Oilprice.com https://oilprice.com/feed/rss.html The latest news and headlines Tue, 19 Mar 2024 03:51:19 -0500 Ukraine Drone Attacks Knock Out 600,000 Bpd of Russian Refining Capacity https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Ukraine-Drone-Attacks-Knock-Out-600000-Bpd-of-Russian-Refining-Capacity.html oilprice-news-36908 Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries have taken out as much as 600,000 barrels in daily processing capacity, according to commodity trading major Gunvor. “It is significant because obviously this is gonna hit the distillate exports straight away,” Gunvor chief executive Torbjörn Törnqvist told Bloomberg on the sidelines of CERAWeek. “So that will probably take down exports by a couple of hundred thousand barrels, so to me it’s a distillate problem,” the executive added. Per Bloomberg, however,… Tue, 19 Mar 2024 03:45:25 -0500 Charles Kennedy Argentina’s Economic Shock Therapy Leads Enel to Delay Sale of Power Distributor https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Argentinas-Economic-Shock-Therapy-Leads-Enel-to-Delay-Sale-of-Power-Distributor.html oilprice-news-36907 Enel has decided to hold off the sale of a power distribution company it operates in Argentina, as it expects the country’s new president to deregulate the electricity market, making the company, Edesur, more valuable. Libertarian Javier Milei has bet on a shock therapy in his attempt to turn Argentina’s economy around and that therapy includes deregulating the electricity market and removing subsidies and price controls that kept electricity affordable for Argentinians but produced losses for Edesur. Bloomberg cited several… Tue, 19 Mar 2024 02:19:00 -0500 Charles Kennedy Aramco Boosts Dividends, But it Can Ill-Afford to Do So https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Aramco-Boosts-Dividends-But-it-Can-Ill-Afford-to-Do-So.html oilprice-article-36908 It is not surprising that profits in 2023 at Saudi Arabia’s flagship company Saudi Aramco were lower than in 2022. After all, the average price per barrel of the Brent crude oil benchmark dropped just over 18% over the year – from US$100.93 to US$82.49. The fact that Aramco’s profit drop was nearly 25%, rather than 18%, is also not that uprising, given standard operational variances over and above the straight drop in oil price. What may surprise many is that the company not only continues to pay a huge amount in dividends to… Mon, 18 Mar 2024 19:00:00 -0500 Simon Watkins The Gas Find That Could Transform Europe’s Energy Future https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Gas-Find-That-Could-Transform-Europes-Energy-Future.html oilprice-article-36907 Riding on the heels of Austria’s largest gas discovery in 40 years by Austrian OMV, junior explorer MCF Energy (TSXV:MCF; OTC:MCFNF) announced on Monday morning another potentially significant find in their maiden drill in the Austrian Alps. On Monday, just days into its first drill in Austria, MCF Energy and partner ADX encountered 115 meters of rich gas shows between 1,452 and 1,567 meters deep at Welchau-1, “with strong evidence of natural fracturing, essential for gas production performance,” the company… Mon, 18 Mar 2024 18:00:00 -0500 James Stafford Big Oil Chases High Fossil Fuel Returns amid Poor Renewable Showing https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Big-Oil-Chases-High-Fossil-Fuel-Returns-amid-Poor-Renewable-Showing.html oilprice-article-36906 Europe’s major oil companies have started to scale back interim emission reduction targets, acknowledging that their priorities now lie with returning more cash to shareholders. And these returns come from the fossil fuel business, not from renewables.   The latest supermajor to ease emission targets was UK-based Shell, following in the footsteps of UK peer BP, which had already reduced emission reduction targets in early 2023.   Both oil and gas giants reaffirm their commitments to become net-zero energy businesses by 2050, but… Mon, 18 Mar 2024 17:00:00 -0500 Tsvetana Paraskova Developed Economies Could Stagnate As Fossil Fuels Reach Their Limits https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Developed-Economies-Could-Stagnate-As-Fossil-Fuels-Reach-Their-Limits.html oilprice-article-36903 Historical data show that to date, a reduction in energy availability has mostly affected the US, European countries, Japan, and other advanced economies. I expect this situation to continue as energy limits become more of a problem. Advanced economies will start looking and acting more like today’s less-advanced economies. The world economy will face a bumpy path in a generally downward direction. In this post, I give an overview of our current predicament. All economies are subject to the laws of physics. We are biologically adapted to… Mon, 18 Mar 2024 16:00:00 -0500 Gail Tverberg China’s Solar Power Dominance Threatens Western Clean Energy Dreams https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Chinas-Solar-Power-Dominance-Threatens-Western-Clean-Energy-Dreams.html oilprice-article-36902 China is doubling down on solar power production, making the West’s chances of catching up even slimmer. China has been outspending the rest of the world in clean energy deployment for years now, out-investing other economic superpowers by a factor of four. Not only is the window closing for the United States and Europe to produce solar energy competitively in China, the West is increasingly dependent on imports of Chinese clean energy components and raw materials for their own renewable energy expansion strategies.  In 2023 China… Mon, 18 Mar 2024 15:00:00 -0500 Haley Zaremba Biden Charges Forward With Historic Auto Emission Crackdown https://oilprice.com/The-Environment/Global-Warming/Biden-Charges-Forward-With-Historic-Auto-Emission-Crackdown.html oilprice-article-36901 Despite pretty much the entire country making it clear that EV mandates are hurting the industry (with major automakers like Ford and GM slashing investment), President Biden is forging forward with his "green agenda" even further. This go-round, Biden is "preparing to roll out the toughest-ever" emissions restrictions, according to Bloomberg.  The report says that the Environmental Protection Agency is poised to implement emissions limits that (Biden thinks) could significantly boost electric vehicle sales, requiring EVs to constitute about… Mon, 18 Mar 2024 14:00:00 -0500 OilPrice.com Europe Gas Prices To Fall Throughout 2024 Amid High Storage Levels https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Europe-Gas-Prices-To-Fall-Throughout-2024-Amid-High-Storage-Levels.html oilprice-news-36906 Gas prices in Europe could plunge as low as $6.70 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) this summer thanks to a mild winter and ample gas inventories, Wood Mackenzie has said in a new report.  The report states that gas markets kicked off the current year on a more bullish note as colder weather swept through Europe while industrial demand maintained its recovering trend, increasing 12% year-on-year in January and around 6% in February.  WoodMac has forecast that household gas demand in Europe will increase by 12 billion cu m… Mon, 18 Mar 2024 13:30:00 -0500 Alex Kimani What Does Putin’s Re-Election Mean for the World? https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/What-Does-Putins-Re-Election-Mean-for-the-World.html oilprice-article-36900 This we can say with high confidence: Vladimir Putin will be declared the victor of the now ongoing three-day election, ushering in another six years as Russia's president. There's less confidence in what comes next, but there are strong clues: more men for the Ukraine war, new taxes to fund the war, new personnel shuffling within the Kremlin, new threats for NATO, and new repression of dissent. The strongest clues came in Putin's state-of-the-nation speech last month. Above all, says Tatyana Stanovaya, a veteran expert of Russian politics, was… Mon, 18 Mar 2024 13:00:00 -0500 RFE/RL staff