Category:

Venezuela issues ID cards to curtail food hoarding

Battling food shortages, the government is rolling out a new ID system that is either a grocery loyalty card with extra muscle or the most dramatic step yet toward rationing in Venezuela, depending on who is describing it. President Nicolas Maduro’s administration says the cards to track families’ purchases will foil people who stock up on groceries at subsidized prices and then illegally resell them for several times the amount. Critics say it’s another sign the oil-rich Venezuelan economy is headed toward Cuba-style dysfunction. Registration begins at more than 100 government-run supermarkets across the country Tuesday, and working-class shoppers who sometimes endure hours-long lines at government-run stores to buy groceries at steeply reduced prices are welcoming the plan. "The rich people have things all hoarded away, and they pull the strings," said Juan Rodriguez, who waited two hours to enter the government-run Abastos Bicentenario supermarket […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Venezuela High Court Backs Move to Oust Opposition Leader

Venezuela’s Supreme Court late Monday backed the government’s move to strip a top opposition congresswoman of her title, a move that sparked accusations the court lacks independence in a country roiled by two months of protests. Government allies of President Nicolás Maduro said last week that María Corina Machado would be kicked out of the National Assembly for speaking on Venezuela’s political crisis in front of the Organization of American States in Washington last month as an invited guest of the government of Panama. They say Ms. Machado, among Mr. Maduro’s most vocal critics, violated the constitution, which prohibits parliamentarians from accepting public posts from other countries without the approval of Venezuela’s congress. Ms. Machado didn’t seek such approval before her appearance in Washington. The country’s highest court on Monday backed that view in a statement posted on its website. It said Ms. Machado’s move was "not only detrimental […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Heating oil demand follows cold weather into South America

The end of March has the heating oil market turning south as demand in the US follows winter buying into decline, market sources said Monday. Total US stocks of the product have reached 14.39 million barrels, the lowest level since the US Energy Information Administration began tracking the data in 1993. The low comes on the back of a sustained decline, stocks shed 2.74 million barrels in six weeks, according to EIA data. "Stocks are not going to increase going into summer," one broker said, "and with RINs attached, I think refiners will be exporting more." Article continues below… Request a free trial of: Oilgram News Oilgram News brings you fast-breaking global petroleum and gas news on and including: Industry players, upstream and downstream markets, refineries, midstream transportation and financial reports Supply and demand trends, government actions, exploration and technology Daily futures summary Weekly […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Chinese residents protest against chemical plant

A southern Chinese city government has vowed to listen to public opinion in deciding whether to go ahead with a petrochemical plant after protests by residents turned into violent riots. The protests Sunday centered on a paraxylene project in Maoming city in Guangdong province. Such plants have become a hot-button issue around the country because of health concerns. Photos and videos purportedly posted by Maoming residents on social media sites showed police with batons chasing people, men in a hospital with cuts to their heads, people smashing streetlights and at least one car overturned. An officer from Maoming’s propaganda department said Tuesday that an unspecified number of people were injured. He said a decision on launching the project wouldn’t be made without reaching a consensus with the public.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

China's New Wager: Pulling Energy From the Ocean

;A race is under way to unlock one of the world’s biggest untapped sources of clean energy—the ocean—with China emerging as an important testing ground. That could heighten competition with Western companies, especially if Chinese businesses begin using technologies developed with joint-venture partners to expand rapidly. The European Union so far has led efforts to harness the sea to make electricity, for which there are three principal techniques: underwater turbines that draw power from the ebb and flow of tides, surface-based floats that rely on wave motion and systems that exploit differences in water temperature. The world’s first commercial, grid-connected tidal-flow generator was installed in Northern Ireland in 2008. Germany’s AG , a big investor in wave and tidal power, predicts that tidal currents alone could someday power 250 million households world-wide. France’s SA also is developing the technology. But with 11,000 miles of coastline rich with energy […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

China’s New Wager: Pulling Energy From the Ocean

;A race is under way to unlock one of the world’s biggest untapped sources of clean energy—the ocean—with China emerging as an important testing ground. That could heighten competition with Western companies, especially if Chinese businesses begin using technologies developed with joint-venture partners to expand rapidly. The European Union so far has led efforts to harness the sea to make electricity, for which there are three principal techniques: underwater turbines that draw power from the ebb and flow of tides, surface-based floats that rely on wave motion and systems that exploit differences in water temperature. The world’s first commercial, grid-connected tidal-flow generator was installed in Northern Ireland in 2008. Germany’s AG , a big investor in wave and tidal power, predicts that tidal currents alone could someday power 250 million households world-wide. France’s SA also is developing the technology. But with 11,000 miles of coastline rich with energy […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

China’s shadow banks at risk of a property crash

©EPA Delegates from Hong Kong who made the pilgrimage to the mainland to take part in the National People’s Congress in mid-March came away impressed with the capability of Chinese president Xi Jinping, the most powerful leader of China since Deng Xiaoping. “He will never let the economy fall apart,” one delegate said. Their only doubt? The outsized vigour with which Mr Xi is pursuing his anti-corruption campaign . This delegate complained bitterly about being put up at a three star hotel in which even bottled water was not supplied, let alone whisky or fine wine. Meanwhile, across the Pacific, many people have sounded the alarm about Beijing’s ability to rein in credit growth and rebalance the economy more towards domestic demand and services and away from commodity-intensive fixed asset investment. But in Hong Kong and China itself, faith in the ability of the government to correct the excesses […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Climate Study Puts Diplomatic Pressure on Obama

High tide in Kiribati, an island nation seen as especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change, like rising sea levels. WASHINGTON — A sweeping new study on the effects of climate change — which the report says is already disrupting the lives and livelihoods of the poorest people across the planet — creates a diplomatic challenge for President Obama, who hopes to make action on both climate change and economic inequality hallmarks of his legacy. The report, published this week by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, concludes that the world’s poorest people will suffer the most as temperatures rise, with many of them already contending with food and water shortages, higher rates of disease and premature death, and the violent conflicts that result from those problems. Countries like Bangladesh and several in sub-Saharan Africa that are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Monthly Natural Gas Gross Production Report with data for January 2014

The two graphs below show total U.S. and Lower 48 natural gas production on one and the individual State production on the other. Figure Data Figure Data In January, production in the Lower 48 States increased by 0.5 percent or 0.35 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). Texas had the largest volume increase at 2.4 percent or 0.53 Bcf/d mainly due to the completion of maintenance work last month. New Mexico also showed an increase of 2.6 percent or 0.09 Bcf/d as many operators reported small increases. The Gulf of Mexico and Other States both had decreases of 4.2 percent or 0.14 Bcf/d and 0.5 percent or 0.15 Bcf/d respectively, primarily because of freezing weather and maintenance issues. Note: Data presented in the table are monthly natural gas gross withdrawals estimated from data collected on the EIA-914 survey. In 2012, data are from the EIA Natural Gas Annual . […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Five states and the Gulf of Mexico produce more than 80% of U.S. crude oil

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Petroleum Supply Monthly Note: Crude oil includes lease condensate. Five states and the Gulf of Mexico supplied more than 80%, or 6 million barrels per day, of the crude oil (including lease condensate) produced in the United States in 2013. Texas alone provided almost 35%, according to preliminary 2013 data released in EIA’s March Petroleum Supply Monthly . The second-largest state producer was North Dakota with 12% of U.S. crude oil production, followed by California and Alaska at close to 7% each and Oklahoma at 4%. The federal offshore Gulf of Mexico produced 17%. Total U.S. crude oil production grew 15% in 2013 to 7.4 million barrels per day. Texas and North Dakota led that growth, with their crude oil outputs each increasing 29%, respectively, from 2012. Production gains in both states came largely from shales, especially the Eagle Ford in Texas and the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple