Day: February 15, 2022

If oil prices remain at or above $100 per barrel, it could unleash up to 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of US tight oil, driven by rising demand and continued supply tightness, according to a Rystad Energy analysis.

Tight oil output in the core producing regions of the US, including the Permian, Eagle Ford, Niobrara, Bakken and Anadarko, reached around 7.7 million bpd in the fourth quarter of last year, the agency said, noting this level is still short of the pre-pandemic levels.

According to the analysis released on Monday, production in these regions is expected to surpass the 2019 high of 8.1 million bpd by the second quarter of this year and expand further if a supercycle materializes.

“If oil prices reach and remain around $100 per barrel, total production from these core regions would hit 9.9 million bpd by the fourth quarter of 2023, marking a 2.2 million bpd surge from the same quarter in 2021,” it said.

High oil prices are encouraging operators to increase production as supply from sources outside the US remains tight.

Concerns over the impact of COVID-19 globally are fading, and countries are removing or relaxing restrictions, resulting in a surge in demand for oil that the current supply would struggle to meet. Geopolitical uncertainties in major exporting countries are also worsening, threatening to disrupt trade flows in an already constrained environment.

Total unconventional output – including oil, gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) – from these core US oil regions has already returned to pre-COVID-19 levels, totaling around 15.6 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in the fourth quarter of 2021, Rystad said. They also predicted that total output will keep climbing and reach an all-time high of more than 16 million boepd by the end of March this year.

“Although high prices would, in theory, trigger a burst in tight oil production, acute supply chain bottlenecks, a lag between price signals and its impact on production, and winter weather-related disruptions will slow growth,” Artem Abramov, Rystad Energy’s head of shale research, was quoted as saying in the analysis.

Abramov said that added to this are expectations that spot sand prices will rise to a $50-$70 per ton range, which he said is a level unheard of in the industry’s modern history and will hit operators’ wallets in the process of shale oil extraction.

Rystad Energy further predicted that a price range between $70 and $100 per barrel would lead to a significant upsurge in output in the fourth quarter of 2022, while a prolonged run of $90-$100 per barrel would result in a further increase to the already recovering rig activity from the second quarter of 2022.

In a $40 scenario, the agency said production would return to 2021 levels by 2024.

Looking beyond 2023, the agency said that $100 West Texas Intermediate (WTI) would allow the industry to grow at a rate of about 960,000 bpd per year from the fourth quarter of 2021 to the fourth quarter of 2025. Rystad predicts that a world at $70 would still allow for a sustainable growth cycle, but the average annual rate would be limited to around 560,000 bpd

According to the agency, there is a marked change happening now in the Permian and some other basins, with industry sentiment becoming buoyant again. “Various supply chain bottlenecks might delay the uptick in activity, but they will not act as a complete showstopper as the industry has repeatedly demonstrated that all such bottlenecks get resolved in time.”

In a $70 scenario, supply from the lower 48 states is expected to trend towards 12 million bpd by late-2025, the agency said, adding that a sustained $100 environment would allow US onshore oil volumes to grow to 13.5 million bpd over the next four years.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkiye’s central government budget balance saw a surplus of 30 billion Turkish liras ($2.2 billion) in January, the Treasury and Finance Ministry announced on Tuesday.

The figure improved from a 24.2 billion Turkish liras ($3.3 billion) deficit in January 2021, data showed.

Turkiye’s budget revenues jumped by 96.4% year-on-year to 176 billion liras ($13 billion) this January while expenditures amounted to 146 billion liras ($10.8 billion), rising 28.3% in the same period.

Excluding interest payments, the budget balance posted a 44.3 billion liras ($3.2 billion) surplus last month.

Tax revenues reached 147.4 billion liras ($10.9 billion), and interest payments were 14.2 billion liras ($1.1 billion) in the same period.

One US dollar traded for 13.5100 Turkish liras on average in January.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkiye’s benchmark stock index Borsa Istanbul and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ‘s Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) has signed an agreement.

According to a statement on Tuesday, Borsa Istanbul will provide implementation and consultancy support to ADX in the field of information technologies.

The deal was one of 13 cooperation agreements signed in various fields during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to the Gulf country at the invitation of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Borsa Istanbul will also consult ADX in the installation of systems, integration, updating the platform, transferring data to the new platform, application and acceptance tests, experience transfer, and training.

Noting that broadening global partnerships is a core element of ADX’s strategy to increase liquidity, enhance market efficiency, and drive the sustainable growth of the market, ADX chairman Hisham Khalid Malak said:

“We are appreciative of the role that Borsa Istanbul will play in further developing ADX’s technological capabilities. We also look forward to exploring further areas of cooperation for the mutual benefit of our exchanges in line with the memorandum of understanding signed in November 2021.”

Korkmaz Ergun, Borsa Istanbul CEO, said the agreement was the first service export of the stock exchange.

“We will take this project as our own and work with ADX in system tests, system integration, and data transfer processes in the most effective way, provide consultancy on various issues and make every effort to complete this project as a brand project of Borsa Istanbul in the best possible way,” Ergun stressed.

Underlying that this project is of utmost importance to Borsa Istanbul, Ergun said it is aimed to continue cooperation by expanding it with different projects.

Saeed Hamad Al Dhaheri, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ADX, pointed out that the deal will further enhance the technological capabilities of ADX.

“Our network of partnerships make a valuable contribution to the “ADX One” strategy to be a market of choice for issuers and investors,” Al Dhaheri noted.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The European Union’s foreign trade balance saw a €68.9 billion ($78.2 billion) surplus in 2021, the bloc’s statistical authority said on Tuesday.

Last year’s reading was down 68% from €215.8 billion in January-December 2020, Eurostat data showed.

The 27-member bloc’s exports to the rest of the world increased 12.8% year-on-year to reach €2.2 trillion in 2021, while imports climbed 23% to €2.1 trillion.

Intra-EU trade went up 19.9% on an annual basis to €3.4 trillion last year.

“In 2021, the highest increase for both import and export flows was recorded in the energy sector, leading to a significant worsening of the EU energy deficit of €276.7 bn in 2021 compared with €157.2 billion in 2020,” the data showed.

Trading partners

The US was the top market for EU exporters last year, with a total volume of €399.4 billion, rising 13.1% from 2020.

The other major export markets were the UK, China, Switzerland, Russia and Turkiye.

On the other side, China was the main source of imports with €472.2 billion, an annual growth of 22.6%.

It was followed by the US, UK, Russia, Switzerland and Turkiye.

In 2021, the bloc had the largest deficit of €248.9 billion with China and the biggest surplus of €167.4 billion with the US.

With a trade volume of €157.2 billion in 2021, Turkiye was the sixth-largest trading partner of the EU

EU exports to the country stood at €79.2 billion, while the bloc’s imports from Turkiye amounted to €78 billion.

Source: Anadolu Agency

American chip manufacturer Intel announced Tuesday it will acquire Israeli company Tower Semiconductor for $5.4 billion.

Intel said in a statement that it will pay $53 per share in cash for Tower Semiconductor.

Tower Semiconductor stock price soared 40% at Tel Aviv Stock Exchange after the announcement, while Intel shares were down 0.1% on the Nasdaq in limited pre-market trades.

“Tower’s specialty technology portfolio, geographic reach, deep customer relationships and services-first operations will help scale Intel’s foundry services and advance our goal of becoming a major provider of foundry capacity globally,” Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said in the statement.

“This deal will enable Intel to offer a compelling breadth of leading-edge nodes and differentiated specialty technologies on mature nodes – unlocking new opportunities for existing and future customers in an era of unprecedented demand for semiconductors,” he added.

Tower Semiconductor CEO Russell Ellwanger said the company has built a range of specialty analog foundry solutions based on deep customer partnerships with worldwide manufacturing capabilities.

“Together with Intel, we will drive new and meaningful growth opportunities and offer even greater value to our customers through a full suite of technology solutions and nodes and a greatly expanded global manufacturing footprint,” he said.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.3% in the euro area and by 0.4% in the EU, compared with the previous quarter, according to a flash estimate by the EU statistical office Eurostat on Tuesday.

GDP in the third quarter of 2021 had grown by 2.3% in the euro area and by 2.2% in the EU, it said.

Annually, GDP increased by 5.2% in both the euro area and the EU in 2021.

Poland topped with 7.7% GDP growth in the final quarter of last year, compared with the same quarter of the previous year. It was followed by Hungary with 7.1% and Italy at 6.4%.

The number of employed persons increased by 0.5% in both the euro area and the EU in the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to the previous quarter, Eurostat said.

In the third quarter of 2021, employment had increased by 1% in the euro area and by 0.9% in the EU, it noted.

“Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, employment increased by 2.1% in both the euro area and the EU in the fourth quarter of 2021, after 2.1% in both areas in the third quarter of 2021,” it said in a statement

Annually, employment increased by 1.1% in the euro area and 1.2% in the EU last year, compared to the previous year.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Gold prices hit their highest level in eight months as investors rushed to the precious metal as a safe haven amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

Price of gold hit $1,979 per ounce earlier Tuesday, climbing to its highest level since June 11, 2021, according to official figures.

It later retreated sharply to $1,851 an ounce as of 1215GMT as Russian Defense Ministry said it is withdrawing some of its troops after they completed military drills.

The ministry, however, added that other major military exercises would continue.

Price of silver also hit $23.99 per ounce on Tuesday. Although this is the highest level since Jan. 26, the previous time that the white metal challenged the $24 an ounce resistance level came in November 2021.

Crude oil prices were also on the rise amid the rising Russia-Ukraine tensions.

Price of international benchmark Brent crude soared to $96.7 per barrel on Monday, marking its highest level since Sept. 22, 2014, according to official data.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Major stock markets in Asia posted mixed figures at Tuesday’s close, with the Indian Sensex benchmark performing the best, increasing 2.95%, or 1,663 points, to 58,069.

Investors remain cautious as Russia-Ukraine tensions accelerate.

The Japanese economy grew 1.3% in the last quarter of 2021 compared to the previous quarter, and 5.4% on an annual basis, below expectations, according to official data released on Tuesday.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, was down by 1.25%, or 46.77 points, to close at 3,694 points.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock exchange was also in negative territory, going down by 0.79%, or 214.40 points, to 26,865.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, plummeted 0.82%, or 200.86 points, to 24,355.

China’s Shanghai Stock Exchange, meanwhile, rose 0.50%, or 17.21 points, to close at 3,446 points, while the Singapore index slightly gained 0.10 points, to reach 3,421.?

Source: Anadolu Agency