An oil dispute between the Iraqi government and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region that also involves Turkey has escalated this week, pushing oil prices higher.
Chad’s parliament on Wednesday approved a bill to nationalise oil assets and rights acquired last year by Savannah Energy (SAVES.L) from ExxonMobil’s (XOM.N) affiliate, Esso Exploration and Production Chad.
To this end, Brazil’s Minister of Mines and Energy will launch ‘Potencializa E&P programme,’ which will be presented at the next meeting of the National Council for Energy Policy (CNPE) – still without a set date – aiming to guarantee investments in oil and natural gas exploration and transform Brazil into the fourth largest oil producer in the world.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) on Tuesday officially kicked off the exploratory drilling campaign in Obi, Nasarawa State, with the assurance that the effort would contribute to its aspiration to grow the country’s crude oil reserves to 50 billion barrels, from the current 37 billion barrels.
Cheiron Energy, the largest independent Egyptian oil and gas E&P company, has announced that the Early Production Facility (‘EPF’) for the GNN oil field in the Gulf of Suez has been brought on stream.
Baytex Energy, (NYSE:BTE) made news toward the end of Feb with its announcement of the merger with Ranger Oil Corp (RROC) for about $2.5 bn last week. The market’s initial take wasn’t very favorable as the stock of BTE swooned from its already low level. It has since rebounded, and our hunch is it has farther to run.
BP and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) have bid to acquire a 50% stake in Israel’s NewMed Energy, an offshore natural gas producer. The proposal, valued at roughly $2 billion, could signify a significant shift in relations between the Middle East and Israel.
Before the removal of its long-time leader, Muammar Gaddafi, in 2011, Libya had easily been able to produce around 1.65 million barrels per day (bpd) of mostly high-quality light, sweet crude oil.
The only certainty an oil industry observer can bank on right now is that no one understands the markets.
Oil prices jumped on Monday as a disruption to Kurdistan’s oil exports refocused the market on fundamentals. As oil prices continue to recover from the sentiment-driven crash a couple of weeks ago, there are plenty of catalysts ahead that could push prices higher.