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Car bombing in downtown Baghdad kills 5 people

Officials say a car bombing in a bustling area in central Baghdad has killed at least five people. A police officer says the parked explosives-laden vehicle went off on Thursday morning in Karrada neighborhood, near a commercial area and some government offices. Three civilians and two policemen were killed and at least 12 people were wounded in the explosion. A medical official confirmed the causality figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media. Since last year, Iraq has been seeing the worst level of violence since the nation emerged from Shiite-Sunni bloodletting in 2008. The U.N. says 8,868 people were killed in 2013, and more than 1,400 people were killed in January and February of this year.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil-Rich Mexico Becomes Net Importer of U.S. Petroleum Goods

Mexico has become a net importer of petroleum products in its trade with the U.S. for the first time in at least 40 years, a significant industrial shift for a country that has long been proud of its status as one of the world’s top crude-oil exporters. Mexico still exports more than a million barrels a day of crude oil, but it imports just about everything else: natural gas, gasoline, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas, and petrochemicals. In the first three months of the year, the country posted a petroleum deficit of about $551 million with the U.S., according to recent Bank of Mexico data. The newfound dominance of the U.S. energy sector is relevant for a country that has long been proud of its status as a "petroleum nation," after former President Lázaro Cárdenas nationalized the industry in 1938. The shift comes partly from the U.S. energy boom […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China produces and consumes almost as much coal as the rest of the world combined

. Chinese production and consumption of coal increased for the 13th consecutive year in 2012. China is by far the world’s largest producer and consumer of coal, accounting for 46% of global coal production and 49% of global coal consumption—almost as much as the rest of the world combined. As a manufacturing country that has large electric power requirements, China’s coal consumption fuels its economic growth. China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.7% in 2012, following an average GDP growth rate of 10% per year from 2000 to 2011. The top 10 coal-producing countries supplied 90% of the world’s coal in 2012. China produced nearly four times as much coal as the second largest producer, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China Gets Upper Hand in Russia Gas Deal

Russia’s conflicts on its western frontier are pushing it into the arms of its eastern neighbor. That could finally seal Russia’s long-promised natural gas deal with China—but more on China’s terms. Vladimir Putin is due in Beijing this month, and the conversation between the ex-superpower and the budding one is sure to involve energy. The Ukrainian crisis has Europe, which buys 75% of Russia’s gas exports, talking loudly about finding new sources. That means Moscow needs to court new buyers. It also needs to find new avenues of capital, considering a net $51 billion—equivalent to 2.5% of GDP—flowed out of the country in the first quarter. On both counts, China is Russia’s best bet. With a goal of doubling its gas market by 2020, China is one of the fastest-growing energy markets in the world. Plus, Beijing offers an alternative to Western funding. It has already struck financing deals […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Anti-Chinese Violence Turns Deadly and Spreads in Vietnam

Violence against foreign-owned factories spread elsewhere in Vietnam and took a deadly turn, with officials saying Thursday that one Chinese worker had been killed and scores more injured when hundreds of protesting Vietnamese went on a rampage in a factory in the central part of the country. The explosion of violence — initially centered outside the southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City — reflected growing animosity in the region as China works to solidify its claims over vast parts of two seas that other nations have long considered their own. In Ha Tinh Province, in the northern part of central Vietnam, hundreds of protesting Vietnamese workers entered the Formosa Plastics Group steel plant on Wednesday afternoon, attacking Chinese nationals contracted to work there, the Taiwan-based company said Thursday. One Chinese worker was killed and 90 were injured in the violence, according to the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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More than 20 dead, doctor says, as anti-China riots spread in Vietnam

More than 20 people were killed in Vietnam and a huge foreign steel project set ablaze as anti-China riots spread to the centre of the country a day after arson and looting in the south, a doctor and company officials said on Thursday. A doctor at a hospital in central Ha Tinh province said five Vietnamese workers and 16 other people described as Chinese were killed on Wednesday night in rioting, one of the worst breakdowns in Sino-Vietnamese relations since the neighbors fought a brief border war in 1979. "There were about a hundred people sent to the hospital last night. Many were Chinese. More are being sent to the hospital this morning," the doctor at Ha Tinh General Hospital told Reuters by phone. Local media has, however, said only person was killed. Formosa Plastics Group, Taiwan’s biggest investor in Vietnam, said its upcoming steel plant […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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BP sees oil production recovery in North Sea

Oil production from the British waters of the North Sea could see its first increase in more than 10 years, a regional director for BP said. Monthly production from key field indices in the North Sea show a decline from 2.02 million barrels of oil per day in 2007 to 1.16 million bpd last year. Since January, however, production has recovered to 1.2 million bpd, BP regional vice president for Europe Peter Mather told a Platts oil summit in London. "This year could be the first in over a decade that U.K. offshore production does not fall, potentially leading to a slight increase in the next few years," he said Tuesday. Oil from the North Sea met around 65 percent of the British oil demand in 2012 and paid nearly $11 million in taxes to the government in 2012-13. The industry employs about 450,000 people. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Bakken Crude Is Highly Volatile, Oil Study Shows

Data released by a lobbying group for oil refiners confirmed that crude from the Bakken shale in North Dakota is very volatile and contains high levels of combustible gases. But the group said the crude, which has been linked to fiery rail accidents, is no more dangerous to ship than oil from other shale regions and is being correctly loaded and transported under existing federal rules. New rules aren’t warranted, the group, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, said Wednesday. U.S. regulators recently called Bakken crude an imminent hazard because of what they believe is its unusually flammable nature, and are in the process of proposing new regulations for the booming business of shipping oil by train. Instead, attention should shift to the rail industry’s safety record, said Charles Drevna, president of the oil-refiner trade group, some of whose members have made big investments in crude-by-rail infrastructure such as […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Bakken Update, March Production Data

The Bakken production data , as well as the All North Dakota production data  just came out with their production numbers for March 2014. Bakken production was up 914,003 bp/d, up 25,091 bp/d from February. All North Dakota production was 977,061 bp/d, up 24,006 bp/d from February. That was a new record for the Bakken but not for all North Dakota. They are still 538 bp/d below their November 2013 numbers. The surge in the Bakken really started in July 2011 when they doubled number of additional wells per month. Production continued to climb in pretty much a straight line through October 2012. Then bad weather and other problems started to affect production. They are now about 150,000 bp/d below where they would have been had they continued on that trajectory. (Line on chart.) North Dakota production outside the Bakken declined at about 12% per year until the number […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Gas and coal supply challenges raise summer reliability concerns: NERC

The electricity sector’s increasing reliance on natural gas is raising reliability concerns for the coming summer, while at the same time there may be coal supply constraints, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. said Wednesday. NERC, in its annual summer assessment, said that the ongoing and speedy growth of natural gas-fired generation highlights the need "for increased coordination between the gas and electric industries." John Moura, director of reliability assessment at NERC, said that while NERC has been examining gas-electric interdependency issues for quite some time, the resource’s increasing role is raising issues specific to the summer time. Article continues below… Gas Daily offers the most detailed coverage of natural gas prices at interstate and intrastate pipeline and pooling points in major U.S. markets. Gas Daily keeps you informed about complex state and federal regulations that affect competition in the gas industry. You will also learn about business-critical issues […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple