French oil major Total will freeze recruitment, boost costs savings and halt its share buyback programme due to tumbling oil prices, chief executive Patrick Pouyanne told staff in a video message on Thursday, according to a union official. The group is the latest oil and gas producer to slash investment …
Read More »OPEC will Continue Talks on Oil Issue with US Regulator
OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo held telephone talks with the Texas Railroad Commission late on Friday, March 20, a source in the secretariat told TASS, adding that the sides agreed to continue consultations. Later the commissioner Ryan Sitton confirmed the information via Twitter. “A telephone conference with US colleagues just …
Read More »BP has Announced a Net Zero Emissions Plan
A growing number of oil and gas companies are trumpeting plans to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions amid mounting pressure from investors, policymakers, and a public concerned about climate change—or the financial risks it poses to the sector. In the latest move, BP announced its “ambition” on Wednesday to eliminate emissions …
Read More »Saudi Arabia Unveils $32 Billion Stimulus to Save Economy From COVID-19
Immense damage to its revenue streams by the raging COVID-19 pandemic and an ill-timed oil price war has forced Saudi Arabia to unleash a massive emergency stimulus package worth $32 billion to succor its slowing economy. Saudi Arabia has 344 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Saturday but no deaths. The …
Read More »The Impact of Coronavirus On European Oilfield Services
More than 200 small- and medium-sized oilfield services operators in Europe, or 20 percent of all European oilfield services firm, could go bust as the coronavirus epidemic will hit the market hard and wipe out US$5 billion worth of orders, Rystad Energy said in a new impact analysis. Most of …
Read More »Japan Launches Its First Large-Scale Offshore Wind Farm
Moves to unlock the full potential of Japan’s offshore wind industry are underway with the announcement of a task force set up to accelerate the sector’s development. Ambitions are to see the country’s renewables share increase from 16 percent to 24 percent by 2030 through a mixture of methods – …
Read More »Kremlin: Russia Would Like to See Crude Prices Higher
With oil plummeting near an 18-year low amid unprecedented supply and demand shocks, Russia finally admitted: crude is too cheap. “Of course it’s a low price, we would like to see it higher,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call, signaling for the first time that the country’s …
Read More »Russia Introduces Tax Relief for New Arctic LNG Projects
Russia introduced fresh tax relief on Wednesday for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in the Arctic, focused on those intended to come on stream from 2022, the text of a law signed by President Vladimir Putin showed. The zero-rate extraction tax on natural gas will primarily benefit independent gas …
Read More »US to Become the ‘World’s Leading LNG Exporter by 2025’
The US will become the world’s leading exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 2025, says an analyst. LNG has grown in popularity over recent years, providing energy companies with a lower-carbon alternative to coal as they seek to reduce their emissions amid growing climate change pressure. Record production levels …
Read More »Russia Admits Need to Bolster Oil But Does Not Reach Out to OPEC
With oil plummeting near an 18-year low amid unprecedented supply and demand shocks, Russia finally admitted: crude is too cheap. “Of course it’s a low price, we would like to see it higher,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call, signaling for the first time that the country’s …
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