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Esgian Week 26 Report: Drilling Activity is High
Esgian provides an update on drilling activity in its Week 26 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryContractsVentura Offshore has been granted exclusive marketing rights from Hanwha Drilling LLC for the newbuild 12,000-ft 7th generation drillship, Tidal Action, for an ongoing tender process in Brazil.Transocean has announced a 365-day contract extension for the 12,000-ft drillship Deepwater Asgard with an independent operator in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.Northern Ocean Ltd.-owned 7,500-ft semisubmersible Deepsea Bollsta has been awarded a one-well contract with an undisclosed operator offshore Namibia.Drilling Activity and DiscoveriesExxonMobil is drilling the Lau Lau-2 appraisal well on the Stabroek block offshore Guyana with Noble 12,000-ft drillship Noble Sam Croft.The Norwegian Offshore Directorate (NOD) has granted Equinor a drilling permit for an exploration well in the North Sea offshore Norway.Masirah Oil Limited (MOL) is evaluating the performance of the Yumna-5 well at the Yumna field on Block 50 offshore Oman after the recent completion of a multi-well program on the block ahead of schedule.Partner Ecopetrol has confirmed that Petrobras is currently drilling the appraisal well Uchuca-2 on the Tayrona Block offshore Colombia.OMV (Norge) AS has started drilling the Haydn gas prospect in the Norwegian Sea with the 10,000-ft semisub Transocean Norge.Vår Energi has made an oil and gas discovery in well 36/7-5 S Cerisa and sidetracks 36/7-5 A, B, and C, located in the North Sea offshore Norway.Longboat Energy, the operator of Block 2A, offshore Sarawak, Malaysia, said Thursday that a Competent Person's Report has confirmed the giant scale of the Kertang prospect located within the block.Equinor has completed the drilling of the Argerich-1 well on CAN-100 offshore Argentina with the 12,000-ft Valaris drillship Valaris DS-17.CGX Energy Inc. and Frontera Energy, joint venture partners in the Corentyne block offshore Guyana, have submitted a notice of potential commercial interest for the Wei-1 discovery to the government of Guyana.Aker BP and its partners have discovered gas in wildcat well 7324/8-4 (Hassel) in the Barents Sea, around 300 kilometers from the northern coast of Norway.DemandADNOC Drilling is seeking expressions of interest (EOI) to provide one jackup rig for the Middle East for ADNOC Offshore for one of its gas fields.ExxonMobil Guyana Limited has submitted an Application for Environmental Authorization for a potential seventh offshore project around the Hammerhead discovery on the Stabroek block offshore Guyana.Mobilisation/Rig MovesSaipem-managed 375-ft jackup Perro Negro 9 is being towed from Ras Tanura to the Arab Shipbuilding & Repair Yard (ASRY) in Bahrain.Noble’s 350-ft CJ50 jackup, Noble Resilient, has completed its contract in the Danish sector of the North Sea and is now moving to the UK sector ahead of a new contract with Harbour Energy.Transocean's 12,000-ft drillship Deepwater Aquila has started its inaugural contract with Petrobras in Brazil.Rig SalesTransocean has entered into an agreement to sell the 9,600-ft semisubmersible Deepwater Nautilus and associated assets to an undisclosed party for $53.5 million.Seadrill Limited has completed the sale of the 400-ft jackups West Castor, West Telesto, and West Tucana, along with the 50% equity interest in the GulfDrill joint venture that operates the units offshore Qatar, to joint venture partner Gulf Drilling International for $338 million.Ventura Offshore announced on 27 June 2024 that it will acquire the 6th gen Intl 10,000-ft semisubmersible SSV Catarina for a gross price of $105 million.Other NewsMexican conglomerate Grupo Carso has completed its acquisition of PetroBal Operaciones Upstream S.A. de. CV, which holds a 50% interest in the Ichalkil and Pokoch fields on Contractual Area 4 offshore Mexico.The Dutch Council of State (Raad van State) on Friday 21 June 2024 ruled that ONE-Dyas can continue the offshore activities on gas production project N05-A in the North Sea.Conrad Asia Energy has signed a binding gas sales agreement (GSA) with PT Pertamina’s subsidiary PGN for the sale of gas from the Mako gas field development in Indonesia.Australian oil and gas company 3D Energi and ConocoPhillips have negotiated a consolidation of farm-out obligations, allowing the $30 million T/49P well carry obligation to be applied in either the T/49P or VIC/P79 offshore blocks in Australia’s Otway Basin.Source Energy has entered into an agreement to sell its 20% share in licences PL878, PL878 B, and PL 878 C, containing the Atlantis discovery, to ORLEN Group’s PGNiG Upstream Norway.TotalEnergies has signed an agreement to acquire a 60% interest and operatorship in Block STP02, offshore Sao Tome and Principe, from the Agência Nacional do Petroléo de S. Tomé e Principé (ANP-STP).Petronas, through Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM), has signed a Small Field Asset (SFA) Production Sharing Contract (PSC) with Vestigo Petroleum for a Discovered Resource Opportunity (DRO) cluster, which was marketed under the Malaysia Bid Round Plus (MBR+).TotalEnergies has signed an agreement to sell its entire interest in West of Shetland assets in the United Kingdom to The Prax Group.
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Texas braces for more summer electrical power signals: Kemp
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has actually warned reserve margins will be squeezed next week as temperatures increase and it may require to advise generators to delay nonurgent upkeep. ERCOT is the independent system operator for the majority of Texas, handling the circulation of power to more than 27 million consumers representing about 90% of state-wide load. ERCOT has issued comparable cautions several times over the last month, after issuing numerous alerts calling on customers to lower their power intake last summer season to avoid the danger of rolling blackouts. The state's summer power scarcities are mainly the result of fast population and financial development, which has actually left generators struggling to keep pace with the rapid increase in load. The state's resident population increased to 30.5 million in 2023 from 22.0 million in 2003, a typical yearly increase of 1.6%. The state economy grew at an average yearly rate of 3.4%. in between 2017 and 2023, compared to 2.2% for the nation as a. whole. As an outcome, state electrical energy sales increased to 487. billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2023 from 323 billion kWh in. 2003, a typical annual boost of 2.1%. Texas power sales have actually grown more than 3 times quicker. than in the rest of the country, where they increased at an. typical rate of simply 0.6% per year between 2003 and 2023. DEVELOPMENT AND SECLUSION Like other fast-growing electrical power systems, such as those. in China and India, ERCOT has actually struggled with regular inequalities. between generation and load. It is much harder to balance generation and load, while. maintaining an adequate reserve margin, in a system. characterised by quick development than one with flat or decreasing. demand. Flat or decreasing load usually means there are a lot of. legacy generators no longer in regular service however that can be. contacted us to launch when reserve margins become tight. ERCOT does. not have that option. The system's issues are intensified since it has couple of. links with power networks in the rest of the country that would. enable it to import power when there is a local shortfall. Texas has made a political choice to restrict cross-border. affiliations with other states to avoid oversight of its. electrical energy system by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. ( FERC). In contrast to other states, Texas has likewise up until recently. avoided the concept of paying power plants to maintain extra. capability, instead of for the systems of electrical energy actually. produced. To decrease overall expenses, the state has run an. energy-only market rather than a capability market too. Rather than paying for reserve capacity that will be idle. for much of the year, Texas has depended on high wholesale rates. to motivate minimal generation and force load reductions at. times when margins are low. Chartbook: Texas electrical power usage ERCOT's balancing issues are especially severe during the. summertime, when daytime loads peak far greater than in the. remainder of the year as a result of comprehensive air conditioning. But reserve margins can also be depleted in the spring and. autumn shoulder seasons, when lots of gas-fired, coal-fired and. nuclear generators are taken offline for maintenance. Heatwaves that get here earlier than usual in the spring, or. occur behind regular in the fall, stretch power materials. due to the fact that lots of generators have actually scheduled regular downtime. To rebuild reserve margins, dependability managers can provide. ' no touch' orders to generators and transmission owners. advising them to hold off any but the most immediate. upkeep. If that still proves insufficient to increase reserve margins. to a healthy level, grid supervisors can order flat-out 'optimum. generation' from readily available units. Eventually, the grid can look for numerous forms of voluntary. demand reduction; concern notifies calling for customers to conserve. electricity; and in the last resort by force disconnect loads on. a rotating basis. HANDLING HEATWAVES The proliferation of crypto-mining operations and data. centres, connected with huge loads, appears to have. turbocharged growth in electrical power consumption in 2022 and 2023. Nevertheless, since of population and economic development, Texas. electricity usage has actually set records most years just recently,. regardless of whether the summer season has been particularly hot or. not. Heatwaves have actually nonetheless extended resources to the limitation,. and required the grid to undertake amazing steps to improve. short-term generation and decrease load. In recent weeks, ERCOT has been counting on no-touch orders,. a few of them consequently cancelled, to maximise the generation. and transmission resources readily available in durations of warm weather condition. Last summer, it relied greatly on emergency situation signals broadcast. to consumers requesting for electrical energy conservation when reserve. margins were particularly low. The state experienced a total of 2,687 cooling degree days. between May and September 2023, the second-highest on record. after 2011. August and September 2023 were much hotter than normal,. forcing the grid to issue numerous alerts to generators and. customers. But the mix of higher wholesale costs and duplicated. appeals for preservation appear to have actually blunted load growth. effectively. The variety of cooling degree days was up by 23% in between May. and September 2023 compared to the exact same period in 2021, while. electrical power sales were only 16% higher. It is simple to criticise ERCOT's duplicated balancing. problems, but the system's issues are those of rapid. development, so they are great problems to have. ERCOT's grid managers have been effective at balancing the. system, provided the historical absence of a capability market and. the political unwillingness to adjoin with neighbouring. grids. Related column: - Texas population growth drives tape electrical power. use( August 15, 2023) John Kemp is a market expert. The views expressed. are his own. Follow his commentary on X https://twitter.com/JKempEnergy.
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Colombia's Grupo Argos approximates 2024 operating income at $288 mln
Colombian industrial conglomerate Grupo Argos sees its operating income for this year landing around 1.1 trillion pesos ($ 287.84 million),. the firm's financing chief informed analysts on Friday. Essentially we have in our mind an operating earnings close to. 1.1 trillion pesos, which is generally dividends, money created. by the city development service mainly, Alejandro. Piedrahita, Argos' vice president of technique and corporate. finance said throughout a call. The company approximates it will close the year with close. to 360 billion pesos, about $94 million, in available cash,. compared to 984 billion pesos in 2023. The decrease is described by spending on taxes,. dividedn payments to shareholders, share re-purchases and. administrative and financing expenses, Piedrahita said. The reduction becomes part of a plan to guarantee one-time expenses. do no effect the company in general, he added. Grupo Argos very first quarter net revenue leapt to 3.8 trillion pesos, about $992 million, compared to 406. billion pesos in the year-ago duration, the corporation said on. Wednesday. The company stated the jump was thanks to huge gains from. its Grupo Nutresa divestment, along with gains from the. combination of properties of its U.S. unit and Top Materials.
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Citgo share bidders can be asked how accommodate bondholder claims, judge rules
Bidders in a U.S. court auction of shares that will decide the ownership of Venezuelaowned U.S. oil refiner Citgo Petroleum can be required to state if their binding offers cover claims by Venezuela bondholders in a different court action, a U.S. District Court judge ruled on Friday. The choice lets bidders seeking to position multi-billion dollar deals for a Citgo moms and dad's shares to be asked if they plan to reserve cash or think about how they might accommodate Venezuela 2020 note holders looking for payment of $3 billion in primary financial obligation. The 2020 shareholders' claims are not part of the Delaware court case however their claims tower above the continuous share auction to please $21.3 billion in claims for financial obligation defaults and expropriations. There are 18 Venezuela creditors, including Crystallex, ConocoPhillips, Huntington Ingalls, in the Delaware case. The court will accept binding second-round quotes through June 11 and might choose a winner later this year. The auction has actually drawn interest from Elliot Investment Management and a bidding group being organized by Centerview Partners, has actually reported . Some creditors, including ConocoPhillips, are considering utilizing their claims versus Venezuela as credit bids, people near the matter have stated. A proposed direction to bidders divulged for the very first time in a court filing revealed the court officer handling the share sale has actually held discussions with the 2020 bondholders. Their claims are pending in a New york city case. Friday's judgment by United States Judge Leonard Stark followed Venezuela challenged a court officer's revised bidding instructions that Venezuela and some creditors called unclear. Stark turned down the movement to delay the auction, stating the court officer might make modifications he feels will take full advantage of the worth of quotes received. The modifications belong to his efforts to encourage more bids and improve his capability to fairly compare and examine the quotes that are submitted, Stark stated of the officer supervising the auction of shares in PDV Holding, whose only property is Citgo.
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Rain is set to assist teams battling blaze near Canadian oil city
Cloud cover and shower over the next couple of days are set to help teams fighting a large wildfire near the Canadian oil sands city of Fort McMurray, Alberta, local authorities said on Friday. Overnight, the fire remained about 5.5 km (3.4 miles) from the garbage dump on the city's southern borders where teams are continuing to build a containment line. The local authority of Wood Buffalo, which includes Fort McMurray, said the fire was largely the same at 196 sq km (76. square miles). Fire behavior will be subdued today with cloud cover and. shower. The next couple of days reveal a similar projection with. precipitation worths varying from 20 mm (0.8 inches) to 80 mm of. overall precipitation by Tuesday, it said in a statement. Fort McMurray is the center for most of Canada's oil output. A. big wildfire in 2016 forced the evacuation of 90,000 residents,. burned down 2,400 buildings and idled more than 1 million. barrels daily (bpd) of production. There have actually been no reports of fire-related interruption to. Alberta oil and gas production.
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Mali indications arrangement with China's Ganfeng to operate Goulamina lithium mine
Mali has signed an arrangement with China's Ganfeng Lithium to run the Goulamina lithium mine and increase its share in the task in accordance with a brand-new mining code, the West African country's. economy ministry stated in a declaration. The mining code, adopted last year, allows the military-led. federal government to increase its ownership of mining tasks and. recoup what it says is a significant deficiency in production earnings. Mali's share in the Goulamina project will increase to 35%. from 20%, according to the economy ministry's declaration dated. May 16 and seen on Friday. With this win-win contract, which safeguards the crucial. interests of the Malian individuals, the State of Mali enters into a. brand-new collaboration with the Chinese group Ganfeng Lithium Co for. the advancement and operation of the Goulamina lithium project,. the declaration said. Ganfeng Lithium will establish a spodumene plant which will. start production by the end of the year, it added. Mali's Economy Minister, Alousseni Sanou, stated previously this. week that the offer could bring Mali between 110 billion and 115. billion CFA francs ($ 191.51 million) per year. Ganfeng Lithium purchased Australia's Leo Lithium's. 40% stake in the Goulamina mine for $342.7 million earlier this. month. Leo Lithium stated at the time that the dangers connected with. running in Mali and the effect of brand-new mining code meant. selling the stake remained in the best interests of its investors.
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Stocks inch up as timing of United States rate cuts weighed; copper jumps
World stock indexes edged higher and U.S. Treasury yields also rose on Friday as investors tried to examine the timing of prospective interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year. Major U.S. stock indexes were slightly greater and on track for gains for the week. Copper surged to a 26-month peak after China revealed fresh assistance for its ailing home sector, while nickel costs touched their highest level considering that August 2023 in the middle of discontent in nickel manufacturer New Caledonia. Information from previously this week showing softening consumer rates in April enhanced expectations that the U.S. central bank will have the ability to cut rates twice this year, starting in September. Much depends, nevertheless, on what happens with cost pressures in the coming months, and Fed authorities have actually hinted U.S. rates may not fall anytime quickly. Minutes from the Fed's most recent policy meeting are due next week and might offer more information on what Fed authorities are looking at in order to start cutting rates. The meeting from April 30-- May 1, nevertheless, was before Wednesday's CPI data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 34.48 points, or 0.09%, to 39,903.86; the S&P 500 got 5.75 points, or 0.11%, to 5,302.88; and the Nasdaq Composite got 25.13 points, or 0.15%, to 16,723.65. Individuals are now taking a look at the next driver. Probably it's going to be whether the Fed in fact cuts, stated Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 0.81 point, or 0.10%, to 794.89. The STOXX 600 index fell 0.15%. In Asia, Chinese blue-chips staged a late rally on Friday, as the government revealed a series of historic actions to underpin the residential or commercial property sector, which has actually lurched from crisis to crisis and weighed on total economic growth. Shanghai's CSI 300 ended up 1%, while Hong Kong's. Hang Seng Index hit its highest considering that August 2022, up. 0.9%. In Treasuries, the yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes. increased 1.9 basis indicate 4.396%, from 4.377% late on. Thursday. The dollar traded bit changed against major currencies. The dollar index, which measures the greenback. versus a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,. fell 0.07% to 104.43, with the euro up 0.07% at $1.0874. Versus the Japanese yen, the dollar enhanced. 0.01% to 155.42. The Japanese currency has fallen around 9.5% this year as. the Bank of Japan has kept financial policy loose while greater. U.S. rates have drawn cash towards U.S. bonds and the dollar. Tokyo is believed to have actually intervened on at least two days. in late April and early May to support the yen after it toppled. to lows last seen more than 3 years back. Three-month nickel on London Metal Exchange (LME). surged 7.5% to $21,290 a metric lot by 1335 GMT, after touching. $ 21,365, the highest since August 2023. LME copper climbed up 2% to $10,627 per ton, the. strongest because March 2022. U.S. crude acquired 0.2% to $79.39 a barrel and Brent. increased to $83.44 per barrel, up 0.2% on the day.
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Russia's Tuapse oil refinery halted after Ukrainian drone attack, sources state
A fire activated by a. Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Tuapse oil refinery on the. Black Sea coast has required an emergency closed down of the. refinery, two sources knowledgeable about the matter said. The fire at the refinery, owned by Rosneft, was. extinguished, Russia's state-run TASS news agency reported on. Friday. Russian air defen?es and the Black Sea Fleet ruined 102. Ukrainian drones and 6 uncrewed boats during the night,. Russia's defence ministry stated. Rosneft did not talk about the attack. According to one source, the drones struck the liquefied. petroleum gas (LPG) production system at Tuapse while the crude. distillation unit (CDU) remained intact. There was no black smoke during the fire. That implies it was. just the gas (LPG) burning, a source stated. He included, that from technical viewpoint, there is an. alternative to bypass the LPG system and reboot the refinery. relatively quickly. Tuapse refinery stopped oil processing and output following a. fire after drone attack on Jan. 25 and remained shut for about 3. months resuming operations late in April. The Tuapse plant's yearly capacity is 12 million metric tons. ( 240,000 barrels per day). It produces naphtha, fuel oil, vacuum. gasoil and high-sulphur diesel, and materials fuel mainly to. Turkey, China, Malaysia and Singapore. In 2023, the plant processed 9.378 million lots of crude. oil, producing 3.306 million tons of gasoil and 3.123 million. tons of fuel oil.
Energy cost walkings in parts of China hand another blow to families
Utility cost hikes in more than 10 Chinese cities might quickly raise across the country inflation from ultralow levels, however could ultimately turn into a. deflationary force in the world's no. 2 economy as they further. deteriorate the families' spending power, analysts say.
Numerous financial experts have actually said boosting home need is. important for China to prevent a Japan-like prolonged period of. meagre development and deflation in the long run, calling for. policies that move financial resources to consumers.
However such steps are a tough proposition for indebted. local governments, burdened $13 trillion in debt as a. unrelenting battle versus COVID-19 and plunging land auction. profits due to a home market crisis have diminished their. coffers.
The big tech and production centers of Shenzhen and. Guangzhou, and other cities in China, have in recent months. increased or flagged strategies to raise water or gas prices. Tickets. on 4 of the busiest high-speed train paths will likewise increase. by up to 20% from June 15, state media reported.
The boosts have triggered criticism on social networks from. users who say they will have less to spend on other fundamental needs.
While the walkings might assist keep China's consumer cost. development in favorable territory in coming months, the uptick is. mainly supply-driven - implying the effect will disappear after. a year due to statistical effects, leaving just the. negative consequences as needed, experts alert.
The energy expense rally will just have a one-off effect on. inflation, ANZ senior China strategist Xing Zhaopeng, said.
Yet, home belief will be hit by greater living. expenses. Eventually, it is most likely to be negative to domestic. usage.
Xing estimates the new water prices announced by cities. including Guangzhou, Shanghai, Xianyang, Wuhu, Nanchong and. Qujing, amounted to walkings of 10% -50% year-on-year. For gas,. cities such as Chengdu, Putian, Zhenjiang and Shenzhen have. raised rates by 5-20%, he stated.
The size of these boosts is considerable, but they are. coming off a low base as the majority of cities have actually been subsidising. energy rates for years.
The typical yearly increase in 36 large and medium-sized. cities for gas, water and heating bills from 2016 to 2021 was. 2.4%, 0.8% and 0.2%, respectively, according to analysts at. Huachuang Securities.
China has actually likewise avoided the sharp spikes in gas and power. costs seen in Europe and elsewhere following Russia's invasion. of Ukraine.
Over the previous couple of years in China, policymakers have by and. large reduced utility rates artificially, through. aids, stated Xu Tianchen, senior economist at the Economic expert. Intelligence Unit.
However cities are now cutting spending as a severe realty. slump since 2021 has actually curbed their ability to raise money by. leasing land to property designers, which in numerous locations. dwarfed other incomes before the pandemic.
Throughout China, land auction earnings in 2023 were about 20%. listed below pre-COVID levels in 2019, main information show.
Local governments ... can't create enough earnings to. pay aids, said Wang Dan, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank. China, adding she expected more such boosts in the future. throughout the nation.
One silver lining for Chinese families is that the expenses. are increasing from a small base, stated Xu, who anticipates those in the. lower-income group to reduce inefficient intake of water and. energy to keep their expenses in check.
ANZ estimates energy expenses represent 7.7% of China's. customer price inflation basket, including 4.2% for power and. heating, 1.0% for gas, 0.2% for water and 2.3% for traffic. fares. Due to the low weight, the total effect on this year's. consumer price inflation would be a boost of no more than. 0.2 percentage points, ANZ says, preserving its end-year. inflation forecast of 0.7%.
China has been flirting with deflation for more than a year. Consumer rates increased for a third straight month in April, by. 0.3% year-on-year, in part also due to greater energy rates.
The recent walkings are not a reflationary effort by the. authorities, ANZ's Xing stated. In fact, they generally result in. financial stagnation and could overemphasize the deflation..