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The EIA expects U.S. shale oil production to drop next month to 8.526 million barrels per day in the seven most prolific shale basins in the United States, according to new data published on Monday. The forecast for May for a 182,673-average barrel per day drop in oil production is expected to be the second largest drop according to EIA data dating back to 2007. The largest drop in oil production, according to the EIA, should be this month, down 193,625 barrels per day from March. The Drilling Productivity Report shows six weeks of sizeable declines, shedding more than a half a million barrels per day—546,622 barrels—since December 2019. Nevertheless, oil production across those seven basins are still trending sharply upward overall over the last decade. And year over year, oil production is still up, despite the sharp declines over the last few weeks. Oil demand and oil prices have declined sharply in recent months, with global oil demand destruction t...

Officials in Minsk say a nuclear power plant being constructed in western Belarus will be launched during the summer and start producing electricity in the autumn. Energy Minister Viktar Karankevich announced the timetable for the Belarusian nuclear power plant on April 11 during an interview with the Belarusian TV channel ONT. "We target July in respect of the physical launch," Karankevich said about the plant in the western region of Hrodno. "Accordingly, the output of first kilowatt hours of electric power -- the energy -- will start in September-October." The plant is being built in the town of Astravets near the border with Lithuania. It is just 40 kilometers from Lithuania's capital, Vilnius. In January, Lithuanian Energy Minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas told RFE/RL that the Belarusian plant is "a threat to our national security, public health, and environment." "The key question is the site selection, which was done politicall...

This weekend's 11th hour decision to cut OPEC oil output by 23% was supposed to end the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and the rest of OPEC+, but it appears Saudi Arabia did not get the memo. While oil production may (or may not) be cut by 9.7mmb/d on May 1, Riyadh remembered that to capture market share one can manipulate volumes, which are now set as per this weekend's OPEC+ agreement or one can adjust price discounts, which are not. And as the kingdom faces stiff competition from rival suppliers for market share in the prized Asian market (or at least what's left of it after India cut demand by 70%), the OPEC leader  slashed its official selling prices to Asian customers for May by larger-than-expected margins this week,  while keeping prices flat for Europe and raising them for the United States. On Monday, Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco set the May price for its Arab light crude oil to Asia at a  discount of $7.3 to the Oman/Dubai average, down $4.2 ...

Amadeus has issued €750 million in new capital and €750 million in senior convertible bonds to further strengthen its capital position. The tech leader sought to improve its liquidity in the face of the near-term uncertainty caused by the impact of Covid-19 on global travel. The issuance takes Amadeus’ liquidity to over €4 billion. The new capital is in two forms: Approximately €750 million of new primary equity. Some 19,230,769 new shares have been issued at a price of €39, with a 5.8 per cent discount to Amadeus last trading price. A total of €750 million in senior convertible bonds, with a nominal price of €100,000 and a coupon of 1.5 per cent have been issued. Unless previously converted, redeemed or purchased and cancelled, the bonds will be redeemed on April 9th, 2025. The capital raise was conducted via an accelerated bookbuild, targeted at qualified investors, and has already been completed. It is part of a comprehensive program to enable the company to confr...

The government of the United Arab Emirates has formally requested the postponement of Expo 2020 Dubai. The move came in a letter addressed to Dimitri Kerkentzes, secretary general of the Bureau International des Expositions, the body that awards hosting rights to the event. Speculation  has been mounting for some time that the event would be moved as the world battles to overcome the coronavirus pandemic. In a letter to the Bureau International des Expositions, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation of the UAE, seeks the postponement of the Expo. The decision follows in-depth discussions by the Expo 2020 Dubai steering committee with the organiser and the Bureau International des Expositions on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and in solidarity with participating countries. The United Arab Emirates has proposed October 1st next year for the event to start. If agreed, the new Expo would run until March 31st, 2022. Th...

With oil prices below Russia’s budget breakeven and with over 20 percent of global oil demand wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic, Russian oil firms could be ready to participate in a global production cut deal with Saudi Arabia, the United States, and other major producers, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.   Russian oil firms, who did not increase production this month as promised weeks ago when the OPEC+ deal collapsed, have signaled a readiness for global coordinated action to stop the price crash, as the demand destruction during the lockdowns from India to the U.S. turned out much more than initially thought, according to Bloomberg’s sources.    Four sources at Russian oil firms told Bloomberg that they could be ready to agree to some kind of a three-way deal among Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.   Two weeks ago, Russia was dismissing all calls for and reports about returning to the negotiating...

After having crashed nearly 70 percent in the first three months of 2020, benchmark WTI prices are trying to form a bottom around $20 per barrel. But this psychological threshold is looking increasingly shaky as global crude storage facilities are filling up at an unprecedented pace. OPEC and its partners officially ended their output cut deal today, following the words of Russian Energy Minister Novak that every producer is ‘’free to pump at will’’. With a flood of physical crude set to hit the market, it will take weeks, not months, for global oil storage space to run out. The storage problem could grow even worse as refining capacity is coming offline due to coronavirus health risks and in some cases a (very) negative crack spread caused by a double whammy of low fuel demand and crude oversupply. Oilprice.com’s Alex Kimani wrote on Saturday that refining crack spreads are now negative in both US and Asian markets. This means that refiners must pay for eve...

Healthcare services around the world have been overwhelmed by the pandemic More than a million cases of coronavirus have been registered globally, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University - another grim milestone as the world grapples with the spreading pandemic. Nearly 53,000 people have died and more than 210,000 have recovered, according to the US university's figures. The US has the most cases, and more than 1,000 died there in the past day. The disease, Covid-19, first emerged in central China three months ago. Though the tally kept by Johns Hopkins records one million confirmed cases, the actual number is thought to be much higher. It took a month and a half for the first 100,000 cases to be registered. A million was reached after a doubling in cases over the past week. Nearly a quarter of cases have been registered in the United States, while Europe accounts for around half. The pandemic is taking a huge economic toll: an extra 6.6 mi...

Levels of air pollutants and warming gases over some cities and regions are showing significant drops as coronavirus impacts work and travel. Researchers in New York told the BBC their early results showed carbon monoxide mainly from cars had been reduced by nearly 50% compared with last year. Emissions of the planet-heating gas CO2 have also fallen sharply. But there are warnings levels could rise rapidly after the pandemic. With global economic activity ramping down as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, it is hardly surprising that emissions of a variety of gases related to energy and transport would be reduced. Scientists say that by May, when CO2 emissions are at their peak thanks to the decomposition of leaves, the levels recorded might be the lowest since the financial crisis over a decade ago. Image copyright NASA While it is early days, data collected in New York this week suggests that instructions to curb unnecessary travel are having a significant impact. ...

Google is to publicly track people's movements over the course of the coronavirus pandemic. The tech firm will publish details of the different types of places people are going to on a county-by-county basis in the UK, as well as similar data for 130 other countries. The plan is to issue a regular updates with the figures referring back to activity from two or three days prior. The company has promised that individuals' privacy will be preserved. The readings are based on location data gathered via the Google Maps app or one of the firm's other mobile services. The firm typically uses this to reveal when specific museums, shops and other places are busiest as well as to revise driving routes to help motorists avoid traffic. Image copyright GOOGLE Image caption Google will show in percentage terms how busy different types of places are compared to what they used to be earlier in the year In this case, the readings will be broken down to reveal how busy the fol...