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Iran Seen by IEA Unable to Sustain Increase in Crude Oil Exports

Iran, once OPEC’s second-largest oil producer, will be unable to sustain an increase in crude exports that support its economy when some measures to curb those shipments are eased, the International Energy Agency said. The European Union said last month that it intends to suspend a ban on insuring tankers carrying the Iranian oil from December or January. The U.S. said it will stop forcing buyers to cut purchases, even if they still aren’t allowed to increase them. The concessions are in return for commitments from the Persian Gulf state to provide more information on its nuclear program, which western powers claim is intended to make weapons. Neither the EU nor the U.S. lifted sanctions on importing the nation’s oil. “The fact that the oil sanctions remain fully in place leaves on the face of it no room for any sustained increase in exports,” the IEA, a Paris-based adviser […]

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Lebanon Worries That Housing Will Make Syrian Refugees Stay

The modest shelter housing some Syrian refugees here, a few hundred yards south of the border with Syria , hardly looks objectionable. Made of plywood walls on a concrete foundation of some 250 square feet, with one door, two windows and a corrugated zinc roof, the squat structure is called a “box shelter.” But Lebanon has banned box shelters, regarding them as a threat to this already fragile nation. In the eyes of the Lebanese, the box shelters, made by the Danish Refugee Council, look too permanent and could encourage the Syrians to stay. “The fear of permanence is very embedded in the Lebanese political psyche,” said Makram Malaeb, a manager in the Syrian refugee crisis unit at the Ministry of Social Affairs. “We had Palestinian refugees who were supposed to stay here for a month in 1948, and now they are a population of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iraq Forces Clash With Gunmen in Syria Border Area

Iraqi forces battled gunmen trying to infiltrate the country from neighboring Syria on Monday, while attacks in Baghdad and north of the capital killed more than 20 people, officials said. Twenty sport utility vehicles and more than two dozen motorcycles carrying gunmen tried to enter Iraq in Anbar Province, but Iraqi border forces turned them back after a two-hour clash, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement. It gave no details about casualties or the identities of the armed men. Iraq has been seized by violence that has taken on sectarian overtones, and many fear that the civil war in neighboring Syria will only intensify those divisions. Some militant Sunnis linked to Al Qaeda have flocked to the rebel cause in Syria, fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and the Shiites backing his government. Major bombings in Iraq have become an almost daily occurrence, and on Monday […]

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Suicide bomber kills 11 at Shi'ite funeral in Iraq

A suicide bomber killed 11 people and wounded 20 at a Shi’ite Muslim funeral in a city northeast of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said, as Iraqi insurgents pursue a campaign of deadly attacks. The bombing took place in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) from of the capital at a funeral for a group of Shi’ite shepherds who had been killed by unidentified gunmen outside the city. No one immediately claimed responsibility, but suicide bombings have been a favored tactic of Sunni insurgents linked to al Qaeda and who are widely blamed for this year’s surge in violence that has mostly targeted civilians. Baquba has been hit by some of the deadliest attacks, and earlier this month a suicide bomber blew himself up at a funeral in a nearby town. Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government says the violence is being fuelled by the war in neighboring Syria, which has […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Suicide bomber kills 11 at Shi’ite funeral in Iraq

A suicide bomber killed 11 people and wounded 20 at a Shi’ite Muslim funeral in a city northeast of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said, as Iraqi insurgents pursue a campaign of deadly attacks. The bombing took place in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) from of the capital at a funeral for a group of Shi’ite shepherds who had been killed by unidentified gunmen outside the city. No one immediately claimed responsibility, but suicide bombings have been a favored tactic of Sunni insurgents linked to al Qaeda and who are widely blamed for this year’s surge in violence that has mostly targeted civilians. Baquba has been hit by some of the deadliest attacks, and earlier this month a suicide bomber blew himself up at a funeral in a nearby town. Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government says the violence is being fuelled by the war in neighboring Syria, which has […]

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Libyan Ports That Buoyed Brent Crude Seen Opening in Days

Ports in eastern Libya that helped boost international oil prices when they were halted four months ago are within days of reopening, the head of the nation’s energy-protection force said. Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, with combined capacity of 600,000 barrels a day, and a third port, Zueitina, will reopen on Dec. 15, Idris Bukhamada, head of the Petroleum Facilities Guard, a group that protects Libya’s oil installations, said by phone from Ajdabiya today. Ibrahim Al Jedran, a former regional PFG commander whose men blockaded the terminals, agreed to the resumption after intervention by the Al Magharba tribe, Bukhamada said. Al Jedran himself said resumption depends on certain conditions being met. Disrupted exports from Libya has helped buoy the price of Brent crude , a global benchmark, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and the International Energy Agency . Brent’s premium over U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate narrowed to […]

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BG Group says Tanzania emerging as natural gas powerhouse

British energy company BG Group said Tuesday it estimated there are 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in its reserve basins off the Tanzanian coast. The company said Tuesday its latest discovery, dubbed Mzia, off the southern Tanzania coast holds an estimated 4.7 trillion cubic feet of total recoverable natural gas. The company said that brings its total estimate for reserves spread out over three areas to around 15 trillion cubic feet. BG Group Chief Executive Officer Chris Finlayson said he expected the Tanzanian government to lay out eventual plans to build an export terminal for the country’s natural gas resources. Export plans with its partners at British energy company Ophir Energy and Norway’s Statoil call for deliveries of liquefied natural gas. Statoil last week announced it discovered more than 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas at its Mronge-1 reserve area off […]

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Mexico's Pemex Oil Monopoly Nears an End

Mexico’s Senate passed an energy bill late Tuesday that may end a 75-year-old monopoly held by state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos. The bill allows private companies to drill for oil and gas through flexible contracts and licenses. Private companies have been kept out of oil and gas production–except for those working under contract to Pemex. The bill gives private companies a share in oil production in return for taking all the exploratory risks. It allows them to book reserves as expected cash flow. The Senate passed President Enrique Pena Nieto’s energy reform bill by 95-28. Several articles were reserved for further debate but no significant changes are expected. The bill now goes to the lower house which is expected to pass it this week. The end of Pemex’s monopoly is seen by some as the biggest economic change in Mexico since the North American Free […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Mexico’s Pemex Oil Monopoly Nears an End

Mexico’s Senate passed an energy bill late Tuesday that may end a 75-year-old monopoly held by state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos. The bill allows private companies to drill for oil and gas through flexible contracts and licenses. Private companies have been kept out of oil and gas production–except for those working under contract to Pemex. The bill gives private companies a share in oil production in return for taking all the exploratory risks. It allows them to book reserves as expected cash flow. The Senate passed President Enrique Pena Nieto’s energy reform bill by 95-28. Several articles were reserved for further debate but no significant changes are expected. The bill now goes to the lower house which is expected to pass it this week. The end of Pemex’s monopoly is seen by some as the biggest economic change in Mexico since the North American Free […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Mexican Senate Approves Energy Overhaul Aimed at Production Boom

Mexico ’s Senate approved an energy overhaul bill that supporters say will make the country the world’s fifth-largest oil producer in about a decade, spurring growth in Latin America ’s second-biggest economy. Mexican senators passed the bill in general terms 95 to 28 last night to permit foreign companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Chevron Corp. (CVX) to drill for national oil for the first time since 1938. Senators are still debating the bill’s specifics and can make amendments before sending it to the lower house. The plan would change the constitution to allow production sharing and licenses for outside companies that will also be able to log crude reserves for accounting purposes. Mexico is the world’s ninth-largest oil producer, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and possesses the biggest unexplored crude area after the Arctic Circle. Industry analysts and the bill’s authors say the overhaul […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple