Commissioners on a Minnesota regulatory board questioned crude oil demand for Enbridge Inc's Line 3 pipeline on Tuesday, ahead of an expected decision this week on whether work can proceed on a proposed expansion. Enbridge wants to replace the aging 1,660-km pipeline that runs from Alberta in Canada to Wisconsin, but it needs approval from the five-member Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, which must decide whether the project is needed, and the route. Bottlenecks in Alberta have [Read more]
Canada dreams of oil exports to Asia, but California beckons
VANCOUVER/WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The nationalization of a crude oil export pipeline in western Canada has buoyed long-standing hopes for crude exports to markets beyond the United States - but the most likely destination for much of that oil is California. Faced with declining production from Latin America and rising prices for higher-grade crudes from the Middle East, the Golden State is importing more oil from Canada - much of it via the Trans Mountain pipeline, which Kinder Morgan [Read more]
Suncor says no change to Syncrude oil sands facility restart timeline
Production at Syncrude Canada's oil sands facility near Fort McMurray, Alberta is likely to remain offline at least through July, a Suncor Energy Inc spokeswoman reaffirmed on Tuesday. The facility, which can produce up to 360,000 barrels per day, was hit by a power outage, sending the front-month U.S.crude spread surging to the widest in nearly four years. Traders expect the Syncrude outage to tighten Canadian supplies and reduce crude flows to Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point of the [Read more]
U.S. seeks to export its ‘energy miracle’ even as trade tensions mount
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The administration of President Donald Trump wants to help allies and trade partners replicate the U.S. natural gas and oil production boom by exporting American know-how, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said on Tuesday, even as trade disputes intensified. “We are bearing witness to this astonishing energy miracle,” Perry said at the opening ceremony of the triennial World Gas Conference, referring to a surge in U.S. fossil fuels production over the past several years [Read more]
Oil markets tense amid outages, OPEC policy and escalating trade rows
Oil markets were tense onTuesday, rising on a Canadian production outage and uncertaintyover Libyan crude exports, but weighed down by climbing OPECsupplies and the intensifying trade conflict between the UnitedStates and other major economies.Brent crude futures were at $74.80 per barrel at0617 GMT, up 7 cents, or 0.1 percent, from their last close.Brent was driven up by uncertainty around oil exports byLibya, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum ExportingCountries (OPEC).Eastern [Read more]
Canada crude outage to tighten supplies, reduce oil flow to Cushing
A production problem at one of Canada's largest oil sands facilities drove front-month U.S. crude futures to their steepest premium above second-month futures since 2014 on Monday. Canada is the world's fourth-largest oil producer and could lose as much as 10 percent of its supply in July after a power outage last week shut the Syncrude facility in Alberta, which can produce up to 360,000 barrels per day. The outage will tighten Canadian supplies and reduce the crude flow to Cushing, [Read more]
Oil producer deal may be short of what’s needed: U.S. energy secretary
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said on Monday a deal between global oil producers to boost crude output reached last week may not be enough to relieve global oil markets that are stressed by supply constraints. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC countries reached an agreement on Saturday to moderately boost production after consuming countries including the United States had urged them to produce more. Saudi Arabia said the agreement [Read more]
Syncrude Canada crude production offline through July -spokesman
Production at Syncrude Canada’s oil sands facility near Fort McMurray, Alberta is offline at least through July, after a power outage this week, a spokesman said on Friday. Syncrude, a joint venture majority owned by Suncor Energy Inc (SU.TO), with minority stakes held by Imperial Oil Ltd (IMO.TO) and others, has shut down the site’s upgrader, spokesman Will Gibson said. The site can produce up to 360,000 barrels per day, upgrading thick bitumen to light oil. With that production [Read more]
U.S. oil drillers cut rigs for 1st time in 12 weeks
(Reuters) - U.S. energy companies this week cut one oil rig, the first reduction in 12 weeks, after drillers started to slow down the rate of additions this month as pipeline constraints put a damper on future production. The total oil rig count dipped to 862 in the week to June 22, General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Friday. That put the rig count on track for its smallest monthly gain since declining by two rigs in March with [Read more]
Power outage affects Syncrude oil sands output
A power disruptionat Syncrude's Mildred Lake, Alberta, crude oil upgrading sitehas affected operations, the company said on Thursday.The disruption occurred on Wednesday evening, Syncrudespokesman Will Gibson said. He would not comment on the extentthat production was affected and said he could not estimate whenthe problem would be resolved. (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Editing by TomBrown) [Read more]