The great survivor holds on

Saudi Arabia’s veteran oil minister Ali Naimi — the great survivor of the oil industry — has just survived the country’s greatest power shake-up. King Salman’s decision to name his 55-year-old nephew, Mohammad bin Nayef, as his successor, instead of his half-brother Miq

28 4月 2015

Chairman Wang

The shock arrest of Chinese state-controlled Sinopec’s second-in-command, Wang Tianpu, yesterday, did little to dampen the rally in Chinese stocks or, indeed, shares in Sinopec itself. China’s feared Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the body that enf

24 4月 2015

To export or not to export?

If you ask most US oil producers how the 50pc drop in prices affects their business, the conversation will quickly pivot to the long-standing federal ban on most crude exports. Lifting the ban, which has been in place since the days of disco, is the panacea for all that

24 4月 2015

Shipowners wait for the other shoe to drop

You’d forgive shipowners for feeling a little uncertain about their fuel bills at the moment. Last year they faced apocalyptic warnings about the rise in costs to come as European and North American regulators cut sulphur limits for bunkers, but then oil prices collapse

23 4月 2015

Down but not out

This week’s CERAWeek gathering in Houston was as good a place as any to assess the US oil industry’s state of health. Under mostly fair skies, hundreds of executives gathered to hear the likes of ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson and BP chief executive Robert Dud

23 4月 2015

Europe makes hay while the sun shines

This month’s IEA report noted that January-March was the first quarter of year-on-year demand growth in Europe as a whole for one and a half years, coming in at 2.6pc.

22 4月 2015

EU calls time on the old gas model

In light of EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager’s litany of charges against Gazprom today, chief executive Alexei Miller’s speech to the Valdai Club in Berlin on 13 April looks like a last-ditch defence of a business model that has run its course.

21 4月 2015

If Mark Twain had been a Chavista

If Mark Twain had been a Chavista, he would say that reports of Venezuela´s imminent demise have been greatly exaggerated. Gazing down from a helicopter at oil rigs cropping up like obelisks above the remote Orinoco extra-heavy oil belt, one might easily echo that senti

17 4月 2015

Playing the long game in the Gulf

Recent production announcements from massive US Gulf of Mexico projects may seem like poor judgment given the current low crude price environment. But large projects like Anadarko’s Lucius, Chevron’s Jack/St. Malo and Hess’ Tubular Bells aren’t done based on short-term

17 4月 2015

Deep pockets or empty pockets?

When the IEA and Opec release their monthly reports, the market sits up and takes notice. This month, the IEA grabbed the eye with its talk of “unexpected pockets of demand”, four words that were enough to help Brent back up to three-month highs above $63/bl.

16 4月 2015

Storing up trouble

Total’s long-expected announcement that it will stop crude processing at its 160,000 b/d La Mede refinery means the company is on track to hit its target of reducing its European refining and chemicals capacity by 20pc in 2012-17.

15 4月 2015

Bellwether or sack of potatoes?

The earnings season looms. BP and Total report on 28 April with the other big players following in short order.

15 4月 2015

Summertime blues for Europe’s refiners

European summer weather may just be beginning, but an Indian summer looks to be coming to a close for the continent’s refining sector.

14 4月 2015

The blame game

At the most recent Opec meeting, in Vienna last November, it looked for a moment as if there might be some detente with some of the bigger members of that loose organisation known as non-Opec.

10 4月 2015

Money talks

How do you survive when the value of your main product is worth half as much as it was six months ago?

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