Opportunity Crudes

Alberta is the prominent oilsands producer in Canada. Its oil output averaged a record 3.6MM b/d over H1, up 100K b/d from H1 2021, according to ATB Financial (owned by Alberta).

According to data from Refinitiv Eikon released on Aug. 2, Venezuelan oil exports ..

The Spanish energy firm confirmed during its 2Q earnings call on July 28 that it has resumed its oil-for-debt swaps deal with Venezuela.

The Canadian integrated energy company plans to cut its CO₂ emissions by 10MM mt/y by 2030 before becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

In light of the embargo on Russian oil, the US is trying to lift export restrictions on two OPEC producers—Iran and Venezuela—to fill in the supply void left by Russia in the West as reported in the May-30 Digest, but so far, the results are mixed as evidenced in the latest developments.

Kevin Birn, Vice-President of Commodity Insights at data firm S&P Global Inc., said Canadian oilsands output is set to grow by 250K b/d over the next two years, which equates to about 4%/y growth over this period.

The South American nation's state energy company Petroecuador has halted all oil production and exports, declaring force majeure across its exploration, production, transportation, and commerce operations late on June 18 amid escalating protests by the confederation of indigenous nationalities (CONAIE) against the economic policies of the government, including fuel price hikes.

The US and its southern neighbors have been engaged in oil-for-diesel cross trades, as was reported in the May-9 Digest.

Although the startup of Enbridge's Line 3 expansion in 2021 has allowed Canadian producers to send increased volumes of their output to the US to be traded in tandem with US sour grades, the US Gulf Coast is currently dealing with an excess of sour crude because of the US's 180MM-bbl release from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which has flooded the market with heavy- and medium-sour grades that are very similar to WCS. Reports indicate that crude from the US SPR has filled up storage caverns in Louisiana and Texas.

On May 27, the US Treasury Department renewed Chevron Corp. (CVX)'s license to continue operations in Venezuela through the end of Nov.