Brent traded near the lowest price in more than three weeks as Libya prepares to increase exports and amid speculation that Iraq’s crude supplies remain safe from violence. West Texas Intermediate was steady in New York.
OAO Gazprom, the world’s largest natural-gas producer, may pay a lower dividend in 2016 than Russia earlier predicted as investments in export pipelines soar, according to materials for a government meeting last week.
The US overtook Saudi Arabia and Russia to become the world’s biggest producer of oil as extraction of energy from shale rock strengthens the nation’s economy, Bank of America Corp. said. US production of crude oil, along with liquids separated from natural gas, surpassed all other countries in the first six months, the bank said in a report today. The country became the world’s largest natural gas producer in 2010. A Commerce Department decision to allow the overseas shipment of processed light oil called condensate has fanned speculation the nation may ease its four-decade ban on most crude exports.
San Miguel Corp., the biggest Philippine company, is prepared to spend as much as $10billion to buy assets in Southeast Asia, President Ramon Ang said. An energy-related target has the potential to boost sales by more than 50%, Ang said on July 2, without giving a price and timeline. The company has announced 41 acquisitions worth $7.8billion since 2000, about three-quarters of which were made since 2008, when it began moving out of the food and brewery business, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. San Miguel said in December 2012 it was looking at a $5billion acquisition in the gas industry.
When Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner sees rail cars full of crude oil rumble down the tracks that criss- cross his Chicago-area town, he often thinks about the derailment that killed 47 people almost a year ago in Canada. The disaster focused attention on the design of the oil tankers, yet two-thirds of the tank cars in use today are still older models that safety experts say are vulnerable to puncture. The July 6 derailment in Quebec and seven other major ones in the US and Canada since then have spilled more than 3 million gallons of oil, with some cars catching fire or exploding.
Ecuador, the serial defaulter that used half its gold reserves this year as collateral for a loan from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., pledged $2billion of future oil production to China for additional financing. The OPEC-member country disclosed the China deal in an offering circular to bond investors last month. Under the May agreement, Unipec Asia Co., a unit of China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., known as Sinopec, prepaid for oil from PetroEcuador over an unspecified time frame.
Six Vietnamese fishermen were arrested by Chinese naval ships in disputed waters, Vietnam’s state media reported, renewing tensions over a two-month territorial standoff in the South China Sea. Chinese vessels captured a Vietnamese boat near the Paracel Islands on July 3, taking the ship and its crew to China, the state-run Thanh Nien newspaper said, citing Nguyen Ky, head of the People’s Committee of the commune where the fishermen operated. The two countries are locked in a dispute over a Chinese oil rig placed in May off Vietnam’s coast in contested waters.
Siemens AG Chief Executive Officer Joe Kaeser said he’s prepared to make acquisitions to exploit a boom in the US natural-gas industry that will eclipse demand in Europe, where the economy is still struggling to rebound. As more facilities spring up across the US to extract, transport and store shale oil and gas won from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, Siemens must keep up to expand its own offering, Kaeser said in an interview yesterday in Frankfurt. Supplying more gas and oil equipment would give the company a lock on lucrative, long-term service contracts, he said.
The end of maintenance at a pipeline to Germany from Russia later this week will probably cut gas export demand from the UK, putting pressure on prices as Britain’s storage sites are set to fill up earlier than usual. Planned maintenance at the Nord Stream pipeline started on June 24, limiting supply to Germany and helping support prices in the U.K., which boosted exports to the continent, according to London-based consultants Energy Aspects Ltd. Works on the link that runs under the Baltic Sea are scheduled to end tomorrow, according to network operator Opal Gastransport.
The Australian government’s A$10billion ($9.4billion) clean-energy bank is set to announce a number of solar deals in the next week as it looks at investments in industries from mining to manufacturing.
West Texas Intermediate fell for a sixth day, the longest losing streak since May 2012, while Brent slid amid speculation that crude supplies will increase after Libyan rebels agreed to hand over two export terminals.
Brent crude fell to its lowest intraday level in almost three weeks as rebels in eastern Libya said two oil ports, including the country’s biggest, are free to reopen.
Making the electricity grid greener is boosting its vulnerability to computer hacking, increasing the risk that spies or criminals can cause blackouts, security experts have warned.
Exxon Mobil will invest $1 billion to increase diesel production at its refinery in Antwerp, Belgium.
Increased US exports of liquefied petroleum gas amid higher shale oil production will boost demand for ships that carry gases such as propane, butanes and ethane, according to the director of Athens-based Latsco Shipping.
A Russian group of hackers known as Energetic Bear is attacking energy companies in the US and Europe and may be capable of disrupting power supplies, cyber-security researchers said.
Renewable energy may reap as much as two-thirds of the $7.7trillion in investment forecast for building new power plants by 2030 as declining costs make it more competitive with fossil fuels.
Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurds plan a referendum for independence and will keep troops in the nearby oil hub of Kirkuk until people there can vote on whether to join the Kurdish enclave, a regional government spokesman said.
Brent crude declined, trimming its biggest monthly gain since August amid speculation that continuing violence in Iraq will disrupt supply from OPEC’s second-largest oil producer.
Puma Energy Holdings acquired InterOil’s oil refinery, service stations and fuel terminals in Papua New Guinea for $526million, marking its first investment in the Pacific nation.
Vestas Wind Systems, the world’s biggest wind-turbine maker, won orders totaling 450MW from EDF's renewable unit to supply two US wind farms.
Statoil again delayed development of the Johan Castberg project in the Arctic Barents Sea amid disappointing exploration results and cost-cutting.
The European Union must make security of energy supply, reduction of costs and the fight against climate change a priority for the next five years, the 28-nation bloc’s leaders are set to declare.
Brent headed for the first weekly decline since violence erupted this month in northern Iraq as the crisis has so far spared oil output from Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)'s second-largest producer.
Brent crude traded close to its lowest closing level in a week after Iraq said oil exports from the south of country would still increase amid the northern insurgency.
