Page 18 - AsianOil Week 46

AsianOil NEWSBASE’S ROUNDUP GLOBAL (NRG) AsianOil

NRG: Fading optimism

After a brief rally on positive news about a COVID-19 vaccine, oil prices are losing

steam in the face of predictions that demand is not headed for a recovery yet

COMMENTARY WELCOME to the latest edition of NewsBase’s of a new oil law and BP has scaled back its expan-
Roundup Global (NRG), in which our team of sion plans in the offshore Mauritania/Senegal
international editors provide you with a snap- basin. In Europe, the UK is set to see oil and gas
shot of some of the key issues affecting their drilling fall to the lowest levels seen in more than 40
regional beats. Get the NRG Oil & Gas Editor’s years. In the Middle East, Saudi oil facilities located
Picks to your inbox every week for free. Just sign near the border with Yemen came under attack. In
up here. North America, the shale sector is weathering news
World oil markets performed well last week, on of a bankruptcy and an asset sale.
the back of reports that a vaccine for the novel coro- There has been some good news, though. Cono-
navirus, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic, coPhillips has reported a new discovery offshore Nor-
might be approved before the end of the year. way. Several LNG projects have continued to move
However, the rally appears to have lost steam forward, and Brazil is gearing up to unload a major
already, owing to widespread expectations that upstream asset.
global energy demand will remain sluggish in the
near term. The International Energy Agency (IEA) Africa: West Africa in focus
took that stance in a report published November The Nigerian government has been pushing
12, saying that rising infection rates in Europe the National Assembly to pass the long-delayed
and the US were acting as a damper on oil and Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) before year-end,
gas demand. The agency also stated that it did not but it has pushed its deadline back to next March.
believe COVID-19 vaccines would give a signifi- According to Timipre Sylva, the country’s min-
cant boost to demand “until well into next year.” ister of state for petroleum resources, Abuja has
Other signs of slowdown were seen in Africa, a good chance of securing the passage of the law
where Nigeria has altered its target date for passage before the end of the first quarter of 2021.

P18 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 46 19•November•2020