Energy suppliers shrug off global IT outage but traders affected

Energy supplies in Europe, Africa and the Middle East were largely unaffected by the massive global IT outage July 19, but some traders and brokers experienced severe disruptions, sources said.

Many airlines, banks, healthcare providers and media houses worldwide were crippled by severe disruptions related to a flawed software update for Microsoft users by Crowdstrike, the cybersecurity firm said. By 1000 GMT, Crowdstrike said it had deployed a fix but its CEO George Kurtz later warned "it could be some time for some systems" to return to normal.

On the morning of July 19, traders and brokers expressed concerns that the outage could directly affect their activities, with deal entry systems inaccessible to some.

Vitol, the world's biggest independent oil trader, said some of its IT systems were affected but that its "core" trading operations continued to function during the outage.

"Some individual PCs and some processes that interface with third-party systems were impacted temporarily," a Vitol spokesperson said.

S&P Global Commodity Insights also heard of problems with the issuing of export documents, with potential short-term implications for oil refineries.

"Trading systems were down, we just got access," one European jet fuel trader said at 10:30 GMT. "The bigger impact is just the fact that people cannot log into their systems to actually trade."

However, prominent oil and gas companies reached by Commodity Insights said their operations, including hydrocarbons production and refining, had not been affected.

An official at Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. said the company's operations and production had not been affected. Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil exporter, said in a statement it was "closely monitoring" the global IT outages but that its own systems and operations "have not been impacted as a result of this incident."

Italian oil and gas major Eni confirmed it was experiencing some IT issues affecting its Microsoft servers. "These issues are currently being assessed and managed," an Eni spokesperson said. "Currently, there is no evidence of significant industrial or security impacts."

Major Norwegian oil and gas producers Equinor and Aker BP said they had not been affected by the outage.

A source at one energy major said the company had been affected "big time" by the outage, albeit not operationally, with internal deal systems affected and potential implications for administrative functions at its refineries.

Meanwhile, a source at a major African national oil company said the outage had affected the firm’s IT systems, but not its oil production operations.

Caspian-origin crude oil supplies into the Black Sea and East Mediterranean have not been affected, with the Caspian Pipeline Consortium confirming normal operations. A spokesperson for the Baku office of BP -- operator for Azeri Light crude and Shah Deniz gas -- said: "Our production and export systems both are online."

Shell was also not believed to be affected significantly in its operations, according to sources.

Smaller oil and gas companies with producing assets in mature African fields reached by Commodity Insights confirmed that their operations were continuing as usual. Nigeria's major new Dangote refinery said its operations were unaffected.

In downstream oil markets, traders have flagged a potential short-term demand shock as several airlines have been forced to suspend flights.

The UK's Gatwick Airport said there were a "small number" of flight cancellations but that "all critical airport systems are operating, including the airfield and air traffic control tower." Airports in Germany grounded flights and Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport said the failure had a "major impact on flights". American Airlines and Delta Airlines said some flights were grounded on the initial disruptions.

"You’re probably losing a day of flying," a market source said. "There will be a bit of a demand shock, but this isn’t a COVID-type demand shock. There is more than enough storage space out there, I think, that can handle a one-day bump in supply."

The shipping and power sectors were also considered to be at risk following the outage, but sources said operations had been largely unaffected in key markets.

In a statement, DP World, the key UAE ports operator, said its business operations "remain stable, and we are closely monitoring the situation. We have measures in place to quickly mitigate any risks."

In Rotterdam, Europe’s largest port by cargo throughput, harbor and nautical services have not been affected, but some companies at the port, including a container terminal, "are experiencing issues due to the disruption," the port authority said in an emailed statement.

The Port of Antwerp-Bruges said no issues had been reported at the Belgian port complex, one of Europe’s largest.

A.P. Moller-Maersk, one of the world’s largest container shipping firms, said some of its terminals were affected before resuming operations in a few hours.

Meanwhile, real-time data for European power flows showed no hiccups in continental power supply or demand on July 19.