Russia's second-biggest gas producer Novatek is close to selling a 9.9 percent stake worth an estimated $900 million in its Yamal liquefied natural gas project to a Chinese investment fund, Kommersant business daily reported on Monday. The deal may close in the coming weeks, the daily quoted three sources familiar with the talks as saying. It quoted one of source as saying the buyer was China's infrastructure fund Silk Road.
Royal Dutch Shell will repay a $2 billion debt to the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) when sanctions on Iran are lifted and will consider investing in the country's vast energy sector, Shell's boss for new business said. Much would depend on the terms offered by the Islamic Republic once sanctions were lifted, said Edward Daniels, Shell's executive vice-president for commercial and new business development. He was speaking to Reuters while on a British government visit to reopen the country's embassy in Tehran. "We are very pleased to have been part of this historic delegation. Clearly Iran remains under sanctions with time before sanctions will be unwound and clearly we will be absolutely adhering to all sanctions," Daniels said.
A state oil firm loyal to Libya's official government based in the east of the country has invited foreign oil firms to discuss existing oil purchase contracts at a conference in Dubai next month, it said in a statement. The move is a fresh attempt by Libya's internationally recognised government to control state oil firm NOC, which is at the centre of a conflict between two rival administrations four years after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi. The eastern government, which lost the capital Tripoli a year ago to a rival administration, has set up a new oil entity, which it calls NOC east, based in the city of Benghazi, but oil buyers still only deal with the established state firm NOC based in Tripoli, which has processed oil sales for decades.
Iran's Oil Minister, Bijan Zanganeh, said on Sunday that holding an emergency OPEC meeting may be "effective" in stabilising the oil price, Iran's oil ministry news agency Shana reported. Algeria said earlier this month that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries could hold an emergency meeting to discuss the drop in oil prices but other OPEC delegates said no meeting was planned. "Iran endorses an emergency OPEC meeting and would not disagree with it," Zanganeh told reporters in Tehran, according to Shana.
Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Sunday that South Korea has agreed to increase its purchases of Iranian oil after a nuclear deal with world powers cleared the way for an easing of international sanctions on Tehran.
The world's largest oil trader Vitol has bought the other half of storage firm VTTI for $830 million, taking full control of tanks that contributed to its stellar profits amid oil price volatility. Vitol's and other trading houses' profits rose steeply in 2014 due to price volatility and a market structure known as contango, when long-dated prices are higher than prompt prices. Contango encourages oil storage in tanks for the purpose of reselling the commodity at a profit in the future. VTTI has total gross storage capacity of 54 million barrels, including assets under construction, the company said.
U.S. energy firms added two oil rigs this week, the fifth increase in a row, signaling further pressure on a market awash with crude. The rise came even as U.S. crude prices have fallen by more than a third from recent highs. Reflecting plans announced in May and June, when U.S. crude futures averaged $60 a barrel, drillers added 2 oil rigs in the week ended Aug. 21, bringing the total count up to 674, the highest since early May, oil services company Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report.
Some of OPEC's Gulf members are concerned about the latest drop in oil prices which had not been expected, OPEC delegates said, but they see little chance of the exporting group diverting from its policy of defending market share. Brent oil is trading near $46 a barrel, close to its 2015 low after an 18 percent drop in July, pressured by abundant supplies and concern about the health of the Chinese economy, the world's second-largest oil consumer. Despite this, the delegates including from Gulf OPEC members who declined to be identified say China is still buying and stockpiling crude and they expect strong global demand growth should push prices back to $60 next year.
India will sell a 10 percent stake in top state-run refiner Indian Oil on Monday through a stock market auction, the government said, as part of its drive to raise funds by selling off assets. At the current market price of the stock, that stake would be valued at about $1.5 billion. The government owns 68.6 percent of IOC, whose stock hit a record high in July and has outperformed the broader market this year as the refiner benefits from cheaper global crude prices.
North-east offshore chemical engineering firm Aubin Group was yesterday presented with a Queen’s Award in recognition of its overseas sales growth. About 140 awards were announced this year for outstanding business achievement, with Aubin honoured for international trade. The Ellon-based company has beefed up its income from exports by more than 100% in the past three years and has expanded its client base to span 16 countries.
Mexico has concluded its vast oil hedging program for next year, paying more than $1 billion to guarantee it will get at least $49 a barrel for about half of its exported crude in 2016. Announcing the unusually early completion of the biggest sovereign oil derivatives trade in the world, Mexico's finance ministry said late on Wednesday it had bought options based on Maya and Brent crude oil prices that will cover 212 million barrels of oil, at a cost of $1.09 billion. Mexico is "very unlikely" to reopen the hedge, a source close to the operation told Reuters, adding the program centered on Maya crude. Counterparties to the program included Barclays and JPMorgan, the source added.
Norway's DNO ASA, which has operations across the Middle East, would like to do business in Iran if sanctions against the country are lifted as planned, the energy company said on Thursday. Oslo-listed DNO has its biggest operation in Iraqi Kurdistan, where it produced about 153,000 barrels of oil per day in the second quarter. It is also present in Oman, Yemen, Somaliland, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.
RWE will replace the head of npower and the British supplier's finance chief, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters, following long-standing billing problems and a loss of clients. Paul Massara, npower's chief executive since January 2013, will be replaced by npower Chief Operating Officer Paul Coffey, who joined from the German utility company's renewables division Innogy earlier this year, the people said. Npower Chief Financial Officer Jens Madrian will also step down from his post, the people said.
Russia's Eurasia Drilling on Thursday reported a first-half net profit of $91 million, down by half on a weak rouble, low oil prices and lower demand from top customer Lukoil. Eurasia, in which Schlumberger is awaiting Russia's permission to buy a 45.65 percent stake, said revenue fell by 40 percent to $923 million.
An Aberdeenshire-based equipment hire company said yesterday it was investing hundreds of thousands of pounds in new products in order to beat the oil and gas downturn. Quayside Fabrication, headquartered in Colpy, near Insch, has splashed out more than £500,000 on the development of a portable power unit (PPU), a kind of “mobile workshop” aimed at improving safety and efficiency in the energy sector. The firm, founded in 2010, has also invested in new designs for large containers for lifting equipment to and from the seabed – known in the industry as subsea baskets – as well as a plasma cutting machine.
Morocco's government said on Wednesday it will not bow to pressure from the country's oil refinery operator Societe Anonyme Marocaine de l'Industrie du Raffinage (Samir) and will do everything possible to recover unpaid taxes and protect the refinery's workers. Morocco's tax administration seized the company's bank accounts last week in pursuit of a 13 billion dirham ($1.3 billion) tax claim. Samir, which is controlled by Saudi Corral Petroleum Holdings, said earlier this month it was halting production at some units of the 200,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Mohammedia refinery.
Russian energy firms are weathering low oil prices and will continue to increase output in the next few years even if Saudi Arabia raises production to depress prices further, one of Russia's fastest growing oil companies says. Gazprom Neft, Russia's third-largest oil producer owned by state-run gas producer Gazprom, said that due to abundant supply and technological developments oil prices may have returned for a prolonged period to the $30-$40 per barrel range seen before the commodities boom of the 2000s. Some oil projects won't be viable at such low prices but most of those won't be in Russia, where field development will prove resilient even at $20-$35 per barrel - much lower than in the United States, the Arctic or on large offshore deposits.
Repeated sabotage by "organised gangs" of the oil pipeline from northern Iraq to Turkey has cost the autonomous Kurdistan region $501 million since July 1, its ministry of natural resources said on Tuesday. The flow of oil is currently suspended due to a theft attempt on the pipeline, which runs to the Turkish port of Ceyhan from fields in Iraq's Kurdish north and Kirkuk. The pipeline was previously idled for a week after being blown up by members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in late July, when Turkey began bombing the outlawed group in northern Iraq.
Further writedowns on Austrian oil and gas group OMV's ailing Samsun gas power plant in Turkey are possible and the facility could be sold, the head of OMV's downstream division, Manfred Leitner, told Reuters. OMV this month booked an impairment of 205 million euros ($227 million) at Samsun, where regulatory measures are weighing on margins. "I wouldn't rule out further impairments in the future," Leitner said in an interview late on Tuesday, adding he did not expect more writedowns this year at Samsun, which now has a book value of around half its original 600 million euro price tag.
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Tuesday staked out her opposition to Arctic oil exploration, putting her at odds with the Obama administration one day after it approved drilling off Alaska. "The Arctic is a unique treasure," Clinton said in a Twitter post. "Given what we know, it's not worth the risk of drilling." On Monday, the Obama administration gave Royal Dutch Shell final approval to resume drilling into the oil zone off northern Alaska for the first time since 2012.
Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited the supergiant West Qurna-2 oilfield on Tuesday after the state-run South Oil Company warned output could be affected unless protests by locals demanding jobs were defused. The SOC last week sent a report to the oil ministry asking it to defuse protests by villagers and residents of areas near some of the southern fields where most of Iraq's crude is produced, including West Qurna-2. Hundreds of locals recently blocked some entrance to Iraq's giant southern West Qurna-2 oilfield, operated by Russia's Lukoil, demanding jobs in a sign of the growing challenges facing foreign firms operating in the south.
The board of directors of Brazil's state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA approved the sale of at least 25 percent of its fuel unit BR Distribuidora, according to board minutes published in a securities filing late Monday. Reuters previously reported that Petrobras would seek to sell at least a quarter of the unit, which controls Brazil's largest service-station network. A sale is expected as early as the end of this year. Petrobras, as the company is known, wants to sell $15.1 billion of assets by the end of 2016 to help reduce its $132 billion of debt, the largest of any oil company.
French oil firm Total said on Monday it was on track to start drilling for oil and gas at an exploration site off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast early next year. Total, an operator of the offshore Han Asparuh 1-21 block along with OMV and Spain's Repsol, had postponed drilling there due to the fall in oil prices.
Oil prices fell in early Asian trading on Monday as Japan's economy contracted on the back of falling exports and consumer spending, adding to fears that Asia's biggest economies are starting to slow at the same time. U.S. crude was trading at $42.07 per barrel at 0012 GMT, 43 cents below their last settlement and close to more than six-year lows. Brent futures were at $48.69 a barrel, down 50 cents but still some way off from their 2015-low of $45.19. Japan's economy, the second biggest in Asia and number three in the world, shrank at an annualised pace of 1.6 percent in April-June as exports slumped and consumers cut back on spending.
The United Arab Emirates is open to meeting any demand for oil from India, the Gulf OPEC member's economy minister Sultan bin Saeed al-Mansouri told Reuters on Monday. Mansouri was speaking after meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in the UAE on a two-day visit. "India is importing oil now and the UAE is open to meet demand for any oil from India," Mansouri said, adding that the issue would be discussed further by representatives of the two sides. Abu Dhabi currently provides 9 percent of India’s energy needs and India is the world's fourth biggest oil consumer.
