Year: 2021

Petrol Stocks Reach Record High

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Stocks of petrol have surged to historic levels that can meet 26 days of consumption demand in the country, which comes at a time when refineries have warned of imminent shutdown following refusal of power plants to procure furnace oil. According to officials, at present the country has petrol stocks of 600,000 tons as demand has remained lower than forecasts. Earlier, the oil industry had projected consumer demand for 800,000 tons of petrol in November but consumption stood far lower than the estimate. Sources pointed out that high prices of…

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Refiners Warn of Petrol, Diesel Shortfall if FO Remains Unlifted

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A severe petrol as well as diesel shortfall looms larger than ever as refineries are on the verge of closing/cutting crude oil processing because of a massive slump in the offtake of furnace oil (FO) by oil marketers and power plants, their representative body said on Tuesday. Given no improvement in the situation, Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC), through latest correspondence, has appealed to Petroleum Division to direct Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and oil marketing companies (OMCs) to lift FO stock from refineries. “Local refineries, being the backbone of energy…

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Need for investment is critical for oil, gas industry: World Petroleum Congress panelists

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Oil and gas investment declined in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic, which is a “recipe for more volatility,” Joseph McMonigle, secretary-general for the International Energy Forum, said on a panel at the World Petroleum Congress. “Capex cuts by international oil companies and national oil companies in 2020 was about 35%,” he said. “We’re now showing another 23% reduction in capex levels” from pre-pandemic levels this year. In 2019, E&P companies spent $525 billion, an amount which plummeted to $341 billion in 2021, he added. “We have to get…

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Asian LNG prices fall as import demand from China muted

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Asia liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices fell this week as spot demand from China remained muted despite the start of winter and as natural gas supplies from Russia continued to flow steadily to Germany. But the drop in prices was kept in check by outages in Australia which curbed cargo loadings, trade sources said. The average LNG price for January delivery into Northeast Asia fell to $34.60 per metric million British thermal units (mmBtu), down $1.50, they said. Chinese LNG buyers are pulling back on spot purchases of the super-chilled…

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China Merges Mining Assets To Create Rare Earth Mining Giant

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Now that aggressive foreign policy toward China has attracted bipartisan consensus, evidenced by the fact that President Biden has opted to keep certain tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration in place, Beijing is looking for new ways to squeeze Washington. For years now, we have been warning about the risk of China cutting off supplies of 17 rare earth metals critical for the production of tech gadgets. Earlier this year, we reported that Beijing was keeping a rare-earth export ban in its “back pocket”. Now, it appears the CCP is moving…

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