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Oil Futures Pressured by Weak Chinese Industrial Data

Crude-oil futures backtracked from an early rebound in Asian trading hours Thursday after gains were capped due to weaker-than-expected industrial output data from China. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in April traded at $98.19 a barrel at 0550 GMT, up $0.20 in the Globex electronic session. April Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.29 to $108.31 a barrel. Industrial production in China undershot expectations to increase 8.6% year-over-year in the January-February period, in yet another indication of slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy. The increase was below the median 9.5% gain forecast by 13 economists in a Wall Street Journal survey. "Some of the numbers coming in below forecast will add to the bearish sentiment in the market and put pressure on crude-oil prices," said Tan Chee Tat, analyst at Phillip Futures. "The underperforming [data] releases […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil back above $98 after China jitters

The price of oil rose above $98 per barrel on Thursday after plunging the day before on concern China’s economic slowdown is deepening. Benchmark U.S. crude for April delivery was up 11 cents to $98.19 per barrel at 0830 GMT in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. A day earlier, the contract fell $2.04 to close at $97.99, its first close below $100 in a month. Brent crude, used to set prices for international varieties of crude, was down 2 cents to $107.33 on the ICE exchange in London. A decline in Chinese exports in February has fueled worries the world’s second-largest economy is weakening further. Growth in factory output, investment and retail sales, reported Thursday, was unusually weak. Oil prices had been falling after spiking last week on fears Russia’s military incursion into the Crimean Peninsula might lead to U.S. and European sanctions on one of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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WTI Trades Near One-Month Low on China Data; Brent Premium Gains

West Texas Intermediate traded near the lowest price since February after data showed slower growth in factory output in China , the world’s second-largest oil consumer. Brent’s premium to WTI widened. Futures were little changed in New York after falling the most since in two months yesterday. Chinese industrial production expanded by 8.6 percent in the January-February period from a year earlier, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. A 9.5 percent gain was forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. The U.S. announced a test sale of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve while the Energy Information Administration reported a 6.18 million-barrel increase in crude stockpiles , triple the median analyst estimate. “It’s not an improving picture with a very weak rating on industrial production,” Michael McCarthy, a chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, said by phone. “We could see oil under pressure over the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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OPEC sees global oil production up

With world oil demand growing, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Wednesday most producers were firing on all cylinders. OPEC said in its monthly market report for March it revised its world oil demand growth for 2013 up by 70,000 barrels per day to 1.05 million barrels per day. "For 2014, global oil demand is seen rising by 1.14 million bpd, following an upward revision of 50,000 bpd," the March report said. OPEC said there’s a general "assumption" the global economy will recover gradually in 2014, despite some disappointing data from the United States and China. While ongoing turmoil in Ukraine adds risk to the health of the global economy, the cartel said the European community as a whole should experience economic growth this year. Demand for OPEC crude oil remained relatively steady, though the cartel expected demand to decline through 2014 by […]

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Libya Peace Deal Seen Complicated by Oil Cargo From Rebel Port

The prospect of a deal between Libya ’s eastern rebels and the central government is diminishing after the breakaway region shipped its first cargo of crude oil. A North Korean-flagged tanker left Es Sider, the largest oil-export terminal, yesterday after the navy refused to attack the vessel and then failed to impound it. Libya’s parliament then ousted Prime Minister Ali Zaidan in a no confidence vote. Federalists in the Barqa region control four oil ports and are demanding a share of the revenue from exports. “This will complicate a settlement because it emboldens the Barqa people,” said Theodore Karasik , the director of research at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis. “It shows their ability to operate independently from the central government.” Libya’s central government has been hobbled by a lack of oil revenue since the ouster of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. Crude production slumped […]

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Gunmen attack army bus in Cairo, kill 1 soldier

Egyptian security officials say gunmen have opened fire on an army bus in Cairo, killing one officer and wounding three soldiers. The officials say the bus, which belongs to the army’s Military Police, was driving through the capital’s Amiriyah district when it was targeted on Thursday morning. The officials did not say who was responsible for the attack, which bore the hallmarks of Islamic militants. In the eight months since the ouster of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, militants have targeted the military and police forces in Cairo and elsewhere in the country, often using motorbikes. Militants also are waging a full-fledged insurgency in the strategic Sinai Peninsula. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Libyan PM flees country after ouster

Former Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan  fled to Europe in defiance of a travel ban on Wednesday after parliament voted him out of office for failing to stop rebels from independently exporting oil from the country in a challenge to  Libya’s fragile unity . The crisis arose when rebels, who have seized three eastern ports since August, loaded crude oil onto a North Korean-flagged tanker  at Al-Sidra terminal over the weekend. The tanker left Al-Sidra on Tuesday. According to varying accounts by government officials, the navy or air force then fired on the vessel, although it was not clear if this happened in Libyan or international waters. Government spokesman Habib al-Amin told a news conference in Tripoli on Wednesday that the firing failed to disable the tanker, which proceeded eastwards into Egyptian waters. He said Libya had asked Egypt and other countries to help stop the ship. There was […]

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North Korea Says Egyptian Firm Controls Libya Oil Tanker

North Korea denied on Thursday it was illegally exporting oil from rebel-controlled eastern Libya, claiming that an Egyptian company was operating a North Korean flagged oil tanker in the center of an armed standoff since Saturday. North Korea said it had revoked the registry of the tanker, named "Morning Glory," and demanded that Alexandria-based Golden East Logistics Company leave al-Sidra port without loading oil. The tanker, carrying at least 234,000 barrels of crude oil, sailed from a rebel-controlled port into international waters on Tuesday. A contract signed by North Korea with the Egyptian company prohibits the tanker from transporting contraband cargo and entering war or disaster zones, North Korea said through a report in its state media. "The ship has nothing to do with the DPRK at present and it (North Korea) has no responsibility whatsoever as regards the ship," the report said, using the abbreviation of country’s official […]

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Kurdistan tourist towns last resort for Iraqi refugees

The holiday season has yet to begin, but hotels in the mountain resort towns of Iraq’s Kurdistan region are already fully booked. The patrons are not tourists but refugees who have fled conflict in the country’s arid Sunni Arab heartland for the relative safety of its autonomous north, where Kurds run their own affairs. Shaqlawa may seem an unlikely refuge, but the resort town’s population has swollen by almost a half since the start of the year. On the main street of the town, crowded with construction sites, motels and guest houses, the newly opened "Falluja Kebab Restaurant" is testimony to its new residents. It is no small irony in a country with a historic enmity between Sunni Arabs and Kurds that residents of Anbar, a place synonmous with Arab nationalism, should now seek sanctuary with their onetime foe. In this mix, there is mistrust […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Nigeria: Missing U.S.$20 Billion – Government Approves Forensic Audit of Corrupt NNPC

The Federal Government may soon commence the forensic audit of the accounts of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, as President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the engagement of reputable international firms to handle the exercise. The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Reuben Abati, who stated this in Abuja on Wednesday, said this was to reassure Nigerians that government was actually determined to unravel the truth and get to the root of the controversy. Mr. Abati said that contrary to claims by the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Lamido Sanusi that government was attempting to sweep the allegation of missing oil monies under the carpet, President Goodluck Jonathan was committed to ensuring that the relevant committees of the National Assembly investigated the issues to ensure that the culprits were brought to book. Mr. Abati was reacting to alleged claims by Mr. Sanusi […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple