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Oil Futures Rebound

Crude-oil futures staged a minor technical rebound in Asian hours Tuesday after a sharp overnight drop, as markets focus on the upcoming meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve later this week. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at $95.88 a barrel at 0546 GMT, up $0.16 in the Globex electronic session. March Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.29 to $106.98 a barrel. Asian financial markets appeared to stabilize after the recent global selloff but investors remain cautious as further winding down of bond purchases by the U.S. Fed remains in focus. A reduction in the Fed’s buying program will boost the U.S. dollar and put pressure on oil prices. Oil markets also assessed stronger U.S. fuel demand as a second wave of extreme cold swept the country this month. Goldman Sachs said the impact of the cold […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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WTI Crude Declines for Second Day on Home Sales Report

West Texas Intermediate crude fell for a second day as purchases of new U.S. homes missed forecasts, raising concern that fuel demand may slow in the world’s leading consumer of oil. Prices dropped the most in two weeks. Home sales decreased 7 percent to a 414,000 annualized pace in December, the Commerce Department reported, lower than any estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. WTI also declined on speculation the Federal Reserve will decide to curb stimulus further at a meeting this week. “The U.S. economy is not as strong as people thought and the perception of demand is weak,” said Gordy Elliott, a risk-management specialist at Intl FC Stone LLC in St. Louis Park , Minnesota . “There is anticipation that the Fed will lessen stimulus.” WTI for March delivery slid 92 cents, or 1 percent, to end at $95.72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange , […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Natural Gas Rebounds After Biggest Drop in Almost Nine Months

Natural gas rose in New York , rebounding from the biggest drop in almost nine months. Futures for February delivery climbed as much as 2.3 percent to $4.956 per million British thermal units in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange , and were at $4.932 at 2:48 p.m. in Singapore. Gas slid 6.5 percent yesterday, the most since May 2, after soaring to $5.442, the highest price since Feb. 16, 2010. The volume of all futures traded was about 58 percent below the 100-day average. Temperatures will continue to fall behind an “Arctic blast” that swept through the eastern third of the U.S., according to a forecast from the National Weather Service at 3:46 p.m. New York time yesterday. The system will also drop snow, sleet and freezing rain from South Texas to the Carolinas. “The combination of falling temperatures and gusty winds will make for bitter […]

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OPEC Can Handle Higher Oil Output From Iran

;OPEC could easily accommodate increased oil production from Iran when sanctions limiting its output are lifted, the cartel’s head said Monday, brushing off concerns it could split up because of oversupply. "This, we will overcome," Abdalla Salem el-Badri, secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, told reporters on the side of an oil conference at Chatham House in London, U.K. Iran said last month it wanted to produce 4 million barrels of oil a day when sanctions are lifted, up from about 2.6 million barrels a day. Libya, whose output has more than halved to 650,000 barrels a day due to strikes, is also expected to return to normal when the crisis is resolved. "When Iran will come [back], when Libya will come [back], I don’t think there will be difficulty for OPEC," Mr. el-Badri said. Iraq, another OPEC member, has also been ramping up production […]

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Natural Gas Futures Tumble From Four-Year High on Milder Weather

Natural gas futures plunged in New York, declining from the highest price in almost four years, as forecasts showed mostly normal weather on the East Coast in early February. Gas slid 6.5 percent, the most since May 2, after soaring to $5.442 per million British thermal units, the highest price since Feb. 16, 2010. Commodity Weather Group LLC in Bethesda, Maryland , said average or higher-than-usual temperatures would extend from Florida to Maine from Feb. 1 through Feb. 10 after frigid weather this week. “The market’s collapsed after pushing up to a four-year high,” said Gene McGillian , an analyst and broker at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut . “We’re going to see some volatility, with prices basically being pushed and pulled by the weather patterns.” Natural gas for February delivery fell 33.5 cents to settle at $4.847 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange […]

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Iran boasts of sanctions relief on oil sector

Sanctions relief in the wake of an interim nuclear deal clears the way for Iran to start exporting crude oil to more consumers, an Iranian executive said. Ali Akbar Safaei, director of the National Iranian Tanker Co., told Shana, Iran’s official oil news website, his company and the National Iranian Oil Co. were free from some U.S. sanctions. Some Western governments agreed to suspend sanctions on Iran for the duration of a six-month interim deal that calls on Iran to curb some of its nuclear activity. Safaei said the sanctions relief means Iran has leeway to export crude oil to China, India, Turkey, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. "This [sanctions] relief is a green light for NITC but we expect the immediate return of NITC to international oil transportation markets besides these six countries," he was quoted as saying Sunday. There was no formal […]

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Iran Nuclear Talks Shift to New York in Mid-February

Iran and global powers will begin negotiations on a comprehensive agreement to end the decadelong dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program in mid-February in New York, Western and Iranian officials said on Monday. The meetings, whose dates aren’t yet fixed, will mark a shift from Geneva, where three rounds of talks were held beginning in October. That diplomacy resulted in November’s interim agreement that froze the most advanced parts of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for some easing of Western sanctions on Tehran. However, officials said the hardest part of the talks lie ahead as the two sides seek to negotiate a final deal that would completely lift sanctions on Iran in return for Tehran scaling back much of its activities and settling remaining doubts about its pledge that it isn’t seeking to develop nuclear weapons. November’s agreement came into force on Jan. 20. The two sides have set a […]

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Weir Group gets Lukoil contract for maintenance at oil field in Iraq

The Weir Group, a Scottish oil services company, said it signed a $98 million contract to provide maintenance for the West Qurna-2 oil field in southern Iraq. Weir, which has headquarters in Glasgow, said it agreed to provide general maintenance and pipeline services for Russian oil company Lukoil at the field for two years. The Scottish company said it has already set up an $8 million service center at the Iraqi port city of Basra, one of the first maintenance facilities of its kind in the country. “This substantial contract demonstrates the importance of Weir’s long experience of working in Iraq and our reputation for delivering high-quality engineering services in support of the country’s developing oil field infrastructure,” Weir Chief Executive Officer Keith Cochrane said in a statement Friday. Weir said its operations in Iraq will help Lukoil produce an estimated 150,000 barrels […]

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Egypt’s Ruler Eyes Riskier Role: The Presidency

When Egypt’s first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi, named Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi defense minister, the officer pledged to keep the military out of politics and make way for civilian democracy. A year later, General Sisi ousted Mr. Morsi, insisting the military was answering the people’s call to secure “their revolution.” Just three weeks later, he once again said he was turning to the people when he urged them to take to the streets to give him a personal “mandate” to crush Mr. Morsi’s base of support in the Muslim Brotherhood. Then on Monday, Field Marshal Sisi — he added the title the same day — took the first formal step to become Egypt’s next president, insisting he was yielding once again to “the free choice of the masses” and “the call of duty.” With that, […]

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Attempts to Send Food, Medicine to Besieged Homs Quarter Falter

Attempts to send convoys of food and medicine to thousands of people under siege in a rebel-held area of Homs failed Monday, lowering hopes about the regime’s commitment to confidence-building measures coming out of peace talks in Geneva. Syrian government and United Nations officials met for talks in Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, but they couldn’t agree how to implement a U.N. plan proposed to the regime more than a week ago. The regime insisted on Sunday in Geneva and on Monday in Homs that it would only discuss the evacuation of civilians. The opposition is demanding that aid be delivered before any evacuation, fearing that once some civilians leave, the government will launch a military offensive against rebels who remain. The government’s siege of the old quarter of Homs for the past 20 months has trapped an estimated 3,000 civilians and up to 4,000 rebels. Both the U.N. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple