International

Saudi Arabia’s finance minister has warned the kingdom needs to make “extreme” spending cuts to manage the economy during the COVID-19 crisis and oil price crash. “It is very important to take strict and extreme measures, which may be painful, but are necessary for public financial stability,” finance minister Mohammed …

On Friday Iraq announced the start of implementing the decision of OPEC + to reduce crude oil production by 23 per cent, aiming to stabilise prices in the international markets, DPA International reported. Sources in Basra Oil Company confirmed that it had started the reduction plan on 1 May in …

On Thursday, Algerian Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab called on members of the OPEC+ coalition to abide by the agreement to cut oil production from Friday. Arkab, whose country holds the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) rotating presidency, announced: “It is necessary for all the concerned countries to fully comply …

Saudi Arabia’s outlook was cut to negative from stable by Moody’s Investors Service after the crash in oil prices exposed the vulnerability of the kingdom’s finances amid the global pandemic and its reserves plunged to the lowest level in almost a decade. The rating company kept the sovereign at A1, …

Global energy demand will plunge this year, with the Covid-19 pandemic representing the biggest shock to the global energy system in more than seven decades, a new report released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) says. The report says that the drop in demand this year is set to dwarf …

South Korea, the country with the fourth-largest commercial storage capacity in Asia, has just run out of room to store more oil, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on Monday, as available storage capacity everywhere in the world in shrinking fast amid the demand collapse. South Korea’s total commercial …

On April 22, Exxon Mobil officially started an ethane programe in Huizhou city, South China’s Guangdong province, in which it has invested $10 billion. It should be noted that the programme started when the whole world is fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, global oil prices are low, and many oil enterprises …

The global oil sector is reeling from a combination of negative oil prices, storage overload, demand destruction, and calls for a renewable energy revolution in the post-COVID-19 era. US and European oil market analysts appear to be pinning their hopes on a rebound in oil demand from Asia. Even international …

The Russian oil industry does not yet need government support, it has accumulated certain reserves, Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel. “So far they are managing. On the one hand, certain reserves have been accumulated, and on the other hand, …

Saudi Aramco began reducing oil production earlier this week ahead of the May 1 start date for OPEC+ output cuts, according to a Saudi industry official familiar with the matter. Aramco has begun to curtail production from about 12 million barrels a day to achieve the agreed level of 8.5 …