1.Another oil giant bet on renewable energy
Repsol, the Spanish oil giant, plans to reduce its oil business and quintuple its renewable energy portfolio by 2030 as part of its latest strategic plan announced on Thursday. Before the end of last year, Repsol,it was the first big oil company in the world to announce a net emission target of zero by the end of 2050. This year, all major European oil companies, including BP, shell, total, Eni and equinor, are following Repsol’s lead, promising to achieve net zero by 2050 or earlier, and to increase investment in renewable energy, transport electrification and hydrogen.
2.OPEC is expected to delay increase oil production by at least three months
According to a survey of oil analysts, traders and refineries, OPEC and its allies are likely to postpone their planned increase in production in January by three months. Although crude oil prices have rebounded to an eight month high, demand at the beginning of 2021 looks too fragile to absorb the additional supply. Meanwhile, major OPEC members Iraq and the United Arab Emirates have said they are eager to increase oil exports as soon as possible.
3.ADNOC and Oriental geophysics launch the world’s largest 3D onshore / offshore seismic exploration project
ADNOC announced the award of a US $519 million contract to BGP Inc., a subsidiary of CNPC, to further expand the scope of the world’s largest 3D joint onshore and offshore seismic exploration in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Earlier this week, Abu Dhabi’s supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) announced a major discovery of unconventional recoverable oil resources and conventional oil reserves, which highlights the important role of seismic exploration in the identification and exploration of new oil and gas resources by ADNOC.
4.Russian oil giant announces launch of large Arctic project
Rosneft, the Russian oil giant, announced on Wednesday that its large-scale Vostok oil project in the Arctic began operation. The project is part of Russia’s strategic energy plan. The Vostok project is the cornerstone of Russia’s Arctic ambitions, bringing together several activities of Rosneft in the far north of Russia (near the North sea route), which the company intends to use to deliver oil to Europe and Asia. The total investment of the project is 10 trillion rubles (111 billion US dollars), including two airports and 15 “industrial towns”. It is also expected to create 130000 jobs and exploit about 5 billion tons of oil reserves.
5.ExxonMobil cuts 300 jobs in Canada
American oil giant Exxon Mobil said on Wednesday that it plans to cut up to 300 jobs in Canada as part of an ongoing cost reduction plan as a result of the price collapse caused by the pandemic. The layoffs will include jobs at Imperial Petroleum Limited, ExxonMobil Canada and ExxonMobil Canada Business Center. Oil producers, including ExxonMobil, have been slashing costs because of a sharp drop in oil demand and the timing of bets on new projects. Earlier, the largest U.S. oil company planned to cut its budget by $10 billion this year.
6.South Korea continues to extend anti-dumping measures against stainless steel bars from India, Japan and Spain
South Korea Trade Commission (KTC) recently announced the results of sunset review on the anti-dumping cases of stainless steel bars from India, Japan and Spain, and decided to continue to impose anti-dumping duties on stainless steel bars imported from these three countries for a period of three years. Among them, the anti-dumping tariff rate on stainless steel bar products of Japan and Spain is 15.39%, and that of India is 2.76-15.39%.
Post time: Nov-27-2020