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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
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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
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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
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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
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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 […]

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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
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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 […]

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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 […]

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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
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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