Новости за 07.05.2024

Crude oil inventories in the United States rose this week by 509,000 barrels for the week ending May 3, according to The American Petroleum Institute (API). Analysts had expected a 1.430 million barrel draw. For the week prior, the API reported a 4.906 million barrel build in crude inventories. On Tuesday, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by 0.9 million barrels as of May 3. Inventories are now at 367.2 million barrels—the... Читать дальше...

Via SchiffGold.com, With the eventual introduction of central bank digital currency (CBDCs) now seemingly inevitable, there are a lot of directions central banks could take with their digital currency projects that would have dramatic implications for the price of gold. Touted for their “convenience” and “efficiency,” the endgame of digital currencies is not only achieving greater power over the currency but also a means of surveilling and micromanaging the personal finances of each individual. Owe... Читать дальше...

U.S. spot power and natural gas prices plummeted into negative territory across Texas, California, and Arizona on Tuesday, signaling a surplus in production amidst subdued demand and ample hydropower reserves. At the Waha hub, next-day gas prices plummeted to a three-week low of negative $2.72 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) on May 6. Next-day power prices at hubs in Arizona and Southern California plunged to one-week lows. The dynamics driving negative prices suggest energy firms are grappling with excess power and gas production. Читать дальше...

Octopus Energy is now worth more than £7bn after two of its largest investors increased their stakes in the company. Generation Investment Management and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board have upped their holdings in the London-headquartered business in moves which have pushed its value up 15 percent to £7.2bn. Generation, which focuses on sustainable investments, upped its stake to 13 percent after getting new backing from pension funds in the US and Australia, including Australian superannuation fund Aware Super. Читать дальше...

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a new solicitation to purchase oil to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), according to a DOE press release. The solicitation, announced by the DOE's Office of Petroleum Reserves, seeks up to 3.3 million barrels of crude oil for delivery to the SPR in October. The decision to initiate this purchase, according to the release, aligns with the DOE's strategy of acquiring oil at $79 per barrel or below. To date, the DOE has procured a total... Читать дальше...

The Utica shale has for years been known as a gas-producing play. But this may be about to change as one company reports promising results from its oil well offensive in the area. EOG has been drilling in the Utica shale for months now, and it just reported that the play can “compete with the best plays in America.” The production figures EOG reported for its wells there support this: over the first 180 days since drilling, a three-well pad dubbed Xavier produced an average of 450,000 barrels of oil equivalent in total. Читать дальше...

Azerbaijan will get a welcome earnings boost from BP’s announcement that it has launched production at a new $6-billion facility in Azerbaijan’s giant Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli oil field. The upgrade can boost the field’s output by as much as 25 percent. Dubbed Azeri-Central-East (ACE), the facility consists of a new production platform 130 kilometers offshore in Azerbaijan’s sector of the Caspian Sea. Currently ACE boasts a single well drilled to a depth of 3,150 meters with two more wells to be drilled this year... Читать дальше...

Almost 75 Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday expressed support for President Joe Biden’s decision to pause approvals for new LNG export projects. “With our allies well-supplied by existing exports, we agree that now is the time to step back and examine the long-term impacts that additional U.S. LNG exports will have on American consumers, industries, and the environment,” the Democratic Senators and Representatives wrote in a letter to President Biden, carried by Reuters. “This is an overdue opportunity... Читать дальше...

Via Metal Miner In a world where the appetite for energy is insatiable, the battery market has become the playground for some of the brightest minds aiming to fuel everything from cell phones to electric vehicles. However, as our gadgets become even smarter, the traditional batteries we’ve relied on seem ever so dim-witted in comparison. Enter the era of cutting-edge battery technology, where the latest developments are juicing up the market with a blend of high energy and high drama. The Latest... Читать дальше...

China has allocated more export quotas for refined petroleum products for 2024, issuing a second batch that nearly matches the volumes in the first batch.   China has recently issued 18 million metric tons of fuel export quotas in the second batch of allocations for this year, Chinese trade sources and consultancies told Reuters on Tuesday.   The volumes in the latest batch include 14 million tons of refined products and 4 million tons of marine fuel, consultancy firms Longzhong and JLC, as well as trade sources... Читать дальше...

Saudi Aramco is keeping its huge dividend of $31.1 billion for the first quarter despite a decline in net income due to lower crude sales as the Kingdom is voluntarily restricting supply to the market.  Aramco, the state oil giant of the world’s top crude oil exporter and the largest oil firm globally, reported on Tuesday a net income of $27.3 billion for the first quarter of 2024, down from $31.9 billion for the same period of 2023, due to lower crude oil volumes sold, weakening refining and chemicals margins... Читать дальше...

The OPEC+ group is still studying whether to raise oil production but it would act on supply if necessary, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday.    The possibility to raise supply is still being reviewed, Russia’s top oilman said, as carried by Russian news agency Interfax. “It always depends on the current situation, the balance of supply and demand,” Novak said. “Everything is being analyzed. Right now, you don’t need to predict anything, you just need to see how the market…

Oil prices remained under pressure on Tuesday morning, but Israel's decision to send troops into Rafah and Saudi Arabia's aggressive pricing of its June cargos should help to stop oil prices from falling. - International organizations are increasingly sounding the tocsin on shrinking crude inventories, with the IEA indicating Q2 2024 would see demand surpass supply by a whopping 900,000 b/d, the first two consecutive negative quarters since late 2021. - With OPEC+ curbing supply by means of Saudi... Читать дальше...

Lower oil and gas prices and a prolonged refinery outage in the United States dragged down BP’s earnings for the first quarter to below analyst expectations.  UK-based supermajor BP (NYSE: BP) reported on Tuesday an underlying replacement cost profit – the closest metric to net profit – of $2.7 billion for the first quarter of 2024, down from $3.0 billion for the previous quarter.  “Compared with the fourth quarter 2023, the result reflects lower oil and gas realizations, the impacts of the Whiting... Читать дальше...

Fuel consumption in India jumped by 6.1% in April compared to the same month last year, official data showed on Tuesday, as demand in the world’s third-largest crude oil importer continues to grow this year.   Total fuel consumption, often used as a proxy for oil demand, increased to 19.858 million metric tons last month, according to data released by the Oil Ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC). India’s fuel demand has been strong over the past year, reaching a record-high in the…

President Biden will use crude oil from the strategic petroleum reserve should the need arise, energy adviser Amos Hochstein has said, noting there was enough oil in the reserve. "We have been replenishing into the SPR for the last several months. I think we have sufficient supply in the SPR to address any kind of concern in the economy if we need it," Hochstein said, speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference, as quoted by Reuters. The U.S. saw the stockpiles of crude oil in the SPR fall... Читать дальше...

Russian oil product cargos are piling up at sea as their South Korean buyers grow reluctant to go through with their deals amid a government crackdown on sanction evasion, Bloomberg has reported, citing unnamed sources. According to Kpler data, there are over 2 million barrels of Russian naphtha sitting off the coast of Oman, which is significantly higher than the weekly average for January and February, which came in at some 790,000 barrels. The Bloomberg sources said that the buildup was caused... Читать дальше...

The United States must provide support to Western companies that are reluctant to mine critical minerals in risky jurisdictions, energy advisor to the White House Amos Hochstein said this week. "We can all live in the capitals and cities around the world and say 'I don't want to do business there.' But what you are really saying is we're not going to have an energy transition," Hochstein said at the Milken Institute Global Conference, as quoted by Reuters. "Because the energy transition is not going... Читать дальше...

It is fairly common nowadays to see relatively near-term estimates for a point at which demand for petroleum-based fuels begins to decline. The term often used to describe this “tipping point” is Peak Oil Demand. When I say “near term,” I mean right around the corner if you look at an estimate published last year by the International Energy Agency-IEA, an intergovernmental agency headquartered in Paris, France, and originally established after the Oil Embargo of 1973 to help cushion against future oil shocks. Читать дальше...

Oil and gas companies have boosted offshore drilling in recent months, finding large resources in the newest exploration hotspots and aiming to develop huge low-cost, low-emission oil and gas fields that will yield decades of high returns. The majors are investing more in deepwater exploration as they are doubling down on their pledge to continue delivering oil and gas to meet global demand. The high offshore drilling activity is already showing in the rising profits and backlogs of the world's top... Читать дальше...

The Federal Trade Commission last week gave the green light to Exxon’s acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources. There was one condition attached to the approval of the $60-billion deal: that Scott Sheffield, the former CEO of Pioneer, does not join the combined company’s board. The FTC alleged that Sheffield had colluded with OPEC and OPEC+ members to limit production and increase oil prices. The allegations shook the shale oil world, where several large consolidation deals are awaiting the trade watchdog’s approval. Читать дальше...