NEWS / Foreign Exchange

Crude Market Update

• OPEC daily basket hit a new all-time high of $81.55/barrel on Friday
• Seven Royal Dutch Shell workers have been kidnapped in Nigeria [rdsa.uk]
• Shuts the gasoline unit at its 146K bpd Borger refinery in Texas [cop]
• Indonesia??™s Pertamina delays maintenance at its 120K bpd Dumai refinery due to rising demand
• Egyptian Petroleum Minister: Oil prices may reach $100 in the event of supply disruptions
• Kuwaiti Oil Minister: High oil prices are the result of a weak dollar as well as geopolitics; May drop the dollar denomination for oil under the right conditions.
• OPEC??™s Head of Research: The dollar??™s decline is of concern; Current oil prices are driven by Geopolitics
• Gulf OPEC Delegate: Credit turmoil, and dollar decline are behind the rise in oil prices; World oil stockpiles are sufficient
• IAEA??™s El-Baradei: Iran would need three to eight years to develop a nuclear bomb [Wires Citing Newspaper Inverview]
• Exxon to resume diesel sales from its Australian unit tomorrow [xom]
• World oil production has already peaked and will fall by half as soon as 2030, according to a report which also warns that extreme shortages of fossil fuels will lead to wars and social breakdown. [Guardian]
• Oil prices have skyrocketed to reach $90 per barrel, raising concern that they could continue to climb to $100 in the near future. The situation is all the more gloomy with many experts foreseeing a potential second oil shock once the price goes beyond $95. Soaring oil prices have been causing anxiety among businesses and people, alike. For a nation that depends entirely on oil imports, high prices have a far-reaching impact upon the country's economy and the livelihood of ordinary citizens, as they will lead to a drastic rise in commodity prices. [Korea Times]
• Construction of Rockies Express East, the first gas pipeline project proposed to connect Rockies gas with the growing Northeast market, could be delayed if project leaders cannot negotiate a new timetable for approval with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. [Natural Gass Week]
• Setbacks or not, Big Oil clearly still has an appetite for Russia's massive oil and gas reserves. On Friday, it was announced that Total and Novatek, Russia's biggest independent gas producer, had signed a protocol on joint exploration. And this week, Royal Dutch Shell is set to ink a cooperation deal with state-controlled Rosneft covering exploration inside Russia. [International Oil Daily] [fr.fp] [rdsa.uk]
• NCH: No tropical formations are expected during the next 48 hours
• Weather derivatives currently forecast that the average temperature in the US will be 5.6 degrees above its historical average over the next 1 to 7 days, with temperatures in the Northeast 9.8 degrees above average and temperatures in the North-central 7.9 degrees above average
• Accuweather: As high pressure continues to build into the Four Corners region, strong Santa Ana winds will continue to howl across the Southwest through Monday. The strong winds will fan destructive wildfires that have erupted across the region.