Oil Prices NEWS

The price of petrol in South Africa is up to 81c a litre to R20.35, effective from 1 December. That is what you will pay for 95-octane petrol in Gauteng. Unleaded 93 is 22c per litre cheaper inland. The various taxes bundled into the petrol price comes to R6.25 per litre. For December, that represents 31% of the pump price for inland 95. The price of petrol itself, known as the basic fuel price or BFP, is at R9.74, or 48% of the total price at the pump. The remainder is made up of a dealer margin, now at 11.52% of the total, a further wholesale margin of 2.24%, and charges related to handling and storage

The decision to increase the rates of petroleum levy and GST was taken in line with commitments given to the International Monetary Fund, otherwise the prices should have gone down by Rs8-9 per litre in line with decline in international prices. A part of this reduction was consumed by exchange rate loss while the government absorbed about Rs6 per litre reduction through combined increase in petroleum levy and GST rates. A straight increase of Rs4 per litre on petrol and high speed diesel (HSD) was affected through increase in petroleum levy of about Rs2 per liter and through GST.

Retailers are overcharging by as much as 12p per litre for petrol and 10p per litre for diesel, according to the RAC. The motoring body claims that oil prices fell by around 10 US dollars a barrel on Friday in response to concerns about the Omicron coronavirus variant. But it said this is yet to be reflected at the pumps. RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams estimated that retailers are making a "shocking" 19p profit on every litre of fuel they sell, more than treble the pre-pandemic figure of 6p.

Rising oil prices are here to stay according to JPMorgan, with the bank estimating that Brent prices could hit $US150 ($AU210)/bl in 2023 as the OPEC+ cartel control supply and defend higher prices. That means the Biden administrations release of strategic petroleum reserves will have little impact on the underlying price of oil, as was made clear in the initial price reaction in oil last week after the government flooded the market with 50 million barrels.

A drop in oil prices this large was last seen in January/February 2020, when WTI was making its way down to unprecedented negative per barrel territory. No one expects oil to veer this low again, but the comparison to 2020 is apt, with Coronavirus responsible for the commodity's downfall on both occasions.

LONDON/MOSCOW, Nov 26 (Reuters) - OPEC+ is monitoring developments around the new coronavirus variant, sources said on Friday, with some expressing concern that it may worsen the oil market outlook less than a week before a meeting to set policy. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, is already facing a release of oil stocks led by the United States to try to cool prices. Still, a source said Russia, a key OPEC+ member, was not concerned about the virus variant yet.

Petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged for the 22nd consecutive day on November 26 after the Central government cut the excise duty on the two fuels to bring down retail rates from record highs, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. The government cut excise duty on petrol by Rs 5 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 10 a litre on November 3 to give relief to consumers battered by record-high retail fuel prices. The November 4 decline took the price of petrol in Delhi to Rs 103.97 a litre. The price remained the same on November 26. Diesel price also stayed unchanged at Rs 86.67 per litre on the day.

Crude oil and natural gas production in the Eagle Ford shale play, situated in southeast Texas, dropped by almost 35% and 20%, respectively, in May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to GlobalData. The data and analytics company notes that, despite a recent sustained upswing in WTI crude oil prices, with prices hovering over US$70 per barrel, production of both crude oil and natural gas is failing to show signs of a major increase. In order to reverse the production trend, it is estimated that an additional US$1.5 billion of investment is required to increase production by 10% by the end of next year.

MELBOURNE :Oil prices fell on Tuesday, reversing gains in the previous session, on growing talk the United States, Japan and India will release crude reserves to tame prices despite the threat of demand faltering as COVID-19 cases flare up in Europe. The United States is expected to announce a loan of crude oil from its emergency stockpile on Tuesday as part of a plan it hashed out with major Asian energy consumers to lower energy prices, a Biden administration source familiar with the situation said.

High oil prices are a symptom of economic and monetary imbalances, not just a consequence of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decisions. Throughout history, we have seen how OPEC cuts have done little to elevate prices when diversification and technology added to rising efficiency. Likewise, OPEC output increases do not necessarily mean lower prices, let alone reasonable ones. Increased OPEC output helps but does not solve price issues, even if they would probably like to.

"(Bloomberg) - Oil was on track to post its biggest weekly drop since August as Europe’s worsening Covid-19 crisis renewed the prospect of lockdowns just as key consuming nations look to add emergency supply to the market. The January futures contract in New York tumbled as much as 4.2% on Friday. Brent fell as much as 3.9%. The wave of infections in Europe is growing, once again raising the prospect of restrictions on mobility and a hit to oil demand. Austria imposed a lockdown while Germany introduced some restrictions. Both benchmarks are also set to decline for the fourth straight week."

America’s right-leaning oil industry has little political will to help President Joe Biden lower energy prices by raising production. But there’s another reason why Texas wildcatters are refusing to help: the status quo is just so profitable.

As the Biden Administration considers ways to lower the price of gasoline in the United States, which is now at a seven-year high, it faces calls from Democrats to weigh all possibilities, including the "nuclear option" to reimpose a ban on U.S. crude oil exports. Analysts and industry professionals don't see a ban happening, but even the unlikely event of the Administration moving to ban crude exports would not reduce prices at the pump. On the contrary, gasoline prices could rise further, they say.

Resource-poor Japan, a major importer of crude oil and natural gas, is increasingly concerned that the rally in oil prices would slow the global economic recovery, a senior government official told the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) this week. Hikariko Ono, Director General of Economic Affairs Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, “expressed concern over the rapid surge in crude oil prices, which could hamper the global economic recovery from COVID-19,” Japan’s foreign ministry said in a statement after a video conference between Ono and the IEA’s Executive Director Fatih Birol.

NEW YORK, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose to a two-week high on Tuesday after the United States lifted travel restrictions and other signs of a global post-pandemic recovery boosted the demand outlook, while supply remained tight.

LONDON (Bloomberg) --The United Arab Emirates said oil prices would be even higher today if it wasn’t for OPEC+, signaling the group will continue resisting U.S. pressure to pump faster. “Fortunately, we have OPEC+,” UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al-Mazrouei said Monday at the Africa Oil Week conference in Dubai. The 23-nation alliance of major crude exporters has prevented “us from having double or triple the prices and that’s something we need to appreciate.

After around forty years of making a living from financial markets in one way or another, I am not often left scratching my head these days. I may not agree with every move, but I can usually see the logic behind them. This week’s big drop in oil prices, on the other hand, mystifies me. I can, I suppose, see that it was a “buy the rumor, sell the fact” kind of thing, but the timing of the move and its complete disregard of news that positively impacts fundamental factors was a bit puzzling.

The global supply chain disruptions that have fueled inflation alongside rebounding demand for everything have been in the spotlight for weeks now. Although little attention has been paid to the effect of these disruptions on the oil and gas industry, it is certainly not insulated. And these disruptions could add further upside potential to oil prices. The American Trucking Association has calculated a shortage of 80,000 drivers that the industry needs to keep delivering goods on time. But it’s not just finished goods that truckers deliver.