DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Oil slides over 3% on Russian price cap talks, U.S. gasoline build
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 3.1 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration, far exceeding the 383,000 barrel build that analysts had forecast. Prices were hit further by reports that the G7 price cap on Russian oil could be above the level it is trading. G7 nations are looking at a price cap on Russian seaborne oil in the range of $65-70/bbl, according to a European official on Wednesday. A senior U.S. Treasury official said on Tuesday that the price cap will probably be adjusted a few times a year. The news added to concerns about demand from top crude oil importer China, which has been grappling with a surge in COVID-19 cases, with Shanghai tightening rules late on Tuesday.

☆ Oil falls on easing geopolitical tensions, China demand outlook
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"Thankfully, those fears have abated and the situation de-escalated, which has seen oil gains unwound," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA. Brent crude fell $2.13 to $90.73 a barrel, a 2.3% loss, by 10:58 a.m. China reported rising daily COVID-19 infections and Chinese refiners have asked to reduce Saudi crude volume in December, Reuters has reported, while also slowing Russian crude purchases. "Struggling Chinese consumption is embodied in sinking domestic need for both Russian and Saudi crude oil," said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM. Oil gained some support from official figures that U.S. crude stocks fell by a bigger than expected 5 million barrels in the most recent week.

☆ Oil prices slide $2 on China demand worries, U.S. midterm elections
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Companies Diamondback Energy Inc FollowNov 8 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell more than $2 on Tuesday in choppy trading on growing worries about fuel demand as COVID-19 outbreaks worsened in top crude importer China, and jitters about the outcome of U.S. midterm elections. U.S. crude fell $2.88, or 3.14%, to $88.91 per barrel. It's a wait to see what the result is type of a situation here," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho in New York. U.S. stocks also gyrated as market participants bided their time waiting to see whether Capitol Hill is in for a power shift, with Republican gains expected in the midterm elections. The ICE exchange, home to the Brent benchmark, has increased the initial margin rates for front-month Brent crude futures by 4.92%, making maintaining a futures position more expensive from the close of business on Tuesday.

☆ Oil prices dip 1% on China demand worries, U.S. midterm elections
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Companies Diamondback Energy Inc FollowNov 8 (Reuters) - Oil prices edged 1% lower on Tuesday on growing worries about fuel demand as COVID-19 outbreaks worsened in top crude importer China, and jitters about the outcome of U.S. Brent futures for January delivery fell $1.14 to $96.78 a barrel, a 1.2% loss, by 13:02 p.m. EST (18:02 GMT). It's a wait to see what the result is type of a situation here," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho in New York. The ICE exchange, home to the Brent benchmark, has increased the initial margin rates for front-month Brent crude futures by 4.92%, making maintaining a futures position more expensive from the close of business on Tuesday. U.S. crude oil stocks were expected to have risen by about 1.1 million barrels last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.

☆ EIA slashes 2023 U.S. crude oil production increase by 21%
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HOUSTON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Tuesday cut its forecast for next year's crude output growth by 21%, days after heads of oil producers warned of persistent inflation and supply chain constraints. U.S. crude production is expected to increase by about 480,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 12.31 million bpd, the EIA said, down from a prior 610,000 bpd growth forecast. Still, U.S. oil production in 2023 will top 2019's record 12.29 million bpd output. Oil producers have warned in recent weeks of weaker-than-expected output, citing ageing wells, shortage of labor and materials, rising costs and a sharp focus on shareholder returns. The EIA also cut its demand estimates for next year to a 100,000 bpd increase from the 190,000 bpd gain it had forecast last month.

REUTERS/Lucy NicholsonHOUSTON/SINGAPORE, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Deliveries of U.S. crude oil to Asia are set to touch a record 1.8 million barrels per day this month, Kpler shipping data showed, as demand climbed on a widening discount to global oil. Refiners in China, India and South Korea are returning as big U.S. crude oil buyers after several months of scooping up cheap Russian barrels. Overall, U.S. crude exports last week touched a weekly record of 5.1 million barrels per day (bpd), boosted by higher shale production. South Korea is set to import a record 619,000 barrels per day (bpd) of U.S. crude oil, according to Refinitiv, becoming the month's top Asian importer of U.S. crude. U.S. oil production was 11.98 million bpd in August, the latest month of official figures, as producers raise activity after pandemic cutbacks.

☆ Germany could seize property to speed LNG build-out -Handelsblatt
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Germany, racing to end its reliance on Russian gas, plans to introduce new regulation that will make it possible to expropriate property to link offshore liquid natural gas terminals to the grid, Handeslblatt reported. Until earlier this year, some 55 billion cubic metres of gas were pumped to Germany each year through Nord Stream 1. Nord Stream 2 never went into operation. Germany, which has for decades fuelled its vast industrial sector with copious supplies of Russian gas, pledged after Russia's invasion of Ukraine to cut its imports from Russia to zero by 2024. Four planned floating LNG terminals, including one at Lubmin where the sub-Baltic gas pipelines land, are key to that ambition.

☆ Oil falls on U.S. output gains, Chinese demand doubts
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $2.41 to $85.49 a barrel, a 2.7% loss. Biden will call on Congress to consider requiring oil companies to pay tax penalties and face other restrictions," the official said. The president has previously pushed oil companies to raise production rather than use profits for share buybacks and dividends. Strict COVID-19 curbs in China have hit economic and business activity, curtailing oil demand. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Monday raised its forecast for medium and long-term oil demand and said $12.1 trillion of investment is needed to meet this demand despite the energy transition.

☆ U.S. oil production nears 12 mln barrels/day, at pre-pandemic high
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] The sun is seen behind a crude oil pump jack in the Permian Basin in Loving County, Texas, U.S., November 22, 2019. President Joe Biden has called on oil companies to boost production to reduce fuel prices. A little over two years after the pandemic wrecked havoc on demand and slashed profits, four of the five largest global oil companies brought in roughly $50 billion in net income in the most recent quarter. Crude production rose 0.9% to 11.98 million bpd in August, highest since March 2020, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in monthly figures. In top oil producing states, monthly output rose 1.6% to 5.10 million bpd in Texas and 0.6% to a record 1.58 million bpd in New Mexico, but fell 0.5% to 1.06 million bpd in North Dakota.

☆ Chesapeake Energy trims workforce ahead of oil properties sale
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies Chesapeake Energy Corp FollowOct 24 (Reuters) - U.S. shale gas producer Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK.O) last week cut about 3% of its workforce, according people familiar with the matter, as it readies a sale of South Texas oil properties. The company this year said it would exit oil-producing properties in the Eagle Ford shale region of Texas to focus on its mainstay natural gas operations. A Chesapeake Energy spokesperson declined to comment. Oil prices fell the following year, a drop that helped send Chesapeake into restructuring. It emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year as natural gas prices began to rise.

"That announcement was making it appear like he was throwing a bone to the oil industry," said Tricia Curtis, CEO of consultancy PetroNerds, who dismissed the offer. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"What if oil does not fall to that price: Do we just keep our reserves low?" U.S. oil prices hit $120 per barrel this year and did not trigger a production boom because of shortages and high costs for labor and equipment, said Hunter Kornfeind, oil market analyst at Rapidan Energy Group. Rebecca Babin, senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth, said tight oil supplies have pushed up price expectations into 2024. If the Biden administration wants to boost oil supplies, it "should change its policies around producing more oil and gas in the United States," said Frank Macchiarola, a senior vice president at trade group American Petroleum Institute.

NEW YORK, Oct 19 (Reuters) - U.S. spot crude prices could weaken as the Biden Administration follows through with its plan to sell more barrels from emergency oil reserve by year end, market participants said. Certain oil refineries prefer certain grades of crude, so the mix of barrels sold out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) could have a knock-on effect on the U.S. and global refining market. The SPR barrels have ended up selling at a discount to West Texas Intermediate barrels for delivery at the Magellan East Houston terminal, as demand has increased for sour barrels to make lucrative diesel, Rathod said. The sour market has also been under pressure, due to increased supplies of Canadian heavy sour and lackluster export demand, said Elizabeth Brown at S&P Global Commodity Insights. Additional barrels of sour grades from the SPR could further weigh on prices.

☆ Oil steady as recession woes counter positive Chinese signals
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Brent crude futures were down 1 cents, or 0.01%, to $91.62 a barrel, recovering from a 6.4% fall last week. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down 15 cents, or 0.2%, at $85.46 after a 7.6% decline last week. Beijing will also greatly increase domestic energy supply capacity and step up risk controls in key commodities including coal, oil, gas and electricity, a senior National Energy Administration official said on Monday. "It's been another turbulent few weeks in oil markets from global growth concerns to super-sized OPEC+ output cuts and it seems they're yet to fully settle down," said Craig Erlam, senior markets analyst at OANDA. OPEC+ output cuts attracted funds back to the oil markets, with continued heavy buying of crude oil futures and options for a second straight week.

☆ Valero, Marathon top beneficiaries of U.S. emergency oil releases
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File PhotoHOUSTON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Oil refiners Valero Energy Corp (VLO.N) and Marathon Petroleum Corp (MPC.N) are the biggest beneficiaries of the U.S. government's oil reserve releases, taking nearly half the crude offered, a Reuters analysis of Department of Energy data showed on Wednesday. The Biden administration has opened spigots at the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to lower fuel prices and ease a supply crunch from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Awards of about 218 million barrels for the 12 months endedSept. Valero, the second largest U.S. refiner by capacity, secured 52.7 million, while top oil processor Marathon Petroleum snapped up 45.2 million barrels. About 24.42 million barrels were released by exchange, with the largest amounts taken by Exxon and Shell.

☆ Oil edges up as supply woes outweigh demand and rate hike worries
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Crude oil storage tanks are seen in an aerial photograph at the Cushing oil hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, U.S. April 21, 2020. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, known as OPEC+, fell short of its oil production target by 3.583 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, an internal document showed. read moreStill, oil also came under pressure from hopes of an easing of Europe's gas supply crisis. read more"The market still has the start of European sanctions on Russian oil hanging over it. As supply is disrupted in early December, the market is unlikely to see any quick response from U.S. producers," ANZ analysts said.

☆ Oil little changed as markets debate fed hikes and supply woes
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Crude oil storage tanks are seen in an aerial photograph at the Cushing oil hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, U.S. April 21, 2020. read moreStill, oil also came under pressure from hopes of an easing of Europe's gas supply crisis. The U.S. dollar stayed near a two-decade high ahead of this week's decisions by the Fed and other central banks. read more"The market still has the start of European sanctions on Russian oil hanging over it. As supply is disrupted in early December, the market is unlikely to see any quick response from U.S. producers," ANZ analysts said.

☆ Oil edges down on demand fears and strong dollar
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Crude oil storage tanks are seen in an aerial photograph at the Cushing oil hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, U.S. April 21, 2020. read moreOil also came under pressure from hopes of an easing of Europe's gas supply crisis. A stronger dollar makes dollar-denominated commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies and tends to weigh on oil and other risk assets. The market has also been pressured by forecasts of weaker demand, such as last week's prediction by the International Energy Agency that there would be zero demand growth in the fourth quarter. read moreDespite those demand fears, supply concerns kept the decline in check.

A maze of crude oil pipes and valves is pictured during a tour by the Department of Energy at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas, U.S. June 9, 2016. President Joe Biden's plan announced in March of the largest release of oil from SPR in history had aimed to sell 180 million barrels by the end of October. So far, only 155 million barrels have been sold and the next sale will bring the total to 165 million barrels, the department said. The SPR holds oil in heavily-guarded former salt caverns along the Gulf of Mexico coast. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThere is no date set for selling a full 180 million barrels.

Search resuls for: "Arathy somasekhar"

18 mentions found