Category:

WTI Crude Set for First Weekly Advance This Year on U.S. Economy

West Texas Intermediate crude headed for the first weekly gain since December amid speculation that U.S. unemployment and manufacturing data signaled the world’s biggest oil consumer will sustain its economic growth. Futures were little changed in New York and have advanced 1.7 percent since Jan. 10. U.S. jobless claims fell last week to the lowest level since November while a factory index for this month increased, according to separate reports yesterday. Industrial production data for December is due today. Prices may retreat next week, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Morgan Stanley said it sees “downside risk” for crude from rising supply. “There’s still a good case for an acceleration in U.S. economic growth, that, even if energy efficiency is rising, will lead to higher oil demand in the U.S.,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB AB in Oslo. WTI for February delivery was at $94.30 a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Days of Near-Record-Low Natural Gas Prices Not Over Yet

Natural gas prices are climbing after a steep drop in supplies. But one analyst says bulls are forgetting something: There’s plenty more where that came from. High production is still casting a shadow on the U.S. market, and the days of near-record-low gas prices are not over, says Katherine Spector, head of commodities strategy at CIBC World Markets. The current strength in prices could lead to even more supply down the line, she says. Utility companies have pulled natural gas out of storage at high rates this winter to meet indoor heating demand. In the week ended Jan. 10 – when record-cold temperatures swept the Midwest and East Coast – 287 billion cubic feet of natural gas were withdrawn from storage, according to the Energy Information Administration. That’s the largest storage withdrawal on record – and the second largest, 285 bcf, occurred last month. Suddenly, market […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Polar Vortex Melted Natural Gas Supply Cushion

Natural gas traders got confirmation that the recent polar vortex drained a huge amount of the heating fuel last week. Closely-watched data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed that utilities pulled a record 287 billion cubic feet of gas supplies from storage tanks in the week ended Jan. 10. The sharp decline, which beat the previous record withdrawal of 285 bcf in December, came as many Americans turned up their thermostats to burn a higher-than-normal amount of the fuel in furnaces to heat their homes. While the amount of gas withdrawn was less than the 299 bcf that analysts had expected, traders have moved on to focus on weather forecasts for another cold snap in late January. “The overall outlook remains bullish, with plenty of heating demand forecast for the balance of the month, and so we would expect the downside price reaction to prove limited,” said Tim […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Natural-Gas Futures Rise on Record Storage Withdrawal

-Natural-gas futures pared earlier gains, but finished higher Thursday after government data showed that supplies of the heating fuel fell by a record amount last week on frigid temperatures. Natural gas for February delivery climbed 5.7 cents, or 1.3%, to $4.382 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and posted the highest settlement since Dec. 30. Prices had risen as much as 3.9% earlier in the session, approaching the 2 1/2-year high of $4.532/mmBtu set in December, as weather forecasts called for another cold snap in late January. However, futures pulled back from that level as traders elected to book profits from a sharp 12% runup over the past week. Market participants were also somewhat disappointed that the amount of gas withdrawn from storage tanks fell short of analysts’ expectations. In the report, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said natural-gas inventories fell by 287 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

OPEC declines offset partially by North America

OPEC said Thursday oil production from its member states was down 20,000 barrels per day last month, a level offset partially by North America. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries published its monthly market report Thursday, highlighting sector developments for December. It said oil production from its 12 member states averaged 29.4 million barrels per day in December, a decline of 20,000 bpd from the previous monthly report. Crude oil output increased from member states Algeria, Iran, Nigeria and others, while production declined in other member states, including Iraq and Saudi Arabia. For oil producers outside the cartel, OPEC said fourth quarter 2013 production increased 1.2 million bpd from the same period last year. Overall for 2013, OPEC said oil production gains were seen in North America, Brazil and both Sudans. Oil production from Norway, the United Kingdom and Mexico were among those experiencing […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Extreme Weather Wreaking Havoc on Food as Farmers Suffer

Volatile weather around the world is taking farmers on a wild ride. Too much rain in northern China damaged crops in May, three years after too little rain turned the world’s second-biggest corn producer into a net importer of the grain. Dry weather in the U.S. will cut beef output from the world’s biggest producer to the lowest level since 1994, following 2013’s bumper corn crop, which pushed America’s inventory up 30 percent. U.K. farmers couldn’t plant in muddy fields after the second-wettest year on record in 2012 dented the nation’s wheat production. Graphic: Living With Extreme Weather “ Extreme weather events are a massive risk to agriculture,” said Peter Kendall, president of the U.K. National Farmers Union , who raises 1,600 hectares (3,953 acres) of grain crops in Bedfordshire, England . “Farmers can adapt to gradual temperature increases, but extreme weather events have the potential […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Moscow shrugs off concerns about Iranian oil

The Russian government said Thursday it was brushing off Washington’s concerns about a potential oil-for-goods swap deal with Iran. Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported the Kremlin is considering a deal to swap goods and potential financial payments in exchange for Iranian crude oil. It said Russian government officials told Russian-language business daily Kommersant there were no real concerns about triggering sanctions with the deal. “Russia does not violate any sanctions and is not obliged to coordinate such projects with anyone,” the source said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Wednesday spoke by phone with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry , saying Russia had every right to make an oil-for-goods deal with Iran. An interim deal reached between Iran and Western powers calls on Iran to curb its nuclear activity in exchange for relief from some economic sanctions. Washington said new sanctions on […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Bomb attacks kill 52 in Baghdad and Baquba: Iraqi police

Bomb attacks kill 52 in Baghdad and Baquba: Iraqi police January 15, 2014 10:28 AM (Last updated: January 15, 2014 11:14 AM) Reuters Civilians gather at the site of a car bomb attack in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, January 15, 2014. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed Civilians gather at the site of a car bomb attack in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, January 15, 2014. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed BAGHDAD: Bomb attacks hit the Iraqi capital Baghdad and a village near the northern town of Baquba on Wednesday, killing at least 52 people, police and hospital sources said. In the deadliest incident, a bomb blew up in a funeral tent where mourners were marking the death two days ago of a Sunni Muslim pro-government militiaman, police said. It killed 18 people and wounded 16 in Shatub, a village south of Baquba. Police had earlier put the death […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Syrian energy deal puts Russia in gas-rich Med

Syria’s new 25-year energy deal with Russia, a key ally of embattled President Bashar Assad, could open the way for Moscow’s eventual move into the gas-rich eastern Mediterranean — if the Damascus regime survives the civil war that’s raged since March 2011. The Dec. 25 agreement gives Russia’s state-controlled Soyuzneftegas exclusive exploration, development and production rights over 850 square miles of Syria’s Exclusive Economic Zone in an area known as Block 2 roughly between the coastal cities of Banias and Tartous. The deal gives the Russians, one of the world’s leading energy producers, their first real foothold in the Levant Basin, considered to be rich in natural gas. Israel, which hit major gas fields in 2009-10, containing an estimated 30 tcf, is the more advanced in terms of developing its gas reserves, which are likely much higher. Its Tamar field began producing in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple