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RIYADH: Oil prices fell in volatile trade on Monday, as a stronger dollar and fears of recession risks offset gains arising from Russia’s plans to deepen oil supply cuts.
West Texas Intermediate US crude futures traded at $76.10 a barrel, 29 cents, or 0.35 percent lower, while Brent crude futures were down 22 cents, or 0.29 percent, at $82.87 a barrel at 03.00 p.m. Saudi time.
Capricorn Energy gets new CFO
Capricorn Energy has appointed Clare Mawdsley, previously a director of finance, as its acting chief financial officer, replacing James Smith, the oil and gas producer said on Monday.
Smith had stayed on temporarily after resigning from the company’s board earlier this month, as shareholders voted in favor of six new directors activist investor Pallizer had proposed.
Russia halts pipeline oil to Poland
Russia has halted supplies of oil to Poland via the Druzhba pipeline, PKN Orlen’s CEO said on Saturday, adding that the Polish refiner would tap other sources to plug the gap.
The halt in supplies via the pipeline — which has been exempted from EU sanctions imposed on Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine — came a day after Poland delivered its first Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
“Russia has halted supplies to Poland, for which we are prepared. Only 10 percent of crude oil has been coming from Russia and we will replace it with oil from other sources,” PKN Orlen CEO Daniel Obajtek wrote on Twitter.
Orlen said it could fully supply its refineries via sea and that the halt in pipeline supplies would not impact deliveries of gasoline and diesel to its customers.
As of February, after a contract with Russia’s Rosneft expired, Orlen has been getting oil under a deal with Russian oil and natural gas company Tatneft.
Airbus, Qantas close to first joint sustainable aviation fuel investment
Airbus and Qantas Airways plan to announce the first investment from a $200 million fund to develop a sustainable aviation fuel industry in Australia within about a month, an Airbus executive said on Monday.
The companies established the fund last year after Qantas set a target of using 10 percent SAF in its fuel mix by 2030 and placed a multibillion-dollar order for Airbus narrowbody and widebody planes.
Australia lacks an SAF industry, meaning Qantas’ purchases of the fuel are made at overseas airports.
Stephen Forshaw, Airbus’ chief representative for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, said the manufacturer and Qantas were meeting weekly to discuss $1 million-plus investments in early-stage SAF projects in Australia.
“The first investment has been made but not fully closed yet,” he said in an interview ahead of the Australia International Airshow, which begins on Tuesday.
He added: “We’ve both agreed to it, and I think we’ll make some announcements probably in the next month or so around the completion of that.”
Forshaw said most of the investments being considered involved seed funding, where the partners might take a minority equity stake.
“Some of them may be even earlier than Series A. What it may do is provide us with the opportunity or right of first refusal to go in at Series A or Series B or beyond,” he said. “And then the pace will determine whether we want to do that or whether we see it is time to open it up to other investors.”
He declined to say what type of project was planned for the first investment but said that in the longer term, Australia had lots of potential to use solar power for projects that would help meet demand given limited feedstock available from sources like oils and fats.
(With input from Reuters)