Oil prices sank about 1% on Monday on signs that the impact of a tropical storm on U.S. Gulf Coast production and refining would be short-lived, while Chinese economic data dimmed the crude demand outlook. U.S. crude CLc1 settled at $59.58 a barrel, shedding 63 cents, or 1.1%. Brent crude futures LCOc1 settled at $66.48 a barrel, losing 24 cents. Both contracts last week made their biggest weekly gains in three weeks on cuts in U.S. oil inventories and diplomatic tensions in the Middle [Read more]
Headlines
U.S. natgas futures slide on less hot weather forecasts
U.S. natural gas futures on Monday pulled back over 1% from a six-week high hit last week on forecasts for less hot weather over the next two weeks than previously forecast despite continued low production due to Tropical Storm Barry. Front-month gas futures for August delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) were down 3.2 cents, or 1.3%, at $2.42 per million British thermal units at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT). On Friday, the contract closed at its highest since May 31. Gas [Read more]
Permian M&A activity heats up as Callon Petroleum set to buy Carrizo Oil & Gas in $3.2 bln deal
Callon Petroleum Co (CPE.N) said on Monday it would buy Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc (CRZO.O) in a $3.2 billion deal, the latest in a string of acquisitions as energy companies scale up to boost cash flow in the face of investor criticism. Energy companies have been under pressure to cut costs and increase buybacks and dividends to shareholders, who are no longer willing to back drilling programs in the absence of strong cash flow. Lion Point Capital, Carrizo’s fourth-largest shareholder with a [Read more]
Column: Ottawa’s carbon tax is so bad it’s uniting Alberta and Quebec
Imagine a tax so bad that it’s uniting Alberta and Quebec. With all of the heated rhetoric over pipelines and equalization, that sort of unity seems like an impossibility. But it turns out the tax is all too real and it’s Ottawa’s carbon tax. The Trudeau government has been busy uniting the provinces against its economically damaging policies. Six premiers wrote to the prime minister urging him to change or scrap legislation that bans tankers on the West Coast and makes approvals for future [Read more]
Please forward everywhere – a succinct, poetic, perfect, iron-fist salute to unknowledgeable petroleum assailants
Sometimes, for people with a propensity to use many words to describe something properly, it is annoying and frustrating to read short and overly-simplistic analyses. It seems impossible to capture complex issues in a few words, and efforts often fall short. As a rule of thumb, I sneer at the paltry word counts, muttering that the feeble authors probably like Haiku to boot. For example, I’ve been trying for a long time to properly articulate the views of the petroleum industry to the world, [Read more]
Heavy crude differential tightens further
The discount on Canadian heavy crude narrowed on Friday to trade at less than $11 a barrel:* Western Canada Select (WCS) heavy blend crude for August delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, last traded at $10.65 per barrel below West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil, according to Net Energy Exchange. On Thursday, WCS for August delivery settled at $11.15 a barrel below WTI crude futures.* Heavy crude differentials have narrowed throughout the week, with traders citing lower western Canadian inventories as a [Read more]
U.S. oil companies put up $16.5 mln to build West Texas charter schools
Twenty top U.S. energy companies agreed to contribute $16.5 million to open new schools in West Texas, where an influx of oil and gas workers have strained schools, roads and other civic services.This is the first initiative by the Permian Strategic Partnership, a consortium of shale producers which has pledged to raise $100 million to address civic strains, a spokesman for the group said. The companies all operate in the Permian Basin, the top U.S. shale field. Another $22 million will be [Read more]
Alberta seeks to intervene in B.C.’s appeal to Supreme Court on energy projects
EDMONTON - Alberta wants to have its say when British Columbia goes to the Supreme Court for a ruling on who is in charge of interprovincial projects like pipelines. The Alberta government says it has filed a notice of intervention in B.C.'s appeal to the top court. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says the B.C. Court of Appeal made it clear in its May ruling that the federal government, not the provinces, has sole authority over projects that cross provincial boundaries. [Read more]
U.S. oil drillers cut rigs for second week in a row -Baker Hughes
U.S. energy firms this week reduced the number of oil rigs operating for a second week in a row as drillers follow through on plans to cut spending this year.Drillers cut four oil rigs in the week to July 12, bringing the total count down to 784, the lowest since February 2018, General Electric Co's Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Friday. That compares with 863 rigs operating during the same week a year ago.The rig count, an early indicator of [Read more]
Mexico’s formula to execute annual oil hedge is ready -official
Mexico has finished calibrating the formula used as a basis for its massive oil hedging program, a finance ministry official said on Friday, clearing a major obstacle for the hedge, the world's largest and most secretive Wall Street oil trade.Mexico buys as much as $1 billion worth of financial derivatives in order to protect its oil-sales revenue for the coming year against price volatility, in a highly anticipated financial trade that can make or break an investment bank's deal [Read more]