Last week saw China officially announce its economic growth target for 2024 of “around 5 percent”.
There are signs that China’s trade globally is beginning to markedly trend up again.
Fiscal expansion and increased trade is likely to feature increased demand for oil from China, as opposed to the type of growth that has dominated 2023
Kazakhstan aims to boost its oil exports through the trans-Caspian corridor and to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline, despite potential complications with Russian transit approvals.
The country experienced a 10% increase in oil exports in 2023, reaching over 70 million tons, but saw a 10% drop in revenue due to declining oil prices.
Concerns arise over the Caspian Pipeline Consortium as a Turkish terminal refuses oil deliveries to avoid US sanctions, highlighting the geopolitical complexities affecting Kazakhstan’s export strategies.
Aramco’s 2023 profit, down from a record $161.1bn in 2022, was constrained by lower oil prices, a fall in production and weaker refining margins. But it was still the second-highest ever, Aramco said today.
Oil prices closed 1% lower on Friday and fell even more for the week as markets remained wary of soft Chinese demand even as producer group OPEC+ extended supply cuts.
Brazilian state-controlled company Petrobras saw earnings down in the final quarter of 2023, as results were affected by the depreciation of Brent crude prices and lower oil products margins.
In an oil market update sent to Rigzone late Tuesday, Rystad Energy Senior Vice President Jorge Leon outlined that OPEC+’s extended production cuts of 1.7 million barrels per day into the second quarter have resulted in an increase of $5 per barrel to Rystad Energy’s previous price projection.
Oil prices were little changed on Thursday as markets weighed new economic data from China against increasing supply from the Western Hemisphere. Brent crude futures settled flat at $82.96 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures ended 20 cents lower at $78.93.
With its burgeoning offshore oil and gas prospects, Namibia is set to firmly establish itself as one of the continent’s hydrocarbon investment hotspots when it headlines the 2024 Invest in African Energy forum scheduled for May in Paris.
The Federal Government has said that the 7th Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES 2024) would serve as catalyst for positive change, innovation and resilience in view of industry challenges.
A series of legal rulings by Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court (FSC) on 21 February underlined that the planned New Oil Law being worked on by the government of Iraq in Baghdad will be the final agent of change that will end any semblance of independence for Iraqi Kurdistan. And for Western oil companies working in the region, it looks like the future has been cancelled.