Commodities
Guyana oil exports jump, gain Europe market share in 2024
By Marianna Parraga and Kemol King
HOUSTON/GEORGETOWN (Reuters) – Guyana’s oil exports rose 54% last year to some 582,000 barrels per day (bpd), fueled by European refiners’ demand for easy-to-process sweet crudes to replace some Middle Eastern grades, according to traders and shipping data from financial firm LSEG.
Since it started exporting oil in early 2020, the burgeoning oil nation has emerged as the fifth largest Latin American crude exporter after Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia.
But unlike Latin America’s usual offer of heavy sour oil, Guyana’s lighter and sweeter crude grades have carved out a rising share in Europe, where most refineries are not as complex as the majority of Latin American and U.S. Gulf Coast plants that turn heavy grades into motor fuels.
“Europe is the ideal market for Guyana’s crudes,” said a trader of Latin American grades, who was not authorized to speak to media.
Guyana’s three crude grades – Liza, Unity Gold and Payara Gold – have been tested and adopted faster in Europe than in any other region due to proximity, quality and easy access to sellers, he added.
In 2024, 66% of Guyana’s crude exports or some 388,000 bpd went to Europe, compared with 62% the previous year, the shipping data showed.
Guyana’s oil began gaining favor in Europe in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which pushed many refiners to avoid sanctioned Russian crude and seek alternative supplies.
Last year, attacks in the Red Sea affected oil flows from the Middle East, giving crudes from Guyana and Brazil better chances of finding buyers in Europe, said Homayoun Falakshahi, a senior analyst of crude markets at data analytics platform Kpler.
“Higher freight costs to move oil from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean or Northwest Europe have made Guyanese crude comparatively more interesting for European refiners,” he added.
OPENING ROUTES
Producers in Guyana also almost doubled shipments to the United States last year to some 23,000 bpd, while exports to Asia increased in smaller magnitude to around 139,000 bpd, the LSEG data showed. Sales to Latin America and the Caribbean were almost unchanged at around 32,000 bpd.
The rise in exports has been possible due to a consortium led by U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil (NYSE:) expanding output rapidly through three floating production facilities, with a fourth expected to add about 250,000 bpd of capacity this year.
Exxon’s Fawley refinery in the United Kingdom (TADAWUL:) remains the single largest taker of Guyanese crude in Europe, according to Kpler.
Exxon, Hess (NYSE:) and CNOOC (NYSE:), which control all oil and gas output in Guyana, individually sell the barrels they are entitled to, while the Guyanese government every year awards a marketing contract to allocate its portion of output.
For 2025, European trading firms BB Energy and JE Energy won that contract for a second year in a row in a competitive auction where global producers also participated. The government this time secured a larger premium over market prices, it said in October.
Since the two trading firms are based in the United Kingdom, their successful marketing of the crudes in Europe was expected, Guyana’s energy minister Vickram Bharrat told Reuters.
“However, there is no preference,” he said, referring to the markets the government would like its oil to reach.
The Exxon-led consortium has three active projects – Liza 1 and 2, and Payara – that were producing around 675,000 bpd late last year following upgrades. The next project, Yellowtail, is set to start this year once Exxon receives a fourth floating production vessel in the coming months.
Exxon did not provide comment on its Guyanese crude marketing efforts, but last month said it expects that 60% of its upstream production by 2030 will come from “advantaged assets” including Guyana.
Investing.com– Oil prices steadied Thursday as traders digested data showing an unexpected increase in US product inventories, while weak economic data from top importer China weighed.
At 05:25 ET (10:25 GMT), expiring in March gained 0.1% to $76.25 a barrel, while rose 0.1% to $73.37 a barrel.
The crude benchmarks had slumped more than 1% on Wednesday, but trading ranges, and volumes, are likely to be limited throughout Thursday with the US market closed to honor former President Jimmy Carter, ahead of a state funeral later in the session.
China inflation muted in December
Chinese inflation, as measured by the , remained unchanged in December, while the shrank for a 27th consecutive month, data showed on Thursday.
The reading pointed to limited improvement in China’s prolonged disinflationary trend, even as the government doled out its most aggressive round of stimulus measures yet through late-2024.
China is the world’s biggest oil importer, and has been a key source of anxiety for crude markets. Traders fear that weak economic growth in the country will eat into oil demand.
The country is also facing potential economic headwinds from the incoming Donald Trump administration in the US, as Trump has vowed to impose steep trade tariffs on Beijing.
US oil product inventories rise sharply
U.S. gasoline and distillate inventories grew substantially more than expected in the week to January 3, government data showed on Wednesday.
inventories grew 6.3 million barrels against expectations of 0.5 mb, while grew 6.1 mb on expectations of 0.5 mb.
Overall crude also shrank less than expected, at 0.96 mb, against expectations of 1.8 mb.
The build in product inventories marked an eighth straight week of outsized product builds, and spurred concerns that demand in the world’s biggest fuel consumer was cooling.
While cold weather in the country spurred some demand for heating, it also disrupted holiday travel in several areas.
EIA data also showed that US imports from Canada rose last week to the highest on record, ahead of incoming U.S. president Donald Trump’s plans to levy a 25% tariff on Canadian imports.
Canada has been the top source of U.S. oil imports for many years, and supplied more than half of the total U.S. crude imports in 2023.
Strength in the also weighed on crude prices, as the greenback shot back up to more than two-year highs on hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve.
A strong dollar pressures oil demand by making crude more expensive for international buyers.
(Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)
Investing.com – President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to implement sweeping import tariffs during his second term in the White House is potentially the “most bearish” policy development for the energy sector this year, according to analysts at RBC Capital Markets.
Trump, who is set to come to power in less than two weeks, has vowed to impose tariffs of as much as 10% on global imports into the US and 60% on items coming from China. He has also pledged to slap a 25% surcharge on products from Canada and Mexico.
Economists have flagged that the proposal would not only rattle global trade activity, but also threaten to reignite inflationary pressures and spark possible retaliation.
The uncertainty in markets was heightened on Wednesday after CNN reported that Trump is mulling declaring a national economic emergency in order to provide the legal underpinning for the tariffs. Earlier this week, Trump also denied a separate report that his team was mulling scaling back the levies to cover only critical goods.
In a note to clients on Thursday, analysts at RBC led by Helima Croft said that while the ultimate scope of the tariffs remains unclear, the headline duties on China could soften demand in the country and place downward pressure on oil prices. China is the world’s largest crude importer.
Business leaders with significant ties to China may advise Trump to stay away from instituting strict tariffs on the country, Croft predicted.
“We have also heard a view in Washington that President Trump could be amenable to a deal with China if Beijing offered to make large headline purchases of US goods, such as aircraft or even US [liquefied natural gas] imports,” Croft wrote.
“Beijing could also potentially seek to trade a reduction in Iranian crude imports for a tariff reprieve.”
However, Croft flagged that the overall market effect of the tariffs is still “challenging to forecast” because the Trump administration — unlike a prior round of trade tensions in 2018 — will have to weight the impact of the policies with broader macroeconomic worries “still front of mind for many in Washington”.
(Reuters contributed reporting.)
Investing.com– Gold prices edged higher Thursday, continuing the recent gains, as heightened uncertainty over a hawkish Federal Reserve and President-elect Donald Trump’s plan for trade tariffs fueled some safe haven demand.
At 06:15 ET (11:15 GMT), {68|Spot gold}} rose 0.4% to $2,683.84 an ounce, while expiring in February rose 0.3% to $2,668.60 an ounce.
Trading activity is likely to be limited Thursday, with US traders on holiday to honor former President Jimmy Carter, with a state funeral due later in the session.
Safe haven demand on economic uncertainty
Bullion prices benefited from some safe haven demand this week, as uncertainty over Trump’s trade and immigration policies dented risk appetite.
A CNN report said Trump could declare a national economic emergency to legally justify his plans to impose universal trade tariffs.
Concerns over Trump’s policies also came into focus after the of the Fed’s December meeting showed policymakers expressing some concerns over sticky inflation.
Specifically, Fed officials were growing concerned that Trump’s expansionary and protectionist policies could underpin inflation in the long term.
The minutes also largely reiterated the Fed’s plans to cut interest rates at a slower pace in 2025, after the central bank effectively halved its projected rate cuts to two from four in 2025.
Treasury yields shot up after the Fed’s minutes, as did the dollar.
Higher for longer rates bode poorly for non-yielding assets such as metals, given that they increase the opportunity cost of investing in the sector.
Other precious metals were edged higher Thursday. fell 0.1% to $983.85 an ounce, while rose 0.8% to $30.930 an ounce.
Copper rises as weak China inflation fuels stimulus hopes
Benchmark on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.7% to $9,093.0 a ton, while March rose 1.2% to $4.3115 a pound.
Chinese were flat in December, while shrank for a 27th consecutive month, indicating little improvement in disinflation.
Inflation remained weak even as Beijing doled out its most aggressive round of stimulus measures through late-2024.
But Thursday’s inflation data fueled increased bets that Beijing will do more to shore up Chinese growth, especially on the fiscal front.
(Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)
Among industrial metals, copper prices firmed as weak inflation data from top importer China spurred bets on more stimulus measures from Beijing.
But metal markets remained under pressure from strength in the dollar, which came back in sight of over two-year highs on hawkish signals from the Fed.
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