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IEA Says Seasonal Demand Could Push Up Oil Prices

By Sarah Kent The International Energy Agency warned Thursday that a seasonal upswing in demand could put upwards pressure on oil prices in the near-term. “If seasonal cycles in crude and product demand are any guide, the recent easing of prices may be relatively short‐lived,” the agency said in its monthly report on the oil market. Since the beginning of the month, the price of December Brent crude futures on London’s ICE Futures exchange has fallen just over 1%. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for December delivery has fallen nearly 3%. At 0841 GMT December Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange was $0.52 higher at $107.64 a barrel. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in December traded at $93.80 a barrel, down $0.08 in the Globex electronic session. Although the Paris-based organization, which advises developed countries on […]

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Iranian Crude Sales Fall to 21-Month Low as Biggest Buyers Cut

Iran, the fifth-largest crude exporter as recently as 2011, sold the least in 21 months in October as China , India , South Korea and Japan curbed purchases amid Western sanctions targeting the nation’s nuclear program. Imports from the Persian Gulf state fell by 45 percent to 715,000 barrels a day last month from September, the International Energy Agency , a Paris-based adviser to 28 nations, said in an e-mailed report today. The shipments, which the IEA estimates from tanker tracking, media reports and customs’ data, would be the smallest since January 2012. U.S. sanctions from the start of last year meant buyers of Iranian oil had to limit purchases or risk having their banks excluded from America’s financial system. Almost all the world’s tankers were barred from hauling the Gulf state’s fuel six months later when European Union rules took effect because the ships were insured by companies […]

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Iran hardliners block Rouhani’s domestic reforms

Hassan Rouhani ©AP Hassan Rouhani, the president of Iran Hassan Rouhani , Iran’s centrist president, may have regime backing in his efforts to reach an agreement with major powers over his country’s nuclear programme, but he is struggling to implement domestic reform as hardliners block his attempts to expand civil liberties. Mr Rouhani is not a reformist but largely owes his surprise victory in the June presidential election to pro-reform groups who mobilised voters in the hopes that his promises of moderation could bring more social and political freedom and improved economic conditions after eight years of suppression under president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad. But while the president and his government have the strong support of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader and ultimate decision maker, in foreign policy and nuclear negotiations, they remain unprotected in the tense power struggle with hardliners on domestic issues. “A complicated power struggle is going […]

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Israel-US relations battered by split over Iran

Netanyahu For much of the past week, Benjamin Netanyahu has taken every opportunity to slam a proposed nuclear agreement with Iran , but the Israeli prime minister’s most barnstorming performance was a Sunday speech to the Jewish Federations of North America. “It is a bad and dangerous deal that affects our survival,” he told the group, who held their annual convention in Jerusalem. Iranian designs for a nuclear bomb that could reach the US were “the plan coming to a theatre near you”. “Is that what you want?” he asked the audience, who responded “No”. “Well do something about it. We are.” No nuclear deal has yet been signed by Iran and the six world powers involved in the talks, but the negotiations have opened up a crisis between Israel and the US . The public and aggressive lobbying of Washington by Mr Netanyahu, who has had a turbulent […]

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Attacks Across Iraq Kill Dozens

BAGHDAD — A series of bomb blasts and gunfire attacks swept Iraq on Wednesday, mostly targeting Shiites who were marking one of their holiest religious events. At least 27 people were killed in nine attacks that stretched to the northern cities of Tikrit and Mosul and to the regions west of Baghdad and Falluja. The attack with the largest number of casualties was in Baquba, north of Baghdad, as a group of Shiite pilgrims began observing Ashura, the solemn religious commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. As Shiite mourners hit themselves in unison in a traditional public demonstration of grief, three improvised bombs ripped through the crowd, killing nine people and wounding 35, medical and security officials said. “We were crying on the death of our Imam Hussein, and now our sadness is turned into the death of the brothers that were […]

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Bombs in Iraq kill 9 Shiites at religious ritual

AP Photo BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say a twin bombing has killed nine Shiites in a town south of Baghdad as they were marking a somber religious ritual. A police officer says two bombs exploded simultaneously in Hafriyah, about 50 kilometers (32 miles) from the Iraqi capital, as a group of Shiites were observing the Ashoura. The annual ritual commemorates the 7th century death of Prophet Mohammed’s grandson. The officer says the bombing also wounded 31 people. A medical official confirmed the causality figures. Both spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to media. Ashoura attracts hundreds of thousands of Shiites. It’s often targeted by Sunni extremists who consider Shiites to be heretics. Violence has spiked in Iraq since April with more than 5,500 killed, according to U.N. figures. © 2013 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be […]

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Putin mulls gas pipeline to South Korea through North Korea

MOSCOW, Nov. 13 (UPI) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said the best option for a pipeline to deliver natural gas from Russia to South Korea is a land route through North Korea. “It is much cheaper and safer, of course, to construct a land pipeline, political problems put aside,” he said in a Tuesday interview with the Korean Broadcasting System. “Should this [pipeline] be realized, [the overland route] would certainly be the optimal solution.” Russian natural gas company Gazprom backed away from an option to build a pipeline through the ocean in 2012, the Platts energy news service reported Tuesday. Putin, in his interview, said it was too expensive to build that type of pipeline because of the depth of the region’s waters. Putin said he wasn’t trying to interfere directly in lingering tensions on the Korean Peninsula but if both sides can agree on the terms of a […]

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Syrian Forces Recapture Damascus Suburb From Rebels

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian government forces recaptured a suburb south of Damascus on Wednesday and continued battles to push insurgents out of long-held territory outside the northern city of Aleppo, in what appeared to be a major push to gain ground ahead of proposed internationally sponsored peace talks. State news media showed government troops entering Hujeira, the latest in a string of suburbs south of Damascus where the government has made inroads in recent days, trying to sever supply lines between rebel-held towns that form an arc around the capital. Despite rebel claims to be tightening a noose around the seat of power, and government claims that the army would soon push rebels out of the suburbs, the front lines around the capital have changed little over the past year, with rebel and government forces dug in within a few hundred yards of each other in many places. The […]

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Libya: Cyrenaica Severs Ties With State Oil

Tripoli — Libya’s eastern zone had already declared political autonomy. This week, it also broke from the state-run oil company. Speaking in Ajdabia, “Political Bureau of Cyrenaica” (PBC) head Ibrahim Said al-Jadhran announced the formation of the “Libyan Oil and Gas Corporation”. “The wealth belongs to the entirety of Libya,” he told the press on Sunday (November 10th). The Executive Bureau of Cyrenaica issued a resolution to form the new company, which will begin operations in Tobruk before moving to Benghazi. “We are waiting for the reaction of the territories of Tripoli and Fezzan. We hope they co-operate with us,” Executive Bureau chief Abed Rabbo al-Barasi said. “After that, we will sell oil and will keep the shares of the territories of Tripoli and Fezzan from the oil sales, and we will not touch those proceeds,” he said. The move comes a fortnight after al-Barasi announced 24 portfolios for […]

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