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Showing posts from 2017
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LNG Shipping Outlook For 2018 Dec. 29, 2017 8:00 AM Summary LNG shipping has seen a rough couple years lately. But 2017 could have been a pivot point. What does 2018 hold for this burgeoning segment? Note:   This article was originally published December 17th on   Value Investor's Edge , a Seeking Alpha subscription service. LNG Shipping Maritime trade LNG (liquid natural gas) is a crucial link in the natural gas supply chain for many nations where domestic demand outstrips available supply. These vessels transport natural gas, which has been reduced to a liquid state by cooling it to minus 162°C, achieving a volume reduction of approximately 600 to one. Upon delivery, this LNG can be stored in a liquid state until the market demands, whereupon it enters a re-gasification process. Companies that engage in LNG transport include, but are not limited to, Dynagas LNG Partners LP (NYSE: DLNG ), Golar LNG Limited USA (NASDAQ: GLNG ), Golar LNG Partners LP (N

France to ban oil and gas production by 2040

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BY  AVERY ANAPOL The French Parliament on Tuesday  passed a law  banning the production of all oil and gas by 2040. France will not grant any new permits or renew existing ones that allow fracking or the extraction of fossil fuels in the country and its overseas territories. France is almost entirely dependent on hydrocarbon imports, so the largely symbolic ban will not majorly affect the country's industries, but some lawmakers  said  they hope it will inspire other countries to follow suit. French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted after the vote that he is "very proud" of the measure. Macron used the hashtag "Make Our Planet Great Again," a nod to his efforts to push efforts to tackle climate change after  President Trump  pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord. Macron has said that he will  continue trying  to convince Trump to reverse his decision and rejoin the pact. France has also  committed  to ending the sale of gasoline and

What Will Drive The Next Oil Price Crash?

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By  Tsvetana Paraskova  - As we roll into 2018, analysts and investors are more optimistic that the oil market will further tighten next year and support higher oil prices, but rising U.S. shale production will likely cap any significant price gains. On the demand side, expectations are that global economic growth will support solid oil demand growth. On the supply side, Venezuela’s dire situation, possible new sanctions on Iran, and increased tension in the Middle East mostly with the Saudi-Iran issues and the Iraq-Kurdistan standoff may take more barrels off the market than OPEC and friends plan, and send geopolitical jitters through the oil market. However, according to energy policy expert  Michael Lynch , there remain three potential events in the markets that could send oil prices tumbling. These include a large correction in the U.S. stock market that could spread to a sell-off in commodities; one of the OPEC members or Russia breaking away from the unusually strong c

Goldman: Oil Markets To Balance Sooner Than Expected

By  Tsvetana Paraskova  - Dec 23, 2017, 6:00 PM CST One of the biggest investment banks is one of the most bullish voices in predicting the state of the oil market next year. Goldman Sachs is more optimistic about the speed of the oil market rebalancing than many experts and other banks, and OPEC itself. Goldman Sachs  expects  that the global oil overhang will have cleared by the middle of 2018, accelerating OPEC’s exit from the production cut pact that is currently set to expire at the end of 2018.    “The oil re-balancing continued its progress through November,” thanks to factors including “stellar” oil demand growth, Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note this week, as carried by Bloomberg. “Global inventories will have re-balanced by mid-2018, leading to a gradual exit from the cuts,” Goldman’s analysts noted. The U.S. investment bank also expects backwardation—the market structure of near-term oil futures trading at a premium to longer-dated contracts—to strengthen in

US shale oil drillers set to kick off the new year with big production gains

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By :  Tom DiChristopher America's shale drillers are poised to ring in the new year with strong growth in the U.S. oil patch, according to the latest forecast from the Department of Energy. Crude oil production from seven major shale regions is set to grow by 94,000 barrels a day in January, the department's U.S. Energy Information Administration projected on Monday. Total output from those regions is seen topping 6.4 million barrels a day next month. That would mark growth of more than 1 million barrels a day from this past January, when frackers produced 5.2 million barrels a day. Most of those gains will come from the Permian basin, a prolific oil-producing region in Texas and New Mexico. Production there is set to rise by 68,000 barrels a day, according to EIA. The EIA sees output growing by a more muted 9,000 barrels a day in North Dakota's Bakken shale and by 6,000 barrels a day in the Niobrara basin, which sits beneath Colorado and nearby states. Drill