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WTI Fluctuates Near Four-Month Low as China Manufacturing Gains

West Texas Intermediate swung between gains and losses near a four-month low as an increase in China ’s manufacturing index countered concern about rising crude supplies in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Futures fluctuated in New York after capping a 5.8 percent drop in October, the most in a year. China’s Purchasing Manager’s Index (CPMINDX) was 51.4, the highest in 18 months and more than the median estimate of 51.2 in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. A separate manufacturing indicator also climbed. Prices are poised for a fourth weekly decline amid an expansion in U.S. crude stockpiles . “The numbers over the past month for China have all been good but they’ve failed to hold up oil,” said Jonathan Barratt , the chief executive officer of Barratt’s Bulletin in Sydney. “Inventories keep building; there’s just too much oil.” WTI for December delivery was at $96.51 a […]

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Natural Gas Futures Decline For Fourth Straight Day

–Slide in natural gas futures extends to a fourth straight session –Supplies are above five-year-average amid forecasts for warmer temperatures, high production –Traders waiting for first real cold snap, consultant says By Brett Philbin NEW YORK–Natural gas futures slid for the fourth straight session Thursday after a government inventory report showed a supply glut, booming production and an uncertain weather forecast at the start of the winter heating season. Natural gas for December delivery settled 3.9 cents lower, or 1.1%, to $3.581 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have declined roughly 4% this week as market participants are fearful that temperatures could stay above normal next month. “Right now it’s a waiting game,” said Richard Soultanian, co-president of NUS Consulting Group, a Park Ridge, N.J., energy consulting firm. “There is no fundamental reason to see a sustainable increase in the price of natural […]

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EIA: OPEC October Oil Output Down 100,000 Barrels a Day Vs. September

-Saudi Arabian output off 300,000 b/d in month, to 9.8 million barrels a day -Unrest in Libya cuts output by one million barrels a day compared with a year earlier -OPEC October output 29.7 million barrels a day, EIA estimates By David Bird NEW YORK–Crude-oil output from OPEC dropped 100,000 barrels a day in October from September as a slight gain in still-reduced flows in Libya partly offset a 300,000-barrel-a-day drop in output from Saudi Arabia, a U.S. government report released Thursday estimated. Production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries averaged 29.7 million barrel a day in October, down 1 million barrels a day from a year earlier due to labor unrest that has disrupted normal Libyan oil flows, the Energy Information Administration said. The EIA, the analytical and statistical wings of the Energy Department, said output from Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, averaged 9.8 […]

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OPEC Exports to Drop as U.S. Output Gains, Oil Movements Says

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will cut crude exports through mid-November as rising U.S. output allows the nation to curb purchases from the Middle East and Africa , according to Oil Movements. OPEC, which supplies about 40 percent of the world’s oil, will reduce sailings by 80,000 barrels a day, or 0.3 percent, to 23.78 million barrels in the four weeks to Nov. 16, the tanker tracker said today in a report. That compares with 23.86 million in the period to Oct. 19. The figures exclude two of OPEC’s 12 members, Angola and Ecuador. “There’s a lot of non-OPEC supply coming to the market” from the U.S. and North Sea, Roy Mason , the company’s founder, said by phone from Halifax, England . OPEC shipments are “weak because of American production,” he said. OPEC exports are set to increase in the second half of next month as heating […]

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Shell Third-Quarter Profit Falls 31%

LONDON— Royal Dutch Shell RDSB.LN +0.60% Royal Dutch Shell PLC B U.K.: London GBp 2172.50 +13.00 +0.60% Nov. 1, 2013 8:39 am Volume : 816,123 P/E Ratio 9.02 Market Cap GBp141.05 Billion Dividend Yield 5.28% Rev. per Employee GBp3,340,510 10/31/13 Refining Hurts Big Oil, But Ex… 10/31/13 Two Alberta Oil-Sands Projects… 10/31/13 Heard on the Street: Shell’s L… More quote details and news » RDSB.LN in Your Value Your Change Short position PLC Thursday reported a 31% decline in third-quarter profit, largely because of weak refining margins and increased exploration-and-production expenses. Shell posted profits on a “current cost of supplies” basis—a figure that factors out the impact of inventories, making it equivalent to the net profit reported by U.S. oil companies—of $4.25 billion, down from $6.15 billion in the same period last year. Shell reported revenue of $116.51 billion, up from $112.12 billion a year earlier. “We are facing […]

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Exxon Mobil Profit Down 18% on Refining Weakness

Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM +0.91% Exxon Mobil Corp. U.S.: NYSE $ 89.62 +0.81 +0.91% Oct. 31, 2013 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 18.96M AFTER HOURS $ 89.86 +0.24 +0.27% Oct. 31, 2013 7:59 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 222,037 P/E Ratio 11.70 Market Cap $390.91 Billion Dividend Yield 2.81% Rev. per Employee $5,208,800 10/31/13 Refining Hurts Big Oil, But Ex… 10/31/13 No Pipeline? Exxon Thinks Abou… 10/31/13 Exxon Mobil Profit Down 18% on… More quote details and news » XOM in Your Value Your Change Short position on Thursday said its third-quarter earnings fell 18%, as profits at its downstream segment plunged on significantly weaker refining margins, masking growth at its exploration and production business. Exxon Mobil reported net income of $7.87 billion, or $1.79 a share, down from $9.57 billion, or $2.09 a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 2.4% to $112.37 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters […]

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Marathon Petroleum's Profit Falls Amid Higher Costs

Marathon Petroleum Corp. MPC -1.17% Marathon Petroleum Corp. U.S.: NYSE $ 71.66 -0.85 -1.17% Oct. 31, 2013 4:01 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 4.80M AFTER HOURS $ 71.80 +0.14 +0.20% Oct. 31, 2013 7:29 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 34,639 P/E Ratio 10.49 Market Cap $22.70 Billion Dividend Yield 2.34% Rev. per Employee $3,317,680 10/31/13 Marathon Petroleum’s Profit Fa… 10/10/13 Jury Sides With BP in 2010 Tex… 09/27/13 Breaking Up Is the Thing to Do… More quote details and news » MPC in Your Value Your Change Short position said its third-quarter profit fell 86% as the refining-and-pipeline company recorded higher costs that masked a rise in revenue. Refiners had been taking advantage of cheap, domestically produced oil, which has helped margins. But oil prices rose earlier this year as data showed a bigger-than-expected drop in U.S. crude-oil supplies. Marathon Petroleum, which was spun off from Marathon Oil Corp. MRO […]

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Marathon Petroleum’s Profit Falls Amid Higher Costs

Marathon Petroleum Corp. MPC -1.17% Marathon Petroleum Corp. U.S.: NYSE $ 71.66 -0.85 -1.17% Oct. 31, 2013 4:01 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 4.80M AFTER HOURS $ 71.80 +0.14 +0.20% Oct. 31, 2013 7:29 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 34,639 P/E Ratio 10.49 Market Cap $22.70 Billion Dividend Yield 2.34% Rev. per Employee $3,317,680 10/31/13 Marathon Petroleum’s Profit Fa… 10/10/13 Jury Sides With BP in 2010 Tex… 09/27/13 Breaking Up Is the Thing to Do… More quote details and news » MPC in Your Value Your Change Short position said its third-quarter profit fell 86% as the refining-and-pipeline company recorded higher costs that masked a rise in revenue. Refiners had been taking advantage of cheap, domestically produced oil, which has helped margins. But oil prices rose earlier this year as data showed a bigger-than-expected drop in U.S. crude-oil supplies. Marathon Petroleum, which was spun off from Marathon Oil Corp. MRO […]

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Tehran Faces Water Rationing Unless Usage Drops: Minister

Iran may be forced to impose water rationing in Tehran should the capital’s residents fail to cut consumption by about 20 percent, Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian said. Water rationing is under consideration in part as levels of reservoirs outside Tehran have fallen due to a sharp decline in rainfall this year, Chitchian told reporters after a Cabinet meeting yesterday, according to the Tehran Times newspaper. His comments follow those by President Hassan Rouhani, who this week called for a national water-conservation plan to address Iran’s “historic” water shortage. Overuse of city tap water should be curbed, the farm industry must become more efficient and use irrigation, and protecting underground sources and preventing illegal drilling of wells is needed, said Rouhani, who took office in August. Iran, holder of the fourth-largest proven oil reserves whose population has grown to 77 million amid recent dry spells, will struggle to meet […]

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Algeria readies for natural gas overhaul

LONDON, Oct. 31 (UPI) — British energy services provider Petrofac announced it secured a $650 million contract to work to extend the life of a natural gas field in Algeria. Petrofac said it secured the 32-month engineering contract through a partnership with Italian contractor Bonatti. The company said the work is for construction and commissioning of new processing facilities at the Alrar natural gas field in southeast Algeria, in service since 1987. “This development builds on Petrofac’s long history of successful execution in Algeria where we have been operating successfully for more than 15 years,” Subramanian Sarma, managing director for the company’s onshore division, said in a statement Wednesday. Petrofac offered no reserve estimate for Alrar. It’s working alongside BP and others at a complex in southern Algeria expected to produce more than 300 billion cubic feet per year beyond 2013. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said natural […]

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