Few have a better watchtower over oil demand than Joe Gorder, chief executive officer of major U.S. refiner Valero Energy Corp. But this week Gorder didn’t even need his business insight to know that fuel consumption was starting to recover in America. He only needed to look at the streets …
Read More »Neptune Energy Makes Gas and Oil Discoveries in Germany
Neptune Energy announced two important hydrocarbon discoveries have been made in northwestern Germany.
Read More »Saudis Join Three Other OPEC+ Nations Cutting Output Early
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 …
Read More »U.S. Halts Chevron in Venezuela with End to Sanctions Waivers
Chevron will be forced to effectively wind down its operations in Venezuela, dealing the Maduro regime’s crumbling oil industry another blow as U.S. President Donald Trump maneuvers for regime change in the Latin American nation. The U.S. Treasury Department will no longer allow the company to drill wells, sell and …
Read More »Trump Wants to Add 75 MMbbl to SPR, Considers Blocking Saudi Shipments
President Donald Trump said he wants to add as much as 75 million barrels of oil to the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, taking advantage of record low prices for crude, and that he’ll consider blocking imports of crude from Saudi Arabia. Oil is at “a level that’s very interesting to …
Read More »Too Late for OPEC+ Cuts to Save the Physical Oil Market
The physical oil market, where millions of barrels of real cargoes are traded each day, needed OPEC+’s historic cuts to global crude production months ago. On Sunday, producer nations pledged to limit output by an unprecedented 10% of global supply. While there’s skepticism the cuts will prove deep enough — …
Read More »Saudi Arabia and Russia End their Oil-Price War with Output Cut Agreement
Saudi Arabia and Russia ended a devastating oil price war on Thursday, agreeing to slash output together with other members of the OPEC+ alliance in an effort to lift the market from a pandemic-driven collapse. The tentative deal came after strong pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump and American lawmakers, …
Read More »OPEC Members Balk at Request to Review Virus’ Impact on Markets
OPEC nations aren’t giving support to a request from the group’s president for emergency consultations over tanking oil prices, according to a delegate. Algeria, which holds the cartel’s rotating presidency, urged the secretariat this week to convene a panel that assesses market conditions as oil slumps amid the coronavirus crisis …
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 »History Shows the 2020 Oil-Price War Won’t End Soon
How long can the vicious oil-price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia last? If history is any guide, the battle will be a long one. Riyadh has waged four price wars, including the current one, over the last 35 years. All of them lasted at least a year, and prices …
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