Category:

Gunbattles Erupt as Libyan Forces Try to Seize Oil Tanker from Militias

Gunbattles erupted late Monday when Libyan government forces attempted to seize back an oil tanker that rebellious militiamen were trying to use to independently sell crude, a Libyan official said. Culture Minister Habib al-Amin said government forces had taken control of the tanker after the clashes. However, the militia controlling the As Sidra oil port denied it had lost control of the vessel. The clashes were the most serious confrontation yet between militias that have paralyzed the country’s oil industry by blocking major ports and a government too weak to confront them. The minister said at a late-night news conference that the Libyan forces took over the North Korean-flagged Morning Glory at around 9 p.m. local time after two skirmishes—one in the morning and one in the evening—with militiamen on speedboats around the tanker. He said there was a third exchange of gunfire after government forces seized the ship, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Libya says halts tanker outside rebel port, plans military offensive

Libya on Monday stopped a North Korean-flagged tanker that had loaded oil from a rebel-held port, after naval forces briefly exchanged fire with the rebels, officials said. They also said the government will assemble forces to "liberate" all occupied ports, raising the stakes over a blockage that has cut off vital oil revenue. The conflict over oil wealth is increasing fears that the OPEC producer may slide deeper into chaos or even splinter as the fragile government fails to rein in dozens of militias that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but now defy state authority. The rebels, who have seized three ports and partly control a fourth in the North African country, said they had dispatched forces to central Libya to deal with any government attack. Prime Minister Ali Zeidan told Reuters naval forces had seized the North Korean-flagged tanker outside the eastern Es Sider […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Israeli partners mull $750 million deal for Tamar gas

Partners operating the Tamar gas field off the Israeli coast said Monday a deal is in the works to sell gas to a company building an Israeli power plant. Israeli energy company Delek Group said its board of directors authorized managers to sign a take-or-pay deal with its partners at the Tamar field with subsidiary Delek Soreq, which is building the plant, "in the coming days." Delek Group said Monday the $750 million deal is for 116 billion cubic feet of natural gas. "The supply of natural gas is expected to commence in the beginning of the first quarter of 2016 for the period of more than 15 years or up until the contracted quantity has been utilized," Delek Group said in a statement Monday. Noble Energy, which has headquarters in Texas, holds a 36 percent stake in the Tamar field. Delek […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

East Africa: Oil and Gas Boom in East Africa Promises Riches, but Experts Fear Only Elites Will Benefit

The oil and gas bonanza in East Africa is changing the power dynamics of one of the poorest regions in the world, promising to free governments from long dependence on foreign aid once the billions of dollars in natural resource revenues start to flow. Civil activists from the region, diplomats and corporate officials alike at briefings in Washington over the last few weeks have warned that Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Mozambique are running out of time to agree on national policies to develop their newfound wealth in ways that will benefit the lives of their citizens. The pressure to turn on the oil and gas taps and earn quick cash is so immense that activists and officials said they fear politics will trump good governance, and the money could end up lining the pockets of entrenched political and business interests rather than benefitting citizens where millions live on less […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigeria: Abuja Residents Groan As Petrol Scarcity Bites Harder

The persistent fuel scarcity in the country is taking its toll on the residents of the Nigerian capital, Abuja, as transport fare has increased by between 50 and 100 per cent. A correspondent the News Agency of Nigeria who went round some parts of the territory in Abuja on Monday, reports that worst hit are civil servants and traders who waited endlessly at their various bus stops without much hope of getting vehicles. Motorists, who managed to get the product after several hours of queuing at fuel stations, transferred the burden on passengers by charging almost double the normal fare. Yusuf Yahaya, a civil servant, who lives in Lugbe on the Airport Road, said he suffered a lot of hardship at the bus stop while coming to work on Monday morning. Mr. Yahaya said that he spent several hours before getting a vehicle and the driver charged him N150 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

U.S. Energy Exports as Foreign-Policy

For a sagging president and a discredited Congress, the Ukraine crisis actually could be a blessing in disguise. It gives them a chance to do something big: Start a historically significant drive to transform’s America’s energy picture. Russia’s biggest leverage in its attempt to keep Ukraine in its orbit and annex the Crimean peninsula is that Ukraine and its potential allies elsewhere in Europe still depend on Russian natural gas. But Russia’s long-term edge may well decline if the U.S. and other Western powers play their cards right. The U.S. is on its way to becoming a net exporter of natural gas, and potentially a net exporter of crude oil as well. So the energy weapon that has been used so effectively against the U.S. in the last half century could easily change hands with the right kinds of American action. Moreover, the psychological effects could kick in immediately, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

In Fracking, the Energy Business Gets Neighborly

It isn’t just a radical fringe of Americans who worry about the environment—and energy executives finally seem to have noticed. A couple of years ago at the energy industry’s massive annual gathering, IHS CERAWeek in Houston, the people who pull oil and natural gas out of the ground were largely dismissive of the public’s concerns about hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, said Jason Bordoff, director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. But this year, industry officials are more willing to talk about problems with the technique for getting oil and gas from shale-rock formations, and to discuss how they intend to fix them. The change reflects, in part, a shift in where energy companies are doing their work: Fracking has made thousands of new wells possible, many of them close to population centers instead of the remote oil fields of the past. Listening to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

ANR Pipeline joins other operators with plans to flow gas away from Marcellus, Utica

ANR Pipeline is taking bids through Friday on another binding open season to modify its Southeast Mainline System, this time specifically reversing flows on the line for up to 600,000 Dt/d of firm transportation capacity. In a open season notice issued March 7, ANR said it is seeking commitments for a more specific project: the reversal of 600,000 Dt/d from Zone ML3 to the ANR Southeast area Headstation Central Delivery Point, located in ML1 Tariff Rate Zone near Eunice, Louisiana. For the reversal, ANR expects to modify existing mainline facilities at compressor stations, including valves and yard piping, to enable bi-directional flow on ANR’s Southeast Mainline. The reversal project has an in-service date of March 1, 2015, earlier than the November 2015 service date for the pipeline’s prior binding open season, which was issued in late February. Article continues below… Request a free trial […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

ATDynamics projects 200,000 semi-trailers to be equipped with fuel-saving rear-drag aerodynamics technology by end of 2017

ATDynamics projects 200,000 semi-trailers to be equipped with fuel-saving rear-drag aerodynamics technology by end of 2017 The patented TrailerTail design lowers vehicle fuel consumption by reducing low-pressure suction drag directly behind a trailer. Source: ATDynamics. Click to enlarge. ATDynamics , a supplier of semi-trailer aerodynamics technology, projects that, based on current trucking fleet adoption trends, 200,000 semi-trailers will be equipped with fuel saving TrailerTail technology by the end of 2017. TrailerTail technology, which reduces aerodynamic drag at the back of tractor-trailers and improves vehicle fuel efficiency by approximately 5%, has been incorporated into three of the Department of Energy’s SuperTruck Projects. ATDynamics launched the patented thermoplastic composite TrailerTail design in 2010. At present, 350 US trucking companies, including top 100 US fleets such as Mesilla Valley Transportation; Prime Inc.; Roehl Transport; and C.R. England operate approximately 20,000 semi-trailers with TrailerTails. Department of Energy SuperTruck with TrailerTail Technology. Credit: Sarah […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

APTA reports record public transportation usage in US in 2013; growth outpacing population and VMT growth

APTA reports record public transportation usage in US in 2013; growth outpacing population and VMT growth Growth in public transit ridership since 1995 has outpaced population and VMT growth. Data: APTA. Click to enlarge. In 2013, Americans took 10.7 billion trips on public transportation—the highest annual public transit ridership number in 57 years— according to a report released by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). This was the eighth year in a row that more than 10 billion trips were taken on public transportation systems nationwide. While vehicle miles traveled on roads (VMT) went up 0.3%, public transportation use in 2013 increased by 1.1%. Since 1995 public transit ridership is up 37.2%, outpacing population growth, which is up 20.3%, and vehicle miles traveled (VMT), which is up 22.7%. Some of the public transit agencies reporting record ridership system-wide or on specific lines were located in the following cities: Ann […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

California's Brown Hears Fracking Gripes

In a year when California Democrats are worried about motivating their voters, Gov. Jerry Brown heard another unwelcome message Saturday: Some Democratic activists are bristling over his administration’s policies on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Appearing at a state Democratic Party convention in Los Angeles, Brown found himself forced to speak over a noisy group of sign-waving protesters in his first major campaign speech since formally declaring his candidacy last month. "Just listen a moment," Brown pleaded at one point, as the protesters bellowed "No fracking" and waved "Another Democrat Against Fracking" signs just steps from the podium where he was speaking. State Democratic conventions can be boisterous gatherings, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

California’s Brown Hears Fracking Gripes

In a year when California Democrats are worried about motivating their voters, Gov. Jerry Brown heard another unwelcome message Saturday: Some Democratic activists are bristling over his administration’s policies on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Appearing at a state Democratic Party convention in Los Angeles, Brown found himself forced to speak over a noisy group of sign-waving protesters in his first major campaign speech since formally declaring his candidacy last month. "Just listen a moment," Brown pleaded at one point, as the protesters bellowed "No fracking" and waved "Another Democrat Against Fracking" signs just steps from the podium where he was speaking. State Democratic conventions can be boisterous gatherings, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Scientists: Test West Coast for Fukushima radiation

Very low levels of radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster likely will reach ocean waters along the U.S. West Coast next month, scientists are reporting. Current models predict that the radiation will be at extremely low levels that won’t harm humans or the environment, said Ken Buesseler, a chemical oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who presented research on the issue last week. But Buesseler and other scientists are calling for more monitoring. No federal agency currently samples Pacific Coast seawater for radiation, he said. "I’m not trying to be alarmist," Buesseler said. "We can make predictions, we can do models. But unless you have results, how will we know it’s safe?" The […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Canadian Oil-Sands Producer Bedeviled by Mystery Leaks

  Nearly a year after unexplained leaks began to surface at one of For Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.’s main oil-sands production sites, the company remains haunted by the slow-motion spill. In the latest setback for the company, the Alberta Energy Regulator has turned down its application to resume steaming operations in affected area, known as Primrose, which sits on a military base in northern Alberta. “The AER determined that it was premature to approve this application, in lights of the ongoing investigation into the leaks at Primrose,” said Bob Curren, a spokesman for the province’s chief energy regulator. The AER’s decision came on Friday, just a day after CNRL chief executive Steve Laut told financial analysts the issue was “totally solvable” and that the Calgary-based company hoped to restart steaming in the impacted area “in the March-April time frame,” pending regulatory approval. The mysterious subterranean leaks of oily water, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Titans in Russia Fear New Front in Ukraine Crisis

Russian oligarchs are facing the prospect of economic fallout from the crisis. Credit Uriel Sinai for The New York Times MOSCOW — When Vladimir V. Putin returned to the Russian presidency in 2012, one of the first messages he sent to his political elite, many of them heads of banks and large corporations, was that the times had changed: Owning assets outside Russia makes you too vulnerable to moves by foreign governments, he told them. It is time to bring your wealth home. Nearly two years later, those words seem almost prophetic. After a week of escalating tensions between Russia and the United States, it has become clear that the conflict over Ukraine will move to the battlefield of finance. Those same business titans are now contemplating the damage that the crisis could inflict on Russia’s economy. Twenty years into the project […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

London warns utilities against exploiting Ukrainian crisis

British utility companies shouldn’t use the crisis over Ukraine as an excuse to raise consumer energy prices, British Energy Secretary Ed Davey said. European consumers are wary of a repeat of a 2009 gas contract dispute between Ukraine and Russian energy company Gazprom that resulted in a brief supply disruption. With Russia frustrated with recent political developments in Ukraine, Davey warned utility companies against raising prices in response to the crisis. "Companies tend to buy their gas forwardly, 18 months in advance," he was quoted by the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph as saying Sunday. "So they shouldn’t be using [the Ukrainian crisis] as an excuse to put up people’s prices." European consumers get about a quarter of their gas needs met by Russia. Most of that runs through the Soviet-era transit network in Ukraine. Davey said there was an increase in oil and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil Falls on Weak China Data

Crude-oil futures fell in Asian trading hours Monday on weak Chinese trade data and a drop in the country’s oil imports in February. On the New York Mercantile Exchange light, sweet crude futures for delivery in April traded at $102.34 a barrel at 0537 GMT–down $0.24 in the Globex electronic session. April Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.56 to $108.44 a barrel. China’s exports contracted unexpectedly by 18.1% on year in February after 10.6% growth in January–although some market participants attributed this to the Lunar New Year holidays. China’s total oil and oil product imports also fell in February by 13% on month to 6.03 million barrels a day but was 7% higher on year. While crude-oil imports eased after hitting records in January oil-product imports posted a much sharper drop on softer demand. Crude-oil imports in China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, are supported by […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

WTI Oil Falls as China Export Drop Signals Slower Growth

West Texas Intermediate and Brent crudes fell for the first time in three days after exports from China unexpectedly shrank, stoking speculation that the world’s second-largest oil consumer may miss economic growth targets. Futures lost as much as 1.5 percent in New York . China’s overseas shipments declined by 18.1 percent in February from a year earlier, the biggest drop since August 2009, the General Administration of Customs reported on March 8. A median 7.5 percent increase was projected in a Bloomberg News survey of 45 economists. WTI rose 1 percent on March 7, the most in four days, as hedge funds increased bullish bets. “Falling Chinese exports could be seen as sign of a slowing global economy,” said Carsten Fritsch , an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt . While the data has “spooked the oil market,” the Chinese economy is still forecast to expand by 7.3 percent […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

West Tries to Loosen Russia's Gas Grip

Western officials are scrambling to loosen Russia’s energy stranglehold on Ukraine, the latest sign of growing pressure on Moscow to end the crisis. The options being considered by officials from Brussels to Washington include larger exports of U.S.-made natural gas, reversing the flow of natural gas through pipelines from Western Europe back into Ukraine, and accelerating plans across Europe to buy more energy from countries other than Russia. "If no solution to this can be found," European countries will "recast their approach to energy and economic links with Russia over time," U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague said Sunday. Western officials also have threatened sanctions against Russia if the Kremlin continues its occupation of the Crimea region of Ukraine. The threats have failed so far, with Russian President Vladimir Putin declaring his support Sunday for Crimea’s move to secede from Ukraine. The region could join Russia as soon as this […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

West Tries to Loosen Russia’s Gas Grip

Western officials are scrambling to loosen Russia’s energy stranglehold on Ukraine, the latest sign of growing pressure on Moscow to end the crisis. The options being considered by officials from Brussels to Washington include larger exports of U.S.-made natural gas, reversing the flow of natural gas through pipelines from Western Europe back into Ukraine, and accelerating plans across Europe to buy more energy from countries other than Russia. "If no solution to this can be found," European countries will "recast their approach to energy and economic links with Russia over time," U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague said Sunday. Western officials also have threatened sanctions against Russia if the Kremlin continues its occupation of the Crimea region of Ukraine. The threats have failed so far, with Russian President Vladimir Putin declaring his support Sunday for Crimea’s move to secede from Ukraine. The region could join Russia as soon as this […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Iranian Foreign Minister Questions Western Commitment to Nuclear Deal

The Iranian foreign minister raised doubts about the West’s commitment to resolving the nuclear standoff in a pointed message to visiting European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. Baroness Ashton met on Sunday with President Hasan Rouhani, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, Ali Larijani, the powerful speaker of the parliament, and Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It was her first visit to the country and one of the highest-profile visits by a Western official since nuclear talks advanced late last year. The talks covered a range of issues from Iran’s disputed nuclear program to the conflict in Syria, human rights and Afghanistan. After lengthy talks, Mr. Zarif publicly questioned the West’s commitment to a full nuclear deal and about whether an interim deal reached in November was being properly implemented. "It is up to the other side [to] come to the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Libya Vows to Block Tanker Attempt to Lift Oil in Rebel Port

Libya ’s government vowed to prevent a tanker from leaving a rebel-held oil port as it struggles to reassert control over the nation’s main source of revenue. The vessel arrived on March 8 in Es Sider, the nation’s largest oil-export terminal, after Libyan armed forces refused government orders to fire on the ship, Prime Minister Ali Zaidan said in Tripoli, the capital. Air force officers told Zaidan they didn’t want to risk harming civilians or causing an oil spill , the Libya Herald newspaper reported. Navy vessels have moved to stop the tanker from leaving, Culture Minister Habib Lamin told a news conference yesterday. “The government should now actively seek a solution” with rebels in the self-proclaimed eastern region of Barqa, Asma Sraibah, a member of parliament, said yesterday in a telephone interview in the capital city. “It would be a disaster if the government loses its main source […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigerians Ask Why Oil Funds Are Missing

Even in a country where untold oil wealth disappears into the pockets of the elite, the oil corruption scheme he was investigating seemed outsize — and he threatened to lay it bare at a meeting with Nigeria ’s top bankers. The rabble-rouser was none other than the governor of the country’s central bank. Weeks later, however, he was out, fired by Nigeria’s president in an episode that has shaken the Nigerian economy, filled newspapers and airwaves here, and even inspired a rare street demonstration. The bankers were going to have to open their books, the governor, Lamido Sanusi, warned them at the recent meeting. He wanted to see where the money was going — $20 billion from oil sales that, mysteriously, was not making its way to the treasury, in a country that could soon be declared Africa’s biggest economy and already attracts the most direct […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigeria: Fuel Price Hits the Skies, As Scarcity Bites Harder

Fuel scarcity has hit virtually all parts of the country, with scanty evidence that it will abate soon. Aside the irritating scarcity, the hike in the pump price of fuel in some parts of the North has added agony to both dealers and consumers of the commodity, often referred to as ‘black gold,’ reports Weekly Trust. It has been weeks of scarcity of fuel across Nigeria, as motorists spend long hours in queues at filling stations to buy what many now call ‘black gold.’ But what has remained a constant headache to consumers of the commodity is the price hike that has come with the scarcity, at the few filling stationswhich open occasionally. In Kaduna, the fuel shortage has led to long queues in petrol stations, with a concomitant increase in pump price. Investigations revealed that the price of fuel ranges between N100 and N130 per litre, depending on […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Venezuela National Guard attacks barriers

People in the western Venezuelan city of San Cristobal, where the current eruption of anti-government unrest began early last month, say National Guard troops have attacked and dismantled barricades that protesters had raised at key intersections. Local TV journalist Beatriz Font and other witnesses say guardsmen fired a lot of tear gas, including at nearby residential buildings, according to The Associated Press. They say the attack began before midnight and continued into early Monday. Font said the guardsmen broke windows and several people reported from apartment buildings near the intersections that children and elderly people were being affected by the gas. The disturbance began a day after hundreds of National Guardsmen in riot gear and armored vehicles prevented an "empty pots march" from reaching Venezuela’s Food Ministry on Saturday to protest now-chronic food shortages. President Nicolas Maduro’s government, meanwhile, celebrated an Organization of American States (OAS) declaration supporting its […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Poor China exports data damp mood

Disappointing economic data from China, alongside lingering tensions over Ukraine, are causing certain growth-focused assets to retreat at the start of the week. The FTSE All-World equity index is down 0.1 per cent, industrial commodity prices are lower and funds are moving into fixed-income “havens”. Gold is down $6 to $1,334 an ounce. However, the mood has improved since the European session got under way, leaving markets looking muddled as the day’s negative catalysts encounter the underlying long-term bullish trend. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 started down 0.2 per cent, hurt by weak mining stocks and not helped by fears of an escalation of the crisis in Ukraine as media report the continued expansion of Russia’s military presence in the region. The Russian and Ukrainian stock markets are closed for Women’s Day. But the Europe-wide benchmark is now up 0.5 per cent, tracking a rebound by […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

China Cities Flunk Air-Quality Test

A man exercises in the morning as he faces chimneys emitting smoke behind buildings across the Songhua River in Jilin. Reuters When it comes to China’s bad air problem, Beijing usually gets all the attention. But it has plenty of company. Only three of the 74 cities monitored by China’s own environmental authorities measured up in terms of air quality last year. According to Wu Xiaoqing, a deputy minister at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the 74 cities were measured against newly introduced air quality standards for particulate matters and gases. The five worst offenders were all in the northern province of Hebei, which surrounds Beijing. Xingtai led the list followed by Shijiazhuang, Handan, Tangshan and Baoding. Hengshui and Langfang, also in Hebei, were in the top ten. But the problem was far more widespread. Xian, Zhengzhou and Jinan were among the worst. Other cities in the monitoring sample […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

China auto sales down from record high

China’s automobile sales fell in February from a record high in January mainly due to holiday factors, new data showed on Monday. Sales amounted to 1.6 million units last month, down 25.97 percent from 2.16 million units in January, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said in a statement. Production dropped 20.18 percent from a month earlier to 1.64 million units, the statement said. The association attributed the drops mainly to distortion from the Spring Festival holiday, which ran from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6. On a year-on-year basis, the auto industry maintained strong growth, with sales up 17.84 percent and production surging 21.53 percent. In the first two months of the year, automobile sales rose 10.73 percent from a year earlier to 3.75 million units and production increased by 11.38 percent to 3.69 million units, the CAAM said. China has been the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

After Fukushima, Utilities Prepare for Worst

Stored near the twin nuclear reactors here, safely above the flood level of the Susquehanna River, is a gleaming new six-wheel pickup truck with a metal blade on the front that can plow away debris from an earthquake or other disaster. Attached to the back is a trailer that carries a giant diesel-powered pump that can deliver 500 gallons of water a minute. If the operators at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan had owned such equipment when the tsunami struck three years ago Tuesday, they might have staved off disaster, plant operators say. Now, here at the Peach Bottom nuclear plant, which has the same […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Keystone Foes Try Flattery to Sway Kerry Against Pipeline

Environmentalists are praising Secretary of State John Kerry in hopes of burying, figuratively speaking, the Keystone XL pipeline. Bill Burton , a former press secretary to President Barack Obama who is helping a coalition of environmental groups opposed to the project, calls Kerry, “one of the great climate leaders of his generation.” Dan Weiss, climate strategy director at the Center for American Progress, put Kerry on par with environmental icons like the naturalist John Muir and anti-pollution writer Rachel Carson. Academy Award winner Jared Leto, along with other activists, sent a letter last week urging him to take a stand against Keystone as he did against the Vietnam War as a young veteran in testimony to a Senate committee in 1971. “We dare to believe that it’s not just an accident of history that this recommendation falls to you,” the group wrote. The accolades are piling up just as […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

BP Is Biggest Loser Among U.S. Government Contractors

BP once the Pentagon’s top fuel supplier, is now the biggest loser among U.S. government vendors. A combination of no big contracts awarded and promised military work withdrawn left BP with a net loss of $654 million in federal contracts in the year that ended Sept. 30, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compared with $2.51 billion in awards in fiscal 2012. “I have never heard of a contractor falling in anything remotely like the distance from plus $2 billion to minus $600 million,” said Charles Tiefer, a University of Baltimore law professor and former member of the U.S. Commission on Wartime Contracting. “The government has come down on BP because it needs to see that BP does not merely talk the talk of behaving responsibly but actually walks the walk.” The London-based company was temporarily barred from new federal contracts and other work after […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Polar Vortex Emboldens Industry to Push Old Coal Plants

The polar vortex may give new life to aging coal and nuclear power plants in the U.S. Masses of arctic air rolling down from the North Pole have driven electricity prices to more than 10 times last year’s average in many parts of the country and have threatened some cities with winter blackouts. They’ve also emboldened energy companies to call for extending the lives of older and dirtier coal plants, as well as aging nuclear reactors. Despite a concerted campaign by environmentalists and public health experts to stanch its use, coal, the most plentiful and cheapest fuel in the world, is proving globally resilient. In the U.S., rising natural gas prices are prodding utilities to switch back to coal at levels not seen since 2011. Now, Edison Electric Institute, the Washington-based trade group of U.S. investor-owned utilities, is turning to the latest series of cold snaps to bolster their […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Americans riding public transit in record numbers

Americans are boarding public buses, trains and subways in greater numbers than any time since the suburbs began booming. Nearly 10.7 billion trips in 2013, to be precise – the highest total since 1956, according to ridership data reported by transit systems nationally and released Monday by the American Public Transportation Association. Transit ridership has now fully recovered from a dip caused by the Great Recession. With services restored following economy-driven cutbacks, ridership numbers appear set to continue what had been a steady increase. "People are making a fundamental shift to having options" aside from a car in how they get around, said Michael Melaniphy, president and CEO of the public transportation association. "This is a long-term trend. This isn’t just a blip." Expanding bus and train networks help spur the growth. Ridership on Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority light-rail trains increased […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Ukraine, Russia and the nonexistent U.S. oil and natural gas "weapon"

Commentators were falling all over themselves last week to announce that far from being impotent in the Ukraine crisis, the United States had a very important weapon: growing oil and natural gas production which could compete on the world market and challenge Russian dominance over Ukrainian and European energy supplies–if only the U.S. government would change the laws and allow this bounty to be exported. But, there’s one very big problem with this view. The United States is still a net importer of both oil and natural gas. The economics of natural gas exports beyond Mexico and Canada–which are both integrated into a North American pipeline system–suggest that such exports will be very limited if they ever come at all. And, there is no reasonable prospect that the United States will ever become a net exporter of oil. Natural Gas Tank  (Image credit: Shutterstock ) U.S. net imports of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Ukraine, Russia and the nonexistent U.S. oil and natural gas “weapon”

Commentators were falling all over themselves last week to announce that far from being impotent in the Ukraine crisis, the United States had a very important weapon: growing oil and natural gas production which could compete on the world market and challenge Russian dominance over Ukrainian and European energy supplies–if only the U.S. government would change the laws and allow this bounty to be exported. But, there’s one very big problem with this view. The United States is still a net importer of both oil and natural gas. The economics of natural gas exports beyond Mexico and Canada–which are both integrated into a North American pipeline system–suggest that such exports will be very limited if they ever come at all. And, there is no reasonable prospect that the United States will ever become a net exporter of oil. Natural Gas Tank  (Image credit: Shutterstock ) U.S. net imports of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Natural Gas Will Not Save the US Economy

Economist Kenneth Boulding famously said, “Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.” But it’s not just economists who believe that anymore. Such ideas are still widely accepted by thought leaders, journalists, and politicians who, together, form a strong consensus that the U.S. recovery should be bolstered by natural gas exploration and production. The McKinsey Global Institute claims in a recent report that a natural gas boom is one of the most important “game changer” ideas for U.S. economic growth, while The Economist writes , “Become a champion of a global fracking revolution, Mr. Obama, and the world could look on America very differently.” And in his recent State of the Union address, President Barack Obama said “I’ll cut red tape” for factories that use natural gas, and that “Congress can […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil Grinds Out Gain for Day, But Virtually Unchanged on Week

U.S. oil futures ended Friday with a small rally to gain 1%, after a volatile week driven by geopolitical disruptions in Ukraine and the appearance of bearish fundamental factors in domestic supply data. Prices for West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.02, or 1%, to settle at $102.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The global Brent contract finished up 90 cents, or 0.8%, at $109.00. The ending price for the U.S. benchmark was just one cent below its level a week ago, meaning, essentially, the past week’s bullish and bearish factors in the market canceled out each other. "If we look at what happened for week as whole, we’re virtually unchanged on the week," said Citigroup analyst Tim Evans. "If you put the week in perspective, we tested the upside on the Ukraine story, then we tested the downside, and then parked the nearby WTI price almost […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

WTI Crude Rises After U.S. Payrolls Gain

West Texas Intermediate crude rose for a second day after U.S. employers added more workers than projected in February, bolstering optimism about the economy. The WTI-Brent spread narrowed. Futures increased 1 percent in New York. Labor Department figures showed a 175,000 gain in employment. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg projected a 149,000 advance. Futures dropped earlier this week as concern eased that Russia ’s incursion into Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula would spark a broader conflict and disrupt energy shipments. “The jobs number was much better than expected and as a result we’re going into the weekend on an up note,” said Michael Lynch , president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts . “Attention has shifted to the economy for now. Crimea already seems like old news.” WTI for April delivery advanced $1.02 to settle at $102.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange . Prices fell 1 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

NYMEX April natural gas future contract settles 4.4 cents lower after day of consolidation

The NYMEX April natural gas futures contract fell 4.4 cents to settle at $4.618/MMBtu Friday after a day of largely directionless trade and consolidation, sources said. "We continue to consolidate above $4.50[/MMBtu]," TFS Energy Futures broker Gene McGillian said. "The market took on a little bit of a bounce [Thursday] … but when we failed to attract new buying, it kind of came off. Now it’s just treading water." As for fundamentals, McGillian said that while temperatures are poised to rise next week in the US Midwest and Northeast, that trend will reverse and turn colder again by the end of March. Article continues below… Request a free trial of: Gas Daily 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 informed about complex […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Natural-Gas Futures Slip on Brief Letup in Cold

–April contract falls 0.9% to $4.6180/mmBtu –Intermission from frigid temperatures cited, but cold expected to return –Prices still well below highs set last month Natural-gas futures edged lower Friday as warmer temperatures entered the picture in the Midwest and Northeast, putting a break on a season of unrelenting cold that has driven gas-fired heating demand. Gas futures for April delivery fell 4.4 cents, or 0.9%, to $4.6180 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices soared during the severe cold winter but are now off nearly 25% from the multiyear highs set last month as the end of winter approaches and demand for gas heating eases. "We have to keep in mind that what drove the rally was severe cold and record demand," said Gene McGillian, an analyst and broker at Tradition Energy. "The markets are readjusting from an oversupplied market to one where supplies […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Gasoline Heads for Biggest Gain in 11 Weeks as Supplies Drop

Gasoline headed for the biggest weekly gain since December as supplies fell amid a seasonal switch to summer-grade fuel, which is more expensive to produce. Prices climbed as much as 0.5 percent. Gasoline supplies fell 1.6 million barrels last week to 229 million, the lowest level in eight weeks, according to Energy Information Administration data. PADD 1 supplies sank 2.8 percent to 59.5 million. “Refiners have to get rid of winter-grade gasoline and start to build up summer-grade gasoline,” said Dominick Chirichella, senior partner at the Energy Management Institute in New York . April-delivery gasoline rose 1 cent to $2.9555 a gallon at 10:08 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange . Volume was 11 percent below the 100-day average. Prices are up 5.9 percent this week, the most since the period ended Dec. 20. The average U.S. pump price rose 1 cent to $3.484 a gallon, according to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Platts Survey: OPEC Pumps 30.11 Million Barrels of Crude Oil Per Day in February

Up 240,000 b/d from January, Driven by Surge in Iraqi Oil Exports London – March 7, 2014 Crude oil production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) climbed by 240,000 barrels per day (b/d) to 30.11 million b/d in February from 29.87 million b/d in January following a surge in Iraqi exports and despite new setbacks in Libya, a just-released Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials and analysts showed. “These are the sorts of output numbers that not long okago, when combined with the rising production from North America, looked like they might weigh on the market and cause a fall in prices,” said John Kingston, Platts global director of news. “In particular, the Iraq numbers are surprising, given that output there has been troubled in recent months. And yet, West Texas Intermediate crude is solidly above $100, Brent prices are up near $110, and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Libya port rebels say have started exporting oil

Armed protesters who have seized oil ports in eastern Libya said on Saturday they had started exporting oil, bypassing the Tripoli government, with their first shipment going to a North Korean-flagged tanker. Officials at state-run National Oil Corp (NOC) confirmed earlier on Saturday that the tanker was docked at the Es-Sider port, which is under the control of a rebel group demanding autonomy and a greater share of Libya’s oil wealth. "We started exporting oil. This is our first shipment," said a spokesman for the protesters, who have seized Es-Sider and two other ports. The tanker Morning Glory, which had been circling off the Libyan coast for days, was preparing to load crude at the port, said an oil official, asking not to be identified. Oil workers at the port confirmed the docking. "We have informed the government and the defense ministry so they can take […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

BP shelves onshore work in Libya

British energy company BP said in an annual report it was exploring other options for exploration drilling onshore in Libya because of security concerns. BP in 2007 secured exploration and production-sharing agreements with the Libyan government for the onshore Ghadames basin and the offshore Sirte basin. In an annual report filed Thursday, the company said planning for offshore exploration drilling was continuing. "With respect to the onshore exploration drilling program, a security review in June concluded that this could not be safely and securely delivered by BP at this time," it said. "Alternative approaches are being considered." London’s commercial ties to Tripoli were questioned following the 2009 release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi , the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. BP was accused of playing a role in the decision to release him, though the allegations […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Iran president criticizes hard-liners over media

Iran’s moderate-leaning president has strongly criticized hard-line officials for ordering reformist newspapers shut down. Judicial authorities ordered two pro-reform newspapers – Aseman and Bahar – closed in recent months on allegations of questioning Islamic principles. President Hassan Rouhani told reporters Saturday that it was wrong to close down a newspaper on its first offense just because one writer was seen as inappropriate. His comments were broadcast live on state TV. Rouhani said his opponents were free to attack him. Hard-line media has denounced the historic nuclear deal his administration reached with world powers in Geneva last year a "poisoned chalice." Iran’s hard-line judiciary has shut down more than 150 pro-reform newspapers and jailed dozens of editors and writers, often on vague charges of insulting authorities, since 2000. © 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Jordan, Iraq, Egypt join hands on natural gas, oil

The Jordanian government said it signed natural gas deals with Egypt and discussed the prospects for future oil cooperation with Iraq. Egyptian Petroleum Minister Sherif Ismail Mohamed joined Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi in Amman for a trilateral energy meeting. During the meeting, Jordan and Egypt signed deals to secure natural gas deliveries through the Arab Gas Pipeline, a 750-mile pipeline from Egypt. A separate deal called for connecting future liquefied natural gas supplies through the pipeline for Jordanian energy companies, the official Jordan News Agency reported Thursday. The Egyptian section of the pipeline has been the frequent target of terrorist attacks, causing problems for Jordan. Last month, Jordanian companies Arab Potash and Jordan Bromine secured a total gross quantity of 66 billion cubic feet of natural gas from the Tamar field, located off the Israeli coast. With Iraq, the Jordanian government said both sides expected an oil […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Voices from Baghdad

Ten years ago Christine Spolar reported on the Iraq war. Last month she returned to find her old colleagues and friends living in fear, and a city traumatised by spiralling violence A car bomb attack in Baghdad on January 15 ©Ayman Oghanna for The New York Times A car bomb attack in Baghdad on January 15 The emails from Baghdad popped up in the middle of my London workday. Friends, one-time drivers and translators, who had helped me navigate war-torn Iraq a decade ago, were responding to my New Year’s hello – and their words left me blinking, hard, at the computer. “I won’t tell you how miserable life in Baghdad is these days. You’re watching the news and you know. It’s worse than ever,” wrote Nadeem Majeed, an engineer who once worked as a translator for the Chicago Tribune and now manages a Nissan distributorship. His district was […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Bombings, shootings kill 22 in Iraq

dozen bombings in central Iraq and two shootings in the north killed 22 people Thursday, officials and doctors said, as the country suffers its worst violence in years. Iraq has been hit by a year-long surge in bloodshed that has reached levels not seen since 2008, driven by widespread discontent among its Sunni Arab minority and by the civil war in neighbouring Syria. On Thursday evening, four car bombs exploded in Baghdad, killing at least 11 people and wounding 47, officials said. The bombings targeted a cafe, a market, a main street and an area of car dealerships. Militants frequently attack places where crowds gather, such as cafes, markets, football fields and mosques, in an effort to maximise casualties. The Baghdad blasts followed a car bombing near a checkpoint north of the capital that killed […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Suicide bomber uses Iraq police Humvee in attack

Authorities in Iraq say a suicide bomber has used a stolen police Humvee to pass through a military checkpoint and set off his explosives, wounding 14 people. The attack happened Saturday in Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar province, where Iraqi security forces have been battling militants who took control of parts of the town in late December. Police say militants stole the Humvee and painted it with military colors to trick soldiers into letting it by. Elsewhere on Saturday, police say a roadside bomb targeting a military vehicle in Baqouba, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, killed a captain and wounded four soldiers. Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures for the attacks. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren’t authorized to release the information. © 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Kazakhstan Sues Foreign Oil Majors Over Flailing Kashagan

Kazakhstan is suing foreign oil majors developing its huge Kashagan oilfield in the Caspian Sea, a tactic similar to those that secured the government large stakes in two of the three multinational energy projects on its territory. Repeated delays at the 13-year-old project, targeted to produce as much oil as OPEC member Angola from a reserve almost as big as Brazil’s, have infuriated the Kazakh government. The consortium, led by Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell , Total and Eni as well as Kazakh state oil firm KazMunaiGas, may face Kazakhstan seizing a bigger stake in Kashagan or refusing to reimburse a big chunk of the $50 billion spent on bringing it onstream. The latter option is written into the Kashagan […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple