Europe > Petroleum / Mining

Petroleum / Mining in Europe

  • Geopolitics To Drive Oil Prices Once Again

    WORLD, 2017/07/09 I have picked up three news items from Oil & Energy Insider that supports my hypothesis that US Shale output will continue to rise. However, some of the oil producing nations may become victim of commotion, anarchy and proxy wars. This will automatically reduce the supplies from these nations. OPEC may as well opt not to extend cut anymore. Energy sector analysts are desperately awaits the outcome of OPEC’ conference in Vienna scheduled for 25th May. While the overwhelming expectation is that the cartel will acknowledge on a six-month extension of the production cuts. However, presently top OPEC officials are wondering if it will be enough. OPEC’s monthly statement revised expected US shale increase sharply upwards, predicting output to increase 64 % additional than originally expected. That equates to projected increase from US shale of 950,000 bpd this year. OPEC fears that an extension will boost prices just enough to allow shale companies to lock in hedges once again, ensuring an extra wave of supply.
  • Oil slips as data points to fast-growing supply

    WORLD, 2017/06/15 Oil fell on Wednesday next reports showed world supply was rising and US crude inventories were still increasing, raising concerns the market could remain oversupplied for longer than expected. Brent crude oil fell by 28 cents to $48.44 a barrel by 1330 GMT, while US crude futures were down 29 cents on the day at $46.17. Crude prices have fallen additional than 10 % since late May, pulled down by heavy world oversupply that has persisted despite a move led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Nations to curb production.
  • OPEC, non-OPEC agree first global oil pact since 2001

    AUSTRIA, 2017/06/02 OPEC and non-OPEC producers on Saturday reached their initial transaction since 2001 to curtail oil output jointly and relieve a world glut next additional than two years of low prices that overstretched a lot of budgets and spurred unrest in some nations. With the transaction finally signed next almost a year of arguing within the OPEC and mistrust in the willingness of non-OPEC Russia to play ball, the market’s focus will presently switch to compliance with the agreement. OPEC has a long history of cheating on output quotas. The fact that Nigeria and Libya were exempt from the transaction due to production-denting civil strife will further pressure OPEC leader Saudi Arabia to shoulder the bulk of supply reductions.
  • Africa rejects Europe's 'dirty diesel'

    BOTSWANA, 2017/05/04 Ghana and Nigeria are the first countries to respond to reports of European companies exploiting weak fuel standards in Africa. Stricter limits on the sulfur content of diesel will come into force on July 1. Governments in West Africa are taking action to stop the import of fuel with dangerously high levels of sulfur and other toxins. Much of the so-called "dirty diesel" originates in Europe, according to a report published by Public Eye, a Swiss NGO, last year. The report exposed what Public Eye calls the "illegitimate business" of European oil companies and commodities traders selling low quality fuel to Africa. While European standards prohibit the use of diesel with a sulfur content higher than 10 parts per million (ppm), diesel with as much as 3,000 ppm is regularly exported to Africa.
  • West African Countries Ban 'Dirty European Fuel'

    EUROPEAN UNION, 2016/12/08 Five west African nations have banned some European fuel imports, because they say they are too dirty. Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire are introducing stricter standards to cut vehicle emissions and improve air quality in cities. Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Côte d'Ivoire have decided to ban fuel coming from Europe next campaign group Public Eye issued a damning statement which said that European trading firms have been exploiting weak regulations in west Africa to export fuels with levels of sulphur up to 300 times higher than those permitted in Europe.
  • A temporary reprieve for OPEC

    WORLD, 2016/12/03 OPEC has agreed to reduce current production levels in the initial such move since the 2008 world financial crisis. The transaction marks a major reversal of the "free-for-all" market-share strategy that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states have adopted in recent years as they sought to drive down prices and undermine US shale producers. However, there are reasons to doubt that the agreement will hold, not least because of weak enforcement mechanisms and the prospect of rising US shale production should prices rise significantly. As a result, The Economist Intelligence Unit will not make substantial changes to its oil price estimate, which currently stands at an average of US$45/barrel in 2016, rising to US$57/b in 2017 and US$61/b in 2018.
  • Saudi Energy Minister Khaled Al-Falih

    SAUDI ARABIA, 2016/09/12 Oil prices rallied on Monday by up to five % next key crude producers Russia and Saudi Arabia vowed to stabilise the market. Saudi Energy Minister Khaled Al-Falih and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak -- representing the world's two biggest oil producers -- declared they had agreed to "act together" to steady the market, on the sidelines of a G20 conference in China. In reaction, Brent North Sea crude leapt as high as $49.40 a barrel.
  • Areva and Niger's uranium fight

    FRANCE, 2016/08/03 At the same time as France began mining uranium ore in the desert of northern Niger in the early 1970s, Arlit was a cluster of miners' huts stranded between the sun-blasted rocks of the Air mountains and the sands of the Sahara. The 1973 OPEC oil embargo changed that. France embraced nuclear power to free itself from reliance on foreign oil and overnight this remote corner of Africa became crucial to its national interests.
  • Mozambique closes in on huge gas deal after years of delays

    ITALY, 2016/07/27 Mozambique’s long-delayed offshore gas project with Italy’s Eni could be approved within months, sources close to the transaction said, sparking investments with the potential to transform one of the world’s poorest nations into a major energy player. Mozambique made one of the world’s biggest gas finds in a decade in 2010 but negotiations with operators Eni and U.S. firm Anadarko have dragged on for years due to disputes over terms and concerns about falling energy prices. But Eni has in recent weeks struck deals with contractors and Mozambique’s government which could help it to make a final investment decision (FID) on Oct. 31, industry sources said.
  • Greek side expects sale of DESFA to continue unhindered

    GREECE, 2016/07/24 Hellenic Republic Investment Development Fund (HRADF) expects the sale of Greece’s natural-gas grid operator DESFA to continue unhindered, the chairman HRADF of Stergios Pitsiorlas told in interview to Bloomberg. He said HRADF expects Italy’s Snam SpA likely to make an offer to SOCAR for a 17 % stake by the end of September or early October. Greece must find a mutually-acceptable agreement with Snam and SOCAR on usage fees for the grid network, said Pitsiorlas.