The government will once agin try and use oil as a tool of diplomacy when petroleum minister Murli Deora will host his Russian counterpart Sergey Shmatko and other dignitaries from some key oil and gas producing countries from Central Asia at the India-CIS Roundtable on Hydrocarbons. For full story, click here
It is obvious that a barrel price below $60 on the NYMEX is bad news for oil companies. Part of the drop reflects a strengthening American dollar, but recent demand forecast revisions are bleak. Governments, companies and investors think a prolonged recession or period of low growth is in the offing, and everyone should take note.
Imperial Energy Plc rose the most in 4 months in London trading after Russia’s antitrust agency approved its 1.4 billion-pound ($2.2 billion) takeover by India’s ONGC. For full story, click here For Imperial’s website, click here
Cooperation between Venezuela’s Petroleos de Venezuela & Russia’s largest energy firms, is expected to be part of the agenda. Russian energy minister Sergei Shmatko said: The consortium, to be set up next spring, will include Russia’s Gazprom, Rosneft, TNK-BP, Surgutneftegaz and LUKoil, and that investment from the Russian companies would total tens of billions of dollars. [...]
Clearly Monday was not particularly good news for oil companies. With futures settling below $90 per barrel, ($87.81 when Benchmark went to proofing) the industry is seeing the lowest prices since February.
Another rough day for investors this Monday. As it became clear that the American House of Representatives would reject the authorization law for the executive’s $700 billion financial sector bailout plan, commodities began to tank. Oil futures shed more than $10 of their value during the day, dropping to $96.37 per barrel.
OAO Lukoil, Russia’s biggest independent oil producer, reported that second-quarter profit jumped by 64 percent as crude prices rose and company refined higher quantities of oil. Artyom Konchin, oil and gas analyst at UniCredit Aton in Moscow, said: Lukoil’s sudden tendency to underperform will definitely weigh on the stock, especially considering that the second quarter [...]
Barrel prices were pushed gently northward in early trading on Monday, as a confluence of factors threatened supply and made it an attractive alternative investment. The dollar’s decline relative to the euro increased anti-inflation hedging activities in commodities.
This column will not be trying to determine who started the war or who is in the right, but how the war might affect the future of Caspian oil extraction and Caucasian transhipment. Aside from the direct damage of the war, ripples will be felt throughout the Black Sea, Caucasian and Caspian regions, with somewhat paradoxical effects on who benefits and who is placed at a disadvantage.
There is little evidence that the conflict between Russia and Georgia has stemmed the slide in crude prices. On Friday, with Russian troops still in control of strategic cities like Gori, crude fell on Nymex trading. Analysts said: Traders have already priced in a large amount of geopolitical risk into the market. In addition, prices already had plenty [...]
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