Category:

WTI Trades Near Four-Week High on Cushing Supplies

West Texas Intermediate traded near a four-week high amid speculation crude supplies will shrink further at Cushing, the biggest U.S. oil-storage hub, halting gains in nationwide stockpiles. Brent was steady in London as Libyan oil facilities remained unaffected by renewed violence. Futures were little changed in New York after rising 0.6 percent yesterday. Total U.S. crude inventories were unchanged after increasing five of the last six weeks, a Bloomberg News survey shows. Russian President Vladimir Putin said he ordered the withdrawal of troops near Ukraine’s border, signaling a possible easing of tension days before the country’s presidential election. A rogue general in eastern Libya gained support against the government among soldiers and some separatist groups. “The U.S. recovery is gaining ground and that is positive for energy demand, and it’s drawing on inventories,” Jens Naervig Pedersen , a commodities analyst at Danske Bank A/S, said by phone from Copenhagen. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil Futures Flat Ahead of Inventories

Crude-oil prices were marginally higher in Asia Tuesday, but traded within a narrow range ahead of weekly U.S. oil inventory data that analysts say is expected to show rising supply levels. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in June traded at $102.73 a barrel at 0550 GMT, up $0.12 in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.13 to $109.50 a barrel. "In the U.S., analysts predict a modest rise in crude stocks and a draw in distillate inventories as the country approaches the start of the driving season following the Memorial Day holiday on 26 May," ANZ said in a report. U.S. oil stockpile data for last week are due from the American Petroleum Institute, a trade body, later Tuesday. The more definitive oil stockpile data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration are due Wednesday. While […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Natural-Gas Prices Climb on Forecast for Warm Weather

Natural-gas futures touched their highest level in a week Monday as forecasts for warmer weather suggested an uptick in spring-time demand. Prices for the front-month June contract closed up 5.7 cents, or 1.3%, to $4.47 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In intraday trade, prices had climbed above $4.50/mmBtu for the first time in a week. Updated weather forecasts showed some of the first sustained heat of the year, with warmer-than-normal conditions spreading across most of the country through the next two weeks. Forecasts for early June point to temperatures in the 80s from Houston to Boston. That could lead to gas-fired electricity powering air conditioners three weeks before the official start of summer. It may not be a heat wave, but traders have to factor in the chance of an early summer and how unseasonably high demand could stretch the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Iran expects more from South Pars field

Three more sections of the South Pars natural gas field in the Persian Gulf are expected online this year, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangenah said. The Iranian government expects Phase 12 of a gas field it shares with Qatar will boost South Pars production by more than 875 million cubic feet per day once it’s online in late May or early June. Zanganeh said during a Sunday tour of the infrastructure associated with the field’s development that Phase 12 is one of three new segments of the field expected online during the Iranian calendar year, which began March 21. "Phase 12 is one of the important and big phases of the South Pars and its completion is important," he told the semi-official Fars News Agency. South Pars accounts for about 35 percent of the total volume of gas produced from Iran . In the past, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Officials say attacks across Iraq kill 14

A series of attacks in Iraq, mainly bombings targeting markets and commercial streets, killed 14 people Sunday, officials said. Police officials said the deadliest attack took place shortly before sunset when a bomb exploded at an outdoor market in the town of Mahmoudiya, killing four people and wounding 12. Mahmoudiya is 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of the capital. A bomb blast at an outdoor market in Baghdad’s eastern suburb of Maamil killed three shoppers and wounded seven, police said. In western Baghdad, police said a bomb blast in a commercial street killed two people and wounded seven. In the northern city of Mosul, police said a car bomb exploded near an army patrol in the northern city of Mosul, killing two soldiers and wounding four. Sunday night, police said gunmen using weapons fitted with silencers stormed an apartment in eastern Baghdad, killing three off-duty policemen. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Libyans Begin Taking Sides After General Wages Attacks

Towns, tribes and armed groups across Libya chose sides on Monday in response to a renegade general’s assault on the country’s Islamist militias and lawmakers. The general, Khalifa Heftar, has threatened to start something like a coup or even a civil war, though it is far from clear he has the power to do so. He has faulted the large Islamist blocs in the transitional Parliament for ineffectiveness and accused them of condoning the militias. In an apparent concession aimed at averting conflict, the interim government on Monday proposed selecting a new prime minister and suspending Parliament until the next election, which has not yet been scheduled. But it was unclear how Parliament might respond, and the proposal did not appear to have much chance of defusing the standoff. Mr. Heftar, 65, is a retired army officer who turned against Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi decades ago and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Libya’s Oil Rebels Side With General Attacking Islamists

A rogue general in who’s confronting Islamist militias and seeking to shut down the country’s parliament gained support in the east of the country among both soldiers and some separatist groups. Rebels who hold ports in eastern Libya, where they’ve been blocking oil exports since July, expressed support for Khalifa Haftar, the retired military leader who heads a self-proclaimed National Army. Haftar’s stated goal of crushing armed Islamist groups also won backing from a key army commander in the east. As Libya’s government accuses Haftar of attempting a coup, his forces put on a show of strength at both ends of the country, attacking Islamist groups in Benghazi and storming the parliament in Tripoli. The fighting is the latest evidence of the breakdown of authority in the oil-rich north African nation three years after the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi . Conflicts in Libya, where oil production has slid to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Algeria oil company to withdraw workers from Libya

An official close to Algeria’s state oil giant Sonatrach says authorities have decided to evacuate the company’s employees from Libya due to the deteriorating security situation. The decision follows the evacuation of Algerian diplomats from Libya Friday in response to what the Foreign Ministry said was a "clear and present" threat. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement had yet to be made, said Tuesday it was feared that with Algerian diplomats gone, terrorists would target oil workers. Sonatrach is working oil fields in the Ghadames basin in southern Libya, near the Algerian border. A renegade general has taken up arms against the Islamists dominating Libya’s fractured government sparking fighting in major cities. Libya is also home to al-Qaida-linked groups battling the Algerian government.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Food Crisis Worsens in South Sudan as Civil War Is Displacing Millions

At the beginning of the rainy season every year, Nyaaker Onwar, 34, would plant the sorghum and vegetables, while her husband and eldest son herded the cows and caught fish from the White Nile. They ate what they produced, and when the harvest was bountiful, they sold the rest in a nearby market town. In February, armed men looted their cows, burned their fishing boat and kidnapped some of their relatives. Ms. Onwar fled with her husband and seven children to this village through rain and deep mud. She has been here for weeks with thousands of people displaced by South Sudan’s civil war. When she arrived, she was hungry, with no money and few options. “We had to sell our clothes to buy food,” she said. Five months of war in South Sudan has led to the deaths of thousands and the displacement […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigeria: MEND Claims Responsibility for NNPC Jetty Explosion

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s explosion at the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) jetty, Okrika, Rivers State, which left an unspecified number of people dead and scores injured. This came as the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) called for urgent probe of the incident. In a statement posted online Monday afternoon, MEND said the explosion was part of its Operation ‘Hurricane Exodus" aimed at sabotaging oil installations in the Niger Delta region. The statement signed by its spokesman, Jomo Gbomo, read, "The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) takes responsibility for the sabotage on Sunday, 18 May, 2014 , on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Refinery Jetty pipelines in Okrika, Rivers State of Nigeria" .

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigeria: Pipeline Fire Kills Scores in Port Harcourt

AN unconfirmed number of people have been killed in a pipeline fire that erupted at one of the local pipelines belonging to the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation NNPC in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Residents said vandals who were siphoning fuel from one of the corporations damaged pipeline caused the fire explosion. The Chairman of Okrika local government area, where the incident took place, Tamuno Williams, confirmed the incident. “The fire incident is as a result of oil thieves who were siphoning oil from NNPC pipelines. As you can see, there is no management staff of the NNPC or persons you can say are in-charge of the corporations operations here. "The gates of the NNPC remain closed to visitors, so, we have not seen anybody that we can officially lay our complaints.” He berated the NNPC management for allegedly covering up accidents in their facilities. “Those who survived […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Putin sees China as logical gas partner

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday from Shanghai that a stronger energy relationship with China would provide mutual benefits. A 2009 framework agreement between Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp. calls on the Russian company to export as much as 2.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to the Chinese market each year. Both sides have discussed options for building a natural gas pipeline to enhance deliveries. "For Russia, implementing these agreements means diversifying gas supply destinations, while for our Chinese partners … it could be a remedy for energy shortage and helps ecological security," he told China’s official Xinhua News Agency. Formal natural gas deals, he said, are in their final stages. Putin is expected to spend two days on a state visit to Beijing this week. Alexei Miller , the top executive at Russian energy company Gazprom, met Sunday in Beijing with Zhou […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Why China is Driving a Hard Bargain with Russia Over Gas

Russian President Vladimir Putin ’s state visit to China this week has fueled speculation that both sides will finally reach a deal to supply Russian natural gas to China after a decade of wrangling. There are plenty of reasons Beijing and Moscow will finally see eye to eye. But an analysis of the situation shows they still have plenty of room to disagree. China and Russia have signed non-binding agreements before — most notably in 2009 and in 2013 — where they ironed out details that included the construction of a pipeline to ship 38 billion cubic meters of gas annually to China from fields in eastern Siberia. However, neither side has ever agreed on pricing . Analysts say Beijing and Moscow have never been closer to a deal. Russia needs energy customers due to its standoff with the West over Ukraine. China need to meet rising energy needs […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Fukushima Seawater Radiation Rises To New All Time High

The mainstream media may have long forgotten about the Fukushima tragedy (as it certainly goes against the far more popular and palatable meme of a Japan “recovery” courtesy of Abenomics) but that does not mean it is fixed or even contained. Quite the contrary. As a rare update from Japan’s Jiji news agency reminds us, on Friday radiation at five monitoring points in waters adjacent to the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power station spiked to all-time highs according to the semi-nationalized TEPCO. The measurements follow similar highs detected in groundwater at the plant. Why the surge in radioactivity? Officials of Tepco, as the utility is known, said “the cause of the seawater spike is unknown.” This is the same Tepco which for years lied that there is nothing to worry about in Fukushima, which arbitrarily hiked the maximum radiation exposure threshold as it saw fit, and which with the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

U.S. 'thinking through' potential oil exports

The White House is reviewing its policy options regarding legislation enacted in 1975 that restricts U.S. crude oil exports, a presidential assistant said. Crude oil exports are restricted because of a law enacted in response to an oil embargo from Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Dan Utech, an energy adviser to the White House, told the Platts energy news service the administration was reviewing the measure. "We’re thinking through the implications [of growing U.S. crude oil production,]" he said in an interview Sunday. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, said in its latest monthly report total U.S. crude oil production averaged 8.3 million barrels per day in April, the highest monthly average since March 1988. By 2015, the average should reach 9.2 million bpd, the highest level in more than 40 years. Utech said the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

U.S. ‘thinking through’ potential oil exports

The White House is reviewing its policy options regarding legislation enacted in 1975 that restricts U.S. crude oil exports, a presidential assistant said. Crude oil exports are restricted because of a law enacted in response to an oil embargo from Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Dan Utech, an energy adviser to the White House, told the Platts energy news service the administration was reviewing the measure. "We’re thinking through the implications [of growing U.S. crude oil production,]" he said in an interview Sunday. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, said in its latest monthly report total U.S. crude oil production averaged 8.3 million barrels per day in April, the highest monthly average since March 1988. By 2015, the average should reach 9.2 million bpd, the highest level in more than 40 years. Utech said the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

BP Faces Billions in Spill Payments as Court Upholds Deal

BP Plc (BP/) faces billions of dollars in additional payments after failing again to convince an appeals court that the company is being forced to pay claims that aren’t directly related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill . The decision leaves BP with two options — pay claims the company has called “fictitious,” or appeal further to the U.S. Supreme Court. Paying these claims will cost additional billions of dollars, BP has said in court filings. Payments for disputed business economic losses have been on hold while BP appealed . A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans earlier rejected BP’s view that the claims administrator for the company’s $9.2 billion settlement had misinterpreted the agreement and was paying for economic losses that weren’t caused by the spill. BP yesterday lost its bid for reconsideration by the full appeals court. BP contends a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Why Electric and Natural-Gas Cars Will Gain Traction

Ten years from now, electric (EV), hybrid and natural-gas powered cars will make some, albeit not yet decisive, inroads in our lives. There are economic, lifestyle and technological reasons for this. First, it is the technology of hydraulic fracturing, and improved 3-D seismic and imaging techniques, which provides us with the ability to find even small oil and gas fields in abundance. Cheaper natural gas produces cheaper electricity, which can then be loaded onto and stored in a battery in an EVs. The electricity may then be stored on board the vehicle using a ,  flywheel , or  supercapacitors . The natural gas abundance allows us to run fleets of trucks, buses, delivery vehicles like FedEx , and even taxicabs. In turn, less gasoline is needed, including from Venezuela and the Middle East, but more U.S.-produced gas is powering our cars and trucks. Technology is also a limiting […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Shale could be the answer to Ukraine's energy woes, candidate says

Ukrainian presidential candidate Oleh Liahsko said shale gas could help bring a layer of political and economic independence to a new Ukrainian government. Liahsko, founder of the minority Radical Party, said the Ukrainian government needs to break the Russian grip on the energy sector for the sake of independence. Shale gas, he said Sunday, offers a good possibility for Ukraine. "We depended on Russia [for] over 23 years [since] independence — on gas," he said . "And this dependence is not only economic, but political." European consumers get about a quarter of their gas needs met by Russia, though most of that supply runs through the Soviet-era transit network in Ukraine. The Kremlin has used energy as a geopolitical tool in its disputes with Ukraine, which has moved closer to Europe since a November uprising. The Ukrainian government last year said there may be […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Shale could be the answer to Ukraine’s energy woes, candidate says

Ukrainian presidential candidate Oleh Liahsko said shale gas could help bring a layer of political and economic independence to a new Ukrainian government. Liahsko, founder of the minority Radical Party, said the Ukrainian government needs to break the Russian grip on the energy sector for the sake of independence. Shale gas, he said Sunday, offers a good possibility for Ukraine. "We depended on Russia [for] over 23 years [since] independence — on gas," he said . "And this dependence is not only economic, but political." European consumers get about a quarter of their gas needs met by Russia, though most of that supply runs through the Soviet-era transit network in Ukraine. The Kremlin has used energy as a geopolitical tool in its disputes with Ukraine, which has moved closer to Europe since a November uprising. The Ukrainian government last year said there may be […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

British shale company Cuadrilla plans new campaign

British shale gas explorer Cuadrilla Resources announced its intention to submit a plan for exploration work to the county council in Lancashire. "This application could be a really important milestone for Lancashire and the U.K. as we seek to unlock Lancashire’s shale gas potential," Cuadrilla Chief Executive Officer Francis Egan said in a statement Sunday. The company said it would submit its planning application for a hydraulic fracturing campaign for four exploration wells to the Lancashire County Council before the end of May. In March, the company said it believes there are 200 trillion cubic feet of shale natural gas in the Bowland basin in Lancashire . Cuadrilla was the target of major demonstrations last summer when exploratory operations in the southern village of Balcombe were viewed as a prelude to fracking. In January, the company sent a letter to village residents, saying it was […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Gazprom: All South Stream offshore contracts signed

Russian energy company Gazprom said all contracts for the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline’s offshore section have been signed. Gazprom touts South Stream — which would stretch about 575 miles long offshore and more than 900 miles through the territory of southern European countries — as an option to ensure European gas supplies are stable. Ukraine hosts the bulk of Russian gas supplies for Europe, exposing the European energy sector to the associated with ongoing disputes between Kiev and the Kremlin. Gazprom said it’s concluded all of the contracts needed to start construction of the onshore section of the pipeline later this year. It’s placed orders for more than 150,000 sections of pipeline already. Henning Voscherau, chairman of the South Stream board of directors, said the pipeline would be beneficial not only to European consumers but to stakeholders as well. "I am sure […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil Futures Extend Gains

Oil futures were slightly higher in Asian trading hours Monday with both the U.S. and European oil benchmarks extending strong gains from the previous week. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in June traded at $102.16 a barrel at 0531 GMT, up $0.14 in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.20 to $109.95 a barrel. Nymex WTI crude has risen for six of the past nine weeks and ICE Brent crude has been up for four of the past six weeks. German officials warned over the weekend that Russia would have to face additional sanctions if Moscow disrupts the upcoming presidential elections in Ukraine on May 25. The situation in Ukraine, which is the main support for Brent crude, shows no signs of easing ahead of the coming weekend’s presidential election, ANZ said in a report. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Brent Extends Weekly Gain on Libya Fighting; WTI Climbs

Brent extended its first weekly gain this month amid speculation escalating violence in will further disrupt supplies from the holder of Africa ’s biggest oil reserves. West Texas Intermediate also rose in New York . Futures climbed as much as 0.5 percent in London . Libya accused a retired army general in the eastern city of Benghazi of planning a coup while the nation’s General Assembly in Tripoli was said to be suspended after it was stormed by a militia. Libyan crude production is down about 80 percent from a year ago, data compiled by Bloomberg show. “A restart from Libya is needed to balance the global supply-demand in the third quarter and for now that is still not coming,” Olivier Jakob , managing director at Petromatrix GmbH in Zug, Switzerland , said by e-mail. Recent efforts to restore Libyan production didn’t last long, so the country was already […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Natural Gas Bets Drop to Five-Month Low on U.S. Supply

Faster-than-expected gains in U.S. natural-gas inventories are easing concern that a shortage is looming next winter, spurring speculators to cut bullish bets. Money managers’ net-long position fell 9.1 percent in the week ended May 13 to the lowest level since December, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said. Bearish wagers are the highest in more than four months. Gas futures fell 9.2 percent in the period as stockpile gains topped analysts’ forecasts for a third week. Production from shale deposits in the U.S. Northeast and Midwest climbed to a record 16.1 billion cubic feet a day in the week ended May 9, Credit Suisse Group AG said in a report May 15. “We’re on the path to a more comfortable supply situation by the end of the summer,” Tom Saal, senior vice president of energy trading at FCStone Latin America LLC in Miami, said by phone on May 16. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Energy agency predicts oil shortage unless supply boosted

Industrialised countries could be facing the prospect of an oil supply squeeze and higher prices later this year unless production is lifted, according to a report just released by the International Energy Agency. In its latest Oil Market Report, the IEA says recent production gains will not be sufficient to meet market needs in the second half of the year when consumption picks up. "Crude prices remain elevated and forecast balances call for a significant rise in OPEC production from current levels for the second half of the year," the IEA said. The IEA says OPEC nations will have to increase third quarter production by another 900,000 barrels per day from current levels to 30.7 million barrels per day to meet the expected demand. "While OPEC has more than enough capacity to deliver, it remains to be seen whether it will manage to overcome the above-ground hurdles that have […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil Nations Put Out Welcome Mat for Western Companies

For years, Mexico, Iran, Iraq, Algeria and Libya—most of them among the top 10 producers world-wide—were fiercely nationalistic when it came to oil. They either offered Western companies punitive terms to develop their reserves or didn’t do business with them at all, controlling their supplies tightly with state-owned companies. Now, facing a range of problems, these nations are looking to tap more of their reserves—and they’re offering Western companies generous deals to win their help. What could it all mean? Plenty. Windfall for Countries In many cases, liberalizing represents a potential economic boon for countries. Asset manager BlackRock says liberalization could add a full percentage point to Mexico’s annual gross-domestic-product growth—equivalent to about $12 billion. There are local and global political considerations in play, too. In Iran, Libya and Algeria, the population is addicted to low energy prices and high oil-funded social spending. All of that is in jeopardy […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Gunmen Storm Libya Parliament as Violence Grips Oil-Producer

A Libyan military police chief said he disbanded parliament after a militia group he backs stormed it yesterday, spreading violence in the energy-rich nation to its capital and sending world oil prices higher. In a televised speech late yesterday preceded by clashes, Mukhtar Fernana said parliament will be replaced by a 60-member group. Nuri Abu Sahmain, the head of the General National Congress, denied that it had been suspended and said yesterday he was running it from a “safe place,” the state-run Libyan News Agency reported. Fernana said he won’t allow Libya to become a safe-haven for extremists or a “home for terrorists.” The assault, he said, was not a coup and reflects the “freedom that Libyans wanted and fought for.” Brent for July settlement increased as much as 49 cents to $110.24 a barrel on the London-based ICE Europe Futures exchange and was at $110.14 at 3:55 p.m. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Militant group vows to fight Libyan general

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — An al-Qaida-inspired group in Libya said Monday it will fight troops loyal to a renegade general behind an attack on the country’s parliament the day before and join forces with Islamic militias who were targeted by the general’s secular followers. The announcement by the influential Lions of Monotheism Group further adds to the quagmire in Libya, three years after the overthrow of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. On Sunday, forces loyal to Gen. Khalifa Hifter, a former rebel in the fight against Gadhafi, stormed the parliament in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, saying they were suspending the house in a struggle against Islamist lawmakers and officials whom they blame for allowing extremists to hold the country ransom. The attack saw militia members backed by truck-mounted anti-aircraft guns, mortars and rocket fire raid the parliament building in the heart of Tripoli, sending lawmakers fleeing for their lives as gunmen […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Ex-General Claims Responsibility for Libyan Parliament Attack

TRIPOLI, Libya — A retired Libyan general claimed responsibility for an attack on the Parliament building here on Sunday, two days after his irregular force launched an attack aimed at eradicating powerful Islamist militias from the eastern city of Benghazi. Militia members using antiaircraft weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and light arms engaged Sunday in some of the heaviest clashes in months here in the capital, killing two people and wounding 60, according to hospital officials cited by The Associated Press. The fighters’ affiliation was unclear, but militias from Zintan, southwest of Tripoli, claimed responsibility on social media, calling Parliament “the main backer of terrorism in Libya.” Mohamed el-Hejazi, a spokesman for Khalifa Heftar, the retired general, claimed in an interview that the fighters from Zintan had been acting on the general’s orders. He said: “They are not militias. They are units loyal to the Libyan National Army,” referring to a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Sisi keeps policy vague and democracy off the agenda in Egypt

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi , the army chief acclaimed by Egyptians as saving them from the self-destructively partisan and secretive rule of former president Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood government in last July’s coup, is coasting towards his coronation in presidential elections next week. Yet, for all the adulation heaped on him, his admirers have had little chance to find out who exactly their putative saviour is and what he stands for – until now. It is not that the former military intelligence chief has been out among his 85m people pressing the flesh. He has not been out campaigning at all. He receives delegations from around the country and grants interviews to selected media outlets, from the penumbra of a well-protected hotel owned by the army, after revealing there have already been two attempts on his life. He emits exhortations, vague pledges and the occasional threatening aside, rather […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigeria: Oil Majors Fleece Nigeria With Inflated Project Costs

There is no better demonstration of how Nigerians suffer unduly on account of the padding of project costs by the International Oil Companies, IOCs, operating in the country than in the sudden request by the Nigerian unit of French oil giant, Total for a review of its Ofon 2 project. Total Exploration & Production Nigeria, TEPN, Financial Vanguard reliably gathered, is seeking additional $3.78billion to an existing $2.85billion originally proposed for the project. If approved, this will bring total costs for the project to $6.63billion, representing a whopping 132.6 per cent increase, a development that is giving the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, a majority partner in the Joint Venture, JV, grave concerns. While cost padding is not peculiar to Total, as it cuts across all the multinational operators, this particular review stands out as the price of crude per barrel is being estimated above the $77.5per barrel being […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Russia’s “Holy Grail” Gas Deal With China Now “Only One Digit Away”

We havebetween Russia and China on several occasions, and noted last week how it is expected to be signed this week – pending some final price negotiations . It appears that was spot on as Reuters reports, Russian state-run Gazprom said it was still “one digit” away from finalising a 30-year gas supply deal with Beijing which is expected to crown Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China next week. On the heels of Russia’s de-dollarization meetings , the coming week appears a crucial one for the history books of the US Dollar as reserve currency (or will China leverage Russia’s need to diversify from Europe and stall the deal once again?) As we have discussed in detail , Russia has been in talks with China to supply it with 38 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year for more than a decade but the deal has been […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Toasts Turn to Water Cannons in China, Vietnam Sea Spat

The crews from the Vietnamese and Chinese coast guards shook hands and took photos as they met last month, sharing platters of fruit and raising their glasses for a toast. Now, they are in a tense standoff in the South Sea. “The two sides were very happy and united,” Lt. Colonel Phan Duy Cuong, the operations assistant of Vietnam’s Coast Guard Command, said of the April 15 ceremony. “We toasted each other with wine. They went on our boat and we went on theirs.” Ships No. 8003 and 2007 sailed alongside two Chinese coast guard vessels for three days in the Gulf of Tonkin. A month later, at least one of those Chinese boats has been spotted helping guard an oil rig that Vietnam is demanding be removed from contested waters about 140 miles (225 kilometers) off its coast, according to Cuong. The dispute over the rig near the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Vietnam Moves to Quell New Anti-China Protests

Vietnam deployed security forces and quelled renewed protests against China on Sunday amid escalating tensions between the two nations after a territorial dispute sparked anti-Chinese rioting across the southeast Asian country. The Chinese government chartered planes and vessels as it evacuated more than 3,000 of its nationals in Vietnam, China’s Xinhua news agency reported Sunday, following riots in recent days that and more than 100 injured. Among those evacuated were 16 critically injured Chinese as well as staff from the China 19th Metallurgical Corp. who were building an iron and steel complex in Vietnam’s Ha Tinh Province, Xinhua said. Mobs looted and burned their way last week through several of the industrial parks where Chinese and other foreign manufacturers have set up over the past dozen years to take advantage of Vietnam’s low-cost, skilled workforce. The rioting was initially a response to China’s deployment of an oil rig in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Beijing Presses Vietnam After Anti-Chinese Riots

China’s police chief, Guo Shengkun, urged his Vietnamese counterpart to do a better job of protecting Chinese nationals and companies from anti-Chinese protests , Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency reported. In the Saturday phone call, Mr. Guo told Tran Dai Quang, Vietnam’s minister of public security, that the Vietnamese side bears what Xinhua called an "unshirkable responsibility" for the situation. Mobs looted and in industrial estates in Vietnam this past week, set off initially by anger at China’s claimed by Vietnam. China said Friday that two of its citizens died in the rioting. "China’s Ministry of Public Security is very much shocked and indignant at the violence," Xinhua quoted Mr. Guo as telling Mr. Tran. Mr. Guo added that China was dissatisfied with Vietnam’s response to the violence, Xinhua said. According to Xinhua, Mr. Tran said Vietnam had dispatched large police forces to the areas affected and had […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Modi victory in Indian elections seen positive for oil, gas sector

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s decisive win in India’s general elections should see key reforms in the oil and gas sector pushed through and could end years of under-investment in the country’s exploration sector. As a first step, analysts expect the new government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to swiftly raise natural gas prices — which would promote offshore investment — and deregulate diesel prices to cut the government’s subsidy burden. "The oil and gas space in India is ripe for reform, in our view," Credit Suisse said in a recent report. "Many measures have already been implemented, and a strong new government at the center can potentially continue and complete the reform process," the bank said. Analysts at Bernstein Research echoed a similar sentiment, saying that they expected a Modi election win to be positive for the oil and gas sector. "After stalling […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

California governor links wildfires to climate change

Jerry Brown says his drought-striken state is on the ‘front lines’ of climate change that is making its weather hotter California Gov. Jerry Brown is linking the recent wildfires that blazed through San Diego County to global warming, saying on Sunday that the state is on the "front lines" of climate change that is making its weather hotter. Almost a dozen fires caused more than $20 million in damage last week and Brown said the drought-stricken state is preparing for its worst-ever wildfire season. "We’re going to deal with nature as best we can, but humanity is on a collision course with nature," Brown said on ABC. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has responded to more than 1,500 fires this year, compared to about 800 in an average year and the state firefighting agency went to peak staffing in the first week of April, instead of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

US entering oil export market may faze supply

Signals from Washington are getting clear. A new variable – the US crude – may soon be entering and indeed impacting the global crude markets. The US government is reportedly considering doing away with a four-decade-old law that bans the sale and export of American oil abroad. The ban was put in place in reaction to the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973. Today the US is producing 10 percent of global crude oil supply, but exports precisely zero barrels because of the ban. Things have definitely changed. Net oil imports have already fallen to about 5 million barrels a day from a peak of almost 13 million barrels in 2006. Some say, the US may altogether stop importing oil by 2037 as abundant domestic crude supplies, including North Dakota’s Bakken field and Texas’ Eagle Ford formation, may push production to the level of consumption, according to the US government. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil Giants Set Their Sights on Arctic Waters

Shell stirred controversy with its 2012 drilling program in the Chukchi Sea off northwest Alaska, the first there in more than two decades. Big oil is eager for another crack at drilling in the oil- and gas-rich Arctic offshore. But that renewed interest comes amid intense scrutiny in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Encouraged by higher crude prices, better technology and steep costs that pose barriers to entry for all but the deepest pockets, heavyweights such as PLC, Chevron Corp. , ConocoPhillips , Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC have spent billions of dollars to snap up offshore Arctic leases. The Arctic holds about one-third of the world’s untapped natural gas and 13% of as yet undiscovered crude, or roughly 90 billion barrels of oil, and more than three-quarters of those deposits are offshore, according to U.S. Geological […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Exxon Unit in Canada Seeks Deep Arctic Well

Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Canadian subsidiary is considering plans for what would be the deepest offshore well ever drilled in the Arctic, increasing some environmentalists’ concerns about how the company would respond to a blowout. Imperial Oil Ltd. submitted a project description last September to Canadian regulators for a proposed exploratory well so deep that it would likely take two to four years to complete. The well could extend about 6 miles beneath the floor of the Beaufort Sea, according to a study commissioned by the Pew Charitable Trusts, an environmental watchdog. Imperial’s filing didn’t specify a well depth, but the unpublished Pew study, prepared by a third-party engineering consultant, calculated it as roughly 34,000 feet. "These wells may be drilled over 6 miles deep, and will need complex well casing, cementing and drilling plans to address the technical challenges of drilling deep high pressure wells," the report said. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Front-Runner in Ukraine Election May Be Shifting Putin’s Stance

On a Sunday in December when the Ukrainian uprising seemed about to tip into wide-scale violence, Petro Poroshenko, a pro-Western billionaire, thrust himself between antigovernment protesters and riot police officers clashing outside the presidential headquarters, climbed on a bulldozer that was threatening to plow through the crowd and grabbed an orange plastic megaphone. “Friends, calm down,” he shouted, as pro-government thugs brought in to antagonize the demonstrators cursed him and hurled anti-Semitic slurs, though he is a member of the Ukrainian Orthodox faith, not Jewish. As chaos swirled, Mr. Poroshenko, 48, stood his ground, helping keep injuries to a minimum, but also cementing his status as a leader of the pro-European opposition and defying the stereotype of the superrich above it all. Now, with less than a week to go until a presidential election here, Mr. Poroshenko is once again at the center of a fracas […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Putin Orders Russian Troops Near Ukraine Back to Base

President ordered Russian troops near the Ukrainian border back to base, the state-run RIA news service reported, signaling a possible easing of tensions six days before Ukraine’s presidential election. Putin ordered forces in the Rostov, Belgorod and Bryansk regions to return to their bases after completing exercises, RIA said today, citing the presidential press service. Putin, who discussed the situation in Ukraine with his Security Council today, welcomed contacts last week between the government in Kiev and supporters of greater powers for the country’s regions, including the Russian-speaking east, RIA reported. The comments come as Ukrainian forces continued skirmishes with insurgents in the east after pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions said they planned their own elections later this year. Putin, whom the Ukrainian government accuses of fomenting unrest in the east and who annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March, promised a withdrawal of Russian forces from […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Esa's Cryosat mission sees Antarctic ice losses double

Antarctica is now losing about 160 billion tonnes of ice a year to the ocean – twice as much as when the continent was last surveyed. The new assessment comes from Europe’s Cryosat satellite, which has a radar instrument specifically designed to measure the shape of the ice sheet. The melt loss from the White Continent is sufficient to push up global sea levels by around 0.43mm per year. Scientists report the data in the journal Geophysical Research Letters . The new study incorporates three years of measurements from 2010 to 2013, and updates a synthesis of observations made by other satellites over the period 2005 to 2010. Cryosat has been using its altimeter to trace changes in the height of the ice sheet – as it gains mass through snowfall, and loses mass through melting. The study authors divide the continent into three sectors – the West Antarctic, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Esa’s Cryosat mission sees Antarctic ice losses double

Antarctica is now losing about 160 billion tonnes of ice a year to the ocean – twice as much as when the continent was last surveyed. The new assessment comes from Europe’s Cryosat satellite, which has a radar instrument specifically designed to measure the shape of the ice sheet. The melt loss from the White Continent is sufficient to push up global sea levels by around 0.43mm per year. Scientists report the data in the journal Geophysical Research Letters . The new study incorporates three years of measurements from 2010 to 2013, and updates a synthesis of observations made by other satellites over the period 2005 to 2010. Cryosat has been using its altimeter to trace changes in the height of the ice sheet – as it gains mass through snowfall, and loses mass through melting. The study authors divide the continent into three sectors – the West Antarctic, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Greenland glacial melt is growing factor in rising sea levels

Coupled with report of ‘unstoppable’ glacial melt in Antarctica, experts say oceans rising faster than once predicted Greenland’s glaciers are far more vulnerable to climate change-induced warming oceans than previously thought, a report released Sunday by UC- Irvine and NASA glaciologists said. The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, reveals previously uncharted deep valleys stretching for dozens of miles under the Greenland Ice Sheet — showing that there are no natural barriers to stop the melting. The findings echo a report released last week showing that glacial melting in West Antarctica is now “unstoppable” due to topographical conditions that, similarly, will not slow the glaciers’ retreat. Bedrock canyons in Greenland sit well below sea level, which means that warming ocean waters will erode the ice much further than had been previously assumed. This could mean the melting will have a much more significant effect on global sea level […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Arctic temperatures at 44,000-year high because of greenhouse gases

The average summer temperature in the eastern Canadian Arctic is higher than in any previous century in the past 44,000 years — and perhaps the highest in 120,000 years — reflecting what scientists call an unprecedented warming of the region due to climate change, according to a new study by the University of Colorado, Boulder. "This study really says the warming we are seeing is outside any kind of known natural variability, and it has to be due to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," Gifford Miller, a study leader, said in a joint statement from the school and the publisher of the journal Geophysical Researcher Letters , which published the findings this week. The study, according to the statement, presents the first direct evidence that the present warmth in the Canadian Arctic exceeds the peak warmth there when Earth’s last glacial period ended, about 11,700 years ago. In […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

A Peek At The Peak Oil Catastrophe

Generals and others have talked about the dangers of conflicts and/or wars being generated as resources are depleted ( Natural Resource Depletion and the Changing Geopolitical Landscape ). A conflict between Vietnam and China is an example of the tensions that can arise – in this case oil is the resource ( China Blames Vietnam ). But as the TIME cover shows, using the oil resources is just as dangerous, or more so, than running out of oil is –in other words it is a catch-22, a conundrum, or a no-win situation any way we choose to look at this situation that is only getting worse. Britain and France over in Europe are facing the problem of depletion: In just over five years Britain will have run out of oil, coal and gas, researchers have warned . A report by the Global Sustainability Institute said shortages would increase dependency […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
Category:

Peak Oil Update

Time for another roundup of some of the better peak oil stories from the last few months: Former BP geologist: Peak oil is here and it will ‘break economies’ (Raw Story) US Army colonel: world is sleepwalking to a global energy crisis (The Guardian) Peak oil theory, as originally conceived by Hubbert and his followers, was largely governed by natural forces.  As we have seen, however, these can be overpowered by the application of increasingly sophisticated technology.  Reservoirs of energy once considered inaccessible can be brought into production, and others once deemed exhausted can be returned to production; rather than being finite, the world’s petroleum base now appears virtually inexhaustible. Does this mean that global oil output will continue rising, year after year, without ever reaching a peak?  That appears unlikely.  What seems far more probable is that we will see a slow tapering of output over the next […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
Category:

Crude oil futures settle higher on boost from increased geopolitical risk

Crude oil futures settled higher Friday, supported by ongoing geopolitical strife in Ukraine and concerns over the potential delay to production of Libyan oil. NYMEX June crude settled 52 cents higher at $102.02/barrel; ICE July Brent settled 66 cents higher at $109.75/b. The front-month Brent-WTI spread settled at $8.17/b, down from $8.94/b on Thursday. In products, NYMEX June ULSD settled at $2.9536/gal, up 30 points; NYMEX June RBOB ended 93 points higher at $2.9735/gal. "Ongoing concerns with Ukraine and ideas that there are troubles with the presidential election triggered geopolitical risk," said Gene McGillian, analyst at Tradition Energy. Matt Smith, commodity analyst at Schneider Electric, said the crude complex showed modest buying interest as geopolitical tension in Ukraine left market participants loathe to sell lower. The United Nations warned Friday of an "alarming deterioration" of human rights in eastern Ukraine, where an armed insurgency by pro-Russian separatists is threatening […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple