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Tumbling US oil price transforms trading

Call it a taste of things to come.  As the benchmark US oil price has slumped over the past month, so has the cost of crude in the Gulf of Mexico , one of the largest refining hubs in the world. The sharp price moves reflect the slow creep of the US shale revolution from remote oilfields in North Dakota and Texas to the coasts of the US, and by extension the international crude oil market of which they form a key part. The low prices in the Gulf of Mexico are dramatically altering the incentives to move crude around North America and into the US. And as new trading patterns emerge, they invite scrutiny of one of their underlying causes – the effective ban on the export of crude oil from the US to countries other than Canada. “The entire US crude market is disconnecting from global prices […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Brent Crude Traders Claim Proof BFOE Boys Rigged Market

Four longtime traders in the global oil market claim in a lawsuit that the prices for buying and selling crude are fixed — and that they can prove it. Some of the world’s biggest oil companies including BP Plc , Statoil ASA , and Royal Dutch Shell Plc conspired with Morgan Stanley and energy traders including Vitol Group to manipulate the closely watched spot prices for Brent crude oil for more than a decade, they allege. The North Sea Brent benchmark is used to price the majority of the world’s crude and helps determine where costs are headed for fuels including gasoline and heating oil. The case, which follows at least six other U.S. lawsuits alleging price-fixing in the Brent market, provides what appears to be the most detailed description yet of the alleged manipulations and lays out a possible road map for investigators. The traders who brought it […]

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Utilities in Pain Selling Renewable Assets at Record Rate

Wind farms and solar parks are changing hands at record rates, signaling both an increased taste for the assets among pension funds and hard times for utilities that are the biggest sellers. About 43 percent of the 275 deals completed in the power industry in the first nine months were for renewable generators, up from 37 percent in the year-earlier period, according to data compiled by Ernst & Young LLP. The value of all the deals increased to $104 billion from $93 billion. Buyers from insurer Aviva Plc (AV/) to Danish fund PFA Pension A/S are seeking yields averaging about 6 percent on wind and solar, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Utilities such as France ’s GDF Suez (GSZ) SA, Iberdrola SA (IBE) of Spain and Dong Energy AS have unloaded plants to build cash cushions as power prices slumped and competition increased from independent generators. Utilities “simply […]

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Report: Door closing on easy climate solutions

BRUSSELS, Nov. 5 (UPI) — A U.N. report on greenhouse gas emissions shows combating climate change requires an international effort, the European Union’s climate commissioner said. The U.N. Environment Program published a report Tuesday saying the door is closing on an easy way out of the climate crisis. “Even if nations meet their current climate pledges, greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 are likely to be 8 to 12 gigatons of CO2 equivalent above the level that would provide a likely chance of remaining on the least-cost pathway,” the report said. European Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard said the report shows that developing countries account for about 60 percent of the global emissions. This means the fight against climate change needs to extend beyond industrialized nations. ”This is yet another call for climate action which shows the world is not getting its act together fast enough,” she said in […]

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Concentrations of warming gases breaks record

Oil refinery By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, BBC News 6 November 2013 Last updated at 10:07 The WMO says that fossil fuel related activities such as oil refining are driving atmospheric levels of CO2 to record highs The levels of gases in the atmosphere that drive global warming increased to a record high in 2012. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), atmospheric CO2 grew more rapidly last year than its average rise over the past decade. Concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide also broke previous records Thanks to carbon dioxide and these other gases, the WMO says the warming effect on our climate has increased by almost a third since 1990. The WMO’s annual greenhouse gas bulletin measures concentrations in the atmosphere, not emissions on the ground. Carbon dioxide is the most important of the gases that they track, but only about half of the CO2 that’s emitted […]

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Iran Oil-Export Capacity Slides 22% According to Ship Signals

The combined carrying capacity of oil tankers leaving Iranian ports last month dropped 22 percent from September, vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. The implied capacity of departing ships declined to the equivalent of 1.02 million barrels a day from 1.30 million barrels, according to signals gathered by IHS Maritime, a Coulsdon, England-based research company. The data may be incomplete because not all ship transmissions are captured. U.S. and European sanctions are curbing Iran ’s oil exports in an effort to pressure the Middle East country’s leaders to stop their nuclear program. Shipments dropped from more than 2 million barrels a day in 2011, before the latest rules took effect, according to figures from the website of the Joint Organizations Data Initiative. The table below shows estimated vessel capacities in millions of barrels a day, based on signals from tankers that stopped at Iranian ports as well as movements […]

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Iranian prosecutor killed in restive border region

AP Photo TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian media say a state prosecutor has been killed in the restive southeast region near the Pakistani border, where an attack by militants less than two weeks ago killed 14 border guards. Sixteen “rebel” prisoners were later hanged there in reprisal. It was not immediately clear whether the latest killing was linked to the region’s unrest, which includes clashes with drug smugglers and battles with an armed faction that claims to fight on behalf of Iran’s Sunni minority. The semi-official Fars news agency says unknown attackers on Wednesday killed Mousa Nouri, a prosecutor in the town of Zabol near the Pakistan border. Another news agency, ISNA, quoted the region’s judiciary chief, Ebrahim Hamidi, as claiming the slaying was not connected to the October hangings. © 2013 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. […]

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Iran frustrated with gas line for Pakistan

TEHRAN, Nov. 5 (UPI) — Pakistan needs to live up to its end of the bargain for a cross-border natural gas pipeline planned from Iran, Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Ali Majedi said. Majedi was quoted by Iran’s semiofficial Fars News Agency as saying the Iranian government wasn’t going to help cover the cost of building the pipeline in Pakistani territory. “We did not make such a commitment to help Pakistan with $2 billion for the construction of the pipeline,” he said Monday. Iran has expressed concern about the project, in the planning stages for decades, because of economic uncertainty from its Pakistani counterparts. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh was quoted by Fars as saying last week the nullification of the contract “for supplying gas to Pakistan is likely.” Iran’s Western adversaries oppose the pipeline because of the economic benefits it would bring Tehran. Washington, in particular, favors a […]

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Iranian Minister Says Nuclear Deal Is Possible This Week

PARIS — Two days before negotiations resume in Geneva between Iran and the United States and other Western powers aimed at ending a fight over the disputed Iranian nuclear program, the country’s foreign minister sounded an optimistic note on Tuesday, saying a deal was possible as soon as this week. “I believe it is even possible to reach that agreement this week,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an interview with France 24, a major television network here, before meeting with the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius. “But I can only talk for our side,” Mr. Zarif added. “I cannot talk for the other side.” Iran has been on an outreach mission since the June election of Hassan Rouhani, who appears to have made getting rid of painful economic sanctions a centerpiece of his policy. The country now appears willing both to discuss the enforcement of more comprehensive […]

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Labor strikes halt Libyan oil production

TRIPOLI, Libya, Nov. 5 (UPI) — A teachers’ strike in Zawia, Libya, spilled over to the region’s oil refinery, with oil workers leaving their stations, an employee said. The Libya Herald reports roughly 2,000 people work at the plant in western Libya, which has the capacity to process 125,000 barrels of crude oil per day. “They are letting people out but not letting anyone go back in,” one employee told the newspaper Monday. Libya has struggled to return to a pre-civil war oil production level in excess of 1 million bpd. Labor strikes and national security issues have crippled the energy sector since the end of the war in 2011. Rival groups in the east of the country announced last weekend they declared independence for the region known as Cyrenaica. The region hosts some of Libya’s key oil terminals. The Libyan National Oil Co. last week ended a blockade […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple