NEWS / Foreign Exchange

Crude Market Update

• OPEC Weekly Basket Hits a New All-time High of $86.32/Barrel Monday
• Acquires a 45% stake in the Alam el Shawish West license in Egypt from Vegas oil and gas [gaz.fr]
• Yemeni Tribesman blow up pipeline to Red Sea Export facility [wire headline]
• BP Vice President: No plans to sell stake in Sinopec || Talking on whether to expand its Petchems joint venture || Studying the Chinese coal-to-liquid market [bp.uk] [snp]
• PetroChina's Shanghai A share IPO opens at CNY48.60 v the CNY16.7 IPO price [857.hk]
• Total extends production period for Bongkot field [fp.fr]
• Leveraged buyout firm Colony Capital may abandon its ?‚¬4.0B bid for Libya??™s state-owned oil refiner Tamoil [wire summary report]
• Kazakhstan recently published amendments to its subsoil law, which will allow the government to cancel oil projects such as ENI??™s if developers do not meet contractual obligations [wire summary story] [eni.it]
• The Russian anti-monopoly authorities said they have inquired leading Russian oil refineries about reasons that recently led to reduced production of oil derivatives and higher prices.  Some media reports said this week that gasoline prices could rise 10-15% in Moscow and the Moscow Region due to technical maintenance works at three refineries in central Russia, including one in Moscow. [RIA Novosti]
• China will have to continue raising its domestic resources prices, even though the move could result in additional inflationary pressure, in order to correct the distortions in the economy caused by underpriced fuel, a senior official at the People's Bank of China (PBoC) said. [Forbes]
• Kazakhstan has set a new deadline of end-November for the Eni-led group of companies developing the giant offshore Kashagan oil field to reach a settlement with the government on how to proceed with the troubled project. But sources close to the consortium say that, despite signs of progress in negotiations, there is still much work to be done before an agreement can be signed. [International Oil Daily]
• Given runaway international crude oil prices, India's top energy firms are gearing up massive expansion and exploration plans both at home and abroad. At the same time, top global energy firms such as ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Total are expected to bid for India's seventh oil and gas exploration round, tentatively scheduled for next April. New Delhi is looking to begin marketing as many as 70 exploration areas in October or November. [Asia Times]
• NHC: No major developments seen over the next 24 hours.
• The latest weather derivatives forecast that the temperature in the US will be 0.2 degrees below its historical average over the next 1 to 7 days, with temperatures in the Northeast 3.3 degrees below average and temperatures in the Southwest 3. degrees