While everyone is understandably watching the meltdown in the crude oil market, the global market for natural gas is also cratering. At least 20 cargoes of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) have been cancelled by buyers in Asia and Europe, according to Reuters. The global pandemic and the unfolding economic …
Read More »Trump Considers all Options to Make the Saudis Pay for the Oil Price War
President Donald Trump is considering all options available to him to make the Saudis pay for the oil price war as the crash that followed has done significant damage to the U.S. oil industry With last month having seen the indignity of the principal U.S. oil benchmark, West Texas Intermediate …
Read More »South Korea’s Available Oil Storage Capacity is Shrinking
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 …
Read More »Russia and Saudi Arabia Fight over Oil Market Share
China imported 31 percent more oil from Russia last month while its intake of Saudi crude slipped by 1.8 percent compared to March 2019, Reuters reported, citing calculations based on official customs data. Overall crude oil imports rose by 4.5 percent on the year to 9.68 million bpd. Of the …
Read More »The Shale Industry Suffers from Dried Demand
A few weeks before the summer driving season begins, U.S. gasoline consumption has plummeted to levels last seen in the late 1960s, due to the lockdowns to contain the spreading of the coronavirus. With demand for motor fuel plunging, refiners are cutting crude processing, and crude oil storage capacity in …
Read More »The Oil Industry Can No Longer Rely On China
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 …
Read More »Kurdistan Commits to OPEC+ Oil Output Cut
Kurdistan is committed to the OPEC+ oil production cut deal and will reduce output accordingly, the government of the semi-autonomous Iraqi region said in a statement following a meeting between Kurdish and Iraqi officials. Reuters reported that at the meeting, the two sides had agreed that Kurdistan would report monthly …
Read More »China’s Oil Refiners Buying Ultra Cheap Crude
Emerging from the coronavirus lockdown, China’s oil refiners are buying ultra-cheap spot cargoes from Alaska, Canada, and Brazil, taking advantage of the deep discounts at which many crude grades are being offered to China with non-existent demand elsewhere. The discounts of spot cargoes of Canada’s Cold Lake blend, Alaska North …
Read More »Qatar Starts Expansion Drilling at World’s Largest Gas Field
Qatar Petroleum has started the development drilling campaign of the North Field East Project to expand the production capacity of the world’s biggest natural gas deposit that the tiny nation shares with Iran in the Persian Gulf. Qatar shares the North Field with Iran, which calls the deposit the South …
Read More »Brazil’s Offshore Oil Boom under Influence of $20 Oil
Brazil has suspended its 17th licensing round which would have seen the state oil regulator ANP offering 128 offshore exploration blocks throughout the country, fearing that the plummeting oil prices and unprecedented declines in global crude demand entailing double-digit-percent CAPEX cuts will set the stage for another fiasco. With two …
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