Oil prices: A game of chicken or headless chickens? – CNBC Comment August 11, 2015 Forget QE and low base rates, the real great global stimulus – in the form of tumbling commodities and most importantly oil – continues and it’s hard to see what’s going to change any time soon. This huge transfer of wealth from commodity producers to consumers has shown little sign of abating. In oil, the [...]
Independent Oil and Gas share price plummets after oil price rout squeezes investment in Skipper North Sea exploration August 10, 2015 Shares in Independent Oil and Gas, the Aim-listed oil group with licenses for exploration in the North Sea, have tumbled more than 40 per cent after it lost $10m of investment, wiping several millions from its value. The company said the backing from an internationally listed firm with a multi-billion dollar market cap will not [...]
Saudi Arabia heads to the debt markets as low oil prices weigh on budget deficit August 7, 2015 Saudi Arabia will head to the debt market seeking $27bn as low oil prices begin to weigh on the country's finances. The Kingdom is planning its first sovereign bond issue since 2007, and reportedly hopes to raise $5.3bn each month until the end of the year through tranches of five, seven and ten-year bonds. [...]
Brent crude oil falls towards $49 a barrel August 5, 2015 Brent crude oil has fallen 1.5 per cent in afternoon trading, hitting $49.17 a barrel, a new six month low. Read more: ICE Brent crude oil falls below $50 a barrel The sharp fall comes as figures showing US oil inventories falling by more than expected last week failed to offset the glut in supply. [...]
Oil price rallies on US inventory figures August 5, 2015 Finally, a bit of good news for oil investors: the black stuff was up almost $1 a barrel, or 1.92 per cent, in afternoon trading, after figures showed US inventories had declined for the second week in a row, while Saudi Arabia announced plans to raise prices – but only for its Asian customers . Brent [...]
ICE Brent crude oil falls below $50 a barrel August 4, 2015 Brent crude oil has fallen below $50 a barrel to hit a six month low. ICE September Brent crude, which acts as the global benchmark, fell 18 per cent in July. Having fallen by 4.64 per cent in the first session of August trading, it lost more than $2, falling to $49.58, its weakest price [...]
Brent crude oil drops below $51 per barrel for the first time since January August 3, 2015 The price of Brent crude dipped as much as 3.4 per cent in afternoon trading to $50.43 per barrel, its lowest since the January this year, as the commodities crisis continued to weigh on the market. The news drove the rouble down 1.67 per cent against the dollar, to $0.01593. Russia's economy is heavily dependent [...]
Commodity prices hit corporate spending – global capex down at least 10per cent dragged by sliding energy and mining sector August 3, 2015 The long slide of commodities prices is taking its toll on corporate spending, it seems: global expenditure is predicted to shrink by at least 10 per cent this year, according to new research from rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P). Spending is expected to continue falling well into next year, according to S&P’s forecast, before [...]
Russian central bank cuts interest rate, pushing down rouble July 31, 2015 The Russian central bank has cut its benchmark interest rate again, this time by half a percentage point, to 11 per cent. It's the second time in as many months it's cut its interest rate – and that's after it slashed it by two percentage points in January, one percentage point in March and 1.5 [...]
Today’s job cuts at Shell and Centrica were about more than just rapidly falling oil prices July 31, 2015 The UK’s offshore oil and gas industry is at a crossroads. Though it has spent over £500bn and employed hundreds of thousands people in high-skilled jobs across the UK to extract the nation’s oil and gas over the last 50 years, it has found itself with a bloated cost base and worrying inefficiency. Job [...]