OPEC, for some quiet moments..

[admin]

Working gas in storage was 3,360 Bcf as of Friday, December 23, 2016, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net decline of 237 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 413 Bcf less than last year at this time and 79 Bcf below the five-year average of 3,439 Bcf. At 3,360 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.

Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report - EIA

Speculators have been increasing their bets that oil prices will rise, setting up a punishing outcome if OPEC's production cuts disappoint, Again Capital founding partner John Kilduff said Thursday. OPEC not only faces the challenge of getting its own members to deliver the promised cuts. It must also contend with potentially weaker demand in China and the threat of rebounding U.S. production, Kilduff said. "The boat is loaded to one side in the market right now. Shorts have covered. People have piled in from the long side, waiting for these cutbacks to come through. If they don't, there's going to be big punishment in this market," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box."

Oil traders face 'big punishment' if OPEC doesn't deliver output cuts

BP and PTT Public Limited Company (PTT) have entered into a sales and purchase agreement for liquefied natural gas. Under the agreement, BP will provide PTT with approximately 1 million tonnes of LNG per annum.  The term of the agreement is 20 years.  LNG supply will commence in 2017 and will be sourced from BP’s diverse portfolio of LNG, including the Freeport LNG project in the U.S.

BP, PTT sign LNG sale and purchase agreement

One of those comes in a place I’ve been watching closely the past year: the tiny Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Which this past week announced the winning bidders for an offshore licensing round — handing out acreage that could be prospective for some of the world’s largest natural gas targets. Cyprus’s Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry, and Tourism said it has awarded three offshore blocks — one to Italy’s Eni, one to an Eni/Total partnership, and the other to ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum. That’s big news because these licenses lie just kilometers away from Egyptian waters where Eni discovered the 30 trillion-cubic feet Zohr natural gas field — one of the biggest petro-finds in recent history.

Oil and gas companies are rushing to Cyprus and Iran - Business Insider