Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Sunday there was consensus among OPEC and allied oil producers to drive down crude inventories “gently” but his country would remain responsive to the needs of what he called a fragile market.

A settlement worth nearly $6.6 million has been proposed that will go towards restoring Charleston area salt marshes and building oyster reefs. The money will be split among several state and federal agencies and will be used to reimburse administrative expenses related to damage assessment and damage control into the Ashley and Beaufort Rivers and about 100 acres of salt marshes by the phosphate fertilizer industry since the 1800s. Experts admit that the negative impact of phosphate fertilizer industry, apparently the largest in South Carolina, were unknown.The toxic pollutants have caused range of negative responses in the marine and estuarine life including increased mortality, developmental problems, and reproductive issues. The settlement money borne by Exxon Mobil will also go towards restoring other damaged ecosystems and rebuilding marine life.

Oil prices dropped 1% on Thursday amid concerns over the escalating trade battle between the United States and China, despite a surprise fall in U.S. crude stockpiles. 

Amid weakening market prices for oil and gas, Royal Dutch Shell clocked an impressive quarter, generating plenty of cash and buying back sizable amounts of stock. Key highlights of the earnings report include: revenue at $85.66 billion compared to $91.11 billion in the same quarter a year ago and $104.6 billion in the last quarter of 2018; net income at $6.00 billion compared to $5.90 billion in the same quarter a year ago and $5.59 billion in the last quarter of 2018; earnings per ADS at $1.48 compared to $1.42 in the same quarter a year ago and $1.36 in the last quarter of 2018; and finally, operating cash flow at $8.63 billion compared to $9.47 billion in the same quarter a year ago and $22.0 billion in the last quarter of 2018. The segments that performed best in the quarter were oil products and chemicals segments.As of today, Shell has production capacity of about 650,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 5.6 million tons per year of LNG, as well as 1.5

Chevron’s leaders insist the company’s fortunes don’t rely on dealmaking, but the oil major nevertheless has much to lose if it does not prevail in an ongoing battle with Occidental Petroleum to take control of Anadarko Petroleum.Read More...

Anadarko Petroleum’s board of directors said on Monday that Occidental Petroleum’s buyout offer is superior to its agreement to sell its business to Chevron, putting the deal with the oil giant in jeopardy.Read More...

After two consecutive good quarters, Exxon Mobil fell a little flat in its latest quarter, due to weak performance from its refining and chemical business. The two main reasons for such a flat performance, according to the company, were lower than expected margins from the company’s refining and chemical business and second, the substantial downtime for maintenance in both its upstream and downstream businesses.Margins from the refining and polyethylene business in this past quarter were some of the lowest the company has seen in almost a decade. A number of investors are of the opinion that this trend will continue over the next couple of years.

Iran’s oil minister is warning that OPEC is “likely to collapse” because some members of the 14-nation group are working against their fellow producers. Read More...

Oil prices dipped on Tuesday on expectations rising output from the United States and producer club OPEC would offset most of the shortfall expected from U.S. sanctions on Iran, but analysts said markets remained tight. Read More...

Chevron’s primary purpose in paying $50 billion to acquire Anadarko is to boost its upstream oil and gas business, especially in the fast-growing Permian Basin.With a storage capacity of about 2.6 million barrels of products, these assets help Chevron’s upstream and downstream operations by moving hydrocarbons from production basins to end users. Anadarko, with its 55% stake in Western Midstream, has highlighted these assets over the years leading the company to form a master limited partnership (MLP) more than a decade ago to drive midstream growth.

Brazilian oil and gas exploration company Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) generated a bullish signal on the Tickeron AI Trend Prediction tool on April 18 and that signal had a very high confidence level at 85%.Past predictions on Petrobras have been successful 69% of the time and this signal calls for a gain of at least 4% over the coming month. The chart for Petrobras shows that the stock has been trending higher since last September with a trend channel guiding the stock through the different cycles within the overall upward trend.

The Supreme Court of the Netherlands dismissed Ecuador’s attempts to annul decisions of an international arbitral tribunal that ordered Ecuador to prevent enforcement of a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron Corp anywhere in the world, the U.S. oil major said on Tuesday. Read More...

American multinational energy giant Chevron is all set to buy Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in a $33 billion cash and stock deal. The deal is not just in line with the company’s strategy to expand its shale-drilling ambitions and places it just behind Exxon Mobil Corp. as one of the world’s largest publicly traded producers of oil and gas.But, it also helps the second biggest U.S. energy company to expand operations in U.S. shale oil and gas production, offshore drilling and liquefied natural gas exports business. According to the terms of the deal, Anadarko’s shares has been valued at $65 per share – a 37% premium to its Thursday close and Anadarko shareholders will receive 0.3869 shares of Chevron and $16.25 in cash for each Anadarko share.

Saudi oil minister Khalid al-Falih said on Sunday that China and the U.S. would lead healthy global demand for oil this year but that it would be too early to change OPEC+ output policy at the group’s next meeting in April. Read More...

Oil prices fell nearly 1 percent on Wednesday as bullish output forecasts by two big U.S. producers and a build in U.S. crude stockpiles outweighed ongoing OPEC-led efforts to rein in crude production. Read More...

Shell will be prosecuted for criminal charges relating to a $1.3 billion settlement for an oil exploration licence in Nigeria, and has also been summoned by prosecutors to face charges over chemical emissions and an explosion. Read More...

Oil prices rose on Monday as Washington and China appeared to edge closer to a trade deal, dampening fears over the outlook for global economic growth. Read More...

Oil prices fell on Friday after the United States reported its crude output hit a record 12 million barrels per day (bpd), undermining efforts by Middle East-dominated producer club OPEC to withhold supply and tighten global markets. Read More...

The world’s biggest crude oil producer and the world’s most profitable company, Saudi Aramco, plans to collaborate with Indian refining giant, Reliance Industries, as well as other companies to invest in refineries and petrochemical projects in India.$44 billion has reportedly been allocated by this collaborative venture between Aramco and India’s PSU oil companies to set up a refinery in Maharashtra. Saudi Arabia’s interest in India is part of its strategy to increase its share in Asia’s crude oil market and invest more in refining and petrochemicals to reduce its economy’s dependence on crude oil sales. Comparable projects of Aramco include a major investment in refining and petrochemicals projects in South Korea, as well as a $7 billion joint venture investment with Malaysia’s Petronas for a refinery that will buy at least half of its crude oil requirement from Saudi Arabia. Aramco has similar plans for India, given its status as one of world’s top energy consum

Oil prices were around 2019 highs on Wednesday, propped up by supply cuts led by producer club OPEC and by U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela. Read More...