RIYADH: Oil prices eased about 1 percent on Friday after top crude importer China widened its COVID-19 curbs, though the crude benchmarks were poised for a weekly gain on supply concerns and surprisingly strong economic data.
Brent futures fell $1.19, or 1.2 percent, to settle at $95.77 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.18, or 1.3 percent, to $87.90.
For the week, Brent rose about 2 percent and WTI was up about 3 percent.
Nigeria planning auction for seven deep offshore oil blocks
Nigeria is planning to auction seven deep offshore oil blocks, 15 years since the last ones were auctioned, the upstream regulator said on Saturday.
Apart from marginal fields, Nigeria last conducted bidding for 45 oil blocks in 2007 even when the court had stopped the sale of two that were under litigation between Shell and the Nigerian government.
“We will announce by next month the intention to conduct transparent bidding rounds for seven oil blocks,” Gbenga Komolafe, CEO of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, told Reuters.
“All the blocks are in the Lagos waters, not in the Niger Delta with the added advantage of its proximity to the export-free zone in Lagos,” he said.
In 2005, then President Olusegun Obasanjo launched an open auction process and said Nigeria would no longer award lucrative drilling licenses on a discretionary basis.
However, the auctions drew criticism that they were neither as transparent as they should be nor as successful in terms of securing investment in Nigeria.
Ecuador’s state oil company agrees to spot sale with PetroChina
Ecuador’s state-owned oil company said on Friday it has agreed to a new spot sale for 720,000 barrels of Oriente crude to Chinese oil company Petrochina International Co. Ltd.
The crude will be shipped in two cargos of 360,000 barrels each, Petroecuador said in a statement, adding it expects the shipments to be loaded in November.
The sale will generate an extra $55.8 million for the Ecuadorian state, the company said.
In September, Petroecuador said it reached an agreement with Petrochina International, a subsidiary of PetroChina Co. Ltd., as part of a renegotiation of long-term contracts between the two companies.
Petroecuador began negotiations with the Chinese oil firm last April in order to improve the price formula for Ecuadorian crude and the extension of the delivery schedule for shipments, which was set to expire in 2024.
Both state oil companies signed three complementary contracts on Sept. 9 to update crude delivery conditions, the same ones that are in force.
(With input from Reuters)