2015

LITASCO SA, the exclusive international marketing and trading company of OAO LUKOIL, together with its Joint Venture partner Burando Maritime Services, a leading maritime services provider in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp region have entered into an agreement to sell 100% of their respective shares of Service Terminal Rotterdam v.o.f. (“STR”) to iCON Infrastructure Partners II, L.P.. The transaction was entered into following two months of exclusive discussions and is expected to close at the end of April 2015.

The decline in crude oil prices since last summer has had a direct impact on oil producers' sales revenue, but hedging strategies have lessened the effects of lower prices on some producers' total revenue. Oil producers who adopt hedging strategies can reduce their price risk and generate smoother financial outcomes in unstable markets. A common hedging practice is to sell futures and swaps to lock in desired prices for future production, a practice that can shield producers' revenue from decreasing prices.

Iraq boosted crude shipments in March to the highest level in more than three decades, adding to a global supply glut that has helped push down oil prices by 46% in the last year.

Arctic exploration is worth the risk. Exxon has decades of experience working in that part of the world, including successful projects in Russia — but also a catastrophic oil spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound when the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground in 1989.

Ukraine is facing a huge energy-security challenge. It is dependent on Russia supplying most of its natural gas as well as uranium fuel for its nuclear reactors.

The Russian government is requesting that state-owned gas giant Gazprom provide discounted gas to the struggling government in Ukraine.

Turkey and Greece are back under the spotlight as Russia’s Gazprom restated the importance of Turkish Stream for Greece’s energy security, while the Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot leaders openly referred to the opportunity of resuming negotiations about the future of the Mediterranean island.

Talks between the P5+1 nations and Iran have failed to reach a conclusive outcome by the self-imposed 31st March deadline. The P5+1 nations and Iran have extended talks for a further 24 hours, in the hope that an outline agreement over Iran’s nuclear programme could be reached.

Based on crude oil market assessments in the Short-Term Energy Outlook, EIA estimates that members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), excluding Iran, will earn about $700 billion in revenue from net oil exports in 2014, a 14% decrease from 2013 earnings and the lowest earnings for the group since 2010.

With Saudi Arabia reluctant to cut production, crude oil prices over the next decade depend greatly on producers’ costs, says a veteran observer of oil markets and the Middle East.