Even after almost $400 billion in oil company market value was wiped out by investors fleeing the crude rout, Pioneer Natural Resources Co. is betting there’s ample demand for more shale-drilling shares.
At almost any other time, an escalating diplomatic conflict between OPEC members Iran and Saudi Arabia would mean a spike in oil prices.
It’s designed to recycle spent uranium from Japan’s nuclear power plants, consists of more than three dozen buildings spread over 740 hectares (1,829 acres), costs almost $25 billion and has been under construction for nearly three decades. Amount of fuel successfully reprocessed for commercial use: zero.
At almost any other time, an escalating diplomatic conflict between OPEC members Iran and Saudi Arabia would mean a spike in oil prices.
There are several reasons why escalating tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia make markets nervous. One of them is that they sit on either side of the Persian Gulf, the world’s biggest concentration of oil tankers.
Oil gained for a second day as Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran a day after its embassy in Tehran was attacked to protest the Saudis’ execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.
The worst fears of OPEC and Asian gas exporters are about to come true.
China’s insatiable appetite for crude is at least one thing oil bulls can count on this year.
Russia’s oil output is poised to reach a post-Soviet record of 10.86 million barrels a day this week as the nation’s producers continue to withstand the slump in prices, according to Energy Ministry data.
The U.S. Treasury Department is close to announcing sanctions against several companies and individuals for their ties to Iran’s ballistic missile program, a person familiar with the matter said.
Oil retreated near the lowest level since 2009 and European equities pared an annual gain as trading wound down at the end of a year dominated by rising U.S. interest rates, slumping raw materials prices and Chinese stock-market volatility.
Germany’s EON SE will officially part with its fossil fuel past tomorrow, when a new company called Uniper is created. Here’s what you should know about the spinoff.
ConocoPhillips will supply the first cargo of U.S. shale oil to be exported since a 40-year ban on such shipments was lifted less than two weeks ago.
Record-low coal prices and increased wind and solar generation that pushed European power prices to their lowest in a decade may cause further declines in 2016. Average day-ahead electricity prices in Germany, Europe’s biggest market, fell 3.2 percent to 31.70 euros ($34.65) per megawatt-hour in 2015, the least since 2004 on the Epex Spot SE exchange in Paris before the last auction later Wednesday. Northwest Europe coal fell 33 percent while the share of Germany’s energy demand met by renewable output increased by four percentage points to 30 percent, according to preliminary figures by utility lobby BDEW.
Oil fell, giving up some of a rally Tuesday that helped push U.S. stocks toward a gain for 2015. Chinese shares in Hong Kong fell as the offshore yuan touched an almost five-year low, while the US dollar extended its advance. West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 1.9 percent, holding above $37 a barrel. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures fluctuated after the US benchmark halted a two-day slide. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell for a third day, widening a divergence with mainland equities.
Asia’s top commodity trader exits 2015 in very different shape to how it began the year. Noble Group Ltd. has lost almost two-thirds of its value, with its stock trading near the lowest since 2008, after a year of attacks on its finances by critics including the anonymous Iceberg Research and short-seller Muddy Waters LLC. The latest blow, amid a rout in raw materials, is the cut in its credit rating to junk by Moody’s Investors Service on concerns over its liquidity.
Former Russian Finance Minister and investor favorite Alexei Kudrin is in talks with Vladimir Putin and other top officials about returning to a senior post to help deal with worsening economic troubles, according to three people familiar with the discussions. Kudrin has met privately with the Russian president and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as recently as last week to discuss the plans, though no formal offer has yet been made, the people said. The talks are the most advanced since Kudrin, widely respected by investors for his fiscal discipline and commitment to market reforms, quit as finance minister in 2011, the people said. A decision could come early next year, they said.
Canadian Oil Sands Ltd.’s board sent a letter to its shareholders Tuesday urging them once again to reject the hostile bid by Suncor Energy Inc. ahead of the offer’s deadline next week. The Calgary-based Canadian Oil Sands said the C$4.5 billion ($3.2 billion) offer was an “undervalued and opportunistic bid.” Suncor has offered 0.25 of its own shares to Canadian Oil Sands’ investors in a tender offer that expires on January 8.
Oil prices will remain under pressure in the near term as Iran seeks to boost crude shipments, said Meg McClellan, global head of consultant and client strategies at JPMorgan Asset Management.
India will offer cooking gas subsidies only to citizens with taxable incomes of less than 1 million rupees ($15,000) a year, part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to sustainably curb Asia’s widest budget deficit. The more than 163 million consumers can voluntarily declare their eligibility starting Jan. 1, the Oil Ministry said in a statement on Monday. It didn’t announce steps to enforce the decision.
Saudi Arabia, seeking to cope with the lowest oil prices in more than a decade, may announce cuts in capital spending and other economic measures for next year as it unveils the first annual budget under King Salman. Key officials, including Finance Minister Ibrahim Al-Assaf and Economy and Planning Minister Adel Fakeih, are scheduled to discuss the budget and outline the kingdom’s economic policy at a news conference on Monday in Riyadh. An official from Saudi Arabian Oil Co. will also attend. While the government may reduce capital expenditure, it’s unlikely to reduce spending on healthcare, education or major infrastructure projects, according to Fahad Al-Turki, the Riyadh-based chief economist at Jadwa Investment.
In 2015, the fracking outfits that dot America’s oil-rich plains threw everything they had at $50-a- barrel crude. To cope with the 50 percent price plunge, they laid off thousands of roughnecks, focused their rigs on the biggest gushers only and used cutting-edge technology to squeeze all the oil they could out of every well. Those efforts, to the surprise of many observers, largely succeeded. As of this month, U.S. oil output remained within 4 percent of a 43-year high.
Oil in New York slid from the highest in three weeks and snapped the longest run of gains since April as Iran repeated its goal of boosting exports after sanctions on the country are lifted. Futures lost as much as 1.1 percent, falling the first time in five days. Iran’s priority is to boost crude shipments to pre-sanction levels, state-backed IRNA reported, citing Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh. The Persian Gulf nation plans to add 500,000 barrels a day of exports within a week after sanctions are removed, said Rokneddin Javadi, head of National Iranian Oil Co., according to Shana news agency.
Investors in the pound have waited more than six years for the Bank of England to raise interest rates and bolster the UK currency. With money markets signaling no move next year, it looks like they may have longer to wait.
Nigeria will reduce gasoline costs and scrap a fuel subsidy under a pricing mechanism to come into effect from January, Petroleum Minister of State Emmanuel Kachikwu said.
