Monthly Oil Market Report News

Oil prices jumped more than 2% on Friday, October 11, 2019, after Iranian media said a state-owned oil tanker had been struck by missiles in the Red Sea near Saudi Arabia, raising the prospect of supply disruptions weeks after attacks on Saudi oil plants.The Suezmax crude tanker Sabiti was ablaze and suffered heavy damage after being hit by two missiles, Iranian media reported.Both oil benchmarks recorded their biggest daily rise since Sept. 16, the first trading day after the attacks on Saudi installations pushed oil prices up around 20%.International benchmark Brent crude futures were up$1.39, or around 2.4%, at $60.49 a barrel by 0829 GMT.U.S.

Oil prices settled 2.2% higher on Thursday after attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman stoked concerns of reduced crude trade flows through one of the world's key shipping routes.The attacks near Iran and the Strait of Hormuz reignited worries about an impact to flows from the Middle East if insurance companies begin to reduce coverage for voyages through the region and additional shipping companies suspend new bookings, analysts said.Such a disruption "could further exacerbate the supply problem…

Pipeline shut on Dec. 11; repair work could last several weeks. Deliveries of crude oil through the Forties pipeline in the North Sea are under force majeure for the first time in decades and operator INEOS said on Thursday there was no timeline yet for repair work that could last several weeks. The 169-km pipeline, which carries around a quarter of all North Sea crude output and around a third of Britain's total offshore gas production, has been closed since Monday, following the discovery of a small crack in part of the system onshore in Scotland. Force majeure, which suspends a company's contractual obligations in the wake of situations that lie beyond its control, is common in oil-producing nations like Nigeria where unrest often disrupts output, but very rare in the North Sea.

The oil market was massively oversupplied in the second quarter and remains so today, the International Energy Agency (IEA) wrote in its latest monthly oil market report. "The market's ability to absorb that oversupply is unlikely to last. Onshore storage space is limited. So is the tanker fleet. New refineries do not get built every day. Something has to give," the agency warned starkly. If so, someone forgot to tell the futures markets, where timespreads have remained firm and give no indication storage might be running out (http://link.reuters.com/zyt25w). Brent and WTI futures imply the market is willing to pay less than 45 cents per barrel per month to finance and store crude on average over the next half-year, down from more than $1 at times between January and March.

Crude oil prices rose to new nine-month highs on Friday as concerns persisted that an insurgency in Iraq could disrupt oil exports from the second-largest OPEC producer. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest religious authority for Shi'ites, on Friday urged his followers to take up arms against Sunni militants advancing south toward Baghdad, raising the prospect of further violence. The surge in both Brent and U.S. crude prices, up about $4 this week, lost some momentum on Friday as the market waited to see if the conflict in Iraq would threaten oil refineries south of Baghdad. "Right now the market is looking for a comfort zone," said James Williams, an energy economist at WTRG Economics in London, Arkansas.

Wärtsilä’s success in Brazilian drill ship programme continues with latest genset and propulsion order for three new liftboats. This latest in a series of contracts won by Wärtsilä is to supply complete mechanical packages, comprising the generating sets and thrusters, for three new drill ships to be built by Brazilian shipyard ECOVIX. The vessels will be employed in Brazil’s pre-salt offshore oil fields. The three new drill ships will each be powered by six Wärtsilä 32 generating sets and will feature six Wärtsilä underwater de-mountable thrusters.

According to the International Energy Agency’s Monthly Oil Market Report, global demand for oil usage has been adjusted slightly downward, as persistent economic uncertainty and sustained high oil prices have simultaneously thwarted demand’s previous trek upward. While global economic growth assumptions remain basically unchanged for 2011 and 2012, weakness in 3Q2011 has sparked concern. IEA estimated global demand in September, albeit based on preliminary data, as flat compared to the same month in 2010. This follows growth of 1.4% in August. If this result holds, it would signal the weakest monthly demand growth since October 2009.

As winter subsides and warmer weather arrives in the northern hemisphere, the traditional drop in global oil demand should be at hand. But given a number of outside factors, the balance of 2004 should be anything but business as usual. Oil demand is estimated to fall by 2.3 million barrels per day (mb/d) between the first and second quarters of 2004, much of which is projected to take place in OECD Pacific and the FSU. While demand will drop, it traditionally doesn't stay down for long, with the summer driving season creating a sharp spike upward in consumption, particularly in North America, which usually accounts for half of the estimated 2.0 mb/d growth in third quarter global demand. The lull between peak winter and summer demand poses a number of challenges.

Chinese crude oil demand is expected to average 5.03 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2001, or five percent higher than in 2000, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said. The IEA said in its monthly Oil Market Report that demand was likely to rise by 240,000 bpd over last year's average of 4.79 million bpd but warned that the Chinese economy remained a major concern. November crude imports were 187,000 bpd higher than October, essentially all Omani oil. The report said Chinese refiners had cut back on imports of Angolan, Nigerian and North Sea oil and boosted imports of heavier Iranian, Kuwaiti and Saudi crude. - (Reuters)

NYMEX crude oil futures slipped early Friday (May 11) as a report by the West's energy watchdog that world crude demand had been slower than expected so far this year fueled fears of lower consumption ahead. In choppy trade, June crude fell 22 cents to $28.30 a barrel, eating into Thursday's 29-cent advance. It subsequently recouped most of the early losses, showing a two-cent loss at $28.50 by 10:24 a.m. (1424 GMT). June Brent crude in London extended losses after the NYMEX opening, then trimmed the loss to 11 cents at $28.37 a barrel. In its monthly oil market report, the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) said it had lowered its forecast for world oil demand growth by a further 300,000 bpd to just 1.02 million bpd.

Oil inventories fell sharply again in October and stockdraws in major consuming regions are expected to accelerate in coming winter months, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said last week. Commercial inventories in the industrialized nations of the OECD fell 440,000 bpd in October after an unusually large 1.56 million bpd draw in September, IEA said in its monthly Oil Market Report. "This is a thirsty oil market waiting for more oil which will have to come from OPEC." OECD industry stocks by end October stood 15 million barrels below end-October 1997 and within 100 million barrels of their lows in October 1996. "Continued rapid declines in November may indeed have brought OECD industry stocks almost to the 1996 level," it added.

OPEC oil production fell 700,000 bpd in November, driven down by deep cuts to Iranian and Iraqi supply. The group's compliance rate with supply curbs improved to 89 percent last month from 83 percent in October as Iran cut some 310,000 bpd of output to stay within its OPEC quota, IEA, the West's supply watchdog, said in its monthly Oil Market Report.

Oil inventories fell sharply again in October and stockdraws in major Consuming regions are expected to accelerate in Coming winter months, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said last week. Commercial inventories in the industrialized nations of the OECD fell 440,000 bpd in October after an unusually large 1.56 million bpd draw in September, IEA said in its monthly Oil Market Report. "This is a thirsty oil market waiting for more oil which will have to come from OPEC." OECD industry stocks by end October stood 15 million barrels below end-October 1997 and within 100 million barrels of their lows in October 1996.

OPEC oil production fell 700,000 bpd in November, driven down by deep cuts to Iranian and Iraqi supply. The group's compliance rate with supply curbs improved to 89 percent last month from 83 percent in October as Iran cut some 310,000 bpd of output to stay within its OPEC quota, IEA, the West's supply watchdog, said in its monthly Oil Market Report. OPEC output fell further after supply from Iraq -- which does not take part in OPEC's supply cut deal -- dropped 440,000 bpd as Baghdad suspended exports in a dispute with the United Nations over renewing its 'oil-for-food' exchange. OPEC's lower November supply of 25.8 million bpd offset a 450,000 bpd rise in non-OPEC production to cut total world oil output by 250,000 bpd to 73.9 million bpd, the Paris-based group said.