Chevron plans to increase its oil production in Argentina’s shale play Vaca Muerta to about 30,000 barrels per day (bpd) by the end of the year, from around 25,000 bpd now, Ana Moneto, the U.S. supermajor’s Argentina country manager, said.
Over the past couple of years, China’s oil industry has revealed a peculiar trend, with production maintaining an upward trajectory that seems to defy falling oil prices. Under normal circumstances, oil and gas producers tend to cut back output whenever prices fall too much in a bid to cut their losses. For instance, several U.S. shale producers are signaling production cuts due to low oil prices: back in May, Diamondback Energy (NASDAQ:FANG) chair and CEO Travis Stice warned that the Shale Patch had reached a “tipping point” with production set to decrease going forward amid low oil prices.
Full details of the decision were not immediately clear. The move came around the same time Washington and Caracas brokered an agreement that saw the release of 10 Americans detained in Venezuela, while 250 Venezuelans who were imprisoned in El Salvador were returned to their home country.
The OPEC+ producers pumped 41.559 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in June, up by 349,000 bpd from May, but lower than the 411,000 bpd monthly increase under the alliance’s output hike plan.
The recent reiteration by Iraq Oil Ministry of a 7 million barrels per day (bpd) oil production target within the next five years has spurred activity among Chinese firms that continue to dominate the country’s oil and gas sector. As it stands, more than a third of all Iraq’s proven oil and gas reserves and over two-thirds of its current production are managed by Beijing’s companies, according to industry figures. This translates into Chinese companies having a combined direct share in around 24 billion barrels of reserves and responsibility for production of around 3.0 million bpd. The latest in the very long line of Beijing’s firms to benefit from its ongoing stealthy takeover of Iraq’s huge oil and gas assets is China Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering Company (HQC), which has signed a huge project management consultancy contract for the supergiant West Qurna 1 oilfield.
Late last year, the company’s management revised its budget down, which could prove an additional obstacle to boosting production. The cutback follows instructions from Pemex’s new upstream head, Nestor Martinez, to scale back major well repairs and seismic data contracts. Instead, Pemex will focus on developing new deposits, especially in the deep waters of the Gulf.
OPEC wasn’t keen on responding to President Trump’s pressures at the time, nor does it appear to be factoring into their decision now. But Trump’s recent decisions—global tariffs, sanctions on Iran, Russia, and Venezuela, and the US President’s favorable view of the oil industry as opposed to renewables are all making OPEC+’s decisions particularly complex as it attempts to properly manage supply in line with demand.
Valeura Energy Inc. has said its oil production average hit a record high in the fourth quarter of 2024, with oil sales surpassing production volumes.
Seplat Energy Plc has unveiled plans to increase its crude oil production by 140% to 120,000 barrels per day. The company’s Chief Financial Officer, Eleanor Adaralegbe, revealed in an interview with the Financial Times that they would increase output from the present 50,000 bpd to 120,000 bpd in H1 2025.
According to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest short term energy outlook (STEO), which was released recently, the U.S. will produce an average of 13.53 million barrels per day of crude oil, including lease condensate, in the fourth quarter of 2024.