Platts, the commodities price-reporting agency, may decide soon after Oct. 30 to make changes to the formula of the benchmark for much of the Middle Eastern crude sold to Asia as it seeks to stay competitive with China planning to introduce its own contract.
The agency is considering adding two crudes to the three grades it uses in calculating the Dubai oil benchmark, which determines prices for almost 30 million barrels a day in exports to Asia, said Dave Ernsberger, its global editorial director for oil.
Platts seeks to ensure liquidity amid rising demand from Asia, especially China, which plans to introduce a futures contract this year.
China should not be made a “scapegoat” for the collapse of the UK’s steel industry, Sir Vince Cable has said, accusing the Treasury of holding back with financial assistance that could help relieve pressures.
The Liberal Democrat former business secretary said David Cameron should urge action from Beijing to curb production and noted there was a technical question to be examined over whether China was guilty of illegal “dumping”.
But he insisted there had been “endless problems with steel” unrelated to China while he was in government that ministers had some power to alleviate.
EMAS Offshore has netted $33million in new contract wins to clients in Asia and West Africa.
The company revealed the contracts as it also reported an improved full-year profit.
The contracts form part of the Singapore and Oslo-listed firm’s strategy to focus its efforts in West Africa.
Exova has strengthened its senior team with the appointment of a new managing director for its Middle East, Asia and Asia Pacific region (MEAAP).
Matt Davies joined the company two years ago as finance director with more than 17 years experience working in global companies.
His promotion will see him take the position over from Hicham Abdallah who played a critical role in returning the region to growth.
Asian stocks rose, led by Japanese and Chinese shares, and US equity-index futures signaled a rebound. Australia’s dollar fell, while crude oil retreated toward this year’s low after US producers added rigs.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.3 percent by 2:49 p.m. in Tokyo, as Chinese equities rose a second day amid industrial-company merger speculation.
Japan’s Topix index erased declines to advance a ninth day, while Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures added 0.3 percent after US stocks fell last week. The Aussie weakened 0.3 percent. Oil slid a fourth day. The yield on 10-year Treasuries increased two basis points.
China’s July exports plunged more than five times the rate projected by analysts, while producer prices slid the most since 2009, data at the weekend showed, spurring speculation the government may boost efforts to invigorate growth through state- owned enterprise reform.
Bonds in Asia declined as speculation US interest rates will be raised as soon as next month underpinned the dollar. Copper and gold fell as shares in the region were mixed. Crude oil rallied.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index extended gains at a four- month high, up 0.2 percent by 1:52 p.m. in Tokyo, as yields on 10-year debt from New Zealand to Japan climbed. Oil rose a second day, continuing its recovery from Monday’s rout, while copper resumed losses with gold. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dipped 0.2 percent as US index futures increased 0.2 percent after Apple Inc. drove equity losses Tuesday.
Traders boosted bets on a September rate hike in the US after Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta chief Dennis Lockhart said he would only endorse putting it off should there be a significant deterioration in economic data. Oil’s rebound steadied commodity markets, quelling losses among energy and mining stocks ahead of a swag of services industry data from China to Japan and the US Thailand is projected to keep benchmark borrowing costs unchanged at a review Wednesday.
China said on Friday it had every right to drill in the East China Sea close to waters disputed with Japan, adding that it did not recognise a "unilateral" Japanese median line setting out a boundary between the two in the waters.
Japan this week called on China to halt construction of oil-and-gas exploration platforms in the East China Sea close to waters claimed by both nations, concerned that Chinese drills could tap reservoirs that extend into Japanese territory.
Patrol ships and aircraft from both countries have been shadowing each other in the area over the past couple of years, raising fears of a confrontation and clash.
Using the world's first dedicated crude oil blending terminal, South Africa will by 2017 mix different grades of crude oil for export to refineries across Asia, enabling them to produce cleaner fuels more cheaply, an official said on Thursday.
Construction of the 2 billion rand ($161 million) fuel blending farm, which consists of 12 massive concrete bunkers, should start in August with the first output expected for the second quarter of 2017, said Pieter Coetzee, a director at OiltankingMogs, a joint venture firm developing the terminal.
"Our model is based on blending of different grades of crude to supply a specific recipe to a refinery," Coetzee said.
US oil fell below $50 a barrel and gold traded near a five-year low after a selloff that’s seen commodities slide to the lowest in 13 years. The dollar held gains, while most Asian shares climbed.
West Texas Intermediate oil fell 0.3 percent to $49.98 a barrel by 1 p.m. in Tokyo, while gold futures retreated 0.4 percent for a ninth straight decline.
The dollar held near a three-month high against the euro, while the yen touched its weakest in a month. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index edged higher with most stocks climbing, and the Topix index rose 0.3 percent. US stock futures were little changed.
Abu Dhabi, with 6 percent of global crude reserves, selected GS Energy Corp. of South Korea to join Japan’s Inpex Corp. as the second Asian partner in the Persian Gulf emirate’s biggest onshore oil concession.
GS Energy secured a 3 percent stake for 40 years in the venture, it said in a statement.
Another South Korean company, Korea National Oil Corp., said it will provide technical support to GS Energy in the project. State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Co confirmed the award Wednesday. Inpex won a 5 percent stake in the venture last month.
Aberdeen well management and performance improvement specialist Exceed has enjoyed a good start to 2015 with “significant” new business being secured in Southeast Asia.
The firm’s performance improvement division has won its first Malaysia-based contract worth around $600,000 (£400,000).
In this case, performance coaches are working alongside client rig teams, developing front-line solutions to achieve optimal operational efficiency, reduce costs and eliminate waste.
The three-year call-off contract will see up to three members of the division working in the region.
Ships carrying oil from Mexico are sailing to South Korea for the first time in more than two decades as the US shale boom brings bargains from around the globe.
The voyage is evidence of the competition OPEC producers face as the Us pumps the most oil in more than three decades, exacerbating a global glut in supplies while demand slows in Asia.
Refiners in South Korea and Japan ordered at least eight cargoes from the Latin American nation this year, including the most heavily discounted Mexican oil in two decades, according to company officials and shipping data compiled.
The fight for market share among global producers is playing out in Asia as increased output from American shale fields reduces the need for imports in the world’s biggest oil-consuming nation. Mexico’s sales to the Us, its largest buyer, dropped 6.5 percent in the first eleven months of last year.
“Middle East and Mexican crude grades have similar specifications, which means Korean refiners don’t have to change much when they process Mexican oil,” Kim Jae Kyung, a research fellow at Korea Energy Economics Institute, said by phone Thursday. “Middle East producers will have to fight for market share.”
Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest producer, raised the selling price for February shipments to Asia of its main Basrah Light crude by 30 cents a barrel, after Saudi Arabia boosted its pricing to the region.
Iraq set Basrah Light at a discount of $3.70 a barrel to the average of Middle Eastern benchmark Oman and Dubai grades, the country’s Oil Marketing Co. said yesterday in an statement.
The biggest collapse in energy prices since the 2008 global recession is presenting Asia’s cash-rich state oil companies with a one-year window to snap up global assets.
Explorers with debt-laden balance sheets will be likely targets and India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp., the nation’s biggest explorer, has joined in the hunt.
DOF Subsea has been given a Letter of Award (LOA) by an international oil company for work in the Asia Pacific region.
The LOA is for an IRM contract which will utilise the Skandi Hawk vessel.
Iran is said to be offering its main crude grade to customers in Asia at the deepest discount in 14 years, taking a cue from Saudi Arabia in trimming price differentials.
National Iranian Oil Co. cut its official selling price for January shipments of light crude to Asia to a discount of $1.80 a barrel below the regional benchmark as Middle Eastern producers vie to keep selling in the region, according to four people with knowledge of the decision.
An official at NIOC’s crude-marketing department in Tehran declined to comment.
Glacier Energy Services has merged its pipeline machining and onsite service businesses into a new division as it expands across the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
The firm, which has operational bases in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Newcastle and Singapore, has appointed Mark Derry, previously head of Glacier’s offshore division, to run the new unit.
Glacier has also appointed Kevin Strachan as regional manager for the Middle East, based in Dubai, for the newly formed Roberts Machining Solutions.
Iraq said its decision to deepen the discount for January sales of its main crude to Asia provides no support for claims that producers are waging a price war.
Pricing for next month’s shipments of the Basrah Light grade to Asia is “based on the market structure for both oil products and crude oil,” Iraq’s Oil Marketing Co. said.
“The widened contango in crude oil prices in Asia was the major reason behind the cut.”
Songa Offshore has cut some financial liabilities in relation to its Songa Venus bareboat charter agreement.
The company sold its two drilling rigs in South East Asia, the Songa Venus and Songa Mercur, to Opus Offshore in April.
