Month: January 2021

Members of the opposition in Somalia warned this week that the country’s federal government is about to sign a secret petroleum exploration and drilling agreement with two foreign companies a month before its term in office expires, which would “pose a great danger” to the future of Somalia and its natural resources. The opposition has received information that Somalia’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources would sign the secret deal in the coming days, Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame, the leader of the opposition Wadajir Party, said in a letter to the…

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2018 was a very bad year for one-time commodity trading wunderkind, Pierre Andurand, who back in April of 2018 bet oil could soon hit $100 a barrel (and even said $300 oil is “not impossible”), but watched as his billion Andurand Commodities Fund suffered its largest monthly loss ever just a few months later as oil closed the year at just half of his target price. And while his performance in 2019 was better, the energy trader who runs one of the last big oil-focused hedge funds again failed to…

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Oil edged higher ahead of a resumption of OPEC+ talks that were unexpectedly suspended due to a disagreement over whether to raise output in February as the coronavirus continues to surge. Futures in New York gained toward $48 a barrel after dropping the most in 2 weeks on Monday. Discussions will restart on Tuesday after a majority of members, including Saudi Arabia, opposed Russia’s proposal for another supply hike. The talks are happening against a shaky short-term demand backdrop. England was ordered into a third lockdown until mid-February, Germany is…

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Trafigura Group’s purchase of a stake in Rosneft PJSC’s flagship Arctic oil project was funded by a $7 billion loan organized by a Russian bank, according to documents that shed new light on the trading house’s biggest-ever deal. The two companies last week said they had completed a deal for a 10% stake in Vostok Oil, without providing a value. Trafigura had said the purchase had been “majority financed by long-term debt,” but didn’t name the lenders. According to corporate filings in Singapore, which haven’t previously been reported, the trading…

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KARACHI: Oil sales increased 12 percent to clock in at 9.8 million tons in the first half of the current fiscal year (1HFY21), mostly owing to the reopening of economy after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, latest data issued by oil companies showed on Monday. According to number released by Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC), major contribution to this upsurge came from Motor Spirit (MS) and High Speed Diesel (HSD) standing at 4.1 million tons (up 8 percent) and 3.7 million tons (up 13 percent), respectively. Moreover, an…

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ISLAMABAD: The fertiliser industry has protested over a recent decision of the Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCoE) to divert natural gas to pipeline system from Mari Gas and has sought its reconsideration to ensure required fertiliser production and protect the country’s agriculture sector. The “decision of the CCoE, whereby gas is being provided from the Mari Gas fields to the network through a new interconnection, is a grave threat to the country’s food security in the long term since this would not only hasten the depletion of indigenous resources but…

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