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EU Set to Recommend Overhaul of State Support in Energy Markets

The European Union is poised to call on governments to improve their state-aid mechanisms in energy markets, including support programs for renewable energy. The European Commission, the 28-nation bloc’s regulatory arm, aims to start a public debate on government intervention in the electricity market as end-user prices rise, according to a draft of an EU communication to be published in Brussels today. The increased costs are caused by high and rising taxes and levies on final power charges, as well as the costs of networks and fuels, according to the draft, which was obtained by Bloomberg News . “Public intervention can be useful and effective to attain policy objectives set at Union, regional, national or local level, but it must be well-designed and should be adapted to changes in market functioning, technology and society that occur over time,” the commission said in the document. The call for a public […]

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Foster Wheeler gets Russian liquefied natural gas contract

ZUG, Switzerland, Nov. 4 (UPI) — Engineering company Foster Wheeler said Monday it was selected to help with initial developments of a Russian liquefied natural gas project for the Far East. Foster Wheeler, which has headquarters in Switzerland, said it secured one of two contracts from Russian energy company Rosneft and its U.S. counterpart Exxon Mobil to take on the initial front-end engineering design work for the project. Rosneft said it aims to build a facility that draws on the natural gas reserves on Sakhalin Island. The plant will be designed to process 5 million tons of LNG per year, officials said. Rosneft announced in September it chose CB&I UK as a recipient of a front-end engineering and design contract for the LNG project. “With our initial front-end engineering and design contractors on board now we will see the project begin to take shape in a matter of months,” […]

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Shell may give up Nigerian oil pipeline because of thefts, sabotage

http://cdn.ph.upi.com/sv/em/upi/UPI-14191383565588/2013/1/7017360716656a0b3e101ef08a71bdea/Shell-may-give-up-Nigerian-oil-pipeline-because-of-thefts-sabotage.jpg ABUJA, Nigeria, Nov. 4 (UPI) — A Shell subsidiary in Nigeria said it’s considering giving up its stake in a 60-mile oil pipeline in the Niger Delta because of thefts and sabotage. Shell Petroleum Development Co. said it may sell its claim to the Nembe Creek Trunkline, the Nigerian newspaper ThisDay reported Monday. The decision, the newspaper reported, comes three years after the company spent $1.1 billion on pipeline overhauls. The trunkline and the region’s Trans-Niger oil pipeline are used for the delivery of an estimated 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day from oil fields in the Niger Delta. In July, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative estimated Nigeria lost $10.9 billion in oil revenue to theft and sabotage from 2009-11. The government has blamed instability in the Niger Delta for its failure to meet a 2013 production target of 2.53 million barrels of oil per day. […]

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Superior Energy Equipment Seized by PDVSA in Venezuela

Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state oil company, seized about $1 million worth of equipment from Superior Energy Services Inc. (SPN) , the Houston-based company said. PDVSA expropriated two hydraulic units that were idled after the Caracas-based company missed payments, Greg Rosenstein, head of corporate development, said by phone from New Orleans. The units operated in eastern Venezuela’s Anzoategui state, Associated Press reported Nov. 1. The move follows comments by Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez on Sept. 11 that private companies unwilling to work with PDVSA on increasing production capacity should leave the country. Superior has operated in Venezuela for 15 years. “We were surprised by the takeover as we have had a cordial relationship with PDVSA,” Rosenstein says. “We continue to work with PDVSA and the Venezuelan authorities and look to resolve this issue soon.” The so-called snubbing units have a combined value of about $1 million and Superior’s […]

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Crude Sees Small Uplift Amid Ample Supply

Nymex crude-oil futures were choppy in Asian trading hours Monday ahead of several key economic data releases this week that may influence U.S. monetary policy and oil prices. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in December traded at $94.67 a barrel at 0558 GMT, up $0.06 in the Globex electronic session. December Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.34 to $106.25 a barrel. The Brent-WTI spread is currently at $11.59 a barrel. Data on tap this week include the U.S. third-quarter GDP advance estimate, U.S. labor market report for October, eurozone manufacturing data and several Chinese economic indicators. Last week, the U.S. Federal Reserve kept its monetary policy unchanged but some strong economic data since then has raised concerns that the Fed’s tapering of asset purchases may happen as soon as December. A withdrawal of monetary stimulus would boost the U.S. […]

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WTI Trades Near Four-Month Low on U.S. Crude Supply; Brent Gains

West Texas Intermediate oil traded near the lowest price in more than four months amid speculation U.S. crude supplies will be sufficient. London-traded Brent rebounded as an index of China ’s services industry advanced to the highest level this year. Futures were little changed in New York after falling 3.3 percent last week, the most since June. Crude stockpiles in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer, have risen for the past six weeks, according to government data. Libya is boosting production and preparing to resume operations at an export terminal, said an Oil Ministry official. “The big risk is to the downside even though prices have come off quite a bit,” said Ric Spooner, a chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney. “For the supply side, the market isn’t so concerned about the risk premium in the Middle East . If we just look at the basic […]

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Iraq’s pipeline bombings halt oil pumping

Iraq’s pipeline bombings halt oil pumping Page added on November 3, 2013 A major oil pipeline has been bombed in northern Iraq, forcing pumping to be suspended, security officials said. Three blasts went off on Saturday in Nineveh province along the pipeline, which runs to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, but the incident did not cause any casualties. An official with the state-owned North Oil Co in the city of Kirkuk said repair works had already started on the pipeline and oil pumping was expected to resume on Sunday. Rebels frequently attack the pipeline, which carries a significant portion of Iraq’s oil exports to international markets. Growing pressure The Iraqi authorities are under growing pressure after the autonomous Kurdish region in the north of the country said it would build a second oil pipeline to Turkey, a route to Western markets that would bypass national infrastructure. However, Turkish Energy […]

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Israel to drill for oil in the West Bank

Israel to drill for oil in the West Bank Page added on November 4, 2013 A large reserve may lie under Israel and the occupied territories, but Palestinians are unlikely to reap the benefits. Israeli investors had reason to celebrate last month with the news that Israel may soon be joining the club of oil-producing states, in addition to its recent finds of large natural gas deposits off the coast. Shares in Givot Olam, an Israeli oil exploration company, rallied on reports that it had located much larger oil reserves at its Meged 5 site than previously estimated. The company, which says it has already sold $40m worth of oil since the Meged field went operational in 2011, now believes that the well is sitting on exploitable reserves of as much as 3.53 billion barrels – about a seventh of Qatar’s proven oil reserves. Only one cloud looms on […]

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Energy Needs Trump Turkey-Israel Tension

ISTANBUL—Turkey and Israel’s political divergence in the past few years is of little concern to businessmen, especially when some of the world’s largest natural gas deposits are at stake. Israel, together with Cyprus, sits on more than 120 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean, according to U.S. Geological Survey assessments. That’s enough to meet natural gas needs for 2,400 years in energy-starved Turkey, which relies on Russia for 60% and Iran for 20% of its imports. The trick is navigating the choppy political waters. It’s a difficult proposition as Turkey-Israel ties have been at best strained for the past three years, and Ankara doesn’t even recognize the Cypriot government in Nicosia. But executives from Turkish and Israeli energy firms say their deals can allow corporations to surmount the obstacles politicians can’t overcome. If they succeed, Turkey may see a fifth of its annual natural gas […]

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This Natural Gas Find Could Completely Change the World As We Know It

This Natural Gas Find Could Completely Change the World As We Know It Page added on November 4, 2013 One thing that makes the energy sector so intriguing is the constant overlap between markets and politics. In many ways, energy security is synonymous with national security, and the supply and demand needs of the oil market can make the most unlikely bedfellows. One country that has been at the center of energy and politics for decades has been Israel. For years the country has been dependent upon foreign energy sources, but a major discovery by Noble Energy (NYSE: NBL ) and its partners has turned this situation on its head. Let’s look how this massive natural gas find could affect both the political landscape and the pockets of major oil companies like ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM ) . With a name like Leviathan, it has to be big In 2010, […]

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