In an oil and gas report sent to Rigzone by the Macquarie team late Monday, Macquarie strategists, including Walt Chancellor, revealed that they are forecasting that U.S. crude inventories will be up by 2.0 million barrels for the week ending August 8. “This follows a 3.0 million barrel draw in the prior week, with the crude balance realizing tighter than our expectations,” the strategists said in the report. “For this week’s crude balance, from refineries, we model a minimal reduction in crude runs. Among net imports, we model a small increase, with exports (+0.3 million barrels per day) and imports (+0.6 million barrels per day) up on a nominal basis,” they added. Timing of cargoes remains a source of potential volatility in this week’s crude balance, the Macquarie strategists warned in the report. They went on to state that, “from implied domestic supply (prod.+adj.+transfers)”, they “look for an increase (+0.3 million barrels per day) on a nominal basis this week”. “Rounding out the picture, we anticipate no change in SPR [Strategic Petroleum Reserve] stocks this week,” the strategists said. The strategists also noted in the report that, “among products”, they “look for builds in distillate (+3.8 million barrels) and jet (+0.5 million barrels), with a draw in gasoline (-0.9 million barrels)”. “We model implied demand for these three products at ~14.3 million barrels per day for the week ending August 8,” the strategists continued. In its latest weekly petroleum status report at the time of writing, which was released on August 6 and included data for the week ending August 1, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted that U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the SPR, decreased by three million barrels from the week ending July 25 to the week ending August 1. That EIA report showed

ADNOC Gas PLC has reported $1.39 billion in net income for the second quarter, rising 16 percent compared to the same three-month period last year and setting a quarterly record for the company.  Last year, the gas processing and sales arm of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. logged its highest annual net earnings – $5 billion – thanks to natural gas demand in the United Arab Emirates. For the April-June 2025 quarter, revenue dipped to $5.96 billion from $6.08 billion for Q2 2024 as a weakening of commodity prices offset an overall increase in sales volumes, according to figures reported to the local stock exchange. Domestic gas sales rose to 611 trillion British thermal units (TBtu) in Q2 2025 from 580 TBtu in Q2 2024. Export and traded liquids slid to 252 TBtu from 266 TBtu. Sales from the ALNG JV, in which ADNOC Gas owns a 70 percent stake, increased to 65 TBtu from 56 TBtu. ADNOC Gas expects sales volumes excluding sulfur to land between 3,630 TBtu and 3,700 TBtu this year. “As with prior years, sales volumes should follow a seasonal pattern with an uptick over the summer period”, it said. “Furthermore, it is also important to note that in 2025 our shutdown activity will be higher than normal especially in the Q4 2025 period”. Meanwhile the quarterly average Brent crude price fell 20 percent year-on-year to $68 a barrel from $85 per barrel. “Conversely, JKM prices saw a significant increase of 31 percent, rising from $9.6/mmbtu to $12.5/mmbtu”, ADNOC Gas told the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. “LPG prices were slightly up on average despite the drop in crude oil price, with propane increasing from $592/tonne to $608/tonne and butane marginally down from $590/tonne to $588/tonne. Naphtha prices averaged at $533/tonne in the period representing a 14 percent

Chinese refiners are asking for less oil from Saudi Arabia, with the drop possibly pointing to a reshuffle of global flows as more Russian crude becomes available, according to Energy Aspects Ltd. A decline in so-called nominations for term cargoes from Saudi Aramco for September loading, led by trading-giant Unipec, indicated some Chinese refineries were holding back from purchases given the greater availability of Russia’s Urals, as well as comfortable stockpiles, the London-based consultant said in an Aug. 11 note, without saying how it got the information.  Indian nominations for September, meanwhile, increased from a month earlier as the country seeks alternatives to Russian crude following Western pushback. The global oil market has zeroed in on a possible reordering of some crude flows after the US and European Union ramped up pressure against India over its imports of Russian energy. Given there’s been no comparable move against China, that’s raised the possibility that more of Moscow’s oil will be taken by mainland refiners, including Urals, which ships from Russia’s west. Saudi Aramco is set to sell 43 million barrels of contractual supplies of September-loading crude to China, traders informed by the producer told Bloomberg. That compares with 51 million barrels a month ago, and a monthly average of about 45 million so far this year. Chinese interest in Urals is picking up given it remains the “most competitive” compared with similar Middle Eastern crudes, Energy Aspects said. Still, there’s a limit to China’s appetite given Russian imports account for 17 percent of overseas supplies, with 20 percent seen as a cap for a single country, it added. Sinopec, the Beijing-based parent company of Unipec, didn’t reply to an email seeking comment outside working hours. What do you think? We’d love to hear from you, join the conversation on the Rigzone Energy Network.

Venture Global Inc., one of the largest US exporters of liquefied natural gas, has prevailed over oil giant Shell Plc in an arbitration case over the sale of cargoes from its first export plant, capping a two-year fight. The Virginia-based company welcomed the favorable tribunal ruling in a statement Tuesday and said the decision reaffirmed the “plain language” in its contracts. Its shares rose 6.7 percent after the close of regular trading in New York.  The dispute between the two energy players hinged on deals that Venture Global negotiated to sell fuel from its first export plant in Louisiana, named Calcasieu Pass. The facility began producing LNG in 2022. But instead of providing cargoes to customers with long-term contracts, Venture Global sold them directly into the spot market where prices were at a record high. Venture Global said the move was justified as contracts permitted it to sell LNG into the spot market before the plant was fully operational and still in its “commissioning phase.” It nonetheless outraged companies that had signed 20-year deals. The win is a crucial one for the company – the first resolution in a series of arbitration cases that have pitted the LNG upstart against some of the world’s biggest energy companies. Other cases are pending. It already has implications for trades around the globe.  “It means that every LNG contract in the world was probably rewritten since this case began, to make sure this situation will be avoided in the future.” said Ira Joseph, a senior research associate at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. Other arbitration cases against Venture Global were filed by Shell, BP Plc, Polish utility Orlen SA, Portugal’s Galp Energia SGPS SA, Spain’s Repsol SA, Edison International and China’s Sinopec. The initial claims against Venture Global totaled nearly $6

LG Chem Ltd. and Eni SpA’s mobility unit Enilive have broken ground on South Korea’s first hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production plant. The facility will rise at LG Chem’s Daesan chemical complex in Seosan, Chungcheongnam-do, 50 miles southwest of Seoul. The plant will be constructed by the LG Chem and Enilive joint venture, LG-Eni BioRefining. It is scheduled for completion in 2027 and will annually process approximately 400,000 tons of renewable bio-feedstock, the companies said in a joint statement. The facility’s HVO and SAF, whose demand is expected to rise due to renewable fuel mandates, will be produced by hydrogenating more sustainable vegetable oils like used cooking oil (UCO) and other waste residues through Ecofining, a technology developed by Eni in partnership with Honeywell UOP, the statement said. “LG Chem is transforming its portfolio to build a low-carbon foundation that ensures both a progressively more sustainable growth and profitability”, Shin Hak-cheol, CEO of LG Chem, said. “By advancing innovation in renewable fuels and bio-based feedstocks like HVO, we aim to strengthen our global competitiveness and meet our customers’ evolving needs efficiently”. By incorporating HVO into its supply chain, LG Chem aims to grow its range of ISCC PLUS-certified bio-circular balanced (BCB) products. These products are intended for use in sectors such as electronics, automotive, sporting goods, and hygiene products. “The Seosan biorefinery breaking ground reaffirms Enilive’s strategy in offering increasingly sustainable products and our company’s position as a leader in biofuels production”, Stefano Ballista, Enilive’s Chief Executive Officer, added. “Together with the plants that are already operational in Italy and in the United States of America, and with new biorefining plants under construction in Italy and Malaysia, the upcoming biorefining plant in Daesan will contribute to reach our 2030 target to increase our biorefining capacity

Norway’s $1.9 trillion sovereign wealth fund pared back its holdings in oil and gas majors including Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp in the first half of the year. The fund trimmed its position in Exxon to 1.32% from 1.46% at the end of 2024. Its second-biggest energy holding, Shell Plc, was reduced to 2.55% from 2.78% during the same period. Positions in Chevron, BP Plc and TotalEnergies SE were all cut, according to holdings posted on its website on Tuesday. Oil prices retreated in the first half, despite a spike in June due to the conflict between Israel and Iran. President Donald Trump’s trade policies and moves by OPEC+ nations to keep increasing output quotas weighed on the outlook for energy demand and raised concerns around oversupply. Energy stock holdings as a whole for Norges Bank Investment Management — the official name of the fund — returned 6.3% in the first half of 2025, the fund said in its first half report Tuesday. The sector accounts for 2.9% of the equity portfolio. Norway’s wealth fund, the world’s largest, owns about 1.5% of listed stocks globally. More than two thirds of the fund is in equities, all outside of Norway. The manager of the Nordic country’s oil and gas wealth is to a large degree an index tracker. WHAT DO YOU THINK? Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.