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Pakistani Shi’ite cleric shot dead in reprisal attack

A prominent Pakistani Shi’ite Muslim cleric has been shot dead in an apparent reprisal attack following the murder this month of a Sunni Muslim leader, police said on Monday. Sectarian violence has been on the rise in Pakistan, adding to the list of concerns for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at a time when security forces are already stretched fighting an escalating Taliban insurgency in the northwest of the country. Allama Nasir Abbas, leader of Tehreek Nifaz Fiqah-e-Jafaria, a banned Shi’ite organisation, was shot by unknown gunmen on a motorbike as he drove home after addressing a religious gathering in the city of Lahore on Sunday evening. "It’s a targeted attack. The gunmen shot him from close range when he was driving home along with his driver and a friend," Lahore police chief Chaudhry Shafeeq told Reuters. "Abbas died on the way to hospital. His driver and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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India inflation soars to 14-month high of 7.5 pct

India’s worrisome inflation rose to 7.52 percent in November, driven by soaring food and fuel prices, data showed Monday. The highest level in more than a year increases pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates this week. The wholesale price index was up from 7 percent in October. The sharp increase was the highest since September 2012 and was led by food prices jumping by 19.9 percent over the previous November, dashing hopes that favorable monsoon rains would slow the runaway food inflation. Prices for fuel were also up 11.1 percent. Higher prices for food and fuel hit the hundreds of millions of poor Indians living on $2 per day particularly hard because they spend roughly half of their income on the staple items. The grim inflation numbers increase the likelihood that the Reserve Bank of India will raise interest rates when it […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Exporting American Oil: A Primer

Exxon Mobil says the U.S. should lift its decades-long restriction on exporting crude oi l.  ”We are not dealing with an era of scarcity, we are dealing with a situation of abundance,” Ken Cohen, Exxon’s vice president of public and government affairs, told the Wall Street Journal. Here’s what’s behind the ban – and the energy industry’s effort to reverse it: Why can’t Pumped-in-the-USA crude be exported? In 1973, some members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries stopped selling crude to the U.S. in retaliation for its support of Israel in a war with Egypt and Syria. The oil embargo ,which sent crude prices soaring, scared the pants off U.S. policymakers. In response, Congress made it illegal to export U.S. oil without a license , as part of an effort to bolster conservation and cut oil imports. Later, exceptions to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil production up, natural gas down: No big wells found in northcentral Montana this year

The recent spurt in oil production in eastern Montana probably will continue for at least a year, a top Montana oil and gas official said, but efforts to find a similar big “resource play” in northcentral Montana are not panning out yet. In another top trend, Tom Richmond, longtime administrator for the Montana Board of Oil and Gas, said natural gas production at Montana’s older wells will continue to lag due to a glut of natural gas on the world market because of large, successful shale natural gas development via hydraulic fracturing in Texas, Pennsylvania and New York. “That plentiful production of natural gas has caused the price consumers pay to plummet,” Richmond said. “That’s probably good for the country, including making an industrial resurgence possible by reducing business overhead costs. But it has hurt Montana counties such as Blaine, Phillips and Hill that rely on natural gas production […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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'Watch what we do, not what we say': Shell cancels U.S. gas-to-liquids plant

Resource Insights When civil rights advocates grew restless because of President Richard Nixon’s right-wing rhetoric on the issue of desegregation, then-Attorney General John Mitchell told them, ”Watch what we do, not what we say.” Those following the hype over America’s supposed newfound abundance of oil and natural gas would do well to follow that advice when evaluating what oil and gas company executives and their surrogates say. When Royal Dutch Shell pulled the plug on its U.S. gas-to-liquids project recently, the company offered the same explanation it used when it shut down its oil shale project earlier this year : Shell sees better opportunities elsewhere. This explanation–much like the I’m-resigning-to-spend-more-time-with-my-family explanation–tends to deflect questions about why things aren’t working out. What’s not working out for Shell is a planned $20 billion plant in Louisiana designed to turn natural gas into diesel, jet fuel, lubricants and chemical feedstocks, products typically […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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‘Watch what we do, not what we say’: Shell cancels U.S. gas-to-liquids plant

Resource Insights When civil rights advocates grew restless because of President Richard Nixon’s right-wing rhetoric on the issue of desegregation, then-Attorney General John Mitchell told them, ”Watch what we do, not what we say.” Those following the hype over America’s supposed newfound abundance of oil and natural gas would do well to follow that advice when evaluating what oil and gas company executives and their surrogates say. When Royal Dutch Shell pulled the plug on its U.S. gas-to-liquids project recently, the company offered the same explanation it used when it shut down its oil shale project earlier this year : Shell sees better opportunities elsewhere. This explanation–much like the I’m-resigning-to-spend-more-time-with-my-family explanation–tends to deflect questions about why things aren’t working out. What’s not working out for Shell is a planned $20 billion plant in Louisiana designed to turn natural gas into diesel, jet fuel, lubricants and chemical feedstocks, products typically […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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As America enjoys cheap gas, Asia's top buyers to pay more

Asia’s biggest economies face paying twice as much for some natural gas as old supply deals are renewed, with a North American shale glut years from helping to meet soaring demand in the region. Rocketing prices will add billions of dollars to the power bills of Asian nations and threaten competitiveness, but mean an earnings bonanza for LNG producers such as Malaysia’s Petronas , BP and Australia’s Woodside Petroleum . Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China bought 70 percent of global liquefied natural gas supplies last year. They can spend five times as much for the super-chilled fuel as U.S. buyers pay […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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As America enjoys cheap gas, Asia’s top buyers to pay more

Asia’s biggest economies face paying twice as much for some natural gas as old supply deals are renewed, with a North American shale glut years from helping to meet soaring demand in the region. Rocketing prices will add billions of dollars to the power bills of Asian nations and threaten competitiveness, but mean an earnings bonanza for LNG producers such as Malaysia’s Petronas , BP and Australia’s Woodside Petroleum . Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China bought 70 percent of global liquefied natural gas supplies last year. They can spend five times as much for the super-chilled fuel as U.S. buyers pay […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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ExxonMobil Outlook: 35% growth in energy demand by 2040; hybrids to account for ~50% of new vehicle sales

ExxonMobil Outlook: 35% growth in energy demand by 2040; hybrids to account for ~50% of new vehicle sales Light-duty-fleet-by-type-chart_full By 2040, hybrids are expected to account for about 35% of the global light-duty vehicle fleet, up from less than 1% in 2010. Hybrids are expected to account for about half of global new-car sales by 2040. Source: ExxonMobil. Click to enlarge. Driven by increasing population, urbanization and rising living standards, the world will require some 35% more energy in 2040, according to ExxonMobil’s annual forecast report: Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040 . Anticipated population growth will reach nearly 9 billion in 2040 from about 7 billion today, and the global economy is projected to double—at an annual growth rate of nearly 3%—largely in the developing world. Demand for energy in non-OECD nations will grow by about two-thirds, accounting for essentially all of the increase in global energy […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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NE US spot natural gas prices up as much as $8.30/MMBtu on winter storm

Some Northeast US spot natural gas prices jumped by as much as $8.30/MMBtu in trading on Friday as a winter storm was forecast to hit the region this weekend. Algonquin Gas Transmission city-gates soared $8.30 to average in the lower $33.30s/MMBtu on IntercontinentalExchange, with Tennessee Gas Pipe Line Zone 6-200 surging $7.82 to average in the upper $33.60s/MMBtu. Iroquois Gas Transmission Zone 2 rose $1.19 to average in the lower $17.50s/MMBtu, with Iroquois, receipts up 15 cents to average in the lower $14.50s/MMBtu. Article continues below… Request a free trial of: Gas Daily Gas Daily Gas Daily offers the most detailed coverage of natural gas prices at interstate and intrastate pipeline and pooling points in major U.S. markets. Gas Daily keeps you informed about complex state and federal regulations that affect competition in the gas industry. You will also learn about business-critical issues such […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple