08-04-2017, 10:53 PM
Look under the hood of the oil market and one thing becomes apparent -- shale producers seem to be hedging again. Demand for the contracts that producers use to guarantee price levels soared after 2018 West Texas Intermediate crude returned to $50/bbl. At the same time a raft of trades were reported to U.S. regulators last week that showed some producers hedging at levels as low as $45/bbl, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Oil market's hidden signals show shale producers hedging again
Venezuela’s state-owned oil company and its partners have quietly started working on a Plan B to find markets for the country’s crude oil if the White House ratchets up sanctions and bans imports.
Venezuela to prepare workaround if U.S. bans oil imports
Oil majors are raking in more cash now than they did in the heyday of $100 oil, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Integrated giants like BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc have adapted to lower prices by cutting costs and improving operations, analysts at the bank including Michele Della Vigna said in a research note Wednesday. European majors made more cash during the first half of this year, when Brent averaged $52/bbl, than they did in the first half of 2014 when prices were $109.
Who needs $100 oil? Majors seen making more cash at $50, Goldman says
The failure of a $27-billion project last week may offer a lesson to natural gas exporters: Go small or go home. With a global glut dragging down prices, liquefied natural gas suppliers including Cheniere Energy Inc. and Tellurian Inc. are looking to build smaller and cheaper. Such projects -- a third of the size and a fraction of the cost of most existing terminals -- offer a competitive edge for supplying emerging markets like the Middle East and Latin America, where customers are seeking intermittent deliveries of small amounts of the heating fuel.
Global glut has LNG suppliers looking to build smaller and cheaper