RIYADH: Oil prices were stable on Wednesday, as the market weighed gloomy economic prospects against expectations of US crude inventory declines and OPEC’s voluntary output cuts announcement.
Brent crude futures gained 44 cents, or 0.52 percent, to $85.38 a barrel by 11.15 a.m. Saudi time. West Texas Intermediate US crude was up 31 cents, or 0.38 percent, to $81.02 a barrel.
Iraq agrees to 30 percent stake in TotalEnergies $27 billion energy project
Iraq said on Tuesday it has agreed to a smaller 30 percent stake in TotalEnergies long-delayed $27 billion project, reviving a deal that Baghdad hopes could lure back foreign investment into the battered country which craves stability.
The deal was signed in 2021 for TotalEnergies to build four oil, gas and renewables projects with an initial investment of $10 billion in southern Iraq over 25 years.
But it has experienced several setbacks amid disputes between Iraqi politicians over terms.
Iraq’s cabinet said in a late Tuesday statement that it had approved the amended 30 percent share “due to the importance of resolving the issue and proceeding with the signing of related agreements.”
Iraq’s state-owned Basrah Oil will partner in the project, instead of now-abolished Iraq’s National Oil Co., the cabinet statement added.
The potential for INOC’s involvement had been another stumbling block for the deal.
Baghdad, Irbil sign temporary deal to restart northern oil exports
Iraq’s federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government signed a temporary agreement on Tuesday to restart northern oil exports through Turkiye, as part of a broader deal to end decades of political and economic disputes.
Turkiye stopped pumping about 450,000 barrels per day of Iraqi crude through a pipeline from the Fish-Khabur border area to its Ceyhan port on March 25 after Iraq won an arbitration case.
“The recent disruptions to oil exports from the Kurdistan Region have hurt the country as a whole. This agreement brings much-needed revenues,” KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said in a statement.
Although the flows account for about 0.5 percent of global oil supply, the stoppage forced oil firms in the region to halt output or move production into rapidly filling storage tanks, and helped boost oil prices last week to nearly $80/bbl.
Barzani traveled to Baghdad on Tuesday to finalize the agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani, the prime minister’s media office said in a tweet.
EnQuest posts nearly 31 percent jump in 2022 free cash flow
British North Sea-focused oil producer EnQuest reported a 30.8 percent rise in full-year free cash flow on Wednesday, helped by strong production, higher oil prices and cost cuts.
The group’s free cash flow came in at $518.9 million for the year ended Dec. 31, compared with $396.8 million in 2021.
Exxon Mobil expects first-quarter oil and gas earnings to ease
Exxon Mobil Corp. said on Tuesday changes in oil and gas prices would impact its first-quarter upstream earnings by $400 million to $1 billion compared with the fourth quarter.
The largest US oil producer posted $8.2 billion in upstream earnings in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31.
(With input from Reuters)
