Energy Intelligence Briefing articles from December 2008

Energy Intelligence Briefing archives from December 2008

Russia boosts loadings as changes loom on horizon.
December 1, 2008... MOSCOW -- Moscow is opening up the taps in December, with a scheduled boost in seaborne crude oil of 98,000 barrels per day from November, when Russia's stinging export duties left scant incentive to sell oil abroad, resulting in surprisingly...

Economic downturn spreads to non-OECD oil demand.
December 3, 2008... WASHINGTON -- The financial tsunami hitting global markets continues to take its toll on oil demand and oil prices. Preliminary estimates by EIB sister publication Oil Market Intelligence show world demand for petroleum products in November...

Saudi pricing of January crude oil to Asia a mystery.
December 5, 2008... NEW YORK -- Saudi Arabia's formula prices for January loading to Asia looked odd and were somewhat of a puzzle, traders said, but prices to Europe and the US were in line with how competitive grades were priced and how refining margins had...

January Angola oil an easy sell; Nigeria is struggling.
December 10, 2008... LONDON -- West African grades are telling two different stories again. While January-loading Angolan grades have cleared quickly at generally strong differentials, sellers of Nigerian fare are struggling to attract buyers for their large array...

Iraq's November sales lag, December shows bounce.
December 11, 2008... NEW YORK -- Iraq's exports continue to lag behind monthly averages seen earlier this year, with November sales coming in at 1.64 million barrels per day, down 60,000 b/d from October, as bad weather combined with technical glitches, bomb...

Opec President foresees 'very difficult year' in 2009.
December 15, 2008... ORAN -- Opec President Chakib Khelil says "2009 is going to be a very difficult year" as the global economy continues to deteriorate and global oil demand could fall by up to 500,000 barrels per day. Oil stocks are already brimming. Arriving in...

Inventories rise at sea; Oil demand contracts sharply.
December 16, 2008... WASHINGTON -- Oil inventories are rising but not as quickly as one might expect given the size of the ongoing surplus in global oil markets, observes EIB sister publication Oil Market Intelligence in its latest monthly market assessment....

Naimi says market needs cut of about 2 million b/d.
December 16, 2008... ORAN -- The market will need a cut of about 2 million barrels per day to deal with excess crude supply and higher-than-normal oil inventories, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Naimi said on Tuesday in Oran, Algeria, ahead of an Opec ministerial...

Opec claims major output cut, but creates confusion.
December 17, 2008... ORAN--In what seemed an effort to take the market by surprise, Opec members agreed in Oran, Algeria, on Wednesday to cut output by a stated 4.2 million barrels per day from actual September output. But the deal the ministers struck is not that...

Canada, others crank up crude oil volumes to US.
December 23, 2008... NEW YORK -- Canada supplied just over 2 million barrels per day of crude to the US in October, two years after Canada hit the multimillion barrel per day benchmark for the first time, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows....

Iraqi oil sales set to surge--if pipes, weather hold.
December 24, 2008... NEW YORK -- Iraq's export volumes could end the year on a high note by reaching 1.88 million barrels per day--if flows in the last week of the year manage not to be interrupted by bad weather, bomb attacks or technical mishaps. Iraq had its...

Russia's Opec promise yet to be seen in Q1 schedules.
December 29, 2008... MOSCOW -- Russia promised at the Opec meeting in Algeria's Oran this month to cut oil supplies to international markets by 320,000 barrels per day in 2009. Delivering on the promise may be something else, however, if exporters hold to schedules...