early to make a call on the need for more cuts. “I can’t judge now if the market needs additional cuts because I haven’t seen the balances for January and February,” he said. He said that when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies led by Russia convene for ...

Iraq’s autonomous region of Kurdistan has yet to begin implementing a new oil deal with the central government as final details have yet to be agreed with Baghdad, its president Nechirvan Barzani told Reuters. “The deal was signed but a lot of details have yet to be agreed. They have a care-taker government at the moment,” Barzani said, referring to the cabinet in Baghdad. Last year, Erbil and Baghdad agreed an early deal that most of the oil produced in Kurdistan would be transferred to national state company SOMO in ...

Confirming economic slowdown due to stabilisation programme, the government said the operations of local refineries had slowed down because of high production of residual fuel oil (RFO) and the international ban on its use for bunkering with effect from Dec 31, 2019. In a statement, the petroleum division said that because of new regulations issued by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), crude oil import had reduced during the first six months of the current fiscal year. Under these regulations, RFO containing more than 0.5 per cent of sulphur content is ...

Belarus is looking for alternatives to Russian oil and is holding discussions with the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Belta news agency cited Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko as saying on Friday. The supply of oil from Russia to Belarus was abruptly halted on Jan. 1 with companies including Rosneft, Gazpromneft, Lukoil and Surgutneftegaz suspending deliveries as Moscow and Minsk argued over the terms of their oil supply contract. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Andrei Makhovsky; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Maria Kiselyova)

Crude prices sank more than 2% on Friday and Brent logged its biggest weekly decline in more than a year as concerns that a coronavirus will spread farther in China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, curbing travel and oil demand. The virus that has killed 26 people and infected more than 800 has prompted the suspension of public transport in 10 Chinese cities, while cases of infection have been found in several other Asian countries, France and the United States. Brent crude LCOc1 settled at $60.69 a barrel, down $1.35, ...

The US Thursday sanctioned petrochemical and petroleum companies based in Hong Kong, Dubai and Shanghai for their roles in facilitating hundreds of millions of dollars in crude oil, petrochemical and refined product exports from the National Iranian Oil Company. “Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical industries are major sources of revenue for the Iranian regime and fund its malign activities throughout the Middle East,” the US Treasury Department said in a statement. “The entities targeted today facilitate Iran’s petrochemical and petroleum exports in contravention of US economic sanctions.” The sanctions were imposed ...

The US oil and gas rig count increased by one week on week to 841, according to data by Enverus, with the oil-rich Permian Basin accounting for the bulk of growth even though gas prices in the region have reached negative territory. The Permian continues to house the vast majority of US rigs, at 410 as of Wednesday, January 22. The rig count there was up three on the week. The Denver-Julesburg saw a gain of two rigs to 26, rig totals in the Eagle Ford were flat at 83 ...

Intermonth spreads for benchmark Dubai crude futures were little changed from the previous day’s close, while Dubai’s discount to ICE Brent widened in mid-morning Asian trade on Friday. The spread between February Dubai futures and March Dubai futures was pegged at 84 cents/b at 10 am in Singapore (0200 GMT) Friday, an inch lower from the assessed 85 cents/b at the 4:30 pm Asian close on Thursday. The March/April spread was pegged at 82 cents/b Friday morning, also slightly lower than the 83 cents/b assessment at the close of trading ...

OPEC is discussing extending its oil cuts until the end of the year as the market still looks bearish, but the discussions are still at an early stage, Russia’s TASS news agency cited an OPEC source as saying on Friday. The group of oil exporters is due to meet in March, but could also meet in June to decide on policy, the source was quoted as saying. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Olesya Astakhova; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Maria Kiselyova)

The oil market is nervously drawing parallels between the outbreak of the deadly Sudden Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus in China in 2002-2003 and the outcome of the recent respiratory virus (Corona) also in the world’s economic powerhouse. This could have far-reaching implications for fuel demand, especially from reduced air travel. Wuhan was the first city to essentially go into lockdown as authorities try to contain the spread of the virus and any escalation will continue to hit oil demand. Source:

Oil slipped below $62 a barrel on Friday and headed for a weekly decline as concern that the coronavirus in China may spread, curbing travel and oil demand, overshadowing supply cuts. The virus has prompted the suspension of public transport in 10 Chinese cities. Health authorities fear the infection rate could accelerate over the Lunar New Year holiday this weekend, when millions of Chinese travel. Global benchmark Brent was down 28 cents to $61.76 by 1302 GMT. The contract is down almost 5% this week, its third consecutive weekly drop. ...

The offshore supply chain started 2019 with the momentum of strong award levels of subsea kit and FPSO hulls as well as improved floating rig rates. However, uneasiness has been building around the financial health of the offshore supply chain. Margins are razor-thin and cost pressures continue to bear down. Meanwhile, the energy transition and threat of oversupply compete for attention. Ultimately, the offshore supply chain may take on a whole new look through 2020. In this latest piece of research from Wood Mackenzie’s offshore supply chain team, we explore ...

Brazil will discuss with Saudi Arabia later this year the possibility of cooperation with OPEC, as it aims to become one of the world’s top five exporters during the next decade, its energy minister said. Speaking in New Delhi a day earlier, Energy Minister Bento Albuquerque said Brazil’s exports were expected to rise to 1.4 million barrels per day this year, as crude output was seen rising 13% to 3.5 million bpd. The Latin American country shipped 1.1 million bpd last year, when it became a net exporter. In statement ...