Tag: crude oil

Trade dispute and Syria weigh on markets, oil markets stabilise

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Oil markets stabilised on Monday after slumping around 2 percent last Friday, on concerns over an intensifying trade dispute between the United States and China, as well as increased U.S. drilling activity.

Markets on Monday were also eyeing the situation in Syria after reports – denied by the Pentagon – that U.S. forces had struck a major air base there.

U.S. WTI crude futures CLc1 were at $62.34 a barrel at 0355 GMT, up 28 cents, or 0.45 percent, from their previous settlement.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $67.43 per barrel, up 32 cents, or 0.5 percent.

Oil prices fell about 2 percent on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on China, reigniting fears of a trade war between the world’s two largest economies that could hurt global growth.

With Chinese markets closed last Thursday and Friday, Shanghai crude futures ISCc1 played catch-up on Monday, dropping 0.6 percent to around 400 yuan ($63.43) per barrel.

“Oil prices have been susceptible to the brewing trade tensions between China and the U.S….However, fundamental support levels have been demonstrated with OPEC’s suggestion on an production limit extension into 2019,” said Singapore-based Phillip Futures.

Oil prices have generally been supported by healthy demand as well as by supply restraint led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which started in 2017 in order to rein in oversupply and prop up prices.

In physical oil markets, OPEC’s number two producer Iraq said on Monday that it is keeping prices for its crude supplies in May steady.

In the United States, drillers added 11 rigs looking for new production in the week to April 6, bringing the total count to 808, the highest level since March 2015, General Electric’s (GE.N) Baker Hughes energy services firm said on Friday.

As a result, U.S. exports have soared in recent months, “more than offsetting the Venezuelan supply disruption” as a result of the economic crisis in the South American OPEC-member, Innes said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Indian state firms plan to nearly double Iranian oil imports

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian state refiners plan to almost double oil imports from Iran in 2018/19, drawn by incentives offered by Tehran, sources with knowledge of the matter said, potentially helping Iran increase its share in the world’s third-biggest oil importer.

Iran is pushing to retain its oil customers in Asia, offering better terms than other Middle Eastern suppliers including Saudi Arabia, even as the threat looms of potential further U.S. sanctions on the OPEC member.

Tehran recently deepened freight discount to firms in India, its second-biggest oil client after China, in return for higher volumes.

In the current fiscal year to March 2019, state refiners Indian Oil Corp, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum plan to import 396,000 barrels per day (bpd) Iranian oil, according to two sources familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Four other sources had knowledge of the import plans of some of the refiners.

Indian Oil Corp, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum declined to comment.

All four refiners imported about 205,600 bpd Iranian oil in the previous fiscal year.

Iran, which used to be the second-biggest oil supplier to India before sanctions, has been gradually growing back its market share in New Delhi since the lifting of sanctions against the Islamic state in 2016, becoming the No. 3 supplier to India in 2016/17 after Saudi Arabia and Iraq, government data shows.

Official government data for 2017/18 is not yet available but information from sources showed Iran remained the third-biggest oil exporter to India during April 2017-February 2018, while Iraq replaced Saudi Arabia as top supplier.

State refiners, which account for two-thirds of India’s 5 million bpd refining capacity, last year curbed imports from Iran in protest at Tehran’s move to grant development rights for the giant Farzad B gas field to others.

But Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan in February, after a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Bijan Zanganeh in New Delhi, said state-refiners will boost purchases in the current fiscal year as Iran sweetened terms.

Zanganeh had said Indian refiners – state-owned and private – will buy about 500,000 bpd of Iranian oil in 2018/19.

India’s overall purchase from Iran could cross 600,000 bpd, one of the sources said. “Terms offered by Iranians are better compared to other producers… Iranian crude suits us,” one of the sources said.

Indian refiners usually secure higher volumes than those agreed under term deals, spurred by strong domestic fuel demand.

Also, several private refiners which previously sourced oil from Venezuela have turned to Iran to make up for low supplies from the ailing Latin American nation.

Following are the details of India’s planned imports from Iran in 2018/19 compared with volumes in the past fiscal year. Volumes do not include condensate.

Company Import plan for Imports in

2018-19 2017-18

HPCL 20,000 bpd firm + 10,400

10,000 bpd optional bpd(actual)

MRPL 110,000 bpd 90,000 bpd

provisional

IOC 140,000 bpd firm + 80,000 bpd

40,000 bpd optional provisional

BPCL including BORL 36,000 bpd firm + 25,200 bpd

40,000 bpd optional

HPCL: Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd

MRPL: Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd

IOC: Indian Oil Corp

BPCL: Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd

BORL: Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Bahrain says new discovery contains an estimated 80 billion barrels of tight oil

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A new discovery off the coast of Bahrain is estimated to contain at least 80 billion barrels of tight oil, the kingdom`s biggest ever find, Bahrain’s oil minister said.
Bahrain said it had discovered extensive tight oil and deep gas resources off the west coast of the kingdom.
Independent appraisals by U.S.-based oil consultants DeGolyer and MacNaughton and oilfield services company Halliburton had confirmed Bahrain’s find of “highly significant quantities of oil in place for the Khalij Al Bahrain, with tight oil amounting to at least 80 billion barrels, and deep gas reserves in the region of 10-20 trillion cubic feet,” Oil Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al-Khalifa said.
Tight oil is a form of light crude oil held in shale deep below the earth’s surface.
“Agreement has been reached with Halliburton to commence drilling on two further appraisal wells in 2018, to further evaluate reservoir potential, optimise completions, and initiate long-term production,” he told a news conference in Manama.
Sheikh Mohammed said he was not sure yet how much of the estimated 80 billion barrels was recoverable, but the kingdom aims to attract foreign oil and gas firms to develop the resources.
“The newly-discovered resource, which officials expect to be ‘on production’ within five years, is expected to provide significant and long-term positive benefits to the kingdom’s economy – both directly and indirectly through downstream activities in related industries,” a statement by Bahrain`s National Communication Centre said.
The new energy resource is expected to contain many times the amount of oil produced by Bahrain`s existing oilfields, as well as large amounts of gas, state news agency BNA reported on Sunday.
The small non-OPEC Gulf oil producer gets it oil revenues from two fields: the onshore Bahrain field, and the offshore Abu Safah field, which is shared jointly with Saudi Arabia.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Oil inches up, but rising Russian output still weighs

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Oil prices inched up on Tuesday as rising Russian output and expectations of a reduction in Saudi Arabian crude prices were offset by a potential slowdown in U.S. production.

U.S. WTI crude futures were at $63.2 a barrel at 0117 GMT, up 18 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their previous settlement.

Brent crude futures rose to $67.84 per barrel, up 20 cents, or 0.3 percent, after it fell more than 2 percent on Monday.

Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at futures brokerage AxiTrader, said traders were wary of the fact that the market was still holding large amounts of long positions which will need to be sold off at some stage.

“That makes prices vulnerable to bad news,” he said, pointing to rising Russian production and a likely drop in Saudi physical crude prices.

Brent reached a 2018 high of $71.28 in January but hassince struggled to pass that level. Two rallies last week ranout of steam just above $71.

There was also pressure coming from the physical market, where top exporter Saudi Arabia is expected to cut prices for all crude grades it sells to Asia in May.

This came amid rising supplies. Top producer Russia pumped 10.97 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in March, up from 10.95 million bpd in February, official data showed, an 11 month high.

One of the key price drivers going forward will be crude output from the United States , which has risen by almost a quarter since mid-2016 to 10.43 million bpd, overtaking Saudi Arabia`s and coming in just shy of Russia`s.

A dip in drilling activity for new production could imply that the relentless rise in U.S. production could be tapering off towards the middle of the year.

“Production data released on Wednesday (in the United States) will offer a fresher clue on which direction prices are going,” Ma Kun, general manager of Energy and Chemicals at Bank of China International Futures said.

Weekly official Energy Information Administration (EIA) data, which includes production figures, is due to be published on Wednesday.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow