Argentina considers $45/bbl floor price for domestic crude

BUENOS AIRES (Bloomberg) –West Texas Intermediate has been gaining since its history-making crash in the U.S. last month, trading at around $25. Brent crude has been practically soaring, touching $30 in London. They can’t match the criollo barrel in Argentina, though — $45 guaranteed, no matter what. That dream price doesn’t actually exist, but it could soon. The administration of President Alberto Fernandez has circulated a proposal to set $45 as the per-barrel mandate in a bid to keep the domestic drilling business alive and sustain development of the vast…

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With oil prices depressed, China presides over a buyer’s market

When oil supply threatened to overwhelm storage tanks in Cushing, Oklahoma, in April, the pain was felt as far as Chongqing. Retail investors in the Bank of China’s oil bao, or “treasure”, a speculative vehicle linked to crude futures, took a hit as the May contract for West Texas Intermediate settled at an astonishing -$37.63 a barrel on April 20th. The market’s gyrations have led to consternation in China—regulators have reportedly called for an investigation—and revealed unexpected victims. In general, though, plunging prices have served Chinese buyers rather well. In 2017 China…

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Oxy scraps Algerian sale to Total

Oxy acquired Anadarko Petroleum in August 2019, for $38 billion. In order to help finance the deal, it agreed to sell Anadarko’s African assets to Total for $8.8bn. The transfer of exploration rights in South Africa and a major stake in Mozambique LNG has been completed. Total, in September, said the Mozambique portion had closed with a value of $3.9bn. Ghana and Algeria both threw up problems, though. There was opposition to the deal from Algeria’s street movements, which forced the president out of office in April 2019. This encouraged…

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Analysis: US oil and gas rig count falls 34 to 398 as Permian collapse extends

New York — The US oil and gas rig count fell 34 to a total of 398 in the Oil rigs again led the decline, falling 29 on the week to 286, while the number of gas-focused rigs slipped 5 to 112. Total US drilling activity has declined nearly 53% from its recent peak during the week-ended March 4, and is now 63% behind year-ago levels. The decline in oil-focused drilling operations has been sharp, with the nationwide rig count down 404 from 838 on March 4, a 59% decline. Rig counts…

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Investment Report examines Angola Oil and Gas Projects

Africa Oil & Power launched its Africa Energy Series Special Report: Angola 2020 on Thursday; the available-for-download report provides the status of several investment projects in development in Angola, including its 2020 licensing round, construction of gas processing facilities in Soyo, and more; the publication follows the announcement of the new dates for the Angola Oil & Gas 2020 Conference & Exhibition, which will now take place in Talatona from October 14-15. In line with Angola’s aim to drive capital inflows into its bankable oil and gas projects, Africa Oil…

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