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Lebanon Gets Seismic As Israel Prepares To Develop Massive Gas Field
Seismic surveys now show that Lebanon’s portion of the prolific Levant Basin is showing promising oil and gas reserves, as the country lags far behind Israel in tapping into this Mediterranean hydrocarbon wealth. After years of delay, Lebanon’s petroleum authority has finally obtained seismic surveys—tasked as far back as 2002—showing that oil reservoirs in the southern region, particularly in Blocks 8 and 9, could have significant potential. Surveys obtained by the petroleum authority have now been submitted to Lebanon’s Speaker, Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Energy Minister Arthur Nazarian, according to Lebanese media reports . The reports claim to reveal new information proving the presence of oil, most prominently in Block 8. While Lebanon has delayed key legislation that would allow exploration of the Levant Basin to move forward—due largely to a failure to reach a political quorum—Israel’s recent move to authorize the development of […]Hedge funds added to bullish oil bets just before plunge on Brexit
Hedge funds betting on summer gasoline demand raised their bullish bets on U.S. crude futures this week, just before the market’s crash on Friday on Britain’s shock decision to leave the European Union, trade data showed. Money managers, including hedge funds and other big speculators, boosted their combined net longs in U.S. crude futures and options in both New York and London by 18,000 contracts to 216,003 contracts in the week to June 21, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed. It was the first rise in three weeks in net longs held by the group as U.S. crude’s benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures began to rise toward the psychological $50 a barrel mark after choppy trades the previous fortnight. But the higher price wagers appeared ill-timed given WTI’s 5 percent plunge on Friday to settle at $47.64 after the unexpected British exit, or Brexit, […]
Oil Glut Is Fading Where You Would Least Expect: Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, a country nearly synonymous with plentiful crude supplies, is offering one of the strongest signs yet that the glut that has plagued the oil market since 2014 is coming to an end. Despite near record production, the kingdom’s oil inventories have declined for six consecutive months, the longest stretch since the Joint Organisations Data Initiative started tracking Saudi supply levels nearly 15 years ago. “The drop in Saudi crude stocks signals the rebalancing has started,” said Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at consulting firm Energy Aspects Ltd. in London. “Crude stocks are coming off in places where either the data is opaque or the market isn’t paying as much attention.” With oiltraders focusing on supply changes in the U.S. and to a lesser extent in Europe and Japan, the drop in Saudi inventories has gone largely unnoticed. Since October, when Saudi supplies reached a record high, […]
Southern California Time Bomb: The Ground Surrounding The San Andreas Fault Is ‘Rising And Sinking’
If you reside on the west coast, you are living on borrowed time. As you will see below, stress has been building up along the San Andreas fault for more than a century, and scientists tell us that southern California is way overdue for a major earthquake. When that stress is finally released, the U.S. Geological Survey says that we could be looking at hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. If you follow my work regularly, then you already know that there has been unusual shaking all along the “Ring of Fire” so far in 2016. But thankfully the west coast of the United States has been spared from a major disaster up to this point. Unfortunately, scientists assure us that it is only a matter of time before one strikes, and that is why it is so alarming that the ground surrounding the San Andreas fault has […]
Oil Markets Caught By Surprise
Oil Rig And as the world comes to terms with the news that the U.K. has voted to leave the E.U., the oil market is getting a wop bop a loo bop a lop bam walloped. Hark, here are five more energy-specific things to consider today: 1) Energy commodities are getting crushed as a result of the Brexit vote…although one is doing well: U.K. natural gas (aka NBP). Given it is denominated in pounds, and that the pound has been clobbered to its lowest level since 1985 (think: The Goonies, The Breakfast Club, Wham! with ‘careless whisper’ and ‘wake me up before you go-go’), it has suddenly become much cheaper in foreign currency terms. Given the U.K. is connected to the continent by a reversible pipeline, the incentive to suck suddenly-cheaper gas from the U.K. has blown open the arbitrage between the two European entities. Combine this with news […]
