International


Changing oil market dynamics appear set to reduce the wide price differential between Brent crude oil and WTI that developed within the past few years, the Energy Information Administration said in its latest Short-Term Energy and Summer Fuels Outlook. These global benchmark crude oil grades are also expected to generally decrease in price from the averages seen last year, while US natural gas prices move well above the historic lows recorded last April.

“EIA expects that the Brent crude oil spot price, which averaged $112 per barrel in 2012 and rose to $119 per barrel in early February 2013, will average $108 per barrel in 2013 and $101 per barrel in 2014. The projected discount of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil to Brent, which increased to a monthly average of more than $20 per barrel in February 2013, is forecast to average $14 per barrel in 2013 and $9 per barrel in 2014, as planned new pipeline capacity lowers the cost of moving mid‐continent crude oil to the Gulf Coast refining centers,” the EIA said in the report. Keep reading →


Hopes that the advent of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the United States to Europe could help bring down European prices may prove misguided, according to VTB Capital’s head of energy research, Colin Smith.

“Is US LNG going to cut gas prices in Europe? Probably not by very much, if at all,” Smith said at the VTB Capital New York Investment Forum on April 10. Keep reading →


A concentration of energy-intensive base metals stocks in a handful of warehouses threatens to impede buyer access to needed supply, warned VTB Capital’s global head of commodities research Wiktor Bielski at the firm’s New York Investment Forum on Wednesday.

Prior to 2008, most production of six base metals – aluminum, copper, nickel, zinc, lead and tin – was traded under long-term contract, at prices heavily influenced by a 10% “float component”, which allows both buyer and seller to take up to 10% more or less of the contracted volume. This marginal supply component was broadly distributed among producers, consumers, traders, merchants, and exchange warehouses, and readily accessible in the event of an uptick in demand. Keep reading →


A “crescent of chaos” emerging from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and tensions with Iran could lead to a dramatic turnaround in the price of oil, according to Nomura’s analysis.

Brent crude, which fell to an eight-month low last week on weak U.S. jobs data, is set to climb following Iran’s presidential election in June,the firm said in research published on Tuesday. Keep reading →


National oil companies have popped up in a significant number of mergers and acquisitions in the oil patch in recent years, and have led in joint venture partnerships.Flush with cash and in search of resources, Chinese companies have consistently remained in the headlines, but the biggest deal last year involved Russia’s Rosneft.

“In 2012, National Oil Companies (NOCs) were involved as buyers in the two largest deals in the oil and gas industry. Both deals came in the fourth quarter and helped push the total value of all oil and gas deals in 2012 to more than $402 billion, a 19% increase on the total a year earlier,” Dale Nijoka, Ernst & Young Global Oil & Gas Leader wrote in “National Oil Company Monitor Q4 2012,” a corporate publication. The largest deal was Rosneft’s $61 billion cash and shares acquisition of TNK-BP and the second biggest deal was China National Offshore Oil Company’s $15.1 billion Nexen takeover. Keep reading →


Energy law was a star performer for the sector in the first quarter of 2013.

Only a spate of mega-deals in the technology, media and telecoms space kept energy sector legal work from once again taking the top spot in law firm activity in the first quarter of 2013 according to the latest rankings and data from Mergermarket. Keep reading →


More than 60 years after its founding, the Nature Conservancy is amping up its efforts to reach its membership and readers of its eponymous magazine. The publication recently relaunched with a more-frequent publishing schedule, a digital edition app and a slate of prizes.

Nature Conservancy magazine is also taking advertising for the first time, which Publisher Teresa Duran says reflects the spirit of the group’s long-held belief that the private sector has an important role to play in conservation. Keep reading →


It’s a commonly used analogy for the global oil market: Crude oil is fungible and supplies from
producing countries and companies enter a giant pool that is drained by a wide variety of consumers. Analysts, academics and politicians often talk of the global oil trade in this manner, saying that additional supplies of oil – regardless of where they originate – are good for US energy security because increased volumes available on the global market should exert downward price pressure. Well, perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s not that simple.

The situation is clarified in a recent journal article titled “Crude Oil Is Not Fungible, Where It Comes from Does Matter, and Global Markets Are More Fragmented Than Many Think.” The piece, written by Jonathan Chanis, a long-time commodity trader, finance expert and current Columbia University professor, appeared in American Foreign Policy Interests: The Journal of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. Keep reading →


The excitement over solar power, which once attracted billions in private investment and public subsidies, has waned recently, underscoring the limitations of renewable energies and the unchallenged dominance of fossil fuels.

Some of the $75 billion sector’s high profile names have fallen on hard times recently – most notably Suntech Power. The China-based solar panel company rattled the industry when it filed for bankruptcy last week. In its heyday, the stock traded just shy of $90 and had a market capitalization of $16 billion: on Thursday, the last day U.S. markets were open, the shares traded around for 42 cents each. Keep reading →


The Korea Smart Grid Association is launching a national program to encourage and support the creation of smart grid patents that meet international standards. Energy Korea reported that the organization is supporting companies, universities and research institutions that want international patents. The association is taking the lead in developing technologies and standards that can be baked into future patents.

The association also has a special emphasis on strengthening the global competitiveness of innovative small and mid-sized businesses, which would not normally have the sophistication necessary to deal with international patent issues. It is also emphasizing technologies that can become de facto standards or “platforms” that “can enjoy both market power and monopolistic strength.” Keep reading →

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