Oil-rich Middle Eastern nations regularly tender contracts to explore for new deposits or develop previously untapped wells. Both Oman and Kuwait are looking to boost development and are seeking the services of international drillers and producers.
The rebranding of the crude has cut transportation costs for Venezuelan crude and facilitated U.S. sanction circumvention, the report noted. Before, traders resorted to ship-to-ship transfer at sea to mask the crude but now they have taken to manipulating vessels’ location signals to make it look like they are travelling from Brazilian ports instead of Venezuelan ones, data from TankerTrackers.com has shown, per Reuters.
Brent crude has shed some $11 per barrel since the start of the year, most recently trading at around $64 per barrel. This is substantially lower than what Saudi Arabia needs to balance its budget in view of ambitious public spending programs. This would have to change, and soon, if prices stay this low. In the meantime, Aramco is signaling business as usual.
Shell’s plans to juice output from its deepwater Perdido development in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico just ran into a delay-shaped pothole. Two new wells intended to lift production from the Great White unit—one of the stars of the Perdido complex—won’t come online until the end of the year, the company confirmed this week. That’s a shift from the original timeline, which had all three wells humming by April.
In a disclosure to the Muscat Stock Exchange, Abraj said it had been engaged to provide an onshore drilling rig for a term of three years, renewable for an additional two years. Abraj’s expected revenue from the contract is around USD 36.4 million.
The Barnett Zero Project in the Texan city of Bridgeport has sequestered over 200,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent emissions since it began operation November 2023. Serving natural gas processing plants, Barnett Zero has a sequestration rate of about 185,000 metric tons a year, according to BKV. It co-owns the project with EnLink Midstream LLC.
According to the AAA Fuel Prices website, the average price of regular gasoline in the U.S. is $3.145 per gallon and the average price of diesel in the country is $3.532 per gallon, as of May 9.
Oceaneering will provide support for this contract using a multi-purpose vessel equipped with two of its work-class ROVs. The project will also involve management, engineering, and integration services delivered by Oceaneering’s local and international teams. Engineering and pre-mobilization activities have started, and field operations are anticipated to begin in the second quarter of 2025. The contract is initially set for three years, with two additional one-year extension options available.
The current trading cycle is for crude loaded in July, and any cargoes bought now for June is considered prompt. Traders were mixed on the reason behind the purchase, with some pointing to a supply overhang in the Middle Eastern market – meaning cheaper barrels – and others flagging costlier fuel oil.
State-owned companies have signed at least four contracts since December, totaling nearly 11 million tons per year, priced to the Henry Hub index, according to the executives familiar with the deals. Until now, most of India’s long-term contracts have been linked to crude oil, the traditional way to price LNG deals.