It’s the first time Baghdad has sought a prepayment deal, in which oil is effectively used as security for a loan. It’s also the latest example of China lending to struggling oil producers via state-controlled trading companies and banks. SourceContinue Reading

This deal, plus more to be announced, target drilling 23 wells in nine regions in the Mediterranean and three regions in the Red Sea, with a minimum total investment seen at $1.4 billion. SourceContinue Reading

Fighters linked to Islamic State raided a town less than 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the construction camp this week of what is Africa’s largest private investment, ratcheting up risks for the planned LNG export terminal on Mozambique’s northern coastline. While the heavily guarded site hasn’t been attacked yet, militants have made threats that they...Continue Reading

Venezuela has managed to defy sweeping U.S. sanctions against state-owned producer PDVSA and keep shipping some crude abroad, mainly to China. But Washington has intensified the crackdown on companies that break the restrictions, and PDVSA has struggled to sell its barrels in Asia. SourceContinue Reading

Exxon confirmed in a filing Wednesday it will take a writedown of as much as $20 billion on its upstream assets, a possibility first disclosed at the end of October. It also reported much smaller non-cash impairments related to its refining business. SourceContinue Reading

Demand for the fuel used in heating and power generation is growing faster than for any other fossil fuel as nations look for a cheap, reliable and cleaner alternative to coal. The pandemic derailed that growth for 2020, but China and India are emerging as major sources of demand. SourceContinue Reading

Gas pumped from the BP-led Shah Deniz deposit in the Caspian Sea began flowing into Italy, Greece and Bulgaria on Dec. 31, BP and Azerbaijan’s state energy company Socar said in a joint statement. The European Union has worked for years to ease its dependence on Russia, which accounts for about a third of the...Continue Reading

The number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. closed out 2020 at 267, according to Baker Hughes Co. data released December 30th. It’s the lowest end-of-year figure since 2005, when drilling and fracking breakthroughs perfected in natural gas regions like North Texas’s Barnett shale were just beginning to be deployed. SourceContinue Reading

The completion of the South Texas Gateway dock enables Buckeye to accommodate the berthing and loading of two vessels simultaneously, further facilitating the supply of North American crude oil to global markets. SourceContinue Reading

When complete, Nord Stream 2 will allow Russia to expand deliveries of gas to Europe and circumvent the traditional transport corridor through Ukraine. The U.S. and Eastern European nations say the pipeline will make Germany and the European Union too reliant on Russian gas. SourceContinue Reading