Day: April 3, 2020

Liquefied natural gas traders are following the latest trend in the oil market by storing huge amounts of the commodity on tankers, hoping prices will rise before the ship docks. But while crude can sit for months or even years in a tank, super-chilled LNG tends to evaporate even in the specialized vessels that handle it. That limits the amount of time “floating storage” is feasible. “Keeping gas frozen is extremely expensive because of the energy cost to maintain the ultra low minus-265-degree Fahrenheit temperature,” said Francisco Blanch, head of…

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In a less spectacular fashion than oil, international natural gas prices have fallen. The explanation goes far beyond low demand related to the COVID-19 pandemic or demand in general. It relies on a much larger and more complicated array of factors that include supply and demand and oil pricing. Disentangling those various considerations can be helpful when trying to assess future developments in natural gas trade.   In the past, international trade in natural gas was based on mostly pipeline transportation from a limited number of regional, often dominant, suppliers. LNG was…

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OPEC will invite the U.S. oil regulator to take part in the emergency OPEC+ video meeting on Monday, a source involved in the preparation of the meeting told Russian news agency TASS on Friday. The OPEC+ group of producers will meet online on April 6 to discuss a possible massive production cut of around 10 million bpd, according to several media reports. However, the OPEC+ coalition would likely want all major producers in the world to take part in a collective cut, including producers such as the United States, Canada, Brazil, or…

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Baker Hughes reported that the number of oil and gas rigs in the US fell again this week by 64, falling to 664, with the total oil and gas rigs clocking in at 361 fewer than this time last year. It is the largest single-week drop since March 2015. It is the fewest number of active rigs since January 2017. The number of oil rigs decreased for the week, by 62 rigs, according to Baker Hughes data, bringing the total to 562 – a 269-rig loss year over year. The…

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MANILA, PHILIPPINES (3 April 2020)— Fostering greater innovation would bring faster and more inclusive economic growth in Asia and the Pacific, according to the theme chapter of the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2020 released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) today. “Developing Asia invests 2.1% of its gross domestic product in research and development, but there are wide variations across countries,” said ADB Chief Economist Yasuyuki Sawada. “The five key drivers of innovation are sound education systems, innovative entrepreneurship, conducive institutions, deeper capital markets, and dynamic cities which bring together research universities and…

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