With a dispute over Basra’s 2014 budget allocation looming, the governor of Iraq’s oil capital is threatening to launch protests and even shut in oil exports.
Austrian energy company OMV said oil production this year should be in line with its annual outlook. The Austrian company said Libyan operations has resumed and production of 320,000 to 340,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day is in line with expectations for 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The company said in a statement emailed in November production was offline "since the end of October," but provided no explanation for the disruption. Overall production from the company declined last year in part due to Libyan security issues but that was offset by gains from the North Sea, the Journal reported. Rebels who helped fight Moammar Gadhafi ‘s forces in 2011 in November declared independence for the region known as Cyrenaica, which hosts some of Libya’s key oil terminals. Labor strikes, internal battles for supremacy and general conflict have curbed Libya’s oil output. […]
Syrian rebels, some of which are aligned with al-Qaida, may be financing their rebel campaign through the sale of oil, an Emirati oil executive said. Syria relies on oil and natural gas revenue to help pay off its government debt. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says Syria’s energy sector is in decline because of war and Western economic sanctions. A report published Tuesday by the New York Times, citing unnamed U.S. counter-terrorism officials, says much of Syria’s oil and natural gas resources are in the hands of the Islamic States of Iraq and Syria, a group affiliated with al-Qaida. The report said ISIS is selling petroleum products to the Syrian government. "Even sold at discounted prices, this oil could be generating significant revenue for rebels to arm themselves," Badr Jafar, chairman of Emirati energy company Crescent Petroleum, was quoted in the report as […]
Mexico’s state-run oil company Pemex has found light crude at its deep water Exploratus-1 well in the Perdido Fold Belt in the Gulf of Mexico, a senior company official said in an interview on Wednesday. Exploratus-1 struck light crude at a depth of approximately 3,600 meters (11,811 feet) below the sea floor, said Carlos Morales, Pemex’s exploration and production chief. Morales said the company does not yet have an estimate of the total amount of crude associated with the find.
Mexico’s state-run oil company Pemex has found light crude at its deep water Exploratus-1 well in the Perdido Fold Belt in the Gulf of Mexico, a senior company official said in an interview on Wednesday. Exploratus-1 struck light crude at a depth of approximately 3,600 meters (11,811 feet) below the sea floor, said Carlos Morales, Pemex’s exploration and production chief. Morales said the company does not yet have an estimate of the total amount of crude associated with the find.
Venezuela ’s annual oil exports to the U.S. are on track to reach a 28-year low as the South American country faces declining production, rising domestic demand and increased shipments to China . Venezuelan exports of oil and petroleum products to the U.S. have averaged 792,000 barrels a day in the first 11 months of 2013, the lowest annual rate seen since 1985, according to data through November published by the U.S.-based Energy Information Administration on its website today. Petroleos de Venezuela SA , the state-run oil company , sends hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil a day to China to pay back loans for billions of dollars made to Venezuela’s government. The company’s production, which averaged 2.9 million barrels a day in 2012, according to the company’s annual report for that year, averaged 2.45 million barrels a day in December last year, a Bloomberg survey showed. “Venezuela […]
A group of state-owned Indian companies have signed an initial agreement for setting up what the government says is the world’s largest solar power plant. The 4,000-megawatt plant in the northwestern state of Rajasthan would be spread across 19,000 acres. "The MOU signed today will have to get the approval of the Cabinet and then the project will move forward," Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Praful Patel said at the signing ceremony in New Delhi Wednesday, Press Trust of India reports. The consortium of six state-run companies includes Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, known as BHEL, and Power Grid Corporation of India Limited. Construction for the first phase of 1,000 megawatts is expected to start in about three years. The plant will rely on crystalline silicon technology. The Hindu newspaper cited New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah as saying at the […]
Living near hydraulic fracturing — or "fracking" — sites may increase the risk of some birth defects by as much as 30 percent, a new study suggests. In the U.S., more than 15 million people now live within a mile of a well . The use of fracking, a gas-extraction process through which sand, water and chemicals are pumped into the ground to release trapped fuel deposits, has increased significantly in the U.S. over the past decade . Five years ago, the U.S. produced 5 million barrels of oil per day; today, it’s 7.4 million, thanks largely to fracking. Supporters of the industry say it creates jobs and spurs the economy, while critics say its development is largely unregulated and that too little is known about pollution and health risks. The report by the Colorado School of Public Health, released Jan. 28, gathered evidence from heavily drilled rural Colorado, which has […]
American Energy Partners LP, led by Aubrey McClendon , continues to bulk up in Ohio’s Utica Shale, purchasing natural-gas fields from Hess Corp. for $924 million, according to people familiar with the matter. Hess said Wednesday it struck an agreement to sell 74,000 acres in the Utica to an undisclosed buyer. The company has sold more than $7.8 billion in assets over the past year to raise cash and narrow its focus on growing oil output in the U.S. Hess issued fourth-quarter financial results on Wednesday, reporting a profit of $1.93 billion, up from $374 million in the year-ago period. It will use the proceeds from the Utica sale to repurchase stock. American Energy Partners said on Wednesday that an affiliate had raised $500 million to invest in wells across the country, but a spokesman for the company declined to comment on the Utica deal. It was a year […]
Ultra-low-sulfur diesel in Chicago strengthened to the highest level relative to futures in more than seven months as a refinery in Ohio halted production of the fuel as it repairs a unit. Diesel’s premium in Chicago grew 14 cents to 9 cents a gallon more than futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange, according to data compiled by Bloomberg at 4:15 p.m. That’s the highest level since June 14. February ULSD futures settled at an 18.95-cent premium to March contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the largest backwardation in 14 years. Husky Energy Inc. (HSE) ’s Lima refinery in Ohio won’t produce diesel until it replaces a pump in a hydrotreating unit, a person familiar with operations at the plant said. Workers hope to complete repairs this weekend, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. “Diesel is just tight, it’s well […]
