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Iran Targets Oil Boost of 1 Million Barrels a Day, Zanganeh Says

Iran , hampered by sanctions over its nuclear program, plans within four years to boost crude-output capacity by 1 million barrels a day at fields it shares with neighboring states, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said. “This will be the biggest achievement in the history of the oil industry in Iran,” he said today at the opening of an energy conference in Tehran. The fourth-largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is also pressing ahead with work at South Pars, part of a gas deposit straddling the border with Qatar, Zanganeh said. Iran expects to complete several of the project’s 17 phases in about three years, he said. The government is trying to attract foreign investment in crude, natural gas and chemicals production even as it seeks the removal of U.S. and European sanctions. The U.S. and allied states say Iran is working to develop atomic-weapons technology, a […]

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U.S. Imposes First Sanctions in South Sudan Conflict

In its first use of economic sanctions against combatants in the bloody fighting in South Sudan , the Obama administration on Tuesday ordered asset freezes and travel bans on two individuals, one on each side of the conflict. The sanctions, which were announced by Secretary of State John Kerry , were imposed under an executive order President Obama signed a month ago in response to the violence that has killed thousands and displaced more than a million people. The announcement came as President Salva Kiir of South Sudan and Riek Machar, the rebel leader, agreed to face-to-face talks in Ethiopia, which are tentatively scheduled to be held on Friday. One of the targets of the sanctions was Marial Chanuong, the commander of the government’s presidential guard force, who Mr. Kerry said led attacks against civilians in and around Juba, the South Sudan capital. The other was Peter […]

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Mexico sees first private oil contracts in 2015

Mexican officials said Monday they expect to open bidding on the first round of private oil contracts in the first half of 2015. A constitutional reform passed last year opened the state-owned energy sector to private investment. But enabling legislation is still before congress. Assistant Energy Secretary Lourdes Melgar said the first round of bidding is expected to offer a range of onshore, offshore and deep water fields. Melgar said Mexico hopes to have private companies producing a half million barrels of oil a day by 2018, while state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos should maintain production at about 2.5 million barrels a day. Mexican tax authorities said they expect government revenue, on average, to be about 50 percent of production value from private projects operated under contract, license or concession. Petroleos Mexicanos, known as Pemex, will have first choice of which fields to develop. Those […]

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Ecuador Says No National Referendum on New Amazon Oil Development

Ecuador’s national electoral council said Tuesday that opponents of new oil development in a national park in the Amazon rain forest failed to submit enough valid signatures to force a nationwide referendum. The electoral council said that only 359,761 signatures of the 756,000 that were submitted by a coalition opposed to the oil activity passed the validation process. The law required them to collect 584,000 signatures, which is equivalent to 5% of the electorate, to force a referendum on the issue. The announcement appears to be a victory for President Rafael Correa and his plans to drill for oil in an area known as the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini, or the ITT block. A portion of the block is located in the Yasuni national park, which is considered by scientists to be one of the most biologically diverse spots in the world. The president of the electoral council, Domingo […]

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Mexico's Mature Oil Fields Key to Near-Term Production Gains

Mexico expects an increase in crude-oil production in the next few years to come primarily from the reactivation of mature oil fields, which would be included along with other types of deposits in the first rounds of bidding involving private companies. "Additional production will come for example from mature oil fields…fields that were producing in the 1930s and that could be exploited with new technology to increase production quickly," Lourdes Melgar, deputy minister for hydrocarbons at the Energy Ministry, said Tuesday at a meeting with reporters. The attraction of new, latest-generation technology is one of the central goals behind a historic energy overhaul promoted by President Enrique Peña Nieto that opens the oil and gas industry to competition, ending the monopoly of state company Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, and allowing private firms to exploit the country’s resources for the first time in 76 years. Last week, Mr. Peña […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Mexico’s Mature Oil Fields Key to Near-Term Production Gains

Mexico expects an increase in crude-oil production in the next few years to come primarily from the reactivation of mature oil fields, which would be included along with other types of deposits in the first rounds of bidding involving private companies. "Additional production will come for example from mature oil fields…fields that were producing in the 1930s and that could be exploited with new technology to increase production quickly," Lourdes Melgar, deputy minister for hydrocarbons at the Energy Ministry, said Tuesday at a meeting with reporters. The attraction of new, latest-generation technology is one of the central goals behind a historic energy overhaul promoted by President Enrique Peña Nieto that opens the oil and gas industry to competition, ending the monopoly of state company Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, and allowing private firms to exploit the country’s resources for the first time in 76 years. Last week, Mr. Peña […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Vietnam Demands China Withdraw Oil Rig From Disputed Waters

Vietnam said it would take all measures necessary to protect its legitimate interests in the South China Sea after a Chinese state-run oil company . Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh, in a telephone call to Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi Tuesday, said the deployment of the oil rig by China National Offshore Oil Corp. and the presence of several Chinese vessels in the area violated international laws and Vietnam’s sovereignty, according to a government statement late Tuesday. On Saturday, China’s Maritime Safety Administration disclosed the location of the oil rig. Vietnam says the rig is 138 miles (220 kilometers) from its shore and "totally within its exclusive economic zone." At a press briefing on Monday, China Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the rig was in Chinese waters. "As we understand it, the Chinese Maritime Safety Administration issued a shipping notice on May 3 regarding […]

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Chinese and Vietnamese Ships Collide Amid Oil Rig Dispute

Tensions in the South China Sea intensified Wednesday as Vietnamese naval vessels collided with Chinese ships amid a heated standoff over an oil rig that China had placed off Vietnam’s coast. Officials said that no shots were fired during the incident, and further details about the collision, which was confirmed by a Vietnamese official to The Associated Press, were not available. But the collision highlighted the hair-trigger tensions in the region as East Asian nations try to contain China’s more aggressive posture in pursuing maritime claims in the South China Sea. The collision occurred just days after the Chinese state oil company Cnooc stationed the rig 120 nautical miles off the coast of Vietnam, in waters claimed by China and Vietnam. The placement of the rig led to protests and demands by Vietnam that it be withdrawn, and the deployment of a Vietnamese naval flotilla to […]

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Oil sent from Canada by rail increasing

Crude oil exported from Canada by rail topped 140,000 barrels per day during fourth quarter 2013, nearly double the 2012 figures, a regulator said. The National Energy Board, Canada’s energy regulator, published quarterly data for crude oil exports by rail Monday. It said that, combined, 184,907 barrels of oil per day were delivered by rail over 2012, with more than 40 percent of that volume sent during the fourth quarter. Fourth quarter 2012 exports by rail were 79,763 bpd, compared with the 146,047 bpd sent during fourth quarter 2013. Overall 2013 deliveries by rail were 502,215 bpd. An accelerated rate of crude oil production in North America has strained existing pipeline capacity. Industry officials say rail transport is taking up the slack. Increased crude oil deliveries by rail corresponded with an increase in derailments. More than 40 people were killed last year in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, when a train carrying […]

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U.S. study blames fossil fuels for climate change

A U.S. government report published Tuesday finds the change in weather patterns over the least 50 years is tied largely to the burning of fossil fuels. The National Climate Assessment finds the U.S. average temperature has increased by as much as 1.9 degrees Fahrenheit since record keeping began in 1895, and most of that increase has occurred since the 1970s. "The global warming of the past 50 years is primarily due to human activities, predominantly the burning of fossil fuels," the report finds. The 840-page report said that climate change has "moved firmly into the present," with the economies in all U.S. territories feeling the impact. "This National Climate Assessment concludes that the evidence of human-induced climate change continues to strengthen and that impacts are increasing across the country," it said. The report finds the amount of warming projected during the next few decades […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple