Who needs a loss-making, inflexible oil refinery in a world where demand for petroleum has been obliterated? We’re about to find out. When consumption of transport fuels collapsed this year because of coronavirus, much of the industry moved into survival mode, cutting processing rates and even temporarily stopping refining in some cases. While that helped […]

The day oil prices turned negative will likely be remembered as the climax of the darkest period ever for the petroleum industry, but for one lucky trading shop it was the opportunity of a lifetime. While many rushed to liquidate positions and cover margins as the May contract neared expiration, BB Energy, a medium-sized trading […]

Oil tanker rates are crashing as a pact to limit global crude production begins. Don’t bet on the rout enduring. From today, crude producers in the OPEC+ alliance are cutting their collective output by a level that’s unprecedented in history — almost 10% of global consumption. Normally, such huge curbs would have destroyed the tanker […]

As oil crashes due to the impact of the coronavirus, it’s easy to overlook an even more dismal reality for producers: the real prices they’re getting for their barrels are worse still. Having collapsed by about 60% this year, Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude have stabilized at around $25 a barrel, but the price […]

Oil companies are being forced to pay exorbitant prices for oil tankers as shipowners book vessels for storage and Saudi Arabia snaps up ships as it prepares to flood the market with crude. Reliance Industries Ltd. booked the supertanker Princess Mary for more than $400,000 a day to haul crude from the Middle East to […]

Equinor ASA reported the first case of coronavirus among employees on oil and gas installations offshore Norway and is testing more workers on several platforms. The positive test at the Martin Linge field, due to start output at the end of the year, appears to be the first confirmed instance of an infected worker on […]

At least three buyers of Saudi Arabian oil requested between 30% and 50% more supplies than they had originally planned in April after the world’s biggest exporter slashed its prices, according to people familiar with the matter. The so-called nominations show how the price war that’s broken out between the world’s biggest crude producers is […]

Russia is ready to cooperate with its OPEC+ partners to support the world oil market, even though it’s comfortable with current crude prices, President Vladimir Putin said. The OPEC+ mechanism «has already established itself as an effective tool in ensuring long-term stability in global energy markets», Putin told a meeting with ministers in Moscow on […]

Oil hovered around $50 a barrel in New York on signs a much-touted emergency meeting of OPEC+ ministers probably won’t happen after all. Ministers from the group and its allies are unlikely to hold an early meeting this month, while one planned for March will go ahead, Azerbaijan Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov told the RIA […]

Ivan Glasenberg appointed his nephew as head of oil assets at Glencore Plc, the latest changing of the guard in the senior ranks of the world’s largest commodity trader. Colin Glasenberg, who joined Glencore’s energy business in 2011, is now part of senior management and oversees oil fields in Chad and Equatorial Guinea. The appointment […]