Month: May 2018

May 31, 2018 (Reuters) – U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell more than expected last week, while gasoline and distillate inventories posted surprise builds as refiners ramped up their activity to the highest since January ahead of Memorial Day weekend, the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday. Crude inventories fell 3.6 million barrels in the week … Read more

May 31, 2018 (Reuters) – U.S. crude oil production jumped 215,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 10.47 million bpd in March, the highest on record, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a monthly report on Thursday. Production in Texas rose by 4 percent to almost 4.2 million bpd, a record high based on the … Read more

May 31, 2018, by Dana Hull and Brian Eckhouse (Bloomberg) Sanjay Shah is leaving Amazon.com Inc. to run Tesla Inc.’s energy division. He joins Tesla as senior vice president of energy operations, responsible for deployment of solar and storage products, the company said in a blog post Thursday. Shah replaces Cal Lankton, who is leaving … Read more

May 31, 2018, by Lorcan Roche Kelly (Bloomberg) Deadline When President Donald Trump slapped 25 percent tariffs on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum in March, he granted a reprieve to Mexico, Canada and the EU until June 1. With Nafta talks rapidly running out of time, it’s very unlikely an agreement will be reached ahead of … Read more

May 30, 2018, by Sebastien Malo NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A year after President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of a global pact to fight climate change, experts lament the move but welcome efforts by cities and states to fill the gap. Trump’s announcement of June 1 last year to ditch … Read more

May 30, 2018, by Lorcan Roche Kelly (Bloomberg) Calmer European markets are not seeing a repeat of yesterday’s huge selloff in Italian debt, with the country’s bonds staging something of a relief rally in early trading, and demand at today’s auction of 10-year notes hitting the highest since December. The moves are certainly not driven by … Read more

May 30, 2018 by Alex Longley and Sharon Cho (Bloomberg)  Oil steadied near $67 a barrel as markets regained some composure following renewed trade tensions between the U.S. and China, political turmoil in Europe and simmering concerns that OPEC may ease its output curbs. Futures in New York were little changed, though still almost $6 … Read more

May 30, 2018 by Anna Hirtenstein (Bloomberg)  Teslas and Nissan Leafs are likely to become a much more common sight on the world’s roads in the next two years, the International Energy Agency says. The global fleet of electric vehicles is likely to more than triple to 13 million by the end of the decade … Read more

May 29, 2018 by Mikael Holter (Bloomberg) Two years ago, western Europe’s biggest oil producing nation said no one should count on $100 crude coming back. Now Norway’s changed its tune. “It’s far from unlikely that we will see $100 again,” Petroleum and Energy Minister Terje Soviknes said in an interview in Oslo on Tuesday. … Read more

May 29, 2018, by Lorcan Roche Kelly (Bloomberg) Huge moves Any investor looking for an easy start back following the holiday weekend saw those hopes dashed after taking one look at their screens this morning. European bonds are the biggest movers, with Italian notes driving the rout as that country’s yields go  into meltdown. The … Read more

May 29, 2018, by Fiona MacDonald (Bloomberg) Energy ministers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait plan to meet on Saturday to discuss OPEC matters, about a week after the Saudis and Russia announced a new policy to revive oil production. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih will meet with Kuwait’s Bakheet Al-Rashidi and … Read more

May 28, 2018 by Anthony DiPaola and Tsuyoshi Inajima (Bloomberg)  Oil in New York headed for its longest run of losses in almost four months as Saudi Arabia and Russia said they are discussing raising output to ease consumer anxiety after prices jumped to levels last seen in 2014. West Texas Intermediate dropped as much … Read more

May 27 by Wael Mahdi and Grant Smith (Bloomberg) OPEC and allied oil producers including Russia concluded that the crude market re-balanced in April, when their output cuts achieved a key goal of eliminating the global surplus. The excess in oil inventories, which has weighed on prices for three years, plunged in April to less … Read more

May 27, 2018 by Grant Smith (Bloomberg)  When Saudi Arabia and Russia announced a new policy to revive oil production last week, one thing was missing: most of the other partners in their grand coalition. With oil supplies tightening and prices soaring, the two countries agreed to restore some of the output they halted as … Read more

May 25, 2018 by Henry Meyer and Rosalind Mathieson (Bloomberg)  Oil prices at $60 a barrel fully suit Russia and the country doesn’t want them to spiral higher, President Vladimir Putin said. “We’re not interested in an endless rise in the price of energy and oil,” Putin told reporters at the International Economic Forum in … Read more

May 25, 2018 by Catherine Ngai and Robert Tuttle (Bloomberg)  Oil prices fell the most in 11 months in New York as Saudi Arabia said it expects OPEC and its partners to boost supplies later this year, easing restraints intact since early 2017. U.S. futures were down 4 percent, the biggest drop since July 5, … Read more

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, … Read more

May 25, 2018 by Lorcan Roche Kelly (Bloomberg)  Kim ready to meet Trump any time, OPEC and Russia said to discuss increasing oil supply, and political pressure builds in Europe. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about today. Summit off North Korea expressed surprise that President Donald Trump canceled the June 12 … Read more

May 24, 2018 BILLINGS, Mont. – Trump administration attorneys were due in a Montana courtroom Thursday to defend the disputed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline against environmental groups and Native American groups that want to derail the project. The 1,179-mile (1,800-kilometre) line proposed by TransCanada Corporation was rejected in 2015 by former President Barack Obama … Read more

May 25, 2018, by Katya Golubkova, Dmitry Zhdannikov and Rania El Gamal 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 … Read more

May 24, 2018 ST PETERSBURG (Reuters) – Russia and Saudi Arabia have a common position on the future of the oil output cut deal, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday, while Russia’s Lukoil (LKOH.MM) said the deal should remain in place but needs to be altered. “We have a common position,” Novak said … Read more

May 23, 2018, by Stephen Cunningham (Bloomberg) Senate Democrats are urging President Donald Trump to rein in OPEC with pump prices at a three-year high, and even send his energy secretary to the cartel’s June meeting to reinforce the message. The reality is that Trump has few tools at his disposal to make life more … Read more

May 24, 2018, by Lorcan Roche Kelly (Bloomberg) Auto-threat President Donald Trump is pushing for new tariffs on cars and trucks imported to the U.S., a move which will serve to aggravate the country’s closest international allies. An additional duty of up to 25 percent is under consideration, a person familiar with the matter said. The statement … Read more

  Canada is the largest energy trading partner of the United States, based on the combined value of energy exports and imports. Although the value of bilateral energy trade with Canada has varied over the past decade, driven primarily by changes in the prices of oil and natural gas, the overall structure of bilateral energy … Read more

May 23, 2018 by Alex Nussbaum (Bloomberg) John Walker was a toddler in 1947 when his father died of a heart attack. He bused tables to work his way through Texas Tech University and then spent a year on a naval destroyer fighting in the Vietnam War. The past four years, though, may have been … Read more

May 22, 2018, by Bloomberg (Arabian Business) Saudi Arabia is investing in ways to prolong the demand for petroleum. Oil demand is set to face an even bigger threat from fuel-efficient engines than from electric vehicles over the next two decades, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Engine and other vehicle improvements that increase the … Read more

May 23, 2018, by Lorcan Roche Kelly (Bloomberg) Maybe not President Donald Trump said there is a very substantial chance his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un scheduled for next month in Singapore “won’t work out” during an Oval Office meeting with South Korea’s Moon Jae-in. Trump also said yesterday that he is looking … Read more

May 22, 2018 MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s energy ministry does not rule out a global oil production cut deal led by OPEC and Moscow being extended to 2019, Roman Marshavin, head of its international cooperation department, said in the text of a speech obtained by Reuters. In the speech, which was dated May 22, Marshavin … Read more

May 22, 2018, by Rania El Gamal and Alex Lawler KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia/LONDON (Reuters) – OPEC may decide to raise oil output as soon as June due to worries over Iranian and Venezuelan supply and after Washington raised concerns the oil rally was going too far, OPEC and oil industry sources familiar with the discussions … Read more

May 22, 2018 by Rachel Morison (Bloomberg)  The global transition to electric vehicles and renewable sources of power will see oil company revenue plummet. The rollout of 540 million electric vehicles by 2040 will cause oil demand to peak in the mid-2020s, slashing income by $19 trillion, according to Oxford, England-based Aurora Energy Research Ltd. … Read more

May 21, 2018, by Naureen S. Malik (Bloomberg) China’s appetite for U.S. liquefied natural gas may be about to get a lot bigger after the two nations agreed to pull back from the brink of a trade war. If China makes a substantial commitment to buying U.S. LNG, it could bring $30 billion back into … Read more

May 22, 2018, by Lorcan Roche Kelly (Bloomberg) Tariff cuts  Authorities in China announced that they would reduce import duties on passenger cars from 25 percent to 15 percent, effective July 1. The move comes as trade hostilities between the country and the U.S. ease following meetings in Washington last week. Shares of Jaguar Land … Read more

May 21, 2018 by Catherine Ngai, Alex Longley and Javier Blas (Bloomberg)  Brent crude oil grabbed all the attention after spot prices hit $80 a barrel last week. And yet, almost unnoticed, a perhaps more important rally has occurred in the obscure world of forward prices, with some investors betting the “lower for longer” price … Read more

May 21, 2018 by Lorcan Roche Kelly (Bloomberg)  Trade war “on hold,” Italian populists pick a prime minister, and strong dollar’s days may be numbered. Here are some of the things people in markets are talking about today. Detente “We’re putting the trade war on hold,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday after the U.S. and … Read more

May 20, 2018, by Alissa de Carbonnel TEHRAN (Reuters) – The European Union is not doing enough to preserve the benefits for Iran from the 2015 international nuclear pact following the withdrawal of the United States, Iran’s foreign minister told the EU’s energy chief on Sunday. Miguel Arias Canete, European Commissioner for energy and climate, … Read more

May 18, 2018, by Ron Bousso and Dmitry Zhdannikov (Reuters) U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to exit an international nuclear deal with Iran and revive sanctions on the OPEC member country, as well as Venezuela’s plummeting output, has helped to lift oil prices to their highest since 2014. But BP sees oil falling to between … Read more

May 18, 2018 by Jessica Summers (Bloomberg)  Crude in London posted the longest stretch of weekly gains since 2011 in a market seen as being increasingly balanced as a result of OPEC’s production cuts. Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude slipped in Friday’s trade, paring weekly gains. Global prices have been supported this week … Read more