A disappointing U.S. Non-Farm Payrolls report brought oil prices down slightly on Friday morning, but the supply destruction caused by Hurricane Ida looks set to keep prices elevated over the week.
Friday, September 3rd, 2021
An improving demand picture and a slower-than-anticipated supply recovery after Hurricane Ida damaged offshore platforms and flooded refineries have kept oil prices elevated this week. With 1.7 million b/d of offshore production yet to come back onstream and most of Louisiana’s refining industry debilitated by the impacts of flooding, Hurricane Ida will bring U.S. crude and product stockpiles down, maintaining pressure on prices to move up. This week also saw the OPEC+ meeting which brought no surprises as member states reiterated their commitment to the 400,000 b/d monthly increase over the remainder of this year.
Louisiana Refiners Suffer Hurricane Ida Blow. Three Louisiana-based refineries have reported damages from Hurricane Ida, as both Shell’s 250kbpd Norco Refinery and Phillips 66’s 250kbpd Alliance Refinery ended up being fully flooded. Louisiana’s largest refinery by capacity, Marathon’s 565kbpd Garyville Refinery, also sustained damage.
Chevron Teams Up with Bunge. US major Chevron (NYSE:CVX) invested $600 million in two soybean crushing facilities owned by agricultural firm Bunge (NYSE:BG) in Louisiana and Illinois, securing feedstock for its renewable fuels needs.
China Wants to Nationalize DiDi. DiDi (NYSE:DIDI), China’s leading ride-hailing company, is poised to suffer another setback following its botched IPO in June, as rumors started spreading that the Beijing City government is seeking to take the firm under state control, intent on wielding control over the data DiDi holds.
Tripoli Fighting Stoke Fears of Libya Sliding Back into Chaos. Media sources report heavy clashes breaking out Friday in Tripoli, the worst in more than a year, stoking fears that increasingly tangible fissures between the western and eastern governments would impact Libya’s crude production and exports.
Chinese Coal Futures Move to All-Time High. Already double their usual trading range, Chinese coking coal futures in Dalian moved to an all-time high on Thursday (January delivery prices traded at almost 2700 yuan per metric tonne, i.e. $415 per tonne) as worsening COVID dynamics in Mongolia imply September would see minimal exports to China.
UAE Mubadala Takes Share in Israeli Gas Field. Less than a year after the UAE and Israel established diplomatic ties, the state-owned Emirati firm Mubadala Petroleum bought a 22% stake in Israel’s second-largest offshore Tamar gas field operated by Delek (TA:DEDR).
Algeria Moves to Halt Supplies via Maghreb-Europe Pipeline. Algeria’s state-owned oil company Sonatrach is expanding throughput capacity in its Medgaz gas pipeline that links it to Spain, by 2.5 BCm to reach a total capacity of 10.5 BCm per year, indicating that it wants to discontinue flows through its other Maghreb-Europe pipeline (MEP) as its conflict with Morocco (a transit country for MEP) intensifies.
US Natural Gas Prices Soar to Highest Since November 2018. Upon hearing the latest IEA-reported gas storage build, coming in much lower than expected at 20 BCf during the week ended 27 August, US gas prices rose to $4.73 per mmBtu, the highest level since November 2018.
Exxon to Restart Drilling Offshore Cyprus. Following a protracted hiatus, ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) will drill a long-anticipated appraisal well at its 2019 Glaucus discovery, assumed to contain up to 8 TCf of gas, in November-December this year. Cyprus’ Energy Ministry expects ENI and Total to start drilling again in 2022.
Mercedes-Benz Seeks Carbon-Free Steel. German carmaker Daimler Mercedes-Benz (ETR:DAI) partnered with Swedish firm SSAB (STO:SSAB) to introduce fossil-free steel into its vehicle portfolio, using the steelmaker’s proprietary HYBRIT system to replace coking coal.
Iraq to Launch Karbala Refinery in 2022. Iraq’s largest downstream investment of the 21st century, the 140kbpd Karbala Refinery, built by a South Korean consortium led by Hyundai (KRX:000720), will be commissioned by September 2022, four years behind schedule. Combining an FCC unit with a poly-naphtha unit, Karbala will be the first Iraqi refinery to produce Ron 95 gasoline.
China Releases Another 150,000 Tons of Metal Stocks. For the third time this year already, China’s reserves administration released metal stocks – namely 70,000 tons of aluminum; 50,000 tons of zinc, and 30,000 tons of copper – to cool down surging prices as aluminum prices hit a 13-year high last week.
Greenpeace Sues Government over Permit Approval. The environmentalist organization Greenpeace sued the UK Government in Scotland’s Court of Session for failing to appropriately assess and inform the public about the impacts of the 30 MMbbls Vorlich prospect in the North Sea. The BP-operated (NYSE:BP) project was approved back in 2018.
Nigeria Straps Shell of OML 11 License. In another episode of the long-standing row between Nigeria and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A), the Nigerian Oil Minister exercised his right to reallocate OML 11 to NNPC, despite a 2019 court decision that upheld the Anglo-Dutch major’s right to the license. Shell filed an appeal.
Russia Wants to Extend MET to Fertilizers. Halfway through into its deliberation on how to introduce a mineral extraction tax (MET) for metals that would be linked to global prices, the Russian government now wants to extend the same idea to fertilizers and introduce MET there as well, searching for additional sources of income and wary of runaway inflation. |
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