THE NEW YORK TIMES: YUKOS Woes Drive Oil Above $46 a Barrel: “Shell Oil (SHEL.L) (RD.AS) said Monday it saw no significant impact from Hurricane Ivan on its oil and gas production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, and expects full, or near full, recovery in output this week.” (ShellNews.net)
By REUTERS
Published: September 20, 2004
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices hit $46 on Monday after Russian oil giant YUKOS said it would cut some oil shipments to China, the first toll on exports from the company's financial turmoil.
U.S. light crude (CLc1) was up 41 cents at $46.00 a barrel by 1550 GMT after hitting $46.35, barely $3 below record peaks struck in August. London's Brent crude (LCOc1) was up 20 cents at $42.65 a barrel.
Russia's biggest oil exporter, YUKOS (YUKO.RTS) (YUKO.MM), said on Monday will cut its supplies to China by 1 million tons (7.33 million barrels) in the remaining months of 2004 as it lacks funds to pay export fees.
YUKOS has repeatedly said it might be forced to cut production and exports after bailiffs froze its bank accounts as part of efforts to get more than $7 billion in back taxes from the company.
Analysts said the China curbs aimed to embarrass the government less than a week before China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao is due in Moscow to prepare a visit by President Vladimir Putin to Beijing planned for next month.
Countering fears of widespread disruption. Russia's state railways said YUKOS has prepaid rail shipments until the end of September and pipeline monopoly Transneft said it believed YUKOS would pay export fees for October.
A YUKOS spokesman denied a report that YUKOS would also suspend supplies to its Mazeikiu refinery in Lithuania.
Global supplies are already straining to meet the fastest growth in oil demand in 24 years, magnifying the impact of any disruption to oil flows.
Oil companies worked at the weekend to restore crude and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico, and refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast brought operations back slowly after Hurricane Ivan passed through.
Shell Oil (SHEL.L) (RD.AS) said Monday it saw no significant impact from Hurricane Ivan on its oil and gas production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, and expects full, or near full, recovery in output this week.
Traders fear that Tropical Storm Jeanne may delay imports into the United States, where crude stockpiles are already at a six-month low.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami expected Jeanne to turn to the northeast, away from the Bahamas, by late Monday, on a path that would spare Florida, which has been devastated by three hurricanes in the past five weeks.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-markets-oil.html