With the global oil market in a situation where futures contract prices are higher than prevailing prices – known by traders as contango – there is an incentive to purchase crude now and hold it until oil prices recover. Indeed, the world’s largest trading houses have been chartering tankers and shares of oil tanker companies… Keep reading →
Oil sands producers have been through oil price declines before and some are hoping economies of scale, along with innovation, can reduce costs enough to make it through the current market cycle. “Syncrude forecasts operating costs at C$45.69 ($38.07) per barrel in 2015. Oil sands crude trades at a discount to the West Texas Intermediate… Keep reading →
As media reports explode about WTI crude oil futures prices closing below $60 per barrel today, there is no shortage of opinions about how far oil prices will go in the current bear market. The last major oil price crash in 2009 saw WTI prices fall to $34/bbl, before recovering fairly quickly. This time the… Keep reading →
Former founding CEO of SunEdison, Jigar Shah, started a new company based on what’s being called the “infrastructure as a service” model. The idea is an extension of the financing strategy that dominates the rooftop solar PV business today. “Here’s how it works: Generate Capital will put up funds — between $2 million to $20… Keep reading →
Using Germany as an example, this article investigates the changing utility business model in the face of rapidly expanding renewable energy sources and other trends that are eating into utility company bottom lines. “A reckoning is at hand, and nowhere is that clearer than in Germany. Even as the country sets records nearly every month… Keep reading →
The EU further ratcheted up sanctions against Russia’s oil sector targeting Gazpromneft, Transneft and Rosneft with measures that will prevent the firms from raising capital in EU member states. The economic restrictions again fall short of squeezing Russia’s natural gas industry upon which many European companies closely rely. [Wall Street Journal] European Energy Commissioner Günther… Keep reading →
Geopolitical turmoil and security threats in major producing regions are never good for oil market stability, and while global benchmark oil prices have been cruising through an historic range-bound lack of volatility for an extended period, geopolitical headwinds show no sign of abating in the near term according to Barclays’ research. The bank forecasts 2014 Brent… Keep reading →
Scott O’Malia, a member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said in a recent speech that the commission lacks the technology necessary to effectively track communications between traders and futures exchanges operated by CME Group Inc. and IntercontinentalExchange Group Inc., where a bulk of the world’s oil and natural gas contracts are bought and sold.… Keep reading →
Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu took over as head of the influential Senate Energy Committee yesterday, as outgoing Chairman Ron Wyden took the lead role at the Senate Finance Committee, which was vacated when Max Baucus was confirmed ambassador to China. “Landrieu confirmed that her signature bill to expand the amount of federal offshore oil-and-gas royalty… Keep reading →
Hedge funds are pulling out of bets that crude oil prices will rise in the short to medium term. With the market currently well supplied, investors are increasingly taking futures and options positions that could be profitable if oil prices decline further. “Money managers cut net-long positions, or wagers on rising prices, for benchmark West… Keep reading →
