China and Singapore reduce their purchase of crude oil from Iran, the US said today. Had they failed to do so, they would have received sanctions from the US financial markets. Other major countries to significantly reduce their Iranian oil purchases were India, South Korea, Turkey, South Africa, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan. The European […]

Gold and oil prices rose the most in a single day in 3 months. Gold’s 4.4% downtrend was due to investors selling gold to make up for losses in other markets as they fell. Oil prices rose as the world is adjusting to the European Union ban on Iranian oil coming into effect on July […]

Oil prices have just seen the worst quarter in 5 years, however things are expected to turn around as the European Union boycott on Iranian oil is about to begin. China is Iran’s biggest purchaser of crude oil but is now considering slowing down purchases. This is punishment for the regime’s covert nuclear weapons program. […]

Petrobras, the Argentinian subsidiary of Brazil’s Petroleo Brasileiro, has announced the discovery of 6 million barrels of oil. The La Cancha reserve is located in the Santa Cruz province’s Agua Fresca oilfield and is Petrobras’ second project in the province. It is estimated to produce 3,000 barrels of crude oil, and 90,000 cubic meters of gas per day. Petrobras is planning […]

Oil workers in Norway have launched a strike closing down gas and oil production at 2 North Sea oil fields — part of the Brent Group. Union and industry negotiations collapsed Saturday night. 700 oil workers are striking of the nation’s 7,000 workers. The oil workers have been fighting for better pensions, as the union […]

As Syria’s civil war escalates, we see the situation get closer and closer to a larger military campaign with foreign intervention. So aside from the civilian catastrophe, how will this affect world crude oil prices? In recent days, a Syrian fighter pilot defected to Jordan along with his MiG-21 fighter jet, even more atrocities committed […]

Crude oil prices fell to an 8-month low after crude oil inventory figures were released by the US Energy Department. Inventory levels in the US are now the highest since 1990. Oil future dropped 2.7% and briefly reaching below $81 per barrel. US inventory levels rose 2.86 million barrels to 387.3 million barrels — levels unseen […]

Crude oil prices have been rising all day as Spain’s bond yields fall to acceptable levels after a successful auction. Greece’s pro-European Union pro-bailout New Democracy party won the elections over the weekend, which puts hope in a more stable Europe. The US Federal Reserve is meeting today to discuss further stimulus efforts in for […]

The BBC has published a feature on Iraq’s oil sector: Iraq could be one of the oil-producing countries hardest hit by a fall in the price of oil. The country’s reconstruction efforts are largely underpinned by oil revenues and it has some of the world’s largest undeveloped oil fields. But security risks, political feuding and […]

OPEC – the Organization of Petroleum Exporting countries – has decided to leave oil output levels unchanged. This puts pressure on Saudi Arabia, the largest oil exporter, to reduce their supply if prices keep dropping. The Saudis have openly states that they like the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) to be around $80 per barrel, […]