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Minister: Gazprom Gas Deal with China Nearly Ready

Russian Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky said on Monday a long-awaited deal for natural gas producer Gazprom to supply China with gas was close to completion. "We hope that the negotiations will be completed as scheduled," Yanovsky told reporters, a little more than a week before President Vladimir Putin visits China. "The contract is, I would say, 98 percent ready." Gazprom, Russia’s top natural gas producer, has been in talks on gas supplies to China for over a decade. In April, it said it was aiming to finalise the deal this month. (Reporting by Katya Golubkova, Writing by Lidia Kelly, Editing by Timothy Heriatge) WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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OPEC, Naimi See Output Flat Amid Rising Supply Elsewhere

OPEC should keep pumping crude at about 30 million barrels a day in the near term amid rising global supply, according to the group’s Secretary General and Saudi Arabia , its largest member. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has no reason to change the current output ceiling of 30 million barrels a day at its next meeting on June 11 because oil markets are stable, Saudi Arabia’s Petroleum Minister Ali Al-Naimi told reporters in Seoul today. Supply and demand will remain “fairly balanced” throughout the year, according to comments from OPEC’s Secretary General Abdalla El-Badri, posted on website of the International Energy Forum. “In the near term, OPEC production will remain steady around the 29-30 million barrels of oil per day level,” El-Badri said. “At present we are seeing growth in non-OPEC supply” and other producers in the group are making up for the supply shortfall from Libya, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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OPEC Should Maintain Output as Market Is Stable, Says Al-Naimi

The oil market is stable and supply shortages can be covered, so the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has no reason to change its production levels, according to Saudi Arabia’s oil minister. OPEC’s current output of about 30 million barrels a day is the right level and global oil demand is “great,” Ali Al-Naimi told reporters in Seoul today. Saudi Arabia, the biggest producer in the 12-member group, is pumping about 9.6 million barrels a day and has 12.5 million of capacity, he said. Oil at about $100 a barrel is a “fair price for all,” said Al-Naimi, who is attending ministerial meetings on clean energy in South Korea’s capital. Brent futures are above $108 in London today, rising for the first time in three days amid concern that the crisis in Ukraine may disrupt energy supplies from Russia . West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark crude, was near […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China to set up nuclear emergency team

BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhua) — China is working to form a 300-member state-level rescue team specialized in nuclear emergencies, said a senior official here Monday. This team will respond to "serious nuclear accidents in complicated circumstances", said Yao Bin, head of the nuclear emergency and security division under the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND). They will be tasked to support operators of nuclear facilities to handle contingencies, such as cordoning the radioactive source in nuclear accidents, rescuing trapped people, controling the spread of contamination and minimizing the damage, said Yao, also deputy head of a national nuclear emergency response office. The fast-response team will be equipped with the latest devices, and the country will also build a training base for the team. The SASTIND and the General Staff Headquarters of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) are jointly working on this program, which is […]

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Antarctica 'stealing' Australia's rain: study

Antarctica is "stealing" Australia ‘s rainfall, explaining why the former is not warming as much as other continents and why southern Australia is recording more droughts, the Australian National University (ANU) reported on Monday. Researchers in Australia have found rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are strengthening the stormy Southern Ocean winds. These would normally deliver rain to southern Australia but are instead pushing further south towards Antarctica. "With greenhouse warming, Antarctica is actually stealing more of Australia’s rainfall," said Dr Nerilie Abram, lead researcher from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences. "As the westerly winds are getting tighter they’re actually trapping more of the cold air over Antarctica," she said. "As greenhouse gases continue to rise we’ll get fewer storms chased up into Australia." Until this study, published in Nature Climate Change, Antarctic climate observations were available only from the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Antarctica ‘stealing’ Australia’s rain: study

Antarctica is "stealing" Australia ‘s rainfall, explaining why the former is not warming as much as other continents and why southern Australia is recording more droughts, the Australian National University (ANU) reported on Monday. Researchers in Australia have found rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are strengthening the stormy Southern Ocean winds. These would normally deliver rain to southern Australia but are instead pushing further south towards Antarctica. "With greenhouse warming, Antarctica is actually stealing more of Australia’s rainfall," said Dr Nerilie Abram, lead researcher from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences. "As the westerly winds are getting tighter they’re actually trapping more of the cold air over Antarctica," she said. "As greenhouse gases continue to rise we’ll get fewer storms chased up into Australia." Until this study, published in Nature Climate Change, Antarctic climate observations were available only from the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Reliance, BP, Niko Seek Arbitration With India Over Gas Prices

Reliance Industries Ltd. , the operator of India’s biggest natural-gas find, and its partners BP PLC and Niko Resources Ltd. said Saturday that they have sought arbitration with the Indian government in an effort to force implementation of a planned price increase for natural gas. India’s government sets gas prices in the domestic market. India’s cabinet last year approved a plan to increase the price of natural gas to around $8 per million metric British Thermal units from $4.20 now. The oil ministry in January said the new price would come into effect from April 1 and would be revised quarterly. India’s election watchdog in March, however, deferred the implementation of the federal-government decision, saying it could affect the outcome of national elections which began in May and end on Monday. Results are set to be announced Friday. "We have received the arbitration notice. We will take […]

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How 'Big Corn' lost the ethanol battle to Philadelphia refiners

Six months ago the U.S. oil industry scored a surprise win against farm groups when the Obama administration proposed slashing the amount of ethanol refiners must blend into gasoline, a move that could save them billions of dollars. Stunned by the reversal, producers of the corn-based biofuel and their supporters are now fighting back ahead of a June deadline for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make a final decision on the cut. The clash has been portrayed as a battle between "Big Oil" and "Big Corn," two powerful and deep-pocketed lobbies. But a Reuters review of public records and interviews with lawmakers, lobbyists and executives reveals a more complex picture. A private equity firm and an airline helped convince the Obama administration to backtrack, at least temporarily, on a policy it has supported for years: requiring steadily-rising volumes of ethanol to be blended into […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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How ‘Big Corn’ lost the ethanol battle to Philadelphia refiners

Six months ago the U.S. oil industry scored a surprise win against farm groups when the Obama administration proposed slashing the amount of ethanol refiners must blend into gasoline, a move that could save them billions of dollars. Stunned by the reversal, producers of the corn-based biofuel and their supporters are now fighting back ahead of a June deadline for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make a final decision on the cut. The clash has been portrayed as a battle between "Big Oil" and "Big Corn," two powerful and deep-pocketed lobbies. But a Reuters review of public records and interviews with lawmakers, lobbyists and executives reveals a more complex picture. A private equity firm and an airline helped convince the Obama administration to backtrack, at least temporarily, on a policy it has supported for years: requiring steadily-rising volumes of ethanol to be blended into […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Spring snows hit Rockies; Plains face high winds

Dozens of snowplows were taking to the streets of Denver early Monday, after a powerful spring storm dropped heavy snow across parts of Colorado and Wyoming, even as stormy weather moved into the plains states and drew warnings about conditions ripe for severe thunderstorm and tornadoes. The Mother’s Day storm dropped more than a foot of sloppy, wet snow on parts of the two states. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for most of northern Colorado and parts of southern Wyoming for all of Sunday and for Monday morning. Forecasters warned that instability ahead of the cold front created conditions for damaging winds as thunderstorms and tornadoes developed in Nebraska Sunday and threatened to push south. The storm also created high winds across the West. Powerful thunderstorms produced tornadoes as they moved across Nebraska on Sunday caused damage in several towns and rural […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple