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International News
Volume 41 Issue 1229
USA
The US Congress Committee on Energy and Commerce approved a bill to lift the ban on US
crude oil exports for the first time since the ban was imposed in 1975 following the oil shock. The
decision was then taken to avoid shortage in oil supplies. The Congress statement said that the
new legislation will help energy companies put together programmes on maximum utilization of
the oil exports.
JORDAN
The Jordanian Government has signed an agreement with South Korea’s Electric Power Corp.
(KEPCO) to build and operate a wind power plant in Jordan. The $510 million agreement calls
for Korea to build the 89.1 megawatt plant. The agreement also includes a power purchase
agreement (PPA) that outlines the details of the utility company operating the plant and selling
the power generated to Jordan. The project allows KEPCO a 100 percent stake control in a
foreign wind farm and represents the first PPA reached in the Arabian region. Construction will
begin in 2016, with operations to go online by late 2018.
INDIA
Primary data on tankers’ arrival in November 2015 showed that India’s oil imports from Iran fell
for the fourth consecutive month hitting their lowest rates in 8 months. Contrary to that, India, the
world’s fourth biggest oil consumer, has increased its oil purchases from other regions in Asia,
the Pacific, and Latin America. India’s oil imports from Iran declined by about 45% on an annual
basis to about 138,000 b/d in November 2015, representing a monthly drop of 24%.
CHINA
China’s commercial oil inventories registered the biggest drop since at least 2010. Official Chinese
resources said that diesel led the decline by 14% for the third consecutive month, hitting the
lowest rate in 2015. Kerosene stocks dropped by 7.4% in October 2015 compared to September.
Also, commercial crude stocks (excluding strategic reserves) hit their lowest levels since April
2014. The decline could be attributed to the increase in crude consumption by Chinese refineries
by about 1% hitting 10.42 million barrels/day.
RUSSIA
Recent data by the Russian Energy Ministry showed that Russia produced 10.78 million barrels/
day in November 2015. Oil exports via pipelines have dropped to 4.318 million barrels/day from
4.465 million barrels/day in October 2015. Natural gas production for the same period hit 60.8
billion cubic metres, representing 2.03 billion cubic metres/day compared to 60.76 billion cubic
metres in October 2015. These amounts are considered Russia’s highest since two decades.