Energy Intelligence Briefing articles from February 2005

Energy Intelligence Briefing archives from February 2005

Reshuffle of Russian loading program boosts Rosneft.
February 1, 2005... MOSCOW -- Russia has sprung a major surprise on world oil markets with a massive reshuffle of its February seaport loading programs. Moscow has completely removed Yukos' current and former producers from the crude export list. State Rosneft has...

Iraqi oil exports seem to hit ceiling at 1.4 million b/d.
February 2, 2005... NEW YORK -- Bad weather, congestion and technical problems all combined to stifle oil flows into Iraq's Basrah Oil Terminal (BOT) toward the end of January, delaying loading of 14 tankers, or nearly a third of scheduled oil exports for the...

UN's Sevan asked Iraq for oil, might have taken cash.
February 4, 2005... NEW YORK -- Benon Sevan, while serving as the United Nations Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN's oil-for-food program for Iraq, personally requested oil "allocations" from Saddam Hussein's government, which resulted in a...

Cold and economic growth boost global oil demand.
February 4, 2005... NEW YORK -- World demand slowed in December only to pick up steam again in January when cold weather hit large parts of the world while the global economy was thundering on. Year-on-year oil consumption increased by 3.2% in the first month of...

Stocks drop as demand firms and outpaces supply.
February 18, 2005... NEW YORK -- Global stocks are dropping at a rapid rate, but are still well above last year's levels. Inventories for the OECD region in December recorded the second largest monthly decline in a decade at 2.6 million barrels per day, while...

Venezuelan Minister says 'Houston has nothing to fear'.
February 19, 2005... CARACAS -- Fears that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is plotting radical changes to the country's oil industry, from diverting oil exports away from the US to forcing private companies to renegotiate long-standing upstream contracts, are...

March West African loadings show improving market.
February 25, 2005... LONDON -- After weeks of thin trading, the outlook for West African crudes looks less anemic as the first April loading cargoes start changing hands. Despite firming freight costs to the US and still weak arbitrage opportunities for Asia, the...

Yukos continues legal fight as future looks bleaker.
February 25, 2005... MOSCOW -- Beleaguered Russian oil giant Yukos is mobilizing lawyers to keep its US bankruptcy case alive, even though an adverse Houston court ruling has left the company's fate looking decidedly bleaker. Bankruptcy Judge Letitia Clark on...

Russia cuts crude oil export plans on storm closures.
February 28, 2005... MOSCOW -- Taking into account the realities of winter storms forcing the repeated closure of Black Sea ports, Russia is planning to slash its March seaborne crude exports by 214,000 barrels per day. Crude exports are set to fall to 2.437...