Russian Oil & Gas
January 21st, 2009 at 05:31am
Under China Oil+ Middle East+ OPEC+ Oil Price 2009+ Oil and gas+ Oil politics+ Russian Oil & Gas
By signing the gas agreement between Russia and Ukraine the oil price fell back sharply. The price of a barrel of U.S. light crude oil now hovers around 34 dollars, a decrease of over 7 percent with earlier this week.
In December 2008, crude oil prices fell for the first time since the summer of 2004 under the 40 dollar per barrel barrier. In July 2008, oil prices showed a record of more than 147 dollars a barrel.
The oil price now strongly react on the developments in the Middle East and the gas conflict between Russia and Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian Prime Minister Julia Timosjenko Russian gas will continue to flow to Ukraine and other European customers as from yesterday.
Credit Crisis & Oil demand
The oil price falls due a weakening oil demand. After 25 years of growth, the demand for oil in 2008 decreased by 0.3 percent. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has estimated that the worldwide oil demand in 2009 will fall further, probably by 0.6 percent.
For 2009, the IEA expects we will see a bottom in the oil demand, lowering with 940,000 barrels of crude oil per day to 85.3 million in total. “It’s the biggest change in our estimate over the last couple of years,” said David Fyfe of the IEA chief marketing officer.
In earlier reports, the institute published a growth for 2009 in oil demand after the losses of 2008, this mainly based upon the increasing demand of the emerging economies. But, these estimates are now showing that the Chinese oil demand will grow with just 90,000 barrels a day, which is the lowest increase in eight years time.
By Oilism.com
January 7th, 2009 at 05:43am
Under Oil Price 2009+ Oil and gas+ Oil business+ Oil politics+ Russian Oil & Gas
KIEV – On Wednesday Russia shut down all gas deliveries intended for the European market through the pipelines in the Ukraine because of the gas conflict between Kiev and Moscow.
This is said by the Ukrainian national gas company Naftogaz. About 80 percent of Russian natural gas that is destined for Europe passes through pipelines in Ukraine.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is without any Russian gas. Local news agency CTK reported Wednesday all supplies of Russian gas are interrupted. Gas company RWE Transgas has taken steps to increase imports from Norway to help people who are trapped without gas.
Austria & Romania
Austria also announced Wednesday that all gas supplies from Russia are stopped. Futher more Romania reported not receiving any more gas from Russia since Wednesday. Tuesday, the gas supplies to Romania were already down by 75 percent.
Supplies
Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller said Tuesday that if the Ukraine does not pass the gas to Europe, there is no point supplying this country with gas. Kiev and Moscow are arguing over an unpaid gas bill and the gas prices in general. Three years ago, Russia turned off the gas tap to Ukraine due a similar dispute.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko asked Russia in a letter to President Dmitri Medvedev to resume gas deliveries to European countries immediately.
Criticism EU summit on Russian oil conflict
José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, thinks it is unacceptable that Russia stopped supplying oil & gas to Western Europe. Barroso said this today after consultations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who joined in the criticism against Russia.
Especially German and Polish refineries are the victims of the oil conflict. Russia closed yesterday by the oil Belarus to these countries. In a package of proposals from the European Commission, which will be presented tomorrow, has been clear that the EU should take action to reduce the reliance on Russia as an energy supplier. Half of the oil in Europe comes from Russia. According to a report, the European economy will crash sooner or later when the energy policies are not drastically changed. Barroso askes for joint energy policy in Europe.
By Oilism.com