China Petrochemical Complex: A First For Mixed-Ownership lweb.es/f917 5.24.16
OEF REVIEW:A Chinese group led by a private company is planning to build a $15 billion petrochemical complex and refinery on an island near Shanghai. This would be the country’s first and largest energy installation to be built by a non-state investor and is one of the first concrete signs of Beijing’s stated desire to experiment with mixed-ownership in its massive state-controlled energy sector. The complex would include a 400,000 barrels per day refinery and a 1.4 million tonnes a year ethylene plant.
The U.S. Senate has approved a wide-ranging energy bill that could “bring us one step closer to being an energy superpower” according to the Chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The bill would promote a variety of energy sources and speed federal approval of projects to export liquified natural gas (LNG) to Europe and Asia. The bill would also boost renewables, such as solar power and wind power, as well as natural gas, hydropower and geothermal energy. It also would update building codes to increase efficiency, strengthen electric-grid safety standards and reauthorize a half-billion dollar conservation fund that protects parks and other public lands. The bill must now be reconciled with a House-passed version that boosts fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas. President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the House measure.
OEF REVIEW:The new magic number in the oil industry is $50. BP Plc, rig-owner Nabors Industries Ltd. and explorer Pioneer Natural Resources Co. all said in the past 24 hours that prices above $50 will encourage more drilling or provide the needed boost to cash flow. With oil bouncing close to $45 a barrel, an industry that has been shaving costs to stay competitive is ready for signs of stability at a price level less than half of 2014’s average. At an average price of $53 per barrel of oil means the world’s 50 biggest publicly traded companies in the industry can stop bleeding cash, according to oilfield consultant Wood Mackenzie Ltd. Nabors, which owns the world’s largest fleet of onshore drilling rigs, said it has already been talking with several large customers about plans to boost work in the second half of the year if prices rise “comfortably” above $50. “It’s not just about touching $50,” Fraser McKay, vice president of corporate analysis at Wood Mackenzie in Houston, said Tuesday in a phone interview. “It’s about touching, maintaining and having the perception of future prices above $50 a barrel before you start sanctioning projects that are economic at $50 a barrel.” 
OEF REVIEW:China’s crude imports will rise further from a record this year to feed its expanding refining sector and strategic reserves, according to Standard Chartered Bank. The nation’s average crude imports will rise by as much as 600,000 barrels per day this year, analysts including Priya N. Balchandani said in a March 24th report. Imports last month surged above 8 million barrels per day for the first time and exceeded volumes shipped to the U.S., the world’s top oil user, according to the bank. Standard Chartered expects China’s crude imports will top 10 million barrels per day by late 2018 or early 2019.
OEF REVIEW:Oil prices have climbed by about 50 percent from their February lows, topping $40 per barrel. But the rally could be reaching its limits, at least temporarily, as persistent oversupply and the prospect of new shale production caps any potential price increase.
OEF REVIEW:Barclays has revised downwards its global exploration and production spending outlook for 2016, now saying such spending could fall 27% this year, down from 15% back in January. Spending in North America is now trending down 40% versus 27% in January, and international spending is down 21% year-over-year. Since the Barclays Upstream Spending Survey published in January, operators representing 71% of total spending have revised budgets to reflect reduced 2016 spending plans amid a sustained lower oil-price outlook.
OEF REVIEW:The AIIB and NDB are both headquartered in China and there is a strong relationship between these two institutions. Within the infrastructure space, there is such a huge funding gap that all of these institutions can work together. All of us contribute to filling that funding gap. What sets the AIIB and NDB apart is that we are focused on the five BRICS countries, while the AIIB is focused on Asia, so we have a geographical difference. But for big regional projects in Asia, we very much welcome the opportunity to partner with the AIIB to co-finance some projects. Rather than setting up a rival institution, we consider the NDB as being complementary to the existing financial architecture…
OEF REVIEW:The Liard Basin is a lightly drilled region at about 60°N that straddles the boundaries of the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and the province of British Columbia. It is located at the far northwest corner of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, Canada’s major oil and gas producing area… 
OEF REVIEW:U.S. crude oil production from the Lower 48 states from new wells (drilled since the start of 2014) made up 48% of total U.S. crude oil production in 2015, up from 22% in 2007. Production from new wells has grown as advances in horizontal drilling and completion techniques led to growth in oil production from low-permeability tight reservoirs. In 2015, production from tight formations – which include, but are not limited to, shale plays – accounted for more than 4 million barrels per day, or 50% of total U.S. oil production.