OPEC, for some quiet moments..

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Oil flowed normally from fields in northern Iraq even as government troops and allied militias faced off with forces from the independence-seeking Kurdish region on the outskirts of the disputed area of Kirkuk. Exports of about 600,000 bpd of crude from Kirkuk’s oil fields and from deposits inside the adjacent Kurdish region continued as usual through a Kurd-controlled pipeline to Turkey, according to a person familiar with the matter, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Kurdish oil flows despite Baghdad's threats over Kirkuk

Oil climbed to the highest level in two weeks as dwindling U.S. crude stockpiles and near-record Chinese imports signaled the worldwide glut is eroding. Futures advanced 1.7% in New York Friday, posting the the biggest weekly gain in a month. In China, the world’s second-biggest oil market, crude imports in September jumped to the second-highest on record. U.S. oil inventories slid for a third straight week and the chief of the International Energy Agency predicted worldwide supply will soon be in sync with demand, provided OPEC maintains ongoing output cuts.

Oil rises to two-week high amid optimism on re-balancing process

It’s been a bad year for oil explorers in Norway’s Arctic: a record campaign in the Barents Sea yielded little; the most exciting well in years proved to be a flop; and Norwegians grew increasingly skeptical about the industry that made them rich. But companies led by Norway’s state-controlled Statoil ASA and Sweden’s Lundin Petroleum AB aren’t about to give up.

Arctic oil promise keeps Norway's disappointed wildcatters going

Oil demand will grow at a “healthy pace” over the next five years as renewables show the fastest expansion of any type of energy, the head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said. Crude demand will climb an average 1.2 MMbpd through 2022 and slow to 300,000 bpd in 2035 to 2040, OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said Sunday in Kuwait, giving a preview of OPEC’s 2017 World Oil Outlook set to be released Nov. 7. The share of fossil fuels in the global energy mix will slip below 80% by 2020 and fall to 75.4% by 2040, he said.

OPEC sees 'healthy' oil demand growth to 2022

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The latest battle for Iraq’s future is unfolding around the country’s oldest oil field. Federal government troops pushed back forces from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region with a rapid thrust into Kirkuk province in northern Iraq, breaking a stand-off over the long-disputed area. Baghdad wants to reassert control of the area’s oil deposits from Kurdish fighters, who seized the territory and its capital city, also called Kirkuk, to ward off Islamic State militants in 2014. The Kurds, who voted overwhelmingly for independence in a referendum last month, see the resources as a financial lifeline for a future state.

Fight for Iraq's future targets 90-year-old Kirkuk oil field

Iran said it would support an extension of OPEC oil-production cuts to the end of next year, and insisted its own output plans won’t be disrupted by U.S. President Donald Trump. “We are pleased with the way OPEC has decided to cut some production in order to bring a semblance of balance between supply and demand,” Amir Zamaninia, deputy minister for trade and international affairs at Iran’s Oil Ministry, said Tuesday. “We think that this trend will continue and we will support this trend.”

Iran official backs extension of OPEC cuts, dismisses Trump risk

Biota Technology, the oilfield DNA sequencing pioneer, has achieved a critical milestone on its path to commercialization: the diagnostic has been deployed by a majority of the top 20 U.S. shale producers in the U.S. Biota continues to attract top-tier investors, recently closing a multi-million dollar financing led by Illumina Ventures. Application of DNA diagnostics in unconventional U.S. basins. “Biota is pioneering DNA sequencing in the energy industry,” said CEO Ajay Kshatriya. “We have developed a clear value proposition to improve reservoir economics by quantifying hydrocarbon fluid movement. The fact that we have been able to attract a significant number of world class, Fortune 500 customers is testimony to our industry-changing solution.”

U.S. shale producers applying DNA sequencing to improve reservoir economics

Conventionally, African exploration has been focused in Nigeria, Egypt and Libya; most other frontiers were either underexplored or not explored at all. However, in recent times Africa has been the hot spot for exploration activity, mostly concentrated in West Africa, offshore Mozambique and Tanzania, and the East African rift system in Kenya and Uganda, as well as the opening of new carbonate plays in the Nile Delta. The slump in oil markets has had a huge impact on exploration activity, with a decline of about 60% in the African continent since 2015.

Rystad Energy: Northwestern Africa leading exploration activity

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Encana Corp. CEO Doug Suttles says drillers in Texas’s prolific Permian basin can no longer impress investors with how much acreage they’re snapping up or how quickly they’re boosting production. Instead, investors will focus on how profitably companies are able to produce from their current holdings, Suttles said in an interview in New York. Encana, which has spent about four years reworking its portfolio of holdings to four top North American plays, expects to be a leader among its peers on that front, he said.

Encana calls end to Permian land race as focus turns to output

Oil extended gains as signs of declining U.S. stockpiles pointed to healthy demand while investors weighed disruptions to supply because of global geopolitical tensions. Futures in New York rose as much as 0.8% after adding 2.5% in the past three sessions. Flows of crude from northern Iraq through the Turkish port of Ceyhan have slumped, a port agent said Wednesday, a sign that fighting between the Baghdad government and Kurdish forces may be having a larger-than-expected impact on output in the oil-rich Kirkuk region. An industry report showed U.S. inventories fell last week, with government data Wednesday forecast to show a fourth straight drop.

Oil rises on demand signs after Goldman flags geopolitical risks

While gas markets are currently well supplied, the transformation of natural gas markets from regional systems to more globalized and interdependent markets is creating new security challenges, according to the International Energy Agency's latest assessment of global gas security. The IEA's second Global Gas Security Review provides an extensive analysis of recent gas balancing issues and risks with related policy developments linked to security of supply - including the stressed situations in natural gas and power markets experienced by several southern Europe countries in the winter of 2016-2017; the diplomatic tensions between Qatar and some of its neighboring countries; and the supply risks posed by recent hurricanes on the United States energy system.

IEA: Market flexibility improving thanks to LNG, but gas security remains a concern

Congressional Republicans have found a way to use the federal budget to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling -- and they don’t plan on stopping there.  GOP leaders in the House and Senate are exploring ways to also expand drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans through congressional budget rules that allow them to pass major policy changes on a simple majority vote.

Republicans may use budget to open Arctic, Atlantic to oil rigs

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OPEC sent its strongest signal yet for an extension of production cuts until the end of 2018, saying preparations for the next meeting are taking their lead from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s tentative backing for a further nine months of curbs.

OPEC sends strongest signal that cuts may extend through year-end 2018

The world’s biggest oil traders say crude could rise above $60/bbl in a year as demand grows and OPEC keeps cutting. Or it might fall to $45 as another wave of U.S. shale hits the market. The disagreement between Glencore Plc, Gunvor Group Ltd. and Trafigura Group Pte on the bullish side, and Vitol Group on the other, underscores the huge uncertainty over the key drivers of oil supply and demand. Growth in consumption has been stronger than expected this year, helping the recent price gain, but the speed of the expansion in U.S. output has also proved hard to predict. A big surprise from one of those competing forces in 2018 could tip markets in either direction.

World's biggest oil traders see wildly diverging crude price

EIA forecasts that U.S crude oil production will average 9.4 MMbpd in the second half of 2017, 340,000 bpd more than in the first half of 2017. Production in 2018 is expected to average 9.9 MMbpd, surpassing the previous high of 9.6 MMbpd set in 1970, based on projections in EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO).

EIA: U.S. crude production to increase through year-end, setting up record 2018

Was $50/bbl for oil just a passing fancy? West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, skyrocketed above $52/bbl at the end of September, teasing investors. But the rally didn’t last long. After hedge funds sliced their net-long position on WTI and pulled back from record bets on rising Brent prices, oil had slipped as low as $49.10 on Friday. “We just rallied too far, too fast,” said  Clayton Rogers, an energy derivative broker at SCS Commodities Corp. in Jersey City. “I think it was just time for a correction.”

Oil buzz a brief encounter as "too far, too fast" rally wanes

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A surge in crude prices faded as Iraq sought to restore flows from fields in a disputed region after violence had curbed output in OPEC’s second-biggest producer. Futures fell as much as 1.2% in New York, further eroding the gains from last Friday through Wednesday as tensions flared in the Kirkuk province. Engineers were said to be working to replace equipment missing from fields in the region that Iraqi government troops recaptured this week from Kurdish forces. U.S. government data published Wednesday has deepened the slide, showing gasoline stockpiles rose for a fourth week while distillates expanded for the first time since August.

Oil geopolitical-risk rally fades as Iraq works to revive fields

Since the first shale gas export terminal opened in Louisiana last year, America’s drillers have seen at least 75 cargoes of their fuel sail through the Panama Canal bound for markets in Asia. Now they’re looking for a cheaper and quicker route. And they’ve turned to Mexico for help. Aldo Flores, Mexico’s deputy energy secretary, said Thursday that the government’s in talks with shale drillers in West Texas about a potential pipeline that would send their gas straight to Mexico’s west coast, where it could then be liquefied and shipped overseas.

Could Mexico be the next Panama Canal for gas? Drillers think so

The billionaire evangelist of U.S. natural gas exports is finding himself having some surprising conversations these days. Charif Souki, who co-founded the only company shipping America’s shale gas bounty to foreign buyers, said when he flies to Asia or South America to sign deals for his new firm, no one’s interested. Instead, they come back with a counter-proposal. They’d like to be his partner. “Nobody is keen to sign contracts,” he said in an interview in Oxford, England. “Even the people who kind of think they should are afraid to do it.”

America's shale gas pioneer seeks buyers, only to find partners

Libya's oil production has increased steeply from August 2016’s low point of below 300,000 bpd to around 850,000 bpd at present, passing the 1-MMbpd barrier in July. But Wood Mackenzie believes Libya may now be reaching its near-term production limits and future growth will be gradual.

WoodMac: What's behind the boost in Libya's oil production?

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Fracing isn’t looking so great for the world’s biggest fracer, but the CEO of Halliburton Co. says he can pull some levers to improve profits. After lackluster margins for the company’s main business sent shares tumbling, casting a cloud over third-quarter earnings that otherwise beat estimates, CEO Jeff Miller said there are three things he plans to do to improve fracing profits: raise prices, maximize the use of machinery and cut costs.

Halliburton CEO defends fracing business as margins disappoint

Iraq began using a new offshore crude-exporting facility to help boost shipments by sea and make up for a suspension of pipeline exports from the country’s north due to a conflict with the self-governed Kurdish region. The supertanker Chloe, which can transport about 2 MMbbl of oil, was moored at the new loading point in the Persian Gulf off the coast of southern Iraq on Monday, according to shipping agent reports and Bloomberg tanker tracking. Oil Minister Jabbar Al-Luaibi said last week that southern exports would rise by 200,000 bpd to offset production that halted at some northern fields in the aftermath of fighting over disputed territory.

Iraq adds oil export facility to offset output drop in Kurd feud

Oil investors are back in the ring. Hedge funds are finding betting on West Texas Intermediate crude more attractive again, with total positioning on the U.S. benchmark increasing to the highest in almost a year. The surge comes as oil prices have held steady above $50/bbl -- a key psychological level -- for about two weeks.

Investors jump back into fray as oil-market revival beckons

Oil traded near $52/bbl as OPEC reported record compliance with pledged production cuts and U.S. drilling slowed again. December futures were little-changed in New York. OPEC and its partners including Russia achieved a record-high level of compliance to output cuts during September, according to a statement on Saturday. In the U.S., drillers reduced the rig count for a third week to the lowest since June, according to Baker Hughes.

Oil near $52 as OPEC touts record compliance, rig count drops

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U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has announced that the Department is proposing the largest oil and gas lease sale ever held in the United States--76,967,935 acres in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The proposed region-wide lease sale, offering an area about the size of New Mexico, is scheduled for March 2018 and includes all available unleased areas on the Gulf’s Outer Continental Shelf, surpassing last year’s region-wide lease sale by about one million acres.

Secretary Zinke announces largest oil and gas lease sale in U.S. history

As OPEC negotiates the extension of its oil production cuts until the end of 2018, it’s also quietly started working on an exit strategy in an effort to reassure investors it won’t flood the market once the curbs finally expire, according to people familiar with the deliberations. The talks, still at a preliminary stage, are complementary to the cuts and designed to improve their impact in 2018. The group is likely to endorse the outlines of the plan when they meet in Vienna on Nov. 30, but the full strategy probably won’t be unveiled until later next year, the people said, asking to not be named because the talks aren’t public.

OPEC said to work on exit strategy alongside cuts extension

Russia continues to pull ahead of its oil rivals including Saudi Arabia in China, the world’s biggest energy user. The Asian nation’s imports of Russian crude jumped 61% to a record 6.35 million metric tons in September from a year earlier, according to General Administration of Customs data. That helped Russia retain the top spot for the seventh straight month. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, supplied about 10% more at 4.28 million tons, while retreating to the third-biggest. Angola was the No. 2 seller.

Russia cements top spot in crude sales to China as Saudis recede

Total SA is in discussions about buying liquefied natural gas assets from former French gas monopoly Engie SA, the energy major’s CEO said. Gas markets will grow in the future and Total is determined to expand its LNG business, CEO Patrick Pouyanne said Tuesday in a Bloomberg TV interview in Riyadh. His remarks confirmed a statement on Monday from Engie, which is seeking to sell parts of its LNG business as a glut of the fuel on global markets wipes out profitability.

Total in talks to buy Engie LNG assets, CEO says

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Crude may still be languishing near $50, but major producers are on track to rejoin the world’s corporate elite by squeezing more cash from each barrel. The five biggest oil producers generated about $34 billion of cash from operations in the third quarter, according to estimates from Jefferies LLC. That puts each of them at least on a par with tech giant Facebook, a welcome return to the top tier of global business after three years on the skids. The oil majors are reaping the benefits of deep cost cuts, but they’re still not doing quite enough. The target: being able to fully fund dividends and investments at $40, or even $30/bbl, according to BP CEO Bob Dudley.

Major oil companies set to make Facebook-level cash even with $50 crude

ExxonMobil announced today that the Neuquén Province government has approved the investment plan for the development of a 35-year unconventional exploitation concession in the Los Toldos I South block. The initial investment of about $200 million calls for a pilot project that brings up to seven wells to production, the construction of production facilities and development of export infrastructure. “We are very optimistic about this resource and the provincial government’s approval enables us to do the necessary work to continue expanding our operations,” said Sara Ortwein, president of ExxonMobil’s XTO Energy. “We look forward to continuing to work with the government and our partners to develop the country’s energy resources.”

ExxonMobil’s investment plan approved for Los Toldos I South block in Argentina

Oil held above $52 after a government report signaled record overseas demand for U.S. crude and fuels, even as domestic drillers boosted output by the most in half a decade. Oil futures seesawed in a 54-cent range in New York. Daily exports of crude, diesel and other petroleum products climbed to 7.66 MMbbl last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Bullish aspects of the report such as falling gasoline and distillate stockpiles were tempered by the rise in oil production as well as a bump up in crude inventories.

Oil near $52 as U.S. exports "ripping higher" to record levels

With $2.7 billion in oilfield sales this week, Hess Corp. is making a calculated bet, giving up steady production today to help fund what could be one of the world’s biggest discoveries into the next decade. The oil explorer with operations on five continents said Tuesday that it’s selling North Sea assets off of Norway for $2 billion and seeking a buyer for wells off of Denmark. The news came a day after Hess sold drilling rights in offshore Equatorial Guinea for $650 million. Counting a June deal to sell properties in Texas, the New York-based company has sold off almost $3.3 billion in assets this year.

Hess building a war chest with $4.4-billion Guyana find in mind

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Total posted the highest earnings from pumping oil and gas in more than two years, illustrating the improving fortunes of an industry that’s endured the deepest downturn in a generation. Total’s earnings followed surprisingly strong profits from ConocoPhillips and Statoil, driven by a combination of higher crude prices and deep cost cuts. Exxon Mobil and Chevron, the largest U.S. oil majors, report their earnings later Friday. The global imbalance between crude supply and demand that’s weighed on prices for three years is finally dissipating, the French energy giant said.

Total's profit jumps as majors show rebound from deep slump

Comments made by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), sent Brent crude to its highest in more than two years, to US$59.30 a barrel, Reuters reports. West Texas Intermediate was more impervious to the comments, but it also gained a few cents, to close at US$52.64 a barrel—the highest in six months.

Saudi Rhetoric Sends Oil Prices To Two-Year High | OilPrice.com

Brent oil traded near the highest level in more than two years as Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman backed the extension of OPEC-led output cuts. Futures slipped 0.6% in London, paring the weekly gain to 2.1%. The prince said Thursday that “of course” he wanted to prolong the curbs beyond the end of March 2018. OPEC is considering an exit strategy to avoid flooding the market once the agreement finally expires, people familiar with the talks said this week. Total’s CEO Patrick Pouyanne said the imbalance between crude supply and demand is finally dissipating.

Brent crude near two-year high as Saudi prince backs OPEC cuts

Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell) and its partners won today three, 35-year production sharing contracts for pre-salt blocks located in the Santos basin, offshore Brazil. Shell will pay its share of the total signing bonuses, equating for all bids, of to approximately $100-million [R$ 332.5-million]. Today’s winning bids for Shell include a block adjacent to Shell’s Gato do Mato field (Shell 80% operating, Total 20%), a now unitized area to Sapinhoá field (Petrobras 45% operating, Shell 30%, Repsol 25%), and the new Alto de Cabo Frio – West block (Shell 55% operating, Qatar Petroleum 25%, CNOOC Limited 20%).

Shell expands pre-salt growth in deepwater Brazil with winning bids

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The OPEC trade is back, and Saudi Arabia is in the driver’s seat. Just before the de facto OPEC leader doubled down on its plan to drain the oil glut, propelling Brent crude prices beyond $60/bbl for the first time since 2015, hedge funds were almost as bullish on the global benchmark as they’ve ever been. Short-sellers retreated to levels last seen in February, when OPEC production cuts were fueling an oil-price surge.

Investors roll dice on OPEC as Saudi prince ups the ante

Recent increases in drilling activity and well production rates are raising natural gas production levels in the Haynesville region, according to EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). Marketed natural gas production in Haynesville reached 6.9 Bcfd in September after remaining near 6.0 Bcfd for the previous three years. The recent growth in Haynesville natural gas production is attributable to an increase in the number of active drilling rigs (starting late in 2016) and a trend toward higher per-well initial production rates. The United States Geological Survey estimates that the Haynesville shale play holds 174.6 Tcf of technically recoverable shale gas resources, the second-largest level in the United States after the Appalachia region.

EIA: Haynesville shale gas production increases to highest levels since 2013

It’s not only OPEC economies that need oil market stability; Big Oil, too, needs a floor under oil prices, as it has planned for around-$50-oil in near-term budgets. And the higher the oil prices, the better the chances that major oil companies will be able to pay out dividends with proceeds from operating cash flow instead more borrowing. “It is better to keep a stable policy and I think the OPEC and non-OPEC agreement is working efficiently and should continue,” Patrick Pouyanne, the chief executive of Total, told CNBC last week. The manager of one of Europe’s big oil companies believes that OPEC should give more visibility to the market to restrain the “huge volatility”.

Big Oil Urges OPEC: Keep Floor Under Oil Prices | OilPrice.com

China continued to cement its growing resource relationship with Brazil this week. With reports emerging that a Chinese consortium will bid to construct a 1,100 km, $3.9 billion railway to transport grain from Brazil’s central-west region to the northern port of Miritituba.  But even bigger things were afoot the past few days in Brazil’s oil sector. Where officials pushed through a last-minute judicial scare in order to pull off a historic bid round for offshore rights in the prolific pre-salt play.

Oil Majors Go All-In On This Emerging Hotspot | OilPrice.com