RE: Take over or make over5 Jan 2024 14:07
Friday, January 5, 2024
Oil prices are set to finish this week with a slight gain after Middle Eastern tensions helped recoup losses after US inventory data. Despite a hefty 5.5-million crude stock draw, believed to be the usual year-end clearing of inventory to minimize ad valorem inventory taxes, the immediate reaction was a slight downward correction after both gasoline and diesel posted huge stock builds. However, continued Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and a worsening Israel-Iran confrontation has limited the pricing downside, with Brent trading around $78 per barrel.
Protests Shut Down Libya’s Largest Oil Field. Libya’s largest oil field, the 300,000 b/d capacity El Sharara, has been shut down after protestors lamenting over poor government and inadequate infrastructure took over the field, for the second time in the past six months.
US Oil M&A Deals Still Not Over. US oil producer APA Corp (NASDAQ:APA) agreed to buy shale peer Callon Petroleum (NYSE:CPE) in an all-stock transaction valued at $4.5 billion including debt, adding some 145,000 acres in West Texas and New Mexico as APA boosts its US upstream operations.
Mexico Downplays New Refinery’s Impact. Following years of project overruns, Mexico’s national oil firm Pemex stated its long-awaited Olmeca refinery will process 243,000 b/d of crude in 2024, suggesting the 340,000 b/d plant built in AMLO’s hometown will only reach full capacity in 2025.
European Majors Eye Better US Wind Deals. Europe’s leading energy majors BP (NYSE:BP) and Equinor (NYSE:EQNR) cancelled their agreements with the state of New York to sell electricity from the Empire Wind 2 offshore wind farm, aiming to renegotiate their terms in a new round of solicitation.
Pirate Risk Worsens Red Sea Shipping Outlook. Apart from Houthi missile attacks, the Red Sea is increasingly posing a piracy risk for shippers after a Bahrain-bound bulk carrier was boarded by pirates off the coast of Somalia, a route used by tankers as they sail to the Cape of Good Hope.
Bangladesh Burns Record Amounts of Coal. Bangladesh tripled its coal-fired electricity generation in 2023 to ease power shortages and alleviate soaring generation costs, with a total of 21 billion KWh produced last year, lifting the market share of coal from 9% in 2022 to 14.2% in 2023.
US Becomes World’s Leading LNG Exporter. US LNG exports hit monthly and annual record highs in December, making the United States the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, as 8.6 million tonnes departed last month, taking the annual total to 88.9 million tonnes, up 15% from 2022.
OPEC+ to Meet Again in February. Without Angola but desperate to project an image of cohesion and unity, OPEC+ intends to hold its first ministerial meeting of 2024 on February 1, seeking to assess the implementation of voluntary production cuts totalling 2.2 million b/d.
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