Exxon splits West Qurna 1 stake with CNPC and Pertamina
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Exxon to Sell Stakes in Iraq Field to PetroChina, Pertamina
Exxon Mobil Corp. agreed to sell stakes in its West Qurna-1 oil project in Iraq to PetroChina Co. and PT Pertamina (Persero) of Indonesia. Exxon said Thursday that PetroChina would take a 25% stake in the project and Pertamina would take a 10% stake. The West Qurna-1 field is located near Basra in southern Iraq. It is one of several big fields that Western oil companies agreed in 2010 to help Iraq develop. After selling the stakes, Exxon will retain 25% of the field and continue as its operator. The rest of the field is owned by Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Iraq’s state-owned South Oil Co.Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com
Disillusionment Grows Among Syrian Opposition as Fighting Drags On
In a terrace cafe within earshot of army artillery, a 28-year-old graduate student wept as she confessed that she had stopped planning antigovernment protests and delivering medical supplies to rebel-held towns. Khaled, 33, a former protester who fled Damascus after being tortured and fired from his bank post, quit his job in Turkey with the exile opposition, disillusioned and saying that he wished the uprising “had never happened.” In the Syrian city of Homs, a rebel fighter, Abu Firas, 30, recently put down the gun his wife had sold her jewelry to buy, disgusted with his commanders, who, he said, focus on enriching themselves. Now he finds himself trapped under government shelling, broke and hopeless. “The ones who fight now are from the side of the regime or the side of the thieves,” he said in a recent interview via Skype. “I was stupid and naïve,” […]
Chinese energy giant eyes Canadian natural gas project
The deal is already facing backlash from a prominent environmentalist and First Nations rights advocate The Chinese oil and gas company Sinopec is in talks to buy a stake in a $15 billion natural gas export project in British Columbia. Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg/Getty Images China’s largest state-owned oil and gas company, Sinopec, is reportedly in talks to invest in a multibillion-dollar natural gas export project in North America. An advocate for First Nations rights and environmental protectionism told Al Jazeera that China’s burgeoning investment in Canadian energy is facilitating a free-trade agreement that would essentially allow Beijing to nullify Canadian indigenous peoples’ rights to resources. A Sinopec executive in North America acknowledged that the company is in talks to buy a stake in the $15 billion Kitimat LNG project — which liquefies natural gas for ease of transport — in northern British Columbia, but declined to comment, saying all media […]
Power Outages Hobble Pakistan's Biggest Exporters
Muhammad Latif stays in his neat office these days, upstairs from the vast textile factory he founded in 1975. Until a few years ago, he says, his business, Chenab Ltd., made high-end sportswear and bed linen for some of America’s best-known retailers, from Macy’s to Tommy Hilfiger to Victoria’s Secret, in this industrial city in central Pakistan. A workforce that peaked at 14,000 fed rolls of cloth into state-of-the art Italian and German machines or sewed garments on sprawling automated production lines. Today, crippled by the shortages of electricity that have paralyzed this country in the past five years, most of the machinery stands idle, and the staff has shrunk to 4,500. Sales for the year ended in June are down nearly 75% to 2.17 billion Pakistani rupees, or about $20 million, from 2008, according to the company. “I don’t go downstairs. I get depressed there,” Mr. […]
Power Outages Hobble Pakistan’s Biggest Exporters
Muhammad Latif stays in his neat office these days, upstairs from the vast textile factory he founded in 1975. Until a few years ago, he says, his business, Chenab Ltd., made high-end sportswear and bed linen for some of America’s best-known retailers, from Macy’s to Tommy Hilfiger to Victoria’s Secret, in this industrial city in central Pakistan. A workforce that peaked at 14,000 fed rolls of cloth into state-of-the art Italian and German machines or sewed garments on sprawling automated production lines. Today, crippled by the shortages of electricity that have paralyzed this country in the past five years, most of the machinery stands idle, and the staff has shrunk to 4,500. Sales for the year ended in June are down nearly 75% to 2.17 billion Pakistani rupees, or about $20 million, from 2008, according to the company. “I don’t go downstairs. I get depressed there,” Mr. […]
US ethanol production at 2013 high as crush spread widens
US ethanol production climbed 2.5% in the week ending November 22 to 927,000 b/d, matching the highest level so far this year, as makers of the biofuel boost output on cheaper corn costs, data from the Energy Information Administration show. Production was lifted by a widening spread between the cost of corn, the chief feedstock in the manufacturing of ethanol in the US, and the final selling price of the biofuel in Chicago, home to the country’s most active spot market for the gasoline oxygenate. The so-called crush spread, an indication of how profitable it is to turn a bushel of corn into ethanol, rose to $1.4/gal on November 22 from $0.63/gal on the previous week, according to Platts data. The crush spread fell to $0.91/gal on November 27, but remained above the average recorded so far in November of $0.62/gal. The crush […]
Raízen breaks ground on Iogen cellulosic ethanol facility in Brazil
Raízen breaks ground on Iogen cellulosic ethanol facility in Brazil Iogen Corporation announced that Brazilian ethanol giant Raízen Energia Participações S/A has started construction of a commercial biomass-to-ethanol facility using Iogen Energy’s advanced cellulosic biofuel technology. (Iogen Energy is a joint venture between Raízen and Iogen Corporation. Earlier post .) The $100-million plant, to be located adjacent to Raízen’s Costa Pinto sugar cane mill in Piracicaba, São Paulo, will produce 40 million liters (10.6 million gallons US) of cellulosic ethanol a year from sugarcane bagasse and straw. Plant start-up is anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2014. Iogen will provide cellulosic ethanol related process technology, process designs and start-up and operational […]
Oil consolidates at 6-month low near $92 a barrel
Oil consolidated at a six-month low Thursday after U.S. crude stockpiles rose for a tenth straight week. Benchmark U.S. crude for January delivery was down 10 cents at $92.20 a barrel at early afternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.38 to close Wednesday at $92.30. Oil has declined from about $110 in September due to a muted outlook for demand, high supplies and reduced tensions in the oil-rich Middle East. The Energy Department reported that crude supplies increased by 3 million barrels, or 0.8 percent, in the week ended Nov. 22. The nation’s supply of crude oil is now 391.4 million barrels, which is 4.6 percent above year-ago levels and “well above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year,” the report said. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, was up 19 […]
Natural Gas Settles At Five-Month High On Expectations For Higher Demand
Natural gas futures settled at a five-month high on Wednesday as traders bet on increasing demand for the heating fuel ahead of projected colder temperatures in the heart of the winter season. Natural gas for January delivery rose 3.1 cents, or 0.8%, to $3.895 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, reaching the highest settlement value since June 19. The price gains came despite the release of a closely-watched U.S. government storage report, which showed that natural gas stockpiles fell less than analysts had expected last week. “I don’t think it’s the report itself that’s supporting the market. It’s a combination of the on-going momentum, as we are […]