China’s move to speed up the construction of natural gas storage facilities is expected to boost the storage capacity over the next two-three years, but the country is unlikely to meet its 2020 targets amid incomplete market liberalization reforms and coronavirus pandemic, trading sources said. City gas suppliers have so …
Read More »South Korea Pushes Energy Transition Dream with Liquid Hydrogen Plant Plan
South Korea has unveiled plans to build the world’s largest liquid hydrogen plant, taking a lead among Asian countries to embrace the clean fuel in its quest to speed up the energy transition process and cut dependence on imported oil. South Korea’s chemical-focused conglomerate Hyosung Group has signed a deal …
Read More »Saudi Arabia Warns of Extreme Measures to Combat COVID-19, Oil Price Crash
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 …
Read More »Iraq Seen Struggling to Invest $10 bil to Wean Itself off Iranian Gas and Electricity Imports
With just three days remaining to the expiry of a 30-day US waiver to import Iranian gas and electricity, Iraq will struggle to drum up some $10 billion in investments over a four-year period to stop these imports at a time when US patience with OPEC’s second-largest oil producer is …
Read More »Iraq Does not Rule out more OPEC+ Measures to Halt Oil Price Slide
Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest oil producer, does not rule out OPEC+ members taking extra measures to halt the further slide of oil prices, but any steps will need to take into account global oil market developments, the country’s oil minister said on Tuesday. Iraq’s Thamer al-Ghadhaban, who participated in an emergency …
Read More »Russia’s Gazprom Eyes Capacity Increase on China Gas Export Link
Russia’s Gazprom is working to boost the capacity of its landmark gas pipeline to China — the Power of Siberia — as it looks to ramp up flows via the line. The pipeline, whose design capacity is 38 Bcm/year, started commercial flows at a rate of some 10 million cu …
Read More »G20 Has Little to Gain from OPEC+ Oil Cuts Deal
G20 energy ministers have agreed to hold an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss global collaboration with OPEC+ oil production cuts. Boosting the price of crude is an economic imperative for members such as Saudi Arabia and Russia, but the majority of the group of major economies arguably have more …
Read More »Oil Jumps as Trump Talks up Truce Hopes for Saudi-Russia Price War
Crude oil futures jumped 10% on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he expected Saudi Arabia and Russia to reach a deal soon to end their oil price war. Brent crude futures rose more than 11% in early trade. By 0958, Brent was up 8.97%, or $2.22, to $26.96, …
Read More »G20 Summit Concludes, with No Resolution on Saudi-Russia Oil Price War
Saudi Arabia and Russia appear no closer to a detente in their oil price war, despite Thursday’s videoconference summit of G20 leaders to discuss the coronavirus’ impact on the world economy. A post-meeting statement by the organization did not mention oil nor energy, despite US pressure on Saudi Arabia this …
Read More »IEA’s Fatih Birol Denounces Producers Playing ‘Russian Roulette’ with Oil Markets
International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol on Monday denounced oil producer countries he said were playing “Russian roulette” with markets, adding that an apparent price war was an attempt to “kill” the US shale sector, but was unlikely to succeed and could have “grave consequences” around the world, Platts …
Read More »