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Iraq’s Oil Exports via Turkey Dwindle as Kirkuk Fields Stay Shut

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7 years ago

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markets energies crude oil
  • Iraq’s Oil Exports via Turkey Dwindle as Kirkuk Fields Stay Shut

Crude exports from northern Iraq fell again, and output remained curtailed in the nation’s disputed Kirkuk province. Oil Ministry engineers worked to replace computers and other critical equipment missing from fields in Kirkuk that government troops recaptured this week from Kurdish forces, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

The Kirkuk area’s Bai Hassan and Avana oil fields were still shut, with exports stopped, the person said Thursday, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The two deposits had been pumping an estimated 275,000 barrels a day before the Iraqi offensive against the Kurds. Iraq won’t be able to restore Kirkuk’s oil output to last week’s levels before Sunday because of missing equipment at the fields, Reuters reported earlier Thursday, citing an unidentified oil ministry official.

Flows by pipeline from northern Iraq to the port of Ceyhan, Turkey, fell to 196,000 barrels a day on Thursday from about 225,000 barrels the previous day and far below their normal daily level of 600,000 barrels, according to a port agent report and Bloomberg tanker tracking. Iraq’s central government piggybacks its exports from Kirkuk with Kurdish shipments through a Kurdish-operated pipeline to Turkey.

Kirkuk, home to Iraq’s oldest-producing oil field, is a flashpoint in the power struggle between the central government in Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government. Tensions in Kirkuk erupted into outright hostilities between the central government and the KRG on Monday following a Kurdish referendum on independence from Iraq. The KRG included Kirkuk in the Sept. 25 referendum despite competing claims to the ethnically mixed area, which lies outside the boundaries of the KRG-ruled Kurdish region.

Iraq, the second-largest producer in OPEC, pumps most of its 4.47 million barrels a day from fields in the south and ships it from the Persian Gulf port of Basra. But with Iraq supplying about 14 percent of total production from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, a recovery of curtailed exports from the north could affect crude markets. Brent crude was 71 cents lower at $57.44 a barrel on Thursday at 3:29 p.m. in London. The global benchmark closed Wednesday at the highest since Sept. 26.

Local Supplies

Iraq’s Oil Ministry deployed engineering teams at Avana and Bai Hassan after workers and guards stayed away from the fields earlier this week when government troops pushed back Kurdish peshmerga fighters from the area, an official at the central government-run North Oil Co. said Wednesday. The company will pump only enough oil from the fields to supply local needs until Iraq’s central government can reach an agreement with Kurdish authorities allowing exports from Kirkuk via the Kurdish pipeline to Turkey, he said.

As it consolidated control over Bai Hassan and Avana and other oil facilities in Kirkuk, the Oil Ministry reiterated its long-standing position that international energy companies must not sign any contracts that bypass the central government.

“Irresponsible statements” by some officials or foreign companies regarding their intention to sign deals “with X party” inside the country are a blatant intervention in Iraq’s internal affairs and infringe on its sovereignty, the ministry said in a statement. While it didn’t identify any such officials or companies, the ministry issued the statement just a day after Russia’s Rosneft PJSC signed an agreement with the KRG to develop five oil blocks.

Rosneft’s deal is in line with legislation and is similar to agreements that other international companies have in the Kurdish area, Mikhail Leontyev, a company spokesman, said by phone on Thursday. Russia’s state-run oil producer always abides by local law, he said.

“The government is reiterating its past statements that no one should be signing oil production deals with the Kurds,” said Jaafar Altaie, managing director of Abu Dhabi-based consultant Manaar Group, which has operations in Iraq. “I don’t think that at this stage it’s an effort to roll back any of the contracts currently in place.”

Is the CEO and Founder of Investors King Limited. He is a seasoned foreign exchange research analyst and a published author on Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, Nasdaq, Entrepreneur.com, Investorplace, and other prominent platforms. With over two decades of experience in global financial markets, Olukoya is well-recognized in the industry.

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Petrol

There Won’t Be Fuel Scarcity In Nearest Future, Major Marketers Assure Nigerians

Published

11 hours ago

on

October 31, 2024

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petrol

Nigerians have been urged to refrain from panic purchase of Premium Motor Spirit popularly known as petrol.

Major petroleum marketers made this known while assuring the public that there is more than enough petrol supply across the country.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Major Energy Marketers Association of Nigeria, Clement Isong, maintained that sufficient stock is available in the tanks of the Dangote Refinery and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

Isong added that there is a reliable forecast of future supplies for all petroleum products.

Reacting to perceived tightening in the petroleum supply market, the major energy marketers dismissed speculation that there would be shortage of fuel, affirming to the general public and all stakeholders that there is substantial stocks of products in their tanks.

He added that they have access to considerable stocks in the tanks of their suppliers, including Dangote Refinery and NNPC Trading Limited, along with a reliable forecast of future supplies for all petroleum products.

Isong noted that deregulation enables diligent marketers to plan and secure their supply needs in advance, helping prevent shortages.

Consequently, he stated that MEMAN does not anticipate any petrol scarcity in the immediate or near future.

Encouraging Nigerians to refrain from panic buying, the MEMAN CEO assured them that member companies will continue to optimise their supply and logistics to ensure availability and affordability.

Following the NNPC’s increase in petrol prices across the country on Tuesday, long queues were observed at its retail outlets in Lagos and Abuja on Wednesday.

The national oil firm raised the retail price of petrol in Abuja from N1,030 to N1,060 per litre, while in Lagos, the price increased from N998 to N1,025 per litre, sparking widespread criticism from the Organised Private Sector, Civil Society Organisations, and the general public.

Nigerians have faced recurring fuel crises since May this year for various reasons despite government promises to resolve the situation.

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Crude Oil

Oil Prices Rise 2% on Positive Crude Inventories Data, Tight Supply Expectations

Published

19 hours ago

on

October 31, 2024

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Crude oil gains

Oil prices rose more than 2 percent on Wednesday after data showed crude and inventories fell unexpectedly last week and reports that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, OPEC+ may delay a planned oil output increase.

Brent crude futures settled up $1.43, or 2.01 percent, at $72.55 a barrel and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $1.4, or 2.08 percent to $68.61.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported an inventory draw of a modest half a million barrels for the week to October 25.

The change in oil stocks compared with a build of 5.5 million barrels for the previous week, pressured oil prices at the time.

The American Petroleum Institute (API), meanwhile, on Tuesday reported estimated inventory draws across crude and fuels, helping prices move higher for a time. However, they remained subdued due to expectations of a ceasefire in the Middle East.

The country’s petrol stocks shed 2.7 million barrels in the week to October 25, with production at an average of 9.7 million barrels daily. These figures compared with an inventory build of 900,000 barrels for the previous week, when production stood at an average of 10 million barrels daily.

Pressure also came as the market learned that OPEC+ could delay a planned oil production increase in December by a month or more because of concern over soft oil demand and rising supply.

Traders are betting that OPEC+ will hold off on the planned increase, deferring to Saudi Arabia’s top-down approach since the country acts as the de facto leader of the group and has always stepped in to help the alliance when it is underperforming.

The group is scheduled to raise output by 180,000 barrels per day in December. OPEC+ has cut output by 5.86 million barrels per day, equivalent to about 5.7 per cent of global oil demand.

OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report downgraded demand growth for 2024 to 1.9 million barrels per day while demand forecasts for 2025 slipped another 102,000 barrels per day to 1.6 million barrels per day.

China, meanwhile, ramped up imports by 16 per cent month over month in August, but the rise still falls short of August 2023 levels, keeping a lid on demand and by extension, the market.

OPEC+ is scheduled to meet on December 1 to decide its next policy steps.

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Energy

Dangote’s Allegation of Refinery Boycott By Marketers False, Says  IPMAN President

Published

1 day ago

on

October 30, 2024

By

Petrol Importation - investorsking.com

The President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Abubakar Garima, has expressed shock over business mogul, Aliko Dangote’s allegation that marketers were boycotting his refinery.

Dangote, the owner of a $20bn refinery had claimed that oil marketers in Nigeria have been avoiding his refinery for imported petrol.

He had lamented that such a move would impact negatively on the country’s economy and would discourage local investment.

Responding, however, IPMAN President said the allegations were false.

According to Garima, while speaking on a live telephone programme monitored by Investors King on Wednesday, IPMAN members are not importing petrol.

On the contrary, he disclosed that oil members can’t load petrol from the Dangote Refinery in Lagos despite having paid ₦40billion to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

He said rather than get Dangote petrol through the NNPCL, the private refinery should register independent petrol marketers directly for smooth loading of the product.

The IPMAN boss noted that if Dangote could be able to sell the product to oil marketers directly, they can buy the product.

He expressed frustration in the fact that marketers had to pay before they pick, adding that “Presently, we have ₦40bn under the NNPCL custody but we cannot source the product.”

Garima explained how some marketers that NNPCL sent to load in Dangote refinery stayed with their trucks for four days, and they cannot load.

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