Oil Futures News

A damaged oil pipeline component that disrupted output at several offshore U.S. Gulf of Mexico platforms was repaired late Friday, a Louisiana official said, with producers moving to reactivate some of the halted production.A failed flange connecting two onshore pipelines operated by Shell Plc in Louisiana leaked an estimated two barrels of oil. The oil, which spilled onto an area covered with gravel, has been removed, said Chett Chiasson, executive director of the Greater Lafourche Port Commission…

Oil fell on Monday, reversing earlier gains but continuing a recent losing streak, on concerns that an expected increase in interest rates in the U.S., the world's biggest oil user, may limit fuel demand growth.Brent crude LCOc1 futures for September settlement dropped 48 cents, or 0.5%, to $102.72 a barrel at 0205 GMT, down for a fourth day.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures for September delivery fell 65 cents, or 0.7%, to $94.05 a barrel, also down for a…

Indonesia deployed navy ships and hundreds of personnel on Wednesday, including intelligence assets, in an effort to thwart illegal shipments of refined palm oil olein, just hours away from an export ban aimed at taming surging cooking oil prices.The new rules were due to take effect at midnight local time (1700 GMT), and the navy and other agencies had been instructed to step up patrols of Indonesian waters to ensure compliance, said navy spokesperson Julius Widjojono.Palm oil futures on the Malaysia exchange surged by 9.8% on Wednesday…

Global energy trader Vitol Group made a record net profit of just over $4 billion last year, sources familiar with the matter said, as oil, natural gas and other commodity prices soared.Vitol, the world's biggest independent oil trader, declined to comment.The unaudited result beats its previous record net profit in 2020, when oil markets were upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Bloomberg reported Vitol made $3.2 billion in 2020. The company does not disclose its net profit.Last week, Vitol said revenues leapt to $279 billion in 2021 as oil prices recovered from 2020 lows.

Singapore LNG Corp is making inquiries about buying LNG cargoes from the spot market, a rare move for the operator of the city-state's liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, industry sources said on Wednesday.The inquiries come on the back of surging prices globally of power generation fuels such as LNG and coal, amid power shortages from China and India to Europe.SLNG contributes to Singapore's energy security and its terminal supplies up to 30% of the city state's natural gas demand for power generation…

Asia liquefied natural gas (LNG) spot prices surged by 40% to a record high of over $56 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) on Wednesday, amid a global energy crunch and low gas inventories.Price agency S&P Global Platts' Japan-Korea-Marker (JKM), which is widely used as a spot benchmark in the region, climbed to $56.326 per mmBtu on Wednesday for a cargo delivered into North Asia in November, up $16.65 from Tuesday, its data showed.This works out to roughly over $320 per barrel of oil equivalent.

Hurricane Nicholas on Tuesday took another swipe at U.S. Gulf Coast energy facilities, cutting offshore oil and gas output gradually recovering from the last storm and disrupting power to onshore pipeline, gas and chemical plants.Royal Dutch Shell halted production its Perdido offshore oil platform due to heavy winds, and U.S. liquefied natural gas producer Freeport LNG said processing at its Texas coast facility was halted, likely due to a power outage.Power losses briefly cut Colonial Pipeline's main gasoline and diesel lines out of Houston…

The Fujairah Oil Terminal is investing an estimated $45 million to upgrade the infrastructure at its storage facilities, betting on a surge in crude trading and storage demand at the United Arab Emirates oil hub, the company's chairman told Reuters.FOT's expansion, financed by a new $280 million debt facility, will connect its terminal to the Port of Fujairah's very large crude carrier (VLCC) loading facility and the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP) pipeline, said Steve Bickerton…

China's Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) said on Thursday it had signed an agreement with PetroChina International Co Ltd to cooperate on the overseas delivery for its low-sulfur fuel oil futures contract.Both parties have reached a consensus on cross-border overseas delivery for the marine oil and see the move as an "important foundation" for China's first futures delivery "going global", Shanghai Futures Exchange-owned INE said in a statement.This would be the first time a Chinese futures contract would be deliverable outside of China, which could boost the liquidity and increase

The Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) is considering using oil storage sites in Singapore owned by PetroChina Co as a delivery point for its low-sulphur fuel oil futures contract, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.The INE’s move would be the first time a Chinese futures contract would be deliverable outside of China and could boost liquidity for the contract, as well as help to influence pricing for shipping fuel.Low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) is required as ship fuel to meet new maritime emissions regulations that went into effect this year.

A stalled global economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic is leading to a fresh build-up of global oil supplies, pushing traders including Trafigura to book tankers to store millions of barrels of crude oil and refined fuels at sea again.The use of so-called floating storage onboard tankers comes as traditional onshore storage remains close to capacity as supplies outpace demand.Trading house Trafigura has chartered at least five of the largest tankers each capable of storing 2 million barrels of oil…

A wave of oil and gas bankruptcies in North America is likely to continue this year as oil prices remain depressed and a new surge of COVID-19 cases threaten to stall any recovery in fuel demand, law firm Haynes and Boone said in a report released this week.Bankruptcies surged in the second quarter, including from major shale independents Chesapeake Energy and Whiting Petroleum, as oil prices collapsed due to the pandemic and a brief, unexpected price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.There were 18 producer bankruptcies in the second quarter…

Oil prices slumped again on Wednesday, with Brent falling to the lowest since 1999, as the market struggled with a massive crude glut amid a collapse in demand for everything from gasoline to jet fuel caused by the coronavirus outbreak.Brent crude, which fell 24% in the previous session, touched $15.98 a barrel, its lowest since June 1999. It was trading down $2.37, or 12%, at $16.96 at 0511 GMT.West Texas Intermediate was down 51 cents, or 4.4%, at $11.06 a barrel.The falls follow two of the wildest days in the history of oil trading…

U.S. crude oil futures collapsed below $0 on Monday for the first time in history, amid a coronavirus-induced supply glut, ending the day at a stunning minus $37.63 a barrel as desperate traders paid to get rid of oil.Brent crude, the international benchmark, also slumped, but that contract was nowhere near as weak because more storage is available worldwide.While U.S. oil prices are trading in negative territory for the first time ever, it is unclear whether that will trickle down to consumers…

The discount on front-month Brent crude oil futures to later contracts increased to an 11 year high on Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic continued to cause an unprecedented slump in global demand. The spread on the May to November contracts had widened to as much as minus $10.31 per barrel at 1004 GMT, a level not seen since January 2009. The so-called contango market structure implies traders expect oil prices to be higher in the future, in this case when the virus pandemic has hopefully passed, leading them to store crude onshore or in some cases at sea.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc and Magellan Midstream Partners LP said on Wednesday they would auction dock capacity at Magellan's terminals in Galena Park and Seabrook, Texas, for holders of ICE's Permian West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures contracts.The monthly auction process will allow customers who purchase an ICE Permian WTI crude futures contract, deliverable at Magellan's East Houston terminal (MEH), the option to load crude directly onto a vessel at Galena Park and Seabrook dock facilities for export, the companies said.The capacity offered will be adequate to fill Panamax and Aframax size vessels, with Suezmax size vessels set to be added in the future.Earlier this year…

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the operator of global exchanges and clearing houses and provider of data and listings services, launched a further nine Marine Fuel 0.5% futures contracts in advance of the implementation of the 0.5% sulfur cap by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in January 2020.The American company that owns exchanges for financial and commodity markets announced that its new futures contracts expand the existing suite of Marine Fuel contracts launched in February 2019 and will settle against the S&P Global Platts physical Marine Fuel 0.5% assessments.The IMO regulation limits sulfur emissions from shipping bunker fuel…

Following the path of oil prices, consolidation also follows myriad financial crises. What happens next isn’t altogether clear, but the long, deep trough for offshore energy may finally be in our choppy wake.In mid 2017, financial turnaround and financial repairs specialist Alix Partners made a bold statement regarding the beleaguered Offshore Service Vessel (OSV) marketplace. In a July 2017 report, following an analysis of 44 participants in the business, the restructuring team wrote: “The industry faces grave financial pressure…

A U.S. decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran is supporting China's newly established crude oil futures, and may spur efforts to start trading oil in yuan rather than dollars, traders and analysts said.Since launching in March, Shanghai crude oil futures have seen a steady pick-up in daily trading, while open interest - the number of outstanding longer-term positions and a gauge of institutional interest - has also surged.Traded daily volumes hit a record 250,000 lots last Wednesday…

Oil futures were on track for their biggest annual gains since 2009 despite intraday losses, aided by OPEC's agreement to cut production from early next year. Still, demand for West African crude in spot trading was limited by holidays across Europe and uncertain demand in Asia. Gains in U.S. crude stocks showed by the U.S. Energy Information Administration this week also raised doubts over western demand for African oil in the near term. * No fresh trading was reported despite some cargoes loading Jan. 15-20 being available for purchase. * Loading delays on ExxonMobil's crude exports, which included Qua Iboe and Erha, impinged on demand as buyers worried about demurrage costs. * The bulk of the delays were because of strikes this month over layoffs by oil companies, traders said.

U.S. crude oil stocks unexpectedly rose last week, while gasoline and distillate product inventories dropped, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Thursday. Crude inventories were up 614,000 barrels in the week to Dec. 23, compared with expectations for a decrease of 2.1 million barrels. Oil prices were little changed on the news after a bit of volatility immediately following the release. U.S. crude oil futures were up 1 cent to $54.08 a barrel at 11:38 a.m. EST (1638 GMT), leaving the benchmark just shy of the year high of $54.51 reached on Dec. 12. "What seems to be giving this report kind of a bullish tilt is the fact that we saw pretty a good drawdown in both gasoline and distillate inventories," said Phil Flynn, trader at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

U.S. energy companies this week cut oil rigs for a second straight week, and notched the first monthly fall since March.Drillers cut four oil rigs in the week to June 29, bringing the total count down to 858, General Electric Co's Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Friday. <RIG-OL-USA-BHI>That was the first time drillers cut rigs for two weeks in a row since October 2017. For the month, the rig count decreased by one, its first decline since March.For the quarter…

The U.S. energy industry braced for a major test to refineries and power plants as an intense winter storm roared up the Atlantic Coast, bringing heavy snowfall and high winds to a region already beset with several days of extreme cold. The storm is the product of a rapid and rare sharp drop in barometric pressure known as bombogenesis, or bomb cyclone. Heavy snow pounded the East Coast along a front stretching from Maine as far south as North Carolina early on Thursday, knocking out power, icing over roadways and closing hundreds of schools. Prices for heating oil <HO-NYH> <HO-DIFF-NYH> and natural gas in the U.S. Northeast hit their highest levels in years on the back of near-record heating demand. Benchmark U.S. heating oil futures are near the highest in almost three years.