OIL NEWS

ONGC, Bharat Petroleum, Indian Oil, and Oil India have also held preliminary discussions among themselves to evaluate buying BP's 20% stake in Russian energy giant Rosneft.

Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani are profiting from a surge in global commodity prices triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, burnishing their fossil-fuel credentials even as Asia’s richest men publicly push their pivots toward greener energy. With coal prices skyrocketing to a record, Adani’s conglomerate is expanding a controversial mine in Australia to meet demand.

Brent crude futures were up $1.15, or 1.0 per cent, at $113.08 a barrel at 0042 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed $1.62, or 1.4 per cent, to $114.02 a barrel, paring some losses after oil prices fell by around 2 per cent in the previous session.

According to preliminary readings from CME Group for crude oil futures markets, traders added around 18.3K contracts to their open interest positions on Thursday. Volume, instead, shrank for the second session in a row, this time by nearly 96K contracts.

While the Ukraine crisis was raising anxiety about Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas, something remarkable happened. Last month, for the first time ever, U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas to Europe exceeded Russia’s pipeline deliveries.

Oil prices rose Monday as the market kicked off 2022 on a positive note, although concerns over demand waning due to rapidly spreading Covid-19 pandemic limited gains. Brent crude added 67 cents, or 0.86 per cent, to $78.45 a barrel, as of 5.32 am. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 77 cents, or 1.02 per cent, to $75.98 a barrel. Last year, oil prices rose around 50 per cent, spurred by the global economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic slump and producer restraint, even as infections reached record highs worldwide.

Democrats want oil prices to be higher because they think it will make their energy alternatives more viable, Steve Forbes said on Sunday. Speaking on "The Cats Roundtable" radio show on WABC 770 AM hosted by John Catsimatidis, the economist, publisher and former presidential candidate said that the Biden Administration does not take actions to significantly lower oil prices, as "they secretly want high oil and gas prices… because they think that will make their energy alternatives — so-called renewables — i.e. wind power… and solar — more viable." He lamented that these higher energy prices mean "a higher cost and a lower standard of living" for the American people.

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – A signing ceremony took place for the preliminary principles agreement for the Al-Faw Investment Project and the Petrochemical Complex. The contract was signed by the Director General of South Refineries Company, Hussam Hussein Wali, on behalf of the Ministry of Oil, and Yu Fang Chunk, General Manager of Hualu Company, on behalf of the Chinese side. The agreement was signed in Baghdad, Iraq. The Al-Faw Investment Refinery Project is expected to bring in a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day. Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail, Minister of Oil, said that the mega project will improve the role of Iraq in the manufacturing and petrochemical industries and contribute to sustainable development, adding that the project value is between $7-8 billion dollars and could increase up to $29 billion dollars. According to the Ministry of Oil, Ismail emphasized that this contract is the largest in the Iraqi energy industry and will enhance the role of Iraq in this field.

The House of Representatives yesterday asked the Federal Government to recover about N2.6 trillion allegedly owed it by 77 oil and gas companies operating in the country. The House also set up an Adhoc committee headed by its Deputy Chief Whip,. Nkiruka Onyejeocha, to reconcile what the federal government and oil companies owe each other as joint venture cash calls. Besides, it called for a proper inventory of the assets and liabilities of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and its subsidies before their transfer to the newly incorporated NNPC Limited. The House, therefore, directed the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to provide the data needed to facilitate the recovery of the debts from the oil firms. The requests were made during debates on two separate motions

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), has outlined action plans to deal with the recent oil spill in Santa Barbara, Nembe, Bayelsa at an AITEO facility, as investigations into the cause of the spill continues.

After a difficult year in the oil world, Total is planning to invest in India's solar sector going into the next decade. The French company plans to invest $2.5 billion for a 20 percent stake in Adani Green Energy Ltd., the world's largest solar developer.The share of solar power-produced electricity has increased significantly in recent years, currently at around 22 percent, up from around 10 percent in 2014-15.

Saudi Arabia narrowly beat Russia to hold onto the title of the single largest oil supplier to the world's biggest oil importer, China, in 2020.For most of last year, Saudi Arabia and Russia, were head-to-head in a very close race. In the end, Saudi Arabia edged past Russia, shipping on average 1.69 million barrels per day of oil to China.

Incoming US president Joe Biden has drawn up a list of changes he will make on “day one” of his presidency. Biden has pledged significant changes to oil and gas leasing for US operators, but this legislation would need to pass through the US congress.This includes changes to oil and gas policies made by previous president Donald Trump.

Joe Biden’s move to block the $9 billion Keystone XL project is the clearest sign yet that constructing a major new pipeline in the U.S. has become an impossible task. Even before Biden’s inauguration, the oil and gas industry was on its back foot when it came to building major new infrastructure.

Oil companies in Nigeria have tightened their security amidst several protests in the region. The oil companies' decision to slack off more employees might have aggravated problems of pipeline tapping, illegal oil refining, and pirate attacks in the region. Polices' brutality also triggered the riots and looting in the last month. The rising unemployment rate and recent layoffs are expected to continue this tension for a longer period.

OPEC+ might decide to postpone a 2 million barrel-a-day production increase which was scheduled for January. The final decision for the same won't be made until the complete wrap-up of the OPEC+ meeting, scheduled from Nov 30 to Dec 1. While addressing the conference Prince Abdulaziz said - "Vaccine development was good news but was counterbalanced by a surge in cases in the second wave of infections and there is still a long way to go".

Alberta will be implementing a new automated system, known as Integrated Decision Approach (IDA) which will be fully operational by 2021. It will help the companies to submit only one application to cover the life of a project while earlier, separate applications were used for different project activities. It is operated by Alberta Energy Regulator and the companies of Alberta have saved $107 million so far, informed the government.

Iran and Iraq have started oil swapping under the swap deal inked between the two countries. The deal was signed in 2017, under which Iraq is about to truck 60,000 bpd of crude oil to Iran, covering all transport costs, via Kirkuk strategic route. Iran, from its end, will deliver to Iraq’s clients through its Kharg terminal in the Persian Gulf, in equal volumes with the same quality.