Category: Highlights

In its largest hike since 1994, the Federal Reserve raised rates by three-quarters of a percentage point, or 75 basis points, with oil prices responding by drawing down just under 1%.  Wall Street had largely anticipated a 75-basis point hike, and oil prices were down 1% on Wednesday, ahead of the Fed meeting, regaining some ground by the time of the rate hike announcement.  At 2:13 p.m. EST, just minutes after the Fed release, Brent was trading down 0.62% on the day, at $120.42. WTI was trading at $118.10, down 0.70%. The…

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Oil demand growth is set to accelerate next year, with global demand averaging a record 101.6 million barrels per day (bpd) and exceeding pre-COVID levels, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday in its first outlook for 2023.   “While higher prices and a weaker economic outlook are moderating consumption increases, a resurgent China will drive gains next year, with growth accelerating from 1.8 mb/d in 2022 to 2.2 mb/d in 2023,” the IEA said in its closely-watched Oil Market Report for June published today. Next year, global oil supply may…

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The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a build this week for crude oil of 736,000 barrels, while analysts predicted a draw of 1.2 million barrels. The small build comes as the Department of Energy released 7.7 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in Week Ending June 10. U.S. crude inventories have shed some 74 million barrels since the start of 2021 and about 16 million barrels since the start of 2020, according to API data. In the week prior, the API reported a build in crude oil inventories of 1.845…

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The long-running dispute over how oil flows are handled in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan in northern Iraq – administered by its government (the KRG, in Erbil) – and how the region is rewarded by the Federal Government of Iraq (FGI) in Baghdad for its co-operation in this regard has taken a series of dramatic legal twists in the past week or so. The outcome of these developments will have significant, and potentially catastrophic, implications for the exploration, development, and extraction operations of international oil companies (IOCs) working in the…

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While the world begins to build the infrastructure of a future hydrogen economy, the economics of global trade in carbon-free hydrogen are becoming more clear. Among countries expected to find significant opportunities in that future market is Saudi Arabia.   According to a recent report from a notable Riyadh-based research institute, green hydrogen produced from electrolysis could begin to ship to the Port of Rotterdam in 2030 at prices quite competitive with European hydrogen, depending partly upon the shipping method used.  The researchers also see significant potential for hydrogen in KSA’s…

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