Author: Graham Foster

Unlock the Editor’s Digest without spending a dimeGunvor reported on Tuesday that its earnings had halved in the primary six months of 2024, as the energy dealer grew to become the newest firm in the sector to be hit by an easing of market volatility that had boosted earnings after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.Gunvor, managed by billionaire Torbjörn Törnqvist, mentioned internet earnings got here in at $417mn, which was 50 per cent decrease in contrast with the equal interval in 2023, however remained “well above historical profitability levels”.The sharp fall in revenue on the Geneva-based firm comes after certainly…

Stay knowledgeable with free updatesThe author is a senior fellow and director of the Africa programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International PeaceAngola’s dramatic exit from the oil cartel Opec+ late final yr was interpreted as a historic pivot to the west. The much less understood however equally essential consider its departure was the diverging influence of oil manufacturing quotas between African international locations and their counterparts in the Middle East, Asia and Russia. Despite oil costs being excessive since 2021, most main African oil producers are not experiencing a boom. In the brief time period, that is affecting their…

Stay knowledgeable with free updatesThe Labour government will not challenge a courtroom bid by environmental teams to block the improvement of the Rosebank oilfield within the North Sea, which they mentioned violated the UK’s obligation to goal internet zero emissions.The government pressured that Thursday’s choice, which got here a day earlier than a courtroom listening to in Edinburgh, did not imply that Rosebank’s licence, issued by the earlier Conservative government, could be withdrawn.But the choice casts doubt on the way forward for the mission, one of many North Sea’s greatest, by which Norway’s state-backed Equinor and its associate Ithaca have dedicated…

Stay knowledgeable with free updatesMorgan Stanley has reduce its forecasts for Europe’s largest oil and gas corporations, predicting that waning costs will put extra strain on shareholder returns subsequent yr. Analysts on the financial institution lowered their share worth targets on BP, TotalEnergies, Shell, Equinor, and Repsol by between 9 per cent and 14 per cent, warning that there was a ten per cent draw back threat to subsequent yr’s earnings and money circulate forecasts throughout the sector.  In a analysis notice, Morgan Stanley mentioned there have been 4 situations beneath which the share costs of energy corporations had traditionally flourished: when…

Welcome again. Energy value volatility has eased this yr as the costs of pure gas and LNG stabilise. That’s dangerous information for energy merchants corresponding to Gunvor, which profited from the unprecedented tumult following the outbreak of the battle in Ukraine, and noticed its earnings halve within the first six months of 2024.Read on for Simon’s merchandise on how wind and photo voltaic energy, whose provide of power can fluctuate greater than that of various energy sources, may very well be paired with new applied sciences to trace — and easy — demand from customers. Thanks for studying. — Lee…

A new coalition authorities is grappling with the way to cut back the nation’s dependence on coal, however as Rob explains, there’s more likely to be loads of financial and political turmoil forward. — MalcolmAn ‘atomic bomb scenario’ for jobs: a South African coal plant’s failed repurposing South Africa’s Komati Power Station — a 63-year-old plant nestled away within the coronary heart of the Mpumalanga province within the nation’s coal belt — supplies a cautionary tale of how the “just energy transition” can go badly awry in growing international locations.This is a lesson that Dan Marokane, the chief government of…

It’s been a turbulent week in US politics, with President Joe Biden stepping down from his marketing campaign for re-election and endorsing vice-president Kamala Harris for the Democratic presidential nomination. In our second merchandise, Rhea Basarkar appears at how Republican nominee Donald Trump’s rhetoric on local weather change is out of step with the American public.Thanks for studying,AmandaCan Kamala make US energy policy ‘Brat’?Kamala Harris’s sudden vault to the highest of the Democratic presidential ticket has triggered a rush to determine the place she stands on the essential election points. But as analysts and journalists comb by way of her…

Earnings season is in full swing, and we might be watching intently to see what second-quarter numbers this week say concerning the well being of the business’s supermajors. BP beat expectations because of a decrease tax invoice this morning. Shell will report on Thursday, whereas America’s oil giants, ExxonMobil and Chevron, observe on Friday.Weak refining margins are set to be a central theme: each TotalEnergies and BP took hits in this space and Exxon has flagged that it expects to as properly.Exxon and Chevron, in the meantime, will face questions on their stand-off over a profitable Guyanese oil discover, although…

You can allow subtitles (captions) in the video participant Why Nigeria cannot refine its personal oil is a query that is been requested for generations. Two massively vital issues have modified, refining and subsidy. When the gas subsidy was eliminated, there was a form of panic. We now dwell on oil, sleep on oil, eat on oil, which is unlucky. Because of the theft, it has created a state of affairs the place there was a stifling of funding in the sector. Governments ought to know that we personal the oil. If you need to get cash, in truth, in…

Good morning, and welcome again to Energy Source, coming to you from New York. We begin with a scoop that Gunvor is stepping up its bet on biofuels, buying half of Varo Energy’s $600mn Dutch biofuel undertaking as the commodities dealer seeks to reinvest file earnings from the previous two years. The acquisition comes regardless of decrease than anticipated development in demand for the gas. Shell and BP have each paused the improvement of European biofuel vegetation final month, whereas shares in Neste, a Finnish biofuels specialist, have fallen by virtually half this yr. Today’s e-newsletter appears to be like…