Chinese recovery from lockdowns shows signs of fizzling out as central bank cuts interest rates
Global oil prices have dropped amid concerns over weaker growth in the Chinese economy caused by repeated Covid lockdowns and a downturn in the property sector.
A barrel of Brent crude fell by about 5% to below $94 (£78) on Monday, hitting the joint lowest levels since the Russian invasion of Ukraine as traders reacted to weaker figures from the world’s second-largest economy.
Continue reading...The $48bn figure from world’s biggest oil firm is thought to be one of largest quarterly profits in history
Saudi Arabia’s largely state-owned energy firm has highlighted the colossal profits made by gas and oil-rich nations during the energy crisis by revealing profits in the three months to the end of June up 90% to $48bn (£40bn).
Saudi Aramco recorded what is believed to be one of the largest quarterly profits in history to easily beat the near $26bn it made a year earlier.
Continue reading...Joseph Rowntree Foundation, consumer champion Martin Lewis and CBI chief urge PM to act urgently to help people with soaring energy bills
More on the new forecast for UK energy bills from Cornwall Insight, which spells more misery for millions of families across the UK.
The consultancy’s principal consultant, Dr Craig Lowrey, said:
It is essential that the government use our predictions to spur on a review of the support package being offered to consumers.
If the £400 was not enough to make a dent in the impact of our previous forecast, it most certainly is not enough now.
The government must make introducing more support over the first two quarters of 2023 a number one priority. In the longer term, a social tariff or other support mechanism to target support at the most vulnerable in society are options that we at Cornwall Insight have proposed previously. Right now, the current price cap is not working for consumers, suppliers, or the economy.
Continue reading...Output last month of Russian firm was down 14% on June, sharpening fears Moscow could provoke energy crisis in Europe
The daily gas production of Russia’s Gazprom dropped in July to its lowest level since 2008, figures suggest, amid continued fears that Moscow could cause an energy crisis in Europe by shutting off the supply.
The state-owned energy firm pumped 774 million cubic metres a day last month – 14% less than in June – according to analysis by Bloomberg of data released on Monday.
Continue reading...State-run Gazprom reduces flow through Nord Stream 1 to around 20% of its capacity
Germany has accused Moscow of engaging in “power play” over energy exports, as Russian state-run Gazprom further throttled gas supplies into Europe.
As announced two days earlier, the energy giant on Wednesday reduced the gas flow through Nord Stream 1 to 33m cubic metres a day – about 20% of the pipeline’s total capacity and half the amount it has been delivering since resuming service last week after 10 days of maintenance work.
Continue reading...Despite most energy ministers backing the scheme the EU was forced to water down proposals
The EU has been forced to water down its plan to ration gas this winter in an attempt to avoid an energy crisis generated by further Russian cuts to supply.
Energy ministers from the 27 member states, except Hungary, backed a voluntary 15% reduction in gas usage over the winter, a target that could become mandatory if the Kremlin ordered a complete shutdown of gas to Europe.
Continue reading...State-controlled energy company says it is halting a turbine due to the ‘technical condition of the engine’
The Russian state-controlled energy company Gazprom has announced a drastic cut to gas deliveries through its main pipeline to Europe from Wednesday.
The Russian gas export monopoly said it was halting the operation of one of the last two operating turbines due to the “technical condition of the engine”, cutting daily gas deliveries via the Nord Stream pipeline to 33m cubic metres a day – about 20% of the pipeline’s capacity.
Continue reading...Shipping of millions of tonnes from blockaded Black Sea ports could avert global food crisis
Ukraine and Russia have signed a UN-backed deal to allow the export of millions of tonnes of grain from blockaded Black Sea ports, potentially averting the threat of a catastrophic global food crisis.
A signing ceremony at Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul was attended by the UN secretary general, António Guterres, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s president, who had played a key role during months of tense negotiations.
A coalition of Turkish, Ukrainian and UN staff will monitor the loading of grain on to vessels in Ukrainian ports before navigating a pre-planned route through the Black Sea, which remains heavily mined by Ukrainian and Russian forces.
Ukrainian pilot vessels will guide commercial vessels transporting the grain in order to navigate the mined areas around the coastline using a map of safe channels provided by the Ukrainian side.
The vessels will then cross the Black Sea towards Turkey’s Bosphorus strait while being closely monitored by a joint coordination centre in Istanbul, containing representatives from the UN, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey.
Ships entering Ukraine will be inspected under the supervision of the same joint coordination centre to ensure they are not carrying weapons or items that could be used to attack the Ukrainian side.
The Russian and Ukrainian sides have agreed to withhold attacks on any of the commercial vessels or ports engaged in the initiative to transport vital grain, while UN and Turkish monitors will be present in Ukrainian ports in order to demarcate areas protected by the accord.
Continue reading...Call for voluntary cut until March 2023 with binding reduction targets possible when Moscow ‘likely’ halts supplies
The European Union’s executive body has urged member states to slash their gas consumption by 15%, as it warned that a complete shutdown of Russian supplies was “likely”.
The EU has been scrambling to wean itself off Russian gas since the invasion of Ukraine, but is alarmed about a potential energy crisis this winter.
Continue reading...Force majeure declared in letter to customers concerns supplies via Nord Stream 1 pipeline, says source
Russia’s Gazprom has told customers in Europe it cannot guarantee gas supplies because of “extraordinary” circumstances, according to a letter seen by Reuters, upping the ante in an economic tit-for-tat with the west over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Dated 14 July, the letter from the Russian state gas monopoly said it was declaring force majeure on supplies, starting from 14 June.
Continue reading...Ben van Beurden says Ukraine war fallout means big rise in bills and possible need to ration supplies
European consumers could face the prospect of energy rationing this winter as costs continue to soar amid the risk of Russia cutting off gas supplies, Shell’s chief executive has said.
“It will be a really tough winter in Europe,” said Ben van Beurden, speaking at the Aurora spring conference in Oxford on Thursday. “We will all face very significant escalation in energy prices. In the worst case, Europe will need to ration its energy consumption.”
Continue reading...Negotiators from Russia, Ukraine, the UN and Turkey seek deal to enable exports to pass on to the Danube
A traffic jam of more than 130 cargo ships loaded with Ukrainian grain is waiting in the Black Sea to pass into the Danube as negotiators from Moscow, Kyiv, the UN and Turkey hailed progress at talks in Istanbul on easing Ukrainian agricultural exports.
The ships are waiting to access exit routes through the Sulina and Bystre estuary canals to reach a series of ports and terminals in Romania from where the grain can be transported on around the world, amid mounting global concern about the Russian blockade on Ukrainian exports through the Black Sea.
Continue reading...Ministers fear flow may never restart as annual maintenance work soon begins on Nord Stream 1 pipeline
Germany is bracing itself for a potentially permanent halt to the flow of Russian gas from Monday when maintenance work begins on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that brings the fuel to Europe’s largest economy via the Baltic Sea.
The work on the 759-mile (1,220km) pipeline is an annual event and requires the gas taps to be closed for 10 to 14 days. But never before in the pipeline’s decade-long history has Germany seriously been asking whether the flow will begin again.
Continue reading...Norwegian government intervenes in pay row because of ‘great social consequences for whole of Europe’
The Norwegian government has stepped in to end a strike that had threatened supplies of gas to Britain.
The labour dispute had shut down oil and gasfields and was expected to cut Norway’s gas supplies by almost 60% by the weekend.
Continue reading...Soaring inflation piling pressure on country already struggling with shortages and stirring memories of Mugabe chaos
Zimbabwe will start issuing gold coins as legal tender in late July, its central bank has said, as the country battles to control runaway inflation that has considerably weakened the local currency.
The inflation rate more than doubled last month to 191%, stoking memories of the hyperinflation of the 2000s that saw the Zimbabwean dollar redenominated three times before being effectively abandoned in 2009.
Continue reading...Officials allege contract was corruptly procured by business duo behind P&ID as saga of energy project and secretive tribunal heads for high court
It has been described as one of the most extraordinary cases ever to come before the high court, involving an Irish impresario, an alleged $50,000 bribe stuffed into a bag and potentially one of the biggest payouts in legal history.
The saga of two Irish businessmen, Michael Quinn and Brendan Cahill, who promised to revolutionise Nigeria’s energy sector, will be at the centre of a high court trial early next year.
Continue reading...Policy would ban new ocean drilling but allow up to 11 lease sales in Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s south coast
Joe Biden’s administration on Friday unveiled a five-year offshore oil and gas drilling development plan that blocks all new drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans within US territorial waters while allowing some lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s south coast.
The plan, which has not been finalized, could allow up to 11 lease sales but gives the interior department the right to make none. It comes two days after the US supreme court curbed the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to respond to the climate crisis.
Continue reading...Ban on sales to everything except essential services comes as nation tries to conserve fuel supplies that are barely enough to last a single day
Cash-strapped Sri Lanka has announced a two-week halt to all fuel sales except for essential services and called for a partial shutdown as its unprecedented economic crisis deepened.
The south Asian nation is facing its worst economic meltdown since gaining independence from Britain in 1948, and has been unable to finance even the imports of essentials since late last year.
Continue reading...Volume of Russian crude bought and then exported by India suggests some of it may end up in European petrol stations
The huge blue and red hull of the SCF Primorye came into port at Vadinar, western Gujarat, India, earlier this month. The 84,000-tonne oil tanker, built in 2009 and sailing under the Liberian flag, had arrived from the port at Ust-Luga, a settlement in Russia near the border with Estonia.
Until 2017, the Vadinar oil refinery was controlled by Essar – the Indian owner of the Stanlow refinery in Ellesmere Port. Since then a consortium including the sanctioned Russian state-owned oil firm Rosneft and the commodities trader Trafigura, which holds a 24.5% stake, have owned Nayara Energy, which runs the refinery.
Continue reading...Fears consumers may have to pay up to three times as much after Nord Stream 1 pipeline flow cut by 40%
German consumers could face a tripling of gas prices in the coming months after Russia’s throttling of deliveries to Europe, a senior energy official has said.
Moscow reduced the flow of gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline by 40% last week, citing technical reasons that Berlin dismisses as a pretext, prompting a four to six-fold rise in market prices, said the head of Germany’s federal network agency, Klaus Müller.
Continue reading...