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AfrOil NEWSBASE’S ROUNDUP GLOBAL (NRG) AfrOil

NRG: Oil enters choppy waters

Traders are struggling to interpret what the rising number of COVID-19 infections will mean for demand

COMMENTARY WELCOME to the latest edition of NewsBase’s thrown his weight behind a new digital manage-
Roundup Global (NRG), in which our team of ment system for the upstream sector, amid fall-
international editors provide you with a snap- ing crude oil reserves and a rising dependency
shot of some of the key issues affecting their on natural gas imports.
regional beats. Get the NRG Oil & Gas Editor’s During a committee meeting covering the oil
Picks to your inbox every week for free. Just sign and gas sector last week, Khan said the govern-
up here. ment’s exploration management system (EMS)
Oil markets have been choppy over the past would help boost access to domestic oil and gas
week, as traders have struggled to interpret what reserves. This, he said on October 2, would help cut
the rising numbers of coronavirus (COVID-19) government spending on energy supplies while
infections will mean for demand levels. The global driving down oil and gas prices for the public.
tally for infections has topped 35mn, while deaths The Pakistani Petroleum Division unveiled
have exceeded 1mn. This has brought the recovery the EMS in August, describing it at the time as a
in oil consumption that began in June to an end, multi-user geographic information systems (GIS)
raising the risk that some excess supply will have to database application that would allow the Directo-
be placed in storage during the remaining months rate of Petroleum Concession to access real-time
of the year. upstream data. The system was developed in col-
Crude prices rebounded by over 5% on October laboration of international oil and gas technology
5, after doctors said US President Donald Trump company LMKR..
could soon be discharged from the hospital, where The government body noted that EMS con-
he is being treated for COVID-19. A strike by Nor- tained a “planned vs actual” wells dashboard that
wegian oil workers that has led to the shutdown of would allow the government to monitor com-
six fields has also provided prices with some tem- pany performance against their commitments as
porarily support. well as a daily and weekly field production dash-
board. The government’s focus on technology
Asia: Pakistan’s upstream dilemma comes as the country’s oil reserves continue to
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has decline, while national gas reserves flatline.

Week 40 07•October•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9