Venezuela’s military to escort Iranian fuel tankers -defense minister

CARACAS, Venezuela’s military will escort Iranian tankers bringing fuel to the gasoline-starved country as soon as they enter its exclusive economic zone, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said on Wednesday. His comments came after Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said the shipment should “alarm” Latin America. Both OPEC members are U.S. adversaries whose oil industries are…

Trump administration abruptly postpones New Mexico oil and gas auction

The Trump administration abruptly postponed an auction of oil and gas leases in New Mexico that had been scheduled to begin on Wednesday morning without providing a reason for the move. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) spokeswoman Allison Sandoval confirmed the delay, which was first announced on a government website. She said the agency “will…

OIL under fire after clearance to drill in bio-diversity hotspot vicinity

GUWAHATI: Amid strong protests against ministry of environment, forest and climate change giving environmental clearance for drilling and testing of hydrocarbons at seven locations under Dibru-Saikhowa National Park Area in Tinsukia district to Oil India Limited (OIL), the company said that its operations will have no impact on the bio-diversity hotspot. The company in a…

India’s proposed 15% ‘covid tax’ draws ire from chemical end-users

MUMBAI (ICIS)–India is proposing to impose a 15% tax on all chemical and petrochemical imports, to protect the domestic industry in the current fiscal year ending March 2021 as the south Asian nation battles the coronavirus pandemic. Downstream end-users, however, have posed strong opposition to the measure dubbed as “covid (coronavirus disease) tax” – which…

Crude oil prices gain on signs of output cuts, improved demand

LONDON: Oil prices rose slightly on Tuesday amid signs that producers are cutting output as promised just as demand picks up, stoked by more countries easing out of curbs imposed to counter the coronavirus pandemic. Benchmark Brent crude climbed 7 cents, or 0.2 per cent, to $34.88 a barrel by 0907 GMT, after earlier touching…

U.S. crude strengthens as certain stimulus measures to continue

NEW YORK – U.S. crude ended slightly higher on Tuesday, as U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he supported extending certain measures intended to bolster the economy, while Brent ended lower on concerns that output cuts might not be sufficient. Oil has rallied for several days following numerous output cuts from major producers to curb…

Global gas demand to shrink by 2 per cent this year amid pandemic: Research

LONDON: Global demand for natural gas is expected to fall by almost 2 per cent this year as commercial and industrial activity is reduced amid coronavirus lockdowns, consultancy Rystad Energy said on Monday. Global gas demand could total 3,878 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2020, down from 3,951 bcm last year, the consultancy forecast. Before…