By Firat Kayakiran (Bloomberg) -- It’s never ideal if you own a fleet of crude tankers and the world’s oil producers remove millions of barrels of cargo from the market to avert a glut. Nor is a collapse in charter rates normally the best news. While both those things happened in the past few months, the people paid to evaluate the shipping industry’s prospects are … [Read more...]
How OPEC Is Helping U.S. Oil Reach a Tipping Point
By Julian Lee (Bloomberg Opinion) -- The U.S. Energy Information Administration has published its first detailed monthly oil forecast for 2020 and it shows something that should strike fear into the hearts of OPEC ministers — from the fourth quarter, America will export more oil than it imports. This won’t make the U.S. independent of the global supply chain. It … [Read more...]
Oil Tanker Owners Find Solace in Shale as OPEC Prepares New Cuts
By Firat Kayakiran (Bloomberg) -- America’s shale boom could be about to spare the world’s oil tanker owners from a typical OPEC ravaging. The producer group and allies decided on Dec. 7 to restrict output from the start of next year by about 1.2 million barrels a day, adding to deeper cuts two years earlier. Under normal circumstances, that would be a dire turn of … [Read more...]
China Imports First U.S. Crude in Two Months But Traders Still Wary
By Florence Tan and Chen Aizhu SINGAPORE/BEIJING, Dec 3 (Reuters) - China imported its first U.S. crude oil cargo in around two months last week, according to industry sources and Refinitiv Eikon data - a deal made by an independent "teapot" refiner as larger players held off amid trade tensions. Chinese buyers have largely avoided U.S. oil during the two countries' trade … [Read more...]
Qatar to Leave OPEC to Focus On Gas
By Eric Knecht DOHA, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Qatar said on Monday it was quitting OPEC from January to focus on its gas ambitions, taking a swipe at the group's de facto leader Saudi Arabia and marring efforts to show unity before this week's meeting of exporters to tackle an oil price slide. Doha, one of OPEC's smallest oil producers but the world's biggest liquefied natural … [Read more...]