Opec countries’ oil export revenues – excluding Iran – reached $982 billion last year, up by 5% over the previous year, according to Energy Information Administration estimates. This marks a record for EIA estimates covering the 1975-2012 time period, with Saudi Arabia accounting for 32% of the total. But revenues are projected to fall this year and… Keep reading →
Hope everyone had a nice 4th of July! Here’s what’s happening in energy news. West Texas Intermediate crude is trading near a 14-month high, spurred by unrest in Egypt and a sunny outlook for US economic growth. [Bloomberg] And Brent hit a three-month high today after Egypt’s army declared a state of emergency in areas… Keep reading →
By Scott Cohn What a difference a few years make. When we launched America’s Top States for Business in 2007—before the housing market implosion and the financial crisis—our Top States were attracting not only businesses but people: families and home buyers. Four of our Top Five that year were Southern states: Virginia followed by Texas, Utah,… Keep reading →
Citi’s commodity research team just released a densely-packed note that breaks down the US oil transportation system reorganization currently underway and models potential market impacts associated with shifting crude and product flow patterns. Global oil price benchmark crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at a slight premium to the world’s other major benchmark, Brent, for… Keep reading →
US tight oil production has already helped to shave somewhere on the order of $20-$25 per barrel from Brent crude oil prices, and continued output growth has the potential to further impact global pricing, according to Energy Information Administration (EIA) Administrator Adam Sieminski. The uptick in US oil production – which rose to 6.5 million… Keep reading →
CNOOC’s proposed bid for Canadian oil-and-gas producer Nexen would increase Asia’s sway and influence over the pricing of Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, market analysts said Tuesday. The proposed takeover, which would be China’s biggest foreign acquisition, would put the largest crude stream that feeds into the physical Brent benchmark into Chinese hands. This would mean exclusive insight into North Sea production issues and maintenance that will affect the price of Brent crude and other crudes priced off of it.
Citic, CLSA, CNOOC, Nexen, Sinopec and Talisman: China’s Multi-Billion Dollar Week in the Energy Markets
By Peter GardettThe bureaucrats in Beijing and the businessmen in Shanghai have been busy in recent weeks, negotiating a series of headline deals that sync into broader themes of Chinese access to global energy and commodities markets.
Bankers at Wall Street and City of London banks have spent much of the past week telling financial reporters that the impending sale of the remaining 80% of the Asian arm of French bank Credit Agricole represented an old finance industry meme: an out-of-towner overpaying for access to the premier league of global banking. Keep reading →