RIYADH: Oil prices slipped on Monday after China set a lower-than-expected target for economic growth this year at around 5 percent, and as investors cautiously awaited US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony this week.
Brent crude futures were trading down $1.30, or 1.51 percent, at $84.53 a barrel at 03.30 p.m. Saudi time.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were also down 1.54 percent at $78.45.
China’s growth forecast, which is being closely watched, fell below last year’s target of 5.5 percent and came in at the lower end of expectations.
PKN will demand compensation after Russia stopped oil deliveries: CEO
Poland’s PKN Orlen will demand compensation after Russia halted oil deliveries to Poland via the Druzhba pipeline in late February, CEO Daniel Obajtek said on Monday, without giving further details.
“Russians stopped pumping oil to Poland...so we will now take legal action and demand claims,” he told private Radio Zet.
He declined to give a value for potential compensation saying he could not discuss details of company contracts.
Last March, Poland pledged to stop using Russian oil by the end of 2022, the same time as PKN’s long-term contract with Rosneft expired. It also has an agreement with Tatneft that ends in 2024.
Last week Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Poland would cut its oil imports from Russia to close to zero in February-March from around 10 percent of the oil refined by PKN at the beginning of 2023.
Guyana sees natural gas as the next frontier after oil
Guyana, the South American country that is home to the world’s largest oil discoveries in a decade, next wants to develop its mostly untapped natural gas reserves, the nation's Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said on Sunday.
The nation aimed to diversify its oil sector and secure new sources of revenue before the energy transition to renewables reduced demand for fossil fuels, Jagdeo said.
In just a few years, Guyana has emerged as an oil powerhouse with more than 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil and gas found by a consortium led by Exxon Mobil.
Exxon’s gas production at the massive Stabroek block is not being used by Guyana or sold abroad. Exxon currently reinjects the gas to maintain the pressure of producing oil wells.
The vice president plans to use the conference to promote 14 untapped offshore blocks to a global audience of energy executives and ministers.
The government expected to receive this year a plan it had requested from Exxon for developing the company’s gas discoveries, Jagdeo said.
The country was also discussing with technicians and consultants a national strategy to supply gas to industries ranging from petrochemicals to exportable liquefied natural gas, he told Reuters.
“We’ve had a number of those companies come to us and say ‘Should you do that, we want to be considered,’” he said of the potential to become an LNG exporter. He declined to identify which LNG developers had approached the government.
(With input from Reuters)
