Oil prices jumped on Monday after swinging wildly in early trading as investors weighed whether a historic deal by the world’s biggest producers to cut output would be enough to steady a market pummeled by the coronavirus.
While Mexico and Saudi Arabia fought over a deal to bring the oil-price war to an end, Mexico has a powerful defense: a massive Wall Street hedge shielding it from low prices. The Mexican sovereign oil hedge, which ensures the country against low prices and is considered a state secret, is a factor that may make the country less inclined to accept the OPEC+ agreement.
Argentina’s state-held energy firm YPF slashed by 50% the oil production from its key development area in the vast Vaca Muerta shale play this week due to tumbling fuel demand in Argentina’s lockdown, local news outlet Rio Negro reports.
OPEC, Russia and other allies outlined plans on Thursday to cut their oil output by more than a fifth and said they expected the United States and other producers to join in their effort to prop up prices hammered by the coronavirus crisis.
Crude oil benchmarks opened the month mixed on Wednesday, following their biggest-ever quarterly and monthly losses, overshadowed by fears of global oversupply as data showed a bigger-than-expected rise in inventories in the United States.
S&P downgraded Mexico’s credit rating on Thursday as the coronavirus pandemic and a hit to state oil firm Pemex from plunging crude prices battered the growth outlook and piled pressure on the government to lift the struggling economy.
Argentine state-run oil company YPF has already seen a drop in energy consumption because of a nationwide mandatory quarantine over the coronavirus announced last Friday, a company executive said in an internal video obtained by La Nacion on Tuesday and confirmed by the company.
Oil rose over 3% on Tuesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would take steps to bolster the economy and on growing hopes the United States will soon reach a deal on a US$ 2 trillion coronavirus economic package.
Rockhopper Exploration, a partner in Premier Oil-operated Sea Lion offshore oil project in the Falkland Islands, is confident it will manage to farm-out a share in the project despite the low oil prices and COVID-10 uncertainty. The two companies in January signed non-binding heads of terms with US/Israel Navitas Petroleum, which should lead to Navitas obtaining a 30% interest in the Sea Lion offshore blocks.
U.S. oil prices reached their lowest point since 2003 on Wednesday as the coronavirus has reduced demand in countries around the world. The prices fell for a third session, with U.S. crude Clc1 reaching US$ 25.06 per barrel, the lowest prices since late April 2003. As of 11:35 GMT, U.S. crude Clc1 hit US$1.51 cents or 5.6 percent at US$ 25.44 per barrel.