Page 12 - FSUOGM Week 23

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Oil production breakthrough; Aramco sets evacuated 188 Gulf facilities, and shut in 635,000
prices for July barrels per day (bpd) of oil and 878mn cubic
The week’s developments in the Middle East have feet (25mn cubic metres) per day of natural gas
centred on the milestone of Saturday’s important according to federal data.
meeting of OPEC and its allies, who managed Among those shutting in some of their out-
to break through the temporary difficulties and put was BP, which reduced production at its
deadlock to reach agreement to extend the oil Thunder Horse, Atlantis and Na Kika platforms.
production cuts through to the end of July. On Royal Dutch Shell said on June 8 that its produc-
this news, oil prices edged higher and this was tion had been unaffected by the storm, but that
followed by Saudi Aramco issuing their prices it would resume drilling activity and redeploy
for July; these prices exceeded market expec- nonessential workers that had been evacuated
tations and suggested that the oil market was from the region.
now walking away from the dire situation which Murphy Oil also said on June 8 that it was
enveloped it in March/April. beginning to return workers to offshore facilities.
That there is still a long way to go is high- Onshore, meanwhile, the active oil and gas
lighted by the perils facing OPEC’s sec- rig count has continued to fall and dropped to
ond-largest member – Iraq. The country’ 284 in the week up to June 5 – marking a thir-
prime minister has made an encouraging start teenth straight week of declines. This compares
to his tenure but he now has to try to find a way with 793 active oil and gas rigs reported in the
through the inexorable ripples of the massive first week of March.
cut to the state’s revenues from the collapse in Oil rigs have accounted for the majority of the
the price of oil. To avoid financial collapse and decline, falling by 476 over this period, while the
public service meltdown is his government’s gas rig count fell by 33.
top priority. Also last week, data emerged showing
A reminder of former times comes with pos- how robust energy trade within North Amer-
itive news from Abu Dhabi, where ADNOC is ica was in 2019. The US Energy Information
looking to close a deal to sell a stake in its domes- Administration (EIA) reported on June 5
tic gas pipeline network, and Oman, where PDO that Canada was the largest source of US
has said it aims to increase its crude production energy imports last year, and was second only
to 700,000 bpd by 2024. behind Mexico as a destination for US energy
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping exports.
the Middle East’s oil and gas sector then please click Citing data from the US Census Bureau, the
here for NewsBase’s MEOG Monitor. EIA said that energy accounted for $85bn or 27%
of the value of all US imports from Canada in
Offshore disruptions as North American 2019. Meanwhile, the US exported $23bn worth
onshore rigs fall of energy to Canada last year, accounting for
Oil producers in the US Gulf of Mexico were around 8% of all US exports to Canada. This
preparing to resume disrupted operations this was the second highest level ever recorded, after
week, after Tropical Storm Cristobal passed 2014.
through the region, bringing high winds and If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
heavy rains. the North American oil and gas sector, then please click
Offshore producers were reported to have here for NewsBase’s NorthAmOil Monitor.™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 23 10•June•2020