Protests heat up in Venezuela. After Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro cancelled a public referendum to recall him, the opposition took to the streets. Hundreds of thousands of people protested on Wednesday, and the fracas took a disturbing turn. A policeman was shot dead during the protests, and the atmosphere is one of chaos in the capital. The economy is in a tailspin and although the President is trying to crackdown to maintain control, he has left the opposition no other avenue to protest than through direct confrontation in the streets, surely a worrying sign for the country’s stability. Oil production is down more than 10 percent on the year and will continue to fall.
Nigerian militants hit Chevron pipeline. The Niger Delta Avengers proved that they have not gone dormant, announcing the successful attack against the Escravos pipeline, a 100,000 barrel-per-day oil export pipeline operated by Chevron (NYSE: CVX) in Nigeria. The attack puts an end to a three-month ceasefire, and threatens to derail Nigeria’s efforts to bring back lost oil production. Nigeria’s oil minister said recently that output is up to 1.9 million barrels per day, not far off from the 2.2 mb/d the country produced before the attacks started earlier this year. Separately, ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) announced a new discovery off the Nigerian coast, which could hold between 500 million and 1 billion barrels of oil. Exxon holds a 27 percent stake in the project, along with Chevron Nigeria Deepwater, Total E&P Nigeria, Nexen Petroleum Deepwater Nigeria, and Nigeria Petroleum Development Company
Why OPEC needs higher oil prices
Why OPEC needs higher oil prices
Dan Steffens
Energy Prospectus Group
Energy Prospectus Group