LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices extended losses on Monday as Saudi Arabia and Russia said they may increase supplies while U.S. production gains show no sign of slowing.U.S. crude futures were at $66.49, down $1.39, after hitting a six-week low of $65.80. Brent crude futures stood at $75.22 a barrel at 11.26 a.m. ET, down $1.22 from the previous close. The contract touched a three-week low of $74.49 earlier in the session The spread between the two contracts reached $9.38 a barrel, its [Read more]
As clock ticks, doubts grow over Kinder Morgan’s oil pipe expansion
As a hard deadline set by Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd for scrapping a key pipeline expansion looms, there is growing doubt among investors, contractors and government officials about reaching a deal to save the $7.4 billion project. The company, a unit of Houston-based Kinder Morgan Inc , set a May 31 deadline to decide if it will proceed with the expanded line from Edmonton, Alberta to a port in the Vancouver area, which would give landlocked Canadian crude greater access to foreign [Read more]
U.S. drillers add most rigs in week and month since February
May 25 (Reuters) - U.S. energy companies added the most oil rigs in both a week and a month since February as drillers continued to return to the well pad with crude prices at their highest since late 2014. The total oil rig count rose by 15 to 859 in the week to May 25, the highest level since March 2015, General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Friday. For the month, the rig count rose by 34, its second increase in row, after rising [Read more]
OPEC, Russia prepared to raise oil output under U.S. pressure
ST PETERSBURG/DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and Russia are discussing raising OPEC and non-OPEC oil production by some 1 million barrels a day, sources said, while OPEC’s chief said a complaint from U.S. President Donald Trump over high prices had triggered the idea of upping output. Riyadh and Moscow are prepared to ease output cuts to calm consumer worries about supply adequacy, their energy ministers said on Friday, with Saudi Arabia’s Khalid al-Falih adding that any easing would be [Read more]
U.S. crude, gasoline inventories rise unexpectedly: EIA
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil stockpiles climbed unexpectedly last week as net imports jumped, while gasoline stocks also posted a surprise build, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Crude inventories rose 5.8 million barrels in the week to May 18, compared with analysts’ expectations for a decrease of 1.6 million barrels. Inventories rose in part due to a sharp 1.4 million-barrels-per-day hike in net crude imports. Exports fell 818,000 bpd last week to 1.7 [Read more]
British Columbia says it is not delaying Canadian pipeline expansion
British Columbia's attorneygeneral said on Tuesday that the West Coast province is notdelaying Kinder Morgan Canada's Trans Mountain pipelineexpansion, despite the company's saying that B.C.'s oppositionwas making the build "untenable."The attorney general, David Eby, told reporters that BritishColumbia is approving Trans Mountain permits on the sametimeline as other major projects, and that its new environmentalrules and a jurisdictional challenge simply come [Read more]
U.S. liquefied natural gas projects buoyed by China import talks
China’s interest in reducing its trade surplus with United States through increased energy imports could advance plans for U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants, said energy executives involved in developing new facilities. The White House and China on Saturday said a U.S. trade team would travel to China to explore new energy and agricultural deals. The joint communique lowered trade tensions, lifting stock markets in Asia and the United States on Monday. There are over two dozen [Read more]
U.S. oil rig count holds steady after six weeks of gains
May 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. oil rig count held steady this week after rising for six weeks in a row even as crude prices soar to multi-year highs, prompting drillers to extract record amounts of oil, especially from shale. The total oil rig count held at 844 in the week to May 18, General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Friday. The U.S. rig count, an early indicator of future output, is much higher than a year ago when 720 rigs were [Read more]
Canada minister eyes pension funds for Kinder Morgan project
TORONTO/WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Canada’s Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Thursday highlighted the country’s pension funds as possible investors in Kinder Morgan Inc’s (KMI.N) pipeline expansion, but industry sources were skeptical about attracting new investors. Morneau on Wednesday raised the prospect of foreign funding, saying “plenty of investors would be interested” if Kinder Morgan Canada (KML.TO) walked away from the project. “We have very sophisticated Canadian pension funds [Read more]
Energy firms stuff MLP minority owners in pipe
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinionsexpressed are her own.)By Lauren Silva LaughlinDALLAS, May 17 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Energy firms arestuffing their subsidiaries’ minority shareholders into a pipe.On Thursday Williams Companies , Enbridge andCheniere Energy each announced deals to buy the stakesin their master limited partnerships that they don’t alreadyown. Williams is offering just a 6 percent premium, while itstwo peers put virtually [Read more]