Commodities Update — Gold at 3-week low; Soybean falls; Base metals prices up

RIYADH: Oil prices fell on Monday, ending three days of gains, on fears aggressive US interest rate hikes may lead to a global economic slowdown and dent fuel demand.

Brent crude futures declined 1.31 percent, to $95.45 a barrel by 08.25 a.m. Riyadh time, with concerns over slowing demand in China because of a power crunch in some areas also weighing on prices.

US West Texas Intermediate crude futures slipped 1.37 percent to $89.53 a barrel.

Assamese oil field resumes operations after 15 years

The operations of an Indian oil field have resumed after 15 years. State-owned Oil India Limited’s Khagorijan oil field in eastern Assam’s Dibrugarh started operation on Saturday.

The operation of the field was suspended in 2007 due to administrative and environmental issues.

Himanta Biswa Sarma, chief minister of Assam, attended the inauguration ceremony and said that necessary steps have been taken to prevent erosion and flood in the area, which was one of the main reasons behind public outrage that resulted in the oil field’s closure 15 years ago.

Sarma also urged people to cooperate with OIL as the firm serves the interest of people in Assam.

Execution of the Bouri gas utilization project to begin in 2023

Libya’s Mellitah Oil & Gas, also known as MOG, is expected to begin the execution phase to allow the production and export of gas from the Bouri field in 2023, MEED reported, quoting industry sources.

MOG, a joint venture of Italian energy firm Eni and Libya’s National Oil Corp., will upgrade two platforms DP3 and DP4, at an estimated expense of $143 million.

Until now, the Bouri field has only produced oil.

(With input from Reuters)