OPEC convened a workshop today to address oil overproduction issues and devise comprehensive compensation plans to make up for previous overages, according to an official OPEC press release. The push for production cut compliance comes as the price of Brent crude is trading down roughly $6 per barrel over the last 30 days. The workshop brought together technical experts from Iraq and Kazakhstan, along with industry professionals from secondary sources, and was prompted by the recent mandates outlined in the 35th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting…

Commodity giant Glencore has held early internal discussions about making a potential approach for mining giant Anglo American, which has just rejected an initial takeover offer from BHP, Reuters reported on Friday, quoting two sources. Glencore, which is active in both commodity mining and trading, hasn’t approached Anglo American yet, and it may not do it as all discussions have been internal and preliminary, one of the sources told Reuters. “We do not comment on market rumor or speculation,” a spokesperson for Glencore…

Officials from the G7 group of the world’s most industrialized nations are privately admitting that an all-out seizure of frozen Russian assets is no longer on the table, the Financial Times reported on Friday. Ukraine has been pushing for the West to seize the frozen Russian assets, but the U.S., the EU, and various other G20 countries disagree on whether confiscation of assets should be an option, FT notes. G7 officials are privately ruling out the idea of outright asset seizure and are exploring other “ways of extracting funding…

1. Shell Remains on the Right Track to Recovery - UK-based energy major Shell was one of the rare oil companies to surpass analyst expectations with its Q1 reported profit of $7.7 billion, buoyed by rebounding LNG production. - Shell’s cash flow rose by 6% from Q4 2023 to $13.3 billion, prompting the oil major to ramp up share repurchases by a further $3.5 billion over the next three months. - Compared to somewhat disappointing Exxon and Chevron results, Shell timed its refinery maintenance for the last quarter of 2023, allowing…

Oil prices have dipped to their lowest levels in nearly two months, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent crude being particularly impacted. These declines reflect a complex interplay of escalating supply levels, subdued demand, and challenging economic indicators, all of which signal a potentially extended bearish phase in the oil markets. Supply Factors The unexpected rise in U.S. crude inventories, as reported by the American Petroleum Institute (API), has notably contributed to the downward pressure on oil prices. A significant…

Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict Danish shipping giant Maersk has raised the lower end of its full-year guidance thanks to Houthi attacks that have disrupted Red Sea shipping. Maersk is now expecting Q1 profits of $208 million on $12.4 billion in revenue. That compares to last year’s $2.3 billion in profit on $14.2 billion in revenue. And in the meantime, Iran is claiming that a new front has been established in the Axis of Resistance, with a militia group based in Bahrain claiming to have been behind an attack on Israel that happened…

Last week, I wrote that while Q1 profits were expected to be down this year and energy stock prices were higher, that didn’t mean that energy wasn’t a place to be for long-term investors. Well, the big oil companies have now reported, so does that still apply? The results have been mixed in terms of how the companies performed versus expectations. On Friday, April 26th, for example, Chevron (CVX) and TotalEnergies (TTE) reported beats of analysts’ estimates for earnings per share (EPS), while Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Phillips 66…

While all attention is on the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine war, Moscow is securing key venues in Africa while Western nations withdraw or are forced out. Late on Thursday, Russian troops entered a U.S. airbase in Niger, after the new military junta there evicted the Americans (some 1,000 personnel) in the aftermath of a July 2023 coup. In an eerie development, both Russian and American troops are now housed at the same base, in different hangers, reportedly. Prior to the July coup, Washington was a key partner with Niger in terms of rounding…

A limited supply of heavy crude is pushing up heavy crude oil prices and refining costs globally, which could raise costs for shipping and road construction this summer, analysts told Reuters. Recent export cuts from Mexico and the imminent start-up of the expanded Trans Mountain Pipeline in Canada – pushing more of Canada’s heavy crude to the Pacific instead of the Atlantic basin – are adding to existing supply tightness in the global heavy crude market.     The crude supply cuts from the OPEC+ group are limiting…

Amid a lack of signs of easing the tensions in the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, disruptions to global shipping in the area could last into next year, the chief executive officer of container shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S told the Financial Times this week. “We can see that the situation in the Red Sea is not going to be shortlived, but will last at least into the second half of the year,” Maersk’s CEO Vincent Clerc told FT.    “We are not very optimistic we will be going through Suez any time soon.”…

The Tory government will allow oil and gas companies to explore offshore areas slated to house wind power installations, the Guardian has reported, citing an announcement to be made later today. The North Sea Transition Authority, formerly the Oil and Gas Authority, will also today confirm exploration licenses were granted to some 30 companies for these areas. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak first made waves in transition circles last year when he announced he would not ban oil and gas drilling despite the UK’s ambitious transition goals. Now,…

Saudi Aramco is the biggest investor in artificial intelligence in the oil industry. The fact was recently revealed in a report by GlobalData, which also showed the Saudi state major was investing heavily in all sorts of cutting-edge technology. Because this is where competition will be in the future. Saudi Aramco spent $3.5 billion on research and development last year, GlobalData said in its report, noting the company was active in as many as 250 areas of innovation including, besides AI, drone technology, robotics, and electric vehicles. As…

A U.S.-based biotechnology firm is using carbon-eating bacteria to turn emissions from steel mills, refineries, and other heavily polluting industrial processes into ethanol and chemicals, helping reduce carbon emissions and make recycled, sustainable products.    LanzaTech, which has been operating at a commercial scale since 2018, not only captures the carbon gases at industrial sites but it also transforms them – using bacteria in bioreactors – into fuels and chemicals. These recycled products are directly replacing virgin…

Last year, profits in the oil industry were noticeably lower than in the previous year. Pretty much everyone in oil and gas booked a decline in the bottom line as prices deflated amid falling concerns about supply security. Cash, however, remained high. And it appears this cash has allowed the industry to lower their demand for borrowing. Demand for loans from the oil and gas industry fell by 6% last year, Bloomberg reported this week. This followed a 1% decline during the previous year—but in that previous year oil and…

A wide range of organisations and communities are battling against oil majors and winning, as governments worldwide start putting the environment first. In the last few years, the number of lawsuits against oil and gas companies has risen significantly, as more judges rule in favour of indigenous communities and grassroots organisations when it comes to stopping the development of fossil fuel projects and protecting the environment. This trend is likely to continue, with governments and consumers putting increasing pressure on companies to improve…

Asian crude oil imports fell in April from March, according to estimates by LSEG Oil Research, suggesting sluggish growth in Asia’s crude purchases so far this year. Last month, Asia – the bellwether of crude imports and implied import demand – saw imports averaging 26.89 million barrels per day (bpd), per LSEG Oil Research data cited by Reuters’s Asia Commodities and Energy Columnist, Clyde Russell. The April imports declined from 27.33 million bpd of crude oil Asia imported in March and were flat compared to…

Asian crude oil imports fell in April from March, according to estimates by LSEG Oil Research, suggesting sluggish growth in Asia’s crude purchases so far this year. Last month, Asia – the bellwether of crude imports and implied import demand – saw imports averaging 26.89 million barrels per day (bpd), per LSEG Oil Research data cited by Reuters’s Asia Commodities and Energy Columnist, Clyde Russell. The April imports declined from 27.33 million bpd of crude oil Asia imported in March and were flat compared to…

The looming threat of cyberattacks from China is intensifying in the United States. Already, incidences of attacks from Chinese spy agencies are increasing in the West, and Beijing could seriously escalate its cyber warfare tactics if it sensed any heightened threat from the U.S. or its allies. As such, increased planning and investment in cybersecurity is more important than ever across key U.S. industries. However, one of the quickest growing sectors in the country – the clean energy sector – has dedicated worryingly little attention…

While 'hard' data has been improving recently (albeit then downwardly revised a month later), it is the 'soft' survey data that has collapsed amid Bidenomics. Source: Bloomberg And this morning continued that trend as S&P Global's US Manufacturing PMI (survey) fell from 51.9 in March to 50.0 as the final print for April (49.9 flash). ISM's Manufacturing survey also missed, dropping from 50.3 to 49.2 (contraction). Source: Bloomberg Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: “Business conditions…

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) idea follows the Japanese art of kintsugi, an artist takes the broken shards of a bowl and fuses them back together with gold to make a final product more beautiful than the original. Image Credit: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Click the press release link for the largest view and more images. That idea is inspiring a new approach to managing plasma, the super-hot state of matter, for use as a fusion power source. Scientists are using the imperfections in magnetic fields that confine a reaction…