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Ukrainian natural gas demand slumps

KIEV, Ukraine, Nov. 13 (UPI) — Ukrainian Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky said Wednesday his country needed less natural gas than expected because of lower demand. Stavytsky said Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz has enough gas on hand to keep domestic needs satisfied through the end of the year without imports from Russia. “The demand for gas is almost 45 percent lower than Naftogaz had planned,” RIA Novosti quoted him as saying. The Russian news agency said he attributed the lower demand to warmer weather in Ukraine. Naftogaz said it secured 113 billion cubic feet of natural gas from Russian energy company Gazprom in October and has stopped the gas imports for the rest of the year. Contractual disputes between Ukraine and Gazprom prompted Russia in 2009 to cut off natural gas supplies and Ukraine says it’s paying more for Russian gas than its regional counterparts under the terms of a […]

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Euro-Zone Recovery Falters

FRANKFURT—The euro-zone economy barely expanded in the third quarter, raising fresh concerns that the region faces a mix of stagnation, weak prices and high unemployment that threatens to hold back activity for the foreseeable future. Gross domestic product in two of the bloc’s three biggest economies—France and Italy—contracted. Growth in Europe’s largest economy, Germany, slowed sharply. Euro-zone GDP expanded 0.1% from the previous quarter, or 0.4% at an annualized rate, the European Union’s statistics agency Eurostat said Thursday. That is down sharply from roughly 1.2% annualized growth in the second quarter. The euro-zone economy contracted for six-straight quarters from late 2011 through the first three months of this year. Germany’s GDP increased 1.3% in the third quarter from the preceding period on an annualized basis, according to calculations by J.P. Morgan matching economists’ forecasts. That marked a significant slowdown from the second quarter, when German GDP swelled 2.9% annualized, […]

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German Growth Slips as French Economy Contracts

FRANKFURT — The euro zone economy marked time in the third quarter of the year, growing just 0.1 percent from the second quarter, disappointing hopes that the region was finally recovering after five years of recession or very slow growth. The economy of the 17-country currency bloc stagnated as output slowed in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, and declined in France, the second largest, Eurostat, the statistical agency of the European Union, reported from Luxembourg. On an annualized basis, Europe’s 0.4 percent growth compares poorly with the United States’ annualized 2.8 percent third-quarter growth and the 1.9 percent Japan reported Thursday. China, the world’s fastest growing major economy, expanded at a robust 7.8 percent rate in the third quarter. The overall European Union, made up of 28 countries, grew 0.2 percent from the second quarter, and 1 percent on an annualized basis, Eurostat said. There was some positive news, as […]

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Peak Energy

I never cease to be amazed by how many people misunderstood (or more likely, never read) The Limits To Growth . Paddy Manning at Crikey has an article both outlining a recent example and being one itself, as Paddy infuriatingly describes “Limits” as making a forecast rather than what it actually did – which was describe a set of scenarios based on a range of assumptions – Beware Hugh Morgan and the climate sceptic zombie attack! . If Hugh Morgan is saying it, it must be wrong. Recall the businessman’s previous campaign against the High Court’s Mabo decision — which extended to a defence of terra nullius and warnings that Australia’s territorial integrity was under threat — or his glowing 2010 endorsement of the young Australian Workers’ Union boss Paul Howes as a future Labor leader, after his starring role unseating a first-term prime minister. And so it was again yesterday with Morgan’s […]

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Bit Tooth Energy

I have written in earlier posts about the problems that the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System (TAPS) will face, as production declines below 500,000 bd. The conclusions from that post are pictorially summarized in a graph in the recent edition of the Oil and Gas Journal. Figure 1. Declining throughput through TAPS showing the points of concern ( OGJ ) Looking at current figures, in September the pipeline had an average throughput of 524,181 bpd against the year-to-date average of 528,092 bpd. It has just passed below the upper limit at which operational difficulties can be anticipated, due in part to the flow being too slow to keep the temperature high enough to prevent wax from separating from the fluid, and starting to block valves and critical infrastructure. Because of the long lead times, and high capital requirements for the development of new fields in the Arctic, and the likely probability […]

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Oil near $93 after sharp fall as high supply eyed

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Oil hovered above $93 a barrel Wednesday after a sharp plunge the day before in anticipation of high U.S. crude supplies. Benchmark U.S. crude for December delivery was up 30 cents to $93.34 a barrel at midafternoon Kuala Lumpur time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dived $2.10 to close at a five-month low of $93.04 on Tuesday. Brent crude, the international benchmark, added 49 cents to $106.04 a barrel on the ICE exchange in London. Oil prices tumbled Tuesday amid expectations that U.S. crude stocks will rise for the eighth straight week. Data for the week ended Nov. 8 due later Wednesday is expected to show an increase in crude oil stocks of 1.8 million barrels, according to a survey of analysts by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos. A report by the Paris-based International Energy […]

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WTI Trades Near Five-Month Low as U.S. Supplies Seen Rising

West Texas Intermediate was little changed after closing at the lowest price in more than five months before data that’s forecast to show U.S. crude inventories rose to the highest level since June. Futures fell 2.2 percent yesterday in New York . Global oil markets are well-supplied, according to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Crude stockpiles in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil user, probably gained for an eighth week, a Bloomberg News survey shows before a report the Energy Information Administration expects to release tomorrow. The market is “looking for the inventories to rise again,” Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank A/S in Copenhagen, said by phone. Prices may be reaching a low after a “dramatic selloff” that started in August, he said. WTI for December delivery was at $93.29 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange , up 25 […]

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Natural Gas Rises For Sixth Straight Session on Cold Weather

–December Nymex Futures Settle Up 4.3 cents, or 1.2%, at $3.617 –Prices Up Nearly 5% in Last Six Trading Sessions –Uncertain Outlook For Continued Gains as Uneven Start to Season Begins By Christian Berthelsen Natural gas prices climbed for a sixth straight day on Tuesday, as the eastern U.S. felt its first deep chill of the season and expectations for higher gas-fired home heating demand rose. Gas futures for December delivery ended the day up 4.3 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $3.617 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Front-month prices have now gained 17.2 cents, or nearly 5%, in the last six sessions, the longest string of gains since late September to early October of last year. The gains have been driven by the onset of fall weather in key regions including the Midwest, the northeast and the eastern seaboard, that drive natural […]

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Medium-Term Oil Market Report 2013

  Benchmark Brent and WTI oil futures eased in September and early October following plans for Syria to dispose of its chemical weapons and direct talks between Iran and the US at the UN General Assembly. The US government shutdown added downward pressure on prices. Brent was last trading at $110/bbl and WTI at $101.25/bbl. Global oil supplies declined by 625 kb/d to 91.12 mb/d in September on steeply lower OPEC output. Non-OPEC supply growth for 2013 is forecast to average 1.1 mb/d, to 54.7 mb/d, rising to a near-record 1.7 mb/d next year. OPEC crude supplies slipped below 30 mb/d for the first time in almost two years, led by steep drops in Libya and Iraq. Output fell by 645 kb/d to 29.99 mb/d despite Saudi output topping 10 mb/d for a third month running. The ‘call on OPEC crude and stock change’ was raised by 100 kb/d to 29.6 mb/d for 4Q13. Recent […]

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IEA sees unbalanced energy market

PARIS, Nov. 12 (UPI) — Emerging trends in the way in which energy is produced and consumed creates a U.S. advantage but problems elsewhere, the IEA said in a report Tuesday. The International Energy Agency published its World Energy Outlook report for 2013. It said Asian and European consumers are paying nearly twice as much for their sources of energy than their U.S. counterparts. “Lower energy prices in the United States mean that it is well-placed to reap an economic advantage, while higher costs for energy-intensive industries in Europe and Japan are set to be a heavy burden,” IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol said in a statement from Paris. In terms of supplies, the IEA said it expects the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will lose influence in the next decade because of rising output from North America and Brazil. Nevertheless, the Middle East, which the IEA said was […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple