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Transocean Profit Down 49% on Higher Costs

Transocean Ltd. ‘s fourth-quarter profit fell 49% as the offshore oil driller reported higher costs and a decline in fleet utilization. The quarterly results are the first since Transocean, the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor, in November detailed a plan to put some of its drilling rigs into a master limited partnership and take it public. The move was aimed to placate activist investor Carl Icahn , but also embraces a trend in the energy sector as other companies move to unload pipelines, refineries and drilling rigs into such partnerships, which don’t pay corporate income taxes and pay out most of their cash flow to investors in the form of distributions like a dividend. In the latest quarter, Transocean reported a profit of $233 million, or 64 cents a share, down from $456 million, or $1.26 a share, a year earlier. Excluding impairments, tax benefits and other items, adjusted […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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When Will Peak Oil Actually Arrive? Costs Way Too High and Rising

World Yearly When will Peak Oil actually arrive? There has been considerable debate on that point recently. Well if you are talking about “Conventional Crude Oil” it arrived in 2005. But in many cases unconventional crude oil works just as well so I think we must count that. I will comment on that at the end of this post below. The chart below is kb/d with the last data point, 2013, is the average through October. Averaging the first 10 months of 2013, World oil production was up only 66,000 barrels per day. And without the US LTO input, world production would have been down 807,000 barrels per day, lower than the 2005 level. And it is all about LTO, primarily it is about three oil plays, the Bakken, Eagle Ford and the Permia. The data for this chart was taken from the EIA’s Drilling Productivity Report . The […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil Futures Extend Losses, Brent Below $110

Crude-oil futures were choppy but trended lower in Asian trade Wednesday on expectations of U.S. oil stockpiles rising for the sixth consecutive week and some profit-taking. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in April traded at $101.62 a barrel at 0538 GMT, down $0.21 in the Globex electronic session. April Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.23 to $109.28 a barrel. U.S. crude-oil inventories rose by 800,000 barrels in the week ended Feb. 21, the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, said late Tuesday. The closely-watched survey from the U.S. Energy Information Administration is due later Wednesday. Ten analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal on average estimate that oil stocks rose by 800,000 barrels last week. Oil markets are focusing on the overall build up in U.S. oil stockpiles as refineries shut for maintenance, and not just the debottlenecking of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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WTI Crude Trades Near Week Low on U.S. Stockpiles

West Texas Intermediate traded near the lowest price in more than a week before a government report forecast to show U.S. crude stockpiles gained for a sixth week in the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent was stable in London. Futures were little changed in New York after losing 1 percent yesterday, the most since Feb. 3. Crude inventories probably rose by 1.275 million barrels last week, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts before Energy Information Administration data today. Prices have climbed more than 4 percent this month, reaching as high as $103.80 a barrel, as colder weather boosted energy demand and supplies declined at Cushing, Oklahoma , the largest U.S. oil-storage hub. “If there’s an increase in U.S. crude inventories, that could certainly have an impact on prices,” said Hans van Cleef, an energy economist at ABN Amro Bank NV in Amsterdam. “Every time WTI touches levels […]

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Natural-Gas Futures Fell 17% Over 2 Days

;Natural-gas prices fell 17% since Monday, the largest two-day drop in the market more than six years, as investors continued to take profits from last week’s rally. Futures for March delivery settled down 34.9 cents, or 6.4%, at $5.096 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. "The downward move started a chain reaction as long traders quickly exited their positions while they were still profitable," consultancy Gelber & Associates said in a note. "The slide came in direct contrast to the latest weather reports." The March contract expires Wednesday, and options on the contract expired with the end of trading Tuesday. Most of the trading volume in the market is moving into the April and May contracts. Natural gas for April delivery ended 1.5% higher at $4.4691/mmBtu. Analysts and forecasters said the underlying dynamics that have driven this year’s rally in natural-gas prices are […]

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Despite Shale, Middle East Remains Key to Oil Demand

The US shale revolution has helped reshape the global energy market, but Middle Eastern oil will remain vital for meeting future Asian energy demand, said IEA’s Fatih Birol. The U.S. shale revolution has helped reshape the global energy market, but Middle Eastern oil will remain vital for meeting future Asian energy demand, Fatih Birol, chief economist for the International Energy Agency (IEA), told attendees Feb. 21 at an event at Rice University in Houston. The significant growth that has occurred in recent years in U.S. unconventional oil production surpassed initial estimates by the IEA, which initially forecast that the United States would overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer in 2017. This shift is now expected to occur next year, according IEA’s 2013 World Energy Outlook. Despite this growth, Middle East oil will still be needed to meet global oil demand in Asia, said […]

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Hezbollah says Israel bombed its positions

Hezbollah says Israel carried out an airstrike targeting its positions in Lebanon near the border with Syria earlier this week, claiming it caused damage but no casualties. The Wednesday statement was the group’s first acknowledgement of the reported Monday night airstrikes. Hezbollah said the attack was near the eastern Lebanese village of Janta. It vowed to retaliate but said it will "choose the appropriate time and place." Lebanon’s state news agency has reported that Israeli aircraft carried out the strikes. Israel has refused to confirm them. Hezbollah, allied to President Bashar Assad in Syria, has been fighting alongside his troops in areas near the border. This was the first reported Israeli airstrike inside Lebanese territory since the start of Syria’s conflict three years ago. Israel has fired artillery across the border. © 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be […]

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China's overall crude imports in January 2014 rose 12% year on year to a record 28.15 million mt, or 6.66 million b/d, according to preliminary customs data that was released on February 12.

Singapore (Platts)–26Feb2014/328 am EST/828 GMT China’s crude oil imports from Iran in January jumped 82.2% year on year to 2.4 million mt, or an average 566,856 b/d, according to final data released by the General Administration of Customs on Wednesday. The imports were also up 11.2% from the December 2013 volumes, the data showed. Iran rose to the fourth place in the list of crude oil suppliers to China in January, from the fifth position in December 2013. The significant year-on-year increase in crude imports from Iran last month was due to a low base in January 2013, when supply from the Middle East country came in at 1.32 million mt — down 36.8% from January 2012. Article continues below… Request a free trial of: Oilgram News Oilgram News Oilgram News brings you fast-breaking global petroleum and gas news on and including: Industry players, upstream and downstream markets, refineries, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China’s overall crude imports in January 2014 rose 12% year on year to a record 28.15 million mt, or 6.66 million b/d, according to preliminary customs data that was released on February 12.

Singapore (Platts)–26Feb2014/328 am EST/828 GMT China’s crude oil imports from Iran in January jumped 82.2% year on year to 2.4 million mt, or an average 566,856 b/d, according to final data released by the General Administration of Customs on Wednesday. The imports were also up 11.2% from the December 2013 volumes, the data showed. Iran rose to the fourth place in the list of crude oil suppliers to China in January, from the fifth position in December 2013. The significant year-on-year increase in crude imports from Iran last month was due to a low base in January 2013, when supply from the Middle East country came in at 1.32 million mt — down 36.8% from January 2012. Article continues below… Request a free trial of: Oilgram News Oilgram News Oilgram News brings you fast-breaking global petroleum and gas news on and including: Industry players, upstream and downstream markets, refineries, […]

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Nuclear important in Japan's latest draft energy policy

Japan’s government on Tuesday released an energy policy document in which nuclear power is considered an important electricity source. The plan is a toned-down revision of a draft document released in December, which said nuclear power also serves as a "foundation" for the stability of the country’s energy supply, Kyodo News Service reports. The government is required to review its energy plan at least every three years. The last plan, in 2010, called for Japan to boost its reliance on nuclear power to about 50 percent of its total electricity in 2030. Prior to the Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis, triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, nuclear power provided nearly 30 percent of Japan’s electricity. The plan released Tuesday does not include any numerical targets for Japan’s medium- to long-term energy mix. "It was impossible to plan any energy mix, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple