Oil steady at $43.69 on Kuwait strike

Brent crude is holding steady at $43.69 this morning as the oil workers strike in Kuwait and the resulting sharp drop in production helps to compensate for the persistent global glut and the failure of a producer meeting in Doha called to freeze output.

Kuwait’s acting Oil Minister Anas Al-Saleh has called on striking oil workers to return to their jobs to protect the country’s oil sector and reputation at what he called a critical time for the oil industry.

In Nigeria state oil company, NNPC is in a standoff with energy giants ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell over ownership of physical crude cargoes as the West African nation seeks to shore up its creaking budget.

The dispute has delayed some of the country’s monthly oil export programmes and added to confusion over just how much crude Nigeria has at its disposal to exchange for gasoline, sell to fund its record 2016 budget or use as debt collateral.

Discrepancies between NNPC and companies with production sharing contracts (PSCs) that entitle them to oil have always existed, but the crude price crash has increased the urgency to sort them out as both state and foreign firms feel the pinch.

Reports say Angola will trim crude exports in June to 1.7m bbl/day. African nation plans to ship 53 cargoes totalling ~51m bbl in June, according to preliminary program obtained by Bloomberg News. This compares with ~53m bbl, or 1.71m bbl/day, scheduled for next month.