Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, told OPEC that the kingdom's oil production in September fell by 660,000 barrels per day (bpd) compared with August to 9.13 million bpd in the wake of attacks on its energy installations. Secondary sources said Saudi Arabia's oil production was even lower, falling month-on-month in September by 1.28 million bpd to 8.56 million bpd, OPEC's monthly report showed. The Sept. 14 attacks targeted two of state oil giant Saudi Aramco's plants, [Read more]
Oil rises on signs of easing U.S.-China tensions
Oil rose on Wednesday following media reports that China was open to agreeing a partial trade deal with the United States, while Turkey’s military operation in northern Syria also supported prices as it could impact regional oil production. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $53.57, up 94 cents. Brent crude was up 97 cents at $59.21 a barrel. Negotiators from the United States and China, the world’s top two economies, will meet in Washington on Thursday in the latest effort to [Read more]
Shell urges collaboration with other industries to tackle emissions
Royal Dutch Shell's chief executive took aim beyond the energy sector to call on leaders of other industries including aviation, shipping and steel to jointly draw up plans to tackle greenhouse gas emissions. Ben van Beurden also warned on Wednesday that energy companies that do not collaborate in the fight against climate change under the 2015 Paris agreement risk going out of business. "Climate change is the biggest challenge facing the energy industry, but the energy industry isn't the [Read more]
Trump’s fast-tracking of oil pipelines hits legal roadblocks
The Trump administration's effort to cut red tape and speed up major energy projects has backfired in the case of the three biggest U.S. pipelines now planned or under construction. All three have been stalled by successful legal challenges by environmental groups alleging the administration failed to apply the regulatory scrutiny required under the law. The Republican administration tried to accelerate permits for two multi-billion-dollar natural gas lines and jumpstart the long-stalled [Read more]
Oil prices up as U.S.-China trade talks loom, supply issues mount
Oil prices rose on Monday, buoyed by hopes of progress in U.S.-China trade talks and supported by challenges to supply facing major exporters. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crudewas at $53.33, up 43 cents or 0.79%. Brent crude rose 28 cents or 0.48% to $58.74 a barrel by 1215 GMT Both futures contracts ended last week with a more than 5% decline after dismal manufacturing data from the United States and China, with the trade row between the world’s top economies undermining global [Read more]
Norway's largest pension fund KLP exits oil sands companies
KLP, Norway's largest pension fund, will no longer invest in companies deriving their income from oil sands, and recently sold stocks and bonds in such firms worth about $58 million, it said on Monday. KLP's decision affects five companies, which were added to its exclusion list: Canada's Cenovus Energy , Suncor Energy , Husky Energy and Exxon-controlled Imperial Oil , as well as Russia's Tatneft PAO . The fund, which manages over $81 billion in assets, said its new policy was to exclude [Read more]
U.S. oil drillers cut rigs for seventh week in a row
U.S. energy firms this week reduced the number of oil rigs operating for a seventh week in a row as producers follow through on plans to cut spending on new drilling this year. Drillers cut 3 oil rigs in the week to Oct. 4, bringing the total count down to 710, the lowest since May 2017, General Electric Co's Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Friday. In the same week a year ago, there were 861 active rigs. The oil rig count, an early indicator of [Read more]
Oil climbs but still set for big weekly loss over demand worries
Oil futures were higher ahead of the weekend but remained on track for large weekly losses on fears that slower global economic growth will hurt fuel demand, even as Saudi Arabia said it has fully restored oil output after recent attacks. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 88 cents, or 1.6%, to $53.16. Brent crude oil futures rose 87 cents, or 0.5%, to $58.71 a barrel by 0450 GMT "Asia will probably see some buying emerge over the session as traders hedge potential [Read more]
Syncrude oil sands project cuts October sales by 1.4 million barrels
The Syncrude oil sands project in northern Alberta has cut October synthetic crude sales by 1.4 million barrels because planned maintenance at the plant has been extended, three market sources said on Thursday. Syncrude is a joint-venture bitumen mining and upgrading project, majority owned by Suncor Energy . Syncrude did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The 350,000 barrel-per-day Syncrude plant had maintenance planned for the third and fourth quarters of 2019, according [Read more]
U.S. natgas futures rise as cooler weather view offsets stock build
U.S. natural gas futures reversed course to turn positive on Thursday as forecasts for cooler weather this month drove expectations of increased demand for the fuel, offsetting a slightly bigger-than-expected storage build. Gas futures for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 2.8 cents, or 1.3%, to $2.275 per million British thermal units as of 11:31 a.m. EDT (1531 GMT). The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said utilities added 112 billion cubic feet [Read more]