Oil Ends Month With 5% Gain
NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil rose slightly Friday and finished the month with a gain of 5 percent. Benchmark U.S. crude for April delivery rose 19 cents Continue Reading
Speculators Hold Record Bullish Position on Crude
Speculators, including hedge funds, held a record-high bullish bet on U.S. crude-oil prices in data released Friday by U.S. commodity regulators. Money managers raised their net wagers on rising prices in the futures market to 339,052 contracts as of Tuesday, a 2.2% increase from the previous week. Those positions were worth a combined $34.5 billion at Tuesday’s settlement price of $101.83 a barrel. Futures have rallied in recent weeks as a new pipeline transported crude oil out of storage in Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for futures contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange that act as a benchmark for U.S. oil prices. A storage glut has built up in Cushing in recent years as U.S. oil production rapidly increased without sufficient transportation channels to connect the crude to existing refineries. The bottleneck kept U.S. prices below that of Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, in recent years. […]
Diesel Futures Rise as Another Storm Heads to U.S. Northeast
Diesel futures rose as snow and another winter storm heads from the U.S. Midwest into the Northeast, increasing demand for heating fuel. There’s at least a 30 percent chance for 8 inches (20 centimeters) of snow in New York from late March 2 to 3, the National Weather Service said. East Coast inventories of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, were 46 percent below the five-year average as of Feb. 21, Energy Information Administration data show. “A good portion of the Northeast from the Upper Lakes, Ohio Valley up through New England are going to get pounded,” said Stephen Schork , president of the Schork Group Inc., an energy advisory company in Villanova, Pennsylvania . Ultra low sulfur diesel for March delivery rose 0.44 cent to $3.0909 a gallon at 11:05 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange on volume that was 12 percent below the 100-day average. […]
Natural Gas Climbs on Forecasts of Prolonged Cold
Natural-gas futures ended the week on a high note with a modest gain Friday, bolstered by forecasts that cold winter weather will continue to loom over the U.S. in March. Natural gas for April delivery settled up 9.8 cents, or 2.2%, at $4.609 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures fell 6.8% this month, snapping a four-month winning streak and suffering the worst monthly loss since June. The commodity in recent days had declined as traders looked ahead to warmer spring weather, though conversely, a cold weather pattern is on the horizon and warmer-than-normal temperatures that had been forecasted for mid-March have now been replaced with expectations of more cold air. Colder-than-average temperatures have eaten away at natural-gas stockpiles this winter […]
Iraq: 'This is war,' say Kurds in oil fight with Baghdad
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ‘s dispute with Iraq’s Kurdish minority over its independent oil exports has escalated with the central government blocking Kurdistan’s share of the state budget and banning two airlines that operate between Europe and the Kurds’ semiautonomous northern enclave. Kurdistan’s president, Massoud Barzani , warned Maliki that his actions are "a declaration of war against the people of Kurdistan." The simmering feud between the autocratically inclined Maliki and the independence-minded Kurds seems set to escalate sharply. But Maliki is facing a potentially explosive parliamentary election on April 30, the first since U.S. military forces withdrew in December 2011. He hopes it will bring him a third term as premier, while battling a widening insurgency by the minority Sunnis and al-Qaida that many in Baghdad fear will eventually spread to Iraq’s all-important oil industry, which is largely in the Shiite-controlled south. Some […]
Iraq: ‘This is war,’ say Kurds in oil fight with Baghdad
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ‘s dispute with Iraq’s Kurdish minority over its independent oil exports has escalated with the central government blocking Kurdistan’s share of the state budget and banning two airlines that operate between Europe and the Kurds’ semiautonomous northern enclave. Kurdistan’s president, Massoud Barzani , warned Maliki that his actions are "a declaration of war against the people of Kurdistan." The simmering feud between the autocratically inclined Maliki and the independence-minded Kurds seems set to escalate sharply. But Maliki is facing a potentially explosive parliamentary election on April 30, the first since U.S. military forces withdrew in December 2011. He hopes it will bring him a third term as premier, while battling a widening insurgency by the minority Sunnis and al-Qaida that many in Baghdad fear will eventually spread to Iraq’s all-important oil industry, which is largely in the Shiite-controlled south. Some […]
Fourth-quarter growth cut to 2.4 percent
The U.S. government slashed its estimate for fourth-quarter growth as consumer spending and exports were less robust than initially thought, leaving the economy on a more sustainable path of modest expansion. Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.4 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Friday. That was down sharply from the 3.2 percent pace reported last month and the 4.1 percent logged in the third quarter. Economists polled by Reuters had expected growth would be cut to a 2.5 percent pace. It is not unusual for the government to make sharp revisions to GDP numbers, as it does not have complete data when it makes its initial estimates. In fact, the latest figures will be subject to revisions next month as more information is received. The revision left GDP just above the economy’s potential growth trend, which analysts put somewhere between a 2 percent […]
Libyan colonel shot dead in Benghazi
A Libyan security official says gunmen have shot dead an officer in the air defense branch in the eastern city of Benghazi. The official says Colonel Wanis Massoud al-Barghathi was gunned down Friday night. He didn’t provide further details, and spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media. A wave of assassinations and bombings has targeted police and army officers in Benghazi, a stronghold of militias with roots in the rebel brigades that fought against slain dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Some of the groups are Islamic hard-liners with al-Qaida links. © 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use .
Slum Dwellers in Caracas Ask, What Protests?
On the east side of this capital city, where the rich people tend to live, most children have stayed home from school for more than a week, protest bonfires burn in the streets at night, stores shut early and carnival celebrations have been canceled. But on the west side, where many of the poor people live under tin roofs, you would hardly know that the country has been stirred by weeks of unrest. Schools operate normally, restaurants serve up arepas, and residents, enjoying the extra days off that President Nicolás Maduro has given the country, prepare to crown their carnival queens. Both sides of this city, the better off and the poorer, are dealing with many of the same […]
Maduro Reaches Out to Critics as Venezuelan Death Toll Increases
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said yesterday he is open to meeting with student protesters and opposition leaders as the death toll from more than two weeks of demonstrations rose. “The country would gain if we met and talked, with respect as always,” Maduro said in a nationwide address after calling on two-time presidential hopeful Henrique Capriles to hold talks. “We are inviting actors, artists, private and public entities, opposition leaders, students, governors, mayors, the Catholic Church and whoever wants to participate.” Maduro spoke after the opposition alliance, which has boycotted two meetings with the president, said it would negotiate only when he shows respect and offers an agenda worked out with mediators. In a message passed on by his wife, opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez wrote that the invitation lacked sincerity considering the government jailed him and seeks to arrest his political coordinator, Carlos Vecchio. Maduro has attempted to defuse […]