Новости за 03.05.2024

As the energy transition continues at pace, reducing the carbon footprint of traditionally high-emitting industries is increasingly crucial to limiting global emissions. Of these hard-to-abate sectors, steel manufacturing is one of the most challenging. Despite incentives and tax breaks designed to promote the production of green steel – produced using zero-carbon electricity – European steel mills are facing an up-hill struggle. The long-term economic viability of green steel versus grey steel ... Читать дальше...

Shares in names like VW, Mercedes and Stellantis were lower this week, heading into Wednesday's session, after news of "falling demand" in Europe.  In the first quarter of this year, Europe's top two car manufacturers faced a downturn due to diminished demand in China and domestic markets, Financial Times reported on Tuesday this week. Volkswagen Group saw a significant decline in profits, dropping by a fifth from the previous year to €4.6bn, largely attributed to declining resale values and supply issues at Audi... Читать дальше...

Exxon Mobil Corporation has finalized its acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources, marking a monumental milestone in the energy sector. With a price tag of $60 billion, this deal stands as one of the largest oil-and-gas acquisitions in recent memory, reshaping the landscape of the industry. The completion of this megadeal significantly bolsters Exxon's presence in the coveted Permian Basin. This strategic move effectively doubles Exxon's footprint in the region, solidifying its position as a dominant... Читать дальше...

Metal Miner Metals markets recently saw UK metal and mining multinational Anglo American reject a £31.1 billion ($38.8 billion) takeover bid from Australia’s BHP. Meanwhile, shareholders in the latter company continue to urge an increase in the offer price.On April 26, London- and Johannesburg-listed Anglo American’s board of directors unanimously rejected BHP’s unsolicited, all-share offer made the previous day. Under the offer, Anglo American would demerge all its shareholdings in Anglo American... Читать дальше...

The UK’s North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) offered on Friday another 31 licenses for North Sea exploration in the final tranche of the 33rd oil and gas licensing round.   In all three tranches of the licensing round, the UK regulator has awarded over the past few months a total of 82 licenses to 50 companies. The first tranche offered 27 licenses in October 2023, with the second offering 24 licenses in January 2024. The 33rd round has attracted 115 bids from 76 companies across 257 blocks and part-blocks... Читать дальше...

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States fell this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday. The total rig count fell by 8 to 605 this week, compared to 748 rigs this same time last year. The number of oil rigs fell by 7 this week, after falling by 5 in the week prior. Oil rigs now stand at 499--down by 89 compared to this time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by 3 this week to 102, a loss of 55 active gas rigs from this time last year. Читать дальше...

Chevron is repairing a mechanical fault in a turbine at one of the three LNG production trains at its Gorgon LNG facility in Australia, with works expected to take weeks, the local unit of the U.S. supermajor told LNG Prime on Friday.    The fault at the turbine occurred in the afternoon local time on Tuesday, April 30, the company said on Friday.   Chevron Australia has already started working to repair the fault, with works expected to “take a number of weeks,” a spokesperson for Chevron Australia... Читать дальше...

Over 3,000 tonnes of gold were produced globally in 2023. In this graphic, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu lists the world’s leading countries in terms of gold production. These figures come from the latest USGS publication on gold statistics (published January 2024). China, Australia, and Russia Produced the Most Gold in 2023 China was the top producer in 2023, responsible for over 12% of total global production, followed by Australia and Russia. Gold mines in China are primarily concentrated in eastern provinces such as Shandong... Читать дальше...

TC Energy Corporation reported on Friday an increase in comparable earnings for the first quarter of 2024 versus the same period last year, beating analyst estimates, as natural gas pipeline deliveries from western Canada to domestic and export markets jumped to a record. The Canada-based pipeline operator booked comparable earnings of US$0.91 (C$1.24) per common share for the first quarter, compared to US$0.89 (C$1.21) per common share for the first quarter of 2023.   The earnings per share for... Читать дальше...

Bearish sentiment is building in oil markets after the latest U.S. economic data sparked concerns over demand. Rising oil inventories and a potential cooling in geopolitical tensions only added to the downward pressure on oil prices.Friday, April 3rd 2024The disappointment of the money markets with yet another hotter-than-expected set of US inflation data, aggravated by higher crude inventories and slackening geopolitical risk, has triggered a notable drop in oil prices, with both WTI and Brent shedding... Читать дальше...

OPEC convened a workshop today to address oil overproduction issues and devise comprehensive compensation plans to make up for previous overages, according to an official OPEC press release. The push for production cut compliance comes as the price of Brent crude is trading down roughly $6 per barrel over the last 30 days. The workshop brought together technical experts from Iraq and Kazakhstan, along with industry professionals from secondary sources, and was prompted by the recent mandates outlined... Читать дальше...

Commodity giant Glencore has held early internal discussions about making a potential approach for mining giant Anglo American, which has just rejected an initial takeover offer from BHP, Reuters reported on Friday, quoting two sources. Glencore, which is active in both commodity mining and trading, hasn’t approached Anglo American yet, and it may not do it as all discussions have been internal and preliminary, one of the sources told Reuters. “We do not comment on market rumor or speculation,” a... Читать дальше...

Last week, I wrote that while Q1 profits were expected to be down this year and energy stock prices were higher, that didn’t mean that energy wasn’t a place to be for long-term investors. Well, the big oil companies have now reported, so does that still apply? The results have been mixed in terms of how the companies performed versus expectations. On Friday, April 26th, for example, Chevron (CVX) and TotalEnergies (TTE) reported beats of analysts’ estimates for earnings per share (EPS), while Exxon... Читать дальше...

Politics, Geopolitics & Conflict Danish shipping giant Maersk has raised the lower end of its full-year guidance thanks to Houthi attacks that have disrupted Red Sea shipping. Maersk is now expecting Q1 profits of $208 million on $12.4 billion in revenue. That compares to last year’s $2.3 billion in profit on $14.2 billion in revenue. And in the meantime, Iran is claiming that a new front has been established in the Axis of Resistance, with a militia group based in Bahrain claiming to have been... Читать дальше...

Oil prices have dipped to their lowest levels in nearly two months, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent crude being particularly impacted. These declines reflect a complex interplay of escalating supply levels, subdued demand, and challenging economic indicators, all of which signal a potentially extended bearish phase in the oil markets. Supply Factors The unexpected rise in U.S. crude inventories, as reported by the American Petroleum Institute (API), has notably contributed to the downward pressure on oil prices. Читать дальше...

1. Shell Remains on the Right Track to Recovery - UK-based energy major Shell was one of the rare oil companies to surpass analyst expectations with its Q1 reported profit of $7.7 billion, buoyed by rebounding LNG production. - Shell’s cash flow rose by 6% from Q4 2023 to $13.3 billion, prompting the oil major to ramp up share repurchases by a further $3.5 billion over the next three months. - Compared to somewhat disappointing Exxon and Chevron results, Shell timed its refinery maintenance for the last quarter of 2023... Читать дальше...

A limited supply of heavy crude is pushing up heavy crude oil prices and refining costs globally, which could raise costs for shipping and road construction this summer, analysts told Reuters. Recent export cuts from Mexico and the imminent start-up of the expanded Trans Mountain Pipeline in Canada – pushing more of Canada’s heavy crude to the Pacific instead of the Atlantic basin – are adding to existing supply tightness in the global heavy crude market.     The crude supply cuts from the OPEC+... Читать дальше...

Amid a lack of signs of easing the tensions in the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, disruptions to global shipping in the area could last into next year, the chief executive officer of container shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S told the Financial Times this week. “We can see that the situation in the Red Sea is not going to be shortlived, but will last at least into the second half of the year,” Maersk’s CEO Vincent Clerc told FT.    “We are not very optimistic we will be going through Suez any time... Читать дальше...

The Tory government will allow oil and gas companies to explore offshore areas slated to house wind power installations, the Guardian has reported, citing an announcement to be made later today. The North Sea Transition Authority, formerly the Oil and Gas Authority, will also today confirm exploration licenses were granted to some 30 companies for these areas. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak first made waves in transition circles last year when he announced he would not ban oil and gas drilling despite the UK’s ambitious transition goals. Читать дальше...

Pioneer Natural Resources reported weaker financial results for the first quarter of the year on lower natural gas prices as the company prepares to merge with Exxon. Higher costs also contributed to the weaker net result, Reuters said in a report on the news before the company released the numbers on its website. Net profit came in at $1.1 billion for the period, which compared with $1.2 billion a year earlier, as the average price for the oil it produced rose but the price of gas fell substantially. Читать дальше...

Crude oil prices inched up earlier today but remained on course for yet another weekly loss after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled once again it had no immediate plans to start cutting rates. The Energy Information Administration’s weekly oil inventory report also helped depress prices as it estimated a considerable build in inventories, implying weaker demand—just like the Fed’s policy on interest rates. With rates at the highest in over two decades, concern about U.S. oil demand is quite legitimate. Читать дальше...

Saudi Aramco is the biggest investor in artificial intelligence in the oil industry. The fact was recently revealed in a report by GlobalData, which also showed the Saudi state major was investing heavily in all sorts of cutting-edge technology. Because this is where competition will be in the future. Saudi Aramco spent $3.5 billion on research and development last year, GlobalData said in its report, noting the company was active in as many as 250 areas of innovation including, besides AI, drone technology, robotics, and electric vehicles. Читать дальше...

A U.S.-based biotechnology firm is using carbon-eating bacteria to turn emissions from steel mills, refineries, and other heavily polluting industrial processes into ethanol and chemicals, helping reduce carbon emissions and make recycled, sustainable products.    LanzaTech, which has been operating at a commercial scale since 2018, not only captures the carbon gases at industrial sites but it also transforms them – using bacteria in bioreactors – into fuels and chemicals. These recycled products... Читать дальше...

Last year, profits in the oil industry were noticeably lower than in the previous year. Pretty much everyone in oil and gas booked a decline in the bottom line as prices deflated amid falling concerns about supply security. Cash, however, remained high. And it appears this cash has allowed the industry to lower their demand for borrowing. Demand for loans from the oil and gas industry fell by 6% last year, Bloomberg reported this week. This followed a 1% decline during the previous year—but in that... Читать дальше...

A wide range of organisations and communities are battling against oil majors and winning, as governments worldwide start putting the environment first. In the last few years, the number of lawsuits against oil and gas companies has risen significantly, as more judges rule in favour of indigenous communities and grassroots organisations when it comes to stopping the development of fossil fuel projects and protecting the environment. This trend is likely to continue, with governments and consumers... Читать дальше...