Brent Breaks Back Above $80 as OPEC+ Meeting Looms

Advertisements

The postponement of last week’s OPEC+ meeting put downward pressure on oil prices, but storms blocking Russian export terminals have added some pricing upside as Kazakhstan’s oil producers are considering production cuts to avoid storage tanks overfilling. With ICE Brent now back above $80 per barrel, US inventory data and the OPEC+ meeting will shape price developments in the second half of this week.

OPEC Secretary General Haitham al Ghais accused the International Energy Agency of vilifying the oil and gas industry, adding that the IEA plays down issues such as energy security and affordability, calling for a “dangerous” phase-down in energy investment, OilPrice.com reports

The US military prevented a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Aden from being seized by armed individuals, with the Central Park chemical tanker being most probably targeted due to it being managed by a company owned by Israel’s Ofer family.

According to China’s National Energy Administration, the Asian country will see both electricity and gas consumption peak in the winter of 2023/2024, with the former soaring 12% year-on-year to 140 million KW yet shortages should be largely avoided.

The premier of Alberta province in Canada Danielle Smith pledging to shield provincial power companies from Ottawa’s federal clean electricity regulations that aim to reach a net-zero emissions power grid by 2035, defending gas-burning plants.

The government of Sri Lanka is expected to approve a bid from China’s oil major Sinopec (SHA:600028) to build a $4.5 billion refinery, outbidding commodity trader Vitol for the deal, expanding its Belt and Road Initiative to a long-time India ally.

Libya’s state oil company NOC stated it needs an annual budget of $17 billion to increase national output from the current 1.2 million b/d to 2 million b/d over the next three years, saying replacing old pipelines would require the most funding.

Oil and product exports from Russia’s Novorossiysk port located on the country’s Black Sea coast have been halted for days due to severe storms, most probably forcing exporters to move sizable parts of this month’s loading schedule to December.

One of Europe’s most battered companies, Germany’s utility giant Uniper said it’s compelled to pay €550 million ($600 million) to Italy’s ENI (BIT:ENI) after an arbitration court ruling that found the firm’s retroactive pricing to be unjustified.

Gao Jifan, the head of China’s Trina Solar, has warned that extremely low solar panel prices have left the entire supply chain bereft of profit and that further capacity expansion from solar majors will start a wave of consolidation as early as 2024.

China’s state economic planner NDRC announced its intent to “deepen its understanding of how iron ore prices are compiled”, sending iron ore prices down to $133 per metric tonne and cutting short the longest streak of weekly gains since January.

India is ramping up imports of Russian coking coal as deliveries from Australia have been hindered by maintenance outages and high prices, surging as high as $350 per metric tonne, making use of new payment mechanisms between the two nations.

France’s utility giant EDF started selling its first green €500 million bond maturing in 2027 that could be used to finance nuclear energy projects, with the French company specifically targeting nuclear reactor upgrades within its own fleet.

Net positions in the WTI futures contract have shrunk for the seventh consecutive week, bringing the total of net long positions to the lowest reading since June at 104 million barrels’ equivalent and reflecting a general decline in bullish sentiment.