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AfrOil NEWSBASE’S ROUNDUP GLOBAL (NRG) AfrOil

NRG: Ahead of the peak

A warning that oil demand will peak within a few years overshadows some of the positive news

COMMENTARY WELCOME to the latest edition of NewsBase’s hasten the move away from fossil fuels.
Roundup Global (NRG), in which our team of The pandemic continues to have shorter-term
international editors provide you with a snap- consequences for the oil industry as well. The Mex-
shot of some of the key issues affecting their ican government has trimmed its production fore-
regional beats. Get the NRG Oil & Gas Editor’s cast for state-owned Pemex for 2021, while in the
Picks to your inbox every week for free. Just sign Middle East, Kuwait Oil Co. (KOC) cancelled an
up here. 11-well drilling project in the north of the country.
Weak oil prices and considerable uncertainty Meanwhile, in the US, producers and refiners
caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic were bracing for the second hurricane in less than
have not prevented oil and gas producers from cau- four weeks to pass through the Gulf of Mexico and
tiously moving forward with various projects. make landfall on the Gulf Coast. However, the pro-
In recent days, China’s CNOOC Ltd brought duction outages ahead of the hurricane could help
a new shallow-water oilfield online, while Russia’s prices as they weaken on a bleak demand outlook.
Rosneft has decided to push ahead with a hard-to-
recover oil project in the Volga-Urals Basin – its first Asia: CNOOC’s new shallow-water oilfield
without any partner. State-run CNOOC Ltd has started production
However, progress being reported on new oil from the Nanbao 35-2 oilfield’s S1 area, which
projects is being overshadowed by a warning that lies in the shallow-water zone offshore eastern
demand for crude could peak in the next few years. China. The company said on September 11 that
The projection was made by super-major BP in its it intended to drill three development wells and
Energy Outlook 2020, which was published this boost crude oil production to a peak of around
week. The company believes that COVID-19 could 1,800 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021.

Week 37 16•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7