OIL FALLS BELOW $50 ON NIGERIA, IRAQ SUPPLY BOOST

International oil benchmark, Brent crude, retreated on Monday, falling below the $50 per barrel mark on worries about growing Chinese fuel exports, more Iraqi and Nigerian crude shipments and a rising US oil rig count.

 

China’s July diesel and gasoline exports soared 181.8 per cent and 145.2 per cent respectively from the same month last year, putting pressure on refined product margins, Reuters reports.

 

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OIL DEPOTS DRY UP AS MARKETERS OWE FOREIGN SUPPLIERS $1.2BN

Half of Nigeria’s sixty-member Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association owe international gasoline suppliers a staggering $1.2 billion due to insufficient foreign-exchange sales by the Central Bank. The indebtedness was disclosed by the group’s executive secretary, Olufemi Adewole in an interview with Bloomberg, opening a new, frightening dimension to Nigeria’s petrol supply quagmire.

Read more @ BusinessDay

WHY CRUDE OIL PRICES ARE RISING, BY OPEC

The Organisation of Petroleum Corporation (OPEC) has attributed the increase in crude oil prices to supply disruptions in Nigeria and Iraq, and signs that US shale oil output is shrinking.

OPEC said tht US refiners were providing support, with utilization above 89 per cent, as plants returned from maintenance ready to meet buoyant gasoline demand.

Read more @ The Guardian

NNPC’S FUEL IMPORT REFORM SCHEME REDUCES U.S. PETROL EXPORT TO NIGERIA BY 10,000BPD

The United States (U.S.) exports of gasoline to Africa decreased by 28,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2015, compared with 2014 due to lower exports to Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest fuel importers.

The EIA, which made this disclosure in a statement at the weekend, attributed the shortfall in U.S. petrol export to Africa to fuel import programme reforms, which took place in Nigeria recently.

Read more @ The Guardian

Oil rallies on gasoline jump, worries over decline in drilling

Oil prices rallied on Monday, with U.S crude up as much as 3 percent, amid a jump in gasoline prices and on concerns that U.S. oil output may slow as drilling steadily declines.

Gasoline futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange surged more than 3 percent after a fire was reported Saturday at a unit of Husky Energy’s 155,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Lima, Ohio.

Read more @ Businessday Online