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Study finds Mexico’s energy reforms represent ‘abundant opportunities’

U.S. energy companies will benefit from "abundant opportunities" as a result of Mexico’s energy reforms, a private economic analysis indicated. Mexico’s energy overhaul, approved by Congress last month, ends the monopoly of state-owned Mexican oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, known as Pemex, and opens all segments of the energy sector to private firms for the first time in 75 years. A report by financial services firm BBVA Compass, based in Birmingham, Ala.., concluded the investment and new projects expected to flow from Mexico’s energy reforms could mean 2.5 million new jobs in Mexico by 2025. "More jobs in Mexico could potentially reduce illegal immigration," BBVA Compass economist Marcial Nava said in a webinar this week, the Houston Chronicle reports. Nava predicts the reforms will pump about $1.2 trillion to the Texas-Northern Mexico region in the next decade. "If these border towns effectively seize the […]

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Venezuela Oil Sales to U.S. at 1985-Low Shows China Cost

Venezuelan energy sales to the U.S. are heading for the lowest levels in 28 years as President Nicolas Maduro steps up shipments to his main lender China and the shale boom floods North American refineries. Venezuelan exports of crude and petroleum products to the U.S. averaged 792,000 barrels a day in the first 11 months of 2013, which would be the lowest annual rate since 1985, according to data published yesterday on the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s website. State-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA is sending hundreds of thousands of barrels a day to China to pay back government loans. At the same time, refiners along the U.S. Gulf Coast are sourcing more domestic supply as a surge in drilling shale rock sends output to the highest in a quarter-century. “ Venezuela is losing out by selling crude to China, which is a market where they are netting back a […]

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China factory output points to Q1 lull

Chinese manufacturing activity slipped to its lowest level in six months, with indications of slowing growth for the quarter to come in the world’s second-largest economy. The National Bureau of Statistics said its purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for January slipped to 50.5 , a reading just above the threshold for quickening growth. While output was still expanding, a sub-index for new export orders hovered for the second month below the midpoint, indicating slowing growth, and pointing to a lull in factory operations for the next few months. Concern over a slowdown in the Chinese economy contributed to the turmoil that has hit some emerging markets over the past 10 days. Saturday’s data are unlikely to ease those worries. The Chinese new year holiday, which began on Friday, normally corresponds with lower manufacturing activity as overseas orders dry […]

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Syria Geneva talks: Some common ground, says Brahimi

UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has said progress at the Syria peace talks has been slow but can form a basis on which the two sides can build, as he closed the week-long conference in Geneva. He said he had seen a "little bit of common ground" between government delegates and the opposition. Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, however, said there had been no tangible results from the conference. Another round of talks has been scheduled for 10 February. The opposition has agreed to take part, but Mr Muallem refused to commit. "We represent the concerns and interests of our people. If we find that [another meeting] is their demand, then we will come back," he told reporters. The two sides discussed humanitarian issues and how to end the violence. More than 100,000 people have died in Syria since the uprising against President […]

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China's manufacturing PMI drops to 50.5 pct in January

China’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector dropped to five-month low to 50.5 percent in January, according to official data released on Saturday. January continued December’s decline and marked the lowest factory activity since August 2013, according to a statement jointly released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP). In January, the sub-index for production stood at 53 percent, down 0.9 percentage points from December, while the sub-index for new orders lost 1.1 percentage points to 50.9 percent, said the statement. Major PMI compounds all declined in January, indicating downward pressure on the economy, said Zhang Liqun, an analyst with the Development Research Center of the State Council. […]

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China’s manufacturing PMI drops to 50.5 pct in January

China’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector dropped to five-month low to 50.5 percent in January, according to official data released on Saturday. January continued December’s decline and marked the lowest factory activity since August 2013, according to a statement jointly released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP). In January, the sub-index for production stood at 53 percent, down 0.9 percentage points from December, while the sub-index for new orders lost 1.1 percentage points to 50.9 percent, said the statement. Major PMI compounds all declined in January, indicating downward pressure on the economy, said Zhang Liqun, an analyst with the Development Research Center of the State Council. […]

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Debate stirs over benefits of U.S. oil exports

The American Petroleum Institute said exporting U.S. crude oil could mean lower energy costs for consumers, an issue countered by others in the energy sector. API, an industry lobby representing more than 580 companies, said a study it commissioned from energy consultant group ICF International indicates exporting crude oil from the United States could translate to $6.6 billion in savings for U.S. consumers by 2020. "It’s undeniable that the American energy revolution has rendered our current export policies obsolete," API Vice President for Economic Policy Kyle Isakower said in a statement Thursday. "Allowing exports will ensure that U.S. production remains strong in a way that supports American consumers." The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee summoned industry officials to testify Thursday about the prospects of exporting more crude oil. Laws enacted after the 1970s Arab oil embargo restrict domestic oil exports. U.S. Sen. Lisa […]

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Development of Keystone XL pipeline won't worsen climate change: US State Department

Keystone XL pipeline backers got a lift Friday, with the US State Department concluding that the project would not significantly adversely affect the environment, or impact development of Canada’s oil sands, largely echoing the conclusions it found in a draft review last March. The agency’s long-awaited final supplemental environmental impact statement said that no one project would influence the pace of Canadian oil sands production, given that other pipelines and crude-by-rail infrastructure are being prepared to transport the heavy crude to ready markets. Therefore, TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline would not, by itself, seriously exacerbate climate change, the report stated. "Approval or denial of any one crude oil transport project, including the [Keystone XL] is unlikely to significantly impact the rate of extraction in the oil sands or the continued demand for heavy crude oil at refineries in the United States based on expected oil […]

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Development of Keystone XL pipeline won’t worsen climate change: US State Department

Keystone XL pipeline backers got a lift Friday, with the US State Department concluding that the project would not significantly adversely affect the environment, or impact development of Canada’s oil sands, largely echoing the conclusions it found in a draft review last March. The agency’s long-awaited final supplemental environmental impact statement said that no one project would influence the pace of Canadian oil sands production, given that other pipelines and crude-by-rail infrastructure are being prepared to transport the heavy crude to ready markets. Therefore, TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline would not, by itself, seriously exacerbate climate change, the report stated. "Approval or denial of any one crude oil transport project, including the [Keystone XL] is unlikely to significantly impact the rate of extraction in the oil sands or the continued demand for heavy crude oil at refineries in the United States based on expected oil […]

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Keystone XL oil pipeline clears significant hurdle

The long-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline cleared a major hurdle toward approval Friday, a serious blow to environmentalists’ hopes that President Barack Obama will block the controversial project running more than 1,000 miles from Canada through the heart of the U.S. The State Department reported no major environmental objections to the proposed $7 billion pipeline, which has become a symbol of the political debate over climate change. Republicans and some oil- and gas-producing states in the U.S. – as well as Canada’s minister of natural resources – cheered the report, but it further rankled environmentalists already at odds with Obama and his energy policy. The report stops short of recommending approval of the pipeline, but the review gives Obama new support if he chooses to endorse it in spite of opposition from many Democrats and environmental groups. Foes say the pipeline would carry "dirty […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple