Oil advanced for the first time in three days amid speculation that an escalating conflict in Libya will help ease a global supply surplus that’s driven crude into a bear market.
Brent futures rose as much as 1.6% in London. Fires have been extinguished at three of five tanks at Es Sider, Libya’s largest oil port, which were set ablaze after an attack by militants, said Ali al-Hasy, a spokesman for the Petroleum Facilities Guard.
Algerian Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi called on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut output to boost prices.
A farm-out agreement between Chariot Oil and Gas and Woodside has been approved by the Moroccan Authorities.
The company made the deal earlier this year with Woodside who committed to pay 100% of the 3D seismic acquisition and processing costs incurred across the licence by Chariot.
A spokesman said a substantial part of the funds had been received bringing its estimated cash balance to $52million.
The force defending oil ports in eastern Libya pushed back an onslaught that Islamist militias had started 11 days ago to capture the facilities.
“We pushed them back and it’s we who are now attacking them,” Ali al-Hasy, a spokesman of the Petroleum Facilities Guard, said by phone from Es Sider, Libya’s largest oil port.
“The oil ports are safe and they suffered no damage. All the fighting took place well outside the ports.”
Fighting in Libya that’s pushed oil production below consumption in the holder of Africa’s largest reserves is a reminder that not all OPEC members are in a position to defend market share by maintaining output.
As Iraq plans to boost supplies next year amid repeated pledges by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to keep pumping the same amount of crude, Libya’s National Oil Corp. said output has dropped to a “very low point.”
Conflict between the government and Islamist militias has spread to the region of Mellitah, where the country’s fourth-largest oil port is located, after disrupting two other export terminals, according to the state-run company.
Libya’s oil output fell below its own consumption as fighting spread to Mellitah, a region that hosts the country’s fourth largest oil port, the state petroleum company said.
National Oil Corp. already this month declared force majeure at two export terminals, Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, after an attempt by Islamist militias to capture them.
Force majeure is a legal status that protects a company from liability when it can’t fulfill a contract for reasons beyond its control.
Renewable energy project developer One Plant Africa has appointed a former ambassador during the Clinton administration to its company’s board.
Ambassador Charles R Stith is considered to be one of America’s leading experts on development issues in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The company is a subsidiary of One Planet Infrastructure, a US-based developer which specialises in renewable energy and infrastructure projects in developing countries.
Tullow Oil said it will focus the majority of its exploration and appraisal expenditure in its East and West African assets.
The company released an interim management statement which said it was looking to re-allocate capital as a result of recent oil prices and reduced commercial success from offshore drilling.
The TEN development project, Jubilee production and the non-operated West Africa portfolio is expected to generate “significant value”, attracting the greatest share capital in 2015.
Tullow Oil has discovered hydrocarbon shows at its Kodos-1 exploration well in Kenya.
It has been undertaking a series of exploration and appraisal activities in Blocks 10BB and 13T onshore in East Africa.
An independent oil and gas consulting firm has confirmed there is “significant” gas potential at the Kechoula structure in Morocco.
GLJ Petroleum consultants carried out the evaluation work for PetroMaroc of the Undiscovered Petroleum Initially in Place (UPIIP)
UK-based oil and gas explorer Ophir Energy has announced gas discoveries in its Kamba and Fulusi prospects of 1.03 trillion cubic feet (tcf) in Tanzania.
This latest finds, combined with recent volume updates on the earlier discoveries, increases estimates of the total Block 1, 3 and 4 mean (2C) recoverable resources to 17.1tcf.
