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Commerce Department denied several US crude oil exchange applications: official

Several US companies have sought permission from the Obama administration to export crude oil to European, Asian, African and Latin American countries, but have been rejected because they have failed to qualify for strict exemptions to long-standing crude export restrictions, a key administration official said Thursday. These companies, many of whom sought exchanges with countries similar to a 75,000 b/d exchange announced by Mexico’s Pemex this week, were not allowed to export US crude to several other countries because they could not prove the oil could not be marketed in the US, the US Commerce Department’s Matthew Borman said during an Argus conference in Houston. US law "favors" crude exchanges, or swaps, with Canada and Mexico, but only allows swaps to other countries if certain conditions are met, said Borman, the deputy assistant secretary of commerce for export administration with Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security. One of these […]

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Oil Companies Curtail Spending on Everything – Except Dividends

Oil executives are standing by promises to protect dividend payouts from the collapse in crude prices even as they fire workers, cancel drilling projects and sell everything. (Bloomberg) — Oil executives are standing by promises to protect dividend payouts from the collapse in crude prices even as they fire workers, cancel drilling projects and sell everything from oil fields to aircraft to conserve cash. Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s biggest oil explorer, declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday that will raise the 2015 payout for the 33rd straight year. Within hours of Exxon’s announcement, Chevron Corp. disclosed a payout that will boost its annual remittance for a 28th straight year. Oil producers as diverse as Britain’s BP Plc, Norway’s Statoil ASA, and ConocoPhillips and Occidental Petroleum Corp. of the U.S. are following the same track, maintaining or lifting dividends while curtailing other sorts of investments to cope with crude […]

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Keystone Remains Locked: Elections Most Likely to Decide its Future

Years of politicking has held up construction of Keystone XL pipeline, but the political winds are shifting and the heavy crude is making its way to refineries by other means. For the last seven-plus years, TransCanada Corp. executives have racked up frequent flyer points and probably worn out several dress shoes trying to convince Americans to get onboard with their proposed Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline. Various iterations of the route have been bandied about between politicians, engineers and business leaders. Town halls have cropped up throughout the mid-continent. And harsh words have been exchanged in the news and likely in closed-door meetings. And yet almost a decade later, barrels of Canada’s heavy oil sands have made their way to the Gulf Coast by hook or by crook – or, more often by rail or by truck – and the KXL remains in limbo. Keystone had actually faded from the […]

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Marathon Oil Is First Major Shale Producer to Cut Dividend

Marathon Oil becomes the first major shale producer to cut its quarterly dividend, reducing it by 76% in an effort to prop up cash holdings as oil prices hold below $50 a barrel. (Bloomberg) — Marathon Oil Corp. became the first major shale producer to cut its quarterly dividend, reducing it by 76 percent in an effort to prop up cash holdings as oil prices hold below $50 a barrel. The move signals that oil producers’ priorities may be shifting again as the downturn drags on another year. Companies’ zeal to protect their dividends from deep cost cuts has come at the expense of growth as investment in future production was reeled back. With the prolonged market rout, even dividends won’t be invincible, said Carl Larry, head of oil and gas for Frost & Sullivan LP. “When you see major companies cutting dividends, that’s telling you things are bad,” […]

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Eni Swings to Net Loss on Low Oil Prices

MILAN— Eni E -1.19 % SpA said Thursday that it swung to a net loss in the third quarter as low oil prices reduced the profitability of the Italian company’s core oil and gas exploration business and another unit posted a large loss. The net loss in the three months to end-September was €952 million ($1.05 billion) compared with a net profit of €1.71 billion in the same period last year. Revenue declined by almost a third to €18.81 billion. Like its competitors, Eni is grappling with what industry executives and analysts say will be a sustained period of low oil prices. Brent, the global benchmark, averaged $50 a barrel in the quarter compared with double that in the same period last year. Cost cuts and a reduction in its dividend announced in March have helped Eni weather the two-thirds drop in the profitability of its oil and gas […]

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Russia Oil Production Poised for Record as Industry Defies Slump

Russian oil output is poised to break a post-Soviet record for the fourth time this year as the nation’s producers once again prove themselves resilient to a slump in crude prices. Production of crude and a light oil called condensate is on track to reach 10.77 million barrels a day in October, topping the previous month’s revised figure and setting a record for the second month running, according to Bloomberg estimates based on Energy Ministry data. Russian production has withstood a collapse in oil prices amid a global supply glut, while output in the U.S. has fallen about 5 percent from its June peak. Oil-extraction and export tax rates shrink in Russia at lower prices, giving companies a buffer against the slump, while the weaker ruble has reduced costs . “Russian oil companies are insulated from oil price corrections,” said Artem Konchin, an oil and gas analyst at Otkritie […]

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Eni: $55 per barrel oil what we need

Italian energy company Eni said it’s managed to maneuver effectively during a weakened crude oil market. File photo by num_skyman/UPI MILAN, Italy, Oct. 29 (UPI) — Italian energy company Eni said it would be able to cover its operational plans for 2015 assuming an average oil price of around $55 per barrel. Eni boasted of a strong track record , including wading into new territory in Mexico, for the third quarter and for 2015 so far. The company in October won all of the shares in three oil fields included under what the Mexican government categorized as Area 1 during a government auction. Eni said the combined reserves for the three fields are approximately 800 million barrels of oil and 480 billion cubic feet of associated gas. In August, the company announced the discovery of 30 trillion cubic feet of natural gas off the Egyptian coast, the largest discovery […]

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New European gas line inching forward

Pipeline consortium planning to send non-Russian gas to the European market says work is on pace to start construction by next year. Photo courtesy of Trans-Adriatic Pipeline AG BAAR, Switzerland, Oct. 29 (UPI) — A pipeline consortium planning to send more non-Russian gas to the European market said it was on pace to start consortium by next year. The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline consortium announced it awarded a contract to Salzgitter Mannesmann International, a leader in European steel, to provide 48-inch pipelines for the onshore sections of the planned gas artery through southern Europe. TAP is slated to transport natural gas from the second phase of the Shah Deniz natural gas field off the coast of Azerbaijan as early as 2019. BP, leading Azeri developments alongside a state-backed energy company, has awarded more than $1 billion in development contracts since selecting the TAP as its option for Shah Deniz in 2013. […]

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Norway looks for silver lining in weak oil climate

Statistics office in Norway searching for bright spots in an economy burdened by the ongoing decline in crude oil prices. File photo by A.J. Sisco/UPI OSLO, Norway, Oct. 29 (UPI) — Though lower crude oil prices continue to drag on the Norwegian economy, the government said it expects some form of recovery by late 2016. A publication from Statistics Norway said oil prices are expected to remain low, spelling trouble for an economy that relies heavily on oil and gas for export revenue. The government said the depressed industry should result in a reduction in investment volume by about 30 percent through a five-year period ending in 2018. The statistics office said mainland gross domestic product increased by less than 1 percent between the second quarter of 2014 and the second quarter of 2015. Unemployment, meanwhile, has increased by about 1 percent year-on-year. "The fall in demand from the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple