Category: Highlights

With its massive oil and natural gas reserves, Turkmenistan’s economy is heavily dependent on foreign exchange earnings from the export and sale of these resources. Given this, the country’s economic stability is tied to Ashgabat’s foreign policy and cooperation with its neighbors, including those territories located in the path of target markets (Iess.ir, February 8, 2021). Iran, in particular, has always intended to take advantage of its location for oil and gas swaps with the countries of the Caspian Sea and Central Asia in hopes of becoming a hub for…

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WTI crude prices rose slightly today after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported an oil inventory build of 1.7 million barrels for the week to December 30. This compared with a modest build of 700,000 barrels for the previous week, which in turn followed a weekly draw of 5.9 million barrels. The EIA said that at 420.6 million barrels, crude oil inventories were still below the seasonal five-year average, by some 4 percent. A day earlier, the American Petroleum Institute estimated a crude oil inventory build of close to 3.3 million barrels, citing refinery shutdowns that…

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Last year was a rather surprising one for those used to seeing a short and visible link between oil prices and U.S. oil production. In 2022, this link broke. Despite higher oil prices, U.S. drillers did not go into full growth mode. And they ended the year in much the same way. According to the latest Dallas Fed energy survey, the pace of growth in the U.S. oil and gas industry slowed in the fourth quarter of the year even though many of the biggest challenges the industry had faced…

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Oil prices crashed early on Wednesday, with Brent Crude falling below the $80 a barrel mark again, as concerns about immediate global oil demand intensified with soaring Covid cases in China and slowing economies globally. As of 8:33 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, had plummeted below $75 per barrel and traded down by 2.68% at $74.91. The international benchmark, Brent Crude, dipped below $80 and the front-month contract was down by 2.70% at $79.92. Oil prices continued on Wednesday the Tuesday rout when both benchmarks dipped…

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Saudi Arabia could reduce the official selling price for its flagship Arab Light crude further for Asian buyers, Reuters has reported, citing four analysts it surveyed. The discount will be for Asian purchases. Aramco already cut the price of its Arab Light for Asian buyers to the lowest in 10 months for shipments taking place this month. The price was set at a $3.25 premium to the Dubai/Oman benchmark, a cut by $2.20 per barrel from the prior month’s price. Now, according to the four analysts surveyed by Reuters, Aramco…

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