RIYADH: Oil prices reclaimed ground on Monday after tumbling more than $2 a barrel in the previous session as optimism from China’s reopening and oil demand recovery outweighed concerns of a global recession.
Brent crude futures rose 80 cents, or 0.95 percent, to $79.79 a barrel by 07.55 a.m. Saudi time, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $75.00 a barrel, up 71 cents, or 0.96 percent.
On Friday, news outlet Caixin reported that China plans to increase flights with the goal to restore the country’s average daily passenger flight volumes to 70 percent of 2019 levels by Jan. 6.
China’s diesel and gasoline exports continued to surge in November to their highest level in over a year as refiners dashed to use up their 2022 export quotas and sell down rising inventory.
Fire put out at unit of Siberian oil and gas condensate field
A fire at an oil and gas condensate Markovskoye field in Russia’s Irkutsk region in Siberia was extinguished, Igor Kobzev, governor of the region said on Monday.
Seven people were injured, Kobzev said on the Telegram messaging app. Six were hospitalized, with two in serious condition.
“There is no danger to residents,” Kobzev said.
The fire broke out Sunday over an area of about 1,000 sq. m. The field is owned by the Irkutsk Oil Co., one of Russia’s largest private oil producers.
Investors ramp up pressure on big oil firms to set 2030 climate targets
A group of investors has tabled resolutions urging four of the world’s top oil and gas companies to set broad climate targets for 2030, reviving pressure on the sector after a year that saw governments shift their focus to energy security.
Activist group Follow This said it had co-filed the resolutions with six major institutional investors managing $1.3 trillion in assets ahead of the annual general meetings of BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Shell next year.
In the resolutions, the investors call on the companies to set targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, including those from fuel sold to customers, known as Scope 3 emissions, which account for the vast majority of the sector’s pollution.
Investors have in recent years ramped up pressure on the oil and gas sector to help tackle climate change, and the Follow These climate-related resolutions have drawn growing support among shareholders.
However, last year the efforts largely sputtered as investors turned their focus more to higher energy prices and energy security following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
BP, Shell and Chevron have all set some 2030 greenhouse emissions reduction targets that include Scope 3, though Follow This said they are not aligned with the UN’s ambitions to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Exxon, which does not have Scope 3 targets, has said the way they are calculated is flawed. The methodology has the unintended consequence of passing carbon footprint to someone else, it says — for example, when companies are punished for producing more natural gas that would replace coal, a more polluting fuel.
(With input from Reuters)
