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Tap water company denies pollution cover-up

The tap water supplier at the center of a scandal after excessive levels of a carcinogenic compound were found in its samples has denied a cover-up of the contamination. Excessive levels of benzene in the water affected more than 2.4 million people in Lanzhou, capital of northwest China’s Gansu Province, provincial authorities said on Friday. The supplier, the Lanzhou Veolia Water Company, collected water samples on April 2 and found abnormal levels of benzene during analysis on Thursday, said Yan Xiaotao, deputy general manager of the Sino-French joint venture. The excess of benzene was confirmed by further tests at 3 p.m. on Thursday and the company reported the situation to the Lanzhou municipal government at 5 a.m. Friday, Yan said. There was no […]

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Political Rifts Slow U.S. Effort on Climate Laws

The United States needs to enact a major climate change law, such as a tax on carbon pollution, by the end of this decade to stave off the most catastrophic impacts of global warming, according to the authors of a report released this week by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . But aggressive efforts to tackle climate change have repeatedly collided with political reality in Washington, where some Republicans question the underlying science of global warming and lawmakers’ ties to the fossil fuel industry have made them resistant to change. The rise of the Tea Party in recent years has also made a tax increase unlikely. This week’s report makes clear, however, that the window is rapidly narrowing to forge new policies that will protect the globe from a future of serious food and water shortages, a drastic sea level rise, increased poverty and […]

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Senate leaders call to review oil export ban

With proven U.S. crude oil reserves increasing, Senate leaders said it was time to lift a 1970s era ban restricting crude oil exports. The U.S. Energy Information Administration reported proved crude oil reserves in 2012 reached 33 billion barrels, 15 percent more than the previous year and the fourth consecutive year for an increase. Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La. and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, called on EIA Administration Adam Sieminski to consider lifting an export ban imposed in response to the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s. Of particular interest were the economic impact of keeping the ban in place, how competitive U.S. crude oil would be on the global market and what logistics were needed to reverse the ban. "You know better than most the true magnitude of the North American energy renaissance," they said in their Friday letter to Sieminski. Murkowski, ranking member of […]

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Climate risks real, U.S. energy secretary says

Without aggressive action now, it will be hard to keep greenhouse gas emissions in check long term, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said. A report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns international efforts to reduce carbon emissions are short of what’s needed to keep expected temperature increases in check. Greenhouse gas emissions would have to be close to zero by the end of the century to keep changing weather patterns from growing more severe. "The IPCC report notes that it will be substantially more difficult to maintain low greenhouse gas concentrations in the long term if we do not act aggressively now," Moniz said in a statement Sunday. IPCC Co-Chairman Ottmar Edenhofer said the dangers from climate change are clear. "To avoid dangerous interference with the climate system, we need to move away from business as usual," he said in a statement. […]

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Shale reserve area in Louisiana gives up oil, gas

Goodrich Petroleum Corp. said Monday oil and gas were flowing from its operations in the Tuscaloosa shale reserve area in Louisiana. Goodrich said it completed operations at its Blades 33H-1 well in Tangipahoa Parish in southern Louisiana. The company said production of 1,250 barrels of oil and 115 cubic feet of natural gas during a production test was on the low end of its expectations, though the hydraulic fracturing campaign came in under budget. A full-scale hydraulic fracturing campaign, however, is expected to commence at the end of April, Goodrich said. Goodrich said it has access to more than 300,000 net acres spread out over the so-called Tuscaloosa marine shale reserve area. It plans to have five rigs deployed on the site by the end of the year. The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources estimates the shale reserve area contains approximately 7 billion barrels […]

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EIA: Railroads expected to take on more LNG

With crude oil prices averaging higher than natural gas, the U.S. Energy Department said Monday it expects freight locomotives to start switching fuel sources. The Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, said the U.S. freight railroad industry spent 23 percent of its operating expense on diesel fuel in 2012, the last full year for which data are available. "EIA projects that liquefied natural gas will play an increasing role in powering freight locomotives in coming years," it said in a Monday briefing . "Continued growth in domestic natural gas production and substantially lower natural gas prices compared to crude oil prices could result in significant cost savings for locomotives that use LNG as a fuel source." The railroad industry consumed 7 percent of all the diesel fuel used in the United States in 2012. From 2017 to 2040, EIA said […]

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Coal’s Best Hope Rising With Costliest U.S. Power Plant

The facility will be the only U.S. commercial power plant that will capture its own carbon emissions. Close Close Open Photographer: Gary Tramontina/Bloomberg Cranes stand at the construction site for Southern Co.’s Kemper County power plant near Meridian, Mississippi, on Feb. 25, 2014. The facility will be the only U.S. commercial power plant that will capture its own carbon emissions. Rising from the scrub pines of central Mississippi is a $5.2 billion construction project that may determine the future of coal in the age of global warming. It’s here in Kemper County, 90 miles southwest of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, that utility Southern Co. is building the first large-scale power plant in the U.S. designed to transform coal into gas, capture the carbon dioxide and pump it underground. […]

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Dual Turning Point for Biofuels

There is an old joke in the energy business that advanced biofuels are the fuel of the future, and always will be. A Spanish company, Abengoa Bioenergy , has bet $500 million on robbing that joke of its punch line. In the middle of a cornfield here it is building a 38-acre Erector set of electrical cable and pipe that will soon begin producing cellulosic ethanol, which it calls a low-polluting alternative to petroleum products. This is just as the George W. Bush administration and Congress intended seven years ago with legislation promoting energy independence. But even as Abengoa and other companies prepare to produce significant amounts of cellulosic ethanol, using corn stalks and wheat straw as opposed […]

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RWE to Supply Natural Gas to Ukraine

German utility AG said Tuesday it has formally agreed to supply Ukraine with natural gas this year, the first such deal by a European energy company after Ukraine’s continuing political crisis put the country’s traditional supplies from Russia in doubt. RWE said that it would begin gas deliveries to Ukraine’s state-owned energy company Naftogaz via Poland immediately. RWE said it would ship gas from its "pan-European portfolio" to Ukraine, but didn’t provide an estimate of the expected volumes. The deliveries are part of an existing five-year framework deal that allows RWE to ship up 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year to Ukraine, but the gas supplies must be agreed on annually. Last year, RWE supplied around 1 BCM of gas to Ukraine, it said. The gas will be delivered at wholesale price levels, including delivery costs, RWE said. Russian gas-export monopoly Gazprom OAO earlier this month […]

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Obama, Putin Talk as Unrest Roils Eastern Ukraine

The U.S. stepped up efforts to dissuade Russia from intervening in Ukraine’s increasingly unstable east, with President telling President Monday that a diplomatic solution to the crisis is still possible even as he warned against further escalation. Russia requested the call, the first between the presidents since March 28, after Mr. Putin annexed Crimea. The White House also confirmed that Central Intelligence Agency Director was in Kiev over the weekend, at the same time that pro-Russian . The moves come ahead of a high-stakes meeting this week between U.S. Secretary of State and officials from Russia, Ukraine and the European Union, as well as a visit to Kiev next week by Vice President . On Tuesday, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, the military commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, will issue recommendations on Western military support for Ukraine. The general has privately advocated increased strategic intelligence sharing, […]

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Ukraine Says Military Operation in East Has Begun

Ukraine’s acting president said Tuesday that a military operation to wrest control of has begun. Oleksandr Turchynov said that the "antiterrorist" operation began in the early morning hours in the northern Donetsk region, where the majority of the cities commandeered by pro-Russian forces are located. "Overnight, an antiterrorist operation began in the north of Donetsk. But it will be phased, responsible and balanced. The purpose of the actions, I stress once again, is to protect the citizens of Ukraine," he told Ukraine’s parliament, according to Interfax. Also on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that any use of force by Ukraine’s government to quell unrest in the east could derail upcoming talks in Geneva on Thursday between the U.S., Russia, Ukraine and the European Union. […]

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Fragile Europe Weakens U.S. Push for Russia Sanctions

The U.S. readiness to impose new economic sanctions on Russia over Ukraine is offset by the European Union’s reluctance to introduce stronger measures that could threaten its already fragile economic recovery. While the Obama administration said yesterday that it’s prepared to ramp up sanctions, possibly to target specific sectors of the Russian economy such as financial services and energy, the EU limited its decision to expanding an existing list of individuals under asset freezes and travel bans. U.S. officials concede that squeezing Russia’s economy is the only realistic weapon the U.S. and its European allies have to respond to the clashes between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian authorities. Without European support, though, U.S. sanctions will have little effect on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambitions in Ukraine, said Simon Mandel , vice president for emerging Europe equity sales at Auerbach Grayson & Co. “The level of trade between the U.S. and […]

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Brent Crude Rises With WTI as Tension Escalates in East Ukraine

Brent crude advanced for the first time in three days and West Texas Intermediate extended gains as tension escalated between Ukraine and Russia , fanning concern that energy supplies in Europe may be disrupted. Futures rose as much as 0.7 percent in London . Russia called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council after Ukrainian security forces clashed with pro-Russian gunmen in the eastern town of Slovyansk. Libya ’s prime minister resigned while the nation, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, sought to restore oil shipments. “The major contributor to the firm tone we’re seeing in the market is further concerns about Ukraine,” said Michael McCarthy , a chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney who predicts investors may sell contracts if Brent climbs to $109.50 a barrel. “Tensions are ramping up again. There’s still a bit of upside from a technical point […]

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Oil Futures Rise on Ukraine Tension

Crude-oil futures rose in the Asian session Monday on uncertainty about Ukraine as the government and pro-Russian activists braced for clashes in the east of the country. On the New York Mercantile Exchange light sweet crude futures for delivery in May traded at $104.24 a barrel at 0530 GMT, up $0.50 in the Globex electronic session. May Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.57 to $107.90 a barrel. Oil prices are "leveraging on the escalation" of prevailing uncertainty in Ukraine, Phillip Futures investment analyst Chee Tat said in a report. The Ukraine military has mobilized as pro-Russian activists extend their grip across east. Risk of clashes remains high after a fatal shooting of a security officer early Sunday. While the U.S. and its Western allies have said the well-equipped gunmen appeared to be Russian special forces Moscow has denied it was behind the unrest. "Mounting speculations on […]

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U.N. Climate Change Report Says Worst Scenarios Can Still Be Avoided

A United Nations report suggests that governments can still avert the more serious consequences of climate change provided they act quickly and aggressively to cut the accelerating pace of greenhouse-gas emissions. According to the report, global greenhouse-gas emissions have risen more rapidly between 2000 and 2010 than in each of the three previous decades. The global economic crisis of 2007 and 2008 temporarily reduced emissions but didn’t change the trend, the report says. The report is of major interest to policy makers because it focuses on various scenarios for mitigating global warming. Presented on Sunday in Berlin, it is the third installment in a comprehensive four-part report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate […]

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Climate Efforts Falling Short, U.N. Panel Says

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rose almost twice as fast in the first decade of this century. BERLIN — Delivering the latest stark news about climate change on Sunday, a United Nations panel warned that governments are not doing enough to avert profound risks in coming decades. But the experts found a silver lining: Not only is there still time to head off the worst, but the political will to do so seems to be rising around the world. In a report unveiled here, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that decades of foot-dragging by political leaders had propelled humanity into a critical situation, with greenhouse emissions rising faster than ever. Though it remains technically possible to keep planetary warming to a tolerable level, only an intensive push over the next 15 years to bring […]

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Leaders Show No Signs of Preparing Public for Concessions to West

A senior cleric delivering a nationally televised sermon urged a crowd that included former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the head of Iran’s nuclear energy organization to observe sexual piety, aid the poor and support Iran’s development of nuclear power. "This technology is progressing our nation," Ayatollah Imami Kashani said at weekly Friday prayers at the University of Tehran. "Our enemies are against such progress." The sermon, like other speeches and television appearances by senior leaders recently, offered few signs the government is conditioning Iranians for any major limitations on nuclear work. But in talks Iran is pursuing with world powers, U.S. and European officials are aiming to significantly scale back Iran’s nuclear capabilities to guard against development of nuclear weapons—something Tehran denies that it seeks. To reach a deal that would ease international sanctions, the clerical leaders will have to make significant concessions. But by defining the program as […]

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Sanctions Are Eased; Iran Sees Little Relief

Halfway through a six-month nuclear deal between Iran and major world powers that was meant to allow time to reach a comprehensive agreement, the Iranians have seen little in the way of a boost from the sanctions relief they had been expecting, trade lawyers and diplomatic analysts say. Whether Iran’s disappointment means that it will be more or less motivated to negotiate a permanent deal on its disputed nuclear program by the July 20 deadline remains unclear. “Iran has become kryptonite for banks and shippers and insurance companies,” said Farhad R. Alavi, a sanctions law specialist at Akrivis, a Washington-based international law firm that has fielded numerous inquiries about doing business with Iran since the temporary accord took effect. Though the accord may have served as a “teaser” to Iran, he said in a telephone interview, foreign business interest has remained extremely limited. “Is a bank in Germany going […]

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Iran’s oil output to hit 5.7mbpd by 2019

Iran will increase its crude oil output to 5.7 million barrels per day (mbpd) by the end of Iranian calendar year 1397 (March 2019), MP Ali Marvi says, quoting Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh. According to Zanganeh, Iran’s natural gas output will also increase to one billion cubic meters per day, IRNA quoted Marvi as saying on Saturday. The country’s crude oil and natural gas outputs are currently around 3.8 million barrels per day and 300 million cubic meters per day, respectively. On April 6, Zanganeh said Iran forecasts an increase in its crude oil and natural gas production in the current Iranian calendar year 1393, which began on March 21. “Iran’s crude oil output is forecast to increase by about 200,000 barrels per day to 4 million barrels per day, and its daily natural gas output is forecast to increase by about 100 million cubic meters per day […]

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Libya remains in the grip of rivalrous rebel factions

Dragging deeply on a cigarette and swirling his espresso dregs, the curly-haired young militiaman offered up a vivid account of the battles he and fellow rebels waged to bring down dictator Moammar Kadafi — days of blazing bombardment, thirsty desert nights. Then he voiced his dismay at the chokehold those same armed groups now maintain on Libya. "We fought so hard to make a new country," said the 28-year-old of Libyan extraction who left Britain to join the revolution that swept this North African nation in 2011. "Now it’s all about money. Money and guns." The rebel groups that worked together to oust Kadafi have fragmented into rivalrous factions whose outsized collective power has sapped Libya’s oil wealth, turned a nascent government structure to tatters and ushered in a grim cycle of assassinations, abductions and firefights in the streets. International attention tends to focus on the […]

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Series of Bombings Kills More Than 20 Across Iraq

A suicide bomber blew up himself near a security checkpoint in Kirkuk on Sunday. BAGHDAD — Militants with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria gained control of the main road that links Baghdad with the northern provinces for a short time on Sunday, while a series of explosions around Iraq left up to 25 dead, according to security forces. In the deadliest blast of the day, a car bomb was detonated as a joint patrol for the police and army passed through Mosul in the north, killing 10 and wounding 12 others, the security forces said. Members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a powerful jihadist group once affiliated with Al Qaeda, kidnapped five people, including an oil executive, who were traveling on the road in Salahuddin Province that links the north to the capital. All of the attacks came less than a week after the […]

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Prime Minister of Libya Says He Will Resign

Libya’s leadership said Sunday that the interim prime minister had declined a parliamentary mandate to form a new government and would step down, in a move likely to compound the difficulties facing a government already divided and facing widespread unrest and militia violence. The interim prime minister, Abdullah al-Thinni, announced on the government’s website that he was leaving his post but would stay on as leader of the cabinet until a replacement could be found. He is the second Libyan prime minister to resign within two months, underlining the nation’s instability after the fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in 2011. Mr. Thinni said that he was stepping down “to protect the interests of the country and so as not to drag different sides into fighting when there can be no winner.” He also said his decision was related to an armed attack on him and his […]

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Discontent Swells as President of Algeria Seeks a Fourth Term

With a presidential election on Thursday, most Algerians see a fourth term for the incumbent, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, as a foregone conclusion. Mr. Bouteflika has already been in power 15 years. In the last election in 2009, he was returned to office with an improbable 90 percent of the vote. So tightly controlled is this North African country that, virtually alone in the region, it passed on the Arab Spring. Yet even as the re-election of Mr. Bouteflika, 77, appears inevitable, his insistence on running again, despite his apparent frail health, has increased popular exasperation, revealed unusual signs of division within the ruling elite and provoked an unlikely show of solidarity among opposition parties, both secular and Islamic, which have united in a call to boycott the election. Exceptionally, a nascent urban middle-class youth movement, Barakat! (“Enough!” in Arabic), styled along the lines of the protests organized through […]

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Two Libyan Oil Facilities on Verge of Reopening

An oil terminal in eastern Libya, which has been occupied by rebels, is on the cusp of loading its first tanker since the takeover, and another terminal has restarted operations, an oil official said Sunday. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, The news is the latest sign Libya’s embattled oil industry could be on its way back to recovery follows a deal between the government and the rebels who had occupied terminals in eastern Libya since the summer seeking greater autonomy in the region, Muhammad el-Harari, a spokesman for Libya’s National Oil Corp., said a first tanker will "start loading one million barrels late Sunday or early Monday" from the Hariga terminal. The group, led by militia chief Ibrahim al-Jathran, has also agreed to leave Zueitina terminal. The rebels have yet to reach an agreement with the government on two larger ports, Ras Lanuf and Es-Sider. The oil company […]

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Sudan: Three-Month Crisis As Fuel Shortage Silences Water Pumps in Gireida, South Darfur

The displaced inhabitants of camps in Gireida locality, South Darfur, face an acute shortage of drinking water as a result of a lack of fuel. One of the camp sheikhs told Radio Dabanga that the crisis in the camp has entered its third month. This is in spite of the fact that the authorities levy fees from all the displaced families to provide fuel. He said that two tins of water from the station within the city now cost SDG 1.5 ($0.26). The sheikh appealed to the authorities to speed-up resolving the problem because the displaced lack the resources and the financial means to fetch water.   Copyright © 2014 Radio Dabanga. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media ( allAfrica.com ). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. […]

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Blast rips up busy bus station in Nigerian capital

An explosion has blasted through a busy commuter bus station on the outskirts of Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, as hundreds of people were traveling to work. Many are feared dead. The blast destroyed more than 30 vehicles and caused secondary explosions as their fuel tanks exploded and burned. The Boko Haram terrorist network has been threatening to attack the capital, in the middle of the country and hundreds of miles from its traditional base in the northeast, where it has killed hundreds of people this year. The Islamic extremists claimed a 2011 suicide bombing by two explosives-laden cars that drove into the lobby of the United Nations office building in Abuja. It killed at least 21 people and wounded 60.

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China Blames Oil Leak for Water Contamination

A crude-oil leak contaminated a northwest Chinese city’s water supply and spurred panicked buying of bottled drinking water over the weekend, deepening nationwide concerns over public health risks from environmental hazards. The government in the city of Lanzhou, the capital of northwest Gansu province, said on Friday that tests had revealed that levels of benzene, a carcinogen, measured . The official Xinhua news agency reported that oil had leaked from a pipeline owned by a local unit of state-controlled oil company China National Petroleum Corp. The government’s disclosure prompted residents to rush to buy bottled water in the city. Photos posted online showed hordes of shoppers loading cases of water into shopping carts. Officials said the Yellow River, a major waterway in the area, hadn’t been contaminated. Some 2.4 million people in the city were affected by the contaminated water, Xinhua reported. A spokesman for the oil company referred […]

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Beef prices reach highest level since 1987

The highest beef prices in decades have some consumers spending extra time in meat market aisles as they search for cuts that won’t break their budgets. AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki Shrinking cattle supply, water shortage and growing exports have caused prices to soar and diets to change Beef prices have hit their highest level in almost three decades, causing sticker shock for both consumers and restaurant owners — and relief isn’t likely anytime soon. A  dwindling number of cattle  and growing export demand from countries such as China and Japan have caused the average retail cost of fresh beef to climb to $5.28 a pound in February, up almost a quarter from January and the highest price since 1987. Everything that is produced is being consumed, said Kevin Good, […]

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IMF: North American boom to keep oil prices low

The International Monetary Fund said global crude oil prices have been relatively lower because of the growth in oil supply from North America. With U.S. oil production on pace to eclipse 9 million barrels per day near term, the trend should continue through next year. Skip to next paragraph Nearly all of the growth in global oil production is coming from the United States and Canada. Combined, North American production growth is around 1.2 million barrels per day from U.S. shale oil and Canadian oil sands. IMF said this growth was spilling over to the global marketplace. "Crude oil prices have edged lower, mainly as a result of the continued supply surge in North America," it  said . (Related Article:  Russian Sanctions and the Negative Effect on Global Energy Security ) The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its market  report  for April it expected the price for Brent […]

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Big Oil comes up short in shale

Eons before the first wildcatters smelled oil in West Texas, massive slabs of eroded sediment had fused and folded into thick bands underground, trapping the primordial sludge in layers of earth too deep to reach until modern-day engineers discovered a way. The technological breakthroughs of the past half-decade have made the plains near Odessa and Midland — long considered past their prime — some of the most coveted land in the nation. Pioneer Natural Resources, an Irving, Texas-based independent producer that has been active in the region for decades, estimates that two key Permian Basin plays hold 75 billion barrels of oil in stacked stone wedges. “We have six Bakkens sitting on top of each other,” Pioneer CEO Scott Sheffield said recently, referring to North Dakota’s prolific Bakken Shale. But the same North American oil patches that have lifted Pioneer and other independent oil producers to an unprecedented status […]

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Ukraine Tensions Escalate as Russia, U.S. Exchange Barbs

Russia and the U.S. traded barbs at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council as a deadline passed for pro-Russian separatists to leave buildings they occupied amid escalating violence in eastern Ukraine . Russia called the meeting after protests escalated near Slovyansk, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) from the Russian frontier. Camouflaged gunmen fired on Kiev government troops in an anti-terror operation, killing one serviceman and wounding five, the Ukrainian government said. At the UN, Russia demanded the U.S. press Ukraine to drop acting President Oleksandr Turchynov’s 9 a.m. deadline to vacate the buildings. As of 9:44 a.m. local time, there were no reports of Ukrainian forces moving on the buildings. The U.S. said Russia was destabilizing Ukraine and President Vladimir Putin ’s government was telling “fairy tales” in accusing America and its allies of fomenting the unrest. The meeting comes as officials from NATO, the European […]

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Ukraine's east braces for anti-rebel operation as deadline passes

SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) – Towns in eastern Ukraine on Monday braced for military action from government forces as a deadline passed for pro-Russian separatists to disarm and end their occupation of state buildings or face a major "anti-terrorist" operation. As the 9 a.m. (2 a.m. EDT)) deadline issued by authorities in Kiev expired, a Reuters reporter in the flashpoint city of Slaviansk, where armed men had seized two government buildings, said there was no outward sign the rebels were complying with the ultimatum. Angered by the death of a state security officer and the wounding of two comrades near Slaviansk, acting president Oleksander Turchinov warned rebels on Sunday that a full-scale security operation, including the army, would be unleashed unless they met the deadline. Turchinov and other leaders blame Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region when Moscow-backed former president Viktor Yanukovich fled after months of pro-Western protests, for inspiring […]

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Ukraine’s east braces for anti-rebel operation as deadline passes

SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) – Towns in eastern Ukraine on Monday braced for military action from government forces as a deadline passed for pro-Russian separatists to disarm and end their occupation of state buildings or face a major "anti-terrorist" operation. As the 9 a.m. (2 a.m. EDT)) deadline issued by authorities in Kiev expired, a Reuters reporter in the flashpoint city of Slaviansk, where armed men had seized two government buildings, said there was no outward sign the rebels were complying with the ultimatum. Angered by the death of a state security officer and the wounding of two comrades near Slaviansk, acting president Oleksander Turchinov warned rebels on Sunday that a full-scale security operation, including the army, would be unleashed unless they met the deadline. Turchinov and other leaders blame Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region when Moscow-backed former president Viktor Yanukovich fled after months of pro-Western protests, for inspiring […]

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Boom to Bust for Big Oil

By Competition often breeds excellence. Nowhere else does this cliché hold more true than in the shale boom that’s currently underway. In North Dakota, we see drillers are consistently improving their operational efficiencies with practically every new well drilled. Independent companies like Continental Resources have lowered their average well costs in the Bakken by almost 20%. Their success is far from an anomaly, and it has become a standard for every other operator. What’s more is that this isn’t restricted to just North Dakota. Today, competition has helped the oil bonanza spread like wildfire across the lower 48 states as new drilling technology unfolds. Unfortunately, that simply isn’t the case for everyone. Boom to Bust for Big Oil Take a look at the other side of the spectrum. Alaska has arguably been the most sensational disappointment in the U.S. oil industry since the 1980s, and the blame rests squarely […]

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Alaska’s Peak Oil Crisis

Competition often breeds excellence. Nowhere else does this cliché hold more true than in the shale boom that’s currently underway. In North Dakota, we see drillers are consistently improving their operational efficiencies with practically every new well drilled. Independent companies like Continental Resources have lowered their average well costs in the Bakken by almost 20%. Their success is far from an anomaly, and it has become a standard for every other operator. What’s more is that this isn’t restricted to just North Dakota. Today, competition has helped the oil bonanza spread like wildfire across the lower 48 states as new drilling technology unfolds. Unfortunately, that simply isn’t the case for everyone. Boom to Bust for Big Oil Take a look at the other side of the spectrum. Alaska has arguably been the most sensational disappointment in the U.S. oil industry since the 1980s, and the blame rests squarely on […]

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Oil industry now Canada’s biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions

  An environmental analyst says the rise of oil and gas production as Canada’s biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions adds further weight to calls for the federal government to bring in long-promised regulations for the oil industry. The Environment Canada report quietly released Friday reveals the energy sector has now surpassed transportation as the largest generator of the climate-change causing gases. The report, covering the period from 1990 to 2012, states that oil and gas now account for one-quarter of Canada’s greenhouse emissions, narrowly edging out transportation. Analyst P.J. Partington with eco think-tank the Pembina Institute said the oil industry becoming Canada’s biggest source of emissions underscores the need for the Harper government to make good on a longstanding pledge to bring in rules cutting the oil patch’s climate impact. “We can’t hide from the challenge of regulating that sector. If Canada’s going to play its role […]

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Pro-Russia separatists defy Ukraine deadline

Pro-Russia separatists occupying government buildings in eastern Ukraine defied a deadline from Kiev to surrender as Moscow promised to “protect” people in the region from violence. A Russian flag continued to fly over the police headquarters in the city of Slavyansk at 9am (7am BST), the time Oleksandr Turchynov, Ukraine president, had given gunmen to lay down their weapons. Masked gunmen continued to man barricades in front of the building, agencies reported. On Sunday, Mr Turchynov said in a televised address that Kiev was “not going to allow Russia to repeat the Crimean scenario in Ukraine’s east”, referring to Moscow’s annexation of the peninsula last month. He said a “large-scale antiterrorist operation” would be launched to re-establish control of the contested cities. But Moscow, which has massed tens […]

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Ukraine Forces Storm a Town, Defying Russia

The Ukrainian government on Sunday for the first time sent its security services to confront armed pro-Russian militants in the country’s east, defying warnings from Russia. Commandos engaged in gunfights with men who had set up roadblocks and stormed a Ukrainian police station in Slovyansk, and at least one officer was killed, Ukrainian officials said. Several officers were injured in the operation, as were four locals, the officials said. Russian news media and residents here disputed that account, saying the Ukrainian forces had only briefly engaged one checkpoint. In either case, the central government in Kiev has turned to force to try to restore its authority in the east, a course of action that the Russian government has repeatedly warned against. With tens of thousands of Russian troops massed along Ukraine’s eastern border near Donetsk, Western leaders have worried that Moscow might use unrest in Ukraine’s […]

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Xenophobic Chill Descends on Moscow

The huge banner was unfurled on Friday morning outside one of Moscow’s biggest bookstores, Dom Knigi, a grand emporium of the written word on Novii Arbat Street across from a Citibank, a Baskin-Robbins and a Dunkin’ Donuts, and down the block from a big movie theater where the main feature at the moment is “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” “Fifth Column,” the banner declared. “Strangers Among Us.” It showed black-and-white portraits of three of Russia’s better-known political opposition figures and two Soviet-era dissident rock musicians, along with two evil-looking space aliens, one carrying a briefcase marked with the white ribbon that has been the symbol of political protests against President Vladimir V. Putin and the Russian government. From the moment that Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea cast a new, bitter chill over relations with the West, a sinister jingoistic vibe has pervaded this unsettled capital […]

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Did crude oil production actually peak in 2005?

"Wait a minute," you must be saying. "Haven’t we been hearing from the oil industry and from government and international agencies that worldwide oil production has been increasing in the last several years?" The answer, of course, is yes. But, the deeper question is whether this assertion is actually correct. Here is a key fact that casts doubt on the official reporting: When the industry and the government talk about the price of oil sold on world markets and traded on futures exchanges, they mean one thing. But, when they talk about the total production of oil, they actually mean something quite different–namely, a much broader category that includes all kinds of things that are simply not oil and that could never be sold on the world market as oil. I’ve written about this issue of the true definition of oil before. But Texas oilman Jeffrey Brown has been […]

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Peak Oil And Global Warming A Question Of Culture

In The Beginning Was the Word Certainly for the last 20 years these two themes have tunneled into political consciousness, but there are huge differences. Peak Oil was never “official”, but Global Warming or at least anthropogenic global warming quickly became official, in the UN system, EU28 countries, the US, Japan, Canada and Australia, and some other developed countries. Today, in the cases of Japan, Canada and Australia the political commitment has already gone, and the downstream financial spinoff from the global warming theme, which enabled market operators to concoct and play with climate credit default swaps and a host of other all-new paper assets, has seriously ebbed. Outside of these countries, in the G20 and Russia, global warming always had a much tougher ride. Yet another stark Russia-versus-the West split occurred on this issue. Russia has a long and tortuous politically-charged obsession with a coming Ice Age – […]

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Oil Futures Extend Losses

Crude-oil futures were lower in Asian trading hours Friday on speculation a Libyan ports may reopen for exports next week and concerns of rising international supply. On the New York Mercantile Exchange light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May traded at $103.08 a barrel at 0551 GMT, down $0.32 in the Globex electronic session. May Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.28 to $107.18 a barrel. Libya’s National Oil Co. on Thursday lifted a force majeure on the al-Hariga crude export terminal with a daily capacity of 110,000 barrels, news reports said. Libyan government forces had taken control of the Al-Hariga and Zueitina ports on Wednesday ending a nine-month blockade by rebels, they said. "Libya aims to ship the first tanker from the harbor of Hariga within the next week," ANZ said in a note. While Al-Hariga accounts for 8.5% of Libya’s export capacity rebels retain […]

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WTI Oil Rises to Five-Week High on Consumer Sentiment

West Texas Intermediate crude climbed to a five-week high as U.S. consumer confidence rose in April while gasoline demand grew. Brent’s premium to WTI shrank. WTI’s weekly advance was the biggest this year. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of sentiment climbed to 82.6, the highest level since July. Gasoline demand averaged over four weeks jumped to the most in three months April 4, the Energy Information Administration said yesterday. Prices reduced gains as U.S. equities dropped. The Brent-WTI gap contracted as Libya was poised to boost oil shipments. “As the economy grows, oil demand will grow,” said Tom Finlon, Jupiter, Florida-based director of Energy Analytics Group LLC. “One of the most supportive things you can say about crude is the strong gasoline demand.” WTI for May delivery rose 34 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $103.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange , the highest settlement […]

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Natural-Gas Prices Slip 0.8%, End Four-Day Rally

Natural-gas futures declined for the first time this week, as traders who believe a healthy supply of gas is on the way jumped back into a market. Natural gas for May delivery settled down 3.5 cents, or 0.8% at $4.62 a million British thermal units Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The losses ended a string of four straight winning sessions that had seen gas prices rise to a one-month high of $4.655/MMBtu at the close of trading on Thursday. The pullback in prices fits a back-and-forth trend for the past seven weeks, as traders are caught between a year of high demand and predictions of record production to come. Prices have stayed within a 40-cent range as the country transitions from winter–when natural gas is used to heat homes–to spring–when surplus gas is put into storage. It will take weeks before there is […]

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Natural Gas Loses Decades-Old Tie to Oil in Landmark Deal

A contract for France’s largest natural gas company to buy the commodity from Azerbaijan shows the decades-old structure of Europe’s energy market is starting to crumble. For the first time, GDF Suez SA (GSZ) signed a 25-year contract to buy gas from BP Plc and partners in the former Soviet republic at prices tied to those in Western Europe’s domestic gas markets, a person with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be named because the terms are confidential. The change matters because purchases previously were made at prices tied to crude oil, which has doubled in the last five years, an expense then passed on to consumers. Europe’s gas contracts have been tied to oil since the 1960s as a way of providing certainty to suppliers who would then invest billions to build fields and pipelines. More recently, as gas prices fell and oil rose, utilities including […]

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Finance officials confident of global growth

An ambitious goal to boost global growth by $2 trillion in the next five years is within reach, finance officials of the world’s major economies believe, despite a variety of threats, including rising political tensions over Russia’s actions in Ukraine. In a joint statement Friday, finance ministers and central bank governors from rich and developing nations skirted over substantial differences in such areas as central bank interest rate policies and whether to impose tougher sanctions on Russia because of its dealings with Ukraine. Their talks resume Saturday with meetings of the policymaking committees of the International Monetary Fund and its sister institution, the World Bank. The final Group of 20 communique pledged to keep working on concrete economic reforms that could boost global growth by 2 percent over the next five years. But finance officials concede that the economic reforms needed to achieve that goal will […]

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OPEC Chief Sees Output Bouncing Back After March Fall

OPEC’s output is set to rebound after tumbling in March, the secretary-general of the oil producers’ group said Friday. Production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries fell in March to its lowest level this year amid Iraqi and Libyan disruptions. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Petrostrategies energy conference, Abdalla Salem el-Badri said that "in the third and fourth quarter, we will increase production." OPEC, which supplies more than a third of the oil consumed globally each day, said Thursday that its production in March was 400,000 barrels a day below its agreed collective ceiling of 30 million barrels a day. "OPEC will respect" the ceiling, Mr. el-Badri said. The head of OPEC, himself a former Libyan oil minister, said that Libya would be a likely contributor to the output increase. Following a deal with rebels who had blocked ports in eastern Libya, he said […]

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Libya Poised to Boost Oil Shipments After Port Reopens

Libya , the OPEC nation producing at about 10 percent of capacity, is set to raise oil shipments next week as a tanker was booked to load crude from one of four ports seized last year by rebels. State-run National Oil Corp. lifted force majeure on the Hariga terminal yesterday, according to a statement on its website . Vienna-based oil company OMV AG provisionally booked a tanker to load as much as a million barrels of oil from the port next week, according to two traders with knowledge of the matter. Hariga has oil in storage ready to export, according to the oil ministry. Brent crude , a benchmark of half the world’s oil, has fallen about 3 percent this year amid speculation that Libya would restart shipments. The possible return of supply is weighing on prices, said Seth Kleinman, Citigroup Inc.’s London-based head of energy research, after the […]

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Iraq insurgents use water as weapon after seizing dam

Fallujah: Insurgents in Iraq have added water to their arsenal of weapons after seizing control of a dam in the west of the country that enables them to flood certain areas and prevent security forces from advancing against them. The dam helps distribute water from the Euphrates river on its course through the western province of Anbar, and is located some 5 kilometres south of the city of Fallujah, which was overrun by militants early this year. Iraqi troops have since been surrounding Fallujah and shelling the city in an effort to dislodge anti-government tribes and insurgent factions including the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil). In February, Isil took control of the Nuaimiya area where the dam is located, and began fortifying their positions with concrete blast walls and sand bags, according to anti-government tribesmen who said no other groups were involved in the takeover. The […]

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Iraq anti-government fighters block Euphrates

Fighters in Iraq have added water to their arsenal of weapons after seizing control of a dam in the west of the country that enables them to flood certain areas and prevent government security forces from advancing against them. The dam helps distribute water from the Euphrates River on its course through the western province of Anbar, and is located some 3 miles south of the city of Fallujah, which was overrun by anti-government fighters early this year. Iraqi troops have since been surrounding Fallujah and shelling the city in an effort to  dislodge anti-government groups, including the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant  (ISIL). Iraq is a patchwork of desert and arable land. Its inhabitable areas are fed by the Tigris from Turkey, the Euphrates from Turkey and Syria, and a network of smaller rivers from Iran. The decline of water levels in the Euphrates has also […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple