NIGERIA: THE CRUDE OIL ECONOMY

END SARS END A BANKRUPT NNPC NNPC despite its appearance only masquerades as an integrated oil company. It is neither a real commercial entity nor a meaningful operator. Not an oil company but a facilitator of kleptocracy. Its most effective function has been to facilitate the theft and redistribution of Nigeria's huge resource endowment from its p...

If we are to believe energy research firm Rystad Energy, US oil production is on track to a record 13.4 million barrels per day by the end of 2019 with Texas producing over 5 million bpd in excess of every OPEC producer apart from Saudi Arabia . The increase in US...

The meeting in Vienna among the  signatories of the JCPOA  minus the US was conceived as the last best  chance to save the historic accord. Many commentators thought it lacked the authority to provide a definitive outcome, not least because of the relatively junior level of delegations attending. In an attempt...

OPEC BEARS THE PRICE OF US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE OPEC member states are bracing themselves for a bleak bearish outlook in the short term despite their best efforts to support crude oil benchmarks with supply cuts. The bearish outlook is due to an anticipated slow down in global growth amid the U.S.-China...

In the end the only surprise was that it was Putin that announced its confirmation at the G-20 meeting in Osaka  last week. When questioned about the decision to extend OPEC+ cuts, he seemed to confirm the extension even before the meeting had even taken place, confirmation if any was needed...

When the end came it came quickly an end that is to Irans policy of strategic patience. In a meticulous well planned and flawlessly executed operation, a detachment of Her Majesty's Royal Marines boarded and seized the Iranian oil tanker MTGrace 1 in waters off Gibraltar. It really did'nt need to...

  The catastrophic decision by the UK authorities to seize the MT Grace1 was done either as an act of malign intent by a departing Prime Minister or without thinking through the ramifications of such an action and the damage it might cause to our long term interests. Indeed it is...

Oil prices have retreated back to the pre- strike levels as Aramco reports it has  restored full production capacity. Their  prompt actio has  made markets reluctant to demand much, if any, oil price risk premiums, as if we are to believe what we are told, the Saudi's have the ability to...

Despite taking the scenic route, which included an unscheduled detention in Gibraltar and a meandering sometime convoluted voyage, the  MT Adrian Darya 1 finally reached its disport. Iran has confirmed that the tanker formerly known as MT Grace 1 suspected of trying to deliver Iranian oil to Syria in defiance of...