Page 6 - LatAmOil Week 41

LatAmOil NEWSBASE’S ROUNDUP GLOBAL (NRG) LatAmOil

NRG: Countervailing forces

Oil prices and energy demand are under pressure on both sides
from storms and COVID-19 outbreaks, as well as climate concerns

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

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 41 15•October•2020