OPEC+ and IEA lock horns... On November 22, 2023, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia, collectively known as the OPEC+, surprised the energy markets by announcing that their upcoming meeting, scheduled for November 26, would be postponed. The meeting had been scheduled to discuss the production levels for the next year, 2024. Not only did the bad news shock the market, but also pushed the price of oil down  by more than 5%, as analysts sensed that something has sprung into existence that was not conducive for the anticipated, further producti ..read more

  India: energy facts At present, the speculations run rife in the energy markets about the next move by Saudi Arabia and Russia in the face of falling oil prices.  Every oil analyst ponders the thought - and inevitable consequences - of yet another production cut by some oil producers in order to shore up the prices, despite the possibility of  every member of the OPEC+ being on the wavelength remains low. To this day, however, the two bigwigs of the OPEC+ appeared to have chosen to be tightlipped about their next move. Saudi Arabia and Russia unilaterall ..read more

  Venezuela oil export The pendulum of oil prices is back in the bearish territory, dealing a heavy blow to the ambitious producers in the OPEC+, mainly Saudi Arabia and Russia that tried in vain to push it to the polar opposite. On  Thursday afternoon, the selling price of crude oil fell almost by $8, with WTI and Brent recording $73.75 and $78.28 respectively; at some point, the price went down by over $2. Oil price on the decline Neither the war sentiment in Gaza nor the supply constrains applied to Iranian oil could push the price of oil up, defying logic ..read more

  Falling profits of Saudi Aramco - 2023 Aramco, the Saudi national oil company and the world's second largest company by revenue, reported 23% fall in year-on-year profit on Tuesday; in 2022, however, it made a record profit of just over $161 billion that is more than those of Google, Microsoft and Amazon combined for the same period. The fall in profit by a substantial margin has been attributed to the fall in oil price and of course, a drop in production: Saudi Arabia has been instrumental in reducing the global output by 1 million bpd - barrel per day - on its own; Russia h ..read more

  Oil prices in November: Impact of Iranian and Venezuelan Contributions  The price of crude oil dramatically declined this week despite the anxieties over the potential disruptions of the flow of the commodity from the Middle East. The fall in price came about as most economic indicators paint a gloomy outlook across the world: In October, for instance, China's Manufacturing PMI recorded an unusual decline, to be followed by China's honest admission that its manufacturing sector had shrunk; since China is the world's second biggest consumer of crude oil, the dev ..read more

Oil price on Tuesday - 23/10/23: www.oilfutures.co.uk The US recently eased its sanctions against Venezuela on condition that the government led by Nicolas Maduro would hold free and fair elections in 2024. The move, not unexpected, came as the tension in the Middle East rose exponentially with the possibility of the US being sucked into the current conflict between Hamas and Israel at an unexpected time. The conflict has already pushed the price of crude oil up and its impact is already apparent on the economic front. Even the US, the world's largest crude oil producer - and consum ..read more

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Japanese economy - feeling the pinch of rising energy costs As the war between Israel and Hamas enters its second week, with no sign of the hostilities being on the wane, Japan, appealed  to the oil producing countries on Wednesday to increase the production in order to stabilize the energy markets. The urgent request was made after a telephone conversation between Mr Fumio Kishida, the Japanese prime minister and Mohammad bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Prince, over the war in the Middle East and its impact on the civilians in the affected areas.  Both leaders have ..read more

  Gaza conflict and and oil and gas prices As the war between Israel and Hamas enters the sixth day, the oil markets appear to have found the stability with the volatility that we witnessed at the outset being on the wane. As of 10:50 GMT, the prices of WTI, Brent and LNG, liquified natural gas, were at $84.29, $86.89 and $3.34 respectively. Although there was a false alarm over the prospect of opening a second front on Israel's northern border against Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, the situation in that particular region remains tense. Israel admitted the accumulation ..read more

  Oil price fluctuation - Thursday, 5 October The price of crude oil substantially fell on Wednesday despite the decision by the OPEC+ to sticking to the production cuts made by Russia and Saudi Arabia. The prices did not recover enough to gather momentum to reach $90 a barrel in the early hours on Thursday: as of 09:00 GMT, the prices of WTI and Brent were at $84.35 and $86.06 respectively. The decision by the OPEC+ did not come as a bolt from the blue; on the contrary, it was widely expected, because both Russia and Saudi Arabia had explicitly said that the production cut ..read more