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China’s LNG demand is disappointing in 2025 for a second year in a row, just as new U.S. export projects ramp up and Qatar is nearing start-up of the first new facilities in its huge capacity expansion. The wave of new LNG supply that will come online by the end of the decade, mostly from the top exporters, the United States and Qatar, has prompted many analysts to expect an oversupplied LNG market by 2030 that would weigh on prices. Lower prices could incentivize additional demand from price-sensitive buyers in south and Southeast Asia,…
China’s latest oil import data has been rather bullish, with November imports rising 5% year on year. Not only that, but China is building new storage capacity, so it can keep buying more crude, instead of demonstrating that its oil demand growth is weakening, as forecasters say. China is making oil demand forecasting uncertain. FGE NexantECA, for instance, recently reported that China’s apparent demand in October had been revised downwards to 14.6 million barrels of crude daily, or 570,000 barrels daily less than earlier expected.…
Escalating tensions between the United States and Venezuela could lead to profound changes in the oil industry of the world’s largest crude resource holder. Any regime change of President Nicolas Maduro could be a game-changer for oil production in Venezuela, U.S. access to Venezuela’s heavy crude fit for U.S. Gulf Coast refineries, and America’s influence in the Western Hemisphere and Latin America. Although it’s not certain that U.S. President Donald Trump would necessarily pursue regime change or an incursion of some…
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is traveling to Turkmenistan for festivities December 12 marking the Central Asian state’s 30th anniversary of neutrality. While in Ashgabat, Erdogan will also hold talks with Turkmen leaders likely focusing on the topic of natural gas supplies. Speaking to reporters earlier in December, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Ankara is working to expand gas imports via a long-time arrangement with Iran, augmented by a swap deal with Turkmenistan. A lack of clarity about sanctions currently…
The United States plans to seize more tankers carrying Venezuelan crude, Reuters reported today, citing unnamed sources who said there was already a list of vessels targeted for seizure. Earlier in the week, the move by U.S. federal government forces to seize the Panama-flagged tanker Skipper off the Venezuelan coast prompted a jump in oil prices as it signaled possible disruption of oil flows out of Venezuela. The news of plans for more seizures may extend the rally even though prices dipped on Thursday in a counterintuitive reaction to the original…
