5月31日油氣行業十大新聞

Saudi Aramco Reports Record Production In 2015, As Kingdom’s Market Share Push Grows Stronger. In its annual report, Saudi Aramco said it produced an average of 10.2 M/bpd of crude oil in 2015, a new all-time record, and up from 9.5 M/bpd in 2014. The company also reiterated its 12 M/bpd oil production capacity. [Oilpro]

Opec Forced To Accept New Reality On Oil Prices. Although oil prices briefly went above $50 per barrel this past week, the upcoming Opec meeting in Vienna on Thursday will provide no support for those who hope the organisation will finalize the production freeze which Saudi Arabia rejected in Doha. [thenational.ae, Oilpro]

Counterpoint: Oil Pessimists Exit Market as Supplies Seen Closer to Balance. The oil market doomsayers are beginning to capitulate. Speculators reduced bets on falling prices to the lowest level in 11 months as oil briefly breached $50 a barrel on signs supplies are coming into balance. [Bloomberg, Oilpro]

Suncor Starts Ramping Back Up. Suncor said Sunday it has begun a “staged restart” of operations near Fort McMurray. Canada’s largest crude-oil producer said it expects initial production to commence by the end of this week, noting startup activities had begun at its base plant and its MacKay River facility. [MarketWatch]

Carnarvon Acquires North West Shelf Acreage. Carnarvon Petroleum Ltd. has acquired 100% of WA-523-P and added another high quality asset to its projects on Australia’s North West Shelf. [Oilpro]

French Oil Worker Strike Extended. Workers at the CIM, an oil storage and supply services company which handles about 40 percent of French crude imports, have voted to extend their strike at Le Havre port until 1000 GMT on Wednesday, a CGT union official told Reuters. [Oilpro, Reuters]

Harvard Scientist Engineers Bacterium That Inhales CO2, Produces Energy. The Harvard chemist who gave us the artificial leaf has genetically engineered bacteria to absorb hydrogen and carbon dioxide and convert them into fuel alcohol. Now he reports the process converts sunlight ten times more efficiently than plants do. [Forbes, Oilpro]

Nigeria Plans Talks With Oil Region On Grievances, Continues Army Crackdown.Nigeria’s president on Sunday said he would hold talks with leaders in the oil-producing Delta region to address their grievances in a bid to stop a surge in pipeline attacks, but that an army crackdown would continue. [Reuters]

World’s Biggest LNG Buyer Becomes Seller as Gas Glut Builds. Japan’s Jera Co., one of the world’s largest buyers of LNG, agreed to sell the fuel to a unit of France’s Electricite de France SA. Jera, a JV between Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Chubu Electric Power Co., will sell as much as 1.5 million metric tons of LNG between June 2018 and December 2020. [Bloomberg, Oilpro]