Oil Update — Crude Up; Turkey’s Ceyhan oil terminal halted after earthquake
RIYADH: Oil prices rose for a second straight session on Tuesday, driven by optimism about a recovery in demand in China and concerns over supply shortfalls following the closure of a major export terminal following an earthquake in Turkey.
Brent crude futures were up 80 cents, or 0.99 percent, at $81.79 a barrel by 08.25 a.m. Saudi time, while West Texas Intermediate futures were up 78 cents, or 1.05 percent, at $74.89 a barrel.
Colombia’s oil production increased by 5.24 percent in December
Colombia’s crude output in December rose 5.24 percent from the same month a year earlier, the government said on Monday.
Oil production in December 2022 averaged 784,343 bpd, compared with 745,325 bpd for the same month in 2021, the Mines and Energy Ministry said in a statement.
The government said Colombia’s oil output in December was the highest since April 2020, when the country produced an average of 796,164 bpd.
The ministry said average oil production for the year rose 2.42 percent to 754,199 bpd from an average of 736,357 bpd in 2021.
Natural gas production stood at 1.06 billion cubic feet per day in December, the ministry said, without providing a comparative figure.
The government said gas production for the year averaged 1.07 billion cubic feet per day, down 1.29 per cent compared to 2021, when gas production was around 1.09 bcfd.
State-run Ecopetrol produces most of the country’s oil.
Turkey’s Ceyhan oil terminal, Iraq’s KRG pipeline halted after earthquake
A major earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday halted operations at Turkey’s main oil export hub in Ceyhan and halted the flow of crude oil from Iraq and Azerbaijan, officials said.
The BTC terminal in Ceyhan, which exports Azeri crude, will be closed until Wednesday for damage assessment, Tribeca shipping agency said in a notice. Azerbaijan uses the Turkish port of Ceyhan as its main crude export hub, with a throughput of around 650,000 bpd.
BP Azerbaijan said a “small” oil spill had been found at Ceyhan, which had caused operations to be suspended and suspended.
Following Monday’s earthquake, Iraq’s Kurdistan regional government halted flows through a pipeline it operates that runs from Iraq’s northern Kirkuk regions to Ceyhan, the region’s natural resources ministry said.
An oil industry source told Reuters the KRG was pumping 400,000 bpd and Iraq’s federal government was pumping 75,000 bpd through the pipeline.
Oil exports will resume “after careful inspection of pipelines is finalised”, the MNR said in a statement.
Most upstream oil producers have several days of storage capacity, so KRG production should continue to rise in the near term, the oil industry source said.
The eastern Mediterranean terminal of Ceyhan is about 155 km from the zone of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that rattled southern Turkey and northwest Syria early Monday, killing more than 2,400 people in swathes of the two countries as buildings collapsed.
It was the deadliest earthquake of this century and was followed by another major earthquake of 7.7 magnitude in the afternoon.
Turkey’s state pipeline operator Botas said the flow of natural gas had stopped in Gaziantep, Hatay and Kahramanmaras provinces and some other districts due to damage to a gas transmission line.
(with inputs from Reuters)