The Treasury Department will not allow Russia to pay its debtholders through American banks beginning today, revoking a special license that it had granted Russia since sanctions were first placed. Because Russia can’t use American banks to pay its IOUs, it’s almost guaranteed to default on its debts for the first time since the Bolshevik Revolution.
WTI and Brent crude oil futures are up in early trading on concerns over...
WTI and Brent crude oil futures are up in early trading on concerns over tight supply and the prospect of rising demand from the upcoming U.S. driving season which is expected to start this Memorial Day weekend. Traders digested API news that showed inventories of refined oil product was down by 4.2 million barrels last week. Analysts are anticipating U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories to have fallen as well. Oil futures are also being supported as buyers avoid oil from Russia and as the European Union comes closer to agreeing on sanctions that would phase out Russian energy imports. On the demand side, U.S. Memorial Day weekend is expected to be the busiest in two years as Americans are eager to shake off coronavirus restrictions, despite high fuel prices.
Natural gas futures edged up this morning as gas volumes flowing LNG to export plants jumped to the most in seven weeks which offset forecasts for milder weather in key consuming regions. In international news, LNG buyers in Asia and Europe are seeking to lock in supplies via long-term contracts as a buffer against volatile global prices in hopes that it will reverse the last decade's trend of increasing spot purchases.
Equinor, Partners to Develop $940 Million Norway Gas and Condensate Project
Equinor and partners on May 25 submitted a plan to develop a cluster of gas and condensate discoveries...
Equinor and partners on May 25 submitted a plan to develop a cluster of gas and condensate discoveries in the Norwegian Sea for 9 billion crowns ($940 million), part of a rush of new petroleum projects expected in Norway this year.
Halten Eastcontains reserves of around 100 MMboe, 60% of which is natural gas, and is expected to begin exporting to Europe in 2025, Equinor said.
The project would develop an area with six gas and condensate discoveries, with the option of developing a further three prospects, Equinor said in a statement.
Cargoes of Russia's flagship crude oil at sea climb to record high
HOUSTON (Reuters) Some 62 million barrels of Russia's flagship Urals crude oil, a record...
HOUSTON (Reuters) Some 62 million barrels of Russia's flagship Urals crude oil, a record amount, are sitting in vessels at sea, data from energy analytics firm Vortexa showed, as traders struggled to find buyers for the crude.
The volume of Urals crude oil on the water is triple the pre-war average, Vortexa said, even as Russian seaborne oil exports fell to 6.7 million barrels per day (bpd) so far in May, down about 15% from the 7.9 bpd in February.
The API Reports Small Build in Crude Oil Inventories
The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a small build this week for crude oil of 567,000...
The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a small build this week for crude oil of 567,000 barrels.
The draw comes even as the Department of Energy released 6 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in Week Ending May 20. In the week prior, the API reported a draw in crude oil inventories of 2.445 million barrels after analysts had predicted a build of 1.533 million barrels.
U.S. crude inventories have shed some 75 million barrels since the start of 2021 and about 18 million barrels since the start of 2020, according to API data.
Cushing saw a 731,000-barrel draw this week. Cushing inventories crashed to 25.839 million barrels in the week prior, as of May 13, according to EIA data—down from 59.2 million barrels at the start of 2021, and down from 37.3 million barrels at the end of 2021.