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Peak Oil: Higher Prices

It is unfortunate, however, that we cannot look at the real problem. Unless we can understand the problem as it really is, it is impossible to find solutions that might actually be helpful. [1]   MIXED MESSAGES   The message behind messages like that one aren’t usually anyone’s first choice for contemplation, planning, or doing. Happier yarns about energy abundance are certainly more appealing. Reality being what it is, however, we continue to ignore that to our longer-term detriment. “Appealing” has a limited lifespan, and when the misleading half-truths are what most citizens hear most of the time, that timer will wind down sooner than we’re prepared for. That is definitely not a good message…. The bottom line is: If we want oil, we are going to need high prices. That’s what peak oil is all about –  progressively higher prices that are […]

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US to be world’s biggest oil supplier by 2016

Page added on February 21, 2014 As the US economy continues to grow, experts say it will rely less on the world’s major oil exporters in Africa and the Middle East, regions largely sustained by U.S. imports. According to the International Energy Agency, the economy will grow by 2.8 percent in 2014, higher than the 2.6 percent it previously forecasted. The International Monetary Fund predicts the global economy will grow in the same direction by 3.7 percent. Eventually the U.S. will pull ahead of Saudi Arabia and Russia in oil production, becoming the largest oil supplier in the world by 2016, according to a report by the energy group. An estimated 9.6 million barrels of oil will flow per day in the country, reversing the upward oil import trend that has been ongoing for four decades. But a projected increase in supply doesn’t necessarily mean crude oil prices are […]

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WTI Set for Weekly Gain on U.S. Cold; Brent Set to Climb

West Texas Intermediate crude headed for a sixth weekly gain as freezing weather in the U.S. bolstered demand for heating fuels in the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent is also poised to advance for the week. Futures were little changed in New York and up 2.3 percent this week. Distillate stockpiles , including heating oil and diesel, declined by 339,000 barrels to 112.7 million in the seven days through Feb. 14, the Energy Information Administration reported yesterday. South Sudan is trying to evacuate foreign oil workers from its Upper Nile region after fighting erupted between government forces and rebel fighters. “Following somewhat milder temperatures in the U.S. of late, temperatures are forecast to plummet again next week,” Carsten Fritsch , an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt , said by e-mail. “After that the weather should normalize. Based on fundamentals, prices are too high.” WTI for April delivery dropped […]

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Gas Stockpiles Slightly Higher Than Expected Last Week

Natural-gas futures retreated from five-year highs Thursday after government data showed that storage levels were slightly higher than expected last week. Natural gas for March delivery settled down 8.5 cents, or 1.4%, at $6.064 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices swung within a 43-cent range and touched fresh five-year highs Thursday as traders digested the report, which showed that stockpiles are higher than anticipated but still at their lowest level for any week in February since 2004. The amount of natural gas in storage fell 250 billion cubic feet in the week ended Feb. 14, roughly in line with analysts’ expectations. It was the first time that stockpiles have fallen by more than 200 bcf for four straight weeks, according to Wood Mackenzie analyst Gabriel Harris. But the U.S. Energy Information Administration also raised the total supply level for the week ended […]

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EIA’s International Energy Statistics Update

The EIA has updated their International Energy Statistics with the October data. There were some major revisions in the September data. I only track Crude + Condensate so all figures and graphs are for C+C only. Revisions for September were World, revised down 417 kb/d, Non-OPEC revised down 377 kb/d, Canada revised down 327 kb/d and Brazil revised down 54 kb/d. All other revisions were minor. After revisions World C+C production was up 454 kb/d, Non-OPEC up 469 kb/d, Canada up 338 kb/d,  China up 148 kb/d, Libya up 190 kb/d, Iraq up 150 kb/d, Saudi Arabia was down 300 kb/d and Australia was down 71 kb/d. Lots of other ups and downs but all smaller. World C+C, average through October for 2013 is up 115 kb/d over the average of 2012. Non-OPEC average C+C for 2013 through October is up 825 kb/d […]

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Iran Talks Set Five-Month Plan for Race to Final Nuclear Accord

Iran and world powers set a schedule for five months of negotiations in a race to agree on a definitive nuclear accord before their interim deal expires in July. Government experts from the U.S., the U.K., France , Germany , Russia , China and Iran will try to address the most contentious aspects of Iran’s disputed nuclear activities, said European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton , who leads talks with Iran on behalf of the six. Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will meet monthly, with the next gathering set for Vienna on March 17. Before that, Ashton will make a first visit to Tehran, Zarif said. Both sides used the talks in the Austrian capital to probe each other’s willingness to compromise. Even so, reaching a comprehensive accord that puts international concerns to rest and is acceptable to Iran is something that both U.S. President […]

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Libya votes on constitutional assembly

Libyans trickled to the polls on Thursday to elect an assembly to draft a constitution , the paltry turnout reflecting deep political disillusion with the chaos pervading Libya since Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule ended in 2011. Of the one million people who had registered to vote, less than 498,000 cast ballots, the election commission said, a number far lower than the three million who did so before the 2012 parliamentary election. Libyans voted on who should make up the panel to write a new charter that will cover key issues such as Libya’s system of government, the status of ethnic minorities and the role of Islamic law. But live footage from Libyan television cameras in major polling stations across the North African country showed mostly empty rooms. After four hours of polling, election organizers said that turnout for the vote had reached just 18 percent. United Nations’ envoy Tarek Mitri urged Libyans […]

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Israel has $500M gas deal with Jordan, but wider exports still unclear

Israel has signed its first gas export deal, selling gas worth $500 million to Arab peace partner Jordan, but debate is still unresolved on whether the Jewish state will export the bulk of its gas via undersea pipeline or by tanker as liquefied natural gas. The gas that will go to Jordan, Israel’s eastern neighbor, from the Tamar field in the eastern Mediterranean under the 15-year contract signed Wednesday will be pumped via pipeline to two of the Hashemite kingdom’s chemical companies, Arab Potash and its subsidiary Jordan Bromine, at their facilities on the Dead Sea. Stakeholders in the Tamar field, headed by Noble Energy of Houston, Tex., and its Israeli partners Delek Group and Avner Oil & Gas, signed a 20-year gas supply deal with the Palestinian Authority in January for a planned power station in the West Bank. Technically, the […]

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Nigeria's Boko Haram Threatens Oil Refineries, Muslim Clerics

The fishing town of Bama has been attacked four times in the past two years. Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of houses have been burned to the ground. As reports filtered in Wednesday that gunmen in Bama were once again shooting people and setting homes on fire, Boko Haram released a video statement saying it plans to widen its reach, to attack oil refineries in the south and continue its assault on Muslim clerics that don’t agree with its harsh interpretation of Islamic law. Analysts say Boko Haram’s continued threats and attacks are a sign that the Nigerian government has failed to stop the more than four-year-old insurgency, despite nine months of emergency rule in three northeastern states. Femi Odekunle, a professor of criminology at the University of Abuja, says, "The government must double its efforts with more men and more resources to contain […]

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Nigeria’s Boko Haram Threatens Oil Refineries, Muslim Clerics

The fishing town of Bama has been attacked four times in the past two years. Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of houses have been burned to the ground. As reports filtered in Wednesday that gunmen in Bama were once again shooting people and setting homes on fire, Boko Haram released a video statement saying it plans to widen its reach, to attack oil refineries in the south and continue its assault on Muslim clerics that don’t agree with its harsh interpretation of Islamic law. Analysts say Boko Haram’s continued threats and attacks are a sign that the Nigerian government has failed to stop the more than four-year-old insurgency, despite nine months of emergency rule in three northeastern states. Femi Odekunle, a professor of criminology at the University of Abuja, says, "The government must double its efforts with more men and more resources to contain […]

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Nigeria: NNPC Account Has Not Been Audited for Eight Years – Sanusi

The suspended CBN governor, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, had said that it was ironical for the federal government to accuse him of ‘financial recklessness’ while the account of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has not been audited since 2005, spanning eight years. Sanusi spoke yesterday on Channel Television which was monitored by our reporter while reacting to his suspension by President Goodluck Jonathan. The estranged CBN governor further said he would seek legal redress over his suspension as a way of making future CBN governors independent and free from fear of being suspended in the face of discharging their duties. Speaking further, Malam Sanusi said the president does not have the constitutional backing to remove CBN governors without the approval of the senate. He said: "You cannot go round that section (of the constitution) and say, I am not removing you but I am suspending […]

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Governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank Is Fired After Warning of Missing Oil Revenue

Lamido Sanusi was dismissed on Thursday after charging the national oil company with failing to turn over billions of dollars. Stefan Wermuth/Reuters DAKAR, Senegal — President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria removed the governor of the country’s central bank from his post on Thursday, after the bank governor repeatedly charged that billions of dollars in oil revenue owed to the treasury was missing. The dismissal of the bank governor, Lamido Sanusi, was seen as further evidence of the Nigerian government’s weakening resolve in tackling widespread corruption, a problem that has plagued the country since independence, analysts said. Mr. Sanusi’s removal was greeted with dismay in financial markets. The country’s stock market fell sharply, bond trading was halted and the value of the Nigerian currency, the naira, plunged to a record low against the dollar before the bank intervened to prop it up. Outside investors had generally seen Mr. Sanusi as […]

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Venezuela protests escalate as students, security forces clash

CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan security forces and demonstrators faced off in streets blocked by burning barricades in several provincial cities on Thursday as protests escalated against President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government. At least five people have died since the unrest turned violent last week, with scores of injuries and arrests. The demonstrators, mostly students, blame the government for violent crime, high inflation, product shortages and alleged repression of opponents. They want Maduro to resign. In middle-class areas of Caracas overnight, security forces fired teargas and bullets, chasing youths who threw Molotov cocktails and blocked streets with burning trash. It was one of the worst bouts of violence the capital has seen in nearly three weeks of unrest across Venezuela, and trouble also flared in other urban centers. Many Caracas residents banged pots at windows in a traditional form of protest, and knots of demonstrators were out again early on […]

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Venezuela protesters, troops clash, death toll at six

Security forces and protesters fought around Venezuela on Thursday in streets blocked by burning barricades and a supporter of socialist President Nicolas Maduro was shot dead, the sixth fatality from more than a week of violence. Maduro said a "fascist bullet" killed Alexis Martinez, a brother of a ruling Socialist Party legislator, in the central city of Barquisimeto. A local journalist said Martinez was shot in the chest while passing an opposition protest. There have also been scores of injuries and arrests since the violence broke out eight days ago, the most serious unrest since Maduro was narrowly elected in April 2013. The protesters, mostly students, want Maduro to resign, and blame his government for violent crime, high inflation, shortages of goods and alleged repression of opponents. The most sustained clashes on Thursday were in the western Andean states of Tachira and Merida, which have been […]

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Protests Swell in Venezuela as Places to Rally Disappear

The only television station that regularly broadcast voices critical of the government was sold last year, and the new owners have softened its news coverage. Last week, President Nicolás Maduro banned a foreign cable news channel after it showed images of a young protester shot to death here. Opposition legislators have been barred from debates and stripped of committee posts in the National Assembly. And when an opposition leader called for a protest this week, Mr. Maduro scheduled his own march to start at the same spot and dispatched the National Guard to try to block protesters from rallying elsewhere. Venezuela is being convulsed by the biggest protests since the country’s longtime president, the charismatic Hugo Chávez, died nearly a […]

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142 Cities In Brazil Are Now Rationing Water As Drought Goes Critical

Did you know that the drought in Brazil is so bad that some neighborhoods are only being allowed to get water once every three days?  At this point, 142 Brazilian cities are rationing water and there does not appear to be much hope that this crippling drought is going to end any time soon.  Unfortunately, most Americans seem to be absolutely clueless about all of this. In response to the recent article about how the unprecedented drought that is plaguing California right now could affect our food supply, one individual left a comment stating “if Califirnia can’t supply South America will. We got NAFTA.”  Apart from the fact that this person could not even spell “California” correctly, we also see a complete ignorance of what is going on in the rest of the planet.  The truth is that the largest country in South […]

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India moves ahead in forming coal regulator

India has given the go-ahead for the creation of a regulator for the country’s coal sector. "The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given [the] nod to the proposal to set up [a] coal regulator through an executive order," Press Trust of India quoted a senior minister as saying Thursday. Coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal had informed Parliament last week the regulator would be set up by executive order "as enactment of legislation would take some time," Press Trust reports. The bill is pending but the current session of Parliament is the last before a general election likely to take place in April and May. Nearly 70 percent of India’s electricity is generated by coal. "India’s coal-centered energy landscape will not change dramatically over the next 30 years," the International Energy Agency stated in a 2012 report. India’s Ministry of Power estimates 62 gigawatts […]

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Shell Sells Australian Refinery, Gas Stations for $2.6 Billion

Royal Dutch Shell PLC has agreed to sell its Australian refinery and gas stations to energy trader Vitol Holding BV for 2.9 billion Australian dollars (US$2.6 billion), as the company offloads assets around the globe to protect falling profits. The sale includes Shell’s Geelong refinery in Victoria state and 870 gas stations and comes just a month after it agreed to sell its minority stake in an Australian natural-gas project for US$1.14 billion. "Australia remains important to Shell, but we are making tough portfolio choices to improve the company’s overall competitiveness," Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said in a statement Friday. The news follows the disclosure Thursday that Shell has sold its downstream business in Italy to Kuwait Petroleum International. Mr. van Beurden, who took the reins at Shell on Jan. 1, is mapping out a more conservative path for the Anglo-Dutch company after a decade of […]

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How to Save Water on Fracking

Among the environmental worries posed by hydraulic fracturing, including the release of methane into the air and contamination of groundwater, one has recently escalated: the concern that the enormous quantities of water used in fracking will leave parts of the country parched. In 2012, fracking consumed some 50 billion gallons of water — water that many communities can ill afford to spare. New practices can make fracking somewhat less thirsty, however. States should see that drilling companies are encouraged to use them. Each fracking site needs 2 to 4 million gallons of water, to create sufficient pressure to fracture oil- and gas-containing rocks deep underground. When fresh water is used, it may be diverted from other users, including farms, manufacturing plants and households. There’s not always enough to go around; 55 percent of the wells fracked since 2011 are in drought areas. One way to minimize fracking’s drain on […]

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U.S. Fuel Demand Highest for January Since 2008, API Says

U.S. fuel consumption increased in January to the highest level for the month in six years as cold weather bolstered demand, the American Petroleum Institute said. Total deliveries of petroleum products, a measure of demand, rose 3 percent from a year earlier to 19.2 million barrels a day, the industry-funded group said today. It was the highest level for January since 2008. Consumption of distillate fuel, the category that includes diesel and heating oil, gained 0.5 percent to 4.07 million barrels a day last month, the report showed. Heating oil demand surged 12 percent to 553,000 barrels a day in January “Last month’s cold weather created high demand for propane and heating oil,” John Felmy , chief economist at the API in Washington , said in the report. “Domestic crude production remains strong, and both gasoline and distillate production reached record highs for the month of January.” Increased demand […]

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Exclusive: BNSF to take bids to buy up to 5,000 safer oil railcars

BNSF Railway Co plans to buy its own fleet of up to 5,000 new crude oil tank cars with safety features that exceed the latest industry standards, the company, a unit of investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said on Thursday. The unusual step by one of the largest U.S. railroads aims to further the industry’s push for safer movement of crude by rail after several recent accidents, including one involving a BNSF train in North Dakota in December. The company, a major mover of crude by rail throughout the United States, plans to seek bids from railcar makers for up to 5,000 new tank cars with thicker walls and ends, increased protection of safety and pressure valves, and other features that go beyond industry standards adopted two years ago. The news sent shares of several U.S. railcar makers higher. BNSF’s plan is atypical for […]

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Peak Oil is Real and the Majors Face Challenging Times

Page added on February 19, 2014 The idea that global oil production was nearing its peak , only to plateau and then decline was a common view in the energy world for many years. The geophysicist M. King Hubbard predicted in the 1950’s that US oil production would peak in the 1970’s, a forecast that held true until technology allowed companies to economically extract oil and gas from tight geologic formations like shale. The recent surge in US liquids output – crude plus natural gas liquids (NGLs) – quieted the peak oil community. A well-known, largely peak oil-focused website – The Oil Drum – shut down in 2013, an event some considered the death knell of the peak oil theory. But not so fast says Steven Kopits from energy business analysis firm Douglas-Westwood. Total global oil supply growth since 2005 – 5.8 million barrels per day – came from […]

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Peak oil is not a myth

One might have the impression that hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of shale deposits is the answer to world energy security. Certainly fracking has received much attention and investment, but its prospects must be considered in a broader context. In the US, where practically all such operations have been conducted to date, fracking now accounts for 40% of domestic gas production and 30% of oil production. The price of natural gas has plummeted, and overall US oil production has increased for the first time since 1970, which had otherwise been falling in accordance with the predictions M King Hubbert made in 1956.  © Shutterstock However, this last point is the salient one. Sources of unconventional oil (listed below) such as tight oil (or ‘shale oil’ in popular discourse) are only commercially viable because the need to match the declining rate of conventional oil production has raised oil prices. It is the […]

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Weak China Data Halts Surge in Crude

Weaker-than-expected manufacturing data from China put pressure on crude oil futures in Asian trading hours Thursday, reversing gains after oil benchmarks touched their highest levels this year. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at $103.07 a barrel at 0454 GMT, down $0.24 in the Globex electronic session. April Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.59 to $109.88 a barrel. The preliminary HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, a gauge of nationwide manufacturing activity, fell to 48.3 in February from 49.5 in January. The data will contribute to short-term downside in crude oil today, largely due to negative sentiment, but the impact on actual physical crude demand is limited as China’s long-term oil fundamentals remain intact, analyst Tan Chee Tat at Singapore-based Phillip Futures said. China is the world’s second-largest oil consumer and diesel fuel is a major fuel […]

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WTI Falls From Four-Month High on China’s Manufacturing

West Texas Intermediate crude retreated from the highest price since October after a Chinese manufacturing index declined to a seven-month low, signaling demand may slow from the world’s second-biggest oil consumer. Futures for April, the most-active contract, dropped as much as 0.4 percent in New York. The preliminary February reading of 48.3 for a Purchasing Managers’ Index in China released today by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics compares with 49.5, January’s final figure and the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. A technical indicator shows WTI’s 3 percent gain since Feb. 14 may have been excessive. “The poor Chinese manufacturing PMI data triggered further concerns over a slowdown in the oil demand from China,” Myrto Sokou, senior analyst at Sucden Financial Ltd. in London , said in an e-mail. WTI for April delivery slid as much as 39 cents to $102.45 a barrel in electronic trading on […]

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U.S. Natural Gas Drops From Five-Year High Seen as Unsustainable

Natural gas futures dropped from a five-year high in New York amid speculation that the biggest gain in 20 months wasn’t sustainable. Futures for March delivery fell as much as 4.2 percent to $5.892 per million British thermal units in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and were at $5.942 at 3:38 p.m. Singapore time. The contract rose 11 percent yesterday to $6.149, the highest close since Dec. 3, 2008. The volume of all futures traded was about 116 percent above the 100-day average. “It’s profit taking,” said Stephen Schork , president of Schork Group Inc., a consultant in Villanova, Pennsylvania . “The bulls are locking in to free up cash to send this market higher tomorrow.” Natural gas posted the biggest gain yesterday since June 14, 2012. Prices are up 40 percent so far this year as waves of arctic air boosted demand for heating fuel, […]

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Natural-gas prices hit a five-year high on Wednesday. Above, the scene in Washington last week.

The approach of yet another severe winter chill sent natural-gas prices soaring to a five-year high, as investors bet the brutal weather across the U.S. will put further strain on supplies of the heating fuel. Prices have climbed 45% this year as homes and businesses across the Midwest and Northeast consume record amounts of the fuel to get through a series of cold snaps. That demand is rapidly depleting U.S. gas inventories, which entered the winter near highs. January had the highest average natural-gas demand on record, according to energy-analytics firm Bentek Energy. Buyers piling into the market this week are worried that there won’t be much gas left in storage by the end of winter. They are willing to pay extra to make sure they secure supplies now, before the cost possibly increases even more. Meanwhile, investors have put on big wagers that prices will rise further. The […]

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Analysts See 249-Billion-Cubic-Foot Drop in U.S. Natural Gas Inventories

Analysts and traders expect government data scheduled for release Thursday to show that natural-gas inventories fell by more than usual for this time of year. The U.S. Energy Information Administration is expected to report that 249 billion cubic feet of gas were withdrawn from storage during the week ended Feb. 14, according to the average forecast of 13 analysts and traders surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. For the Feb. 14 week, the median estimate is for a decline of 248 bcf. Estimates range from a fall of 235 bcf to a drop of 267 bcf. The estimate for Feb. 14 is above last year’s 127-bcf withdrawal from storage for the same week. If the storage estimate is correct, inventories as of Feb. 14 will total 1.437 trillion cubic feet, 40% below the year-ago level and would be the lowest level for February since 2004. Write […]

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Iran nuke talks end, next round March 17

Iran and six world powers on Thursday announced that they have agreed on a plan meant to produce a comprehensive deal that reduces concerns about Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Officials of both sides described their plans as "very productive." In a joint statement, they said the next round of negotiations would begin in Vienna on March. 17. "We’ve identified the issues we need to address for a comprehensive and final agreement," said Catherine Ashton, the EU’s top diplomat who convened the talks between Iran and the six powers – the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany . "It won’t be easy, but we’ve gotten off to a good start," she said in a statement later read in Farsi by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Expectations of major progress from the three days of talks in Vienna were modest because the two sides […]

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World powers and Iran make "good start" towards nuclear accord

Six world powers and Iran made a "good start" during talks in Vienna towards reaching a final settlement on Tehran’s contested nuclear program, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Thursday. Speaking to reporters after three days of negotiations, Ashton said the two sides had identified the ingredients of an accord that could put an end to years of hostility between the West and the oil producing nation. But she cautioned that future negotiations, which western governments want to wrap up by late July, would not be easy. "We have had three very productive days during which we have identified all of the issues we need to address in reaching a comprehensive and final agreement," she told reporters. "There is a lot to do. It won’t be easy but we have made a good start." Senior diplomats from the six powers – the United […]

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World powers and Iran make “good start” towards nuclear accord

Six world powers and Iran made a "good start" during talks in Vienna towards reaching a final settlement on Tehran’s contested nuclear program, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Thursday. Speaking to reporters after three days of negotiations, Ashton said the two sides had identified the ingredients of an accord that could put an end to years of hostility between the West and the oil producing nation. But she cautioned that future negotiations, which western governments want to wrap up by late July, would not be easy. "We have had three very productive days during which we have identified all of the issues we need to address in reaching a comprehensive and final agreement," she told reporters. "There is a lot to do. It won’t be easy but we have made a good start." Senior diplomats from the six powers – the United […]

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Iran, powers seek to agree basis for final nuclear deal

Six world powers and Iran appeared to make some progress at a second day of talks in Vienna on Wednesday to hammer out an agenda for reaching an ambitious final settlement to the decade-old standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program. The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany want a long-term agreement on the permissible scope of Iran’s nuclear activities to lay to rest concerns that they could be put to developing atomic bombs. Tehran’s priority is a complete removal of damaging economic sanctions against it. The negotiations will probably extend at least over several months, and could help defuse many years of hostility between energy-exporting Iran and the West, ease the danger of a new war in the Middle East, transform the regional power balance and open up major business opportunities for Western firms. Both sides were relatively upbeat about the first meeting. "The talks […]

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Framework Is Set for Iran Nuclear Talks

Iran and world powers have agreed to a framework and timetable for negotiations aimed at permanently ending the military threat posed by Tehran’s nuclear program, according to Iranian and Western officials. Iran and the international diplomatic bloc—comprised of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany, or P5+1—will meet again in Vienna on March 17 to 20, according to a Western diplomat, and are preparing to have monthly meetings to try and forge a final, comprehensive deal, said these officials. Neither Iranian nor Western officials would map out exactly the terms of the negotiating agreement. They said more details would be announced Friday morning in Vienna during a joint press conference between Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and the coordinator for the P5+1, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. U.S. and Iranian officials had set a low bar for this week’s first round of […]

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Kurds Say Have Not Agreed to Export Oil Via Iraq's SOMO

Kurdistan has not agreed to export crude via Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO), a spokesman for the autonomous region’s government said on Thursday, contradicting earlier comments by a top energy official in Baghdad. Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani said in a televised interview late on Wednesday that the Kurds had agreed to export through SOMO, which would have removed a major sticking point between them over oil exports. Kurdistan’s prime minister and top energy official travelled to Baghdad earlier this week, intensifying efforts to settle the long-running dispute over exports of oil from the region via a new independent pipeline to Turkey. But Kurdistan Regional Government spokesman Safeen Dizayee said on Thursday that was not the case. "Absolutely we have not reached any agreement to export oil via SOMO. The dialogue and discussions are still underway". Dizayee described […]

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Kurds Say Have Not Agreed to Export Oil Via Iraq’s SOMO

Kurdistan has not agreed to export crude via Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO), a spokesman for the autonomous region’s government said on Thursday, contradicting earlier comments by a top energy official in Baghdad. Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani said in a televised interview late on Wednesday that the Kurds had agreed to export through SOMO, which would have removed a major sticking point between them over oil exports. Kurdistan’s prime minister and top energy official travelled to Baghdad earlier this week, intensifying efforts to settle the long-running dispute over exports of oil from the region via a new independent pipeline to Turkey. But Kurdistan Regional Government spokesman Safeen Dizayee said on Thursday that was not the case. "Absolutely we have not reached any agreement to export oil via SOMO. The dialogue and discussions are still underway". Dizayee described […]

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Iraq's oil exports dip by 4.8 percent in January

Iraq’s Oil Ministry says crude exports have averaged 2.229 million barrels a day in January, a decrease of nearly 4.8 percent from the previous month. In a statement posted on its website Wednesday afternoon, the ministry also said last month’s revenues stood at $7.074 billion, based on an average price of $102.373 per barrel. December’s oil exports averaged 2.341 million barrels a day, bringing that month’s revenues to $7.470 billion, based on an average price of $102.893 per barrel. The statement quoted the oil minister as blaming bad weather and sabotage attacks by militants for the dip in exports. Iraq holds the world’s fourth largest oil reserves, some 143.1 billion barrels. Oil revenues make up nearly 95 percent of Iraq’s budget. © 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and […]

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Iraq’s oil exports dip by 4.8 percent in January

Iraq’s Oil Ministry says crude exports have averaged 2.229 million barrels a day in January, a decrease of nearly 4.8 percent from the previous month. In a statement posted on its website Wednesday afternoon, the ministry also said last month’s revenues stood at $7.074 billion, based on an average price of $102.373 per barrel. December’s oil exports averaged 2.341 million barrels a day, bringing that month’s revenues to $7.470 billion, based on an average price of $102.893 per barrel. The statement quoted the oil minister as blaming bad weather and sabotage attacks by militants for the dip in exports. Iraq holds the world’s fourth largest oil reserves, some 143.1 billion barrels. Oil revenues make up nearly 95 percent of Iraq’s budget. © 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and […]

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Energy Firms in Talks to Sell Israeli Gas to Egypt

Israel’s recently discovered offshore natural gas is generating momentum for politically important supply deals that could alleviate energy shortages in Jordan and Egypt. The drilling consortium led by Israel’s Delek Group Ltd. and Texas-based Noble Energy said Wednesday it signed a deal to supply gas to chemical companies in Jordan, marking Israel’s first energy export deal and bolstering ties between the neighboring countries. The same offshore drilling group is holding initial talks on a much larger supply deal with Egypt, people familiar with the matter said. Drillers announced two Mediterranean finds in recent years with some 650 billion cubic meters of gas. Flush with energy reserves that could last for decades, Israel has been considering exports to several countries in the eastern Mediterranean including Cyprus and Turkey. Despite the modest size of the deal with Jordan, it has important geopolitical implications. It was the focus of talks between King […]

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Disillusionment in Libya Over Vote on Charter Assembly

For the second time since the overthrow of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi two and a half years ago, Libyans are being asked to go to the polls to elect lawmakers responsible for preparing a new constitution. On Thursday, increasingly frustrated voters will directly elect a 60-member assembly to draft the charter after Parliament failed to appoint the body as originally planned. “People are saying: ‘What happened?’ ” said Claudia Gazzini, a senior analyst for the International Crisis Group who is based in Libya. Disillusioned with the lack of progress, Libyans are disinclined to come out and vote, she said. “They are saying: ‘I’m not going to dip my hand in the ink this time.’ ” Precious little has been achieved in Libya since the war that killed Colonel Qaddafi and ended his 42 years of autocratic rule. The country held its first free elections amid much euphoria […]

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Saudi Arabia Seen Needing to Boost Oil Exports as Spending Rises

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, probably needs to boost shipments this year to keep pace with record government spending , according to a former adviser to the nation’s finance ministry. The country needs to at least match the 7.54 million barrels a day it shipped last year and will probably need to sell more, John Sfakianakis, chief investment strategist at Riyadh-based MASIC, an investment company , said by phone today. He previously worked as chief economist for two Saudi Arabian banks and worked in the ministry of finance as a full-time adviser between 2011 and 2013. Extra shipments could be negative for oil prices because of expanding supplies elsewhere. Iran, Iraq and Libya , among countries with the world’s biggest reserves, will pump more crude this year, according to the most accurate forecasters surveyed by Bloomberg in December. Saudi Arabia is known as a swing producer as […]

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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, […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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, […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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