Russia is to restart its key oil and gas operations in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) according to recent comments from its Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev.
Three years ago, Europe suffered one of its biggest energy crises in modern history following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The eight OPEC+ countries that pledged additional voluntary output reductions in 2023 have announced that they will proceed with their plan to gradually roll back the reductions.
Iraq is committed to increasing investment in its gas sector as a key driver for economic growth, according to Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani recently.
OPEC+ has not discussed delaying the increase in its oil supply currently planned to begin in April, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Monday.
Trade for March-loading Russian oil in top buyer Asia has stalled as a wide price gap between buyers and sellers emerged in China after costs for chartering tankers unaffected by U.S. sanctions jumped, according to traders and shipping data.
Sweeping US sanctions on Russia’s oil industry are unlikely to result in a “large hit” to production, as higher freight rates and the nation’s cheap crude support the trade, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
The Biden Administration’s final sanctions on Russian oil trade were the most aggressive yet and sanctioned dozens of vessels that Russia used to ship the ESPO crude blend from its Far East port of Kozmino to China’s independent refiners.
Just days after the US imposed sweeping sanctions on the Russian oil industry, NATO committed to a new strategy in the Baltic Sea designed to protect critical undersea infrastructure including pipelines from sabotage attacks it said are linked to Russian shadow fleets.
In October of that year, Opec+ members agreed to cut output by 2 million bpd oil after benchmark prices fell by around a quarter from above $110 per barrel as recession fears trumped conflict-related supply concerns.