A shorter-than-usual Qatari loading program for Al-Shaheen crude may contribute to the uptick in sour crude price differentials for physical cargoes trading this month, crude traders in Asia told S&P Global Platts this week. Al-Shaheen production is currently approximated to be around 310,000 b/d, out of which typically 250,000 b/d is available for export outside of domestic Qatari usage. This is equivalent to between 15 and 16 cargoes, sized 500,000 barrels each, in a typical month. However, Asian refiners will only be able to avail between 12 and 13 cargoes ...

Oil prices sank about 1% on Monday on signs that the impact of a tropical storm on U.S. Gulf Coast production and refining would be short-lived, while Chinese economic data dimmed the crude demand outlook. Brent crude futures LCOc1 settled at $66.48 a barrel, losing 24 cents, while U.S. crude CLc1 settled at $59.58 a barrel, shedding 63 cents, or 1.1%. Both contracts last week made their biggest weekly gains in three weeks on cuts in U.S. oil inventories and diplomatic tensions in the Middle East. “Crude prices softened as ...

On Thursday, June 13, 2019 at around 5 AM GMT, the Front Altair oil tanker suffered severe damage as it was passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Investigative reports indicate that the Islamic Republic of Iran was responsible for the attack on the oil tanker. Iran denies the reports; however, a video was produced indicating that Iranian military forces in a small boat had removed an unexploded mine from the hull of a ship after the attacks. The Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf is one of the most ...

Libya’s oil revenue dropped 11.2% to 14.3 billion dinars ($10,2 billion) in the first six months of 2019, compared with the same period last year, the central bank said on Monday. Oil represented 92.8% of the country’s total income during the period, the bank said in a statement. Revenue from foreign exchange fees stood at 11.1 billion dinars, the bank said in a statement. It also listed on a chart an allocation of $2.096 billion for state oil firm NOC. Libya’s internationally recognised government of national accord (GNA) in Tripoli ...

Crude oil futures closed lower Monday on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange. The most active crude oil contract for August delivery was down 3.7 yuan (about 54 U.S. cents) to close at 454.5 yuan a barrel. The total trading volume for 5 listed crude oil futures contracts on the exchange was 237,366 lots, with a turnover of about 108 billion yuan. China launched the crude oil futures trading, which is open to overseas investment, on March 26 last year. Source: Xinhua

Tropical Storm Barry has cut 73%, or 1.38 million barrels per day (bpd), of crude oil production in the U.S.-regulated areas of the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said on Sunday. Natural gas output from the northern Gulf of Mexico is down 62%, or 1.7 billion cubic feet per day, BSEE said. A total of 283 production platforms, or 42%, remain shut in the Gulf of Mexico, BSEE said. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

The promise of the Permian is shrinking. Producers in the nation’s oil-rich shale basins are dialing back growth plans in the face of a growing panoply of problems that’s killing returns and keeping skeptical investors at bay. The constraints are manifold: pipeline limits, reduced flow from wells drilled too close together, low natural gas prices and high land costs. But the most consequential is that shale-well production falls off at such a high rate — as much as 70% in the first year — that you need to keep spending ...

The planned closure of the fire-damaged Philadelphia refinery, the biggest on the US East Coast, has already riled the gasoline-hungry local market but will likely extend a limited lifeline to European refiners struggling to find buyers for their surplus gasoline. In the short term, a permanent shutdown of the plant will reduce East Coast gasoline supplies by some 160,000 b/d and distillate supplies by about 100,000 b/d, according to the US Energy Information Agency. The heavily-populated area is the largest regional consumer of petroleum products in the US. But the ...

Oil prices rose slightly on Monday as Chinese industrial output and retail data topped expectations but gains were capped by overall figures showing the country’s slowest quarterly economic growth in decades. Brent crude futures rose 40 cents, or 0.6%, to $67.12 a barrel by 0923 GMT, while U.S. crude was up 19 cents, or 0.32%, at $60.40 a barrel. Both contracts last week posted their biggest weekly gains in three weeks on cuts in U.S. oil production and diplomatic tensions in the Middle East. Asian and early European trading was ...

‘Crude’ front is heating up. Events are beginning to happen, and, in quick succession. Ominous clouds could be seen hovering all around. Amid, escalating UK-Iran tensions, the UK is deploying a second warship in the Persian Gulf, where reportedly, three Iranian boats had attempted last Thursday to “impede the passage” of a British oil tanker, forcing the UK warship HMS Montrose to intervene. However, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards denied the incident. “There has been no confrontation in the last 24 hours with any foreign vessels, including British ones”. This happened in ...

Brent crude oil prices have been particularly volatile in recent quarters, ranging between $86/b-$50/b late last year and $74/b-$59/b so far in 2019. This article aims to discuss the background behind these price movements and present an outlook for the coming quarters. In 2018, Brent crude prices averaged $72/b, up from $55/b in 2017. Years of oversupply caused OECD commercial inventories to balloon well above their five-year average. Then between Q2 2017 and Q1 2018 tighter supply depleted global inventories, leading to a recovery in prices. On the demand side, ...

The only country that could really make OPEC+ work is the U.S. That’s not an option, so it’s stuck with Russia. OPEC’s own forecasts show just how much sway Moscow has over the group. Next year looks ugly for oil producers. OPEC expects demand to grow by 1.14 million barrels a day, flat with expectations for this year (which have been coming down). But it also expects supply from non-OPEC countries to surge by 2.4 million barrels a day. Hence, the world will need fewer OPEC barrels: 1.34 million a ...

Global discoveries of conventional oil and gas continue to show promising growth, with new finds totaling 6.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in the first half of 2019, according to the mid-year assessment of upstream data by Rystad Energy. The 1,123 million boe average monthly discovered volumes year-to-date reflect an approximate 35% uplift compared to the 827 million boe seen in 2018. So far, 2019 has been a year of gas discoveries, which hold a majority (63%) share compared to liquids, a phenomenon not seen since 2016. “Offshore discoveries ...

Nearly 70% or 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd), of crude oil production in the U.S.-regulated areas of the Gulf of Mexico has been cut because of Tropical Storm Barry, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said on Saturday Natural gas output from offshore platforms in the Gulf has been cut by 56%, or 1.5 billion cubic feet per day, BSEE said. Oil producers have shut in 283 platforms, or 42%, in the northern Gulf of Mexico, BSEE said. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by ...

Analysts have been publicly claiming that a dropin the value of the U.S. dollar is coming. Of course, this has implications for international trade, manufacturing, travel and the purchasing power of Americans. It also has a direct impact on the price of crude oil. If the value of the U.S. dollar drops, the price of both Brent and WTI crude oil will rise. Oil is almost always sold in U.S. dollars. Both Brent and Crude—the two main oil benchmarks—are traded in U.S. dollars. When the value of the dollar drops, ...