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Oil led to Pearl Harbor

Oil led to Pearl Harbor Few people realize that it was oil — the shortage of oil — that precipitated the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Tensions between the United States and Japan were rising throughout that fateful year. Having initiated a war with China (America’s ally) and occupied Indochina, Japan’s totalitarian government was intent on imposing its will on all of the people of East Asia. In the summer of 1941, before leaving for Placentia Bay, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had ordered a freeze on Japanese assets. That measure required the Japanese to seek and obtain licenses to export and pay for each shipment of goods from the United States, including oil. This move was most distressing to the Japanese because they were dependent on the United States for most of their crude oil and refined petroleum products. However, Roosevelt did not want […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Study: Which Sectors of U.S. Economy Will 'Peak Oil' Imperil?

This is what I’ve been talking about here, over and over again. We are not paying attention to this, and yet it’s the most important concern we are facing in Hawaii today. The Big Island’s anti-GMO bill, Bill 113, is just moving chairs around on the deck of the Titanic. The issue is so much bigger: According to a press release from the University of Maryland: “Researchers from the University of Maryland and a leading university in Spain demonstrate in a new study which sectors could put the entire U.S. economy at risk when global oil production peaks (“Peak Oil”). This multi-disciplinary team recommends immediate action by government, private and commercial sectors to reduce the vulnerability of these sectors.” The study looked at how vulnerable different aspects of the U.S. economy are to the effects of Peak Oil. In the United States, the research concludes, such sectors would include […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Study: Which Sectors of U.S. Economy Will ‘Peak Oil’ Imperil?

This is what I’ve been talking about here, over and over again. We are not paying attention to this, and yet it’s the most important concern we are facing in Hawaii today. The Big Island’s anti-GMO bill, Bill 113, is just moving chairs around on the deck of the Titanic. The issue is so much bigger: According to a press release from the University of Maryland: “Researchers from the University of Maryland and a leading university in Spain demonstrate in a new study which sectors could put the entire U.S. economy at risk when global oil production peaks (“Peak Oil”). This multi-disciplinary team recommends immediate action by government, private and commercial sectors to reduce the vulnerability of these sectors.” The study looked at how vulnerable different aspects of the U.S. economy are to the effects of Peak Oil. In the United States, the research concludes, such sectors would include […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil capped near $97 on oversupply possibility

Oil remained above $97 a barrel Thursday on lower U.S. stockpiles but concerns of oversupply in the Middle East capped gains. Benchmark U.S. crude for January delivery was up 4 cents at $97.24 a barrel at midafternoon Kuala Lumpur time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained $1.16 to close at $97.20 on Wednesday. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed Wednesday to maintain its daily production target of 30 million barrels a day. However, it faces the prospect of overproduction after Iran announced plans to pump up to 4 million barrels a day once sanctions on its crude exports are lifted. Libya also hopes to increase output to 2 million barrels a day once unrest ebbs. In all, OPEC members would have to reduce their production to keep prices from dropping sharply and hurting oil revenues that underpin […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Brent Seen Over $100 for Fourth Year as OPEC Bets on Demand

Brent, used to price more than half the world’s oil, will probably exceed $100 a barrel for a fourth year in 2014 after OPEC bet that demand won’t weaken enough to warrant production cuts. The 12-nation group, accounting for 40 percent of global supply, kept its 30 million barrel-a-day output target in Vienna yesterday. Brent will average $105 in 2014, according to the median of 31 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Six analysts contacted yesterday and Dec. 3 said they wouldn’t adjust their forecasts if the OPEC quota was unchanged. Some members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, notably Saudi Arabia, will probably need to reduce output later in 2014 to prevent a glut, analysts at BNP Paribas SA and Citigroup Inc. said. The U.S. is producing the most oil in a quarter century and Iraq, Libya and Iran have said they plan to increase exports in the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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WTI Trades Near Five-Week High as U.S. Crude Supplies Dip

West Texas Intermediate traded near the highest price in more than a month after crude inventories shrank for the first time in 11 weeks in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Futures fluctuated in New York after gaining 1.2 percent yesterday to cap a four-day advance, the longest rising streak since August. U.S. crude stockpiles fell by 5.59 million barrels last week as refiners boosted processing, data from the Energy Information Administration show. Supplies were forecast to drop 500,000 barrels, according to a Bloomberg News survey. OPEC agreed to maintain its production target at a meeting yesterday. “Oil is holding these levels, which suggest further gains,” said Jonathan Barratt , the chief executive officer of Barratt’s Bulletin in Sydney. “It’s a combination of things: the good economic data and the inventory draws” have pushed futures higher, he said. WTI for January delivery was at $97.36 a barrel in […]

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Natural-Gas Futures Fall for Second Straight Day

Natural-gas futures declined Wednesday as traders paused following a runup that sent prices near six-month highs while they weighed differing short- and long-term weather outlooks. Natural gas for January delivery settled 1.6 cents lower, or 0.4%, to $3.960 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the session, prices climbed as high as $4.013 mmBtu, the second time this week they briefly crossed levels last reached in June. “The $4 level seems to be a bit of a hurdle,” said Addison Armstrong, senior director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Conn. “The rally we had experienced had been accomplished by a tremendous amount of short covering, but […]

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OPEC Maintains Crude-Production Target at Vienna Meeting

OPEC, content with current oil price levels, agreed to keep the group’s crude output ceiling unchanged at least until June even as Libya, Iran and Iraq plan to increase exports in coming months. Maintaining the 30 million-barrel-a-day target for the 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies about 40 percent of the world’s oil, will ensure price stability , Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said yesterday. There will be no need to reduce the cap at the next meeting, Libyan Oil Minister Abdulbari al-Arusi said. “The big question is what OPEC will do if output from Libya and Iran returns to the market next year,” Carsten Fritsch , an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt , said yesterday. He said that will probably be discussed in June. Some analysts warn that excess supply, including U.S. shale oil and a potential resurgence in exports from Iran, Libya and Iraq, […]

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OPEC mindful of North American oil growth

The president of OPEC’s 164th conference in Vienna said Thursday the 12-member cartel expects North American oil production to increase. Kuwaiti Oil Minister Mustafa Jassim Mohammad al-Shamali delivered opening remarks to the meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, serving as president of the conference in Vienna. Shamali said the cartel expected oil demand to increase because of the gradual recovery under way in the global economy. World oil demand is expected to increase by 1 million barrels per day as the global economy expands, he said. “Non-OPEC oil supply is also expected to rise in 2014 by 1.2 million bpd,” he said in his remarks Wednesday. “This will be mainly due to the anticipated growth in North America and Brazil.” OPEC, in its monthly market report for November, said the Americas are expected to lead in terms of oil production growth for […]

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Officials from Iraq, Iran and Libya Expect to Increase Crude Production

;The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries kept its production ceiling unchanged Wednesday despite the threat of rising supply that could weigh on prices.  For the better part of a year, members of OPEC, a cartel of some of the world’s biggest oil producers, has been studying the possible market effects of increasing North American output. But now, the threat of surging supply from OPEC members themselves looms. The cartel pumps more than one in three barrels of crude consumed globally and uses its production ceiling, currently at 30 million barrels a day, to keep prices in check. But as its meeting here wrapped up, members didn’t express any consensus on what—if anything—the group would do about the prospect of new output from Iraq, Iran and Libya. Iraq now is producing more annually than it has in at least the last 20 years–and has shown little appetite to throttle […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple