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NYMEX October natural gas settles 3.2 cents higher after supportive storage report

The NYMEX October natural gas futures contract settled 3.2 cents higher at $2.683/MMBtu on Thursday, following a supportive storage report. "This storage report is not exactly surprising but offers hope to bullish traders," said Aaron Calder, an analyst with Gelber & Associates. "In mid-August we learned that power generators can marshal demand when conditions get sufficiently hot. Both last week and this week were hot and we are seeing that additional marginal demand in the storage reports. However once that weather based demand fades we expect market balance to return to its previously oversupplied levels." US natural gas in storage rose 68 Bcf to 3.261 Tcf in the week ended September 4, the US Energy Information Administration said Thursday. That was below consensus expectations of an injection between 72 Bcf and 76 Bcf. It was also lower than the 90-Bcf injection reported at this time in 2014, but higher […]

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OPEC Sees Weak Oil Prices Through 2015

DOHA, Qatar—The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has become more pessimistic about the future of oil prices this year amid plentiful supplies and softening demand from China, the group’s members said this week. Persian Gulf OPEC members, the leaders behind group’s new strategy of letting market forces determine prices while pumping more to maintain customers, now believe prices won’t go much higher than they are now, if at all this year. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was trading between $47 and $48 a barrel in London on Thursday afternoon. One Persian Gulf country official told The Wall Street Journal that members see Brent trading between $40 and $50 a barrel through the end of 2015. Gulf OPEC members had expected prices to bounce back firmly to the $70 to $80 range at the end this year. Brent oil prices crashed to $42 a barrel in August, the lowest […]

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IEA sees U.S. oil output collapsing next year on low prices

Lower oil prices will force non-OPEC producers including the United States to cut output by the steepest rate in more than two decades next year, rebalancing an oversupplied oil market, the International Energy Agency said on Friday. The IEA, which advises the world’s biggest economies on energy policy, said global oil demand was poised to climb to a five-year high this year thanks to lower prices. It steeply revised its outlook for demand for oil from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The report is one of the most bullish for OPEC since the group shocked markets last year by deciding against cutting production, choosing to fight for market share and depress the output of higher-cost producers such as the United States. "The big story this month is one of tightening supply, with the spotlight firmly fixed on non-OPEC," the IEA said in its monthly report. "Oil’s price […]

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IEA Sees U.S. Shale Oil Output Shrinking in 2016 on Price Slump

U.S. shale oil production will drop 9 percent next year as a crude price below $50 a barrel “slams brakes” on years of supply growth, the International Energy Agency said. “Oil’s downward spiral to fresh six-year lows below $50 a barrel has dimmed the prospects for a recovery in U.S. drilling activity,” the Paris-based IEA said in its monthly market report Friday. “Unless oil prices bounce back in coming months, supply is forecast to fall by 385,000 barrels a day next year to 3.9 million barrels a day.” The forecast is a turnaround for the IEA, which only two months ago predicted U.S. shale oil output would increase by 60,000 barrels a day in 2016. Oil supply from producers outside OPEC will make the biggest contraction next year since 1992 as Saudi Arabia’s strategy to defend market share by pressuring rivals with lower prices takes effect, according to the […]

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Oil Supply Outside OPEC to Fall Most Since 1992, IEA Forecasts

Oil supplies outside OPEC will decline next year by the most in more than two decades as the price rout curbs U.S. shale output, according to the International Energy Agency. Production outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will fall by 500,000 barrels a day to 57.7 million in 2016, the Paris-based adviser said Friday in its monthly report. While fuel demand this year will be the strongest since 2010, record-high oil inventories in developed nations won’t start to diminish until the second half of next year, and the revival of Iranian exports with the removal of sanctions may swell supplies further, it said. Shrinking supplies outside OPEC show that Saudi Arabia’s strategy to defend the group’s market share by pressuring rivals with lower prices “appears to be having the intended effect,” the IEA said. Brent crude futures, a benchmark used around the world, slumped to a six-year low […]

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Non-Opec production faces biggest decline in more than 20 years

Sign up for quick access to a wealth of global business news, including: Non-Opec production faces biggest decline in more than 20 years Newspaper + Premium online Newspaper + Premium online Premium Full FT.com subscription Premium Full FT.com subscription Standard Full news & archive Standard Full news & archive Trial Try Premium online Trial Try Premium online Price Monthly Annual $66.30 $11.77 per week $53.00 $9.25 per week $36.00 $6.45 per week $1.00 for 4 weeks $1.00 for 4 weeks FT Alphaville plus selected FT blogs yes yes yes yes Unlimited FT.com article access yes yes yes yes Unlimited mobile and tablet access yes yes yes yes Unlimited fast FT yes yes yes yes 5 year company financials archive yes yes yes yes The LEX column yes yes no yes ePaper access yes yes no yes Three exclusive weekly emails yes yes no yes Daily newspaper delivery yes no […]

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Iran Gets Ready to Sell to the World

An Iranian oil tanker in Bandar Abbas, Iran, on July 4, 2012. Photographer: Thomas Erdbrink/The New York Times via Redux Before the most recent round of sanctions went into effect three years ago, Iran was able to sell oil to 21 countries. By mid-2012, that was down to six: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey. Rather than immediately pull back on production, and risk damaging oil wells by slowing them down, Iran decided to store its excess crude. As it scrambled to build onshore tanks, the government loaded millions of barrels onto its suddenly out-of-work fleet of crude-carrying vessels. The Iranians eventually reduced their oil output by about a third, to a low of 2.5 million barrels a day in mid-2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. As exports fell to 1 million to 1.5 million barrels a day, Iran kept filling its tankers with oil it […]

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Iraq to seek up to $500 million in loans from Islamic Development Bank

The country’s 2015 federal budget empowers the ministry of finance to draw additional financing from sources including the IDB, the prospectus said. Iraq will seek up to $500 million in loans from the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to help cover its projected deficit, complementing the country’s return to the international debt market , according to the bond’s prospectus. Baghdad wants to raise up to $6 billion in a series of dollar-denominated bonds, Iraq’s first in nine years, to fund salaries as well as infrastructure projects in the oil and gas, electricity and transportation sectors. The country’s 2015 federal budget empowers the ministry of finance to draw additional financing from sources including the IDB, the prospectus said. Out of the $500 million, $225 milion would be used for the development and renovation of a major trade corridor that links Iraq with neighbouring countries, the document said. The IDB originally […]

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Sanctions Debate Emerges From Shadow of Iran Nuclear Accord

WASHINGTON — President Obama, in advance of his victory in Congress on Thursday on the Iran nuclear deal, focused on centrifuge numbers, uranium stockpiles and the breakout time to build a bomb. But now, as the agreement is carried out, he will face a new battle over how stringently to impose economic sanctions on Iran. To reward Iran for imposing constraints on its nuclear program , the United States agreed to lift many of the crippling sanctions that have blocked the country’s integration into the world economy. But to win over wary Democrats, Mr. Obama promised that he would maintain — and perhaps even increase — sanctions to punish Iran for terrorism, human rights abuses and other “ destabilizing activities in the region .” Many lawmakers have indicated they would like to go further, and they are considering legislative proposals that include renewing the current sanctions against foreign companies […]

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Democrats Hand Victory to Obama on Iran Nuclear Deal

Photo The leading proponents of the Iran deal: President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry. Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats delivered a major victory to President Obama when they blocked a Republican resolution to reject a six-nation nuclear accord with Iran on Thursday, ensuring the landmark deal will take effect without a veto showdown between Congress and the White House. A procedural vote fell two short of the 60 needed to break a Democratic filibuster . It culminated hours of debate in the Senate and capped weeks of discord since the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China announced the agreement with Iran in July. The debate divided Democrats between their loyalties to the president and to their constituents, animated the antiwar movement on the left and exposed the diminishing power of the Israeli lobbying force that spent tens of millions of […]

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