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Russia risks further US sanctions over Ukraine, says Kerry

The US has warned Russia to tone down its aggressive rhetoric on Ukraine, or face further sanctions. US Secretary of State John Kerry told his Russian counterpart over the phone that Moscow must call for pro-Russian gunmen to lay down their weapons. Kiev and the West say Moscow commands the gunmen – claims denied by Russia. The Ukrainian authorities have re-launched an anti-terror operation to take back several towns in the east overrun by pro-Russian militants. Acting President Olexander Turchynov said he had ordered the operation to restart after two men – including local politician Vladimir Rybak – were found dead after being "brutally tortured". "The terrorists who effectively took the whole Donetsk region hostage have now gone too far," Mr Turchynov said. Kiev’s military operation to push gunmen out of public buildings began on 16 April but was suspended over the Easter period. In other developments: Some 150 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Peak Oil and Peak Water vs. Peak Network

Over the next decade and a half, 2.5 billion people in China, India and other developing countries will join the global middle class. They are going to need skyscrapers to live in and superstores to shop in. They are going to want smartphones, cars, flank steaks, air conditioning, pet clothing, Disneyland vacations, and probably some throw pillows. How is a planet already straining under the pressure of today’s 2 billion middle class consumers going to accommodate 2.5 billion additional ones? For many observers, this unprecedented economic growth foretells a Malthusian meltdown. In this scenario, skyrocketing demand for scarce natural resources will lead to unchecked carbon emissions, water wars, massive deforestation, $100 Big Macs for the rich and cricket-meat Bug Macs for everyone else. McKinsey director Matt Rogers and Stanford professor Stefan Heck have a more optimistic take on the future. In their compelling new book, Resource Revolution , they […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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GEOG Researchers Address Economic Dangers of ‘Peak Oil’

Researchers from the University of Maryland and a leading university in Spain demonstrate in a new study which sectors could put the entire U.S. economy at risk when global oil production peaks (“Peak Oil”). This multi-disciplinary team recommends immediate action by government, private and commercial sectors to reduce the vulnerability of these sectors. While critics of Peak Oil studies declare that the world has more than enough oil to maintain current national and global standards, these UMD-led researchers say Peak Oil is imminent, if not already here—and is a real threat to national and global economies. Their study is among the first to outline a way of assessing the vulnerabilities of specific economic sectors to this threat, and to identify focal points for action that could strengthen the U.S. economy and make it less vulnerable to disasters. Their work, “Economic Vulnerability to Peak Oil,” appears in Global Environmental Change […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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Brent Trades Near Seven-Week High on Ukraine Tension; WTI Steady

Brent crude traded near the highest price in seven weeks amid speculation that escalating tension over Ukraine may disrupt Europe’s energy supplies. West Texas Intermediate was steady in New York . Futures were little changed in London after rising 0.4 percent yesterday. Russia and the U.S. traded blame for failing to rein in extremists in Ukraine as a diplomatic accord, reached last week to ease the crisis, neared collapse. Crude stockpiles in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer, probably increased for the 13th time in 14 weeks, a Bloomberg News survey shows before Energy Information Administration data tomorrow. “There’s some support for the market arising from the situation in Ukraine,” Ric Spooner, a chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, said by phone today. “While that isn’t translating into significant buying, it’s likely to be preventing much active selling.” Brent for June settlement was at $109.75 a barrel […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Natural-Gas Prices Fall as Traders Take Profits

Natural-gas futures eased Monday as traders took profits from last week’s rally. Natural gas for May delivery fell 4.4 cents, or 0.9%, to $4.697 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The drop came after gas prices climbed almost 5% Thursday–the final trading day of last week–on concerns that stockpiles of the fuel were refilling more slowly than expected. There was no news about supplies or the weather on Monday that would have obviously encouraged a downturn in prices, leading traders and analysts to believe the selloff came from some traders cashing out gains. "It’s just a quiet market now drifting lower. There was no impetus," said Scott Gettleman, an independent trader in New York. Several Wall Street analysts said it was a bad idea to bet on lower prices when the country’s stockpile is only slowly rebuilding from an 11-year […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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For Extremists In Syria, Extortion Brings Piles Of Cash From Iraq

The renegade Islamist group known as ISIS now controls swaths of Syria and Iraq, and it’s partly because the fighters are so rich. ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is known for having the biggest guns and paying the highest salaries. While kidnapping, oil smuggling and donations from sympathizers have been well-known sources of money, the groups also run complex and brutal protection rackets, according to analysts. Charles Lister of the Brookings Institution in Doha, Qatar, says Iraqi intelligence sources estimate that extremist militants take in more than $1 million a month in extortion from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. "Mosul seems to have acquired a very central role in terms of making money," Lister says. "Certainly since late 2012, early 2013, I’ve seen a number of reports to suggest that ISIS’s activities in extortion and acquiring levies on transport and real estate having increased […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Fao project delays to cause massive export shut-in

Because of chronic setbacks at the Fao storage depot, Iraq will fail to meet its export potential until at least 2018, preventing the sale of billions of dollars worth of oil. As Iraq and its oil company partners spend billions of dollars to boost production capacity and exports, one key bottleneck is threatening to decimate their return on investment and shut in hundreds of millions of barrels of oil over the coming years.The coastal Fao storage depot in Basra is supposed to serve as a critical way station for crude traveling between oil fields and export terminals, storing oil and pumping it offshore to ensure continuous field production and fully maximized tan…

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iraq Oil Output Exceeds Hussein Era

Iraq oil production was higher this year than since before Saddam Hussein took power. The problem: getting it out of the country. Iraqi oil fields pumped 3.6 million barrels of crude a day on average in February, 50% more than four years ago. That beat—if only for a month—the country’s annual-output record, 3.5 million barrels a day, in 1979 during Iraq’s petroleum heyday. Companies including PLC, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and ExxonMobil Corp. have invested billions of dollars to revive oil fields battered by decades of war, sanctions and neglect. But Iraq’s government has been slow to modernize the infrastructure to move that oil from wells to tankers. With such ancient pipes and paltry storage, even minor disruptions—routine pump maintenance, say, or a windy day in the Persian Gulf—can force companies to shut down wells. Violent attacks on infrastructure and personnel are still frequent. And bureaucracy and corruption have […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Suicide bombings, attacks in Iraq kill 33 people

Suicide bombings and other attacks across Iraq killed at least 33 people and wounded nearly 80 more on Monday, officials said, the latest in an uptick in violence as the country counts down to crucial parliament elections later this month. Over the past year, violence has surged in Iraq to levels unseen since 2008. The increase in deadly shootings and bombings has become the Shiite-led government’s most serious challenge as the nation prepares to head to the polls on April 30 – the first vote in Iraq since the U.S. army withdrawal in 2011. Monday’s deadliest attack took place south of Baghdad in the town of Suwayrah, where a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a police checkpoint, killing 12 people – five policemen and seven civilians. A police officer said 19 people were wounded in the attack. In the nearby town of Madain, about […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Libya expects delays at key oil terminal

Libyan Justice Minister Salah al-Mergahani said the Zueitina oil terminal in the east of the country remains closed because of technical problems.Eastern rebel leaders vying for more autonomy over a region known as Cyrenaica blocked the export terminals of Es Sider, Ras Lanuf and Zueitina in July. The Libyan government in early April reached a deal with eastern rebel leaders to re-open the ports. Merghani said, however, the long closure meant operations couldn’t return to normal. "There is some damage (at Zueitina port) due to the long closure," he said Sunday. Libya before civil war erupted in 2011 was exporting more than 1.4 million bpd. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said member state Libya produced less than 300,000 bpd in March, the last full month for which data are available. The justice minister said the central government and rebel negotiators were still at odds over who would sit […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple