oilprice

Russia’s government approved on Thursday a plan to introduce a profit-based tax on the oil industry, expected to come into force on January 1, 2019, later than previously thought. Currently, the tax regime for the oil industry stipulates that oil companies pay the so-called mineral extraction tax (MET), which is calculated on the basis of […]

Oil prices surged on Wednesday on news that the Keystone pipeline might not restart for several weeks. The outage at the damaged pipeline ended several years of contango for WTI, pushing the benchmark into a state of backwardation for the first time since 2014. TransCanada made a lot of headlines in the past week. The […]

There will be an OPEC deal extension—no matter the public tussling between opposing forces in the industry cartel—if the world’s largest oil producers are really determined to end the supply glut. A failure to agree on the market remediation would cause oil prices to plummet immediately, forfeiting any gains that have been made in the […]

The world’s top oil exporters are undoubtedly some of the world’s most influential countries. As such, it behooves analysts to always stay abreast of the internal dynamics of these economic power houses. Here’s what’s going on in the countries that have the power to make or break the oil market. 1. Saudi Arabia As the […]

Dean Fantazzini has provided his latest estimates of Texas oil and natural gas output. His analysis is based on RRC data only. Each RRC data set from Jan 2014 to Sept 2017 for crude and from April 2014 to Sept 2017 for condensate and natural gas are used in the “all data” estimate, the most […]

The Permian shale play has been attracting so much attention lately it’s started to get a little bit boring. But not for oil investors. The rush to the Permian has continued as everyone forecasts growing production there. The projections suggest strong growth—doubling production over the next three years according to some Permian producers. But one […]

Oil product shipments at some refineries in France owned by ExxonMobil and Total SA were disrupted on Thursday as French labor union CGT is staging a 24-hour strike in the petroleum sector. Shipments of products at Exxon’s refinery in Fos sur Mer, as well as at Total’s Grandpuits refinery near Paris, have been disrupted, Platts […]

Kurdistan’s crude oil exports increased in the past couple of days, but oil flows are still well below the levels seen before the independence referendum in the semi-autonomous region that raised the tensions between the Kurds and the federal government in Baghdad. Kurdistan’s oil flows rose to 270,000 bpd on Wednesday and Thursday, compared to […]

The OPEC/non-OPEC production cuts hurt Russia’s economic growth in October, Economy Minister Maxim Oreshkin said on Thursday in the first negative comment about the pact from a high-ranking Russian official.   “Because of the OPEC deal we have a negative direct impact from oil production, as well as indirect effects related to low investment activity […]

Aramco is in talks with Chinese petrochemical producers that are building new plants to supply them with crude, a company vice-president told Bloomberg. The talks are part of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to gain more exposure to refining and petrochemicals and reduce its dependence on crude oil production and sales. Speaking at the China International Oil […]

The giant lithium-ion battery Tesla boss Elon Musk promised the South Australian government earlier this year has been installed and tests will begin shortly, the South Australian government said in a statement. South Australia’s PM jay Weatherill patted his government on the back, saying “While others are just talking, we are delivering our energy plan, […]

The current rise in oil prices is more of a fear trade right now, driven by fear of what is going on in the Middle East, rather than a result of growing OPEC chatter or inventory reports, Todd Horwitz, chief strategist at Bubbatrading.com, told Bloomberg on Wednesday. “The oil premiums are very narrow going out […]