Lukoil raises oil output at Iraq's West Qurna 2 to 480,000 bpd

Lukoil raises oil output at Iraq's West Qurna 2 to 480,000 bpd

MRC) -- Russia's Lukoil has increased oil production at Iraq's southern West Qurna 2 oilfield by 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) to a total of 480,000 bpd, an oil official told Reuters on Thursday, said Reuters.

Production rose after the completion of the connection of 47 new oil wells which boosted production, an Iraqi oilfield official said, adding that output could reach 500,000 bpd in a short period of time if required.

The increase in Iraq's production comes as Turkey continues to halt Iraq's 450,000 bpd of northern exports through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline.

They have been halted since March 25 after an arbitration ruling by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

Iraq is waiting for a final answer from Turkey regarding the resumption of the northern oil exports, which run from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

We remind, Lukoil completes reconstruction of several units at Volgograd refinery. A large-scale reconstruction has been completed at the Volgograd refinery. The project included modernization of the CDU-VDU-5 crude distillation unit with production capacity of 3.5 MMtpy and the solvent extraction unit with production capacity of 300, 000 tpy. Over 230 core equipment items were installed and technologically outdated units were decommissioned. The share of Russia-made equipment installed during the reconstruction exceeded 70%. The construction site spanned the area of 34 thousand square metres; investments into the project exceeded 12 B roubles.

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Eni bets on agri-business in Africa to expand biofuel production

Eni bets on agri-business in Africa to expand biofuel production

Italy's Eni is investing in farming in several African and Asian countries as it aims to produce by itself around one fifth of the agricultural feedstock it will need for its biofuel business by 2025, two top executives at the energy group said, said Reuters.

Energy companies are betting on increasing demand for fuels made from vegetable oil, waste cooking oil and grease, which they say will play a key role in decarbonizing the truck, aviation and shipping sectors in coming years. To satisfy this expected demand, Eni is ramping up its bio-refining capacity and, at the same time, is expanding farming ventures to secure supplies and reduce the risk of excessive volatility in the commodity market.

"Our goal is to cover 20% of (our) biofuel production with feedstock coming from our agri-business by 2025, which is a relevant threshold since we have increased our output targets," Eni Energy Evolution Chief Operating Officer Giuseppe Ricci told Reuters in an interview. In February Eni said it targeted bio-refining capacity of more than 3 million tons per annum by 2025 and over 5 million tons by 2030, from the current 1.1 million.

This compares with forecasts by analysts at Barclays of global biofuel demand tripling to 30 million tons by the end of the decade. Eni has signed deals with several countries to identify degraded land where farmers cultivate crops that do not compete with the food supply chain.

"We have pools of local farmers who cultivate for us ... we get seeds, squeeze them and take the oil to our bio-refineries," said Guido Brusco, Eni Natural Resources chief operating officer. The oil also derives from agro-industrial waste and residues.

Around 700,000 farmers are expected to be involved in Eni's farming activities by 2026, under deals signed with Angola, Benin, Republic of Congo, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Rwanda and Vietnam. Feasibility studies are under way in Italy and Kazakhstan. The business model is similar to the one Eni applies in its hydrocarbon business.

"We are replicating the vertical integration we have in other commodities and the logic is to reduce volatility, secure the raw material, and have more control over costs," Brusco said. Also following the vertical integration model, BP is considering buying stakes in biofuel feedstock producers and investing directly in farming ventures, BP head of biofuels Nigel Dunn told Reuters.

Eni says biofuels can cut net greenhouse gas emissions by between 65% to 90% compared with fossil fuels, depending on the type of raw material and the production process. "By the end of this year we will take the final investment decision over a new bio-refinery in Livorno (Italy)," Ricci said. This will add to two existing Italian bio-refineries and two potential new plants in the United States and in Malaysia.

Even if biofuels have higher costs, the fact that they can be produced with existing infrastructure make them a competitive solution to decarbonize transport, Ricci said.

We remind, Eni has launched an initiative to encourage the use of HVOlution, Eni Sustainable Mobility’s first diesel produced from 100% renewable raw materials (according to EU Directive 2018/2001 'REDII'), by its suppliers' vehicles transporting fuels to Eni Live Stations. It aims to contribute to the decarbonisation of the heavy transport sector, which involves approximately 300 vehicles in Italy’s distribution service. To date, more than 200,000 km have been covered using pure HVO, making it a major contributor to CO2 emission reduction.

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OPEC+ unlikely to deepen oil supply cuts at June 4 meeting

OPEC+ unlikely to deepen oil supply cuts at June 4 meeting

OPEC and its allies are unlikely to deepen supply cuts at their ministerial meeting on Sunday despite a fall in oil prices toward $70 per barrel, four sources from the alliance told Reuters.

OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia, pumps around 40% of the world's crude and supplies around 60% of the oil export market, meaning its policy decisions can have a major price impact.

As the economic outlook worsened, several members of OPEC+ in April pledged voluntary cuts starting from May and to continue to the end of the year. This was in addition to a 2 million barrels per day (bpd) cut agreed in early October to output targets versus an August 2022 production baseline. It brought total output cuts to 3.66 million bpd, or about 4% of global consumption.

The group of late has cut by more than its targets mainly because of capacity limitations in West African producers Nigeria and Angola. A Reuters survey found the two countries missed their output targets by a combined 600,000 bpd in May, while outages in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq meant the country produced 220,000 bpd below its target last month.

The surprise announcement in April helped to drive benchmark Brent crude prices about USD9 per barrel higher to above USD87 over the days followed, but Brent has since lost those gains to trade below USD73, under pressure from concerns about global economic growth and its impact on fuel demand.

Last week, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told investors he said were shorting the oil price to "watch out," which many market watchers interpreted as a warning of additional supply cuts.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak subsequently said he did not expect any new steps from OPEC+ in Vienna, Russian media reported. The Kremlin on Thursday did not comment on the meeting's outcome, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said relations with Saudi Arabia were "constructive, based on mutual understanding, mutual respect, mutual trust".

We remind, Russia is leaning towards leaving oil production volumes unchanged ahead of an OPEC+ policy meeting on June 4 because Moscow is content with current prices and output. OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries with Russia and other allies, surprised the market on April 2 with further output cuts that pushed up the price of oil.


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NNPC says it will end monopoly on petrol supplies

NNPC says it will end monopoly on petrol supplies

Nigeria's state owned oil company NNPC will soon end its monopoly on petrol supplies, its chief executive told local television on Thursday, a day after it nearly tripled prices at its fuel stations countrywide, said Reuters.

Newly inaugurated President Bola Tinubu pledged to remove fuel subsidies, a popular but costly benefit that has drained billions annually from government coffers. Mele Kyari told Arise TV that prices were expected to come down once new companies started supplying petrol, bringing more competition.

"All we did was to set variable prices depending on our costs by location and knowing full well that NNPC is the single supplier of the market and we are seeing that exit coming very, very quickly," said Kyari. "There will be no monopoly, NNPC will not continue being supplier of this product alone."

Kyari has previously said the corporation was owed USD6 billion in petrol subsidy payments by the federal government. Under the Petroleum Industry Act signed into law two years ago, NNPC cannot supply more than 30% of gasoline in Nigeria.

"As soon as the market stabilizes, oil marketing companies are able to come in. Competition will surely come in ... and you will see changes in prices downwards," said Kyari. Nigeria imports most of its refined petroleum products because it has run down its refineries over the years.

The 650,000 barrel per day Dangote Refinery was commissioned last month, amid hopes of transforming the country into a net exporter of petroleum products.

We remind, Russia is leaning towards leaving oil production volumes unchanged ahead of an OPEC+ policy meeting on June 4 because Moscow is content with current prices and output. OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries with Russia and other allies, surprised the market on April 2 with further output cuts that pushed up the price of oil.

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Biodiesel import flood could drown European market

Biodiesel import flood could drown European market

A flood of potentially "dubious" biodiesel imports into Europe from China needs to be subject to closer EU vetting or it could trigger the collapse of the European Union's biofuels industry, top producer body EWABA said on Wednesday, said Reuters.

The European Waste-based Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA) said 11 European biodiesel plants have already halted production and another 10 have reduced their capacity. The EU has provided incentives for the production of biodiesel made with waste oils and fat as part of its efforts to increase renewable energy use.

At the same time, EU data and Chinese customs data have both shown a rise in imports to Europe from Chinese producers that see the opportunity provided by a strong market in Europe. European vegetable oil industry group FEDIOL last week cited an abnormal rise in imports of biodiesel classified as waste based as a reason for plummeting rapeseed prices.

Offer prices in Europe for advanced biodiesel have nearly halved since August, traders say, reducing producers' earnings. EWABA said the EU-backed inspection mechanism has not sufficiently checked imports and traders say spot audits in China are insufficient to ensure less sustainable materials, notably palm oil, are not used to make biofuel.

"The promotion to waste-based and advanced biodiesel has to be accompanied by effective policing and worldwide sound auditing and verification practices ... thus avoiding dubious or fraudulent activity," EWABA said, without naming specific Chinese companies.

If authorities do not crack down on the flows, it added: "We will soon be on a path which will irremediably spiral into the complete collapse of the EU industry. This would result in de-industrialization and damaging job losses". It addressed its open letter to the European Commission, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and the Dutch Emissions Authority.

We remind, Russia is leaning towards leaving oil production volumes unchanged ahead of an OPEC+ policy meeting on June 4 because Moscow is content with current prices and output. OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries with Russia and other allies, surprised the market on April 2 with further output cuts that pushed up the price of oil.

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