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U.S. Refiners to Ship Most Fuel to Europe Since November

Traders booked the most tankers in eight months to ship diesel and heating oil to Europe from the U.S. Gulf, where refining is surging as a consequence of America’s rising crude production. Oil companies either booked or plan to charter 16 tankers to transport cargoes on the route for loading during the next two weeks, according to the survey of six people involved in the trade yesterday. That compares with nine last week and is the highest count since Nov. 6. The highest U.S. oil production in more than two decades means Gulf Coast refineries are processing close to the most fuel ever. A ban on exporting most crude means the nation’s plants can tap cheaper supplies than their European counterparts. Tankers taking those refined fuels across the Atlantic Ocean are earning the most for the time of year since at least 2012. “There has been a strong increase […]

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Statoil Profit More Than Doubles Despite Output Drop

Norway’s Statoil posted a $1.9 billion net profit in the second quarter, more than double that of a year ago. Bloomberg News OSLO—Norwegian oil major Statoil AS A said Friday its second-quarter net profit more than doubled as higher prices offset a 9% production drop on the year, adding it was limiting its gas output on low prices in Europe. Second-quarter net profit was 11.9 billion Norwegian kroner ($1.92 billion), compared with 4.3 billion kroner a year earlier and a SME Direct consensus forecast of 11.47 billion kroner. This figure differs from net profit as reported by U.S. oil companies because it includes changes in the value of inventories. "Our quarterly earnings were impacted by divestments, seasonal effects and lower gas prices," said Chief Executive Helge Lund. "We have deferred gas production to enhance value, but remain on track for delivering on our production guiding for 2014." The company […]

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German Utilities Bail Out Electric Grid at Wind’s Mercy

Germany ’s push toward renewable energy is causing so many drops and surges from wind and solar power that the government is paying more utilities than ever to help stabilize the country’s electricity grid. Twenty power companies including Germany’s biggest utilities, EON SE and RWE AG, now get fees for pledging to add or cut electricity within seconds to keep the power system stable, double the number in September, according to data from the nation’s four grid operators. Utilities that sign up to the 800 million-euro ($1.1 billion) balancing market can be paid as much as 400 times wholesale electricity prices, the data show. Germany’s drive to almost double power output from renewables by 2035 has seen one operator reporting five times as many potential disruptions as four years ago, raising the risk of blackouts in Europe ’s biggest electricity market while pushing wholesale prices to […]

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Canada Broadens Sanctions Against Russia

Canada broadened its economic sanctions against the Kremlin, in response to the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, targeting major Russian financial and energy companies as well as Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Canada’s move on Thursday was signaled earlier in the week and comes as European Union officials are set to announce on Friday a fresh set of wide-ranging sanctions against Russia. Member states of the EU are said to be considering restrictions on Russian access to European financial markets and exports of military-related goods to Russia. Washington also has turned up the pressure on Moscow, leveling accusations about Russia’s role in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. The latest was made on Thursday and suggested Russian artillery are firing across the border at Ukranian military positions. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada would impose economic sanctions and travel bans against eight individuals, all […]

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Gazprom looks to future in Kazakhstan

Russian natural gas company Gazprom said it was considering extending its working relationship with its counterparts in Kazakhstan through the 2030s. Deputy Gazprom Chairman Alexander Medvedev met in Astana with Kazakh Oil Minister Uzakbai Karabalin to review the Russian company’s future in the former Soviet republic. "The parties discussed further cooperation in the gas sector and, in particular, the extension of the long-term agreement till 2038 — on purchase and sale of gas produced from the Karachaganak gas and condensate field," Gazprom said in a statement Wednesday. "A focus was also placed on the prospects for the joint development of the Imashevskoye gas and condensate field." Kazakhstan is a net importer of natural gas. Much of its domestic gas is used to enhance production from its vast oil fields. It has 85 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves and Karachaganak and Imashevskoye combine to represent 53 percent […]

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EIA: Russian export revenue highest for oil

Russia receives more revenue from the export of crude oil and petroleum products than it does from natural gas, the U.S. Energy Department said. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, said in a daily brief exports of crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas accounted for 68 percent of all export revenues in 2013. "Russia received almost four times as much revenue from exports of crude oil and petroleum products as from natural gas," EIA’s Wednesday brief said. "Crude oil exports alone were greater in value than the value of all non-oil and natural gas exports." European leaders are working to break Russia’s control over the regional natural gas market. Most of the Russian gas bound for Europe runs through pipelines in Ukraine, where geopolitical and contractual issues create risks for the European economy. U.S. legislators have proposed liquefied natural gas exports to […]

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Russia Oil Exports by Sea to Reach 6-Year Low on Refining

Russia’s crude exports on tankers are poised to fall to the lowest in at least six years as a government push to improve and expand domestic refineries means more oil is exported as fuels like diesel. Seaborne crude shipments from the world’s biggest energy exporter via the state-run pipeline system in August will fall 9.2 percent from this month to 2.215 million barrels a day, according to loading programs obtained by Bloomberg News . That’s the lowest since Bloomberg began tracking the data in 2008. Russia’s two biggest crude terminals, Primorsk and Novorossiysk, will both export the least on record. Russian oil companies are refining more crude domestically after President Vladimir Putin pushed them to spend billions of dollars modernizing plants. Output of diesel and fuel oil are the highest since at least 2009, Energy Ministry data show. This puts pressure on European refiners who are already receiving less […]

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The Changing Face of World Oil Markets

Here’s the introduction to a new paper I just finished: This year the oil industry celebrated its 155th birthday, continuing a rich history of booms, busts and dramatic technological changes. Many old hands in the oil patch may view recent developments as a continuation of the same old story, wondering if the high prices of the last decade will prove to be another transient cycle with which technological advances will again eventually catch up. But there have been some dramatic changes over the last decade that could mark a major turning point in the history of the world’s use of this key energy source. In this article I review five of the ways in which the world of energy may have changed forever. Below I provide a summary of the paper’s five main conclusions along with a few of the figures from the paper. 1. World oil demand is […]

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World Oil Production at 3/31/2014-Where are We Headed?

The standard way to make forecasts of almost anything is to look at recent trends and assume that this trend will continue, at least for the next several years. With world oil production, the trend in oil production looks fairly benign, with the trend slightly upward (Figure 1). Figure 1. Quarterly crude and condensate oil production, based on EIA data. Figure 1. Quarterly crude and condensate oil production, based on EIA data. If we look at the situation more closely, however, we see that we are dealing with an unstable situation. The top ten crude oil producing countries have a variety of problems (Figure 2). Middle Eastern producers are particularly at risk of instability, thanks to the advances of ISIS and the large number of refugees moving from one country to another. Figure 2. Top ten crude oil and condensate producers during first quarter of 2014, based on EIA […]

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Robert Rapier: The US and Russia are Gas Giants

This is the 2nd installment in a series that examines data from the recently released  Statistical Review of World Energy 2014 . The previous post –  World Sets New Oil Production and Consumption Records  – delved into world oil production and consumption figures. Today’s post looks at the global natural gas picture. In 2013 global natural gas production advanced 1.1% to a new all-time high of 328 billion cubic feet per day (Bcfd). Except for a one-year decline in 2008-2009, global gas production has risen fairly steadily for about three decades, and production has more than doubled during that time span: Global Gas Production 1970 through 2013 The US is Still Gas King The US continues to dominate both natural gas production (and consumption). In 2013, the US set a new all-time high production record for the third straight year, with gas production rising to 66.5 Bcfd to lead all countries. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple