Page 6 - MEOG Week 41

MEOG NEWSBASE’S ROUNDUP GLOBAL (NRG) MEOG

NRG: countervailing forces

Oil prices and energy demand are under pressure on both

sides from storms, COVID-19 outbreaks and climate concerns

COMMENTARY WELCOME to the latest edition of NewsBase’s fuels. These concerns have been evident over the
Roundup Global (NRG), in which our team of last week, despite indications that Saudi Arabia was
international editors provide you with a snap- looking to raise crude output.
shot of some of the key issues affecting their They could lead to the cancellation of Den-
regional beats. Get the NRG Oil & Gas Editor’s mark’s latest offshore licensing round, and they
Picks to your inbox every week for free. Just sign have led US-based NextDecade to include a carbon
up here. neutrality goal in its plans for the Rio Grande LNG
World crude oil prices went up last week, as terminal.
Hurricane Delta forced the temporary closure of
offshore production platforms in the Gulf of Mex- Africa: South Sudan’s plan
ico. However, they began sinking again on Monday, South Sudan’s largest producer, Dar Petroleum
partly because Gulf production was resuming and Operating Co. (DPOC), has seen yields drop to
partly because of the reported restart of Libya’s larg- 115,000 bpd. Petroleum Minister Awow Daniel
est oilfield. Chuang attributed the decline to geological fac-
Likewise, global energy demand has been buf- tors and floods last week and said he hoped that
feted by both bearish and bullish forces. technical solutions would help boost output. He
On the one hand, recent increases in the rate of also noted that Juba’s plan to offer exploration
coronavirus (COVID-19) infections, along with rights to 14 new fields in its upcoming licensing
new lockdowns in a number of countries, indicate round was designed to help boost production.
that oil and gas consumption is not likely to reach Libya, by contrast, is on track to keep pushing
pre-pandemic levels in the immediate future. crude yields up. Over the weekend, National Oil
But on the other hand, renewed economic Corp. (NOC) reported that Sharara, the country’s
activity has pushed consumption up from the lows biggest oilfield, was back on stream.
reported in the spring and does not appear to be Meanwhile, Tullow Oil (UK/Ireland) marked a
headed for another plunge in the near term. milestone in Ghana, saying it had brought the vol-
In the long run, however, climate concerns will ume of oil extracted from the offshore Jubilee field
continue to raise questions about the future of fossil to 300mn barrels.

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 41 14•October•2020