Crude dropped below $45 a barrel before U.S. government data forecast to show stockpiles expanded in the world’s biggest oil consumer.
Futures slid as much as 3.4 percent in New York, extending Tuesday’s 7.7 percent decline. Inventories probably increased by 900,000 barrels last week, according to a Bloomberg survey before a report from the Energy Information Administration Wednesday. Iran will boost output by 1 million barrels a day as sanctions on its exports are removed, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said.
Oil has faltered after the biggest three-day rally in 25 years amid speculation a global glut that drove prices into a bear market will be prolonged. Crude will trade at $40 to $60 a barrel into 2016 as rising supplies overwhelm demand, according to Ian Taylor, chief executive officer of Vitol Group BV, the biggest independent oil trader.
Shares of the natural-gas exploring units of Delek Group Ltd. plunged the most in 14 years in high volume on concern the discovery of the Mediterranean’s largest field off the coast of Egypt will curtail their exports.
Delek Drilling LP and Avner Oil Exploration LLP, partners in the Leviathan field, declined the most since 2001 in above- average trading volumes at the close in Tel Aviv after Eni SpA discovered the “super giant” field that it says may hold 30 trillion cubic feet of gas, enough to contribute to Egyptian supply for decades.
Delek Group dropped 12 percent, the biggest loss since Dec. 23. Ratio Oil Exploration 1992 LP fell 23 percent. The companies are jointly drilling Leviathan, Israel’s largest offshore field, with Houston-based Noble Energy Inc.
Indian money managers are starting to see the glass as half full in their company earnings outlook.
Falling oil prices are underpinning expectations that the worst is over for corporate profits as savings translate into higher investment and consumer spending, despite the worst equity losses in six years on Monday amid a global rout. The S&P BSE Sensex earnings climbed 1 percent in the quarter to June, following a 45 percent drop in the prior three months, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
The 57 percent drop in Brent crude in the past 12 months will save the government about $50 billion a year, estimates Ramesh Damani, an investor and a member of BSE Ltd., Asia’s oldest bourse. Sensex earnings will jump more than 40 percent in the coming year, forecasts compiled by Bloomberg show.
Stirling Group announced another key change for its Aberdeen-based UK business yesterday.
It is just over a month since the Middle East company, which delivers health, safety and environmental services to the global oil and gas industry, rebranded its Altor Risk Group subsidiary.
Alan McIntyre has been appointed to head up emergency response and crisis management consultancy services in the UK, which includes the running of the £250,000 incident management centre (IMC) in Aberdeen.
The US stock market endured its worst performance in 18 months, driven lower by another slump in Chinese shares and heavy selling by technical traders.
The global rout started in China, where sharp declines in energy and property stocks pushed the Shanghai Composite down more than 3%.
That selling soon spread to European and US markets, where the Standard & Poor’s 500 index moved further below a closely watched trading level.
Oil headed for the longest run of weekly declines in almost three decades on signs the supply glut that drove prices to a six-year low will be prolonged.
Futures fell as much as 1.6 percent in New York, set for an eighth weekly drop.
The US pumped crude in July at the fastest pace for the month since at least 1920, the American Petroleum Institute reported Thursday. The nation’s stockpiles are almost 100 million barrels above the five-year seasonal average, weekly government data showed Wednesday.
London’s top-flight was held back by another difficult session for its big oil and commodities stocks today amid a recovery in shares elsewhere.
The FTSE 100 Index was 20.9 points lower at 6529.9 while Germany’s Dax and France’s Cac 40 were ahead, bouncing back from a tough few days for world markets in the previous week.
Asian stocks were mixed overnight after figures showing the Japanese economy shrank in the second quarter - with Tokyo’s Nikkei ahead on hopes that it would mean more stimulus for the region’s second biggest economy.
If crude’s slump back to a six-year low looks bad, it’s even worse when you reflect that summer is supposed to be peak season for oil.
US crude futures have lost 30 percent since the start of June, set for the biggest drop since the West Texas Intermediate crude contract started trading in 1983. That beats the summer plunges during the global financial crisis of 2008, the Asian economic slump in 1998 and the global supply glut of 1986.
It even surpasses the decline of 2011, when prices fell as much as 21 percent over the summer as the U.S. and other large oil-importing nations released 60 million barrels of oil from emergency stockpiles to make up for the disruption of Libyan exports during the uprising against Muammar Qaddafi.
The market for offshore drilling rigs is likely to remain weak for another two years as a slump in oil prices hurts exploration investments, while much-needed industry consolidation remains a distant prospect, the head of Denmark's Maersk Drilling said.
With demand plunging and new capacity coming on the market, the cost to an oil company of renting deepwater drilling rigs has fallen by more than half in the last two years, from a peak around $650,000 per day to a current level of around $300,000.
Competitors Fred. Olsen Energy FOE.OL, Diamond Offshore Drilling DO.N, Transocean RIGN.VX and Seadrill SDRL.OL have all recently warned of weak markets ahead.
State-controlled Petróleo Brasileiro SA PETR4.SA agreed on Friday to refinance an outstanding 6 billion reais ($1.7 billion) tax debt with the Brazilian government, allowing the debt-laden oil producer to restructure an onerous liability.
Under terms of the plan, the company commonly known as Petrobras will have the debt cut by half, and use tax credits to write down 876 million reais of the remaining amount. The company will use 1.26 billion reais from a judicial cash escrow account to pay part of the debt.
The remainder will be paid in installments between this year and 2017, according to a securities filing.
Blue-chip shares headed cautiously higher today after a Greek parliamentary vote approving the terms of its 85 billion euro (£61 billion) bail-out package.
Sentiment over the world economic picture was also eased by a second day of China’s currency stabilising after sharp declines earlier in the week.
But tepid second quarter growth figures from Europe and continued stagnation in the oil price meant the FTSE 100 Index added just 24.6 points to 6592.9, having lost more than 150 points in the last few days.
North Sea oil producer Taqa said yesterday it was on course for annual savings of more than £260million after shedding 22% of its global workforce.
It also reported higher profits from the UK North Sea after a boost from fiscal changes aimed at reducing the burden of taxation on operators and encouraging investment
Grant Gillon, the Middle East firm’s new chief financial officer, said a transformational programme put in motion against a “challenging” backdrop of lower oil prices was achieving results.
The Scottish engineering graduate also said Taqa’s financial position was strong after a recent refinancing of £2billion of existing credit facilities on improved terms.
Dana Petroleum suffered hefty losses during 2014, it emerged yesterday.
The firm, which has oil and gas exploration and production operations in the UK, Egypt, Norway, the Netherlands and Africa, has posted pre-tax losses of £462.5million on revenue of £682.4million.
Dana’s plunge into the red came amid a flurry of top management departures and followed profits of £145million the year before, when revenue topped £1billion.
Soco International said first oil and gas from the H5 Wellhead Platform of the Te Giac Trang field has been achieved.
The start of production has been achieved ahead of schedule and the perforation campaign will continue for the next two weeks.
Ithaca Energy said average production rose to 12,758 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the second quarter of the year.
The company its revenues fell to $116.4million from $202.9million as a result of the fall in oil prices.
Output was in line with guidance and up from 10,528 boepd a year ago.
Viper Subsea Technology said innovative oifield products and services developed in Aberdeen and Portishead, near Bristol, were poised for accelerated growth and global reach after a US firm acquired a minority stake.
Houston-based Oceaneering International Services, whose global operations include regional headquarters in Dyce, Aberdeen, completed the deal on August 7 for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition is not expected to lead to any change in Viper’s workforce or product and service development.
A P Moeller-Maersk A/S’s container line, the world’s biggest, reported a decline in second-quarter profit as freight rates plunged.
Maersk Line reported a 7.3 percent drop in net operating profit after tax to $507 million, according to a statement published Thursday. Maersk’s group net income fell to $1.07 billion in the quarter, beating the median estimate of $729 million in a Bloomberg survey of 10 analysts.
Oil fell amid a broader commodity decline as China’s central bank devalued its currency, making imports of raw materials more expensive in the world’s biggest consumer of metals and energy.
Futures slid as much as 1.1 percent in New York. China, the world’s second-biggest oil user, cut the yuan’s reference rate by a record 1.9 percent, allowing depreciation to combat a slump in exports. The Bloomberg Commodity Index of 22 raw materials, which includes crude, metals and grains, retreated after advancing Monday by the most since February.
Oil has slumped more than 25 percent since this year’s peak closing price in June amid signs the global oversupply that drove crude into a bear market will persist. The Commodity Index in July capped the biggest monthly drop since 2011 on signs of faltering demand in China and expanding gluts. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.5 percent.
Oil traded near the lowest level in almost five months in New York as a rebound in US drilling signaled production is withstanding the slump in prices.
West Texas Intermediate futures were little changed, erasing an earlier drop to the lowest price since March 20. The number of U.S. rigs seeking oil rose by 6 to 670 for a third weekly gain, Baker Hughes Inc. data show.
OPEC members Algeria and Libya said the group could meet earlier that its scheduled December gathering to address the crude oversupply.
Oil has slumped more than 25 percent since this year’s peak in June amid signs the global surplus will be prolonged. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ largest members have sustained record output, while US inventories remain more than 90 million barrels above the five-year seasonal average.
Gazprom PJSC, the world’s biggest natural gas producer, said first-quarter profit rose 71 percent as a weaker ruble countered lower prices for the fuel and falling sales volumes.
Net income climbed to 382 billion rubles ($5.9 billion) from 223 billion rubles a year earlier, the Moscow-based company said Monday in a statement. That exceeded analysts’ average 353 billion-ruble estimate, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue rose 5.7 percent to 1.65 trillion rubles.
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.
Tethys Petroleum said it has been approached with a renewed offer from Nostrum Oil & Gas.
The move follows the announcement that a $47.7million financing with AGR Energy holdings and related clawback of shares by Pope Asset Management will now not proceed.
The latest potential offer from Nostrum Oil & Gas has been made for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Tethys.
Oil pared a weekly decline after an influential US lawmaker announced opposition to President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, which is projected to boost global supplies if successful.
Futures rose as much as 0.7 percent, trimming a sixth weekly slide. Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat who’s in line to become the party’s next leader, said he will break with Obama and oppose the agreement.
The oil market faces a glut even without new Iranian supply. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. predicts storage will be filled by this fall amid a global surplus projected at 2 million barrels a day.
Oil has slumped more than 25 percent since a June peak on signs that the oversupply will persist. Leading members of OPEC have sustained output while production has surged from the U.S., where inventories remain more than 90 million barrels above the five-year average for this time of the year.
