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U.S. Energy Rigs Down One to 1,761, Baker Hughes Says

Rigs targeting oil and natural gas in the U.S. dropped by one this week to 1,761, according to Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) Oil rigs increased two to 1,387, data posted on the company’s website show. The gas count dropped one to 369, the Houston-based field services company said. Miscellaneous rigs were down two to five. The volume of crude and gas extracted per rig has jumped to records in shale plays across the U.S. as companies adopt more efficient drilling and completion techniques, boosting the yield from wells and helping increase domestic oil production to the highest level in two decades. The advances have weakened companies’ appetite for more rigs, driving the U.S. rig count down by 56 in the past year. U.S. oil output slipped 7,000 barrels a day to 7.97 million in the seven days ended Nov. 15 from the highest level since January 1989 in the […]

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Norway to Join Chinese Firm in Iceland Oil Exploration

Norway said it would team up with a Chinese firm to explore for oil offshore Iceland, in a rare cooperation for the two countries since a diplomatic row over the award of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. Norway has the right to join an exploration licence with Chinese oil firm CNOOC in the waters between Iceland and Norway’s Jan Mayen island, and Norway’s government decided it should participate. “Icelandic authorities are now planning to allocate an additional licence as part of the second licensing round, and Norway should participate,” the oil ministry said in a statement on Friday. Diplomatic ties between Beijing and Oslo have been virtually frozen since the 2010 Peace Prize, and collaboration in Iceland may be a sign that relations could be improving. Under a 1981 […]

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Brent Hits One-Month High; Iran in Focus

Crude-oil futures were lower in Asian trading hours Friday, as investors weighed recent positive U.S. economic data, the possibility of early tapering by the Federal Reserve and ongoing talks over Tehran’s nuclear program. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in January traded at $95.17 a barrel at 0439 GMT, down $0.27 in the Globex electronic session. January Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.22 to $109.86 a barrel. Both oil benchmarks had surged in overnight floor trade. Nymex West Texas Intermediate has settled higher for two of the past three sessions. “WTI is much more sensitive to data emerging from the U.S. than Brent. Although WTI has dropped significantly due to rising production and inventory levels in the U.S., it touched its highest level in three weeks on unemployment data in the U.S.,” Vyanne Lai, analyst at National Australia Bank Ltd. […]

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WTI Crude Surges Most in Seven Weeks on Jobless Claims

West Texas Intermediate crude surged the most in seven weeks after fewer Americans than forecast filed claims for unemployment benefits , bolstering optimism that U.S. economic growth will accelerate. Futures advanced 1.7 percent after the Labor Department said jobless claims fell by 21,000 to 323,000 last week, the fewest since Sept. 28. The median forecast of 47 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 335,000. U.S. fuel demand averaged over four weeks reached a five-year high of 20.3 million barrels a day last week, Energy Information Administration data showed yesterday. “Any improvement in the jobs picture is good for demand,” said Michael Wittner , head of oil market research at Societe Generale SA in New York. “Yesterday’s report showed that product consumption is rocking and rolling. This will improve refinery margins, which will increase crude demand.” WTI for January delivery climbed $1.59 to $95.44 a barrel on the New York […]

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Natural Gas Ends at 4-Week High After Large Drop in Inventories

-Natural-gas futures settled at a four week high Thursday after government data showed strong residential heating demand pulled down gas inventories by more than expected last week. Continued expectations of strong near-term demand from a widespread cold snap pushed prices above $3.70 per million British thermal units, but the rally again stalled in that area, as some market players question how much prices can continue to climb in the near term. “Some people appear to be taking profit at around $3.70, despite strong signals out of the inventory data and the weather forecasts,” said Matt Smith, analyst at Schneider Electric in Lexington, Ky. Analysts said the market appears to have largely priced in a broad swath of […]

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U.S. and China Find Convergence on Climate Issue

WARSAW — Discord and rivalry between Beijing and Washington have factored in international discussions of global warming since the United Nations climate treaty was established in 1992, contributing to the foundering of the 2009 talks in Copenhagen and much rough sailing since. But with China having recently surpassed the United States as the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, the countries are finding that their interests increasingly overlap, climate experts and government officials say. The more productive relationship is raising hopes that the friction of recent years may be easing, paving the way for a new global climate change treaty in 2015. International delegates have been meeting in Warsaw to negotiate the provisions of that treaty. The conference is scheduled to end Friday. Zhang Haibin, a professor of international relations at Peking University who has served as an adviser to China’s Ministry of Commerce, said that while climate cooperation […]

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Iran Talks ‘Substantial,’ but Yield No Accord

GENEVA — The foreign policy chief of the European Union spent much of Thursday in detailed negotiations with Iranian officials over an agreement to temporarily freeze Tehran’s nuclear program. But the day ended without reports of a breakthrough and with a warning by a leading American lawmaker that he was prepared to introduce legislation next month that would impose new economic sanctions on Iran. The talks on Thursday between Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s top foreign policy official, and Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, were described by a spokesman for Ms. Ashton as “intense” and “substantial.” Their negotiations were to continue Friday morning. Reports in the Iranian news media suggested that the talks might continue into the weekend and could end with the arrival of Secretary of State John Kerry and the foreign ministers of other world powers if a deal appeared close. But whether the remaining issues […]

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Iran Deal Falters as Negotiators Cite Little Progress

Negotiators weren’t able to reach agreement on a first-step accord to resolve a decade-old dispute over Iran’s nuclear program , reducing the likelihood that foreign ministers will arrive to strike a deal after two days of negotiations in Geneva. Talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Catherine Ashton , the European Union foreign policy chief representing world powers at the talks, broke up late yesterday after more than six hours of intense consultations, the EU said in a statement. The sides will reconvene today. “We have made no progress” toward resolving certain disagreements in the text, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters in Geneva. He said foreign ministers won’t come unless there’s “success in negotiations.” EU spokesman Michael Mann cast the talks in a more positive light, calling them “intense, substantial and detailed” […]

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Iran Expects Crude Exports to China to Stabilize

SHANGHAI—Iran expects its crude-oil exports to China will stabilize despite political pressure from the U.S. and a drop in shipments so far this year, an executive at Iran’s state oil company said. China’s October crude imports from Iran fell 42% to 1.06 million metric tons, or about 250,000 barrels a day, from the same period a year earlier, Chinese customs data showed Thursday. The steep drop in October brings China’s Iranian crude imports to 17.1 million tons in the January to October period, down 3% from the same period last year. The drop makes it increasingly likely that Washington and Beijing will avoid a clash over imports from Iran. However, the decline may be only temporary, said Maziar Hojjati, managing director of the China office of National Iranian Oil Co. He expects imports will recover in December and end the year almost unchanged compared with last year. “There were […]

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South Korea's Oct crude imports from Iran slump 47% on year to 98,097 b/d

South Korea’s imports of Iranian crude oil in October slumped 47.4% to 3.04 million barrels, or 98,097 b/d, compared with 5.78 million barrels a year earlier, data released Friday by state-run Korea National Oil Corp. showed. Compared with September’s imports of 4.12 million barrels, South Korea’s imports in October were 26.2% lower. In the first ten months, the country imported 40.33 million barrels of Iranian crude oil, down 9.5% from 44.55 million barrels in the same period last year. The country did not import any crude oil from Iran in August and September last year in line with US-led sanctions on Iran, but imported 1.97 million in August and 4.12 million barrels in September this year. South Korea was granted an exemption from US financial sanctions since last year allowing it to keep buying Iranian crude oil as long as it showed an […]

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