Energy Intelligence Briefing articles from January 2003

Energy Intelligence Briefing archives from January 2003

Demand rallies, but supply glitches rule oil balance.
January 3, 2003... For all the talk about impending military action in Iraq, it is political turmoil in Venezuela that is transforming global oil fundamentals right now, and prices have taken the bait. Well before the Jan. 1 implementation date of new Opec...

Venezuela and North Korea could delay an Iraqi war. (Eye On Iraq).
January 3, 2003... A US-led war with Iraq still appears inevitable despite the confrontation with North Korea and the loss of Venezuelan oil exports. The level of rhetoric is rising and preparations for war are advancing, prompting many pundits to predict that an...

Saddam names new Iraqi oil minister. (Eye on Iraq).(Saddam Hussein, Samir Abdul Aziz al-Najm)(includes related article on United Kingdom mobilization)(Biography)
January 7, 2003... In a surprise move, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Tuesday removed long-standing Oil Minister Amer Rashid on the grounds that he had reached retirement age, and appointed a close ally, Samir Abdul Aziz al-Najm, as acting minister. But the...

Opec readies extra barrels to offset Venezuelan loss.
January 7, 2003... Opec members are gearing up to unleash at least 1.5 million barrels per day of crude oil onto a market which has been starved of more than two million b/d of Venezuelan oil for five weeks. Because of disagreements over the size of the...

Iraq cranks up output and exports--while it can. (Eye On Iraq).
January 8, 2003... Facing an increasingly certain US invasion, Iraq is cranking up crude oil production to some 2.75 million barrels per day this month, up from 2.25 million b/d in December, and customers--both legal and illegal--are gobbling it up. Although...

UN sees severe human costs of a war against Iraq. (Eye on Iraq).
January 9, 2003... As the US continues its Mideast Gulf troop buildup in preparation for a possible war against Iraq, a confidential UN document warns that a protracted air and ground campaign to overthrow Saddam Hussein would halt Iraqi oil production and...

Saudis earn political points, revenue with extra oil. (Eye on Iraq).
January 9, 2003... Apparently anxious to win favor with the US, Saudi Arabia is quietly acting behind the scenes to get more oil into world markets, making up for the shortages caused by Venezuela's political crisis and sparing the Bush administration from...

US buys more Iraqi crude with Venezuelans striking. (Eye ON Iraq).
January 10, 2003... From the moment Venezuelan oil workers went on strike on Dec. 2, reducing petroleum exports to a trickle, the US, Canada, and the Caribbean started buying extra crude oil from Iraq. According to Iraqi export data for December and the first 11...

Opec lifts production to make up for Venezuelan gap.
January 12, 2003... Opec made good on its pledge to be a responsible and reliable supplier on Sunday when it raised its production ceiling by 1.5 million barrels per day to make up for the supply gap created by the lengthy strike in Venezuela and cool off runaway...

Russians go to Iraq to seal deal, mend Lukoil fences. (Eye On Iraq).
January 14, 2003... Acting as if the chances of a US-led war with Iraq were slim or nil, which is contrary to popular belief, a high-profile delegation of Russian officials and company executives is flying to Baghdad on Wednesday to sign a contract for exploration...

Current crises complicate US road to war with Iraq. (Eye On Iraq).
January 16, 2003... US President George W. Bush's comments this week that "time is running out on Saddam Hussein," combined with the accelerating US military buildup in the Mideast Gulf, lead many to believe that a US-led attack on Iraq is both inevitable and...

Russian firms sign up for clutch of Iraqi oil deals. (Eye On Iraq).
January 17, 2003... Demonstrating to the world that Moscow's romance with Baghdad is far from over, a Russian delegation to Iraq trumpeted a decisive business victory on Friday, with a clutch of real and potential oil deals. Lukoil, for one, received new hope that...

Lukoil jumps gun over Iraq, but French get fresh hope. (Eye On Iraq).
January 21, 2003... The rapprochement between Baghdad and Moscow demonstrated during last week's visit to Baghdad by a Russian delegation was fruitful for many Russian oil companies--but Lukoil wasn't one of them. Iraqi Deputy Oil Minister Hussein al-Hadithi...

North Sea loadings weather real and market storms.
January 21, 2003... February's loading programs for the eight principal North Sea crude oil systems show a decline in total volume of 13.44 million barrels against January. However, of this total, almost 11 million bbl can be attributed to February having three...

Is the US saving the SPR for a war with Iraq? (Eye On Iraq).(strategic petroleum reserve)
January 22, 2003... Touted as the first line of defense against an interruption in oil supplies, the 600 million barrel US Strategic Petroleum Reserve was set up in 1975 to avoid a repeat of the oil supply shortage wrought by the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo. That...

Global oil stocks are down, but help is on the way.
January 24, 2003... What would global oil markets be without the occasional supply disruption? Probably oversupplied, based on latest estimates from EIG's Oil Market Intelligence. Global supply plunged in December when Venezuela's production came to a virtual...

UN gives Iraq more time, but US hawks undeterred. (Eye On Iraq).
January 27, 2003... Key players at the United Nations on Monday agreed to give Iraq a few more weeks to provide documents "proactively" as proof that it has no more biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons. UN diplomats said Monday in New York that the UN had...

Even without war, Iraqi crude output set for a slide. (Eye On Iraq).
January 29, 2003... Iraq oil production may well have hit a near-term peak over the last three months, at 2.5 million barrels per day. Signs point to an approaching slide, reflected in both lower official sales under the United Nations oil-for-food program in...

Bush's `war later' stance on Iraq soothing to oil markets. (Eye On Iraq).(President Bush's comments about potential war with Iraq could affect the oil industry)
January 29, 2003... Enough traders were apparently expecting US President George W. Bush to declare immediate war on Iraq to cause a brief dip in crude oil prices in early trading. But for all those who had already taken on board the message that Washington is...

Russia breaks ice on stormy February crude loadings.(Russia begins shipping out a backlog of oil)(Illustration)
January 29, 2003... As the Baltic ice melts, Russia has started shipping out a backlog of oil that built up when the ice blocked harbors and put a chill on January crude loadings. It now looks like Russia wants to make up for lost time, by penciling in a nearly...

West African loadings buoy Nigeria, but not others.(while Nigeria is increasing crude output, other areas of Western Africa are having problems)(Illustration)
January 31, 2003... After feasting on robust prices and healthy demand for several months, sellers of West African crude now face some sobering prospects in March, thanks to Opec quota increases and prohibitive freight costs for the long hauls that West African...