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Oil products fill storage tanks and cast doubt over crude demand
The levels of diesel, gasoline and heating oil in storage tanks in Europe this week are so high they are causing delivery backlogs and are casting doubt on whether demand for oilto be refined can be sustained. High levels of oil product stocks have plagued the market for months but the increase seen this week in Europe has come despite a series of factors that should be reducing gasoline and distillate inventories. French refineries have been hit by strikes over the past few weeks causing shutdowns, it has become unprofitable to ship diesel to Europe from the United States and demand typically climbs in the summer months as holidaymakers take to their cars. However, PJK International, a Dutch consultancy that tracks independent storage in Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) hub, said gasoil stocks rose by more than 4 percent this week. Industry monitor Genscape also recorded a nearly 4 percent rise […]
Big Oil’s $45B Of New Projects Signal Spending Revival
Two projects worth $45 billion announced this month show the world’s largest oilcompanies are regaining the confidence to make big investments, emboldened by rising crude prices and low costs that promise to trigger more expansion ahead. (Bloomberg) – Two projects worth $45 billion announced this month show the world’s largest oilcompanies are regaining the confidence to make big investments, emboldened by rising crude prices and low costs that promise to trigger more expansion ahead. Chevron Corp. gave the go-ahead to a $37 billion expansion in Kazakhstan, the industry’s biggest undertaking since crude started tumbling two years ago. BP Plc signed off on the $8 billion expansion of a liquefied natural gas plant in Indonesia. Two more big projects are likely to get a green light this year, according to industry consulting firm Wood Mackenzie Ltd. and Jefferies International Ltd. — BP’s Mad Dog Phase 2 in the […]
Argentina’s ruling party warns of economic fallout without gas price hike
Argentina’s court-ordered suspension of natural gas price hikes could slam consumers with faster inflation and higher taxes, a ruling-party leader warned Friday while also calling on the Supreme Court to intervene as social tension swells. “If there are no increases, the cost of energy will be paid with taxes and resources of the Treasury, and this will generate inflation,” Federico Pinedo, the Senate’s provisional president, said on Radio Mitre. Pinedo spoke a day after a federal court suspended the 400%-500% increases in gas bills nationally, arguing that the conservative government of President Mauricio Macri failed to hold public hearings for the hikes, as required by law. Pinedo said the increases are needed to encourage investment for rebuilding energy supplies after a decade of decline. Article Continues below… Every day, Platts Energy Trader provides a unique perspective on the energy marketplace, including comprehensive coverage of both the natural gas and […]
NASA Data Shows Toxic Air Threat Choking Indian Subcontinent
Geography, climate worsen haze across the Indo-Gangetic plain Cities such as New Delhi being left to battle to clean air The mega-city of New Delhi has tried everything from banning diesel guzzling SUVs to taking about half the city’s cars off the streets in a fight against air pollution. Officials may yet have to do much, much more, based on National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellite research. The research depicts how much sunlight is blocked by airborne particles, providing a proxy for levels of pollution. The data show parts of the Indo-Gangetic plain — stretching across northern India from eastern Pakistan on one side to Bangladesh on the other — suffer some of the planet’s worst haze in October through January after monsoon rains end in September. Close all those tabs. Open this email. Get Bloomberg’s daily newsletter. Politics The latest politicalnews, analysis, charts, and dispatches from the […]
Controversy over Saudi oil reserves
Rystad Energy, a small Norwegian oil and gas data firm released a contentious study several days ago, which concluded the US held more recoverable oil reserves than both Saudi Arabia and Russia. Although Rystad underlined that “more than 50 per cent of remaining [American] oil reserves is unconventional shale oil,” with an estimated 60 billion barrels in Texas alone, serious environmental and health risks were associated with their extraction. Still, the report raised highly controversial points about Saudi holdings, and opined that Riyadh will not be able to extract and export its black gold for very long. The question was not new, and while many wondered whether Saudi Arabia would soon run out, this was mostly fiction. Of course, state secrecy meant that few outsiders knew with any degree of accuracy what the country’s actual reserves were, and what were the correct total production levels to date. According to […]
