Page 13 - AsianOil Week 45

AsianOil NEWSBASE’S ROUNDUP GLOBAL (NRG) AsianOil

COVID-19 vaccine lifts hopes

Oil surged at the start of this week, after promising vaccine results and

increased certainty about the US election outcome

COMMENTARY WELCOME to the latest edition of NewsBase’s November 9, although the benchmark lost some
Roundup Global (NRG), in which our team of of this gain on November 10. West Texas Inter-
international editors provide you with a snap- mediate (WTI) likewise surged to $41.2 per bar-
shot of some of the key issues affecting their rel, from $37.1.
regional beats. Get the NRG Oil & Gas Editor’s In the eyes of traders, a widely available vaccine
Picks to your inbox every week for free. Just sign should ensure no future lockdowns, shoring up
up here. fuel demand. But it will not arrive overnight and
Joe Biden has been declared President-Elect in the meantime, the world remains in the grip of a
after clinching enough states to win the necessary COVID-19 second wave, with the risk of additional
270 electoral votes. But as widely expected, Don- travel restrictions being imposed.
ald Trump has disputed the result and his team has
launched legal action in several swing states. Shell’s South African move
Biden’s administration will seek to put the Interest in South Africa’s offshore zone remains
US on a path to reaching net-zero emissions by strong. Royal Dutch Shell has entered into a farm-
2050, and take the country back into the Paris out agreement with UK-based Impact Oil & Gas
Agreement. The US oil industry will face greater that will allow it to take a 50% stake in the Transkei
restrictions on development and energy infra- & Algoa block. The Algoa section of the licence area
structure projects will likely have to go through is adjacent to the eastern edge of Block 11B/12B,
a tougher permitting process. where Total (France) has discovered sizeable
Oil surged this week, partly owing to added cer- reserves of gas condensate at the Brulpadda and
tainty about the election outcome. But the greater Luiperd fields.
factor was Pfizer and BioNTech reporting very prom- Total, for its part, is reportedly looking to
ising results from their experimental coronavirus trim its portfolio in Angola. Industry sources
(COVID-19) vaccine. The vaccine has been found have told Reuters that the French major is
to be over 90% effective based on initial trial results, looking into unloading its 20% stake in the
the partners said on November 9. Based on current Block 14, which is operated by Chevron.
projections, the pair expect to produce up to 50mn According to the sources, Total could earn
vaccine doses in 2020 and up to 1.3bn doses in 2021. $300mn through the sale of this asset and
Brent futures surged from $39.5 per barrel make progress towards its goal of achieving
on November 6 to a closing price of $42.4 on carbon neutrality by 2050.

Week 45 12•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P13