Mid-Week Review – October 16, 2019

Dilemma for Oil Refiners as Surging Ship Costs Kill Margins

U.S. sanctions on Chinese shipping companies and Friday’s attack on an Iranian tanker have turbo-charged transport costs, with rates on the Persian Gulf to China route at almost six times this year’s average.  Click here to read more from Bloomberg.

Russia Aims To Ditch The Dollar For Oil & Gas Sales

Russia’s de-dollarization efforts continue, in line with Putin’s promise to lower the country’s vulnerability to the ongoing threat of US sanctions, with officials eyeing energy exports next. “We have a very good currency, it’s stable. Why not use it for global transactions?” Russian Economy Minister Maxim Oreshkin said in an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday. “We want (oil and gas sales) in rubles at some point,” he said.  Click here to read more from OilPrice.com.

EIA forecasts U.S. shale oil output to climb by 58,000 barrels a day in November

Crude-oil production from seven major U.S. shale plays is forecast to climb by 58,000 barrels a day in November to 8.971 million barrels a day, according to a report from the Energy Information Administration released Tuesday. Oil output from the Permian Basin, which covers parts of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico, is expected to see the bulk of that increase, up 63,000 barrels a day in November from October.  Click here to read more from MarketWatch.

Carbon Engineering – Taking CO2 Right Out of The Air to Make Gasoline

Extracting CO2 from the air is one of the best ways to reverse climate change without resorting to expensive technologies, convoluted tax schemes or preventing billions of people from getting the energy they need to have a good life. If you could then make gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel from it, then you’d kill two birds with one stone.  Click here to read more from Forbes.