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[waldron] 03/12/2016 00:22

Oil prices rose for a third straight day on Friday, after OPEC's agreement to cut output for the first time in eight years.

U.S. crude futures rose 62 cents, or 1.21%, to $51.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest settlement since July, 2015. Brent, the global benchmark, gained 52 cents, or 0.96%, to $54.46 on London's ICE Futures Exchange.

Crude prices have surged since the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to pull back their output by 1.2 million barrels a day. "At this point I don't think too many people are willing to stand in front of it," said Ric Navy, senior vice president for energy futures at RJ O'Brien & Associates.

Oil's advances stalled overnight, however, with U.S. crude futures pulling back to $50.18 as investors took profits following the dramatic rally. But crude prices resumed their march higher later, as the market looked set to hold on to most of its recent gains.

U.S. crude futures gained 12.2% this week -- the largest weekly percentage gain since 2009. But market participants say crude's rally could be running out of steam.

"I think it's getting close to the end of its rope," said Mark Waggoner, president of Excel Futures. "I see it getting tired and falling back. I just don't see this as a game changer when they're pumping as much as they are."

The deal to cut production is expected to take effect in January, and participating oil-producing nations will reassess in six months with an option to extend the accord for another six months.

If the deal is fully observed, it could shift the market into a deficit as early as the first half of next year. Brent prices could move higher to average between $55 and $60 a barrel in 2017, said Simon Flowers, chief analyst at consultancy Wood Mackenzie. "However, this does depend on OPEC being very careful to meet the terms of the agreement," he cautioned.

Skepticism over members' compliance with production quotas remains, as members have cheated their quotas in the past by underreporting or producing beyond their allotted limits.

Moreover, the OPEC supply action could cause some oil producers to lose market share as oil producers who aren't participating in the deal ramp up their output.

"It is a dangerous game that Saudi Arabia is playing," said Michael Cohen, the head of energy commodities research at Barclays. "Should prices rise too high then the amount of shale oil that comes into the market will eventually start to cut into their market share."

The U.S. put three more oil rigs back to work in the latest week, bringing total active rigs to 477, the most since late January, according to Baker Hughes.

Gasoline futures gained 1.21 cents, or 0.78%, to $1.5591 a gallon. Diesel futures rose 1.02 cents, or 0.62%, to $1.6581 a gallon.

--Jenny W. Hsu and Dan Molinski contributed to this article.

Write to Alison Sider at [e-mail] and Neanda Salvaterra at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 02, 2016 15:50 ET (20:50 GMT)

[sarkasm] 29/11/2016 08:18

Total Petrochemical & Refining USA reported reduced unit rates of operations and emissions at its refinery in Port Arthur, Texas.

"A Pressure Safety Valve (PSV) relieved to the Flare Gas Recovery System which became oversupplied resulting in intermittent flaring from the North Flare," the refinery said in a statement to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. "Unit operations rates were reduced."

It said the emissions began Sunday morning and lasted about five hours.

The 225,000-barrel-a-day refinery is located east of Houston.



Write to Dan Molinski at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 28, 2016 16:38 ET (21:38 GMT)

[the grumpy old men] 26/11/2016 09:01

No Drop In Demand For Oil Over Next Decade, Says OPEC
By
Lisa Smith -
November 26, 2016
Oil Cash

The world is going to guzzle even more oil, according to the latest five-year market outlook from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

This is a U-turn from last year’s report which bemoaned a drop in demand.

OPEC reckons that businesses and consumers will want an extra million barrels a day by 2020, pushing demand up to 33.7 million barrels a day.

OPEC supplies around a third of the world’s oil. The organisation is a trade body for countries such as the Gulf States, African oil producers and others around the world, such as Venezuela.

The key oil big producers of the US and Russia are not represented by OPEC.
Modest increase in output

The increase in demand is modest – only 300,000 or so barrels a day than OPEC is pumping out of the ground today.

And the report predicts no growth until at least 2021.

OPEC refused to cut production as the price of oil slumped from more than $100 a barrel two years ago to around $48 a barrel today.

The move has triggered a glut, with oil stored in tankers taken out of mothballs as OPEC tried to muscle shale oil in the US and Canada out of the market.

OPEC also reports that demand for oil is expected to reach a peak in 2030 at 6.73 million barrels a day – well up from the 2015 forecast of 5.61 million barrels a day.
Demand to peak before supply

The research also predicts the OPEC share of the market will increase over the next decade as shale oil becomes too expensive to compete and drops out of contention.

The report also expects the price of oil to rise to around $60 a barrel by the end of 2020

However producer BP reckons demand will peak before supply due to efforts to bring more nuclear power online and an increase in supplies of natural gas and renewable energy.

“While the recent oil market environment has been one of oversupply, it is vital that the industry ensures that a lack of investments today does not lead to a shortage of supply in the future,” said OPEC Secretary-General Mohammed Barkindo.

[la forge] 21/11/2016 19:08

PARIS--Total SA (TOT) said Monday it had signed a deal to develop the natural gas field of Absheron discovered in Azerbaijan in 2011.

The French oil major agreed with Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR to carry out the first phase of production of the field, which will ultimately yield as many as 35,000 barrels of oil-equivalent a day.

Total will operate the field and take a 40% stake. SOCAR will also take a 40% stake, while French power utility Engie SA (ENGI.FR) will hold the remainder.

Total didn't disclose the amount the joint venture would invest in the field.

In response to the oil price collapse, Total has said it will boost hydrocarbon production in existing projects and only conduct new projects that will be cheap and fast to develop.



-Write to Inti Landauro at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 21, 2016 09:47 ET (14:47 GMT)

[ariane] 04/11/2016 21:47

Friday, November 4, 2016

Oil prices settled at a six-week low on Thursday following several consecutive days of large price declines. The major catalysts this week were doubts over an OPEC deal and EIA data showing a record build up in crude oil stocks. The EIA said Wednesday that U.S. oil inventories rose by 14.4 million barrels last week, the largest gain in a single week since data collection began in the early 1980s. WTI plunged below $45 per barrel on the news and the five consecutive days of losses was the longest streak since June.

The data could be misleading, however. The huge buildup in inventories came largely because weekly imports spiked. Imports rose by about 2 million barrels per day last week after several weeks of hovering at below-average levels. The import spike was partially affected by bad weather, including a hurricane, and could be an anomaly. If that is the case, crude stocks probably won’t gain at similar rates in the weeks ahead.

Still, sentiment is negative after such a down week. "The persistent market dynamic of softer demand and stronger supply will become a more dominant driver of prices as the impact of OPEC's verbal interventions begins to fade and expectations for coordinated cuts are readjusted," BMI Research said in a note to clients.

OPEC deal probable, Citi says. Saudi Arabia and Russia are “hungry for an agreement,” Ed Morse, the head of commodity research at Citigroup, said this week. That means that OPEC and several non-OPEC countries will probably reach a deal at the end of the month to cut oil production. "We’re expecting the parties that need to do something to boost prices to be serious about deciding something," Morse said. For its part, OPEC said it was “deeply optimistic” this week that they would reach a deal.

Oil prices to stay below $60 per barrel in 2017. A Wall Street Journal survey of 14 investment banks predicts that oil prices will not rise above $60 per barrel for another year. The average forecast of the 14 respondents puts Brent oil prices at $56 per barrel in 2017 and WTI at $54. Those figures are down $1 per barrel from last month’s survey, and stand in stark contrast to forecasts from a year ago, which predicted oil to move above $70 per barrel this year.

Colonial Pipeline still closed. The largest pipeline ferrying gasoline around the U.S. has been closed since Monday due to an explosion. The Colonial Pipeline carries gasoline from the Gulf Cost to the Southeast and Northeast U.S., and its closure has led to a spike in gasoline futures. On Tuesday, gasoline futures spiked as much as 15 percent, the largest single day increase in nearly a decade, according to the WSJ. The pipeline’s operator had hoped to have it back up and running by this weekend but a small fire continued to burn as late as Thursday. Nearly two months ago, the pipeline was shut after a leak, a short outage that also led to higher gasoline prices in regional markets. The WSJ reports that more than 60 percent of U.S. fuel pipelines are more than 46 years old, posing questions around the integrity of some of the nation’s largest oil and gas conduits.

Attacks in Nigeria continue. Sabotage by the Niger Delta Avengers and other militant groups against oil infrastructure continue to pick up pace. The latest attack hit a flow station along Royal Dutch Shell’s (NYSE: RDS.A) Trans Forcados pipeline. In a statement the Niger Delta Avengers said that its attack was to warn oil companies that “there should be no repairs [to pipelines] pending negotiation/dialogue with the people of the Niger Delta.” U.S. intelligence officials told CNBC that the worrying thing for Nigeria is that Niger Delta militants could splinter, leading to ongoing attacks under no coherent umbrella, making them more difficult to control. Nigeria’s oil production recently rose to 1.9 million barrels per day but the attacks threaten to derail more gains.

North Sea oil production set to jump. Oil shipments from the aging North Sea could rise by 360,000 barrels per day between September and December of this year, taking output for the region up to 2.16 million barrels per day. The buildup of tankers in the North Sea is starting to clear, adding to the global surplus of supply and complicating the effects of a potential OPEC agreement on oil prices.

Solar stocks plunge on glut of panels. First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) saw its share price fall by 18 percent on Thursday, taking it multiyear lows, after it missed revenues and pointed to a global glut in solar panels. Prices for panels have declined 30 percent in large part due to a slowdown in demand from China, First Solar said.

U.S. presidential election poses market uncertainty. The S&P 500 has suffered a string of losses lately, which many attribute to jitters over uncertainty regarding the outcome of next week’s election. The markets seem to prefer Hillary Clinton over the uncertainty of Donald Trump, and indices have sunk as the campaign has tightened in recent days.

In our Numbers Report, we take a look at some of the most important metrics and indicators in the world of energy from the past week. Find out more by clicking here.

Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next week.

Best Regards,

Evan Kelly
Editor, Oilprice.com

P.S. – Natural gas is approaching a situation in which all factors point to a rebound, but oil trader Martin Tillier points at the markets’ tendency to overshoot. Martin warns that buyers should hold off a bit longer before scooping up natural gas futures. Find out where the real reversal for NatGas is taking place by claiming your risk-free 30 day trial on Oil and Energy Insider

[maywillow] 03/11/2016 17:36

arket News | Thu Nov 3, 2016 | 1:00pm EDT
Total's Pouyanne says solar industry facing "a new winter"

By Bate Felix | PARIS

Nov 3 The global renewable solar industry is facing a new crisis due to over-capacity and low demand, Patrick Pouyanne, Chief Executive of French oil and gas giant Total said on Thursday.

Low prices seen in recent projects and a decline in government support in some countries could make investments in the solar power sector unprofitable, Pouyanne told an energy conference.

"The solar industry is facing a new winter," he said, adding that the industry had gone through a similar phase in 2011 and 2012. "Today, the segment is facing a double crisis, a crisis of over capacity and a crisis of low demand."
PUBLICITÉ
inRead invented by Teads

Pouyanne said he believed long-term prospects looked good but stressed that the industry had to find new ways to make solar energy profitable.

"There were some very aggressive tenders with very low prices. Frankly, when you see prices under 30 cents per kilowatt hour, I don't understand. It does not cover the amortisation of any investment," he said.

He said it was too early for governments to cut subsidies to the sector, adding that China had decided to change its policy on feed-in tariffs by lowering it, while in the United States the impact of a renewal of tax incentives was not being felt yet.

Total has gradually increased the share of renewables in its portfolio since its 2011 acquisition of U.S. solar power company SunPower Corp for $1.3 billion.

It launched a new gas, renewables and power division in September to help drive its ambition to become a top renewables and electricity company within 20 years. (Editing by Ingrid Melander)

[waldron] 02/11/2016 12:27

Published on 02/11/2016 at 9:52

(Boursier.com) - Vallourec's affairs keep getting worse in the morning on the Paris market. Title fall of almost 4% to 4,182 euros, which is the 9th consecutive session of decline for the industry that produces metal tubes mainly for oil and gas industries. Not since the beginning of the year to find a long sequence passed in the red since Vallourec had chained 10 sessions of decline between 30 December 2015 and 13 January 2016. The price changes following the oil prices, which experienced declines 7 in the last 8 meetings: Brent rose from $ 51.78 in the evening of October 21 at $ 47.65 this morning, representing a decrease of -8%. Vallourec, liabilities reached almost 17% since the beginning of the black series, which also marked the highest in 2016.

The action of the former star of the Paris stock is a regular stock market turmoil. It fluctuated this year between closing 2,032 euros (11 February 2016) and 5.03 euros (20 October).

Analysts remain cautious on the issue. 12 opinions issued since August, 3 are positive, neutral 2 and 7 negative. The objectives go from 1.20 to 7 euros, with an average of 4.05 euros.

[waldron] 28/10/2016 09:12

PARIS—Total SA said Friday that its net profit rose faster than expected in the third quarter as the company sped up cost-cutting and lifted production of oil and gas to offset the effects of stubbornly low oil prices.

Total said net profit rose 81% to $1.95 billion in the third quarter from the same period a year ago while overall revenue contracted 8% to $37.41 billion. When adjusted to exclude the effect of inventories and other nonrecurring items, the company's net profit fell to $2.07 billion, down from $2.76 billion in the same quarter a year ago.

The adjusted profit figure was higher than the $1.94 billion forecast of 12 analysts polled by FactSet.

To offset the effects of falling oil and gas prices on its balance sheet, Total has carried out a program to cut costs at all its units and scrambled to extract more oil from existing fields, accelerated new field developments and cut capital investment. Thanks to that strategy, the company has booked net profits of over $1 billion dollars in 2014 and 2015.

Total has managed to raise its output to 2.44 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in the third quarter up from 2.34 million barrels of oil equivalent during the same period a year earlier.

As management squeezes every unit to cut costs at all levels, the oil firm on Friday raised its cost-cutting target to $2.7 billion this year from $2.4 billion.

Write to Inti Landauro at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 28, 2016 02:45 ET (06:45 GMT)

[grupo guitarlumber] 26/10/2016 14:36

UPDATE 1-Greece names Total-led consortium preferred bidder for offshore gas drilling

(Adds detail, background)

Oct 26 Greece named on Wednesday a consortium of France's Total, its biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum and Italy's Edison as the preferred bidder for an offshore gas drilling block in the west of the country.

Greece, which signed up to a third bailout last summer, has made several fruitless attempts over the last 50 years to find big oil and gas reserves. Its debt crisis and important findings in neighbouring countries has prompted the country to step up those efforts.

Last year, Athens tendered 20 offshore blocks in the Ionian Sea and south of the island of Crete for deep sea oil and gas drilling and unsealed the offers in February.

The Total-led consortium has bid for one block in the Ionian Sea, while Hellenic Petroleum has bid independently for two other blocks.

A committee assessing the bids will invite the consortium to finalise the contract, the country's energy ministry said in a statement.

Hellenic Petroleum in a venture with Edison, and Energean Oil , the country's sole oil producer, are already searching for oil in three onshore and offshore blocks in western Greece. (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Jon Boyle)

[maywillow] 11/10/2016 16:51

If OPEC Cut Agreed, Total Will Comply with Quotas in Member Countries - Total CEO
11/10/2016 3:58pm
Dow Jones News

Total (EU:FP)
Intraday Stock Chart

Today : Tuesday 11 October 2016
Click Here for more Total Charts.

By Sarah Kent


Total SA (TOT) would comply with any production quotas enforced in OPEC-member countries where it operates, company Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne said Tuesday.

"As a company I'm driven by maximising my revenue, but if a policy is decided by the country's President or OPEC we will obviously comply," Mr. Pouyanne said at a conference in Istanbul, noting Total is a big investor in the United Arab Emirates, a prominent OPEC member.

"If a quota is decided, we will comply with the quota," he said.



Write to Sarah Kent at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 11, 2016 10:43 ET (14:43 GMT)