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Nigeria: Crude Oil Production to Rise By Less Than 0.1MBPD in 2015

OPEC non-crude liquids production, which averaged 6.4 million bpd in 2014, is expected to increase by less than 0.1 million bpd in both 2015 and 2016, led by increases in Qatar and Kuwait. In February 2015, unplanned crude oil supply disruptions among OPEC producers averaged 2.7 million bpd, an increase of 0.1 million bpd compared with the previous month. According to U.S Energy Information Administration (EIA), this increase was mainly attributable to rising outages in Iraq, Nigeria, and Libya. It noted that unplanned OPEC crude supply disruptions averaged 2.4 million bpd in 2014, 0.5 million bpd higher than in the previous year. The high level of OPEC disruptions contributed to higher crude oil prices during the first half of 2014. It stated that unplanned supply disruptions could still affect crude oil prices, but the threshold that the market can bear has risen in light of robust global production and […]

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Brazil Minister Suggests Debate on Easing Pre-Salt Oil Rules

Brazil opened the door for a debate on allowing foreign oil companies to operate in a region holding some of the world’s biggest discoveries this century as the state-owned producer struggles to emerge from a graft scandal. Energy Minister Eduardo Braga said for the first time Wednesday that Petroleo Brasileiro SA shouldn’t be forced to operate all fields in the so-called pre-salt region, while adding that now isn’t the time to make changes. “The production-sharing regime needs to be reviewed under the logic that Petrobras should always be the operator when it is in its interest, not an obligation, because we can’t require a company if it doesn’t have the physical and financial capacity,” Braga told lawmakers in Brasilia. “For now, it isn’t the moment or the topic to debate, because I think we are still starting the debate of an area that is extremely voluminous.” The comments come […]

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Apache to Exit Australian Energy With $2.1 Billion Sale

Apache Corp. will exit Australia’s energy sector, selling its assets there to a group of private equity funds managed by Macquarie Capital Group Ltd. and Brookfield Asset Management Inc. for $2.1 billion in cash. The assets produced the equivalent of about 49,000 barrels of oil a day in March. The company is keeping a 49 percent stake in fertilizer producer Yara Pilbara Holdings Pty. “Following the sale of our Australian assets, approximately 70% of Apache’s production will come from North America onshore,” John J. Christmann, chief executive officer of Apache, said in a statement Wednesday. Link to Statement:Link

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China’s environment ministry blocks hydro project

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s environment ministry has refused approval for a hydropower dam on an ecologically vulnerable river already damaged by construction, a rare setback for the country’s extensive dam-building program. While the 1,000-megawatt Xiaonanhai project appears scrapped, experts said China’s overall plan for dams was on course given pressure to cut smog from coal-fired power plants. Hydropower capacity is due to rise another 60 gigawatts (GW) in five years as new projects get approved. The Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a document sent to the Three Gorges Project Corporation and seen by Reuters that the firm could not plan or build the project on the Jinsha river, the upstream section of the Yangtze, in the southwest. "In the last 10 years, two investigations have been carried out into construction in precious and unique national protection zones for fish in the lower reaches of the Jinsha river, and […]

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PetroChina Catches Exxon as World’s Most-Valuable Oil Company

Market values of PetroChina, Exxon since mid-2010 PetroChina Co. passed Exxon Mobil Corp. today as the biggest energy company by market value for the first time since 2010. As the attached chart shows, Exxon’s capitalization was $352.6 billion through yesterday, compared with PetroChina’s $352.8 billion as of 1:36 p.m. on Thursday in Shanghai. The Chinese company’s A shares surged about 61 percent the past year, versus Exxon’s 14 percent drop. PetroChina was larger by value most recently at the close of trading on June 25, 2010, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The Shanghai Composite Index has gained about 88 percent over the past year, the best performance among major indexes tracked by Bloomberg, amid speculation the central bank will extend cuts in borrowing costs and on increased use of leverage to buy stocks. The Chinese yuan has declined 0.1 percent versus the dollar the past year even as most […]

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Fed officials say June rate hike still in play, hinges on data

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve could still hike interest rates in June despite weak recent U.S. data and investor skepticism, two influential officials with the central bank said on Wednesday, putting the spotlight squarely on the economy’s performance in the next two months. Disappointing U.S. jobs growth, manufacturing activity, and retail sales over the winter had pushed market expectations for a rate hike to later in the year. June has long been seen as the earliest the Fed could tighten policy, after more than six years of near-zero rates. But New York Fed President William Dudley and Fed Governor Jerome Powell on Wednesday sketched out scenarios in which the central bank could make an initial move earlier than many now expect and then proceed in a slow and gradual manner on further rate increases. "I could imagine circumstances where a June rate hike could still be in […]

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Exxon, BP in Deal Spotlight After Shell Buys BG Group

Now that Royal Dutch Shell Plc has made its move for BG Group Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP Plc could contemplate deals — perhaps even with each other. Speculation of an Exxon-BP combination surfaced last year after oil prices declined sharply, increasing the appeal of big mergers that could yield massive cost savings. BP has largely put behind it the legal morass surrounding the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill. Still, the $124 billion company remains among the cheapest major producers relative to estimated profit, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. There are, of course, other targets for Exxon and BP that have gotten less expensive in recent months. Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., Pioneer Natural Resources Co., Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Tullow Oil Plc are among those that have risen to the top of analysts’ lists. Their market values span Tullow’s $4.2 billion to Occidental’s […]

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Shell’s Move Could Prompt Wave of Energy Sector Mergers

ENLARGE Shell logos are pictured on fuel pumps at a petrol station in west London on Jan. 29. Analysts said on Wednesday that the company’s $70 billion bid for Britain’s BG Group could prompt a new wave of mergers in the oil sector. Photo: Reuters LONDON— Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s nearly $70 billion offer for Britain’s BG Group PLC may be the starting gun for a wave of oil deals that analysts and bankers have been predicting since crude prices started to slump in June. “This could mark the beginning of a M&A rave, much like the one we saw in the late 1990s,” Augustin Eden, research analyst at Accendo Markets, said in a note. BG, with a market cap of about $46 billion, is likely the largest of the potential prey: small, midsize oil-and-gas companies that have been punished by oil prices that have halved over the past […]

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Canadian Dollar Down as Oil Slump, Fed Minutes Damp Interest

Dow Jones Newswires By David George-Cosh TORONTO–The Canadian dollar fell for the second-straight day Wednesday after a sudden drop in the price of crude oil and a positive view on U.S. economic conditions from Federal Reserve officials made the U.S. dollar more attractive than its major currency peers. The U.S. dollar was most recently at C$1.2544, from C$1.2505 late Tuesday, according to data provider CQG. The release of the Federal Reserve’s March policy-making meeting minutes showed officials had an optimistic view on U.S. labor conditions, which will could warrant a policy rate increase as early as June. While the Fed minutes provided the U.S. dollar with some steam, the Canadian dollar was also hit by further weakness in crude oil prices. Oil fell 6.0%, to $50.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Wednesday, the biggest drop in two months, after U.S. crude-oil stockpiles increased to its highest […]

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Summer gasoline prices to be down more than $1 from last summer

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook U.S. drivers are projected to pay an average of $2.45/gallon (gal) for regular grade gasoline this summer (April through September), according to EIA’s Short-Term Energy and Summer Fuels Outlook released yesterday. This year’s projected average summer price is down from a $3.59/gal average during summer 2014. The lower retail price this summer reflects a significant drop in world crude oil prices from last summer. As the main input cost in the refining process, crude oil is the major driver of retail gasoline prices, and U.S. gasoline prices tend to follow prices of the international benchmark Brent crude. For summer 2015, the Brent crude oil spot price is projected to average $58/barrel (bbl), which translates to $1.38/gal for the crude oil portion of the gasoline price. This oil price is down from a summer 2014 average of $106/bbl ($2.52/gal for the crude […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple