Friday, February 21, 2025

The Tuesday drone attack on the CPC pipeline, Kazakhstan’s key export conduit, has set a bullish tone for this week with four straight daily gains and ICE Brent trending around $76 per barrel. In the United States, rising oil inventories were largely offset by distillate stocks slipping below the 5-year range. Overall, the average February Brent price of $75.50 per barrel is exactly where the current mood lies, indicating a stagnant short-term view.

 Citing its own ‘energy emergency’, the Trump administration has decided to fast-track some 700 water permits across the US, including a tunnel for Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline, dredging for the Elba Island LNG project and repairs at Sabine Pass LNG.

EU member countries agreed on the 16th sanctions package against Russia, including a ban on primary aluminium imports, sales of gaming consoles to Russia as well as adding 73 so-called shadow fleet tankers to Brussels’ list of sanctioned ships.

 The US oil industry, represented by the API, and biofuel interest groups joined ranks in demanding higher renewable biofuel mandates from 2026 and beyond, leaving behind decades of disputes as they jointly oppose the proliferation of EVs.

 Following a string of recent Ukrainian refinery drone strikes that culminated with this week’s attack on the 150,000 b/d Syzran refinery, Russia’s Energy Ministry has extended its gasoline export ban for another six months starting in March, exempting only producers.

 US oil major  is reportedly meeting Chilean government officials over the upcoming weeks, expressing interest in developing lithium projects in the country as it sees parallels between conventional drilling and direct lithium extraction.

 Canada’s gold mining giant  signed a new deal with the Malian government over its projects in the West African country, ending a two-year dispute that involved employee arrests and paying $438 million to Bamako as compensation.

 Saudi national oil company has agreed to purchase a 25% stake in Philippine fuel retailer Unioil, marking its return to the East Asian market, some 17 years after it sold its 40% stake in the country’s only refiner Petron.

 Dragged lower by weak chemical and midstream results, US oil major  posted a rare loss of $297 million in Q4 2024 after the Houston-headquartered firm allocated $1.1 billion to an environmental liability increase that it disputes in court.

. Brazil’s oil and gas regulator ANP has opened up 332 blocks in both onshore and offshore basins as part of its next licensing bid round, with licences to be offered as concession contracts with lower royalty rates to finally bolster waning exploration activity.

 Coming only days after shelved its SPOT project, US midstream firm Sentinel Midstream announced that it intends to take a final investment decision on its Texas GulfLink deepwater port in Freeport, the first onshore port to load a VLCC.

Four tankers have been hit with inexplicable explosions in 2025 to date, with Greek shipper Thenamaris reporting an incident this week with a blast on its Seajewel tanker docked in Italy’s Savona, all linked by the ships sailing to Russian ports prior to being attacked.

 The government of South Korea finalized a new energy strategy that should lift the share of nuclear energy in the country’s energy mix to 35.2% in 2038 from 30.7% last year, envisaging the construction of two additional large-scale plants with 3.5 GW capacity.

 Colombia’s state oil firm  reported 260 million barrels of new reserves discovered in 2024, finally posting a positive reserve replacement ratio of 104%, however, the 1.88 billion boe in its portfolio still equals only 7.6 years of consumption.

Tariff Fears Lift Gold to Another Record. Trump’s latest tariff-slapping frenzy that put cars and semiconductors at the forefront of discussion has triggered another rally in gold prices, with the bullion hitting an all-time high of $2,955 per ounce this week and being up 12% since the beginning of 2025.