NEWS / Foreign Exchange

Crude Market Update

• Crude Inventories: +400K barrels exp. || -5.29M barrels prior
• Gasoline Inventories: -200 barrels exp. || -1.93M barrels prior
• Distillate Inventories: -1M barrels exp. || -1.85M barrels prior
• Iranian Official: OPEC is not happy with the current oil market, but adds that supply is appropriate || Prices may dip once geopolitical tensions ease
• Indian ONGC Head: New 300K bpd South Indian refinery projected to cost INR240-250B
• Shell spokesperson: Crude oil theft is rising in Nigeria [rdsa.uk]
• South Korea to start a $22B fund to invest in oil and gas projects [wire summary story]
• Statoilhydro says that they are interested in expanding their position in Africa || Notes that they are achieving results in Anola [stl.no]
• EIA Head: Spare oil capacity is tight and is no cushion for disruptions || See crude products and stocks average to low in Q4 || Oil consuming nations face a tight market into winter
• Iraqi Oil Minister: Unsure if OPEC will agree to raise output || Worried by high oil prices ahead of the OPEC meeting
• ENI posts quarterly decline as output declines due to maintenance as well as attacks on its Nigerian facilities || Says that the Dollar??™s decline also hurt profit during the quarter [eni.it]
• Britain faces the prospect of power shortages and soaring prices this winter after the National Grid warned of a shortfall in electricity-generating capacity yesterday. The alert coincides with a surge in gas prices, which are now 40% higher than in continental Europe, and the confirmation that a vital import plant in South Wales will not be operational this winter.  And it emerged last night that the energy minister, Malcolm Wicks, met power providers and users last week to discuss mounting concerns that the UK was heading into another winter of soaring prices and power shortages, similar to the one that forced some manufacturers to shut down capacity 24 months ago. [Guardian]
• Accuweather: Though the storm will remain offshore, Tropical Storm Noel will still blast parts of Florida with drenching showers, strong wind gusts and pounding surf through Thursday. Rough seas will build over the rest of the Eastern Seaboard as the storm eventually heads northeastward through Saturday.