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WTI Heads for Weekly Gain as Crude Stockpiles Drop

West Texas Intermediate headed for its first weekly advance in three as crude supplies shrank for the first time in more than a month in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent rose as the European Union considered expanding sanctions on Russia . Futures increased as much as 0.9 percent in New York . Crude stockpiles fell by 1.78 million barrels last week as inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma , the delivery point for WTI, slid to the lowest level since December 2008, data from the Energy Information Administration show. Ukraine renewed an offer of dialog with representatives of its eastern regions as Russia held army drills. The decline in U.S. stockpiles us “definitely supportive” for crude prices, Jens Naervig Pedersen, a commodities analyst at Danske Bank A/S, said by phone from Copenhagen. Tensions between Ukraine and Russia “will continue to be a worry in the market,” he said. […]

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Iran Oil Minister Rejects Export Limit From Nuclear Deal

Iran will export crude oil at the maximum level possible, regardless of restrictions imposed in an interim deal that offered the country some relief from sanctions over its nuclear program, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said. Iran shipped about 1.37 million barrels a day of crude on average during the first three months of the year, according to data from the International Energy Agency . Under an interim accord aimed at curbing the country’s nuclear program in return for easing some sanctions, Iran should limit exports to an average of 1 million barrels a day in the six months through July, the U.S. said in November. “We don’t accept any figure or number that is told to us in terms of a measure for our own exports,” Zanganeh told reporters at an energy exhibition in Tehran today. “Iran will set Iran’s export level, and we will export at the maximum […]

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Natural-Gas Prices Tumble on Inventory Addition

Natural-gas futures posted their biggest decline in 10 weeks Thursday as storage additions eased concerns about a potential shortage of the heating fuel next winter. Prices for the front-month June contract fell 16.8 cents, or 3.5%, to $4.572 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the biggest percentage decline since Feb. 27 and put prices 5.4% below the two-month high they had hit a week ago. "It’s not a huge turn, but it’s a bloody day," said Scott Gettleman, an independent trader in New York. "Usually you get a selloff, but you bounce back a little. Today we never got a bounce." The federal government reported a larger-than-expected increase in storage inventories for a third straight week. Producers added 74 billion cubic feet of gas to storage for the week ended May 2, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. That […]

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Iraqi army faces death and desertions as it struggles with Anbar offensive

Iraq’s acting defense minister looks beleaguered, his face drawn, with deep bags below his eyes from a lack of sleep. For four months, Sadoun al-Dulaimi has been operating from Anbar, the most dangerous province for U.S. soldiers during the Iraq war and one again riven by conflict. The army has dispatched 42,000 troops here in a bid to quell al-Qaeda-inspired jihadists and hostile tribesmen, whose resurgence is posing the biggest test for the Iraqi military and the country’s Shiite-led government since the withdrawal of U.S. forces 2 / years ago. The battle is filled with potential pitfalls. A government failure to regain control in Sunni-dominated Anbar would jeopardize the country’s unity. But an escalated military offensive could deepen anger among the nation’s Sunni minority, fanning the flames of sectarian war. The fight has proved tougher than expected . Hundreds of soldiers have died, and the military […]

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Egyptian Tourism’s Message to World: Come Anyway

We’ve missed you,” Egypt’s ministry of tourism says in its new advertising campaign , a plaintive plea for summer visitors from wealthy countries in the Persian Gulf. That is putting it mildly. For three years now, political turmoil has scared many travelers away from Egypt, leaving millions of people whose livelihoods depend on visitors desperate for any sign of an end to the most sustained tourism crisis anyone here can recall. At Cosmos , a 37-year-old tour company in Cairo that used to serve up to 30,000 customers a year, Khaled M. Ismail, the company’s director of operations, said he had not booked a single visitor since May 2013. The company’s once-hectic headquarters are deserted most of the time: Employees come in only once a week, to pay the bills. “We’re not expecting any business until 2015,” Mr. Ismail said, sitting alone in his office one recent […]

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Nigeria: Concerns Mount Over Contract Cost Inflation By Oil Majors

The allegation of contract inflation in the oil and gas industry by oil firms, particularly, international oil companies (IOCs) operating in Nigeria is generating ripples in the sector, THISDAY investigations have revealed. Presidency sources hinted that top officials of multinational oil companies use their connections in the presidency to secure oil and gas contracts at very exorbitant rates, when compared to costs of executing similar projects in other parts of the world. It was gathered that the oil majors often bypass the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to get direct approval from the presidency on multi-billion dollar projects that were hitherto disapproved by the corporation because final costs of their execution were ridiculously high. A Canadian oil company operating in Nigeria was said to have recently submitted a tender for a multi-billion dollar project, for which the cost was far higher than what it takes to execute similar project […]

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EIA: High value of liquids boosts wet gas production

Spurred by relatively high values of natural gas liquids (NGL), company interests have shifted from dry gas production to wet gas production, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s monthly gas liquids report. Gas prices have stayed low in recent years due to increased supply. The Henry Hub spot price averaged $3.73/MMbtu in 2013 and $2.75/MMbtu in 2012, reducing profit margins for many gas producers . NGL prices, as being traditionally linked to crude oil, are set at a significant price premium over pipeline-quality dry gas. According to EIA data, more recently, the gas plant liquids composite spot price —which approximates a value of NGL produced at processing plants—has hovered roughly halfway between WTI crude oil and gas spot prices. This liquids price premium has resulted in a faster growth rate of wet gas production compared with that of dry gas. Liquids extracted from wet gas at processing plants […]

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Venezuela Arrests 243 in Raids on Antigovernment Protest Camps

Security forces arrested 243 people in Caracas on Thursday as they dismantled four protest camps set up in the Venezuelan capital by demonstrators opposed to the government of President Nicolás Maduro, and a policeman was fatally shot in clashes that followed, officials said. In Washington, senators condemned the mass arrests during a hearing of the Foreign Relations Committee on human rights violations in Venezuela . The raids broke a period of relative calm in Caracas, where the intensity of the protests had cooled significantly. After the camps were overtaken, groups of people formed barricades and burned trash in the streets. Soldiers and police fired tear gas and plastic buckshot. Officials later said that an officer had been shot and killed.. According to the interior and justice minister, Miguel Rodríguez Torres, National Guard troops and the National Police staged the 3 a.m. raids on the camps, which were located in […]

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Avoid using DOT-111 cars to carry oil, U.S. says

Rail companies operating in the United States should avoid using older DOT-111 tank cars to carry Bakken crude oil, the Department of Transportation said. The department’s Federal Railroad Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued a safety advisory calling on shippers offering crude oil from the Bakken area of North Dakota to use tank cars designed with "the highest level of integrity" available. Carriers, they said Wednesday, are called on to avoid using older DOT-111 or CTC-111 rail cars to carry Bakken crude oil "to the extent possible." U.S. regulators in January issued an advisory warning Bakken crude oil may be more prone to catch fire than other grades. An accelerating rate of oil production from states like North Dakota has stressed existing pipeline capacity. Industry officials said rail is taking up the slack, though a series of derailments involving rail […]

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Worker Fatalities Surge in North Dakota Oil Boom: Study

Oil and gas workers in North Dakota are six times more likely to die on the job than their peers in other states as inexperienced workers join the state’s oil and gas boom, according to a report by a labor group. In North Dakota, 104 out of every 100,000 oil, gas and mining workers died of job-related injuries in 2012, according to a report today from the AFL-CIO labor federation. North Dakota had the highest fatality rate at 17.7 per 100,000 workers across all sectors, the AFL-CIO said, citing data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. North Dakota’s petroleum industry employed 40,856 people in 2011, up from 5,051 in 2005, a year before the oilfield expansion began with techniques such as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. To support the surge, inexperienced workers have entered the industry, in some cases without proper training, said Peg Seminario, the AFL-CIO director of […]

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Natural Gas Weekly Update

Alaskan LNG export project resumes operations The existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at Nikiski on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska and a project to build a new liquefaction plant, also at Nikiski, both achieved major milestones recently. , the first tanker since late 2012 arrived at ConocoPhillips’s existing Kenai LNG plant, which is on Cook Inlet. Also, late last month, the Alaska Legislature passed a bill that paved the way for the state to take an equity interest in the new Alaska LNG project, which includes pipelines, alongside other partners, including ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, BP, and TransCanada. The project is expected to cost $45-$65 billion and is slated to begin operations in the mid-2020s. Kenai LNG originally opened in 1969 and was the largest LNG export facility in the world at the time, and the first facility to serve the Asia-Pacific market. Annual exports from the plant peaked in […]

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High value of liquids drives U.S. producers to target wet natural gas resources

In recent years, high levels of natural gas production have pushed prices down. The Henry Hub spot price averaged $3.73 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in 2013. In 2012, the average annual Henry Hub price was $2.75/MMBtu, which reduced profit margins for many natural gas producers . The relatively high value of natural gas liquids (NGL) has led producers to target wet gas. NGL prices have traditionally been linked to crude oil, resulting in a significant price premium over pipeline-quality dry natural gas. More recently, the natural gas plant liquids composite spot price (which approximates a value of NGL produced at natural gas processing plants) has hovered roughly halfway between West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil and natural gas spot prices. The result of this liquids price premium is that wet natural gas production is increasing at a faster rate than dry natural gas production. Liquids extracted from […]

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A Warning For Oil Investors: Is Carbon Riskier Than You Think?

For oil executives there are few things more exciting than expensive, large-scale projects aimed at pumping more of the black gold. That doesn’t mean investors in oil majors should approve. Large oil companies are betting up to $1.1 trillion on “high-risk” oil projects over the next decade, according to London-based think tank The Carbon Tracker Initiative . Investors, it says, should question the assumptions underpinning that spending. “Many oil companies are betting on a high demand and price scenario,” said James Leaton, research director at the CTI, a group that lobbies to change the evaluation of carbon-intensive projects. “Investors need get ahead of the carbon supply cost curve to ensure capital is not being wasted.” The CTI said it was especially concerned about projects which need oil prices to stay above $95 per barrel in order to remain profitable. Among the companies with the highest exposure […]

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Oil Producer Pleas Snubbed by Norway as Offshore Costs Surge

Oil and gas companies can expect little help from Norway on tackling surging costs as the government of western Europe ’s biggest crude producer tones down plans for measures that producers hope will boost earnings. “I don’t really expect us to present a package of measures,” Petroleum and Energy Minister Tord Lien said in a May 7 interview in Oslo. Cost increases challenging offshore projects are “partly due to the fact that we’re not smart enough in the way we work. The responsibility for that lies first and foremost with the operators and suppliers.” Lien, a member of junior coalition partner the Progress Party, said in December his administration could by the end of the year present measures, including tax incentives, aimed at cutting costs that have doubled during the past 10 years. Expenses have jumped amid increasing complexity, higher raw-materials costs and rising demand. Coupled with stagnating energy […]

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Russia Orders Ukraine to Prepay for Gas

Russia will demand that Ukraine prepay for June natural gas imports, and the first bill will be delivered to Kiev on May 16, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Thursday. Mr. Novak said the deadline that Ukraine had to settle its gas bill for earlier deliveries expired Wednesday and, according to the contract between Russian gas monopoly Gazprom and its Ukraine counterpart Naftogaz, Ukraine will have to pay for future deliveries in advance. The minister said starting in June Ukraine will receive only the volume of gas it had paid for by the end of May. Ukraine has run up a bill for Russian gas, which Gazprom said has reached $3.5 billion. Naftogaz confirmed earlier Thursday that no payment has been made to cover the debt. On Tuesday, Ukraine received a first installment, $3.19 billion, from a rescue package approved by the International Monetary Fund. Part of the money […]

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Separatists Defy Kiev and Putin on Referendum

Pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine vowed on Thursday to press ahead with a referendum seeking autonomy, a risky move that seemed to defy their political patron, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, whose motives in urging a delay in the vote came under furious attack by officials in Kiev. A day after Mr. Putin scrambled the political landscape by suggesting the vote be put off, militant leaders in Donetsk, Luhansk and Slovyansk said they would go ahead on Sunday as scheduled. Far from mollified by Mr. Putin’s new stance, Ukrainian officials expressed deep suspicions, accusing him of trying to replay events preceding Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Although the ability of separatists to stage a legitimate ballot is highly in doubt, the mere possibility that Russia would use the vote as a pretext for another territorial grab had officials in Kiev calling the referendum illegal and insisting that action […]

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Moscow ups stakes in gas dispute

Gazprom will only supply Ukraine with gas that has been paid for in advance from the start of June, Moscow said on Thursday, after Kiev missed another deadline to pay its mounting energy debt to the Russian company. Alexander Novak, Russia’s energy minister, said the state-controlled enterprise would move to a system of pre-payment for supplies to Ukraine from next month, bringing the simmering gas dispute between the countries a step closer to crisis. The move to pre-payment raises the prospect of a disruption in gas supplies through Ukraine – a key transit point for about 15 per cent of European gas supplies. Cash-strapped Ukraine, which this week received the first $3.2bn tranche from a $17bn International Monetary Fund bailout , has refused to accept Gazprom’s move in April to increase gas prices from a first quarter rate of $268.50 per thousand cubic metres to $485.50. Oleksandr Todiichuk, deputy […]

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Petrofac Plunges After Cutting Earnings Forecast on Delays

Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) fell by the most in more than five years in London trading after saying earnings will be lower than expected because of project delays. The U.K.’s largest oil and gas engineer will cut capital spending at its Integrated Energy Services division, which takes direct stakes in fields, after reviewing the future of the business. The stock fell as much as 18 percent to 1,142 pence, the largest drop since October 2008. It traded at 1,165 pence at 9:55 a.m. London time, making it the biggest decliner in the benchmark FTSE 100 index. Today is the second time in six months Petrofac shares have plunged because of a profit warning. The stock fell by a record in November after the company forecast flat to modest profit growth in 2014. Profit for the year is now expected from $580 million to $600 million, London-based Petrofac said today in […]

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Oil & Gas Boom 2014: No End In Sight

In February, oil production in Texas hit a 34-year high , with combined oil and condensate volumes exceeding 2.9 million barrels of oil per day.  For the first time in memory, Texas now produces more than 36% of all the oil produced in the United States, and if it were a separate country, Texas would now rank as the 8th largest oil producing nation on earth.  Wow. We see endless speculation about how long we should expect the current boom in shale oil and natural gas that is happening in Texas and throughout much of the United States to last. Prophets of doom like proponents of “Peak Oil” theory and radical anti-economic growth activists like Bill McKibben say it’s all a “bubble” that will burst at any moment. Others actually involved in the development of shale resources tend to believe the correct answer today will be some variation on […]

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Oil & Gas Boom 2014: No End In Sight

In February, oil production in Texas hit a 34-year high , with combined oil and condensate volumes exceeding 2.9 million barrels of oil per day.  For the first time in memory, Texas now produces more than 36% of all the oil produced in the United States, and if it were a separate country, Texas would now rank as the 8th largest oil producing nation on earth.  Wow. We see endless speculation about how long we should expect the current boom in shale oil and natural gas that is happening in Texas and throughout much of the United States to last. Prophets of doom like proponents of “Peak Oil” theory and radical anti-economic growth activists like Bill McKibben say it’s all a “bubble” that will burst at any moment. Others actually involved in the development of shale resources tend to believe the correct answer today will be some variation on […]

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Peak Phosphorus Will be a Shortage We Can’t Stomach

Here’s the good news. We probably don’t have to worry about peak oil just yet, as it isn’t going to run out anytime soon. The bad news is, as the IPCC has recently reported , we can’t afford the costs of what liberating all that carbon into the Earth’s atmosphere would do to the climate. So we will have to leave it in the ground and come up with alternatives fast. The really bad news is that we may not even have to worry about peak oil or dangerous climate change – instead we can fret over peak phosphorous . Unlike moving from our current dependence on fossil fuels, there is no alternative to phosphorus and if it runs out our global food production system would grind to a halt. is present in all cells in all forms of life because it makes up part of the backbone of […]

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Oil Slips Despite Strong Chinese Imports

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in June traded at $100.81 a barrel at 0509 GMT, up $0.04 in the Globex electronic session. June Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.17 to $107.96 a barrel. China’s trade surplus widened to $18.46 billion in April, from $7.71 billion in March, with better-than-expected export and import numbers. Its purchases of major industrial commodities also grew. China’s April crude-oil imports came in at 27.88 million metric tons, or 6.8 million barrels a day, the highest level on record on a daily basis, surpassing January’s record of 6.7 million barrels a day. "While demand was gradually recovering in April after a sluggish holiday season, the surge in imports likely reflected strategic stockpiling rather than refinery demand," analyst Sijin Cheng at Barclays said. Nymex WTI crude retained the bulk of its overnight gains on a surprise […]

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WTI Trades Near 1-Week High as Crude Supplies Drop; Brent Steady

West Texas Intermediate traded near the highest price in a week after crude inventories shrank for the first time since March in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent was steady in London . Futures were little changed in New York after rising 1.3 percent yesterday. Crude stockpiles fell by 1.78 million barrels last week as supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma , the delivery point for WTI, dropped to the lowest level since December 2008, the Energy Information Administration reported. Russian President Vladimir Putin called on separatists in Ukraine to postpone a vote for autonomy and said he pulled troops from the country’s border after weeks of tension. “There could be seasonal factors underlying that draw in inventories,” said Michael McCarthy , a chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney who predicts investors may sell West Texas contracts if prices climb to $103 a barrel. “The picture at Cushing […]

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Natural-Gas Prices Slip as Traders Get Ready for New Inventory Data

Natural gas prices retreated Wednesday as traders looked to lock in profits ahead of an update on storage levels. Prices for the front-month June contract fell 5.9 cents, or 1.2%, at $4.706 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had jumped to near a two-month high on Tuesday, making Wednesday a good day for traders who bet on rising prices to sell and take their gains, analyst and brokers said. Traders didn’t want to push any farther ahead of the federal government’s weekly update on storage levels, due Thursday morning, analysts said. Stockpiles are slowly coming off of an 11-year low and the government’s weekly progress report has been one of the few factors that have sparked substantial price moves this spring. "Obviously the resistance (to trading) at $4.80 is a little stronger than people expected," said Gene McGillian, a […]

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WHO data: global annual PM10 increased by 6% during recent 3-year period; based on data from 851 cities

Regional city‐population weighted comparisons in annual mean PM for a three‐year period, by region, for cities present in both versions of the AAP database. The mean for the World is based on weighting by regional urban population. Source: WHO. Click to enlarge. Air quality in most cities worldwide that monitor outdoor (ambient) air pollution fails to meet World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for safe levels, putting people at additional risk of respiratory disease and other health problems, according to WHO’s expanded ambient (outdoor) air pollution (AAP) in cities database 2014 . WHO’s 2014 AAP database consists mainly of urban air quality data—annual means for PM10 and/or PM2.5—and covers 1,600 cities across 91 countries. Only 12% of the people living in cities reporting on air quality reside […]

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Oil Industry Risks $1.1 Trillion of Investor Cash: Study

Oil explorers like Exxon Mobil Corp. and OAO Rosneft risk wasting $1.1 trillion of investors’ cash through 2025 on expensive, uneconomic projects from the Arctic and deep seas to tar sands, according to a study. That’s the sum the industry may spend on developments that need market prices of at least $95 a barrel to break even, the Carbon Tracker Initiative said. The money risks being wasted as the total amount of oil the world can afford to burn without warming the planet to unsafe levels is available from less costly deposits that are economical at $75 a barrel, according to its report. Petroleo Brasileiro SA’s capital spending on projects needing $95 a barrel or more may reach $83 billion through 2025, with Exxon at $73 billion and Rosneft at $70 billion, Carbon Tracker said. The figures aren’t the companies’ own figures but were estimated by the non-profit group, […]

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Syrian rebels claim massive Aleppo hotel bombing

A rebel-claimed bombing Thursday in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo leveled a hotel that government troops used as a military base, along with several other buildings in a government-held area, activists and militants said. Syrian state television said an explosion struck a government-held area on the edge of a contested neighborhood in old part of Aleppo. The television report identified the hotel as the Carlton hotel, located next to the city’s ancient Citadel. A local activist group called the Sham News Network also reported the blast, saying that President Bashar Assad’s troops were based in the hotel. The Islamic Front rebel group claimed responsibility for the blast. A statement posted on its official Twitter account Thursday said that its "fighters this morning leveled the Carlton Hotel barracks in Old Aleppo and a number of buildings near it, killing 50 soldiers." It did not say how […]

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Syrian Rebels Depart Homs District Under Deal

Syria’s third-largest city, Homs, was one of the first to hold large demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad. Protesters there were among the first to take up arms against the state, and Homs neighborhoods were the first to suffer indiscriminate bombardment by government forces. Homs long stood as a bellwether for a nation slowly, brutally, unraveling. A diverse community increasingly split along sectarian lines as populations fled, neighborhoods were destroyed and rebels held out in the Old City. On Wednesday, the last insurgent-held neighborhoods of the Old City appeared to be falling to the government as the last fighters and their families began to evacuate under a deal freighted with symbolism for both sides. The government seeks to prove that through brute force and local talks, it can retake a major urban area. For its opponents, handing over enclaves that withstood a nearly two-year blockade is an […]

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Rebels to Ask for Antiaircraft Missiles

The head of the Syrian opposition says that he will ask the Obama administration to provide antiaircraft missiles and will try to convince American officials that the weapons would not fall into the wrong hands. In an interview on Tuesday night, Ahmad Assi al-Jarba, president of the opposition coalition, also confirmed reports that Syrian rebels had received American TOW antitank missiles and said the shipment had enabled the opposition to demonstrate that it was able to use and maintain control of advanced American weaponry. Mr. Jarba, who is visiting Washington for the first time, plans to meet with a senior Pentagon official, leading members of Congress and Secretary of State John Kerry. A White House official said President Obama was expected to see him.  In an effort to present a unified front to the Americans, Mr. Jarba is accompanied by Brig. Gen. Abdul-Ilah al-Bashir, the new leader […]

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China Boosts Crude Imports to Record on New Plant, Stockpiling

China , which uses more oil than any country except the U.S., raised daily crude imports to a record in April as a new refinery and stockpiling bolstered demand. Overseas purchases increased to 27.88 million metric tons, according to data released today by the General Administration of Customs in Beijing. That’s about 6.81 million barrels a day, up from the previous record of 6.66 million in January. “China imported more crude probably to fill inventory and meet demand that will rebound in June following the maintenance season,” Amy Sun, an analyst with ICIS-C1 Energy, said by phone from Guangzhou today. Some of the overseas crude will go to refilling commercial inventories, Sun said. Stockpiles fell about 3 percent at the end of March from a month earlier, according to China Oil, Gas & Petrochemicals, published by the official Xinhua News Agency. Imports also rose as Sinochem Group ’s Quanzhou […]

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South China Sea Tensions Flare as China Presses Claims

Tensions in the South China Sea are escalating as the Philippines and Vietnam push back against Chinese moves to assert control over the resources of disputed maritime areas. Vietnamese stocks fell the most since 2001 after the government said yesterday that Chinese boats intentionally rammed Vietnamese vessels during a confrontation over the placement of an exploration rig by China in waters near the Paracel Islands , claimed by both countries. Armed Philippine police also arrested Chinese fishermen near a disputed shoal close to the disputed Spratly Islands. China responded by accusing both countries of violating its sovereignty over the island chains, saying Vietnam was being “disruptive” and demanding the release of the boat crew by the Philippines. Vietnam’s benchmark VN Index fell as much as 5.5 percent, the biggest decline since Oct. 2001, and was down 4.4 percent at 10:25 a.m. in Hanoi. The incidents come as China ’s […]

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China Oil Data Show April Crude Imports Reach Daily Record High

China imported 27.88 million metric tons of crude oil in April, equivalent to 6.8 million barrels a day, preliminary data from the General Administration of Customs showed Thursday. The crude imports were the highest on record when calculated on a daily basis, and surpassed the previous record in January, when the country shipped in about 6.7 million barrels a day. China imported 28.16 million tons of crude in January, which is the record for crude imports on a monthly basis. Meanwhile, April’s imports were 20.8% higher than the 23.08 million tons of crude shipped in during the corresponding month last year, and up around 18.5% from 23.52 million tons in March, according to Wall Street Journal calculations. Refined oil product imports totaled 2.54 million tons, while exports totaled 2.2 million tons, the data showed. Write to Wayne Ma at [email protected]

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Trade data relieve pressure on Beijing

China’s export machine showed a marked improvement in April, taking some pressure off a leadership that is nervous about a slowing economy and pointing to firmer global demand from the developed economies that form its biggest market. Total trade firmed in April, with both exports and imports growing by just under 1 per cent year-on-year. That could reassure Chinese policy makers worried that the country is facing a slowdown as it weans itself off a credit binge. Beijing has quietly adopted looser policies in spite of rhetoric about accepting a shift to slower, more sustainable growth. The April export numbers represent an improvement on March when Chinese exports fell 6.6 per cent from a year earlier. Overall, China’s trade figures pointed to a gradually improving outlook for a sector which still accounts for more than one-fifth of the Chinese economy. Stronger trade figures with Europe – up 8.5 per […]

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Pakistan cuts gas supply to industry, CNG pumps to curb blackouts

Pakistan plans to cut natural gas supply by around 150,000 Mcf/d to fertilizer plants and CNG pumps to increase electricity supply to cities facing daily rolling blackouts, according to officials in the power and oil ministries. The ministries decided to reduce the duration of load shedding in the eastern Punjab province, where daily power outages last 10-14 hours, the two sources said on condition of anonymity. Pakistan’s fertilizer sector previously consumed about 600,000 Mcf/day of gas, and CNG pumps use about 400,000 Mcf/day. On Thursday, the government started reducing gas supply to fertilizer plants by 50,000-75,000 Mcf/d, with the remainder of the cuts coming soon, the sources said. The plan is expected to generate about 600 MW, still well below the 4 GW shortfall. Pakistan’s overall electricity output stands at 11.5 GW, about 74% of total demand of 15.5 GW, the sources said. Hydropower […]

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Indian Apr coal imports rise 6.45% on month to 15.9 mil mt: Interocean

India imported around 15.86 million mt of coal at 24 major ports in April, up 6.45% from March, according to data released Wednesday by Indian ship broker Interocean. The April imports consisted of 12.3 million mt of thermal coal, up 8.76% from March, and 3.56 million mt of coking coal, down 0.84%. Mundra port on India’s west coast received the highest coal shipments last month at 2.98 million mt, down 18.88% from 3.67 million mt in March. It also received the highest steam coal shipments at 2.98 million mt, up 27.26% from 2.34 million mt in March. Paradip port on the east coast received the most coking coal last month, 754,159 mt up 0.29% on the month. The surveyed ports were: Kandla, Navlakhi, Mundra, Bhavnagar, Pipavav, Muldwarka, Bedi, Magdalla, Dahej, Dharamtar, Haji Bunder, Jaigarh, Goa, Mangalore, Tuticorin, Ennore, Karaikal, Krishnapatnam, Kakinada, Gangavaram, Vizag, Paradip, […]

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U.S. Orders Railroads to Tell States About Crude Trains

The U.S. Transportation Department issued an emergency order designed to reduce the risks of transporting crude from North Dakota ’s booming Bakken region by rail, a week after an oil train derailed and burned in Virginia . The order requires railroads to notify state emergency agencies when they haul Bakken crude through communities. A separate advisory discourages carriers from using an older tank car known as the DOT-111 tied to some accidents, though the order doesn’t ban their use. “The safety of our nation’s railroad system, and the people who live along rail corridors is of paramount concern,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement. Recent accidents have heightened concern about transporting oil by trains. Last year, a train operated by one person that was left unattended overnight rolled into the center of Lac-Megantic, Quebec , and touched off an explosion that destroyed half the town and killed […]

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Elections not stopping Obama pollution rules

Within weeks, President Barack Obama’s administration is set to unveil unprecedented emissions limits on power plants across the U.S., much to the dismay of many Democratic candidates who are running for election in energy-producing states. Fearful of a political backlash, they wish their fellow Democrat in the White House would hold off until after the voting. Unlike the Keystone XL oil pipeline, whose review the administration has delayed, probably until after November’s elections, the clock is ticking for the power plant rules – the cornerstone of Obama’s campaign to curb climate change. Unless he starts now, the rules won’t be in place before he leaves office, making it easier for his successor to stop them. So even though the action could bolster Republican attacks against some of this year’s most vulnerable Democrats, the administration is proceeding at full speed. Obama’s counselor on climate issues, John Podesta, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Senate Squabble on Energy Policy Looks Likely to Stop Pipeline Vote

A tug of war in the Senate over energy policy and procedure looked likely to derail a vote on the Keystone XL pipeline that had been sought by Republicans and some Democrats from energy states. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) had indicated last week that he would bring to the floor a measure approving construction of the controversial pipeline as part of a deal tied to passing a bipartisan energy-efficiency bill. But prospects for a Keystone vote receded Wednesday after Mr. Reid said he wouldn’t allow any further amendments to the energy bill, angering Republicans, who are now expected to block the energy bill from advancing in the chamber. The retreat from holding a vote on a stand-alone Keystone bill, which would bypass an executive order from the Obama administration and force approval of the pipeline, isn’t a clear-cut victory for either party. Sen. Mary Landrieu , […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. Issues Safety Advisory on Tank Cars Used to Ship Crude Oil — Update

U.S. safety regulators urged companies shipping crude oil from North Dakota to stop using old tank cars that have been implicated in fiery accidents "to the extent possible." The Transportation Department’s nonbinding safety advisory, which carries less weight than an emergency order, said shippers should use the sturdiest cars in their fleets to transport crude from the Bakken shale. The advisory applies to about 20,000 older tank cars most commonly used to transport oil from North Dakota, the Federal Railroad Administration said, or almost 60% of the total. The remaining cars are new or have been retrofitted to improve their performance in accidents. The call to get the older tanker cars off the rails drew immediate criticism. "Making it voluntary is not going far enough," Sen. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.) told Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing. Mr. Foxx assured her that […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Obama to roll out climate rules, to dismay of Democratic candidates

Within weeks, President Barack Obama’s administration is set to unveil unprecedented emissions limits  on power plants across the United States, much to the dismay of many Democratic candidates who are running for election in energy-producing states. Fearful of a political backlash, they wish their fellow Democrat in the White House would hold off until after the voting. But Obama can’t wait that long. Unlike the Keystone XL oil pipeline, whose review the administration has delayed , probably until after November’s elections, the clock is ticking for the power plant rules — the cornerstone of Obama’s campaign to curb climate change. Unless Obama starts now, the rules won’t be in place before he leaves office. If they’re not set when he leaves, it will be easier for his successor to stop them. So even though the action could bolster Republican attacks against some of this year’s most vulnerable Democrats, the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Duke Energy spends tiny percentage of revenue on coal ash cleanup

Duke Energy, the company responsible for a massive coal ash spill in January in North Carolina, raked in billions in revenue in the first quarter of 2014 but failed to spend more than a tiny fraction of its earnings on cleaning up its spill, according to its quarterly report released Wednesday. The company, the largest electrical utility in the United States, has also seen what one Duke stock owner called a “shareholder revolt” over a reluctance to provide more detailed disclosure of its political contributions. Duke denies there’s a mutiny, saying that management’s preference for less disclosure is supported by a majority of shareholders. Duke Energy, valued at about $51 billion, said it spent just $15 million dollars cleaning up the results of the coal ash leak, a figure dwarfed by its $6.62 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2014. “What’s clear is that they spent very […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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EIA seeks comments on proposed expansion of gas, oil production survey

To accommodate the rapid growth and shifting location of US natural gas and crude oil production , the US Energy Information Administration is proposing to expand the geographic coverage of its current monthly natural gas production survey and add collection of state-level data on crude oil and lease condensate production. EIA has issued a request for public comments on the proposed changes in a Federal Register Notice published on May 6. “The current survey, the EIA-914 Monthly Natural Gas Production Report, collects natural gas production data from a sample of 240 well operators in five states and the federal offshore Gulf of Mexico that represent, as of December 2013, 66% of total US gross gas production, down from 82% in 2007 when the survey began,” EIA said. “Natural gas production has increased dramatically in some of the states outside the current EIA-914 survey—for example, Pennsylvania and Colorado, both of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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More processing, pipelines on tap for US shale plays

Shale development in the US continues to spawn support infrastructure. MarkWest Energy Partners LP , Denver, will expand Marcellus shale processing at two sites in West Virginia. Regency Energy Partners LP, Dallas, plans a new processing plant and NGL pipeline in North Louisiana. At its Sherwood complex in Doddridge County, W.Va., MarkWest will build an additional 200-MMcfd processing plant to accommodate production from Antero Resources Corp., based on a long-term, fee-based contract ( OGJ Online, Nov. 8, 2013 ). The new plant will expand total capacity at Sherwood to 1.2 bcfd by second-quarter 2015. The announcement said Antero continues to develop rich-gas acreage in northern West Virginia and is the anchor producer for Sherwood. At its Mobley complex in Wetzel County, W.Va., MarkWest will increase total processing capacity to 920 MMcfd with construction of an additional 200-MMcfd plant—Mobley V—to handle production from EQT Corp. Plans target in service by […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Ukraine crisis: Separatists to debate Putin referendum call

Pro-Russian activists in eastern Ukraine are due to consider a proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin to delay referendums on autonomy. Mr Putin said putting off the vote could help create the conditions necessary for dialogue. Separatist leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk say they will put the matter before "people’s councils". But Ukrainian authorities said "anti-terror" operations would continue regardless of the rebels’ decision. The referendums are due to take place on Sunday and millions of ballot papers have been prepared. And in what appeared to be a further shift in Russian policy, Mr Putin also said on Wednesday that this month’s presidential elections in Ukraine were a move "in the right direction". His remarks came days after his spokesman said holding such an election would be absurd. Military operation continues Moscow has vowed to protect the rights of the largely Russian-speaking people in the south and east against […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Putin Announces Pullback From Ukraine Border

President Vladimir V. Putin, faced with rising violence in southeastern Ukraine that threatened to draw in the Russian Army at great cost and prompt severe new Western economic sanctions, pressed pause on Wednesday in what had started to look like an inevitable march toward war. But it remained unclear to analysts and political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic whether he was truly reversing course on Ukraine or if this was just another of his judo-inspired feints. Using a far less ominous tone than in previous remarks about Ukraine, Mr. Putin told a news conference at the Kremlin that Russia had withdrawn its troops from along the border and that he had asked separatists to drop plans for a referendum on sovereignty this Sunday. Russia would even accept Ukraine’s presidential election on May 25, he said, if demands for autonomy from the country’s east were recognized. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Putin Calls on Pro-Russian Separatists in Eastern Ukraine to Delay Independence Vote

President Vladimir Putin moved to pull Ukraine back from the brink of breakup Wednesday, calling on separatists to put off a secession vote, softening his attacks on a presidential election and saying his troops had withdrawn from the border. Mr. Putin’s change of tone came after , which has taken dozens of lives and brought East-West relations to their lowest point since the Cold War. But Washington was dismissive and immediately questioned whether Moscow was genuinely committed to stabilizing Ukraine, where the government in Kiev is strongly pro-Western. The Pentagon said it had seen no evidence to back Mr. Putin’s claim that he had called back the tens of thousands of troops deployed to Ukraine’s border last month. The Obama administration noted Mr. Putin failed to call on the pro-Russian separatists to lay down their arms or vacate to the referendum they plan to hold on Sunday. Kiev and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Sweden's Vattenfall abandons research on CO2 storage

Swedish energy giant Vattenfall said Tuesday that it had given up its research on CO2 capture and storage, intended to make the company’s coal power plants greener. "Vattenfall will discontinue its R&D (research and development) activities regarding coal power with CCS (carbon capture and storage)," the group said in a statement explaining its new research plans. The state-owned giant had been investing in this technology for more than 10 years, with plans for a power plant equipped with CCS in 2016. Capturing and liquifying CO2 coming from carbon combustion to later store it underground was meant to curb greenhouse effect gas emissions, but its costs and the energy it requires make the technology unviable. These difficulties had already forced Vattenfall to give up in 2011 a large project at a pilot plant in Jaenschwalde, in eastern Germany. The European Union then demanded the reimbursement of funding worth 45 million […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Sweden’s Vattenfall abandons research on CO2 storage

Swedish energy giant Vattenfall said Tuesday that it had given up its research on CO2 capture and storage, intended to make the company’s coal power plants greener. "Vattenfall will discontinue its R&D (research and development) activities regarding coal power with CCS (carbon capture and storage)," the group said in a statement explaining its new research plans. The state-owned giant had been investing in this technology for more than 10 years, with plans for a power plant equipped with CCS in 2016. Capturing and liquifying CO2 coming from carbon combustion to later store it underground was meant to curb greenhouse effect gas emissions, but its costs and the energy it requires make the technology unviable. These difficulties had already forced Vattenfall to give up in 2011 a large project at a pilot plant in Jaenschwalde, in eastern Germany. The European Union then demanded the reimbursement of funding worth 45 million […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Of Fossil Fuels and Human Destiny

There have been hundreds of books and essays written on the evolution of Homo sapiens and I assume you are familiar with that history. In this short essay I am going to point out a few things that are usually left out of that story, the part that deals with the very nature of the species Homo sapiens. First I would like to point out a few things that are common to all species, not just Homo sapiens. All species produce more offspring than can possibly survive to adulthood and reproductive age. Some produce hundreds of offspring and leave it to chance that a few will survive. Others produce far fewer offspring and care for them for months to years to increase their chances of survival. However if there is ever an abundance of food for any species, that species will multiply its numbers to take advantage of that […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Russia and the Ukraine – The Worrisome Connection to World Oil and Gas Problems

What is behind the Russia/Ukraine problem? It seems to me that what we are seeing is Russia’s attempt to fix a two-part problem: Some oil and gas exporters, including Russia, are not receiving enough oil and gas revenue to meet their needs. They are not able to collect enough taxes to provide the services they have promised to their citizens, plus allow the amount of reinvestment that is needed to maintain production. Russia is starting to experience economic contraction because of the low revenue situation. This situation very closely related similar problems I have written about  previously. In one post I talked about major independent oil companies not producing enough profit to provide the revenue needed for reinvestment, and because of this, cutting back on new investment. In another , I talked about the problem of too low US natural gas sales prices, relative to the cost of extraction. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple