By: Katie Holliday Uncertainty over rising tensions in Syria has driven oil prices to fresh highs in recent weeks, but analysts say the bullish sentiment is expected to stay regardless of whether or not the scenario escalates into a full blown war. “Even if there is a war in Syria or no war in Syria… Keep reading →
“There has rarely been a more compelling time to invest in energy,” said Barclays analysts in their latest Global Energy Outlook, released this morning. Here are four key takeaways: Oil price risk has swung from downside to upside, thanks to geopolitical risk. Geopolitical risk has supplanted US production growth as the big global story in… Keep reading →
Investment bank Simmons & Co is forecasting a tightening of the spread between the price of US crude benchmark West Texas Intermediate and global benchmark Brent over the course of the next year, lifted by a robust pace of infrastructure development that can for efficiently move domestically produced oil to market. And with production challenges… Keep reading →
Hardly a bastion of security at the best of times, sectarian violence in post-war Iraq has trended upward over the past few months, with the number of dead – mostly from car bombs and reprisals – reportedly at a five-year high. However, despite deteriorating security, the country’s largest oil fields located in the southern region… Keep reading →
By: Katy Barnato Oil prices have rebounded since the overthrow of Egypt’s President Morsi last month, but analysts dispute whether Middle Eastern turmoil is the real factor behind the rally, and how much further the commodity will rise — if at all. (Read more: Scenes from the turmoil in Egypt) Unrest in the country has rattled investors’ nerves and raised… Keep reading →
The price of West Texas Intermediate crude had risen for five consecutive days as of yesterday afternoon – “the longest stretch of gains since April” – on news of escalating unrest in Egypt, as Brent hit a four-month high. A police crackdown on protests in Egypt has left more than 500 dead. [Bloomberg] Iran has… Keep reading →
Investment bank Simmons & Co’s commentary on the International Energy Agency’s August Oil Market Report highlights geopolitical risk facing global oil supply. The report shows that Opec supply fell by 165,000 barrels per day from the previous month, even as Saudi Arabia lifted output to a 12-month high. “Domestic developments in member countries has taken… Keep reading →
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a Saudi billionaire investor with holdings in outfits like Citigroup and Time Warner, published a critical letter to Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, Ali Al-Naimi (on twitter, no less). It said that the country “won’t be able to fulfill its plan to increase capacity to 15 million barrels a day”, that “there’s… Keep reading →
The fatal Quebec oil train disaster looks likely to touch off yet another debate affecting the future of the Keystone XL pipeline – whether pipelines or rail are a safer way to transport oil. “People think rail is costless until something like this happens.” [Bloomberg] France’s Total and its Chief Executive Christophe de Margerie were… Keep reading →
Turkey’s state-run oil firm has struck an agreement with U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) to develop joint projects in Kurdish-administered northern Iraq, the country’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday. Mr. Erdogan also said that Turkey can pursue separate arrangements with the Erbil-based Kurdistan Regional Government, or KRG. “Countries from various parts… Keep reading →
