Category:

Islamic extremist leader threatens Nigerian oil

The leader of Nigeria’s Islamic uprising is threatening to attack oil interests more than a thousand miles (kilometers) from the northeastern base where his fighters are accused of killing more than 250 civilians this month. In a new video message, Abubakar Shekau also warns leading Nigerian Muslim politicians and religious and traditional leaders that his fighters will target them for pursuing democracy and Western-style education. He says his struggle to transform Africa’s biggest oil producer into an Islamic state is only just beginning. He says he will destroy oil refineries "in coming days." The warnings come the week Nigeria’s military has defended itself against charges by regional leaders that Shekau’s fighters are better armed and motivated. The video was obtained Thursday by the AP through channels used for previous communications. © 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigeria: State oil company to be probed over '$20B subsidy racket'

Nigeria is to carry out a forensic audit of the state oil company over an alleged $20 billion subsidy racket that officials say may help explain what happened to $50 billion in oil revenues that the governor of the central bank says is missing. The audit, ordered last week by a Senate committee investigating allegations of corruption in the oil industry of Africa’s second largest economy, could become political dynamite as Nigeria heads into a presidential election in 2015. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and one of its leading oil producers, is considered one of the most corrupt states on the continent, with much of the graft centered on the oil industry, whose revenues provide around 80 percent of the state budget and more than 90 percent of export earnings. The West African country’s "oil and gas industry has proved remarkably resistant to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigeria: State oil company to be probed over ‘$20B subsidy racket’

Nigeria is to carry out a forensic audit of the state oil company over an alleged $20 billion subsidy racket that officials say may help explain what happened to $50 billion in oil revenues that the governor of the central bank says is missing. The audit, ordered last week by a Senate committee investigating allegations of corruption in the oil industry of Africa’s second largest economy, could become political dynamite as Nigeria heads into a presidential election in 2015. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and one of its leading oil producers, is considered one of the most corrupt states on the continent, with much of the graft centered on the oil industry, whose revenues provide around 80 percent of the state budget and more than 90 percent of export earnings. The West African country’s "oil and gas industry has proved remarkably resistant to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Venezuela Renames Top Oil Reserve After Hugo Chavez

Venezuela on Tuesday renamed its largest crude reserve, traditionally known as the Orinoco Belt, after the country’s late socialist leader. "I’ve decided as of today to name it the Hugo Chavez Oil Belt," said President Nicolas Maduro, Chavez’s protege and successor, during a rally of oil workers. "Do you agree?" The crowd roared its approval. "The biggest oil reserve on the planet was rescued by our Commander Chavez," Maduro said, referring to his predecessor’s crusade to boost state control over natural resources. Chavez died last year after a 14-year rule in which he built up a cult following thanks to liberal spending of oil revenue that helped him win repeated elections. His detractors accuse him of squandering a decade-long windfall and leaving behind an economy weakened by state controls. The United States Geological Survey in 2010 estimated the area held 513 billion barrels […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Jailed leader channels Venezuelans’ ire

In a prerecorded video message released hours after his arrest , López urged Venezuelans to continue a campaign of “resistance” to force the resignation or recall of President Nicolás Maduro, a goal López calls “the Exit.” Seated on a sofa beside his wife and appealing directly to Venezuelan youth, López told viewers that what the country needed more than ever was for Venezuelans to make “a commitment for change.” “But that commitment can’t be passive,” he said. “It has to be active.” It was the kind of passionate, personal appeal and call to action that showed exactly why the Harvard-educated López has been at the center of the most serious challenge yet to the struggling Maduro, successor to the late Hugo Chávez. In a country floating atop the world’s largest oil reserves but facing worsening shortages of milk, medicines, toilet paper and other basic goods, many Venezuelans are angry, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Venezuela unrest kills fifth person, Lopez faces court

A local beauty queen died of a bullet wound on Wednesday in the fifth fatality from Venezuela’s political unrest, as imprisoned protest leader Leopoldo Lopez urged supporters to keep fighting for the departure of the socialist government. College student and model Genesis Carmona, 22, was shot in the head during a protest on Tuesday in the central city of Valencia, and died in a clinic. "How long are we going to live like this? How long do we have to tolerate this pressure, with them killing us?" a relative, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. "She only needed one more semester to graduate," he added of Carmona, who had been studying tourism and had won the 2013 Miss Tourism competition in her state. Tensions have risen in Venezuela since Lopez, a 42-year-old Harvard-educated economist, surrendered to troops on Tuesday after spearheading three weeks of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Tepco Finds New Leak of Radioactive Water at Fukushima Site

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) , operator of the crisis-ridden Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant, said it found a new leak near the tanks holding contaminated water at the disaster site. The utility, which serves 29 million customers in the Tokyo metropolitan area, is collecting soil where the leak occurred and doesn’t believe any water reached the ocean, company executives said at a briefing in Tokyo. About 100 metric tons (26,400 gallons) of water may have escaped a concrete barrier, the company said. “Such a water leak was found despite a variety of measures taken by the company,” Masayuki Ono, an official at the utility’s nuclear power and plant division, said. “We are sorry to have caused concern,” he said. The finding is a reminder of the task still facing Tokyo Electric as the utility, known as Tepco, battles to manage the plant almost three years since the earthquake […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Wildlife group says China can still prosper with reduced coal use

China can still prosper economically while removing coal from its power mix, a report from the World Wildlife Fund said Wednesday. "By fully embracing energy conservation, efficiency and renewables, China has the potential to demonstrate to the world that economic growth is possible while sharply reducing the emissions that drive unhealthy air pollution and climate change," Lunyan Lu, WWF’s China Climate and Energy Program director, said in a release. The report, prepared by the Energy Transition Research Institute in Annapolis, Md., used computer modeling to simulate four possible scenarios in China: a baseline, high efficiency, high renewables and low-carbon mix scenarios. "This research shows that with strong political will, China can prosper while eliminating coal from its power mix within the next 30 years," Lu said. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, in its most recent analysis of China released this month, said coal accounted […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

China's Feb 1 tax change already seen curbing demand for Venezuelan Merey crude

China’s recent move to digitally tag fuel cargoes to clamp down on the widespread practice of declaring crude purchases as fuel oil to evade taxes is already seen to be curbing demand for heavy Venezuelan Merey crude from teapot refiners in Shandong province, sources said Thursday. "We are not hearing many deals of Merey crude concluded recently, as it is no longer easy to manipulate the invoice," said a source with Hengruide Petrochemical, an 800,000 mt/year (16,000 b/d) refinery in Shandong. A source with Huifeng Petrochemical, a 4.8 million mt/year refinery in the province, said it is not using any Merey crude this month, without specifying why. Last month, it processed 35,000 mt of the crude. There are around 54 teapot refineries in eastern Shandong province with a total crude distillation capacity of 113.55 million mt/year, according to Beijing-based energy information provider JYD Commodities […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

China’s Feb 1 tax change already seen curbing demand for Venezuelan Merey crude

China’s recent move to digitally tag fuel cargoes to clamp down on the widespread practice of declaring crude purchases as fuel oil to evade taxes is already seen to be curbing demand for heavy Venezuelan Merey crude from teapot refiners in Shandong province, sources said Thursday. "We are not hearing many deals of Merey crude concluded recently, as it is no longer easy to manipulate the invoice," said a source with Hengruide Petrochemical, an 800,000 mt/year (16,000 b/d) refinery in Shandong. A source with Huifeng Petrochemical, a 4.8 million mt/year refinery in the province, said it is not using any Merey crude this month, without specifying why. Last month, it processed 35,000 mt of the crude. There are around 54 teapot refineries in eastern Shandong province with a total crude distillation capacity of 113.55 million mt/year, according to Beijing-based energy information provider JYD Commodities […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple