OPEC, for some quiet moments..

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While Corpus Christi, Texas, refineries prepare to restart as the storm shifts, several plants in the Port Arthur and Beaumont areas are under threat, pushing gasoline futures to the highest in two years. Motiva Enterprises LLC’s Port Arthur refinery, the largest in the U.S. with the ability to process about 605,000 bpd, began a controlled shutdown Wednesday and Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Beaumont refinery is also said to shut due to flooding issues. Total SA’s refinery in the area is said to have had a power loss, while Valero Energy Corp.’s Port Arthur plant is offline due to the flooding, according to a person familiar with operations.

Storm Harvey's impact on oil markets

Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE), has announced a second major contract for Eni East Africa’s (EEA) Coral South FLNG development, offshore Mozambique, underlining the company’s position as the world’s first and only integrated fullstream provider of products, services and digital solutions that maximize productivity, efficiency and cost reduction. The contract was awarded in 2Q this year by a joint venture formed by TechnipFMC and JGC Corporation, the lead partner in a consortium that will provide engineering, procurement, construction, installation, commissioning and start-up (EPCIC) of Coral South’s FLNG facility.

Baker Hughes secures second major contract for Eni's Coral South FLNG

Total has announced start-up of production from the Edradour & Glenlivet gas and condensate fields, located in about 300 to 435 m of water in the West of Shetland area, close to Laggan-Tormore fields, which came on stream in February 2016. The Edradour and Glenlivet development will bring additional production capacity of up to 56,000 boed.

Total starts production at Edradour & Glenlivet fields, West of Shetland

The skies are clearing over Houston, but the damage from the remaining elements of Hurricane Harvey has spread east to Port Arthur and Lake Charles along the Texas-Louisiana border. That has knocked more refineries offline, including the largest refinery in the United States. In the aftermath of the storm, the most serious threat to the energy industry is the extended outage of refineries and pipelines, according to Goldman Sachs. The problem actually looks worse than it did earlier this week as the deluge has shifted towards Port Arthur, another refining hub. Motiva, which runs the U.S.’ largest refinery in Port Arthur, began to completely shut down its 600,000 bpd facility on Wednesday.

Hurricane Harvey Is A Disaster For OPEC | OilPrice.com

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Half-a-million barrels of U.S. government oil is being released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to a Gulf Coast refinery -- the first emergency discharge in five years -- after storm Harvey halted foreign crude deliveries to the heart of the nation’s refining industry. The crude released to the Phillips 66 refinery will take the form of an exchange, in which the Houston-based company will replace the oil once supplies are flowing again. As many as 11 ports were shut during Harvey’s five-day rampage across hundreds of miles of the Texas coast, leaving 28 tankers laden with more than 18 MMbbl of overseas oil drifting offshore as of Wednesday night.

Strategic oil reserve tapped in first emergency draw since 2012

World energy markets, from butane in Asia to diesel in Europe and gasoline in Latin America, are feeling the ripple effect of Texas’s deadly storm, highlighting the growing role of the U.S. in the global oil industry. When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, the U.S. exported just 800,000 bpd of mostly refined products. Today it ships more than 6 MMbpd of crude and fuels, an increase driven by a boom in shale production, the end of a ban on crude exports and the expansion of several refineries.

Harvey's global impact signals growing U.S. clout in oil markets

Tropical Storm Harvey’s devastation is giving the U.S. natural gas market at least three reasons to bet on a decline in prices for the fuel.

Harvey's havoc gives U.S. gas traders three reasons to be bears

Angola’s Petroleum Minister Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos said it’s essential for the southern African nation’s economy that oil prices rebound to $60/bbl this year. “That would be extremely important,” Botelho de Vasconcelos said Monday in an interview in the country’s capital Luanda. “We’ve been getting signs from the market that prices could reach $60 by the end of the year.”

Angola oil minister says nation needs crude to rebound to $60

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While all eyes have been on Energy Transfer’s Rover pipeline project as it is slated to startup sometime this month adding material new takeaway capacity, Northeast production has already begun to surge even prior to its startup. New highs have recently been reached in Appalachia, with dry production exceeding 23.6 Bcf/d based on the pipeline flow sample, an increase of about 1 Bcf/d from the end of May. Is this just the beginning of a flood of new gas from Appalachia to hit the US market as critical new pipeline projects finally come to fruition over the next six months? The recent increase has come entirely from Western Appalachia including Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio, while Eastern Appalachia has remained fairly flat year-to-date, as seen in the figure below.

Just The Beginning? The Recent Surge In Northeast Production | Seeking Alpha

As much as 10% of U.S. fracing work could be delayed after Hurricane Harvey ripped through southeast Texas, soaking thousands of miles of dirt roads snaking through one of the nation’s busiest oilfields. More than half of the rigs running in Texas’ Eagle Ford shale are estimated to have suspended drilling because of the storm,  Marshall Adkins, an analyst at Raymond James & Associates Inc., wrote Thursday in a note to clients. The muddy conditions left in Harvey’s wake will hinder the fracing sector that has consistently lagged speedier drilling crews.

Harvey's muddy roadways could delay 10% of U.S. fracing

Iraq said it has gone deeper than its pledged oil-output cut, potentially ending a seven-month period in which OPEC saw the nation falling short of its agreed curbs. The second-largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is pumping 4.32 MMbopd, below the 4.35 million target agreed last year, Iraqi Oil Minister Jabbar Al-Luaibi said on Friday. However, he said the government in Baghdad doesn’t have reliable figures for shipments from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, which accounts for about a tenth of the nation’s production, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Iraq says it's gone deeper than pledged OPEC production cut

The Trump administration is  easing environmental regulations and opening up territory for drilling as part of the president’s bid to unleash the "vast energy wealth" of the U.S. Yet Donald Trump’s push to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement could have the opposite effect. As Nafta negotiations resume Friday, oil industry leaders are desperate to preserve the 23-year-old trade deal that drove a North American oil and gas renaissance and paved the way for $34 billion worth of energy exports to Canada and Mexico last year.

Oil firms that cheered regulatory rollback are quaking on NAFTA

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In early January Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice-president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, unveiled the UAE Energy Plan 2050, which aims to increase clean energy usage by 50% and improve energy efficiency by 40%.

UAE Starts Execution Of $163 Billion Energy Transformation Program | OilPrice.com

Hurricane Harvey’s crushing blow to the U.S. energy industry reveals just how dependent Mexico has become on natural gas from its northern neighbor. The storm’s wrath forced cross-border gas pipelines in Texas to shut and prevented tankers from loading cargoes of the fuel. Mexican consumers, who are burning record amounts of gas from America’s prolific shale basins, had no choice but to cut back as imports dropped 16% in a single day after Harvey hit before recovering.

Harvey's wrath lays bare Mexico's U.S. natural gas addiction

Even before North Korea detonated its most powerful nuclear bomb yet, Japan was calling for moves to cut off its oil supply. Afterward, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to halt all trade with any country that does business with Kim Jong Un’s regime. China, which supplies most of its food and fuel, on Monday called the warning “unacceptable.”

China's oil lifeline to North Korea targeted after nuclear blast

Russia is likely to back a further extension of the OPEC agreement cutting oil output, judging that it has helped to stabilize the market, the country’s deputy prime minister said. "The most likely outcome is that the deal will be extended," Arkady Dvorkovich said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in Cernobbio, Italy, though he added that it’s still too early to make a definitive decision. "We are still six months away, so we will see," he said.

Russia likely to back extension of OPEC deal as prices stabilize

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Oil approached a four-week high as refiners revved up plants pounded by Hurricane Harvey, sparking demand for crude. Futures rose as much as 1.4% in New York while gasoline dropped, extending a three-day, 23% decline. Motiva Enterprises LLC’s refinery 90 mi east of Houston, which processes more crude than any other North American plant, was on track to reach 40% of its normal working rate within days. Dozens of tankers that had been stranded offshore when Harvey shut every major Texas port began delivering cargoes of crude to refiners that had been in danger of running dry last week.

Oil heads for four-week high as demand for crude rises

Europe’s biggest energy company is investing in projects to boost global gas demand and aims to continue feeding the market it’s nurturing with new liquefied natural gas export plants. Royal Dutch Shell Plc is supporting the development of gas use in heavy transport such as shipping and is also helping smaller and less credit worthy customers begin importing LNG, Maarten Wetselaar, the company’s director of integrated gas and new energies, said at an event at Bloomberg’s Sydney office Wednesday. As new LNG customers enter the market, that will open a window for Shell and others to develop new low-cost export plants.

Shell seeks to boost LNG demand to build new plants

France will stop granting new exploration permits next year as it seeks to end all oil and gas production by 2040, according to a draft bill presented at a cabinet meeting Wednesday. The move would allow the government to turn down more than 40 exploration requests already made, while some existing permits may be extended to respect contracts, the presentation showed. That includes the Guyane Maritime license off French Guiana, in which Total SA has a stake, according to an adviser to Ecology Minister Nicolas Hulot, who briefed reporters in Paris.

France plans to end oil output by 2040 with exploration ban

The world’s second-biggest liquefied natural gas exporting nation will probably curb shipments next year to avoid a domestic shortfall of the fuel, according to the Australian head of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. The Australian Energy Market Operator is likely to declare a shortage for eastern states in the next two to four weeks, Shell Australia Chairwoman Zoe Yujnovich said at a Bloomberg event Wednesday in Sydney. That would trigger the country’s domestic gas security mechanism, a policy announced in June that could limit LNG exports from plants that draw more gas from local markets than they supply.

Shell sees gas shortage risk triggering Australia LNG export cut

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Sellers of crude to U.S. refineries that are still assessing the damage from Hurricane Harvey are seeking an alternative home for their supply. South American oil for the Gulf Coast is being  offered to Asian buyers for October arrival instead, according to traders who asked not to be identified. The refiners are being approached as they prepare to secure crude from within the region and the Middle East for November. At least one processor in Europe is also being informed about the availability of a Nigerian cargo, just days before the shipment is scheduled to load from West Africa.

Oil for U.S. hawked to others as storm snarls flows of crude

The U.S. is circulating a draft resolution at the United Nations that would bar crude oil shipments to North Korea, ban the nation’s exports of textiles and prohibit employment of its guest workers by other countries, according to a diplomat at the world body.

U.S. said to seek ban at UN on crude oil to North Korea

The $14bn Prelude project, led by Royal Dutch Shell, is the latest in a surge of new LNG capacity which promises to reshape the oil and gas industry — and with it, the energy markets they serve. Chevron’s Wheatstone LNG development in Australia is due to start producing this month, on the heels of its nearby Gorgon project last year, after a combined $88bn of investment. ExxonMobil, BP, Total and Eni have also made big commitments. Supplies of LNG are on course to increase by 50 per cent between 2014 and 2021. That implies the opening of a new LNG “train” — the facilities that condense gas into liquid form to allow it to be transported long distances by ship — every two to three months. Spencer Dale, chief economist at BP, calls that a “quite astonishing” rate of growth.

Big Oil bets on a dash for gas

The recent rise in oil prices is down to a weaker dollar and not ongoing efforts by Opec and selected non-Opec producers to curb crude production, according to Igor Sechin, chief executive officer of Russia's Rosneft. Speaking to news agency Tass on Friday (8 September), the boss of the Russian majority state-owned oil and gas giant, and close confidant of President Vladimir Putin, added that the Opec deal has 'no impact' on the crude market.

Oil price rise due to 'weaker dollar and not Opec pact', says Rosneft boss

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According to data from the international energy agency (IEA), at present the largest driver for oil demand is transportation, being responsible for approximately 56 percent of total oil demand, some 52 million barrels per day (mb/d) in 2015. Second is industrial demand from industries such as iron, steel, cement production, construction and mining, who together make up 15 percent of global oil demand, or 14 mb/d. Petrochemicals are third, being responsible for 12 percent of global oil demand, or 11 mb/d, while power generation is fourth with 6 percent, or 6 mb/d. The remaining 11 percent of global demand, or 10 mb/d, comes from a range of different industries such as agriculture, bitumen and lubricants.

Can We Expect Oil Demand To Slow Anytime Soon? | OilPrice.com

After starting the year at a torrid pace, the explorers of Canada’s shale riches are taking a step back, much like their peers in the Permian basin south of the border. As oil’s rebound stalls and tight-rock operations in Alberta and British Columbia gush enough crude and natural gas to meet targets for the year, producers like Painted Pony Energy Ltd. and  Baytex Energy Corp. may be putting the brakes on a spending spree that saw drilling in the first half more than double to over 3,000 wells.

Fracing frenzy shifts to thrift in Canada race to tap shale

When Total SA warned last month it was ready for acquisitions, U.S. shale assets weren’t at the top of its shopping list. On Monday, the French energy giant  agreed to buy the oil and gas unit of A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, its biggest purchase since 1999. The $7.45-billion deal, including debt, reinforces Total’s footprint in conventional oil and gas assets in Europe and Africa. U.S. shale -- whose development over the past decade has upended the balance in the oil market -- won’t be part of the portfolio.

Total snubs "expensive" U.S. shale with North Sea-focused deal

Europe’s biggest energy company is investing in projects to boost global gas demand and aims to continue feeding the market it’s nurturing with new liquefied natural gas export plants. Royal Dutch Shell Plc is supporting the development of gas use in heavy transport such as shipping and is also helping smaller and less credit worthy customers begin importing LNG, Maarten Wetselaar, the company’s director of integrated gas and new energies, said at an event at Bloomberg’s Sydney office Wednesday. As new LNG customers enter the market, that will open a window for Shell and others to develop new low-cost export plants.

Shell seeks to boost LNG demand to build new plants

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Petronet LNG Ltd. has reached an agreement to rework a liquefied natural gas supply agreement with  ExxonMobil Corp., the second such renegotiation by the Indian company for gas supplies after reaching a similar deal with Qatar, according to people with knowledge of the development. Under the new terms, the cost of the gas from the Gorgon LNG project in Australia will be 13.9% of the price of Brent crude, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they aren’t authorized to speak to the media. That’s down from an earlier ratio of 14.5% of the cost of a slightly more-expensive basket of crudes that has traditionally been used to price LNG contracts, according to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

India swaps cheaper LNG for more volume in second reworked deal with Exxon

World oil demand growth in 2017 is expected to rise by 1.42 mb/d after an upward revision of around 50 tb/d. The adjustment mainly reflects better-than-expected data from OECD region for the 2Q17, particularly OECD Americans and Europe, as well as China. In 2018, world oil demand is anticipated to grow by 1.35 mb/d, an increase of 70 tb/d from the previous report. This reflects higher growth expectations for OECD Europe and China.

MOMR September 2017.pdf

One of the biggest energy stories this year has been Russia’s Rosneft buying India’s Essar Oil — giving the Russian company a firm grip on one of the world’s biggest emerging oil and gas markets.  And this past week, that story got more complex. With Rosneft striking another big deal — drawing in another heavyweight energy nation.  China.

Unknown Oil & Gas Deal Just Changed The Global Energy Balance | OilPrice.com

This model doesn’t work with oil. If prices drop, as they have done since mid-2014, businesses don’t drop out. They often try to pump more. The plan is to try to make up for inadequate prices by increasing the volume of extraction. Of course, this doesn’t fix the problem. The hidden assumption is, of course, that eventually oil prices will again rise. When this happens, the expectation is that oil businesses will be able to make adequate profits. It is hoped that the system can again continue as in the past, perhaps at a lower volume of oil extraction, but with higher oil prices.

Oil Is Unlikely To Return To $80 | OilPrice.com

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OPEC and its allies are discussing extending by more than three months the oil production cuts that expire in March 2018, potentially prolonging them well into the second half of next year in an effort to boost prices, according to people familiar with the matter. An extension of that duration would be needed under the worst-case scenario for the oil market that OPEC ministers are now contemplating, the people said, asking not to be named because the talks were private. One option under discussion is a six-month extension, one person said.

OPEC is said to discuss extending cuts by more than three months

OPEC raised estimates for the amount of crude it will need to supply next year amid a stronger outlook for global oil demand. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries boosted the 2018 forecast in its monthly report by 400,000 bopd to 32.8 MMbpd on increased demand projections for Europe and China. Still, that’s about in line with the group’s production last month, meaning OPEC won’t be able to reverse its current output curbs if it wants to keep world markets balanced next year.

OPEC increases global oil demand forecasts on Europe, China

Royal Dutch Shell and Petrobras signed last week in The Hague, Netherlands, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a long-term mutual collaboration in developing pre-salt fields in Brazil.  In true partnership spirit between two of the world’s largest energy companies, Shell will benefit from technical solutions, contract management expertise and cost efficient initiatives Petrobras applies to Brazil’s pre and post-salt projects. Shell will share with Petrobras its global deep water experience, especially on cost efficiency efforts and use of technology.

Shell, Petrobras strengthen deepwater partnership in Brazil's pre-salt fields

Although oil prices are now half what they used to be three years ago, Big Oil is better positioned now than it was when oil prices were sky high, Michele Della Vigna, co-head of European equity research at Goldman Sachs, told CNBC in an interview on Monday.

Goldman Sachs: Oil Majors See Upside At $50 Oil | OilPrice.com

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U.K. nuclear and gas generators have been put on alert after offshore wind showed it could beat them on price this week. “Today’s results mean that both onshore and offshore wind are cheaper than gas and nuclear,” said Hugh McNeal, chief executive of the U.K. renewable energy trade association RenewableUK, following the outcome of competitive auctions, which yielded record-low prices. Two offshore wind projects, Hornsea 2 and Moray, emerged with a price of just £57.50 (USD $76.34) per megawatt-hour, while a third, Triton Knoll, came in at £74.75 ($99.22). The prices, down by as much as 51 percent compared to the average in the U.K.’s last subsidy round in 2015, were cheaper than the levelized cost of gas, based on figures from the U.K. Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), RenewableUK said in a statement.

Low UK Offshore Wind Prices Rattle Incumbents: 'People Are Trying to Put Their Jaws Back in Place' | Greentech Media

Canadian natural gas, locked in a fierce battle for market share with U.S. shale, may stage a modest recovery as output from some longtime producers wanes and pipeline maintenance ends. While Canadian gas will almost always trade for less than U.S. gas -- due mostly to the cost of moving the fuel to markets in Texas and the American Midwest -- the discount recently widened to the most since 2005. The culprits are prolific new wells that are hard to shut off, along with outages on a network of pipelines that move gas around Alberta.

Canada gas set to strike back against U.S. shale as glut eases

Oil topped $50/bbl for the first time in more than a month amid heightened optimism that a demand resurgence is in the offing. Futures rose as much as 1.7% in New York, extending the longest upswing since July. Two of the most influential organizations in world oil markets -- the International Energy Agency and OPEC -- nudged their demand forecasts higher, signaling continued erosion of a global glut that has weighed on prices.

Oil breaches $50 for first time in more than a month amid demand resurgence

Qatar, the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, is fulfilling all of its contracted shipments of oil and gas despite a regional political crisis that led to the severing of ties with some of its neighbors, the Gulf country’s energy minister said. The diplomatic feud with fellow OPEC members Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates isn’t hindering Qatar’s energy production or expansion plans,  Mohammed Bin Saleh Al Sada, minister of energy and industry, said at a meeting with foreign diplomats in Doha.

Qatar says it's fulfilling oil and gas deals despite Gulf crisis