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Russia’s Lukoil sells China its stake in Kazakh oil producer

Kazakh government expects oil boom once troubled Kashagan oil field resumes operations. Photo courtesy North Caspian Operating Co. MOSCOW, Aug. 21 (UPI) — Russia’s Lukoil said it sold its stake in a Kazakh oil producer to a rival in Beijing just as China’s economy falters and Kazakhstan’s gets a $1 billion loan. The Russian company said it sold its 50 percent in oil producer Caspian Investments Resources to Sinopec, a rival company based in China, for $1 billion, giving the Chinese oil company full control . The Caspian producer plays a role in the development of five separate fields in Kazakhstan. Lukoil said cumulative production since 2006 has amounted to 95 million barrels of crude oil and around 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The investment from Sinopec comes amid a slowdown in the Chinese economy. To stave off declines, the Chinese government devalued the national currency. This […]

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Statoil’s Polarled pipeline becomes first to cross Arctic Circle

Norwegian energy company Statoil passes Arctic Circle during construction phase of new Polarled natural gas pipeline. Image courtesy of Statoil. STAVANGER, Norway, Aug. 21 (UPI) — Norwegian energy company Statoil said Friday a pipelaying vessel passed a milestone with construction of the Polarled gas pipeline crossing the Arctic Circle. "The Polarled gas pipeline crossed 66 degrees and 33 minutes north of the equator and became the first pipeline to cross the Arctic Circle," the company said in a statement. "This pipeline will open an entirely new gas highway from the Norwegian Sea to Europe." Statoil started the process of laying the 300-mile long pipeline from the Aasta Hansteen natural gas field in the Norwegian Sea in March. Its aim is to cross the Arctic Circle to a gas processing plant in the northwest of the country. It’s the first large-diameter pipeline of its kind to be placed in waters […]

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Oil Falls in Asia After Weak Chinese Manufacturing Data

A tanker vessel sat moored outside a plant in Shunan, Japan, on July 20. Oil prices resumed their downward trajectory in Asian trade on Friday following weak Chinese manufacturing data, as markets remain jittery due to concerns about global economic growth. U.S. oil prices reversed overnight gains pressured by rising supply levels and are still vulnerable to falling below the key psychological price level of $40 a barrel. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in October recently traded at $40.80 a barrel, down $0.52 in the Globex electronic session. October Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.52 to $46.10 a barrel. Early Friday, the preliminary Caixin China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, a gauge of nationwide manufacturing activity, fell to a 77-month low in August to 47.1, compared with a final reading of 47.8 in July. “Today’s weaker-than-expected PMI will add to […]

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Stocks, oil tumble as grim China PMI sparks growth fears

A man walks past a display showing stock prices in Tokyo August 12, 2015. Global stocks tumbled on Friday after a survey showed Chinese factories contracted at their fastest pace since the depth of the global financial crisis in 2009, sending investors scurrying to the safety of bonds and gold. Oil prices and emerging market assets also took a hammering, as fears of a China-led deceleration in global growth gripped markets. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was down 2.1 percent to its lowest since July 27, 2012. Markets in countries whose economic fortunes were closely linked to China’s growth tumbled. Japan’s Nikkei .N225 lost 2 percent and South Korea’s Kospi .KS11 shed 2.2 percent. The mood in markets, already soured by overnight weakness on Wall Street, darkened further on a grim reading of China’s factory activity. The Caixin/Markit manufacturing index showed activity in China’s factory […]

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Oil Futures Fall, WTI Crude Hovers Near $40 a Barrel

Crude-oil futures fell in Asian trade Thursday after a surprise buildup in U.S. oil stockpiles and persistent oversupply concerns. Nymex oil futures edged closer to the $40 a barrel mark, after dropping to fresh six-year lows in the previous session, and analysts say a breach of this support level could pressure oil prices further. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September traded at $40.50 a barrel at 0332 GMT, down $0.30 in the Globex electronic session. October Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.28 to $46.88 a barrel. Nymex crude lost 4.3% in the last trading session, settling at the lowest in since March 2, 2009. Brent crude lost 3.4% in the last session and has been down for four of the past five sessions. U.S. oil prices in particular are under pressure after a surprise 2.6 million-barrel increase in […]

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Oil prices dip further after U.S. stock-build, Saudi export rise

A drop of diesel is seen at the tip of a nozzle after a fuel station customer fills her car’s tank in Sint Pieters Leeuw December 5, 2014. Oil prices fell again on Thursday as supplies rose both in North America and the Middle East, with U.S. contracts hovering slightly above $40 per barrel, levels not seen since the credit crunch of 2009, and globally traded Brent falling below $47. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil already slumped over 4 percent on Wednesday to hit a 6-1/2-year low as a huge unexpected stockpile build in the United States reinforced concerns about a growing global oil glut. U.S. crude inventories rose 2.6 million barrels last week to 456.21 million barrels, the government’s Energy Information Administration said. Supplies were also added from Canada, which increased exports to the United States by more than 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) over the […]

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No End in Sight for Oil Glut

When oil prices started to edge down a year ago, most energy mavens thought the drop would be small and short-lived. Instead, the price of crude has plunged by almost 60% from its 2014 peak—and suddenly looks likely to stay low for months and maybe years to come. The reason: In the global battle for market share, nobody has backed down. Nobody has even blinked. Not Saudi Arabia, not the U.S., and not even troubled producers from Russia to Iraq. Everyone who can seems locked into pumping as much oil as possible. Far from going out of business, American oil companies have stunned their global rivals by maintaining or even adding production as U.S. prices nose-dived from $100 a barrel to $70 late last year to, as of Thursday, just above $40. Even more surprisingly, the Saudis have actually increased their production in the face of falling prices, in […]

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Oil Poised for Longest Weekly Losing Streak Since 1986 Amid Glut

Russian Oil Drilling And Pumping Operations At Tatneft OAO Oilfield Oil headed for the longest run of weekly declines in almost three decades on signs the supply glut that drove prices to a six-year low will be prolonged. Futures fell as much as 1.6 percent in New York, set for an eighth weekly drop. The U.S. pumped crude in July at the fastest pace for the month since at least 1920, the American Petroleum Institute reported Thursday. The nation’s stockpiles are almost 100 million barrels above the five-year seasonal average, weekly government data showed Wednesday. Oil has slumped more than 30 percent since this year’s closing peak in June amid speculation the global surplus will persist. Leading members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are maintaining output, while Citigroup Inc. predicts crude may slide to as low as $32 a barrel , a level last seen during the […]

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Feels like 1986: Oil on track for longest weekly losing streak in 29 years

A customer holds a nozzle to fill up his tank in a gasoline station in Nice December 5, 2014. Oil prices resumed their downward trend on Friday pulled lower by weaker global stock markets and a sharp contraction in China’s manufacturing activity, with the U.S. benchmark on track for its longest weekly losing streak since 1986. Activity in China’s factory sector shrank at its fastest pace in almost 6-1/2 years in August as domestic and export demand dwindled, adding to worries about lower demand for crude in the world’s second biggest oil consumer. Asian stocks also fell on Friday, following Wall Street down as fears took hold of a China-led deceleration in global growth. [MKTS/GLOB] Key oil benchmarks were trading near 6-1/2 year lows, with the U.S benchmark headed for its eighth straight weekly decline, the longest weekly losing streak since 1986. In late 1985, oil prices slumped to […]

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Global Climate Deal Under Threat

BRUSSELS—A planned global deal to keep average temperatures from rising more than two degrees Celsius to contain climate change is under threat unless more countries submit emission-reduction targets and technical negotiations are substantially accelerated, the European Union’s energy and climate commissioner warned Thursday. “The window of opportunity…is closing fast,” Miguel Arias Cañete said. With just over three months to go until the Paris Climate Conference, which is meant to come up with a follow-up deal for the Kyoto Protocol, just 56 out of more than 190 countries, representing 61% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, have submitted targets for reducing these emissions, Mr. Cañete said. While that is up from the 35 states that submitted targets under the Kyoto deal, proposals are still missing from some big economies, including Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. “There are big economies that should come on board.” Mr. Cañete said. The EU […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple