MasterEnergy

US refiners Phillips 66, Citgo, Valero seek to buy crude directly from Venezuela

2026-02-18T14:38:00.001-05:00

Phillips 66, Citgo seek to purchase directly starting in April, Valero later in the year, bypassing the trading houses to get a bigger share of the spread.

HOUSTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - U.S. refiners Phillips 66 and Citgo Petroleum are seeking to buy heavy crude directly from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA starting in April to maximize profits, rather than purchasing through trading houses and U.S. oil major Chevron (CVX.N), according to sources familiar with the efforts.

Trading houses Trafigura and Vitol in January secured the first U.S. licenses to export Venezuelan oil as part of a $2 billion deal between Caracas and Washington. Chevron has held an authorization to operate there and ship crude since last year.

Phillips 66 (PSX.N), one of the biggest U.S. refiners, is seeking compliance and internal clearance to purchase directly from PDVSA, three sources said. Once the company is ready, it plans to charter tankers to load the crude at PDVSA's terminals, one of the sources added.

The company bought Venezuelan oil from Vitol last month at about $9 per barrel below Brent crude.

The White House said on Friday the Trump administration is responding to overwhelming interest from oil and gas companies.

"The president's team is working around the clock to field requests from oil and gas companies," spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said.

Valero, the second-largest U.S. refiner and a top buyer of Venezuelan oil from Chevron, plans to buy directly from PDVSA later in the year after it assesses the condition of Venezuela's loading infrastructure, three other sources said. The company has previously bought Venezuelan crude from Vitol for U.S. Gulf Coast delivery.

Valero is stepping up imports of Venezuelan oil with up to 6.5 million barrels of Venezuelan crude bound for its Gulf Coast refineries in March, making it the top foreign refiner of the South American nation's oil. The bulk of those purchases is expected to be through Chevron.

CITGO WANTS OIL DELIVERED TO U.S. GULF

Venezuela-owned U.S. refiner Citgo Petroleum is also in talks to buy crude directly from Venezuela, but the company wants it delivered to the U.S. Gulf Coast, which is difficult due to PDVSA's limited number of vessels, another source said.

Citgo plans to take advantage of opportunities provided under the general license to purchase crude directly from Venezuela, the company said in an emailed statement, adding that it aims to process Venezuelan crude in the coming months at its Gulf Coast refineries.

Citgo in January bought a 500,000-barrel cargo of Venezuelan heavy crude for February delivery from Trafigura, its first Venezuelan crude import since 2019.

See the full story on Reuters here:

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-refiners-phillips-66-citgo-seek-buy-crude-directly-venezuela-sources-say-2026-02-18/

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New Russian Oil Co. Sanctions

2025-10-27T08:47:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday night, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control hit Russia's two largest oil exporters, Rosneft PJSC and Lukoil PJSC, with sanctions. The move raises the stakes for buyers of their barrels, principally refiners in China, India and Turkey.

Rosneft PJSC and Lukoil PJSC, together with Surgutneftegas PJSC and Gazprom Neft PJSC, blacklisted in January, accounted for almost 70% of Russia's crude exports — around 3.1 million barrels a day — in the first half of the year.

If just half the Russian barrels covered by sanctions are curtailed, that could push the global oil market next year from a surplus of 700,000 barrels a day into a deficit, according to Bloomberg calculations using forecasts from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The International Energy Agency has pegged the global supply surplus next year at a whopping 4.7 million barrels a day. That would be enough to cover any loss from Russia, potentially making this the ideal time to hit Moscow's crude exports without sending prices soaring.

But if OPEC's forecast is closer to reality, there could be some upward pressure on prices. Saudi Arabia, for example, could come under pressure from Trump to pump more.

For the kingdom's de-facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, having to choose between Trump and Putin would be an uncomfortable situation.

Ties between the Moscow and Riyadh are getting ever tighter — national airline Saudia recently inaugurated its first direct flights between Riyadh and Moscow — so MBS wouldn't jump at the chance to steal Russia's customers.

Then again, when the Crown Prince visits the White House next month, the urge to please Trump could be equally powerful.

Bloomberg News

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Crude Oil Prices picking up

2025-09-24T11:21:00.000-04:00

Oil trending up in the last month. We should start seeing higher prices at the pump in the coming weeks…

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Crude Oil & Gas Prices

2025-07-09T22:35:00.000-04:00

Oil lower over the past month, while gasoline hovering just over the $3/gallon.

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Shell in Early Talks to Acquire Rival BP in Landmark $80 billion deal.

2025-06-25T19:33:00.001-04:00

@WSJ reports talks are active, with BP “considering the approach carefully.” The industry has its doubts a deal will be done. Acquiring BP would put Shell more on par with its larger US competitors Exxon Mobil XOM & Chevron CVX.

Bloomberg & CNBC have reported that a deal for the whole company is unlikely, but the sale in parts could be on the table. ADNOC, the Abu Dhabi national oil company, is said to be a possible buyer of the parts as well, specifically BP’s LNG assets. Any deal by ADNOC is likely to be pursued through XRG, its international unit. ADNOC or XRG could also look at BP’s fuel retailing business, according to Bloomberg.

Potential terms of any deal couldn't be learned and a tie-up is far from certain, discussions moving slowly.

BP is currently valued at around $80 billion. Taking into account a premium, a deal could end up as the largest corporate oil deal since the $83 billion megamerger that created Exxon Mobil at the turn of the century. It would also easily be the biggest M&A deal of the year—so far.

John Paul Singer’s Eliott Management currently holds 5% of BP, and has been pressuring the company to do a deal.

Read the articles here:

WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/shell-in-early-talks-to-acquire-rival-bp-2233591a

Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-11/abu-dhabi-oil-giant-is-said-to-evaluate-deal-for-some-bp-assets

CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/12/bp-takeover-speculation-uae-oil-giant-adnoc-enters-the-fray.html

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Oil cooling off following Iran's capitulation

2025-06-24T18:36:00.001-04:00

US Gas & Crude Oil Prices

After surging +20% in the past month, Oil cooled off following Iran's capitulation in the face of Israeli & US bombardments. Their pre-announced "retaliation" against the US base in Qatar was all the market needed to shed its gains.

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Is the US Handing Over Venezuela’s Oil Sector to China on a Silver Platter?

2025-06-16T08:00:00.001-04:00

Following the reimposition of sanctions on Companies operating in Venezuela, Reuters has already reported that crude that was produced in joint ventures with Chevron has been on its way to East Asia…The only problem is how much PDVSA gets paid, when there is only one buyer on the block—a monopsony.

It is unlikely Chinese companies will be taking over Chevron's operations in the near to medium term. More than anything else, because it does not need that to happen for Beijing to expand its influence and control— ditto for Moscow or Iran.

First, investors have plenty of options before them, from greenfield opportunities to mature fields that only need repairs. Venezuela has thousands of square kilometres with billions of barrels of oil underneath. And most joint ventures are effectively dormant: just 20 out of 64 areas of operation are producing more than 10,000 barrels per day of crude, while most are stuck at 0 or below the 1,000 mark.

Second, regime officials will prefer to keep the fields where Chevron invested for themselves. 240,000 barrels per day is a great business opportunity. This means millions of dollars in contracts for goods and services, that used to be managed by a foreign corporation—not anymore, courtesy of President Trump.

Read the whole article on OilPrice.com here:

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/How-the-US-is-Handing-Over-Venezuelas-Oil-Sector-to-China.html

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‘There was so much promise’: How Northvolt tumbled into bankruptcy

2025-03-12T11:26:00.001-04:00

Northvolt attracted $15 BILLION of corporate and government investment to develop technology for electric vehicles to compete with China

From the Financial Times:

The group — led by two former Tesla managers — tried to open as many as 6 factories at the same time. Current & former employees said there were problems with poor management, safety standards, & over-reliance on Chinese machinery.

Read the full article here:

'There was so much promise': How Northvolt tumbled into bankruptcy

on.ft.com

https://on.ft.com/411hAtE

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Europe’s battery storage capacity expected to grow ~5X by 2030

2025-02-06T08:40:00.001-05:00

Record 3.7 GW of projects were added in 2024, taking Europe's total battery capacity to 10.8 GW.

The expected leap in capacity is unlikely to be enough to meet demand to balance national energy grids, according to industry estimates.

Aurora Energy Research forecast capacity will increase to over 50 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, representing investments worth around 80 billion euros ($82.80 billion).

This would still leave a shortfall, compared with expectations from industry group the European Association for Storage of Energy, which estimates 200 GW will be needed by 2030.

…

The cost of building a project in Britain has fallen around 30% in two years to just above GBP 500,000/ MW for a 2-hour duration project, resulting in returns of around 12%.

The trend looks set to continue. Average battery prices fell from $153 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in 2022 to $149 in 2023 and could fall to as low as $80/kWh by 2026, analysts at Goldman Sachs said.

Trading Opportunities

Now that renewable generation is a bigger share of the power mix, price volatility also offers the prospect of rich returns for traders on wholesale energy markets.

At times when more wind or solar is produced than the grid demands, electricity prices have turned negative and battery operators can be paid to store the power for times of need.

"If you can be paid to charge your battery because prices are negative and then sell the electricity at a premium price when the sun goes down at 6 o'clock, then that can be lucrative for traders," said Roberto Jimenez, executive director at BW ESS, part of global infrastructure firm BW Group.

Data from LSEG shows the number of hours priced at negative or around zero in Britain's day-ahead electricity market hit a record 176 hours in 2024. It forecasts an almost four-fold increase to 792 hours in 2026.

The picture across Europe is similar. The number of German negative hours is forecast to grow from less than 500 hours in 2024 to above 900 hours in 2026, LSEG forecast.

Read the whole article on Reuters here:

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/europes-renewables-market-powers-battery-storage-boom-2025-02-06/

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Seems the FT doesn’t really know how electricity generation works…

2024-09-20T07:15:00.000-04:00

FT Chart Crime, Exhibit 1

"Electricity prices dropped into negative territory for record 7,841 hours across Europe in the first eight months of the year'

7841 Hours is about 325 days! 🤔🤷‍♂️

Seems the FT doesn't really know how electricity generation works…

They're adding up apples & oranges…

Rapid development of solar & wind generation outpaces continent's ability to deal with excess supply.

Prices fell below minus €20 ($22)/MWH in some instances.

Solar energy has been the main driver of negative pricing as solar resources tend to be more consistent, leading to negative prices in particular during the spring and summer and late mornings to early afternoon.

"Wind is a bit more dispersed. It is not necessarily windy at all locations at the same time."

Finland saw the largest number of hours of negative prices, partly due to its large hydro and nuclear capacity, some of which is difficult to switch on and off quickly. Italy, meanwhile, which still relies heavily on gas-fired power stations, did not have any negative priced hours.

The EU is aiming for renewables' share of consumption to reach at least 42.5 per cent by 2030, up from 23 per cent in 2022.

See the article on the FT here: Negative European energy prices hit record level

https://on.ft.com/4dazWe2

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#Guyana: The Making of a Petro-State

2024-06-25T11:13:00.001-04:00

Exxon, Hess, and China's Cnooc have discovered about 11 billion barrels of oil in the Stabroek Block, located roughly 120 miles off the coast of Guyana. Over $55 billion has been invested to extract almost half of these reserves, and with more discoveries, production is increasing. Prior to this, Guyana had no hydrocarbon industry.

Wood Mackenzie consultants are projecting Exxon and its partners will generate $135 billion in profits from 2024 to 2040, while Guyana will receive $150 billion during the same period. This influx of money is causing inflation in the country.

And all this oil has gotten Venezuela's Maduro all riled up.

Venezuela has long claimed the Essequibo region, which includes part of the Stabroek Block. Maduro held a referendum in December asserting this claim and has ordered state-owned companies to issue licenses for exploration and production in the area.

A small but steady military build-up has been observed along the disputed border, and the US has increased cooperation with Guyana, including conducting military drills with its (tiny) defense force.

See the whole article on the FT here:

https://www.ft.com/content/2e4b2015-27e6-4b26-a02f-0040a71c6852

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USA’s OFAC Rescinds #Oil #Sanctions Relief for #Venezuela (GL 44A)

2024-04-23T12:25:00.000-04:00

GL 44A does not impact other GLs besides GL 44 related to oil and gas operations in Venezuela, most notably GL 41 authorizing certain transactions related to Chevron's joint ventures (JVs) in Venezuela and GL 8M —authorizing transactions involving specified companies operating in Venezuela for the limited maintenance or wind down of such companies' operations.

Further, GLs 3I and 9H, authorizing certain secondary trading of previously issued Government of Venezuela and PDVSA securities, has not at this time been revoked.

https://www.millerchevalier.com/publication/trade-compliance-flash-ofac-rescinds-venezuela-license-providing-oil-sanctions-relief

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$XOM: #Exxon beats earnings forecasts for 1st time in 3 quarters

2024-02-02T07:50:00.000-05:00

Trading & rising production in #Guyana offset falling #Oil prices.

Exxon ended quarter with $31.6 billion of cash, 4% lower than previous period, mainly due to shareholder payouts:

Exxon paid out S&P 500's fourth-largest combination of dividends and buybacks during the past 12 months.

That, however, didn't help its stock. $XOM declined +9% in 2023 vs. 24% gain in the $

SPX.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-02/exxon-outperforms-estimates-on-strength-in-trading-production

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