Oilexco Share Discussion Threads

[waldron] 08/5/2018 15:00

ABB wins multimillion deal for world’s largest new offshore project

4 May 2018
Share:
ABB’s HVDC Light on Statoil’s Troll-A gas platform

ABB has signed a deal valued at around £18.5million to provide automation and safety systems for Statoil’s news Johan Castberg Norwegian oil field project.

A spokesperson said the provision would significantly reduce capital expenditure for the Barents Sea site, north of the Arctic Circle.

Currently the world’s largest new offshore oil project with volumes estimated at between 400 and 600 million barrels of oil, it will be developed with an FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading production vessel) and a subsea installation with 30 wells.

ABB will begin its delivery later this year while the field operation will start in 2022. It is expected to have a production lifespan that will last until 2052.

Digitalisation and advanced safety and automation systems are key to safer, more efficient, more reliable and more environmentally friendly operation

Per Erik Holsten, managing director, ABB Oil, Gas and Chemicals

“Digitalisation and advanced safety and automation systems are key to safer, more efficient, more reliable and more environmentally friendly operation of oil, gas, and chemical facilities,” said Per Erik Holsten, managing director ABB Oil, Gas and Chemicals.

“Combined with our vast experience in advanced process control, and subsea and power systems, project execution is streamlined, cost are reduced, and long-term operations are safer and more efficient.”

[waldron] 08/5/2018 11:34

8 May 2018
What happens to oil if Trump tears up the Iran deal?

By Suhaib Kebhaj and Joseph Hammond
What happens to oil if Trump tears up the Iran deal?



For all Boris Johnson’s best efforts to persuade him otherwise, President Trump seems likely to pull the United States out of the 2015 Iranian nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

This weekend Rudy Giuliani symbolically ripped up a copy of the JCPOA when speaking to a conference of the Iranian opposition in Washington D.C.

The former New York mayor is now part of President Trump’s legal team and his views are shared by many in the White House, including National Security Adviser John Bolton and other Iran hawks like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

Tearing up the deal would mean the resumption of the sanctions first imposed in 2012, and severely limit oil production from the third largest oil-producing country in OPEC.

The impact on the oil industry would be huge. Were sanctions to resume it could mean somewhere between 300,000-500,000 fewer barrels of crude oil per day by the fourth quarter of this year.

A study published in Energy Economics in 2016 offers the rosiest picture of what could happen if large amounts of oil were to disappear. It noted that generally when Iranian oil production is withheld from the global market it does not result in a long-term price increase. Saudi Arabia usually rebalances the market by increasing its production to cover the lost Iranian supply.

This time, however, the Saudis might not increase production. In fact, some studies suggest that given the Kingdom’s high spending and low tax revenues, the Saudi government needs the oil price to rise to around $90 a barrel to avoid running a deficit.


OPEC countries along with other oil exporters, namely Russia, have also committed to reducing production till the end of 2018 in order to draw down reserves and rebalance the oil market. This will likely be extended through to 2019 when the topic is discussed at June’s OPEC meeting.

Meanwhile Venezuela, Iraq and Libya remain wild-cards as all three countries want to increase exports but have to contend with a high-risk security situation. Given these factors we could see oil prices well above $70 a barrel in the near future.

The news of jumps in the price has enraged President Trump, who took to Twitter last month to lash out at “artificially high prices”.

But low-income countries reliant on commodity exports may be quietly applauding.

With oil prices climbing other commodities will likely climb as well. To some extent metals, oils and other commodities are benefiting from strong synchronised global growth across emerging and developed markets.

There isn’t much spare capacity for increasing production as the collapse of commodity prices following the last cycle led to a drop-off in long-term investment. This is affecting commodity supply chains, in an environment of strong global growth and increasing demand. OPEC production cuts and a decline in Iranian oil exports would only worsen this problem.

There could also be knock-on effects on agriculture as a hike in the oil price results in increased demand for biofuels. As biofuels become more profitable farmers might opt to produce maize or other plants, in turn reducing the supply of fruit and vegetable crops and potentially pushing up food prices.


Since the early 2000s commodity markets have experienced a higher degree of financialisation, resulting in increased co-movement in prices, usually led by movements in the oil price due to its high weight in the commodity financial market. So we could expect to see increased commodity prices across the board this time as well.

This is good news for many commodity exporting countries who will be able to enjoy higher windfalls. It’s especially good news for poor countries who have taken a severe hit from the drop in commodity prices in 2014 and the current period of cheap oil.

Many of these countries have run up dangerously high deficits as a result of lower commodity prices in recent years, with some at risk of default. Masood Ahmed, who heads the Center for Global Development, has warned of a looming debt crisis in low-income countries.

For those countries the prospect of a Trump-inspired increase in global commodity prices could be the saving grace that allows them to avoid default and maintain their current spending levels.

Suhaib Kebhaj is a research analyst at the International Monetary Fund. Joseph Hammond is a fellow of the Center for Media and Peace Initiatives.

[cpap man] 08/5/2018 09:48

VLS



Great looking chart at VLS with the GAP now being filled

Can see VLS in the relatively short term going up to 40p+

[cpap man] 08/5/2018 09:15

VLS



Analyst Price targets for VLS

Numis 35p 'Buy'

Canaccord Genuity 40p 'Speculative Buy'



These share price targets for VLS targets are likely to be revised upwards in the context of the very positive announcement on 4/5/2018 that VLS has received a "notice to proceed" action to commence manufacturing a biorefinery for Red Rock Biofuels in Oregon, and received a $6 million down payment (with the project expected to deliver $15 million revenues to VLS during the construction and early operation stages, and an additional $30 million or more over the project life).

[sarkasm] 06/5/2018 19:39

May 06 2018 08:54 PM
Business
RELATED STORIES
*
Total pumped a record amount of oil and gas in the first quarter and expects output growth to exceed its 6% target this year thanks to acquisitions and new projects from the Arctic to West Africa
Rate
Text Size: A A A

Bloomberg/Johannesburg

French energy giant Total SA plans to boost oil exploration and open more fuel stations in Africa’s most industrialised country.
Total pumped a record amount of oil and gas in the first quarter and expects output growth to exceed its 6% target this year thanks to acquisitions and new projects from the Arctic to West Africa. In South Africa, the company plans to expand its network of more than 500 fuel stations and finish a deepwater exploration well started in 2014.
“In retail, we clearly want to grow and to grow by 200 to 300 service stations in the coming few years,” Pierre-Yves Sachet, managing director and chief executive officer for Total South Africa, said on Thursday in an interview at his office in Johannesburg. “The intensity of our footprint is not exactly the one we would like to have yet.”
Total, which is already due to open 20 new retail outlets this year, is considering partnerships to increase that number. It faces competition from South Africa’s Sasol Ltd, which is also looking to expand its fuel-station network in a country that currently has about 4,600 outlets.
Total is also interested in supplying liquefied natural gas and adding solar projects as part of two government programmes that faced delays under former South African president Jacob Zuma. While there hasn’t yet been a marked change in demand and investment under Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced Zuma in February, there is a difference in the business community, according to Sachet.
“There’s more confidence in the atmosphere, this is very clear,” said Sachet, who sees growth in the company’s sales of fuel and lubricants to mining companies.
Total, which owns 36% of the 108,000-barrel-a-day Natref refinery in a joint venture with Sasol, expects to resume drilling on South Africa’s first deepwater well by the end of this year or first quarter 2019, said Sachet. It was forced to suspend operations in 2014 because of strong currents. The results will be watched by fellow majors Exxon Mobil Corp and Eni SpA, which also have offshore stakes in South Africa. Royal Dutch Shell relinquished a license last year.
Petroleum Agency South Africa, the industry regulator, has blamed lower oil prices and uncertainty about pending legislation, including the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill, for curbing investment in exploration.