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Abu Dhabi’s Taqa Cuts 22% of Jobs Amid Loss on Falling Oil Price

Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., the government-owned utility that produces crude from Canada to the U.K., has slashed 22 percent of its oil and gas jobs in the past year amid a loss due to tumbling global prices. The company known as Taqa plans to cut spending 2.5 billion dirhams ($681 million) this year after reducing capital expenditures by 1.05 billion dirhams in the first half, according to an e-mailed statement from the company on Thursday. Headcount at the Abu Dhabi headquarters is down 32 percent since July last year. Oil producers are cutting costs after Brent crude slumped 48 percent last year and is down another 13 percent this year. Taqa’s oil and gas production averaged 150,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the first six months, down 5 percent from a year earlier as revenue from the business slumped 48 percent. “While the current commodity price […]

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Scandals in Brazil Prompt Fears of a Return to Turmoil

Photo President Dilma Rousseff speaking in Brasília. Her approval rating has plunged since her re-election to a second term last year. Credit Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters RIO DE JANEIRO — The president is battling calls for her impeachment. The speaker of Brazil ’s lower house is grappling with accusations that he pocketed a $5 million bribe. The former treasurer of the governing Workers Party is in jail. Even former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil ’s most towering political leader in recent decades, is under the cloud of an investigation into claims of influence peddling. A sweeping anticorruption crusade in Brazil is ensnaring one major political figure after another, throwing the country into upheaval at a time when the national mood is souring and the economy is reeling from a painful downturn. Large segments of the political establishment are maneuvering against President Dilma Rousseff , a rebellion led by some […]

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CERI: Lower demand, prices may trim near-term oil sands spending

Lower crude oil prices and reduced demand resulting from a global economic downturn could reduce Canadian oil sands capital expenditures through 2017, the Canadian Energy Research Institute said. Production and capital outlays still are expected to increase well into the future, it emphasized in its latest Oil Sands Supply Update . Production from Canada’s oil sands reached 2.34 million b/d in 2014, 11% higher than 2013’s 2.08 million b/d, CERI’s 10th annual oil sands update said. “Production from oil sands includes an increasing share of Alberta’s and Canada’s crude oil production,” it noted. “In 2014, non-upgraded bitumen and [synthetic crude oil] production made up 58% of total Canadian crude production and 74% of Alberta’s total production.” CERI expects oil sands production to reach 3 million b/d by 2020, despite increased production and what it termed “market access challenges.” In addition to several in-situ projects or phases currently under way […]

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China’s Central Bank Defends Handling of Yuan Plunge

A Chinese yuan sign hangs at a currency-exchange shop in Hong Kong Tuesday. In a rare news conference on Thursday, Chinese central bank officials defended their handling of this week’s plunge in the yuan and reiterated that they see no reason for it to fall much further. The People’s Bank of China officials said the yuan would strengthen again once the market stabilizes, and said they see “no basis” for further depreciation. But investors have a different interpretation of Beijing’s move to devalue its currency by 1.9% on Tuesday and its attempt to give the market more sway in its trading level. Many expect a prolonged depreciation of the yuan and forecast bigger price swings as the central bank seeks to engineer its controlled weakening. In early trading Thursday, traders pushed the yuan down as much as 0.9% from its previous close to 6.4470 against the U.S. dollar. The […]

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Renminbi devaluation tests China’s commitment to free markets

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Devaluation Hints at China’s Rising Distress Over Economy

Photo Diners at a table lifted by a crane to a height of about 100 feet, with a view of a residential construction site in Kunming, China. Credit Wong Campion/Reuters HONG KONG — Whenever China’s economy swooned in recent downturns, its currency never buckled. It held steady, or strengthened, even as China’s neighbors or trading partners scrambled to cut the value of their own currencies to deal with the fallout. With the Chinese renminbi now taking its biggest plunge in decades, the worry is that the country’s already slowing economy is even worse off than reported and that the government is panicking. On Thursday, China allowed the renminbi to weaken significantly for a third consecutive day. The situation is shaking the aura of supremacy surrounding President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party, which has portrayed a sense of ultimate authority. But the Chinese government’s response to the country’s financial […]

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Oil vessel movement disrupted at China’s Tianjin port after blasts

Massive explosions in north China’s Tianjin port have suspended sea traffic in the nearby area but have not damaged oil facilities at the port, a source from the port who is responsible for oil loading and offloading told Platts Thursday. The blasts occurred in a warehouse storing dangerous and chemical goods in the port area of the city at midnight, local media reported. "Vessel movement along the sea route in Tianjin was suspended by the Maritime Safety Administration… Oil vessels are not allowed to enter or leave the port due to safety reasons," the source said. "But our facilities are safe and in good condition as they are a few kilometers away from the blasts, which allows normal discharging or loading of crude and oil products." The source said that vessel movement was expected to return to normal this afternoon. Article continues below… Dirty Tankerwire delivers the most important […]

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Indiana refinery outage escalates fears Cushing will top out

Concerns among oil traders are escalating that a combination of surprisingly resilient U.S. shale production and lower autumn refinery demand will cause storage tanks in Cushing, Oklahoma, to fill to the brim with surplus crude as early as October. The biggest U.S. refinery in the Midwest is suffering through an unexpected outage that may take months to resolve. The shutdown may free up enough crude to top off Cushing in just 2 months, a month earlier than the market expected as recently as last week, sparking a sell-off of oil futures spreads. "Looks like Cushing is going to be full in October now," said one oil trader. "That’s very bearish." The Sept/Oct spread, which settled at 49 cents on Friday, traded as wide as 82 cents on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Oct/Nov spread ballooned to an even wider $1.06 on Wednesday versus 75 cents on Friday. Spreads are often an […]

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U.S. gasoline spread surges most in years on refinery woes

A man gets gasoline at a BP station in St. Louis, Missouri January 14, 2015. The premium for U.S. gasoline prices over benchmark crude has surged by more than $6 in three days, its biggest such rise in more than four years, as a series of refinery disruptions toward the end of an unusually strong summer driving season squeeze supplies. U.S. RBOB gasoline futures jumped more than 4 percent on Wednesday, even as U.S. crude futures barely gained 0.5 percent, widening the so-called crack spread between the two to $31 a barrel intraday – nearly the highest level since 2013. Before this week, the spread had slipped to below $25 a barrel, near its lowest since February, as U.S. gasoline inventories remained at relatively comfortable seasonal levels and dealers anticipated a seasonal slowdown in demand. That changed in recent days, with at least three major refineries experiencing serious upsets […]

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North Sea Oil Defies Price Slump as Output Rises a Second Year

A person looks out towards an offshore gas platform operated by Statoil ASA in the North Sea. Photographer: Kristian Helgesen/Bloomberg The North Sea was thought to be the prime example of how the oil price slump hurt high-cost corners of the energy industry. Yet its crude output is defying the doomsayers. After an increase last year, the region’s production will rise again in 2015 to almost 3 million barrels a day, the first consecutive annual gains in 15 years, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday. The extra supply is entering a global market already “awash” with competing grades of oil, it said. The impact will be felt across the world because the North Sea — home of the Brent benchmark — plays an outsized role in the oil market. Even small gains in the region’s output can move prices significantly, according to consultant Energy Aspects Ltd. Production gains resulted […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple