Oil rose for a second day on Wednesday, after an industry group reported U.S. crude stockpiles dropped for the second week in a row and the dollar declined. Oil has climbed 34 percent this year, tracking global equity markets on optimism that an economic recovery will spur demand for fuel. Additional support for crude prices came from the dollar, which fell to the lowest level against the euro since March, bolstering demand for commodities as a hedge against inflation.
Crude oil fell on Tuesday, snapping four days of gains, on concern a U.S. government report will show stockpiles climbed from the highest level since September 1990. Crude oil for June delivery declined as much as 77 cents, or 1.4 per cent, to $53.70 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil is up 21 per cent this year.
State oil firm Saudi Aramco announced its plans to spend $60 billion on oil and gas projects through 2014.
Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf said:
Saudi Aramco has informed its large local contractors and agents of global firms that it had allocated a budget reaching $60 billion … to carry out oil and gas projects of various sizes [...]
Total saw its stake in the Sincor project reduced from 47% to 30.3% in July 2007, and the company remains committed to the project.
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Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd said its plans to expand refining capacity would be delayed by more than a year to October 2011 due to adverse market conditions and high costs.
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The company said that it has been advised that the Lieutenant Governor in Council, by Order in Council Number 525/2008, has authorized the Energy Resources Conservation Board to grant Approval No. 1253 to Connacher Oil and Gas Limited.
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Along with OPEC production cuts and healthy company numbers, (both discussed below) the market is clearly disjointed. The tenor of discussions in the business pages and networks lately suggests that Yeats was right, and the centre cannot hold. Recession or recovery, echo boom or bust, few are predicting prolonged instability somewhere between these extremes.
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has started oil exploration in Lake Chad basin, a project it abandoned some years back.
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Wednesday, May 13, 2009