China LPG Prices Retreat
Prices of imported and domestic LPG fell in both South and East China amid a bearish outlook due to ample supply and weak demand, trade sources said.
"Asian LPG prices continued to move lower this week in line with weaker crude futures, which dampened market sentiment," one source said.
Refrigerated LPG was assessed at a six-month low of $445/mt CFR South China for propane and $475/mt for butane, down 5% from $468/mt and $498/mt respectively a week earlier, Platts data showed.
The import cost to China for August-delivery refrigerated cargoes was estimated at Yuan 3,150/mt ($514.94/mt) for propane and Yuan 3,350/mt for butane after adding taxes and fees, below spot prices in the wholesale market, Platts calculations showed.
In southern Guangdong province, imported LPG cargoes of mixed propane and butane traded at around Yuan 3,400-3,500/mt in the wholesale market this week, down Yuan 50/mt from the week before, local traders said.
Nine refrigerated LPG cargoes, totaling around 200,000 mt, have arrived in Guangdong over the past two weeks, according to shipping data from Beijing-based energy information provider JYD Commodities Hub.
Many LPG import terminals were said to be incurring losses as import costs were higher than spot prices in the wholesale market, but they were still motivated to sell as they expected prices had further to fall, said a trader with a major domestic LPG import terminal.
Gazprom Files Case Against Turkmengaz
Russian gas company Gazprom said it had lodged a case against Turkmenistan's Turkmengaz at the international arbitration court in Stockholm over the price in a supply contract.
The move came weeks after Turkmenistan accused Gazprom of not paying for gas supplied from the Central Asian country this year.
Gazprom, the world's top natural gas producer, buys gas from Turkmenistan for its own use or resale. But the amount has fallen this year as relations between Moscow and the reclusive former Soviet Union republic are increasingly strained by a competition to supply the large Chinese gas market.
A spokesman for the Russian company said: "A lawsuit has been filed in Stockholm. The demand - a revision of prices."
Forbes magazine reported that the purchasing price stood at $240 per 1,000 cubic meters - lower than the price Gazprom charges its customers in Europe.
Turkmenistan so far has the upper hand in the fight for the Chinese market, supplying around 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas annually with plans to double that volume by 2020.
Gazprom plans to start gas sales to China in 2018, gradually increasing flows to 38 bcm per year from east Siberia. Talks over gas flows to China from west Siberian fields have so far failed to gain traction.
Nexen pipeline leak in Alberta
One of the largest leaks in Alberta history has spilled about five million liters of emulsion from a Nexen Energy pipeline at the company's Long Lake oil sands facility south of Fort McMurray.
Nexen said in a statement its emergency response plan has been activated and personnel were onsite. The leak has been stabilized, the company said.
The spill covered an area of about 16,000 square meters, mostly within the pipeline corridor, the company said. Emulsion is a mixture of bitumen, water and sand.
The pipeline that leaked is called a "feeder" and runs from a wellhead to the processing plant.
"All necessary steps and precautions have been taken, and Nexen will continue to utilize all its resources to protect the health and safety of our employees, contractors, the public and the environment, and to contain and clean up the spill," the company said in the statement.
Peter Murchland, public affairs manager for the Alberta Energy Regulator, said officials were notified and had staff onsite to work with Nexen.
Saudi Oil Exports Fall to 5-Month Low
Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports fell to their lowest in five months in May despite near-record production, as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) kingpin turns itself into a major refined-fuels power and as domestic consumption rises.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s top crude oil exporter, shipped 6.935 million barrels per day (bpd) on average in May, down from 7.737m bpd in April and the lowest since December, official data showed.
As crude exports slide, the OPEC producer is offering customers millions of barrels of diesel from new refineries as it turns itself into a major supplier of refined oil products, potentially triggering a price war with Asian competitors as its exports feed into a glut.
Saudi Arabia’s massive refineries are now processing more of its crude at home, moving the country into a tie with Royal Dutch Shell as the world’s fourth-largest refiner and enabling it to export more fuel products than ever before.
Petrobras Oil Platform Output Cut
An output cut at an offshore oil and gas platform owned and operated by Brazil's state-led oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA was not caused by a 24-hour strike, a union involved in the action said.
The output cut on the P-15 platform happened on July 20, four days before the strike, after Petrobras, as the company is known, began adjustments to its gas compression system's turbo and motor compressors, Marcos Breda, communications director for SindepetroNF, a union representing platform workers, said.
It was not immediately clear why the union said that the strike was responsible for the platform shutdown.
Petrobras confirmed that the platform had been shut for repairs four days before the strike began.
According to FUP, a union federation to which SindipetroNF belongs, union workers struck at 19 offshore platforms in the Campos and Santos Basins.
Pemex to Ship 6mb of Crude to Japan Refinery
Mexico's Pemex said it had agreed to ship six million barrels of its light crude to Japan's largest refinery over the next six months, as the state-run oil company seeks to further develop its ties with Asia.
The shipments of Isthmus crude will go via six cargoes between this August and January 2016 to JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp. Pemex already shipped about 4 million barrels to JX Nippon in the first half of the year.
Pemex had been negotiating with buyers in Japan and South Korea earlier this year about the chloride content of its crude, and said it would offer discounts if the level of the chemical that can cause corrosion was higher than usual.
The crude will be shipped from Pemex's Salina Cruz terminal on the southern Pacific coast of Mexico. The company did not include pricing information in its announcement.