“The sharp drop in the PMIs likely overstates the impact of tariffs due to negative sentiment effects, but it still suggests that China’s economy is coming under pressure as external demand cools,” Capital Economics analyst Zichun Huang told Reuters. “Although the government is stepping up fiscal support, this is unlikely to fully offset the drag, and we expect the economy to expand just 3.5% this year,” she added.
Petrobras attributed the overall quarterly increase in oil and gas production to lower losses resulting from maintenance-related suspensions of operations, improved efficiency at fields in the Santos Basin, the addition of a new floating production, storage, and offloading vessel at the Buzios field, and the ramp up at another FPSO at the Mero field.
“The May contract rolled off the board at $3.170 yesterday as natural gas buyers awakened from a month-long slumber,” Rubin noted in the report, which highlighted that the June natural gas contract closed at $3.343 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) on Monday. That close was up 22.9 cents, the report pointed out.
The go-ahead from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) applies to Golden Pass LNG’s boil-off gas compression system, LNG storage, liquefaction system, LNG pumps, and end flash gas compression system. The permit was requested December 2023.
Total petroleum stocks – including crude oil, total motor gasoline, fuel ethanol, kerosene type jet fuel, distillate fuel oil, residual fuel oil, propane/propylene, and other oils – stood at 1.605 billion barrels on April 18, the report highlighted. Total petroleum stocks were down 0.3 million barrels week on week and up 5.9 million barrels year on year, the report outlined.
In contrast to Vitol, which trades with Venezuela and doesn’t operate any assets there, those other companies produce oil and gas in the country and are winding down operations ahead of the expiry of licenses issued by the US Treasury. The deadline for all the companies, including Vitol, to cease operating is May 27.
“The farm-down agreement between Impact and TotalEnergies that was completed last year provides full carry of Impact’s exploration and development costs on Blocks 2912 and 2913B through to first commercial production from these blocks. This presents us with an attractive opportunity set to test different geological plays on these blocks at no upfront cost”, Africa Oil President and CEO Roger Tucker said.
“The supply side is also placing additional pressure on prices. Data from the American Petroleum Institute showed an unexpected increase of 3.8 million barrels in U.S. crude inventories, intensifying market fears of a structural supply surplus,” Gule pointed out.
Africa is home to the highest concentration of FLNG infrastructure in the world, underscoring its growing importance in the global gas market. The continent currently boasts an onshore LNG production capacity of approximately 70 Mtpa, accounting for around 14% of the global total. West Africa leads the charge within Sub-Saharan Africa, producing more than half of the region’s LNG last year and is targeting a 50% increase by 2030. At the heart of this growth is Nigeria, which contributes nearly two-thirds of West Africa’s LNG output and over one-third of the continent’s total —cementing its role as a cornerstone of Africa’s LNG ambitions on the global stage.
“The acquisition of EPIC NGL earlier this month, and today’s announcement that we are constructing a new gas plant in the Permian, furthers our integrated NGL [natural gas liquids] wellhead-to-market strategy, providing stable cash flow in uncertain market environments, enabling us to consistently return over 50 percent of net operating cash flow to shareholders”, said chair and chief executive Mark Lashier.