Oil Market News, OPEC+, sanctions and price shocks

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Exclusive: Venezuela to accelerate cryptocurrency shift as oil sanctions return​

HOUSTON/CARACAS, April 22 (Reuters) - Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA plans to increase digital currency usage in its crude and fuel exports as the U.S. reimposes oil sanctions on the country, three people familiar with the plan said.

The U.S. Treasury Department last week gave PDVSA's customers and providers until May 31 to wind down transactions under a general license it did not renew due to a lack of electoral reforms. The move will make it more difficult for the country to increase oil output and exports as companies will have to wait for individual U.S. authorizations to do business with Venezuela.

PDVSA since last year had been slowly moving oil sales to USDT, a digital currency also known as Tether whose value is pegged to the U.S. dollar and designed to maintain a stable value. The return of oil sanctions is speeding up the shift, a move to reduce the risk of sale proceeds getting frozen in foreign bank accounts due to the measures, the people said.

"We have different currencies, according to what is stated in contracts," Venezuelan oil minister Pedro Tellechea told Reuters last week, adding that in some contracts digital currencies might be the preferred payment method.

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Texas operators turn to flaring amid weak gas prices​

HOUSTON, April 30 (Reuters) - Operators drilling for oil in Texas are scrambling to dispose of their excess natural gas amid a supply glut and weak prices, prompting an uptick in flaring requests.

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), which regulates the state's oil and natural gas industry, last week approved 21 exemption requests from operators, mostly in the Permian and Eagle Ford shale fields, to flare, more than four times the level it approved this time last year.

Flaring, or the burning of unwanted gas, has come under greater regulatory scrutiny in recent years amid pushes by environmental groups and others to clamp down on the practice that releases greenhouse gases to help slow climate change.

Producers, however, now face a dilemma with crude oil prices trading above $80 a barrel, but gas remaining depressed and in some places falling into negative territory.

 

Russian Oil Price Cap Failing! | Russia is Losing in the Black Sea but Winning on the High Seas?​

Apr 30, 2024
In this episode, Sal Mercogliano - a maritime historian at Campbell University (@campbelledu) and former merchant mariner - discusses Russia's ability to evade the Oil Price Cap by avoid traditional Insurance Clubs, new ship registries and new operating companies.


16:21

- Oil price cap ‘increasingly unenforceable’ insurers warn https://splash247.com/oil-price-cap-i...
- Insurers tell UK government that oil price cap is ‘increasingly unenforceable’ https://www.lloydslist.com/LL1148993/...
- International Group of P&I Clubs https://www.igpandi.org/group-clubs/
- Written evidence submitted by International Group of P&I Clubs https://committees.parliament.uk/writ...
- Ukraine strikes oil refineries deep inside Russia https://www.ft.com/content/4bd2b770-4...
- Tanker Trackers tankertrackers.com
- Marine Traffic marinetraffic.com
- Guinea-Bissau emerges as this year’s fastest-growing ship register https://splash247.com/guinea-bissau-e...
- Eswatini shipping registry flagged as ‘false’ operation by IMO https://www.lloydslist.com/LL1148912/...
- Shifty Shades of Grey https://images.intelligence.informa.c...
 

Canada's long-delayed Trans Mountain oil pipeline set to start operations​

May 1 (Reuters) - After 12 years and C$34 billion ($24.7 billion), Canada's Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project (TMX) is set to start shipping oil on Wednesday, a major milestone expected to transform access to global markets for the country's producers.

Pipeline constraints have forced Canadian oil producers to sell oil at a discount for many years, but TMX will nearly triple the flow of crude from landlocked Alberta to Canada's Pacific coast to 890,000 barrels per day.

For Canada, the world's fourth-biggest oil producer, the additional pipeline capacity is set to boost crude prices, lift national gross domestic product and open up access to Asian oil markets.

"It's an exciting day. Everyone has been waiting for this for literally years," said Rory Johnston, founder of the Commodity Context newsletter. "It's a fantastic thing for Canada and the Alberta oil patch."

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^^^^^^^

Port constraints for Canada's Trans Mountain pipeline may crimp oil exports​

May 1 (Reuters) - Logistical constraints at the Port of Vancouver mean waterborne oil exports from the highly anticipated Trans Mountain pipeline expansion due to start up on Wednesday may only be around half what the Canadian government-owned corporation has forecast, traders and shipping sources said.

The C$34 billion ($24.82 billion) project to nearly triple the flow of crude from Alberta to Canada's Pacific Coast to 890,000 barrels per day is scheduled to start operating on May 1 after years of regulatory delays and construction setbacks.

The extra 590,000 bpd of oil will be delivered to the Westridge Marine Terminal where it can be loaded onto tankers, giving Canadian producers more access to U.S. West Coast and Asian markets.

Trans Mountain says it has capacity to load 34 Aframax ships a month, but ship brokers and analysts have pegged the likely number at less than 20, citing concerns about pilot and tug boat availability and loading restrictions.

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Do the Asian markets even want more Canadian crude though? I thought they were buying the Russia crude tht used to be sold to Europe.
 

Shell smashes forecasts with $7.7 billion quarterly profit​


LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - Shell (SHEL.L), opens new tab reported first-quarter profit of $7.7 billion on Thursday, sharply beating expectations after disruptions in the Red Sea and Russia lifted oil refining and trading.

The company also said it will repurchase a further $3.5 billion of its shares over the next three months, at a similar rate to the previous quarter. Its dividend remained unchanged.

Shell's cashflow rose by 6% from the previous quarter to $13.3 billion reflecting strong operational performance, which together with trading helped offset a decline in natural gas prices that weighed on earnings of rivals including Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), opens new tab and Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab last week.

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