New Libyan firm starts exporting crude

: Crude oil
24/07/16

A little known Libyan upstream company has begun exporting crude with its first shipment heading to China, according to sources, official documents and ship-tracking data seen by Argus.

Arkenu Oil Company, which describes itself as a private oil and gas development and production firm, exported 1mn bl of Sarir/Mesla blend crude from Libya's Marsa El Hariga oil terminal on 10 July on Suezmax-class tanker Zeus. Shipping agent and port reports list Chinese trading firm Unipec as the vessel's charterer.

The tanker's bill of lading lists Libyan state-owned NOC as the sender of the consignment on behalf of Arkenu. Libyan crude sales have historically been the reserve of NOC and a handful of international oil companies that hold equity stakes in production assets in the country, including Italy's Eni, TotalEnergies and Austria's OMV. Turkey-based commodities trader BGN, which does not have any upstream production in Libya, also regularly appears on loading programmes as a seller of the country's crude.

A document dated 10 July showed NOC had allocated to Arkenu an unspecified share of production from its subsidiary Agoco's Sarir and Mesla fields, in return for carrying out upstream development work on the fields. The arrangement implies Agoco is paying for Arkenu's services in the form of crude. Arkenu's 1mn bl cargo is worth around $84mn at current market rates, Argus estimates.

Arkenu, set up in early 2023 in the eastern city of Benghazi, says it owns modern drilling rigs and has a team of experts "who have held high positions in major oil production and development companies". It is unclear what work Arkenu has carried out for Agoco.

Sarir and Mesla accounted for most of Agoco's 279,000 b/d of output in 2023.

Libya is politically divided between an internationally recognised administration in the west, which has historically controlled oil revenues, and a rival administration in the east, which is home to around three-quarters of the country's oil production capacity. Agoco is based in the east, and NOC in the west.

Libya produces just over 1.2mn b/d of crude. Its oil export revenues were $30.7bn in 2023, according to Opec.

Arkenu, NOC and Unipec have been contacted for comment.

By Aydin Calik

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25/05/16

US House panel votes down Republican megabill

Washington, 16 May (Argus) — A key committee in the US House of Representatives voted today to reject a massive budget bill backed by President Donald Trump, as far-right conservatives demanded deeper cuts to clean energy tax credits and social spending programs. The House Budget Committee failed to pass the budget reconciliation bill in a 16-21 vote, with four House Freedom Caucus members — Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina), Chip Roy (R-Texas), Josh Brecheen (R-Oklahoma) and Andrew Clyde (R-Georgia) — voting no alongside Democrats. A fifth Republican voted no for procedural reasons. The failed vote will force Republicans to consider major changes to the bill before it comes up for a vote on the House floor as early as next week. Republican holdouts say the bill would fall short of their party's promises to cut the deficit, particularly because it would front-load increased spending and back-load cuts. The bill is set to add $3.3 trillion to the deficit, or $5.2 trillion if temporary provisions were permanent, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Some critics of the bill said the proposed cut of $560bn in clean energy tax credits is not enough, because the bill would retain some tax credits for new wind and solar projects. "A lot of these credits have been in existence for 30 or 40 years, and you talk about giveaways, we want to help those who really need help," Norman said ahead of his no vote. "That's the heart of this. Sadly, I'm a no until we get this ironed out." Negotiations will fall to House speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), who can only lose three votes when the bill comes up for a vote by the full House. But stripping away more of the energy tax credits enacted in the Inflation Reduction Act could end up costing Johnson votes among moderates. More than a dozen Republicans on 14 May asked to pare back newly proposed restrictions on the remaining clean energy tax credits. Ahead of the failed vote, Trump had pushed Republicans to support what he calls the "Big Beautiful Bill". In a social media post, he said "Republicans MUST UNITE" in support of the bill and said the party did not need "GRANDSTANDERS". The failed vote has parallels to the struggles that Democrats had in 2021 before the implosion of their push to pass their sprawling "Build Back Better" bill, which was later revived as the Inflation Reduction Act. Republicans say they will work over the weekend on a compromise. The House Budget Committee has scheduled another hearing at 10pm on 18 May to attempt to vote again on the budget package, but any changes to the measure would occur later, through an amendment released before the bill comes up for a vote on the House floor. By Chris Knight Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Trump says US will soon set new tariff rates

25/05/16

Trump says US will soon set new tariff rates

Washington, 16 May (Argus) — The US will unilaterally set new tariff rates on imports from select trading partners instead of holding negotiations over import tax levels, President Donald Trump said today. In the next 2-3 weeks "we'll be telling people what they will be paying to do business in the US," Trump told a group of US and UAE business executives in Abu Dhabi today. Trump contended that more than 150 US trading partners have expressed interest in negotiating with his administration, adding that "you're not able to see that many countries." Trump's administration since 5 April imposed a 10pc baseline tariff on imports from nearly every US trading partner — with the notable exception of Canada, Mexico and Russia. Trump paused his so-called "reciprocal tariffs" until 8 July, nominally to give his administration time to negotiate with foreign countries subject to those punitive rates. The reciprocal tariffs would have added another 10pc on top of his baseline tariff for imports from the EU, while the cumulative rate would have been as high as 69pc on imports from Vietnam. Trump in April suggested that 200 deals with foreign trade partners were in the works. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has said the US is only negotiating with the top 18 trading partners. The trade "deals" clinched by the Trump administration so far merely set out terms of negotiations for agreements to be negotiated at a later date. The US-UK preliminary deal would keep the US tariff rate on imports from the UK at 10pc, while providing a quota for UK-manufactured cars and, possibly, for steel and aluminum. The US-UK document, concluded on 9 May, explicitly states that it "does not constitute a legally binding agreement." The US-China understanding, reached on 12 May, went further by rolling back some of the punitive tariff rates but left larger trade issues to be resolved at a later date. The Trump administration would keep in place a 20pc extra tariff imposed on imports from China in February-March and a 10pc baseline reciprocal tariff imposed in April. The US will pause its additional 24pc reciprocal tariff on imports from China until 10 August. Conversely, China will keep in place tariffs of 10-15pc on US energy commodity imports that it imposed on 4 February, and 10-15pc tariffs on US agricultural imports, imposed in March. It will maintain a 10pc tariff on all imports from the US that was imposed in April, but will pause an additional 24pc tariff on all US imports until 10 August. These rates are on top of baseline import tariffs that the US and China were charging before January 2025. By Haik Gugarats Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Kuwait's Kufpec gets OK to develop Indonesian gas field

25/05/16

Kuwait's Kufpec gets OK to develop Indonesian gas field

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Казахстан перераспределил тариф на транзит нефти в Китай

25/05/15

Казахстан перераспределил тариф на транзит нефти в Китай

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IEA sees slightly better oil demand outlook

25/05/15

IEA sees slightly better oil demand outlook

London, 15 May (Argus) — The IEA has nudged up its global oil demand growth forecasts for this year and 2026, citing better macroeconomic forecasts and the effects of lower oil prices. In its latest Oil Market Report (OMR), published today, the Paris-based watchdog raised its projected increase in oil consumption by 20,000 b/d to 740,000 b/d in 2025, bringing overall demand to 103.9mn b/d. It increased its oil demand growth forecast for 2026 by 70,000 b/d to 760,000 b/d. In its previous OMR the IEA cut its oil demand forecasts for 2025 by 310,000 b/d after the US' announcement of an array of import levies in April. But the IEA said today the tariff supply shock appeared less severe than initially implied, pointing to subsequent US trade arrangements with the UK and China. US talks with other countries continue. "Subsequent pauses, concessions, exemptions and negotiations are likely to attenuate the levies' permanence and economic impact," the IEA said. But it said policy uncertainty continued to weigh on consumer and business sentiment, and it sees oil consumption growth slowing to 650,000 b/d between now until the end of 2025, from 990,000 b/d in the first quarter of the year. Its demand growth forecast for 2025 is 320,000 b/d lower than at the start of the year. The IEA increased its global oil supply growth forecast by 380,000 b/d to 1.61mn b/d in 2025, with almost all the rise accounted for by the Saudi-led unwinding of Opec+ cuts. It nudged its oil supply growth forecast for 2026 up by 10,000 b/d to 960,000 b/d. Eight Opec+ members earlier this month agreed to continue accelerating the pace of their planned unwinding of 2.2mn b/d of crude production cuts for June. The IEA again revised down its supply growth forecasts for the US, mainly because of the effects of lower oil prices on US shale producers. It downgraded US growth by 50,000 b/d to 440,000 b/d for 2025 and by 100,000 b/d to 180,000 b/d for 2026, and said US tight oil production in 2026 would contract on an annual basis for the first time since 2020. The IEA said sanctions on Russia, Iran and Venezuela are a key uncertainty in its forecasts. It noted that Russian crude supply grew by 170,000 b/d in April as crude prices fell below the G7 $60/bl price cap. The IEA's balances show supply exceeding demand by 730,000 b/d in 2025 and by 930,000 b/d in 2026. It said global observed stocks rose by 25.1mn bl in March, with preliminary data showing a further rise in April. By Aydin Calik Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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