Spot premiums for Middle East crude benchmarks Oman, Dubai and Murban crude eased on Monday as buying interest from Asian refiners slowed after a flurry of trade activities last week. Thai refiner IRPC has bought one September-loading cargo of Das crude each from Glencore and Vitol at premiums of 90 cents to $1 a barrel to Dubai quotes, traders said, up from premiums of 80-90 cents a barrel in trades seen last week. The refiner has also bought 1-2 cargoes of Murban crude at $1.60-$1.70 a barrel above Dubai quotes, ...

The average monthly wholesale spot natural gas price at the U.S. benchmark Henry Hub fell by 20% to $2.56 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) between January and June of this year, according to data from Refinitiv Eikon. In January, the Henry Hub price averaged $3.18/MMBtu, then dropped to $1.49/MMBtu in March, marking the lowest average monthly inflation-adjusted price since at least 1997. In addition, prices from February through April 2024 were the lowest ever recorded for these months. Prices declined throughout much of 2023 amid record U.S. natural gas ...

The European Union (EU) targets a ban on Russian fuel imports by 2027. However, nearly half of Russia’s pipeline gas supplies to Europe and Moldova are still passing through Ukraine, totaling 13.7 billion cubic meters (Bcm) in 2023. As the EU discusses the possibility of involving Azerbaijan in a future transit deal, the current five-year gas transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine is set to expire by the end of 2024, leading to concerns about the future flow of these gas volumes. Rystad Energy predicts that Russia’s gas will need ...

Asia’s spot middle distillates benchmarks remained steadily in discounts as of Monday as weak demand-supply fundamentals persisted. The spot gasoil differential was pegged at a discount of 26 cents a barrel on Monday, weakening from the previous session, underpinned by regional ample supply. Refining margins rebounded slightly on Monday after sliding to a more than a one-month low last week, climbing to $15.50 a barrel at the Asia close. On the jet fuel front, spot discounts held near 40 cents a barrel, while a buy-sell gap continued. Meanwhile, the Singapore ...

Oil futures opened slightly higher July 21, appearing to shrug off news of an attack on Yemen’s Hodeidah oil products terminal and news that US President Joe Biden was dropping out of the 2024 presidential election. At 2200 GMT, NYMEX front-month crude was trading 45 cents higher at $80.58/b, while ICE front-month Brent was up 34 cents at $82.97/b. In refined products, NYMEX front-month ULSD was up 1.20 cents at $2.4311/gal, while front-month RBOB was up 87 points at $2.4591/gal. Biden dropped out July 21 following increased pressure from within ...

Russia’s Tuapse oil refinery, its biggest on the Black Sea, was damaged in a major Ukrainian drone attack overnight which sparked a fire, Russian officials said on Monday, though the extent of the damage was not immediately clear. Debris from the drone, which was shot down, caused a fire at the refinery, which is owned by oil major Rosneft ROSN.MM, the officials said. The fire has since been contained, the regional administration said on the Telegram messaging app. Russia’s SHOT and Mash Telegram news channels reported that a series of ...

Saudi Arabia’s economic growth will likely be one of the slowest among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries this year, according to a Reuters poll of economists who lowered growth forecasts from three months ago due to extended oil output cuts. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, known as OPEC+, were expected to start raising production this year but in June said the reductions would continue well into 2025. Despite the war in the Middle East, oil prices have struggled to stay above $80 ...

Dutch and British wholesale gas prices inched down on Monday morning on comfortable stock levels and expectations of the possible restart of the U.S. Freeport liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal. The front-month contract at the Dutch TTF hub TRNLTTFMQ4 was down 0.17 euro at 31.58 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) at 0824 GMT, according to LSEG data. In the British market, the front-month contract TRGBNBPMQ4 was down by 1.50 pence at 73.00 pence per therm. Lower wind speeds in north-west Europe are expected from tomorrow which should increase gas demand ...

Asia’s naphtha refining profit margin gained on Monday after weakness in crude oil prices dragged down prices for the light distillate. The crack rose to $66.20 per metric ton over Brent crude, compared with $64.78 on Friday in a steady backwardation of $5 per ton. Naphtha margin posted gains of 2.6% last week. Price of both first-half September and first-half October naphtha cargoes plunged by about $14 to $689 and $684 per ton, respectively. Traders and analysts said South Korean operators are planning to cut utilisation rates in the coming ...

Energy – Specs trim Brent longs Oil prices fell for a second consecutive week last week. ICE Brent settled about 2.8% lower last week, the biggest weekly decline since early May. Concern over weaker Chinese demand has weighed on the market. However, the market is trading higher in the Asian early morning with rising tension in the Middle East likely providing some support. Following a Houthi drone strike on Tel Aviv, Israel responded over the weekend with an airstrike against the Houthis in Yemen. In addition, out-of-control wildfires in Alberta, ...

Oil prices rose in Asia on Monday as investors watched for further signs that the U.S. might start to cut interest rates as soon as September. Brent crude futures had gained 32 cents, or 0.39%, to $82.95 a barrel by 0651 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures had increased 34 cents, or 0.42%, to $80.47. “Since the June FOMC meeting, inflation and labour market data have signalled that disinflation and labour market rebalancing are in place, which we expect will allow the Fed to begin its interest rate ...

The increasing role of LNG in meeting global energy demand since the Russia-Ukraine war, combined with rapidly growing pressures to decarbonise energy-intensive economic activities, has led to heightened attention on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the LNG value chain. Emissions from the LNG value chain mainly come from three parts: • Upstream, where natural gas is extracted, produced, transported, and liquified into LNG • Midstream, which includes shipping LNG from the production location to the destination • Downstream, where LNG is regasified into natural gas and combusted Here’s a breakdown ...

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday called interruptions in Russian oil transit via Ukraine a “crisis” for the affected oil buyers, but said there was little scope for talks with the Ukrainian transit firms because the decision had been political. Slovakia and Hungary have said they stopped receiving oil from a key supplier, Russian company Lukoil, after Ukraine last month banned the transit of resources from the Russian energy company via its territory. Russia continues to supply natural gas and oil to Europe via Ukraine despite the war in Ukraine, ...

Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices held steady this week on the back of support from an outage at U.S. Freeport LNG which saw some cargo cancellations, and as summer weather boosted demand. The average LNG price for September delivery into north-east Asia LNG-AS was at $12.20 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), industry sources estimated. Freeport LNG in Texas, south of Houston, halted operations on July 7 before Hurricane Beryl made landfall, causing power outages and infrastructure damage to ports and energy companies. Freeport said on Monday it ...

U.S. energy firms this week added oil and natural gas rigs for the second time in three weeks, energy services firm Baker Hughes BKR.O said in its closely followed report on Friday. The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose by twoto 586in the week to July 19, its highest since late June. Despite this week’s rig increase, Baker Hughes said the total count was still down 83rigs, or 12%,below this time last year. Baker Hughes said oil rigs fell by oneto 477this week, their ...