Petroleum industry

Oil prices rose on Nov. 21 to their highest in three weeks, catching a lift from a weaker U.S. dollar and from cautious money managers, as OPEC appeared to be moving closer to agreeing an output cut when it meets next week.

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh expressed optimism on Nov. 19 about an upcoming OPEC meeting and said crude prices could jump to $55 a barrel if an agreement is reached and non-OPEC producers cooperate.

The oil market surplus may run into a third year in 2017 without an output cut from OPEC, while escalating production from exporters around the globe could lead to relentless supply growth, the International Energy Agency said on Nov. 10.

Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev has announced that oil was found in the Khan Asparuh block during offshore drilling earlier this year.

Donchev has not elaborated his remarks at the opening of a tripartite meeting of government, employers, and unions.

A source of Inews.bg (a website of Novinite Group) working in the public sector has confirmed the news.

Greece named on Wednesday a consortium of France's Total, its biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum and Italy's Edison as the preferred bidder for an offshore gas drilling block in the west of the country.

Iran's national oil company said on Oct. 17 that it has offered 50 oil and gas fields to international bidders, the first time it has done so since last year's landmark nuclear deal with world powers.

Cutting oil production is the best way to stabilize the market, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak has said in Istanbul at the World Energy Congress. 
Speaking at the congress on Oct. 12, Novak said the oil price issue was different than previous crises and was lasting longer than previously.

Oil rose more than 1 percent to four-month highs on Oct. 6, spurred by another informal Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting on output cuts and plunging U.S. crude inventories, with some saying the market has overshot itself with a near 15-percent gain in seven sessions.

OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers plan an informal meeting in Istanbul Oct. 8-13 to discuss how to implement a production deal OPEC members reached in Algiers last month, Algerian Energy Minister Nouredine Bouterfa has told local Ennahar TV.
In an interview scheduled be broadcast on Oct. 6, Bouterfa said the Algiers deal to cut output would be in force for up to a year.

Workers look at a drilling rig of the Rosneft-owned Prirazlomnoye oil field outside Nefteyugansk, Russia. Russia's oil outpur reached 45.483 miilion tons in September.