October 10, 2020:

Tobruk refinery returned to its full refining capacity 100% with 20,000 barrels on Friday, after the tanker ARIN anchored at the Beriqa dock in Tobruk to ship 25,000 metric tons of heavy oil, one of the Tobruk refinery products of the Arab Gulf Oil Company. This came in the statements of the Chairman of the Management Committee in charge of the Arab Gulf Oil Company, Fadlallah Ihtita, on Friday. Ahatita added that, with the return of Tobruk refinery to its full production capacity, it will contribute significantly to solving many bottlenecks in the shortage of diesel fuel, and other products in the local market. These were the details of the news The Tobruk refinery will return to its full refining capacity by... for this day. We hope that we have succeeded by giving you the full details and information. To follow all our news, you can subscribe to the alerts system or to one of our different systems to provide you with all that is new. It is also worth noting that the original news has been published and is available at saudi24news and the editorial team at AlKhaleej Today has confirmed it and it has been modified, and it may have been completely transferred or quoted from it and you can read and follow this news from its main source.

By Al Khaleej Today

October 10, 2020:

The economics of Aspen’s silver era may be best understood when compared with today’s oil market. Standard rules of supply and demand apply to both commodities, and these two products of the underground play a role in the overall economy. Investors trade oil by the barrel on public markets, and bet on their future prices. As a universal product easily traded between countries, oil acts as a proxy for international currency. For years Saudi oil traded not in U.S. dollars, but in gold. Silver held similar trading value. In addition to utilitarian uses for jewelry, utensils, and decorative items such as candleholders, silver worked as currency, both in coinage and as collateral to back paper money. The British Empire operated on pounds sterling. Silver, unfortunately, competed with gold as established currency, and usually lost. Because gold is more rare it, outvalued silver ounce for ounce at a ratio between 20 to one and 16 to one. Inconsistent production of each brought booms and busts. When silver grew scarcer, you could trade it for gold. But when silver production increased rapidly, even an official change in the exchange rate might not entice a trade. As one of the causes of the Panic of 1893, silver producers traded silver for gold at a time when silver values were sliding downward. The world gold standard usurped silver as a backing for currency, and that action produced its own unintended consequence: slower economic growth. Comparing oil prices with silver prices illuminates the significance of silver during that era. In the mining days, newspapers quoted the price of silver daily. The price would fluctuate wildly like the price of oil does today. Silver ranged from $.20 to $1.20 per ounce, and at a high during the 1890s it reached $1.25 per ounce. During 2020 the price of a barrel of crude oil ranged between $11 and $40.

Prices of each commodity react to world events and competition. For decades the production of silver in China changed the price in the U.S. On the demand side, India used silver for currency. When that country stopped buying sliver, the U.S. price dropped dramatically. Investors poured scads of money into silver mines. Investors in England put up much of the capital for American mines. Today’s investors buy and sell oil in response to significant world events. Each commodity increases in value at the advent of war. Silver and oil lure investors with quick profits, and attract the same kind of people. My grandfather offers a good example. His father came to Colorado during the gold rush and stayed long enough to pass the mining gene to his son. But oil was grandfather’s first love. An oil field opened in Kansas around 1915, and he followed the boom. Soon afterward, he pursued Aspen’s silver. The production of silver and oil involve more than extraction. Oil has to be processed. Oil from one field may be different enough from that of another field that a refinery cannot process both at the same time. Similarly for silver, the mix of minerals in the ore differed from mine to mine. Milling and smelting were designed to address those differences. Each industry had its captains, and they were the processors not the producers. Oil had its Rockefeller and silver its Guggenheim. The greatest consistent profit came from the cut from every barrel of oil or from every ton of ore owed for processing it. Fluctuations between $.20 and $1.20 per ounce of silver, and between $11 and $40 per barrel of crude oil, creates havoc, a pit of job losses for workers and a gusher of challenges for investors. More on that next week in Part III. Tim Willoughby’s family story parallels Aspen’s. He began sharing folklore while teaching Aspen Country Day School and Colorado Mountain College. Now a tourist in his native town, he views it with historical perspective. Reach him at redmtn2@comcast.net.

By THEASPENTIMES

October 9, 2020:

Mineral Resources and Energy minister Gwede Manatshe says that government is in talks with a number of international companies around gas and oil business opportunities in South Africa. In a media briefing on Friday (9 October), Mantashe said that this push comes ahead of new legislation which aims to attract investment and ensure synergy between oil and gas activities and South Africa’s environment and water resources. As part of the discussions, Mantahse said that government is looking at the development of a new oil refinery in KwaZulu-Natal with Saudi-Arabia’s Saudi Aramco. “The Central Energy Fund continues to engage Saudi Aramco in a pre-feasibility study into a crude oil refinery in Richards Bay. We look forward to a positive outcome of the Saudi Aramco evaluation. South Africa needs a new crude oil refinery,” he said. Mantashe said that there has also been exploration in the country with French oil company Total. “The company has again, this year, brought another oil and gas drilling rig for the Luiperd prospect in Block 11B/12B off the Mossel Bay coast,” he said. “The drilling is expected to be from 180 to 300 days, with an estimated local of spend R1.5 billion. “It is envisaged that various local companies and industries will benefit from the project. We are obviously thrilled with the confidence shown by Total in our government and our country and hope for even a bigger find of oil this time around.”

Gas powerhouse

Mantashe said that the government also aims to diversify electricity generation sources as well as ensure local and regional development. “Gas and renewables account for a significant portion of the power that will be procured in the short to medium term,” he said. “We are re-positioning South Africa to be a serious player in the global gas market. We will promote the development of a domestic and regional gas market,” he said, As part of this, Manthase said that his department will advance its gas to power projects through the Coega Special Economic Zone (SEZ) identified as the first Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) import terminal. “This lays a foundation for Gas to Power plants and converting existing power plants from diesel to gas,” he said. “Present and future gas discoveries in our country should find their way to our power plants and other petrochemical facilities. ”

By BUSINESSTECH

October 9, 2020:

Canada-based Irving Oil has ended its agreement with Silverpeak to buy North Atlantic Refinery Limited (NARL), the operator of the 135,000 barrels a day (b/d) Come-by-Chance refinery in Newfoundland. As previously reported by Bunkerspot, Irving Oil announced its plan to buy North Atlantic on 28 May – but in a terse statement issued on Tuesday this week (6 October) the company said that agreement was ‘terminated’ and ‘confidentiality provisions’ prohibit it from ‘commenting further at this time’. When Irving first revealed its plan to buy North Atlantic it said there were considerable synergies between their operations – but this has been a difficult year for both companies. NARL’s refinery was idled at the end of March in response to the coronavirus oubreak. In July, Irving Oil announced that it would be reducing its global workforce by around 6% as a result of the ‘extreme challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic’. Reuters has quoted sources as saying that North Atlantic is still ‘actively looking for [an] alternate buyer’ and local media have reported that Origin International is interested in the facility. Both Irving Oil and North Atlantic are players in the Canadian bunker market, using product sourced from their own refineries. Irving Oil’s 320,000 b/d plant in Saint John, New Brunswick is Canada’s largest refinery.

By BunkerPost

October 9, 2020:

The Steelworkers Union says it’s working with all parties in trying to secure the future of the Come By Chance oil refinery. The president of union local 9316, Glenn Nolan, says he’s been meeting daily with Energy Minister Andrew Parsons on the matter and is encouraged with word that a few parties are interested in the facility. The sale of the refinery to Irving Oil fell through, with hundreds of jobs on the line. Origin International has confirmed it remains interested in the facility but in the House yesterday, Minister Parsons would not provide names of some of the other companies said to be eyeing the asset. Nolan says if the refinery shuts down permanently, it will be a devastating blow; not only to the workers but the surrounding communities and the province as a whole through fuel prices.

By VCOM