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Sanctions Over Ukraine Crisis Create Tangle for BP, Total

On the day the U.S. barred its citizens from conducting business with Russia’s Igor Sechin, BP PLC’s American chief executive was in an uncomfortable spot: sitting at a boardroom table in St. Petersburg, Russia, with the oil executive. BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley is a director of OAO Rosneft , the state-controlled Russian oil company where Mr. Sechin is president and a major shareholder. The British company owns 19.75% of Rosneft. To ensure access to Russia’s vast reserves—and avoid political tangles that can ensnare companies in the country that don’t have Kremlin connections—big Western oil companies including BP, SA and Exxon Mobil Corp. have allied themselves with loyalists of Russian President Vladimir Putin . Mr. Sechin, a former government official, is one of Mr. Putin’s closest allies. Now, those connections are becoming liabilities as Western nations push Russia to by sanctioning some of those same individuals. That means the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Workers Seize City in Eastern Ukraine From Separatists

Thousands of steelworkers fanned out on Thursday through the city of Mariupol, establishing control over the streets and banishing the pro-Kremlin militants who until recently had seemed to be consolidating their grip on power, dealing a setback to Russia and possibly reversing the momentum in eastern Ukraine. By late Thursday, miners and steelworkers had deployed in at least five cities, including the regional capital, Donetsk. They had not, however, become the dominant force there that they were in Mariupol, the region’s second-largest city and the site last week of a bloody confrontation between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian militants. While it was still far too early to say the tide had turned in eastern Ukraine, the day’s events were a blow to separatists who recently seized control here and in a dozen or so other cities and who held a referendum on independence on Sunday. Backed by […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. Warns Russia of Sanctions as Ukraine Troops Advance

The top U.S. and U.K. diplomats vowed to punish Russia with industrywide sanctions if this month’s Ukrainian presidential election is undermined as the Kiev government’s forces moved to flush out separatists in the east. “If Russia or its proxies disrupt the elections,” the U.S. and its allies “will impose sectoral economic sanctions as a result,” Secretary of State John Kerry said in London yesterday after meeting his counterparts from Britain, Italy , France and Germany . Pro-Russian separatists “are literally sowing mayhem,” seeking to “speak for everyone through the barrel of a gun.” Discord over the election risks another round of escalation as the Kiev government and its U.S. and European allies blame Russia for the unrest in Ukraine’s easternmost regions. Russian calls to include rebels in national unity talks that began May 14 were rejected as the meetings opened without separatist leaders’ participation. In eastern Ukraine, government troops […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Report: Climate change affecting corporate bottom lines

In response to environmental threats, companies are investing in preventative measures, reducing carbon footprint Climate change isn’t just causing the ice caps to melt, it’s costing corporations big bucks and forcing some to factor its likely impact into their long-term plans. A new report from the Carbon Disclosure Project  (CDP) released Friday says 63 of America’s S&P 500 companies are already paying to counter the effects of climate change. The past few years of extreme drought, stronger hurricanes and severe flooding have caused immense damage to some businesses’ core assets, requiring millions of dollars in repairs and threatening billions more in future profits. "Dealing with climate change is now a cost of doing business" Tom Carnac, president of CDP in North America, said in a news release. "Making investments in climate-change-related resilience planning both in their own operations and in the supply chain has become crucial for all corporations […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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No Oil in the Lamp

The modern world is totally dependent on a continuing supply of energy from oil and other fossil fuels. However, recent natural disasters, global political upheavals, price hikes in the cost of gas, heating oil and electricity, and the eye-watering cost of filling up a car are signposts toward an unexpected, different, energy-constrained future. The central theme of this book is this: as traditional energy sources and in particular oil start to run short, we are sleepwalking into an energy crisis which will have farreaching effects on every part of the modern world. Christians and the church will have to grapple with these issues if we want to understand the context in which we will live, worship, minister and witness in the years ahead. In this book we aim to raise awareness of ‘peak oil’ and its consequences amongst Christians, and to prepare the church in practical ways for the […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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Does Peak Oil Matter?

Diving Into Stories of Energy Transition with Chris Nelder Part Two of Four.  Link to Part 1 . A transcript of our interview on Extraenvironmentalist #76  by Scott Bohachyk Editor’s note:  Last time we discussed nuclear power and the potential role it may have in the 21st century energy transition. This time we are discussing the story of peak oil and whether it has any validity. Justin: A core part of the story we were just talking about, in the audio we were playing from the film Pandora’s Promise film is the idea that we’re going to hit 9 or 10 billion people and consume two, three, four times as much energy as we do now, but one story that really counters that is the idea of geology limiting oil output and the peak oil story. Now that we can reflect back on a few years of recession, and […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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WTI Drops From Three-Week High as Stockpiles Gain; Brent Steady

West Intermediate slid from a three-week high after government data showed crude inventories expanded as production increased to a 28-year peak in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent was steady in London . Futures fell as much as 0.5 percent in New York , the first drop in four days. Crude stockpiles rose to a near-record last week as climbed to the highest rate since 1986, the Energy Information Administration reported yesterday. Russia has no intention of sending troops into Ukraine, which is sliding into a civil war that will preclude holding legitimate elections, according to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov . “Crude inventories are at levels that are historically high,” Jonathan Barratt , the chief investment officer at Ayers Alliance Securities in Sydney, said by phone today. “Anywhere above $102 a barrel is expensive.” WTI for June delivery declined as much as 47 cents to $101.90 a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil below $102 after US output hits 28-year high

The price of oil declined Thursday after official figures showed U.S. crude production at a 28-year high. Benchmark U.S. crude for June delivery was down 42 cents to $101.95 a barrel at 0740 GMT on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 67 cents Wednesday to close at $102.37. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that domestic crude production reached 8.428 million barrels during the week ended May 9. That was the highest level since October 1986. The decline in oil prices comes after crude climbed above $102 a barrel amid tensions in Ukraine. An industry report also showed crude stocks fell at a key U.S. storage hub. Brent crude was down 20 cents to $109.11 a barrel on the ICE exchange in London. – Wholesale gasoline fell 0.3 cent to $2.948 a gallon. – Natural gas dropped 1.8 cents to $4.349 per 1,000 cubic feet. – […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Natural Gas Snaps Five-Session Losing Streak

Natural-gas prices narrowly ended their five-session losing streak Wednesday as bargain shoppers boosted the market on a light trading day. Prices for the front-month June contract rose 0.9 cent, or 0.2%, to $4.367 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices had fallen 9.2% from the prior five sessions, luring back some buyers who believed the low price would increase demand, analysts said. But mostly traders stayed out of the market on what turned out to be the slowest trading day in at least two years. Trading volume was less than half of what it had been on the previous slowest day of 2014. Recently traders have been hesitant to act before the weekly government update on natural gas stockpiles, which comes out Thursday at 10:30 a.m., analysts said. The update has been playing a critical role in the gas market […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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IEA Sees Higher Demand for OPEC Crude This Year

Demand for OPEC’s crude will be higher in the second half of the year than previously estimated as inventories in developed economies remain depleted, according to the International Energy Agency . The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will need to provide an average of 30.7 million barrels a day in the second half, or 800,000 a day more than it pumped last month, the IEA said today. This calls for 140,000 more barrels of OPEC crude than the IEA forecast in April as stronger-than-expected demand has kept stockpile levels “tight” in advanced nations, the agency said. OPEC controls about 40 percent of global supplies. “Forecast balances call for a significant rise in OPEC production from current levels for the second half of the year,” the Paris-based adviser to oil-consuming nations said in its monthly report. “While OPEC has more than enough capacity to deliver, it remains to be seen […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple