Page 19 - Repi Refining News Today

Slovakia has a solid base of gas reserves and supply contracts for the next heating season after keeping high levels over the winter and diversifying its sources, Economy Minister Karel Hirman said on Tuesday.

London's FTSE 100 ended lower on Tuesday, a day after hitting a three-week high, bogged down by a stronger pound and weakness in the shares of oil majors.

Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ oil producers announced over the weekend they would launch deep oil production cuts starting next month, a surprise move that sent oil prices surging.

PKN Orlen has terminated its contract with Russia's Tatneft without paying any penalties, the Polish company's chief executive said on Tuesday, after Moscow halted supplies of oil to Poland.

Russia's largest oil producer Rosneft and India's top refiner Indian Oil Corp agreed to use the Asia-focused Dubai oil price benchmark in their latest deal to deliver Russian oil to India, three sources familiar with the deal said.

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia may raise crude prices for Asia in May after OPEC+ announced additional production cuts to shore up the market just as China's demand is expected to increase in the second quarter as refineries finish maintenance.

Investors had started to pair back short positions in petroleum even before Saudi Arabia and its OPEC+ allies surprised the market by announcing production cuts totalling more than 1 million barrels per day.

The United Arab Emirates' commitment to a long-term strategic relationship with Israel should survive political turbulence, analysts say, after one of the most right-wing governing coalitions in Israel's history prompted widespread anger. A series of recent moves and comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has infuriated the public in much of Arab world, and drew condemnation from the UAE, including over Israeli settlement policy in the occupied West Bank.

U.S. energy stocks hit an over one-month high on Monday, following a rally in European peers as crude prices rose more than 6% following a surprise announcement by Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ oil producers to cut production.

An explosion at a refinery owned by a Pertamina PT unit in western Indonesia injured nine people, the state energy firm said on Sunday, adding to two dozen deaths from two other fires over the past month.