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Oil markets balanced, OPEC says

VIENNA, Nov. 12 (UPI) — The global supply of oil increased in October in part because of production from countries outside the Middle East, OPEC said in its monthly market report. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries published its monthly market report Tuesday. “Preliminary figures indicate that global oil supply increased 480,000 barrels per day in October to average 90.37 million bpd,” the report said. “Non-OPEC supply saw growth of 470,000 bpd while OPEC crude production was almost unchanged.” Trends in North America mean the U.S. and Canadian economies are relying less on foreign producers to meet their oil and natural gas needs. OPEC said in its report the share of its crude oil in global production declined to 33.1 percent in October. OPEC said its members produced, on average, 29.89 million bpd in October, a slight increase from the previous month’s report. Libya’s recent national security and labor […]

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‘The Age of Easy Oil Is Over’

By Alexis Flynn Here’s your morning jolt of news, insight and analysis on the global energy business. Send us tips, suggestions and complaints:  [email protected] Click here to receive this morning email newsletter OIL’S WILD FRONTIERS “The age of easy oil is over.” Once a mantra beloved of energy execs at countless industry conferences, that six-word sentence is the founding principle for a new breed of wildcatters who are prepared to skirt the geological and political edge in search of oil. Among the vanguard of companies striking out into disputed lands is none other than former BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward, whose Genel Energy is present in two of the most geologically promising—and politically fraught—parts of the world: Kurdistan and the self-declared state of Somaliland. As The Wall Street Journal’s Justin Scheck, Alexis Flynn and Idil Abshir report: Global wildcatters like Mr. Hayward are playing a growing role in the […]

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Predicting what the energy landscape will look like in 20 years

Consider how the energy landscape has changed in the past 20 years. In 1993, the price of oil was a bit over $18 a barrel; it’s around $100 a barrel now. In 1993, the life of a cellphone battery was hardly a concern because there were only 34 million cellphone subscribers world-wide, compared with more than 6.8 billion today. The battery for electric cars mattered even less: It would be another three years before the General Motors EV1 went into production and a year after that before the first Prius went on sale in Japan. Wind farms were a novelty, and solar energy barely registered in the statistics. And how about these numbers: Since 1993, China’s consumption of oil has more than tripled, and its electricity consumption has quintupled. Now, try to imagine what the energy landscape will look like 20 years from now. That’s what this Journal Report […]

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Iran foreign minister blames West for nuclear talks breakdown

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif hit back at U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry late on Tuesday and blamed divisions between Western powers for the failure of talks over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program in Geneva last week. Responding to remarks by Kerry in Abu Dhabi on Monday, Zarif said that blaming Iran only served to undermine confidence in the negotiations which are set for another round on November 20. The United States, the European Union and Iran worked intensively together for months on a proposal to help end the 10-year stand-off over Iran’s nuclear program, diplomats said, but talks in Geneva between Tehran and six world powers to agree the deal ended on Saturday without agreement. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Paris could not accept a "fool’s game" – in other words, a weak deal with Iran. Diplomats from other Western nations at first […]

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Iran’s Full Return to Oil Market Remains Perilous, Barclays Says

The breakdown of negotiations between the U.S. and world powers highlights how difficult it will be for Iran to make a full return as an oil exporter in the near future, according to Barclays Plc. The six-nation negotiating group in Geneva didn’t agree during Nov. 9 talks with Iran on alterations to its nuclear program that would allow financial sanctions to be eased. Even had the talks been more successful, the U.S. Congress has little appetite to lift measures banning imports of Iranian crude and is considered proposals to tighten sanctions further, Miswin Mahesh, a London-based commodities analyst at Barclays, said today in an e-mailed report. “Given the constellation of forces that could stymie a grand bargain, we contend that the path to Iran’s full return to the oil market remains quite perilous,” Mahesh said. The failure of the talks prompted December Brent crude futures to climb 1.2 percent […]

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Iran Talks Face Resistance in U.S. Congress

WASHINGTON — After having come tantalizingly close over the weekend to an agreement to freeze Iran’s nuclear program , the Obama administration is gingerly weighing a threat to the talks potentially more troublesome than the opaque leadership in Tehran: Congress. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet behind closed doors on Wednesday afternoon with members of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee to try to head off a new round of stiff sanctions on Iran that administration officials fear could derail the talks in Geneva. In addition, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.; Mr. Kerry; Wendy R. Sherman, the administration’s chief negotiator; and David S. Cohen, under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, are scheduled to brief Senate Democratic leaders that day in a full-court press to win backing of the diplomatic initiative. But the administration is running headlong into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu […]

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Iran is negotiating with the wrong US officials

John Kerry To understand the dynamics involved in U.S. policy on Iran, it is important to mark the difference between direct and indirect economic sanctions. Direct sanctions bar specific individuals and companies from conducting international trade, using the global banking system or traveling abroad and in some cases result in asset freezes. Most direct sanctions are established and enforced by executive order, and the president has some leeway in easing these sanctions. However, they are not the sanctions that are allegedly crippling Iran’s economy. Indirect sanctions, on the other hand, are based in U.S. law and cannot easily be offered up as bargaining chips in the current negotiations. These sanctions are sometimes called business-choice sanctions or extraterritorial sanctions. They are meant to affect Iran’s overall economy rather than punish or stop illicit proliferation activities, which is the focus of direct sanctions. Indirect sanctions work by offering firms a choice […]

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Shell, Iraq, Near $11 Billion Deal to Build Petrochemical Complex

BAGHDAD— Royal Dutch Shell RDSB.LN -1.04% Royal Dutch Shell PLC B U.K.: London GBp 2142.50 -22.50 -1.04% Nov. 13, 2013 10:08 am Volume : 896,164 P/E Ratio 9.87 Market Cap GBp133.72 Billion Dividend Yield 5.35% Rev. per Employee GBp3,388,700 11/08/13 Kashagan Giant Oil Field Won’t… 10/31/13 Refining Hurts Big Oil, But Ex… 10/31/13 Two Alberta Oil-Sands Projects… More quote details and news » RDSB.LN in Your Value Your Change Short position PLC and the Iraqi government are nearing a deal to build an $11-billion petrochemical facility in southern Iraq, according to the government here, the latest large-scale move by the oil major into Iraq’s energy sector. Shell has already invested heavily in helping Iraq exploit its bountiful crude and natural-gas reserves. The company has been developing Iraq’s giant Majnoon oil field, which produced its first oil last month and is now pumping some 200,000 barrels a day, according to […]

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Triple bombing kills 8 Shiites in eastern Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi officials say a triple bombing targeting Shiites observing a key religious ritual killed at least eight people in the country’s east. A police officer says three bombs went off simultaneously on Wednesday near a group of Shiites commemorating the 7th century death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein. The attack in the city of Baqouba, a former al-Qaida stronghold, also wounded 35 people. The ritual is a yearly mourning period known as Ashoura, which draws hundreds of thousands of Shiites. It’s often targeted by Sunni extremists who consider Shiites to be heretics. The officer says two children, aged 9 and 10 years, were among the dead. A medical official confirmed the casualty figure. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information. © 2013 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, […]

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Bombings target Iraq police, pilgrims, killing 19

TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) – At least 19 people were killed in bomb attacks targeting Iraqi police and pilgrims on Wednesday, police and medical sources said, just before the end of a Shi’ite Muslim religious festival. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, which coincided with the holy ritual of Ashura, when Shi’ites commemorate Imam Hussein who died more than 1,000 years ago. The 10-day ritual ends on Thursday. Shi’ites are considered apostates by hardline Sunni Islamist insurgents who have been regaining momentum in Iraq this year. Security personnel are also a prime target for Sunni militants linked with al Qaeda, which seeks to destabilize Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government and foment intercommunal conflict. In the deadliest attack, 10 people were killed when a suicide bomber drove a truck packed with explosives into a police checkpoint in the town of al-Alam near Tikrit, police said. Sunni Islamist and other insurgents have […]

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