Middle East

The trade wars of U.S. president Donald Trump are pushing the global plastics sector toward a painful, but necessary restructuring in order to deal with the acute overcapacity which has caused the industry's profit to be in a long-term slump. In the next few decades, demand for plastics will increase dramatically as middle class populations grow, especially in Asia. This will increase oil demand. The consumption of petrochemical products - such as naphtha and propane - was responsible for 95% percent of the total growth in oil demand between 2019 and 2024. According to the International Energy Agency, it is...

The trade wars of U.S. president Donald Trump are pushing the global plastics sector toward a painful, but necessary restructuring in order to deal with the acute overcapacity which has caused the industry's profit to be in a long-term slump. In the next few decades, demand for plastics will increase dramatically as middle class populations grow in major economies. This is especially true in Asia. This will increase oil demand. The consumption of petrochemical products - such as naphtha and propane - was responsible for 95% percent of the total growth in oil demand between 2019 and 2024. According to...

The shipping costs of liquefied gas cargoes are at their highest level in eight months. This is due to the tightening of vessel availability as more ships head to Asia, while conflict in the Middle East escalates. Spark Commodities, a pricing agency, said that the Atlantic freight rate for vessels equipped with two-stroke engines and capable of transporting 174,000 cubic meters LNG, which is the most common type on the market, reached $51,750 per a day, its highest since October 3. Spark assessed the Pacific freight rate at $36,750/day, its highest level since 25 October. Qasim Afghanistan, analyst at Spark...

Energy equity investors have been adjusting their positions in the U.S. Power sector to try and pick winners and reduce losers before the final passage of President Donald Trump’s tax-and spending bill. The "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act", which contains aggressive reductions to tax credits and incentives related to clean energy generation using renewable sources, has caused a sell-off of stocks in the sector. The bill also accelerates the phase-out for federal support of electric vehicles, clean energy components manufacturing and wind farm developments. The latest U.S. Senate proposal - which is a tweaked version of the version passed by...

Energy equity investors have been adjusting their positions in the U.S. Power sector to try and pick winners and reduce losers before the final passage of President Donald Trump’s tax-and spending bill. The "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act", which contains aggressive reductions to tax credits and incentives related to clean energy generation using renewable sources, has caused a selloff of stocks in the sector. The bill also accelerates the phase-out for federal support of electric vehicles, clean energy components manufacturing and wind farm developments. The latest U.S. Senate proposal - which is a tweaked version of the version passed by...

Lorenzo Simonelli, the chief executive of Baker Hughes Energy Services, said on Monday that all the company's facilities in the Middle East are running normally. He made the remarks on the sidelines Energy Asia Conference. He said: "At the moment, our employees are all safe and the facilities continue running and operating." "I hope tensions will deescalate." He said it was too early to predict the impact of the conflict between Israel and Iran on energy supply. He said, "It is too early to tell. We need to monitor the situation." He added, "We know that the demand is resilient...

Shell Energy expects that several traditionally LNG exporting nations will become net importers. This could drive demand for super-cooled fuel and ease concerns about an oversupply of the super-cooled fuel due to a number of new planned projects. Shell's Executive Vice President for LNG, Cederic Cremers said that Indonesia, Malaysia and Algeria will likely become net importers in the future, as their domestic demand is increasing while their production is decreasing. He said that he predicted that the LNG market would grow by 50 million tonnes between now and the year 2040. These LNG exporters will likely join Egypt which...

China's privately-controlled ENN Natural Gas, and the state-run Zhenhua Oil each signed a contract to purchase liquefied gas from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. ENN Natural Gas announced on its WeChat official account on Saturday the contract covers annual supplies of around one million metric tonnes for 15 years. This is ADNOC’s largest LNG deal with a Chinese customer. ENN stated that the deal was a major step towards stabilizing and diversifying energy supplies. Shanghai-listed ENN Natural Gas is offering to buy the remaining shares of Hong Kong-listed ENN Energy for approximately $7.65 billion. A Chinese source familiar with the...

China's privately-controlled ENN Natural Gas, and the state-run Zhenhua Oil each signed a contract to purchase liquefied gas from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. ENN Natural Gas announced on its WeChat official account on Saturday the contract covers annual supplies of around one million metric tonnes for 15 years. This is ADNOC’s largest LNG deal with a Chinese customer. ENN stated that the deal was a major step towards stabilizing and diversifying energy supplies. Shanghai-listed ENN Natural Gas is offering to buy the remaining shares of Hong Kong-listed ENN Energy for approximately $7.65 billion. A Chinese source familiar with the...

Asyad Shipping, a shipping company in Oman, raised $332.8m after pricing its initial offering at the upper end of a price range. Asyad Shipping will have a capitalisation market of approximately $1.66 billion following the listing. It focuses on transporting crude oil, liquefied gas and other products. Asyad Group, Oman's state owned logistics company, sold at least 20 percent of Asyad Shipping’s total share capital during the IPO. Oman has stepped up its privatisation efforts to attract foreign investors. This, together with fiscal reforms has helped the Sultanate to pay down its debt and turn a large fiscal deficit in...

By America Hernandez LONDON, February 25 - The CEO of the private Ukrainian gas company DTEK said on Tuesday that it hopes to sign a long-term import deal with U.S. companies Venture Global or Cheniere Energy in March to supply gas to Ukraine and its neighbours Slovakia and Poland. Maxim Timchenko, DTEK’s trading arm, said that the company is seeking to sign an LNG contract lasting 10-20 years. The gas will be imported first into Ukrainian storage facilities before being piped westward. "It is an active discussion about our trading arm. Another round of meetings and discussions will take place...

GAIL India Ltd. will look to purchase a stake or long-term supply of U.S. Liquefied Natural Gas after the Trump Administration lifted its ban on export permits. Gupta said ahead of India Energy Week that "their (Washington) decision to lift their ban will improve LNG supplies and we will revive plans to buy a stake in U.S. LNG or to buy U.S. LNG through long-term contracts." He said that the company will make a final decision following a long-term LNG purchase tendering process. India is currently the fourth largest LNG importer in the world. It aims to increase the gas...

Argent LNG, a U.S. energy company, has signed a deal to supply 5 million metric tonnes of gas per year with Enerji Piyasalari Isletme AS in Turkey. The move is aimed at supplying U.S. natural gas to Europe and possibly Syria. Argent LNG is building a liquefied gas export facility in Louisiana. In January, it signed a nonbinding agreement with Bangladesh to supply up to 5,000,000 metric tons annually of this fuel. This was the first significant U.S. LNG deal since U.S. president Donald Trump started his second term. The press release stated that "the company has committed to an...

Iraq may build a pipeline for crude oil export to Oman. This would allow it to market Iraqi oil globally, and supply a planned storage area in the sultanate. Ali Nazar, SOMO's Director general, said that there was already an agreement in principle. Future contract negotiations will include discussions about the route and capacity of the pipeline. Nazar, speaking at an energy forum held in Baghdad, said that the pipeline would transport crude oil to a storage facility integrated at Ras Markaz. The initial capacity is expected to be 10 million barrels. He added, "We are eager to move forward...

Cyprus's President said that European prosecutors are looking into possible criminal offenses relating to an EU-funded project worth 1.9 billion euros ($2.12 billion), which aims to build a submarine electric cable connecting Europe with the eastern Mediterranean. The Great Sea Interconnector is being built by the Greek grid operator IPTO to connect European and Cypriot transmission systems and extend it to Israel. Nicosia is seeking clarifications about the project's cost and viability. In March, Greece reaffirmed their commitment to the project following reports that it had been stopped due to financial and geopolitical issues. Nikos Christodoulides, the Cypriot president, told...

Houthis, who are Iran-aligned in Yemen, said Tuesday they attacked a ship with two drones as well as a missile on the northern Red Sea because it was connected to Israel. The group has not stated when the attack took place. The attack was not confirmed immediately by maritime sources. The spokesperson for the group said that "the Yemeni armed force carried out a combined military operation against the ship... because it violated the (Houthi's) decision to prohibit entry into the ports of occupied Palestine." In a rare attack, the Houthis attacked the Israeli tanker Scarlet Ray on Sunday near...

Data from LSEG and market sources showed that Russia's seaborne gasoil and diesel exports dropped 6% in August compared to the previous month, as drone strikes from Ukraine affected production. Ukraine intensified its drone attacks against Russian oil facilities last month, targeting major refineries in the south and central Russia on a daily basis. This was done ahead of a scheduled meeting between U.S. president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin. According to calculations, this led to the shutdown of at least 17%, or 1.1m barrels per day in Russia's oil-processing capacity. Shipping data revealed that the amount of...

The price of oil rose on Tuesday, as fears about disruptions in supply grew due to an escalation in the conflict between Russia & Ukraine. Brent crude rose 40 cents or 0.59% to $68.55 per barrel at 0149 GMT. U.S. West Texas intermediate crude was up $1.05 or 1.64%, and it was $65.06 per barrel. Due to Labor Day in the U.S., WTI futures didn't settle on Monday. According to calculations, recent Ukrainian drone attacks have shut down facilities that account for at least 17% or 1.1 millions barrels of oil processing capacity in Russia. After weeks of increased attacks...

Early Tuesday morning, oil prices in Asia rose as fears about disruptions to supply grew due to an escalation in the conflict between Russia & Ukraine. Brent crude rose 20 cents or 0.29% to $68.35 a bar by 0039 GMT. U.S. West Texas intermediate crude was $64.82 a bar, up 81cents or 1.27%. Due to Labor Day in the U.S., WTI futures didn't settle on Monday. According to calculations, recent Ukrainian drone attacks have shut down facilities that account for at least 17% or 1.1 millions barrels of oil processing capacity in Russia. After weeks of increased attacks on Russian...

Calculations show that the average daily supply of natural gas to Europe by Russian energy giant Gazprom via the TurkStream pipeline undersea decreased 2% from the previous months. The only remaining transit route for Russian gas into Europe is through Turkey after Ukraine decided not to renew a transit agreement with Moscow that expired in January. Calculations show that the total Russian gas supplied to Europe through TurkStream in the first eight month of this year was around 11.5 billion cubic meters (bcm), compared to 10.8bcm for the same period last year. Gazprom exported 21.1 billion cubic meters of gas...

On Sunday, maritime agencies reported that they had received reports about an incident south of Yanbu, a port city on the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said that a vessel had reported hearing a loud bang and a splash from an unknown projectile. It added that all the crew members were safe and the vessel was proceeding to its next journey. Ambrey, a British maritime security company, also confirmed that it was aware of the incident just a few days after UKMTO reported it. UKMTO, the authorities investigating the incident said that neither firm...

The oil prices dropped on Friday, but they are expected to rise for the week. This is due to the expectation of lower demand, as the summer ends in the United States - the largest consumer of oil - and the uncertainty over the Russian supply. Brent crude futures expiring on Friday fell by 53 cents (0.8%) to $68.09, while the contract that is more active for November dropped 48 cents (0.7%) to $67.50. West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) were down 51 cents or 0.8% at $64.09. Brent is expected to gain 0.6% per week, while WTI will rise...

The oil price fell on Friday, but is expected to rise for the week. This is due to the expectation of lower demand from the U.S.A., which is the largest oil consumer in the world, and the uncertainty surrounding the Russian supply. Brent crude futures expiring on Friday fell by 50 cents (0.7%) to $68.12 while the contract that is more active for November dropped 46 cents (0.7%) to $67.52. West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) were down 45 cents or 0.7% at $64.15. Both benchmarks rose on Thursday. Brent is expected to gain 0.6% this week, while WTI will...

The oil prices fell on Thursday due to the lower demand for fuel in the United States at the end the summer travel period and the restarting of Russian oil supplies through the Druzhba Pipeline. Brent crude futures dropped 46 cents or 0.7% to $67.59 at 12:04 pm. ET . U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) were down 57c, or 0.9% at $63.58 per barrel. The long Labor Day weekend in the United States ends summer driving. The U.S. gasoline demand is expected to fall, even though crude oil supplies are rising due to OPEC+'s plan to increase September...