Petrobras to be World's Largest Oil Producer
Brazil’s Petrobras is on track to become the world’s largest oil producer among publicly listed companies by 2030, based on Rystad Energy’s latest data and forecasts.Brazil’s biggest-ever oil auctions in November were generally deemed to be disappointing, receiving muted interest from international exploration and production companies.However, national oil company Petrobras could not have asked for a better outcome. The world’s fastest growing oil producer gained nearly full control of more than eight billion barrels of oil in the Buzios field, where a sixth floater is being planned.To develop these and other resources off the coast of the South American country, Brazil is set for a whopping $70 billion offshore capital investment spree between 2020 and 2025, solely on field development.
Soldier-run PDVSA and AWOL Oil Output
Last July 6, Major General Manuel Quevedo joined his wife, a Catholic priest and a gathering of oil workers in prayer in a conference room at the headquarters of Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA.The career military officer, who for the past year has been boss at the troubled state-owned oil company, was at no ordinary mass. The gathering, rather, was a ceremony at which he and other senior oil ministry officials asked God to boost oil output."This place of peace and spirituality…
Qatar Quits OPEC to Focus on LNG
Qatar said Monday that it will leave the oil cartel OPEC on January 1 after nearly 60 years. The announcement was made in a series of tweets.Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, announced Qatar’s withdrawal from OPEC and said the organization was informed.Qatar is one of the cartel’s smallest oil producers, but is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas.The abrupt annoucement from the small, gas-rich state that it would sever ties with the influential oil cartel of 15 oil-producing countries after almost six decades has surprised the oil and gas industry around the world.However, the Gulf nation's state oil company, Qatar Petroleum, made another announcement in a tweet.
OPEC Strives For $22-$28 Barrel
Venezuelan Energy and Mines Minister Ali Rodriguez said that OPEC had agreed to defend a price band of $22 to $28 per barrel for its basket of crudes in a bid to stabilize prices. Rodriguez reportedly said the oil cartel would automatically raise or cut production by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) if prices move outside of the band for more than 20 days. Nine members of OPEC agreed this week in Vienna to increase output by 1.45 million bpd from April 1, to curb soaring prices.
OPEC Mulls Adjusting Output Again In The Face Of Plummeting Prices
OPEC President Ali Rodriguez said that the oil cartel could alter its production levels before its members meet again in June if the 20-day average price of its crude oil basket moves outside the target $22-$28 range. Rodriguez, also Venezuela's Energy and Mines Minister, told a news conference with foreign correspondents that it was too early to assess OPEC's March 27 decision to increase production by 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) and adopt the price band mechanism, but he was not worried by the current price of oil. OPEC's oil basket price has fallen below the bottom of the cartel's target range in recent days, although the 20-day average price stood at $24.36 per barrel last Tuesday, according to figures compiled by Reuters.
Petroleos: Oil Output Is Fine
The president of Venezuelan state oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) insisted he did not see any need for OPEC member countries to raise output to cool sizzling oil prices. With prices close to 10-year highs, pressure is growing on the oil cartel from consumer nations to agree to pump more oil at its next ministerial meeting in Vienna on Sept. 10. But PDVSA chief Hector Ciavaldini, reiterating a position expressed by other Venezuelan oil officials such as OPEC President Ali Rodriguez, said supply and demand of crude oil on world markets was well balanced.
Iraq: OPEC Should Reduce Output Up Two Million Barrels
Oil cartel OPEC should reduce production by between 1.5 million and 2 million barrels per day (bpd) when it meets next week and shun U.S. calls for a smaller cut, Iraqi Oil Minister Amir Muhammed Rasheed told Reuters. "What we are trying in the meeting of 17th of January in Vienna is to reduce production so that we get back to the balance between supply and demand. And we think something like 1.5 to 2 million barrels a day would be a good figure," Rasheed said. "We are not in any way affecting the world economy or trying to create a recession; rather, we want to defend normal, fair prices," Rasheed said from Baghdad. The minister criticized U.S.
