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Talks Don't Halt South Sudan Conflict

South Sudan’s warring parties began talks Friday with mediators in Ethiopia, as both sides ignored calls for a cease-fire. Negotiators met separately with representatives from the regional trade block, known as the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, or IGAD in Addis Ababa. These preliminary talks aim to narrow differences that have led to clashes killing more than 1,000 people and displacing nearly 200,000. The mediators hope both sides of the conflict can hold direct talks on Saturday, according to a spokesman for Ethiopia’s foreign ministry, Dina Mufti. The modest beginning marks a breakthrough for African-led efforts to end more than two weeks of fighting in the world’s youngest nation. The conflict—which pits the country’s President Salva Kiir, against his former deputy, Riek Machar —threatens to render South Sudan along ethnic lines and upend its oil industry. Energy exports account for nearly all of South Sudan’s exports and foreign revenue. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Talks Don’t Halt South Sudan Conflict

South Sudan’s warring parties began talks Friday with mediators in Ethiopia, as both sides ignored calls for a cease-fire. Negotiators met separately with representatives from the regional trade block, known as the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, or IGAD in Addis Ababa. These preliminary talks aim to narrow differences that have led to clashes killing more than 1,000 people and displacing nearly 200,000. The mediators hope both sides of the conflict can hold direct talks on Saturday, according to a spokesman for Ethiopia’s foreign ministry, Dina Mufti. The modest beginning marks a breakthrough for African-led efforts to end more than two weeks of fighting in the world’s youngest nation. The conflict—which pits the country’s President Salva Kiir, against his former deputy, Riek Machar —threatens to render South Sudan along ethnic lines and upend its oil industry. Energy exports account for nearly all of South Sudan’s exports and foreign revenue. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Palestinian utility secures Leviathan natural gas

Partners developing the Leviathan natural gas field in the Mediterranean Sea said Monday a Palestinian utility company is the first to secure a supply contract. Delek Drilling Ltd. and Avner Oil Exploration said they signed a 20-year supply agreement with the Palestine Power Generation Co. "According to the agreement, the purchaser will acquire natural gas from the sellers for power plant operating needs that the purchaser intends to build near Jenin in the northern West Bank," the developers said in a statement. Delek and Avner said the Palestinian company secured 167 billion cubic feet of natural gas from Leviathan under the terms of the agreement. Natural gas prices will be pegged to market prices for Brent crude oil. Delek and Avner said the deal is dependent on development of Leviathan and applicable regulations. Leviathan, with 18 trillion cubic feet of natural gas […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil flowing again from Yemeni pipeline damaged by saboteurs

Repairs were made and oil was flowing again from a pipeline damaged by saboteurs in Yemen’s central Marib province, a provincial leader said. Ali al-Fatimi said Sunday engineers managed to repair damage to the line, which was attacked last week. Oil deliveries though the pipeline resumed at an undisclosed rate, the official Saba News Agency reported. Saba said the pipeline was "attacked by saboteurs" but didn’t indicate who was responsible. The Marib provincial leader said local officials and citizens had been able to provide security following the the attack. Yemen is struggling to control violence amid threats from al-Qaida, southern separatists and northern Shiite rebels. Energy company Yemen LNG said its facilities at the Balhaf export terminal were attacked by unnamed saboteurs in December. Al-Qaida took credit for a December attack on the Yemeni Defense Ministry. Pastor prays for ‘plantation called New York […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Companies drill for more oil in Argentina

A successful oil exploration program in Argentina should lead to a promising development opportunity, Andes Energia’s Alejandro Jotayan said Monday. Jotayan, chief executive officer of the company based in London, said its partners at YPF, an energy company in Argentina, started the exploration campaign in the Vaca Muerta, Chachao and Agrio reserve areas in the Neuquen basin. "A successful program will provide Andes and YPF with the opportunity to develop a large and promising area with unconventional and conventional resources potential," he said in a statement published by energy news website Rigzone. Andes said the exploration campaign targets an area already shown to contain oil. Energy consultant group Wood Mackenzie described the Vaca Muerta region as one of the best shale reserve areas in the world. Vaca Muerta, located in Neuquen province, holds 741 million barrels of recoverable oil, the U.S. Energy Information Administration […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Uganda Receives 10 Oil-Output Applications for Albertine Graben

Uganda , the country with sub-Saharan Africa’s fourth-largest oil reserves, received 10 production applications for 21 discoveries in the Albertine Graben region as the nation moves closer to starting output in 2017. Tullow Oil Plc, Total SA, and China National Offshore Oil Corp. all sought licenses, according to a statement today on the website of Uganda’s Petroleum Exploration and Production Department in Entebbe near the capital, Kampala. The government is in talks with Tullow about its eight applications, CNOOC got its first license in September, and Total’s request was made in December, the notice shows. Total may submit five more applications this year in Exploration Area 1, and one for EA 1A, according to the statement. Tullow has until the end of April to appraise the Waraga discovery in Exploration Area 2, where it is the operator, and is also drilling at Waraga-3, a second appraisal well, the department […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China makes fresh bid to curb shadow banking, contain debt risk

China’s cabinet has published guidelines strengthening regulation of risky off-balance-sheet lending in a new effort to address growing financial risks from an explosion in debt. The State Council’s guidelines call for tighter regulation of banks’ off-balance-sheet lending and say that trust companies – the biggest non-bank players in what’s called "shadow banking" – should return to their original purpose as asset managers and not engage in "credit-type" business. A copy of the council’s Document 107, dated December 11, was obtained by Reuters. There’s been no official confirmation of the document, which was addressed to government agencies at the central and local level. An index of the biggest mainland stocks .CSI300 closed at its lowest level in five months on Monday, as concerns about the new regulations weighed down the market. .SS China’s policymakers are concerned that the country’s economy has become overly reliant on borrowing to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Falling Chinese domestic thermal coal prices pose risk for imports

Chinese domestic thermal coal prices have fallen further, fuelling speculation that some power utilities might be looking to walk away from existing contracts for imported material, sources said Monday. "I have heard rumours maybe that some power plants in China are renegotiating or defaulting on some shipments. But that is just a rumour," a Singapore-based source said. "If I had sold February arrivals [cargoes of 5,500 kcal/kg NAR imported coal] above $84/mt, I would be slightly panicking as I think the Chinese expect levels to get back down to about $79-80/mt CFR south China or maybe lower," he added. Late last week, a Singapore-based trader said falling domestic prices could lead to some possible defaults by Chinese imported thermal coal buyers on existing contracts in the coming weeks. Capesize cargoes of 5,500 kcal/kg NAR Australian coal were heard being offered at around Yuan 620/mt […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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The Congressman Who Went Off the Grid

When Roscoe Bartlett was in Congress, he latched onto a particularly apocalyptic issue, one almost no one else ever seemed to talk about: America’s dangerously vulnerable power grid. In speech after late-night speech on the House floor, Bartlett hectored the nearly empty chamber: If the United States doesn’t do something to protect the grid, and soon, a terrorist or an act of nature will put an end to life as we know it. Bartlett loved to conjure doomsday visions: Think post-Sandy New York City without power—but spread over a much larger area for months at a time. He once recounted a conversation he claimed to have had with unnamed Russian officials about how they could take out the United States: They would “detonate a nuclear weapon high above your country,” he recalled them saying, “and shut down your power grid—and your communications—for six months or so.” Bartlett never gained […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Fearless Oil & Gas-Related Predictions for 2014

Well, it’s the end of the year 2013, and everyone and his or her brother is busy compiling a Top Ten Something-or-Other (take your pick: movies, songs, celebrity faux pas, football players, baseball players, basketball dunks, Miley Cyrus embarrassments, etc.)  list for 2013. Turns out I’m too lazy to compile my own Top Ten Energy Stories for 2013, because that would require going back through a year’s worth of stories and doing a bunch of time-consuming research.  I figured instead I’d compile my own list of Fearless Oil & Gas-Related Predictions for 2014, since I can just make those up off the top of my head, throw ‘em against the wall, and see which, if any of them, stick. So, here goes nothing: Prediction #1 :  Every day during 2014, an earthquake will take place somewhere on the face of the earth.  And every day, no […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA