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U.S. Lowers Crude-Oil Output Outlook for 2014, 2015

The U.S. will face a tighter supply-and-demand picture for crude oil and petroleum products this year and next than previously expected, government forecasters said Tuesday. The U.S. Energy Information Administration lowered its forecasts for U.S. oil-production growth in 2014 and 2015 in its short-term energy outlook, and raised its expectations for the country’s consumption of oil products. The U.S. is likely to produce 8.42 million barrels a day of crude oil this year, down from 8.54 million barrels a day in the EIA’s previous forecast but still up from 7.44 million barrels a day in 2013. For 2015, the EIA forecasts production of 9.19 million barrels a day of oil, down from 9.29 million barrels a day previously. The output forecasts were adjusted because of "indications that severe weather this winter has caused temporary slowdowns in completing new wells," according to the EIA. The EIA expects consumption of […]

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EIA Lowers US Oil Output Forecast But Highlights Shale Upside

The EIA lowers its US crude oil production forecast for this year and next due to recent severe weather but said improving technology could boost shale oil output over the next two years. Feb 11 (Reuters) – The Energy Information Administration on Tuesday lowered its U.S. crude oil production forecast for this year and next due to recent severe weather but said improving technology could boost shale oil output over the next two years. In its latest monthly short-term energy outlook, the information arm of the U.S. Department of Energy cut its 2014 crude oil production forecast by 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 8.4 million bpd and by 100,000 bpd to 9.2 million bpd for 2015. "The U.S. crude oil production forecast for both 2014 and 2015 was revised downward … because of indications that severe weather this winter has caused temporary slowdowns in completing […]

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GDF Suez sees opportunity in U.S. LNG nod

A U.S. decision on gas exports opened the door for French company GDF Suez to enhance its position in the growing U.S. natural gas market, the company said. Gerard Mestrallat, chairman for GDF Suez, said he welcomed Tuesday’s decision by the federal government to allow consortium Cameron LNG, LLC to export liquefied natural gas produced in the United States from a Cameron Parish, La., terminal to countries that don’t have a U.S. free-trade agreement. "The decision of the Department of Energy to grant non-FTA approval opens a major opportunity for GDF Suez to further develop long-term LNG sales in a fast-growing global market," he said in a statement Wednesday. GDF Suez in May signed a joint venture agreement with U.S. natural gas company Sempra and Japan’s Mitsubishi and Mitsui to develop the Cameron LNG project. The U.S. Energy Department said Tuesday the decision, which […]

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Rouhani calls for national unity, healing; says Iran will not relinquish defense capability

TEHRAN — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani marked the anniversary of the founding of the Islamic republic on Tuesday with a mix of defiance and moderation, telling a huge crowd of Iranians that “no single political faction can rule the country, and all political groups must have a share in running the country.” “We want to increase national unity and clear our hearts from some past events,” said Rouhani, who was elected last June after campaigning as a reformer who could heal the country’s internal divisions and ease its international isolation. TOPSHOTS An Afghan internally displaced woman covers her face as she stands in Sakhi camp in Mazar-i-Sharif on February 10, 2014. Many families were forced to flee their homes in southern Afghanistan due to Taliban fighting and are forced to spend the harsh winter season at the camp in poverty. AFP PHOTO/ Farshad UsyanFARSHAD USYAN/AFP/Getty Images At the same […]

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Turkish government decides against TPAO investment in Iranian energy sector

he Turkish government has decided that state-owned upstream oil and gas operator TPAO will not undertake any investment in Iran, energy minister Taner Yildiz told a press conference Wednesday. Yildiz said the possibility of investment had been discussed during meetings with Iranian officials held during an official visit he made to Tehran with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on January 28-29. However, Yildiz said that having looked at the feasibility of TPAO investing in Iran’s South Pars gas field, a decision has been taken not to do so. "If Iran wants to make a new proposal with new conditions we will look at it," he said. "But as it stands at the moment there has been no decision for TPAO to invest in Iran." Article continues below… Request a free trial of: International Gas Report International Gas Report International Gas Report is a biweekly […]

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Fate of Hundreds of Men Evacuated From Homs and Detained in Doubt

Hundreds of evacuees from this besieged city were detained by the Syrian regime as soon as they were rescued, said the top United Nations official here, who said the U.N. now has no control over their fate. The disclosure came as President Barack Obama and his visiting French counterpart, François Hollande, expressed dismay in Washington about the humanitarian crisis in Homs and elsewhere in Syria. Mr. Obama described the situation as "horrendous" and asserted that the country was "crumbling" as he put the responsibility partly on Syrian ally Russia. Most member states of the U.N. Security Council want to pass a resolution requiring that humanitarian aid be allowed into besieged areas of Syria. But, "Russia is a holdout," Mr. Obama said. "They cannot say that they are concerned about the well-being of the Syrian people when there are starving civilians," he said, adding not only Syria is responsible, […]

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Violence in Iraq's Anbar province 'displaces 300,000'

Last updated at 14:00 Anbar Governor Ahmed al-Dulaimi gave the militants until the weekend to surrender Up to 300,000 people have now been displaced by the fighting between Sunni militants and security forces in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, the UN says. Militants led by the jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) took over parts of the cities of Falluja and Ramadi in late December. Since then, troops and allied tribesmen have struggled to regain control. The number displaced by the unrest is the highest since the peak of the sectarian insurgency from 2006 to 2008. A further 1.1 million internally displaced people (IDPs) have still not returned to communities in Iraq wracked by violence since 2003. ‘Sustained hardship’ The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said some 50,000 families had fled their homes since clashes […]

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Violence in Iraq’s Anbar province ‘displaces 300,000’

Last updated at 14:00 Anbar Governor Ahmed al-Dulaimi gave the militants until the weekend to surrender Up to 300,000 people have now been displaced by the fighting between Sunni militants and security forces in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, the UN says. Militants led by the jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) took over parts of the cities of Falluja and Ramadi in late December. Since then, troops and allied tribesmen have struggled to regain control. The number displaced by the unrest is the highest since the peak of the sectarian insurgency from 2006 to 2008. A further 1.1 million internally displaced people (IDPs) have still not returned to communities in Iraq wracked by violence since 2003. ‘Sustained hardship’ The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said some 50,000 families had fled their homes since clashes […]

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Egypt Blackouts Raise New Worries

Egyptians are suffering through a rare spate of winter power outages, an indication they could sweat through a hot summer when soaring temperatures are likely to bring nationwide blackouts, experts say. Summer blackouts would put Egypt’s next leader, set to be elected in the coming months, in a difficult position. In July, frequent electricity cuts, long gas lines and political tensions helped to stoke massive antigovernment protests that prompted the military to oust Mohammed Morsi, the country’s first freely elected president. Some experts attribute shortages to a lack of foreign investment to develop Egypt’s natural-gas resources, which meet most of the country’s energy needs. Mohamed Shoeib, managing director of the energy division at Egypt’s Citadel Capital and former head of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co., said he expected the power cuts this summer to be far worse than those last summer. "The expectation for next summer is the […]

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Tullow May Sell Part of Stake in Ugandan Oil Field

Africa-focused oil and gas explorer Tullow Oil PLC is considering selling part of its stake in a Ugandan oil field it is developing with France’s Total SA and China’s Cnooc Ltd. to focus on Kenya, where a more supportive government is helping a project there move faster, Tullow’s chief operating officer said Wednesday. It is the first time the company has disclosed it could look to sell a share in one of its prized assets. The project has been delayed for years and has weighed on the share price while the company and its partners hammered out a development plan with the Ugandan government. Tullow and partners struck an agreement with the Ugandan government on a development plan for the Lake Albert basin last month after years of talks. But in the meantime, a project to develop Kenya’s South Lockichar basin, which was discovered in 2012—five years after the […]

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