Category:

Markets Concerned by Chinese Demand Risk and Ukraine Crisis

Crude-oil futures were marginally lower in Asian trading hours Monday as markets were weighed by the Ukraine crisis and oil demand fundamentals, especially with Chinese economic data in focus this week. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May traded at $101.38 a barrel at 0553 GMT, down $0.29 in the Globex electronic session. May Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.21 to $107.86 a barrel. Both the oil benchmarks made significant gains last week, with Nymex WTI crude rising for two consecutive weeks and Brent crude snapping a four-week losing streak, in the backdrop of the standoff in Ukraine. No major progress was observed in weekend talks between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart on the Ukraine crisis, raising concerns that the situation may escalate. "Further support for Brent crude this week may come from potential […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil steady ahead of China manufacturing report

The price of oil was little changed near $102 a barrel Monday ahead of a Chinese manufacturing report Benchmark U.S. crude for May delivery was down 4 cents to $101.63 a barrel at 0730 GMT in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 39 cents Friday to settle at $101.67 and for the week gained 2 percent, propelled by signs of stronger economic growth in the U.S. and global supply concerns. China is set to release official manufacturing figures for March on Tuesday that could cement expectations for new stimulus in the world’s second-biggest economy. Another survey released last week showed manufacturing at an eight-month low in March, which suggested China’s economy is continuing to slow. Growth of 7.7 percent last year was the slowest in two decades. Brent crude, a benchmark for international varieties of oil, was down 13 cents to $107.94 a barrel […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

WTI Oil Trades Near Three-Week High on U.S.-Russia Talks

West Texas Intermediate crude traded near the highest close in three weeks and headed for a quarterly advance as the U.S. and Russia sought to defuse the crisis over Ukraine . Brent stayed near a 14-day peak amid persisting supply disruption from Libya . Futures were little changed in New York after rising for a third day on March 28. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Russia must withdraw forces that are “creating a climate of fear and intimidation” as his counterpart in the Kremlin urged the government in Kiev to give Ukraine’s regions more autonomy. Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma , the delivery point for WTI, shrank last week for the eighth week to the lowest in two years, the Energy Information Administration said. “There is a looming tension on Crimea,” said Abhishek Deshpande, oil markets analyst at London-based Natixis. “WTI has been driven by drawdowns in Cushing […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Attacks kill 16 people in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) — A series of attacks in Iraq, including a shooting at a security checkpoint and a suicide car bomb, killed 16 people and destroyed a bridge on Sunday, said officials. Police officials said the deadliest attack took place when attackers sprayed with bullets a group of troops manning a checkpoint early Sunday, near the city of Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad. Police said seven soldiers were killed in the attack. Hours later, a suicide bomber set off his explosive-laden car on the main al-Houz bridge near Ramadi city, killing five people and wounding seven. Police said parts of the bridge fell into the Euphrates river. Ramadi is 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad. Fierce clashes pitting government security forces and allied Sunni tribal militias against a coalition of insurgents have been raging in Anbar province since late December. Also, a bomb explosion at […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Iraq electoral commission retracts resignation before vote

Members of Iraq’s electoral commission retracted their resignations on Sunday, having threatened to quit en masse in protest against political interference just one month before a nationwide vote. The entire board of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) tendered its resignation last week, further complicating the outlook for polls that have already been clouded by violence across the country. In a statement following a visit by the United Nations’ envoy to Iraq, IHEC said: "The decision has been taken to withdraw the resignations and resume our duties in full confidence". IHEC said it had found itself caught between conflicting rulings from parliament and the judiciary regarding the exclusion of certain candidates from the election, due on April 30. Members of the commission said the conflict stemmed from divergent interpretations of the electoral law, which includes a clause allowing for candidates "of ill repute" to be barred […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Saudi dynasty moves to forestall succession crisis

Saudi Arabia’s appointment of Prince Muqrin as deputy crown prince is a first step towards addressing its biggest dynastic challenge for 50 years and forestalling a possible succession crisis in the world’s top oil exporter. The ruling al-Saud family is fast approaching the moment when it must decide how to jump down a generation from a line of brothers born to the country’s founder King Abdulaziz to their sons and nephews, a process fraught with difficulty. For a dynasty that now sees itself as governing a rare island of stability in a region aflame with conflict and political discord, and facing looming demographic challenges, that decision is […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Promises of Diplomacy but No Advances in Ukraine Talks

Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart agreed on Sunday that a political solution was needed for Ukraine and said they planned to continue discussing ways to de-escalate the crisis over the country’s future and Russia ’s annexation of Crimea. But neither side claimed a breakthrough, and Russia did not commit to pulling back the more than 40,000 troops the United States says are massed near Ukraine’s border. “Both of us recognize the importance of finding a diplomatic solution and simultaneously meeting the needs of the Ukrainian people, and that we agreed on tonight,” Mr. Kerry told reporters after meeting with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov. In a separate news conference, Mr. Lavrov said he and Mr. Kerry had agreed to work on securing the rights of minorities and “linguistic rights” in Ukraine, which has a large ethnic Russian population. The treatment of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

South Sudan’s Rebel Leader Machar Vows to Target Key Oil Fields

South Sudanese rebels plan to capture key oil installations to force President Salva Kiir to step down and end more than three months of conflict in the world’s newest nation, former Vice President Riek Machar said. Fighters allied with Machar, known as the White Army, are “mobilizing” to attack the Paloch oil fields that are the main source of revenue for the country’s military, the 60-year-old rebel leader said in a March 27 interview at his bush hideout in Upper Nile state. Machar fled the capital, Juba, in December after the government says he attempted a coup against Kiir. “We want to take control of the oil field,” said Machar, dressed in green military fatigues and wearing gold-rimmed sunglasses. “This is our oil. We must take control of Paloch to deny Salva Kiir revenue to buy more arms.” Upper Nile is South Sudan ’s only remaining crude-producing state after […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

How a Giant Kazakh Oil Project Went Awry

Kazakh workers were recuperating from the frigid temperatures of the Caspian Sea over cups of tea when their Italian supervisor interrupted their break, demanding they return to work. The workers restrained the supervisor—a manager working for SpA, a company building a giant oil development here—and put a plastic bag over his head. He fled, packed his bags and left Kazakhstan. The spat was a brief episode yet emblematic of the endless challenges that have hobbled a project once hailed as the dawn of a new era in cooperation between oil-rich countries and Western companies. Asked about the 2011 incident, which was described by Western oil-company managers, a senior Eni executive said that he wasn’t familiar with it but that friction between workers and management is a periodic occurrence. Tantalizing rewards were envisioned for both sides from the oil project here, known as Kashagan, at the outset two decades […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigeria: IPMAN Plans Closure of 10,000 Filling Stations

Another round of fuel scarcity is looming following plans by the leadership of the Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) to shut its over 10,000 fuel stations across the country in protest of the closure of NIPCO by the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG). NUPENG closed down the operations of the NIPCO Plc, a subsidiary of IPMAN, due to the ongoing leadership tussle rocking the association. The crisis began following a court ruling declaring Chief Lawson Obasi, former zonal chairman of IPMAN, south-east region, as president of the association. But the current IPMAN president, Aminu Abdulkadir, maintains that the association remains an indivisible entity, adding that anybody who claims to be a leader besides the elected officials is going against a court order which has not yet been vacated. Speaking through his special adviser, media, Mr Ezekwesili Maduagwuna, yesterday, Abdulkadir maintained that the involvement by […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Protesters March Against Chemical Plant in South China City

Protests against a planned chemical plant in the southern Chinese city of Maoming ended with demonstrators throwing stones and water bottles, the local government said. Demonstrators gathered yesterday morning in front of the city’s Communist Party committee building and walked slowly through the streets, the city’s propaganda office said in a statement on its official Weibo account today. After 10:30 p.m. a few “troublemakers” threw stones and water bottle that damaged public facilities, it said. No one was hurt. The protests were the latest sign of growing public anger in China over pollution. Photos on social networking site Weibo purportedly of the demonstration showed an overturned car on the street and a crowd of people raising clenched fists. Last May, hundreds of people took to the streets of Kunming in Yunnan province to protest plans to produce paraxylene at a new refinery. The protesters in Maoming, in southern Guangdong […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Production Starts at China's First Deep-Water Natural Gas Field

China’s first deep-water natural gas field has started producing gas, marking a milestone in China’s efforts both to exploit energy reserves deep under the South China Sea and to increase use of the cleaner-burning fuel. The US$6.5 billion Liwan-3 project, operated and 49% owned by Canada-listed Husky Energy Inc., is in undisputed Chinese waters about 325 kilometers southeast of Hong Kong. Beijing wants to increase gas use to around 10% of China’s energy mix by 2020 from less than 5% now as part of a push to wean the country off coal, which supplies around two-thirds of its fuel and produces huge amounts of pollution and greenhouse gases. "Liwan is Husky’s largest project to date and places us inside the door of one of the fastest-growing energy markets in the world," said Chief Executive Asim Ghosh, in a news release issued here Monday to mark the first gas […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Production Starts at China’s First Deep-Water Natural Gas Field

China’s first deep-water natural gas field has started producing gas, marking a milestone in China’s efforts both to exploit energy reserves deep under the South China Sea and to increase use of the cleaner-burning fuel. The US$6.5 billion Liwan-3 project, operated and 49% owned by Canada-listed Husky Energy Inc., is in undisputed Chinese waters about 325 kilometers southeast of Hong Kong. Beijing wants to increase gas use to around 10% of China’s energy mix by 2020 from less than 5% now as part of a push to wean the country off coal, which supplies around two-thirds of its fuel and produces huge amounts of pollution and greenhouse gases. "Liwan is Husky’s largest project to date and places us inside the door of one of the fastest-growing energy markets in the world," said Chief Executive Asim Ghosh, in a news release issued here Monday to mark the first gas […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Eagle Ford Gas Draws Steelmakers to Texas' Coastal Bend

Upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry have long contributed to the economy of South Texas’ "Coastal Bend," a 12-county region whose hub city is Corpus Christi. Not only is the region accessible to onshore and offshore oil and gas fields, but it boasts the infrastructure necessary to ship, store and process hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon products. Lured by the region’s growing port facilities and ready availability of cheap natural gas from the prolific Eagle Ford Shale play, two foreign-owned firms are bringing a newcomer – iron and steel manufacturing – into the Coastal Bend’s economic fold. "The addition of iron and steel manufacturing to the regions’ economy will further diversify and strengthen our growing economy," said Roland Mower, CEO of the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corp. "In fact, this region is experiencing an uptick in interest from international manufacturers interested in leveraging our low-cost, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Eagle Ford Gas Draws Steelmakers to Texas’ Coastal Bend

Upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry have long contributed to the economy of South Texas’ "Coastal Bend," a 12-county region whose hub city is Corpus Christi. Not only is the region accessible to onshore and offshore oil and gas fields, but it boasts the infrastructure necessary to ship, store and process hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon products. Lured by the region’s growing port facilities and ready availability of cheap natural gas from the prolific Eagle Ford Shale play, two foreign-owned firms are bringing a newcomer – iron and steel manufacturing – into the Coastal Bend’s economic fold. "The addition of iron and steel manufacturing to the regions’ economy will further diversify and strengthen our growing economy," said Roland Mower, CEO of the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corp. "In fact, this region is experiencing an uptick in interest from international manufacturers interested in leveraging our low-cost, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Kerry's Talks With Russia's Lavrov Fail to Ease Ukraine Crisis

Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart appeared to make no major advances Sunday in a four-hour meeting aimed at easing the standoff over Ukraine, raising the specter of a prolonged crisis that threatens to bring broader instability to Europe. Mr. Kerry, in remarks after the negotiations, said he received no assurances from the Kremlin that it would pull back thousands of Russian troops amassed on Ukraine’s eastern border. The chief U.S. diplomat and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also didn’t appear to reach any major common ground on discussions aimed at revamping Ukraine’s political system. Mr. Kerry said his counterpart pledged Russia’s desire to de-escalate tensions over Ukraine but offered no specifics. Read about key events since the Cold War. "Any real progress in Ukraine must include a pullback of the very large Russian force that is currently amassing along Ukraine’s border," Mr. Kerry said. "Tonight […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Kerry’s Talks With Russia’s Lavrov Fail to Ease Ukraine Crisis

Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart appeared to make no major advances Sunday in a four-hour meeting aimed at easing the standoff over Ukraine, raising the specter of a prolonged crisis that threatens to bring broader instability to Europe. Mr. Kerry, in remarks after the negotiations, said he received no assurances from the Kremlin that it would pull back thousands of Russian troops amassed on Ukraine’s eastern border. The chief U.S. diplomat and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also didn’t appear to reach any major common ground on discussions aimed at revamping Ukraine’s political system. Mr. Kerry said his counterpart pledged Russia’s desire to de-escalate tensions over Ukraine but offered no specifics. Read about key events since the Cold War. "Any real progress in Ukraine must include a pullback of the very large Russian force that is currently amassing along Ukraine’s border," Mr. Kerry said. "Tonight […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Eurozone inflation slows to lowest level in five years

Inflation in the eurozone slowed again in March, dipping to 0.5 per cent ahead of the European Central Bank’s policy vote on Thursday. The latest flash estimate from Eurostat , the commission’s statistics bureau, showed inflation slowing from 0.7 per cent in February to its lowest level since 2009. Though economists believe last year’s early Easter – a time when businesses tend to raise their prices – weighed on cost pressures, the low number puts pressure on the ECB to do more to stave off the threat of a prolonged period of falling prices. The March figure was below economists’ expectations of 0.6 per cent. The ECB targets inflation of just below 2 per cent, but expects inflation to remain below this level at least until the end of 2016. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2014. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Can Europe wean itself from Russian natural gas?

One of the companies most entwined in the natural gas business in Europe is the Italian oil giant ENI – and that has put it smack in the middle of the crisis between Russia and western nations. ENI is the biggest seller of natural gas in Europe, providing 22 percent of the market. It is also the biggest customer of the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, worth about 10 billion euros a year, and it might join with Gazprom to build a new pipeline under the Black Sea. It has a deal with Russia’s biggest oil company, Rosneft, to explore in the Barents Sea. It also has rights to look for shale gas in Ukraine and plans to propose reworking some old neglected oil and gas fields there to boost output. And it is the largest natural gas producer in Libya, a key source of natural gas for Europe. Altogether, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

German Minister Sees 'No Sensible Alternative' to Russian Gas

German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said there was "no sensible alternative" to Russian natural gas imports and it was unlikely Russia would stop deliveries because of the crisis over Ukraine, a German daily reported Friday. "Even in the darkest hours of the Cold War, Russia respected its contracts," the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung reported Gabriel, who is also energy minister and vice chancellor, as telling an energy forum. Europe’s biggest economy is heavily reliant on Russian gas, which accounted for about a third of its gas imports last year, BDEW figures show. Germany’s top utilities E.ON and RWE receive most of their gas from Russia’s state-controlled gas producer Gazprom. Russia’s seizure of the Crimea region and its threat to cut off gas to Ukraine, a transit route to the rest of Europe, has prompted European leaders to consider strategies to curb the bloc’s energy reliance on Russia. Gabriel also said that two current business deals with Russia by German companies BASF and RWE were "company decisions" and "essentially unproblematic," according to the newspaper. The newspaper said Gabriel also told the forum that Europe’s […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

German Minister Sees ‘No Sensible Alternative’ to Russian Gas

German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said there was "no sensible alternative" to Russian natural gas imports and it was unlikely Russia would stop deliveries because of the crisis over Ukraine, a German daily reported Friday. "Even in the darkest hours of the Cold War, Russia respected its contracts," the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung reported Gabriel, who is also energy minister and vice chancellor, as telling an energy forum. Europe’s biggest economy is heavily reliant on Russian gas, which accounted for about a third of its gas imports last year, BDEW figures show. Germany’s top utilities E.ON and RWE receive most of their gas from Russia’s state-controlled gas producer Gazprom. Russia’s seizure of the Crimea region and its threat to cut off gas to Ukraine, a transit route to the rest of Europe, has prompted European leaders to consider strategies to curb the bloc’s energy reliance on Russia. Gabriel also said that two current business deals with Russia by German companies BASF and RWE were "company decisions" and "essentially unproblematic," according to the newspaper. The newspaper said Gabriel also told the forum that Europe’s […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Panel’s Warning on Climate Risk: Worst Is Yet to Come

Greenland’­s immense ice sheet is melting as a result of climate change. YOKOHAMA, Japan — Climate change is already having sweeping effects on every continent and throughout the world’s oceans, scientists reported on Monday, and they warned that the problem was likely to grow substantially worse unless greenhouse emissions are brought under control. The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations group that periodically summarizes climate science, concluded that ice caps are melting, sea ice in the Arctic is collapsing, water supplies are coming under stress, heat waves and heavy rains are intensifying, coral reefs are dying, and fish and many other creatures are migrating toward the poles or in some cases going extinct. The oceans are rising at a pace that threatens coastal communities and are becoming more acidic as they absorb some of the carbon dioxide given off by cars and power plants, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Scientists clash over UN climate report

Two of the world’s leading climate researchers have clashed over a report on the impact of global warming and rising sea levels. The chief author of the study by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change challenged the views of an economist drafting a key chapter. Chris Field, professor of environmental studies at Stanford University in California, made the comments about Professor Richard Tol of the University of Sussex in the UK, a senior author of the report’s chapter on climate change’s economic impacts. More video Professor Tol revealed last week that he had asked for his name to be removed from the study’s summary – the most widely read section of the IPCC report – because he believed it was too “alarmist” and included “silly” statements about the vulnerability of people in war zones to climate change. However, Professor Field, co-chair of the IPCC working group that produced […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

World Is Ill-Prepared for Global Warming Impacts, UN Says

Global warming is depleting fresh water and crops, destroying coral reefs and melting the Arctic, the said today in a report that concludes the world is ill-prepared to face many new threats. Climate change has brought “key risks” that endanger lives and health worldwide, including storm surges and coastal flooding worsened by rising sea levels; infrastructure destruction and the disruption of power networks, communications and health services by extreme weather, and the depletion of crop production due to droughts and floods, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said. “If you look around the world today, people, cities, businesses and nations aren’t prepared for the climate-related risk we face now,” Chris Field , the U.S. professor who co-chaired the 309 scientists drafting today’s report, said in a phone interview from Yokohama, Japan . “The climate changes that have already occurred have been widespread and have really had consequences. It’s […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Global warming threat heightened in latest U.N. report

Global warming poses a mounting threat to the health, economic prospects, and food and water sources of billions of people, a report by top scientists said, in a call for urgent action to counter the effects of carbon emissions. The latest report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), places an emphasis on the risks and may make the case for cutting greenhouse gas emissions clearer both to policymakers and the public by placing it in the category of an insurance policy for the planet. "Climate change is really a challenge of managing risks," Christopher Field, co-chair of the IPCC group preparing the report, told Reuters before its release on Monday. "One critical way is in decreasing the amount of climate change that occurs, and the other is finding a way to cope as effectively as we can with the climate changes that […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Here Comes $75 Oil

The long-term outlook for global oil prices is lower, perhaps much lower, giving a strong boost to the U.S. economy while potentially crippling the economy of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Vast new discoveries of oil and natural gas in the U.S. and around the globe could drive the oil price to as low as $75 a barrel over the next five years from a current $100. The demand side, too, will put pressure on the supremacy of petroleum. For the first time in its 150-year history, the internal combustion engine can be run efficiently on alternative fuels from a number of sources, including natural gas. As these alternatives are increasingly introduced, global consumption of oil will slow its growth and flatten out. Barron’s Graphics Citigroup’s head of global commodity research, Edward Morse, believes the combination of flattening consumption and rising production should mean that "the $90-a-barrel floor on the world […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
Category:

Peak Oil: No Easy Solutions

Alternative energy depends heavily on engineered equipment and infrastructure for capture or conversion. However, the full supply chain for alternative energy, from raw materials to manufacturing, is still very dependent on fossil fuel energy. [In the end, how can you get rid of fossil fuels when you need them to construct alternative energy resources?]…. The discussion is further complicated by political biases, ignorance of basic science, and a lack of appreciation of the magnitude of the problem facing societies accustomed to inexpensive fossil energy as the era of abundance concludes. [1] I’ve consistently and repeatedly urged a greater awareness of the challenges diminishing supplies of oil and gas will impose upon all is. Political affiliations and stamp-your-feet-and-hold-your-breath resistance to the realities of finite, ever-harder to find and extract fossil fuel resources won’t help anyone. Coupled with that awareness (dependent in no small part on a lot more honesty and […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
Category:

Peak Oil: Great Question. The Answer Is _ ?

The real question for the United States is not about optimal trade policy or economic theory, but whether we want to extract the last drops of our oil endowment as quickly as possible by enabling the debt-fueled land rush that has brought us a gratifying, but temporary, bump in production, or whether we want to make it last as long as possible, knowing that two or three decades from now the world will be absolutely desperate for the stuff, with scarce exports and unimaginably high prices. [1] So what will it be? But before the question can be answered meaningfully, information about what’s at stake; where we stand now; what the future energy supplies prospects hold; together with an assortment of related but just as important considerations need to be fully disclosed. And there’s the rub. There are two strong camps with just as strong opinions about energy supplies […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
Category:

James Schlesinger on peak oil

In August 2012, I interviewed James Schlesinger over the phone as part of research for my upcoming book, The Oracle of Oil , the first biography of maverick geologist M. King Hubbert. Schlesinger and Hubbert shared a deep interest and concern in the issue of peak oil —specifically, the question of when world oil production might reach an all-time high, and then begin to decline, marking a turning point between an era of plenty to an era of scarcity. During Schlesinger’s time in office as the United States’ first Secretary of Energy—a post President Jimmy Carter created specifically for Schlesinger —he’d spoken about this issue of peak oil. He saw that such a peak of world oil production would have profound effects on the U.S. and the world. (Before becoming Secretary of Energy, Schlesinger had held various positions in the Nixon and Ford Administrations, including Director of Central Intelligence […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
Category:

Two New Ideas in Wave and Tidal Power

IEEE Spectrum has an article on some new ocean energy technologies – Two New Ideas in Wave and Tidal Power . The wave power idea is closer than the tidal energy one to rollout, with a planned open-water test for this summer. M3 Wave dispenses with all the problems that come with buoys or other above-and-below-the-surface designs by mooring a simple device to the ocean floor. The device, pictured above, involves two air chambers: as a wave passes over the top of the first chamber, the pressure inside increases, forcing air through a passageway to the second chamber. Inside the passageway is a turbine, so the passing air is actually what generates the electricity. As the wave continues on, it raises the pressure inside the second chamber, pushing the air back through the turbine—importantly, it is a bidirectional turbine—and back into the first chamber. Another wave, another cycle. Repeat.The […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil Futures Post Weekly Gain on Shrinking Cushing Glut

Oil futures edged to a three-week high Friday as market participants assessed falling stockpiles at a key U.S. storage hub and ongoing tension between Russia and the West. Light, sweet crude for May delivery settled up 39 cents, or 0.4%, at $101.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement since March 7. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange rose 24 cents, or 0.2%, to $108.07 a barrel. Brent posted a 1.1% gain for the week. U.S. prices rose 2.2% for the week. A three-day closure of the Houston Shipping Channel due to a fuel-oil spill on Saturday boosted prices early in the week. After Wednesday, traders focused on falling supplies in Cushing, Okla., a key storage hub where the Nymex contract is priced. A storage glut has built up in Cushing as U.S. oil production rapidly increased without sufficient transportation channels to connect […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

WTI Oil Advances to Three-Week High on U.S. Economic Data

West Texas Intermediate crude reached a three-week high as U.S. consumer spending rose in February by the most in three months. Brent gained on concern that tension in Ukraine will escalate. WTI advanced for the fifth time in six days. Household purchases, which account for almost 70 percent of the economy, climbed 0.3 percent, the Commerce Department said. Russia massed troops along the Ukraine border after annexing Crimea and rejected a United Nations resolution condemning that takeover. “The market’s taking the consumer spending number positively,” said Paul Crovo, a Philadelphia-based oil analyst at PNC Capital Advisors. “The economy will continue to forge ahead. There is a lot of concern about what’s going on in Ukraine and Russia’s possible incursions.” WTI for May delivery rose 39 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $101.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange , the highest settlement since March 7. Trading was 33 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Ethanol Rises to Highest Price Since July 2006

Ethanol inventories last week were down 10 percent from a year earlier and are at a seasonal record low, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Close Close Open Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg Ethanol inventories last week were down 10 percent from a year earlier and are at a seasonal record low, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Ethanol rose to the highest price since July 2006 as demand for the biofuel climbed while rail congestion held down production rates. Futures surged 7.8 percent. Distillers are being forced to dial back output because of the availability of trains to transport corn to turn into the biofuel. The same delays are affecting the shipment of ethanol to the population-dense East Coast from the corn-rich Midwest, where about 89 percent of plants are located. “It is logistics, logistics, logistics,” said Julie Ward, an assistant vice president at R.J. O’Brien & Associates, a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Iran launches floating gas export terminal

Iran announced Friday it launched operations at its first-ever floating gas condensate export terminal in the waters of the Persian Gulf. Iran in January exported 878,631 tons of gas condensate. Pirouz Mousavi, managing director of the Iranian Oil Terminals Co., said the facility could help Iran get more oil and gas from a southern economic trade zone. "The terminal, which facilitates the export of 600,000 barrels of gas condensate per day, can help Iran boost its capability to export both crude oil and condensate," he said . Customs officials in Iran say gas condensate accounts for more than 60 percent of the commodities exported from the southern economic zone. Iran has touted its oil and gas export potential since reaching an interim nuclear agreement with Western negotiators in November. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Thursday energy products from Iran were re-entering the global market as expected. "As far as […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Lukoil Starting New Iraq Oilfield as Output Reaches 35-Year High

OAO Lukoil (LKOH) will start pumping crude from Iraq’s second-largest oilfield tomorrow as the nation boosts output to levels last seen more than three decades ago. Russia’s biggest publicly traded oil producer will start producing 120,000 barrels a day at West Qurna-2 in the south. The field is expected to eventually yield 1.2 million barrels daily, or about a third of the nation’s current output. Iraq is now the second-biggest member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries behind Saudi Arabia after adding 1 million barrels of output since 2007. Wars and sanctions crippled the country for decades, contributing to four of the 11 biggest global supply shocks in the past 60 years, according to the International Energy Agency in Paris. “Iraq has been the key growth center within OPEC,” said Amrita Sen, the chief oil market strategist at Energy Aspects Ltd. in London. The nation plans to increase […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Unrest hurting Libya's oil economy, Europe says

Political conflict in Libya means an economy that’s largely dependent on oil production has no room to grow, the European Union said. A progress report on Libya from the European Commission said a blockade on oil exports by eastern federalists has "severely" affected Libya’s fiscal situation. The report, published Thursday, said the closure of eastern export terminals has cut Libyan oil production from a pre-war level of 1.6 million barrels per day to around 250,000 bpd. With an economy that relies on the petroleum sector for 90 percent of its revenue and more than 70 percent of gross domestic product, the security situation was directly responsible for economic stagnation. "The lack of security has a negative impact on business climate," the progress report said . "With the security situation featuring so prominently on the agenda, thus far little attention has been paid to the diversification of the economy and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Unrest hurting Libya’s oil economy, Europe says

Political conflict in Libya means an economy that’s largely dependent on oil production has no room to grow, the European Union said. A progress report on Libya from the European Commission said a blockade on oil exports by eastern federalists has "severely" affected Libya’s fiscal situation. The report, published Thursday, said the closure of eastern export terminals has cut Libyan oil production from a pre-war level of 1.6 million barrels per day to around 250,000 bpd. With an economy that relies on the petroleum sector for 90 percent of its revenue and more than 70 percent of gross domestic product, the security situation was directly responsible for economic stagnation. "The lack of security has a negative impact on business climate," the progress report said . "With the security situation featuring so prominently on the agenda, thus far little attention has been paid to the diversification of the economy and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Australia's Woodside balks on Israel's Leviathan field

Australian energy company Woodside Petroluem said a February agreement to sign a deal to enter the Leviathan gas field off the Israeli coast was on hold. Woodside said in a statement the parties to a memorandum of understanding — Noble Energy Mediterranean Ltd, Delek Drilling, Avner Oil Exploration LP and Ratio Oil Exploration — haven’t settled the terms of a deal announced last month. "Discussions continue with the parties and the Israeli government with a view to resolving the remaining issues and executing definitive agreements," the Australian company said in a statement Thursday. The February arrangement would have granted Woodside a 25 percent stake in the field, one of the largest in the world. The company balked over Israeli tax policy, saying its profits from Leviathan should be tax free. The Israeli government, however, said Woodside’s stake should be seen as a capital investment and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Australia’s Woodside balks on Israel’s Leviathan field

Australian energy company Woodside Petroluem said a February agreement to sign a deal to enter the Leviathan gas field off the Israeli coast was on hold. Woodside said in a statement the parties to a memorandum of understanding — Noble Energy Mediterranean Ltd, Delek Drilling, Avner Oil Exploration LP and Ratio Oil Exploration — haven’t settled the terms of a deal announced last month. "Discussions continue with the parties and the Israeli government with a view to resolving the remaining issues and executing definitive agreements," the Australian company said in a statement Thursday. The February arrangement would have granted Woodside a 25 percent stake in the field, one of the largest in the world. The company balked over Israeli tax policy, saying its profits from Leviathan should be tax free. The Israeli government, however, said Woodside’s stake should be seen as a capital investment and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Statoil wades deeper into Brazilian waters

Norwegian energy company Statoil said Friday it secured formal approval from the Brazilian government to work in the offshore Espirito Santo oil basin. "The new license is another building block for further value creation," Andre Leite, Statoil’s regional manager, said in a statement . "We look forward to working closely together with the operator in the appraisal and further development of the asset." There may be as much as 50 billion barrels of oil offshore Brazil, putting it just behind Venezuela in terms of proven oil reserves in South America. Statoil said the approval extends to the Sao Bernardo discovery in the basin off Brazil’s coast. The company declined to indicate a reserve estimate, but said the area "has an exciting oil potential." Statoil said an appraisal well drilled into the region in 2012 encountered an oil column measuring more than 600 feet thick. The Norwegian said it’s the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Obama Envisions Russia Sanctions Limiting Global Impact

The U.S. is looking to minimize the global harm from further penalties on Russia over Ukraine , as the International Monetary Fund moves forward with a multibillion-dollar lifeline to the government in Kiev. President Barack Obama said that Russia’s military, energy and finance industries are possible targets if it moves deeper in Ukraine. While additional sanctions would inevitably also affect the economies of the U.S. and Europe, Obama said, the goal is to limit the collateral damage. “Hopefully, we can design sanctions that minimize the impact on U.S. companies or Italian companies, and maximize the impact on the narrow set of interests in Russia that help drive the decisions that they’re making,” he said yesterday at a news conference in Rome with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Obama spoke hours after the IMF unveiled a preliminary accord with Ukraine for a two-year loan of $14 billion to $18 billion […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Obama Issues Climate Plan to Plug Methane Leaks

The Obama administration says it will propose rules to cut methane emissions at landfills and coal mines and conduct a study that may result in regulations to plug leaks from oil and gas production. A 15-page plan released today pledges to work with utilities on curbing leaks in transport and distribution of natural gas and calls for the Environmental Protection Agency to study methane emissions from drilling to determine whether rules are needed. If it decides to regulate, the standards would be issued in 2016. “Today’s announcement is a big step in the right direction,” David Doniger , director for climate at the Natural Resources Defense Council , said in a statement. “But more needs to be done.” Methane is a greenhouse gas that’s 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and climate advocates have warned that without efforts to curb emissions from the nation’s booming oil and gas […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil traffic by rail grows, industry says

March 28 (UPI) — About 10.3 million barrels of petroleum and petroleum products traveled the U.S. rail system last week, the Association of American Railroads said. AAR released its rail traffic report for the week ending March 22. It said 14,811 railcars, or about 10.3 million barrels barrels of petroleum and petroleum products, were delivered last week, a 10.3 percent increase year-on-year. Last week’s total was 3.1 percent higher than for the week ending March 15. The rail group said Thursday that so far this year, 120 million barrels of petroleum and petroleum products were delivered by rail in the United States, a 6.9 percent increase from the same period in 2013. Industry officials said the increase in oil production from shale deposits in the U.S. has strained existing pipeline capacity, forcing some energy companies to turn to rail as an alternative transit method. The U.S. Energy Information Administration […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

White House Calls for New Rules to Cut Methane Emissions

The Obama administration on Friday directed several federal agencies to clamp down on emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas emitted from natural gas and other industries, fleshing out an initiative that attempts to address environmental concerns without harming the nation’s booming natural-gas industry. The White House move is part of President Barack Obama’s broader plan announced last June to tackle climate change. The administration’s methane strategy reflects a reluctance to commit right now to new federal regulations targeting the natural-gas industry, which could be politically unpopular. New rules could also contradict the administration’s rhetoric and actions supporting natural gas in the past few years, including the Energy Department’s conditional approval earlier this week of the seventh U.S. project to export gas. Reaction from oil and natural-gas companies was muted, while environmentalists cheered the news. Statements from senior officials at the two trade associations representing producers—America’s Natural Gas Alliance […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Putin Calls Obama to Discuss Ukraine, White House Says

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia reached out to President Obama on Friday to discuss ideas about how to peacefully resolve the international standoff over Ukraine, a surprise move by Moscow to pull back from the brink of an escalated confrontation that has put Europe and much of the world on edge. After weeks of provocative moves punctuated by a menacing buildup of troops on Ukraine’s border, Mr. Putin’s unexpected telephone call to Mr. Obama offered a hint of a possible settlement. The two leaders agreed to have their top diplomats meet to discuss concrete proposals for defusing the crisis that has generated the most serious clash between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War. But it remained uncertain whether Mr. Putin was seriously interested in a resolution that would go far enough to satisfy the United States, Ukraine and Europe, or instead […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Texas Gas seeks shippers for lateral moving Marcellus, Utica output to Midwest

Texas Gas Transmission plans to expand its natural gas pipeline system in order to move Marcellus and Utica shale supplies to markets in the Midwest, according to an binding open season notice issued Friday. The company is looking at building a pipeline lateral, to be known as the Southern Indiana Market Lateral, that would begin at Texas Gas’ Slaughters-Montezuma Lateral near Robards, Kentucky, and extend westward about 30 miles to a location west of the city of Mount Vernon, Indiana, it said. The lateral’s targeted in-service date is July 2016, with the capacity to be determined by the open season, Texas Gas said as it sought shippers. Article continues below… Request a free trial of: Gas Daily Gas Daily offers the most detailed coverage of natural gas prices at interstate and intrastate pipeline and pooling points in major U.S. markets. Gas Daily keeps you […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Lawmakers question how retiring US coal-fired power plants could affect winter grid challenges

US House of Representatives Republicans are concerned about how the retirement of a significant number of coal-fired power plants could affect the transmission grid in coming winters and are seeking answers from four grid operators on how those retirements will be handled, letters show. Citing the spikes in electricity prices, forced outages and other events of this past winter, top Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, including its chairman, Fred Upton, are concerned that "such outages and price increases could be further exacerbated in the future" as coal plants used to respond to acute needs this winter shut, they said. The lawmakers sent nearly identical letters on Wednesday to PJM Interconnection, New York Independent System Operator, Midcontinent Independent System Operator and ISO New England seeking answers on how their grids would have fared had the plants slated for retirement been unavailable. Article […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil Rigs Extend Record as Texas Eagle Ford Drilling Rises

Rigs targeting oil in the U.S. jumped to a record as energy producers used the most in a year to drill for crude in Texas’s Eagle Ford shale formation. Oil rigs increased by 14 to 1,487, the highest level since Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) split the oil and gas counts in 1987, data posted on the company’s website today show. Rigs drilling for oil in the Eagle Ford of South Texas jumped by nine to 209, matching a record set in May 2013, according to the Houston-based field services company. Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling are helping producers extract record volumes from shale formations across the middle of the U.S., boosting domestic crude output to the highest in a quarter-century. The nation met 87 percent of its energy needs in 2013, the most since 1985, according to data from the Energy Information Administration. “The Eagle Ford is doing well, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Baker Hughes: US drilling rig count drops to 1,803

The US drilling rig count gained back the 6 units it lost last week to reach 1,809 rigs working during the week ended Mar. 28, reported. Rigs on land claimed 11 more units to reach 1,741, more than offsetting the 5-unit loss in offshore rigs to 50. Rigs drilling in inland waters were unchanged from a week ago at 18. Oil rigs increased 14 units to 1,487 while gas rigs decreased 8 units to 318. Rigs considered unclassified were unchanged at 4. rigs gained 5 units to 1,211. Directional drilling rigs edged up 1 unit to 214. In Canada, another week brought a precipitous decline in its overall rig count, as a 91-unit subtraction shrunk the country’s total to 298. Oil rigs plunged 55 units to 155 while gas rigs took a 36-unit loss to 143. Despite the recent declines, Canada still has 52 more rigs than the comparable […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Russian Energy Denied Detonators as U.S. Exports Halted

Russia ’s energy industry will be denied detonators from the U.S. used for oil and gas drilling as the Obama administration expands its response to the annexation of Crimea by suspending sales of goods with military uses. The State Department said yesterday it halted licensing for exports of defense items and services on March 24. The Commerce Department posted a notice on its website saying it had also suspending export licensing, effective March 1. Goods licensed by Commerce alone represented $1.5 billion, or 14 percent of all U.S. exports to Russia last year. “This is a lot more significant than blocking some oligarchs,” said Michael Burton , a Washington lawyer who works on export controls. “In light of the allegations that have been made, how could we continue to license, say, rifle scopes to Russia?” The U.S. has previously imposed sanctions on business leaders and government officials with ties […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple