International

Chancellor Angela Merkel reinforced her pledge to ensure Russian gas flows through Ukraine, an economic lifeline for the former Soviet republic threatened by the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline linking Russia to Germany. A gas-transit accord between Russia and Ukraine must be extended “as quickly as possible,” Merkel said at …

Saudi Arabia could not ship more crude oil in the first half as it voluntarily restrained output under OPEC+ production-cut agreement; however, high oil prices this year helped the Kingdom to see stable income. The Kingdom’s crude oil exports averaged 5.776 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first half …

US energy firms this week added oil and natural gas rigs for a third week in a row, as a recovery in oil prices prompted some drillers to return to the wellpad over the past year. The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose three …

Saudi Arabia maintained its position as China’s top crude oil supplier for the ninth month in July, Reuters reported, citing data from the General Administration of Customs in China. Shipments from Saudi Arabia totaled 6.69 million tons in July, or 1.58 million barrels per day (bpd), compared with 1.75 million …

A German regional court will decide on 25 August whether European Union rules requiring the separation of energy production from transportation and trade must be applied to the Nord Stream 2 (NS 2) gas pipeline, the court’s website showed on Thursday (19 August). The ruling will not affect completion of …

Gazprom, apart from limiting gas transit to Europe via its export gas pipelines, is also persistently emptying the European gas storage facilities under its control. This is leading to historically high gas prices on the European market, and is a harbinger of a crisis in the coming heating season. Record …

The United States will see its total natural gas exports exceed imports by a significantly larger margin this year compared to 2020, thanks to surging liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and continued growth in pipeline exports to Mexico, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Monday. This year, U.S. natural …

Russia is on course to smash its current monthly oil and condensate production record of 11.5M barrels per day (b/d), set in December 2018. The underlying factors are the OPEC+ coalition’s recent agreement to steadily raise oil production and new sources of Russian crude oil, reported oil analyst and consultancy …

OPEC and its allies, including Russia, believe oil markets do not need more oil than they plan to release in the coming months despite US pressure to add more crude to arrest an oil price rise, four sources told Reuters. “I don’t think there is a need (for extra oil …

Qatar is forecast to post a “strong growth rebound” with LNG demand in South and East Asia underpinning medium-term prospects, World Bank said in its Gulf Economic Update (GEU). Qatar’s economy is projected to grow by 3% in 2021 before accelerating to 4.1% in 2022 and 4.5% in 2023, World …