Oil
Global Oil Prices Under Pressure Ahead of OPEC+ Meeting
OPEC+ is facing an uphill battle as its ministerial panel is set to meet on October 2 to discuss the current state of the oil markets. Brent futures edged lower to $71 per barrel on news of Libya’s eastern government potentially lifting the oil embargo, with fear of more crude supply overpowering positive stimulus developments from China.
According to EIA data, US oil demand rose in July to the highest seasonal level since 2019, rising 1.2% from June to a total of 20.48 million b/d, driven by a post-pandemic peak in jet fuel demand and seasonal highs in gasoline and diesel.
US LNG developer New Fortress Energy (NASDAQ:NFE) has shipped the first-ever export of liquefied gas from Mexico from its 1.4 mtpa capacity Altamira plant, with the Energos Princess carrier sailing towards a yet unknown European destination.
Libya’s eastern government based in Benghazi agreed earlier this week to approve the nomination of Naji Mohamed Issa Belqasem as governor of the central bank, potentially paving the way for the gradual lifting of the oil embargo that’s still in place.
The US Justice Department fined the American subsidiary of Germany’s industrial giant Siemens Energy $104 million over alleged misappropriation of confidential information from GE and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to win a bidding process for a gas turbine plant in Virginia.
Two African OPEC members, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, have started legal proceedings at the International Court of Justice over the maritime delimitation of two small islands in the Gulf of Guinea, Cocotier and Conga, believed to contain untapped oil reserves.
Iron ore futures rose more than 10% this week after Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen loosened rules on home buying, including lower downpayment ratio and laxer mortgage refinancing rates, sending Singapore benchmark prices to $110 per metric tonne.
SAmber Energy, an affiliate of private equity group Elliott Investment Management, has been selected as the top bidder in an auction for Venezuelan-held US refiner Citgo, with a bid of $7.286 billion, expecting to keep the brand and close the deal by mid-2025.
France’s energy major TotalEnergies (NYSE:TTE) is set to kickstart Suriname’s first-ever offshore project, the $10 billion Gran Morgu development located in Block 58 some 140 km off the coast, tapping into some 700 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Japan’s LNG importers have asked the Tokyo government to help negotiate better terms on long-term supply deals, potentially lifting strict destination clauses on Qatari exports as recent terms on the latter’s recent deals with Germany are believed to be more flexible.
The country that industrialized coal, the United Kingdom shut down its last coal-powered thermal plant in Ratcliffe-on-Soar this week, becoming the first G7 country to fully shed coal energy and ending over 140 years of coal generation in the country.
Israel attacked oil storage units and energy infrastructure at the Red Sea ports of Hodeidah and Ras Isa in Yemen the day after Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, raising the geopolitical risks of further escalation in the Middle East.
The US Department of Energy bought 6 million barrels of oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for delivery through May 2025, with more than half coming from ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) as well as smaller volumes coming from Shell and Macquarie.
ZAustralia cut its projected metallurgical coal exports for 2024-2025 by 6% to 161 million tonnes, down 9 million tonnes from the previous forecast, prompting a rally in Australian coking coal prices as they gained $30 per metric tonne last week and rose above $230/mt.