Djeno crude oil

Crude oil exports plunge as resource depletes

March 24, 2021 by e.vnexpress.net

Crude exports volume from January 1 to February 15 this year fell nearly 50 percent year-on-year to 354,700 tonnes, according to Vietnam Customs.

Most of Vietnam’s oil and gas fields have been harnessed for over 20 years ago and run their course, said Hoang Ngoc Trung, deputy director of Petrovietnam Exploration Production Corporation Ltd.

In the last five years, crude oil prices have been falling, which has affected investment in searching for new fields, he told the Tuoi Tre newspaper.

The corporation’s output was 3.8 million tonnes last year, down marginally from 2019, and the figure is set to fall another 10 percent this year.

However, Vietnam’s crude oil prices remain higher than the global average.

The global average price of Brent crude oil last year was $41.8 per barrel, but Vietnam sold them for $43.7, 4.5 percent higher.

In the first two months, Brent crude was $58.53 per barrel, compared to $59.94 percent in Vietnam.

Trung said exploitation volume is set to recover in the next two or three years with several new fields such as Dai Hung and White Lion coming online.

Oil and gas companies expect good performance in Q1

April 6, 2021 by en.vietnamplus.vn

PetroVietnam Gas workers at its plant. (Photo pvgas.com.vn)

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Many Vietnamese companies in the oil and gas field might post positive results in the first quarter of 2021 thanks to the strong rally of crude oil in the international market.

As of March 31, crude prices rose more than 23.6 percent. It even broke over 70 USD a barrel in March.

The gain received support from lower global oil stocks. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC , agreed to extend production curbs, and supply from the US was estimated to fall 4 million barrel a day.

The bullish oil price might have positive effects on business activities of oil and gas companies in this year’s first quarter. In early April, PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) reported revenue of over 17.8 trillion VND in the first quarter, equivalent to 102 percent of its quarterly target.

Its profit after tax was more than 2.23 trillion VND, equivalent to 127 percent of its plan, GAS said in a statement on its official website.

The company said that despite unstable demand from customers, lower than GAS’ estimation and that of the same period last year, and some transportation issues to transfer oil and gas to the mainland from offshore basin, GAS still achieved business targets on higher oil prices.

GAS’ price policy is normally 46 percent of furnace oil (FO) price. Once oil prices rise, GAS will directly benefit from the higher sale price of gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). It is holding a 100 percent market share in natural gas and is accounting for the largest part in wholesale LPG.

Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (BSR) also expected good results in the first quarter. In an announcement, BSR estimated that it gained nearly 21 trillion VND in revenue in the first quarter, with a profit of over 1.8 trillion VND.

The company stated that the strong rally in the international oil price is the main reason for the good results.

Meanwhile, fuel demand is also expected to improve as the pandemic has been contained.

PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (OIL) said that the increase in oil prices might help it revert the provision for devaluation of inventories in the first quarter of 2021, as well as to improve domestic fuel output, especially aviation fuel when international routes are reopened.

The group of oil and gas companies providing services and products such as PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PVS), PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corporation (PVD), Petrovietnam Transportation Corporation (PVT) and PetroVietNam Chemical and Services JSC (PVC) also witnessed positive signs on stable operations and development of new projects.

Shares of these companies were also boosted by the higher oil prices and good business result outlooks.

In the first quarter, BSR shares increased sharply by 73.5 percent compared to the beginning of the year, followed by PVD (30.6 percent), PVT (17.2 percent), PVS (22.3 percent), OIL (17.2 percent) and GAS (1.8 percent)./.

VNA

Oil and gas companies expect good performance in Q1 on higher crude price

April 6, 2021 by bizhub.vn

PetroVietnam Gas workers at its plant. — Photo pvgas.com.vn

Many Vietnamese companies in the oil and gas field might post positive results in the first quarter of 2021 thanks to the strong rally of crude oil in the international market.

As of March 31, crude prices rose more than 23.6 per cent. It even broke over US$70 a barrel in March.

The gain received support from lower global oil stocks. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, agreed to extend production curbs, and supply from the US was estimated to fall 4 million barrel a day.

The bullish oil price might have positive effects on business activities of oil and gas companies in this year’s first quarter. In early April, PetroVietnam Gas JSC (GAS) reported revenue of over VND17.8 trillion in the first quarter, equivalent to 102 per cent of its quarterly target.

Its profit after tax was more than VND2.23 trillion, equivalent to 127 per cent of its plan, GAS said in a statement on its official website.

GAS’ price policy is normally 46 per cent of furnace oil (FO) price. Once oil prices rise, GAS will directly benefit from the higher sale price of gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). It is holding a 100 per cent market share in natural gas and is accounting for the largest part in wholesale LPG.

Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (BSR) also expected good results in the first quarter. In an announcement, BSR estimated that it gained nearly VND21 trillion in revenue in the first quarter, with a profit of over VND1.8 trillion.

The company stated that the strong rally in the international oil price is the main reason for the good results.

Meanwhile, fuel demand is also expected to improve as the pandemic has been contained.

Shares of these companies were also boosted by the higher oil prices and good business result outlooks.

In the first quarter, BSR shares increased sharply by 73.5 per cent compared to the beginning of the year, followed by PVD (30.6 per cent), PVT (17.2 per cent), PVS (22.3 per cent), OIL (17.2 per cent) and GAS (1.8 per cent). — VNS

OPEC+ to reconvene to navigate crude market volatility

March 30, 2021 by www.vir.com.vn

OPEC+ to reconvene to navigate crude market volatility

“The expectation is that the group will hold production steady also in May given current physical oil market weakness,” according to Bjarne Schieldrop, analyst at SEB.

However, he added that “Russia and Kazakhstan are likely to lift production yet another notch and the group in total is probably fine with that.”

The OPEC cartel’s largest producer is Saudi Arabia but the OPEC+ grouping also includes Russia, which produces even more crude oil.

Under its current agreement the OPEC+ group is enforcing a drastic output cut, meaning seven million barrels that could be shipped to markets every day are being left in the ground.

The aim has been to avoid oversupplying a market suffering from a collapse in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Without the production cuts, limited storage capacity could be saturated and the danger of a fall in prices — currently hovering around $60 per barrel — is real.

Indeed, the two benchmark contracts, American WTI and Europe’s Brent, have undergone a drastic price correction in recent weeks and have been subjected to fresh price instability over the last few days, a sign of serious market tension.

– Vaccine ‘chaos’ –

At the beginning of the year the arrival of effective coronavirus vaccines had led to hopes that widespread lockdowns, and with them the collapse in demand that has been a nightmare for the cartel, might soon be over.

But then came the third wave surge in Europe and the spread of the virus in key crude consumer markets such as India and Brazil.

“Oil demand trends are not only pressured by renewed lockdowns on the (European) continent but also chaos with its vaccination program,” said Stephen Brennock, analyst at PVM.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) reflected this more downbeat outlook in forecasts contained in its last report this month.

It estimated that global demand could take another two years to get back to its pre-crisis levels.

– Saudi ‘prudence’ –

Despite different opinions on how to manage fallout from the crisis, OPEC+ has been able to unite around a very cautious policy of slow increase in capacity based on “prudence”, a watchword of Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman.

To help smaller producers, Saudi Arabia agreed to reduce its own output by an extra million barrels per day (bpd) in February, March and April.

However this cut “was never going to last forever and traders are now getting increasingly worried that the kingdom will not hold on to it for much longer” says Louise Dickson of Rystad.

As such Riyadh’s moves at this week’s meeting will be especially keenly watched.

Faced with a constantly shifting market, the OPEC+ states have agreed to an almost monthly rhythm of meetings to thrash out policy for the month to follow, rather than the twice-yearly meetings which were the norm before the pandemic.

Once again the thorny subject of respect for production cut quotas will be hanging over the meeting, as well the issue of the three producers who have thus far been exempted from cuts — Venezuela, Libya and Iran.

On Wednesday the group will hold preliminary discussions in the form of its Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC), which is tasked with overseeing implementation of agreements.

AFP

Stabilising the oil market

January 7, 2021 by en.nhandan.org.vn

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia voluntarily pledged an additional cut of one million barrels a day compared to the previous agreement. OPEC+ members continue to show their role of cautiously leading the oil market amidst the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The OPEC+ ministerial meeting took place in the context of member countries’ efforts to support the oil market which has been hit by the pandemic. Oil consumption in 2020 fell sharply as a result of the disease. The goal of OPEC+ is to attain a balance, even a fragile one, between pushing the oil prices up to a high enough level to help consolidate member states’ budget, but not too much to cause production of their opponents, such as the US, to hike. After the most recent conference held in November 2020, OPEC+ countries reached consensus on increasing oil production by 500,000 barrels per day from January 2021. At the same event, 13 members of OPEC+ also agreed to meet once a month at the beginning of the month to discuss any changes in terms of oil production for the following month. However, at the first meeting in 2021, there remained deep disagreements between countries, making it difficult to reach a deal. Some members believed that the second wave of COVID-19 will continue to rage, so it is too early to add nearly two million barrels per day to the market. Meanwhile, an increase of 25% in crude oil prices as well as the positive outlook of COVID-19 vaccine development have led some countries to see the “light at the end of the tunnel” and call for the maintenance of the set production increase schedule. In reality, the output cuts and the declined oil revenues have put several countries in difficulties, although these reductions have partly worked to push up oil prices.

Under the newly reached agreement, Russia and Kazakhstan will be allowed to increase production by a total of 75,000 barrels per day in February and March. OPEC+ will lower its total crude oil production cuts to 7.125 million barrels per day in February and 7.05 million barrels per day for March compared to the figure of 7.2 million barrels per day set out in previous agreements, or 7% of global demand. Earlier, an internal OPEC document proposed a cut of 500,000 barrels per day next month within some scenarios considered for 2021. According to this document, OPEC+ emphasised the risks of falling oil prices and stated that the reimposition of lockdown measures across continents to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is hindering the recovery of oil demand in 2021. However, among OPEC+ members, there are calculations to both ensure their own interests and not to deviate from the bloc’s goal of supporting oil prices that are precarious due to the impact of the pandemic. Russia and Kazakhstan had initially insisted on raising production by 0.5 million barrels per day, while Iraq, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates suggested that output be held steady. To reach an agreement during this meeting, countries had to compromise on the long-term policy for the rest of the year.

In the face of a fragile market, Saudi Arabia called for OPEC+ members to be flexible in meeting oil demand as the country is developing a plan towards apply the policy of tightening oil output in 2021 to cope with declining demand. Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said that the market will not be generous to those who do not comply with agreements and OPEC+ must be ready to adjust the terms of the agreement, if necessary, to prevent any negative reactions from the market. Therefore, reaching a consensus on output adjustment is not easy for OPEC+ member countries, but it is a shared responsibility in maintaining the bloc’s market leading role. OPEC+ has lowered its oil demand forecast for 2021, thereby showing support for the policy of tightening supplies.

The complicated developments of the pandemic have caused the recovery of global oil demand to be uneven and possibly slower, thus posing greater difficulties to the producers’ efforts in balancing the market and stabilising the oil prices.

Oil prices dip after OPEC+ agree to ease output cuts

April 5, 2021 by tuoitrenews.vn

SINGAPORE — Oil prices slipped on Monday, paring strong gains made in the previous session after OPEC+ agreed last week to gradually ease some of its production cuts between May and July.

Brent crude futures for June fell 33 cents, or 0.5%, to $64.53 a barrel by 0206 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for May was at $61.20 a barrel, down 25 cents, or 0.4%.

Both contracts settled up more than $2 a barrel on Thursday as investors viewed the OPEC+ decision as an affirmation of demand-led recovery and optimism was boosted by U.S. President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure spending plan. Markets were closed on Friday because of the Easter holiday.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and their allies, a group known as OPEC+, agreed to ease production curbs by 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May, another 350,000 bpd in June and further 400,000 bpd or so in July.

The decision came after the new U.S. administration called on Saudi Arabia to keep energy affordable for consumers despite demand concerns as parts of Europe remained under lockdown while Japan could expand emergency measures as needed to contain a new wave of coronavirus infections.

Under Thursday’s agreement, OPEC+ cuts would be just above 6.5 million bpd from May, compared with slightly below 7 million bpd in April.

Most of the increase in supplies will come from the world’s top exporter, Saudi Arabia, which said it was phasing out its extra voluntary cuts by July, a move that will add 1 million bpd. Following that, Saudi Aramco raised official selling prices (OSPs) for May to Asia on Sunday.

“The raised output was followed by an increase in the OSP, which I think in tandem shows the confidence the bloc has in demand recovery,” OCBC economist Howie Lee said.

This week, investors are focused on indirect talks in Vienna between Iran and the United States as part of broader negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and global powers.

Ahead of the talks, Iran’s foreign ministry said it wanted the United States to lift all sanctions and rejected any “step-by-step” easing of restrictions.

Eurasia’s analyst Henry Rome said he expects U.S. sanctions, including restrictions on the sale of Iranian oil, to be lifted only after these talks are completed and until Iran returns to compliance.

“Diplomacy could stretch for months and nuclear compliance could take as long as three months,” he said in a note, adding that implementation of such a deal and a ramp-up of oil exports could stretch into early 2022.