Expanded Kitimat LNG export licence gets federal approval By The Canadian Press | Dec. 6, 2019, 7:01 a.m. | Share: � �Image: Canadian Energy Regulator/Twitter CALGARY — The Canada Energy Regulator says it has approved an application from Chevron Canada for a 40-year licence to export natural gas from the proposed Kitimat LNG project despite environmental opposition. The application filed last spring to the National Energy Board, the CER's predecessor, aimed to double the previously approved export licence duration and nearly double the potential output of the facility to 997 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year. That's the equivalent of about 18 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas, a substantial increase over the previous 10-million-tonne, 20-year licence which is set to expire at the end of this year. In its decision letter, the CER notes that it rejected an application from B.C. environmentalist Michael Sawyer to restart the regulatory process and hold a public hearing. Canada's Green LNG Advantage: New report outlines low-emissions opportunities DOWNLOAD NOW It also rejected his argument an adequate natural gas supply hadn't been proven, despite a Chevron expert's estimate of Canadian and North American natural gas resources of 1,000 trillion cubic feet and 4,000 Tcf, respectively. Chevron has previously stated the increase in scope is designed to improve the project's "cost of supply competitiveness'' compared with other LNG projects around the world. It has not said when a final investment decision will be made, although its application envisions commissioning of the facility by 2029. In the fall of 2018, the Shell Canada-led LNG Canada consortium announced it would proceed with its $40-billion, 14-million-tonne-per-year project, also to be built near Kitimat. It's expected to be in service by 2024. © 2019 The Canadian Press

Saudi Aramco raises $25.6 billion in world’s biggest IPO By Bloomberg | Dec. 6, 2019, 7 a.m. | Share: � �Image: Saudi Aramco Saudi Aramco raised $25.6 billion from the world’s biggest initial public offering, closing a deal that became synonymous with the kingdom’s controversial crown prince and his plans to reshape the nation. The state-owned oil giant set the final price of its shares at 32 riyals ($8.53), valuing the world’s most profitable company at $1.7 trillion. It received total bids of $119 billion. For Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, pulling off the sale could help get his ambitious plan to overhaul the economy back on track. It’s been derailed by problems at home, including the backlash against his purge of the elite, and abroad by the outrage over the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and the war in Yemen. But the deal ended up being very different from what the prince had envisaged when he first floated the idea in 2016 with an ambition to raise as much as $100 billion. Aramco offered just 1.5% of its shares and opted for a local listing after global investors balked at its hopes of valuing the company at $2 trillion. Free capital spending, drilling & production forecasts - 2019 Guidance with the Daily Oil Bulletin. TAKE A FREE 14-DAY TRIAL Instead, Aramco relied heavily on local investors and funds from neighboring Gulf Arab monarchies. In the offering for individuals, almost 5 million people applied for shares. The institutional tranche closed on Wednesday and attracted bids totaling 397 billion riyals. World's Biggest IPO The kingdom’s richest families, some of whom had members detained in Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton hotel during a so-called corruption crackdown in 2017, are expected to have made significant contributions. Global banks working on the deal were sidelined after Saudi Arabia decided to focus on selling the shares to local and regional investors. Still, Aramco will become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company once it starts trading, overtaking Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. The deal opens up one of the world’s most secretive companies, whose profits helped bankroll the kingdom and its ruling family for decades, to investors and Saudi individuals. Until this year, Aramco had never published financial statements or borrowed in international debt markets. It will also mean the company now has shareholders other than the Saudi government for the first time since it was nationalized in the late 1970s. Saudi Arabia had been pulling out all the stops to ensure the IPO is a success. It cut the tax rate for Aramco three times, promised the world’s largest dividend and offered bonus shares for retail investors who keep hold of the stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., acting as share stabilizing manager, has the right to exercise a so-called greenshoe option of 450 million shares. The purchase option can be executed in whole or in part at any time on or before 30 calendar days after the trading debut. It could raise the IPO proceeds to $29.4 billion. Funds from the sale will be transferred to the Public Investment Fund, which has been making a number of bold investments, plowing $45 billion into SoftBank Corp.’s Vision Fund, taking a $3.5 billion stake in Uber Technologies Inc. and planning a $500 billion futuristic city. The sale is the first major disposal of state assets since Prince Mohammed launched a much-touted plan to reduce the economy’s addiction to oil revenue in 2016. The last major government privatization, the 2014 IPO of National Commercial Bank, received $83 billion in subscriptions from investors. © 2019 Bloomberg L.P.

WTI near $58 as traders await details on how OPEC+ shares cuts By Bloomberg | Dec. 6, 2019, 7:18 a.m. | Share: � � Oil traded near $58 a barrel as the market awaited crucial details on how OPEC+ will distribute cuts among its members. Futures slipped 0.3% in New York having been whipsawed throughout the previous session after six hours of fraught OPEC ministerial talks. The group agreed to adjust its output target, but there were no details yet on how member countries will share the burden, and if it will result in additional barrels of oil coming out of the market. Saudi Arabia will hold its output steady at current levels under the terms of the adjusted OPEC+ deal, delegates said on Friday. Oil is still set for a weekly gain because of shrinking American crude stockpiles and signs of progress on a possible U.S.-China trade deal. Following days of mixed messages, the shape of an OPEC+ deal emerged, but with few details. Russia, which has complied with its production quota for just three months of this year, had its proposal to exclude a very light oil called condensate approved on Thursday, potentially giving it space to keep pumping above its target. “What they do in the second quarter remains unclear, on paper it is still heavily oversupplied,” said UBS Group AG analyst Giovanni Staunovo, referring to the entire group. “It will all come down to how they communicate it at the end.” Free capital spending, drilling & production forecasts - 2019 Guidance with the Daily Oil Bulletin. TAKE A FREE 14-DAY TRIAL West Texas Intermediate for January delivery fell 15 cents to $58.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 7:55 a.m. local time. Brent for February settlement lost 3 cents to $63.36 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe Exchange. The global benchmark traded at a $5.16 premium to WTI for the same month. OPEC+ agreed to curb its output quote by 500,000 barrels a day. But some analysts think just a reduction would largely be symbolic, as it simply formalizes the deeper cuts the group has been making for most of this year, rather than taking additional barrels off the market. The group is set to have further full ministerial meetings in March and June, a delegate said. © 2019 Bloomberg L.P.