Oil Market News, OPEC+, sanctions and price shocks

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Global gasoline refining margins slump on slow summer driving season​

NEW YORK/NEW DELHI/LONDON June 17 (Reuters) - Oil refiners are making less money selling their gasoline as demand during the peak summer driving season has fallen short of what they expected when many of them boosted production.

Softness in gasoline markets have upended years of record profits on selling transportation fuels. In the U.S., the world's largest gasoline market, refiners ramped up sharply, expecting demand that never materialized. U.S. gasoline demand was 9 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first week of June, 1.7% below last year and seasonally the lowest since 2021, government data showed.

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States sue US to block rule that oil firms guarantee payment to dismantle old wells​

HOUSTON, June 17 (Reuters) - Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi on Monday sued the U.S. government to block the Biden administration's proposed rule that would require the offshore oil and gas industry to provide nearly $7 billion in financial assurances to cover costs of dismantling old infrastructure.

The rule, which would take effect later this year, will predominantly affect smaller companies that do not have investment grade ratings or sufficient proven oil reserves. Oil majors are more likely to meet the credit criteria or have large reserves.

The lawsuit was filed against the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which has said the rule could affect around three quarters of operators in the Gulf of Mexico.

The BOEM declined to comment on the lawsuit. When the rule was announced in April, the Department of the Interior said it was "to protect taxpayers from covering costs that should be borne by the oil and gas industry when offshore platforms require decommissioning."

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Denmark seeks dark fleet restrictions in the Baltic - Splash247

Denmark’s foreign minister has said he is in discussions with neighbours looking at ways of barring Russia’s shadow fleet from transiting the Baltic Sea, something that has earned a rebuke from the Russian ambassador in Copenhagen. “There is broad consensus that the shadow fleet is an...
splash247.com
 

EU sanctions target Russian gas for the first time, diplomats say​

BRUSSELS, June 20 (Reuters) - European Union countries agreed on a 14th package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine, diplomats said on Thursday, including their first restrictions on Russian gas.

The package bans re-exports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) in EU waters but stops short of banning imports as the bloc did in 2022 for Russian seaborne oil. Some EU countries still import pipeline gas from Russia via Ukraine.

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Mentioned in the above article.

Red Flags: Russian Oil Tradecraft in the Mediterranean Sea​

June 2024

The war in Ukraine and resulting international sanctions affected Russia sufficiently that it had to change its primary economic policies. The Russian economy transitioned from a peacetime to a wartime economy, and, as a result, Russia’s third quarter 2023 had a 5.5 percent gross domestic product (GDP) increase. An important component of this economic rebound is oil and gas revenues. Sanction loopholes, coupled with Russian resourcefulness, have helped the nation circumvent international law and maintain economic growth. Russia has continued to export oil with minimal hindrance, and that income is being funneled into the military-industrial complex to pay for the conflict in Ukraine.

Russia has rerouted oil flows to nations such as China and India, and that oil ultimately reaches Western countries after being refined. With the Urals price exceeding the $60 price cap since 11 July 2023, there is an increased need to evaluate sanctions compliance.

Western media has reported on a so-called shadow fleet responsible for a series of shady operations at sea and able to move sanctioned oil. Ship-to-ship (STS) transfers remain a significant aspect of Russian oil smuggling in line with other state-led operations. See Figure.

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After Oil, Russia May Now Be Building a Shadow Fleet for Gas

(Bloomberg) — In the months that followed its invasion of Ukraine and punitive Western restrictions imposed in response, Russia amassed a shadow fleet to ferry its oil around the world....
gcaptain.com

U.S. Sanctions UAE Companies and Vessels in Response to Iran Nuclear Activities

The U.S. Department of State has announced sanctions on three United Arab Emirates (UAE) companies and eleven tankers over their involvement in the transportation of Iranian petroleum or petrochemical products....
gcaptain.com
 

Russian oil and gas revenue soars 41% in first half, data shows​

  • Oil and gas revenue jumps as rouble weakens, oil price rises
  • The revenue accounts for a third of Russian budget proceedings
  • Russian economy weathers sanctions
MOSCOW, July 3 (Reuters) - Proceeds from oil and gas sales for Russia's federal budget rose by around 41% year on year in the first half of the year 5.698 trillion roubles ($65.12 billion), finance ministry data showed on Wednesday, due to rising oil prices and the weaker rouble.

Oil and gas revenues have been the most important single source of cash for the Kremlin, accounting for around a third to a half of total federal budget proceedings for the last decade.

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Life Inside Gigantic Billion $ Oil Rigs Operating 24/7 at Sea​

Jul 3, 2024

Welcome back to the Fluctus Channel for a special episode on life onboard offshore oil production platforms. In this episode, we will feature how oil rig workers spend their time offshore in one of the most challenging work environments. Additionally, we will focus on the lifecycle of oil rigs, from design, construction, and installation to decommissioning and repurposing as artificial reefs.

15:54
 

Bolivia seeks oil and gas investment, Russia's help to solve energy crunch​

  • YPFB seeks financing and partnerships to boost oil and gas production
  • Bolivia pivots to cheaper oil purchases from OPEC producers via Botrading S.A.
  • Russia aiding Bolivia with fuel supply issues amid domestic production decline
LA PAZ, July 4 (Reuters) - Bolivian state energy firm YPFB is looking to improve conditions for investment in the country's flagging oil and gas sector and seeking help from Russia to overcome recent fuel shortages, the head of the company told Reuters.

The landlocked South American nation is reeling from a foiled military coup against the government last week, which stemmed in part from a rising economic crisis linked to years of declining oil and gas production that have hit hard-currency reserves.

In an interview in Bolivia just days after the failed June 26 coup attempt, YPFB President Armin Dorgathen conceded that political missteps in recent years had put off investors, harming output. Gas production has halved from a peak a decade ago, while oil output is its lowest since the 1990s.

"We are working to attract financing from various sides and also looking for partners," Dorgathen told Reuters earlier this week. He cited issues with payments, legislation and regulation under the country's largely socialist leadership in recent years that made it tough for private firms - a situation that YPFB was now trying to change.

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Kurdish oil smuggling to Iran flourishes​

ERBIL, Iraq, July 11 (Reuters) - Heading for Turkey to the north and Iran to the east, hundreds of oil tankers snake each day from near Kurdistan's capital Erbil, clogging the Iraqi region's often winding and mountainous highways.

The tankers are the most visible aspect of a massive operation to truck oil from the semi-autonomous region of Iraq to Iran and Turkey in murky, off-the-books transactions that have boomed since an official export pipeline closed last year.

Reuters pieced together the details of this flourishing trade through conversations with over 20 people including Iraqi and Kurdish oil engineers, traders and government officials, politicians, diplomats and oil industry sources.

They painted a picture of a booming business in which more than 1,000 tankers carry at least 200,000 barrels of cut-price oil every day to Iran and, to a lesser extent, Turkey - bringing in about $200 million a month.

The scale of the unofficial exports, which has not previously been reported, is one reason Iraq has been unable to stick to output cuts agreed with the OPEC oil cartel this year, Iraqi officials said.
Iranian and Turkish officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Iraqi oil ministry spokesperson Assim Jihad said the Kurdistan trade was not approved by the Iraqi government and state oil marketer SOMO was the only official entity allowed to sell Iraqi crude.

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The High Price of Big Oil Profits​

Jul 10, 2024
The deadly explosion that rocked Marathon Petroleum’s Galveston Bay, Texas, refinery in 2023 put a klieg light on Big Oil’s deferral of critical maintenance in the drive to maximize production and capture record profits. It also made clear the limited ability of the federal government to do anything about it.

7:37
 

Saudi Arabia threatened to sell off European debt if G-7 seized Russian assets: Report​


Saudi Arabia threatened to sell off European debt if G-7 seized Russian assets: Report

Saudi Arabia has watched western efforts to sanction Russia carefully, amid concerns the same tools could be used against Riyadh
www.middleeasteye.net


Saudi Arabia warned it could sell off some European debt holdings in retaliation to a move by the G-7 to seize almost $300bn in frozen Russian assets, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The veiled threat was passed along from Saudi Arabia’s finance ministry earlier this year to some G-7 counterparts, as the group weighed seizing Russian assets designed to support Ukraine.

Saudi Arabia specifically signaled out the euro debt issued by France, according to Bloomberg.

Riyadh has been concerned about western efforts to seize the Kremlin's assets for months. In April, Politico reported that Saudi Arabia, along with China and Indonesia, was privately lobbying the EU against confiscation.

But Saudi Arabia’s threat to unload the debt of European Union members would represent a serious show of force and willingness by the kingdom to leverage its economic heft to sway western policymakers.
 

Argentina set to become part of the VLCC trading map - Splash247

Argentinians could soon see very large crude carriers (VLCCs) off their coastline. A pipeline is under construction to deliver crude from Vaca Muerta, South America’s largest shale formation, to Punta Colorada port, located some 300 km south of the capital Buenos Aires on the Atlantic...
splash247.com
 

Greece Extends Naval Drills That Deter Russian Oil Transfers

By Alex Longley, Julian Lee and Jack Wittels (Bloomberg) — Greece is again extending the naval drills that have largely deterred transfers of Russian oil near its coastline and forced them...
gcaptain.com

Kuwait Announces 'Giant' Offshore Oil Discovery

CAIRO, July 14 (Reuters) – Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said on Sunday it had made a “giant” oil discovery in the Al-Nokhatha field east of the Kuwaiti island of Failaka, with oil reserves estimated...
gcaptain.com
 
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