Saudi Arabia’s early history dates back 15,000 to 20,000 years, but the modern Kingdom, founded on this day in 1932, has since become the most powerful Opec member and the world’s most influential oil exporter. “Since King Abdulaziz Al-Saud established the modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932, its transformation has been astonishing…On September 23,… Keep reading →
Reports in a Lebanese newspaper detail a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan, in which bin Sultan suggested a joint Russian-Saudi strategy to manage oil production volumes and prices, according to Platts. “‘Let us examine how to put together a unified Russian-Saudi strategy on the subject of… Keep reading →
A year ago, it was common for energy executives, regulators and critics to marvel at the sense of whiplash they felt from the extraordinary revival of North American natural gas production. Technology shifts long in the making but broadly below the radar of markets underpinned an expansion of the fuel’s market share amid low pricing… 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 →
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 →
By Jenny Cosgrave, Staff Writer The rise of North American oil supplies could test the future of OPEC which may have to curb supply to accommodate rising shale oil volumes, a new report has found. The increase in U.S. output is a “defining feature of tomorrow’s market” according to International Energy Agency’s oil market report… 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 →
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 →
Oil prices moved up sharply last week on Opec supply disruptions, Russian crude diverted east as opposed to west and North Sea maintenance. Libyan output fell as the government negotiates with militias, but the Saudis are pumping more. [CGES] A diver was killed during construction of an offshore wind farm in Germany. Last month the… Keep reading →
Fracking-related earthquakes are back in the news, with a new study suggesting large overseas quakes triggered seismic activity in parts of the US where oil & gas drilling wastewater is disposed in deep injection wells. The findings, published in the Journal Science, are not limited to fracking, but appear to include any oil and gas… Keep reading →
