'Sometimes you have to walk': Trump scraps North Korea summit deal (28 February 2019): HANOI (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he had walked away from a nuclear deal at his summit with Kim Jong Un in Vietnam on Thursday because of unacceptable demands from the North Korean leader to lift punishing U.S.-led sanctions. Trump said two days of talks in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi had made good progress in building relations and on the key issue of denuclearisation, but it was important not to rush into a bad deal.
Adnoc signs agreement with South Korea's SKEC to build world's largest crude storage facility (27 February 2019): Abu Dhabi National Oil Company awarded South Korea's SK Engineering a Dh4.4 billion contract to build the world's largest single-site underground crude storage facility in the UAE's northern emirate of Fujairah. The South Korean firm won an engineering, procurement and construction contract to construct three underground storage caverns of 14 million barrels capacity each deep below ground level, Adnoc said in a statement on Wednesday. "Construction of the world’s largest single underground project ever awarded for oil storage will enhance the UAE’s energy security," said Adnoc group chief executive and UAE state minister Dr Sultan Al Jaber. (Source: The National (UAE))
Trump wants lower oil prices but Goldman expects $70-75 rally near-term (26 February 2019): Oil prices may appear to be poised for a decline following tweets by US President Donald Trump to lower them, but Goldman Sachs predicts a rally, that may raise crude fare to $75 a barrel. Futures for West Texas Intermediate, the North American benchmark for crude, slid as much as 3.5 per cent on Monday, the steepest plunge in four weeks following a tweet by Mr Trump, in which he implored the Opec+ alliance on undertaking production curbs and to "relax and take it easy" as prices were "getting too high". (Source: Oil Price)
Trump wants lower oil prices but Goldman expects $70-75 rally near-term (26 February 2019): Oil prices may appear to be poised for a decline following tweets by US President Donald Trump to lower them, but Goldman Sachs predicts a rally, that may raise crude fare to $75 a barrel. Futures for West Texas Intermediate, the North American benchmark for crude, slid as much as 3.5 per cent on Monday, the steepest plunge in four weeks following a tweet by Mr Trump, in which he implored the Opec+ alliance on undertaking production curbs and to "relax and take it easy" as prices were "getting too high". (Source: Oil Price)
The $32 Trillion Push To Disrupt The Entire Oil Industry (24 February 2019): By Cyril Widdershoven - Global oil and gas companies are increasingly facing an uphill battle as global warming policies are taking their toll. Most analysts and market watchers are focusing on peak oil demand scenarios, but the reality could be much darker. International oil companies (IOCs) are likely to face a Black Swan scenario, which could end up being a boon for state-owned oil companies (NOCs). Increased shareholder activism, combined with global warming policies of institutional investors and NGOs, are pushing IOCs in a corner, constricting financing options for oil companies. (Source: Oil Price)
How Adnoc, KKR and BlackRock brought a global infrastructure investment approach to the region (24 February 2019): Adnoc, KKR and BlackRock have entered into a landmark partnership agreement over some of the Abu Dhabi firm’s crude oil pipeline assets, which will be leased to a vehicle owned by Adnoc and the two asset managers for 23 years. Adnoc receives a $4 billion upfront payment as part of the transaction and also retains absolute sovereignty and management of the pipelines. This is the first time that leading, global institutional investors have deployed capital in 'midstream' infrastructure assets, in the UAE. Midstream refers to one of the three stages of the oil and gas industry that includes processing, storing, transporting and marketing oil and gas. (Source: The National (UAE))
Saudi Aramco to develop $10bn refining complex in China with local partners (22 February 2019): Saudi Aramco agreed to form a joint venture to develop a $10 billion integrated refining and petrochemical complex in China as well as take a 9 per cent stake in another refinery as part of a broader push by the world's largest crude exporter to acquire lucrative downstream assets in Asia. Aramco will develop a 300,000 barrel-per-day refinery in China with a 1.5 million tonne-per-annum ethylene cracker and a 1.3 million tonne-per-annum paraxylene unit alongside Chinese companies Norinco Group and Panjin Sincen. The Saudi producer will have a 35 per cent interest in the new company, Huajin Aramco Petrochemical, with Norinco and Panjin Sincen holding 36 and 29 per cent stakes each. (Source: The National (UAE))
An Underestimated Niche In Oil & Gas (21 February 2019): By Rystad Energy - Several hundred offshore oil and gas wells could cease production by 2021 in the face of today’s bearish oil market. As a consequence, so-called decommissioning obligations in the global oil and gas industry rose to $11.7 billion last year and are projected to hold steady at an average of about $12 billion per year from 2019 through 2021, according to Rystad Energy. (Source: Oil Price)
Oil an increasingly attractive proposition for hedge fund managers (20 February 2019): Investors bought crude oil futures and options at the fastest rate for almost six months in the week to February 12. Hedge fund managers are becoming steadily more bullish on the outlook for oil prices as Saudi Arabia makes deep cuts in production, sanctions hit Venezuela and Iran, and the US and China inch towards a trade deal. Hedge funds and other money managers were net buyers of 32 million barrels of Brent crude futures and options in the week to February 22, according to position records published by ICE Futures Europe. Portfolio managers have been net buyers of Brent in nine out of the last 10 weeks, ... (Source: The National (UAE))
Green finance to continue growth momentum in the GCC (19 February 2019): Green finance is likely to continue its growth momentum in the GCC on the back of an increasing pipeline of renewable projects in the region. "We believe green finance in the GCC has the potential to play a bigger role in funding the region's ambitious pipeline of green projects" , Standard & Poor's said in a new report. "The region continues to make good progress toward green growth and transition to a low-carbon economy, setting new sustainability and resilient infrastructure targets that are creating demand for capital and new green financial vehicles. (Source: The National (UAE))
China to build space power station (18 February 2019): China’s space ambitions are shifting into a higher orbit. Following its successful and world-beating trip to the far side of the moon, China is preparing to build a solar power station in space, as the world’s second-biggest economy strives to burnish its superpower credentials. With an $8 billion annual budget for its space programme, second only to the US, China is seeking to compete with its rival for economic, military and technological dominance. (Source: The National (UAE))
2 Reasons Why Big Oil Isn’t Rushing Into Renewables (14 February 2019): By Tsvetana Paraskova - Squeezed between peak oil demand forecasts and investor demand for increasingly environmentally conscious investments, the world’s largest oil companies have started to venture into clean energy and new technologies in recent years. Some oil supermajors have been investing billions of U.S. dollars in their ‘new energy’ divisions, some have started to bind carbon emissions goals with executive pays, many have been pitching natural gas as a cleaner-burning fuel and the ‘natural bridge fuel’ between oil and renewables. (Source: Oil Price)
Saudi Aramco looks to enter international oil and gas business (13 February 2019): Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest crude exporter, has ambitions to become a global energy company on par with ExxonMobil or Shell as it looks to venture into international exploration and production. “We are no longer going to be inward-looking and focused only on monetising the kingdom’s resources,” Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih told the Financial Times. "Going forward, the world is going to be Saudi Aramco’s playground.” Aramco, which produces all of the kingdom’s crude reserves on behalf of the state, has largely restricted itself to developing those resources domestically and has not ventured overseas upstream. In recent years, the state producer ... (Source: The National (UAE))
Oil Jumps As Saudis Plan Further Production Cuts (12 February 2019): By Irina Slav - Saudi Arabia plans to reduce its crude oil production further, to 9.8 million bpd in March, Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said in an interview for the Financial Times. This compares with more than 11 million bpd produced in November. Exports, Al-Falih said, will also fall substantially over this month and next, to an average of 6.9 million bpd from 8.2 million bpd in November. This does not bode well for Washington’s hopes that the Kingdom would step in and fill the gap left by Venezuelan heavy crude after the U.S. imposed a new round of sanctions against the government in Caracas. (Source: Oil price)
CDU at Phillips 66 Wood River refinery shut by fire (11 February 2019): HOUSTON, (Reuters) - The second largest crude distillation unit (CDU) was shut by a fire at Phillips 66’s 330,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) joint-venture Wood River, Illinois, refinery, a source familiar with plant operations said. One person was taken to a local hospital with burns, the source said. The 120,000 bpd DU-2 CDU was returning to operation after an overhaul when the fire broke out, the source said. Phillips 66 spokesman Joe Gannon said in an email the fire had been extinguished. Gannon also said the injured person walked to the ambulance for transport to the hospital. St. Louis television station KMOX-TV said the person’s injuries were not life-threatening.
South Africa Oil Discovery Could Be A Game-Changer (10 February): By Tsvetana Paraskova - One of the promising hotspots for oil and gas exploration drilling this year—South Africa’s offshore—has just yielded a massive natural gas and condensate find that could open a new exploration province for oil majors and change the energy fortunes of South Africa. France’s major Total said this week that it had made a significant discovery on the Brulpadda prospects off the southern coast of South Africa. “With this discovery, Total has opened a new world-class gas and oil play and is well positioned to test several follow-on prospects on the same block,” said Kevin McLachlan, Senior Vice President Exploration at Total. (Source: Oil Price)