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China plays tough in energy-saving campaign

While China fell behind its energy saving targets from 2011 to 2013, tough measures will be taken to conserve energy, an official said Monday. Xie Zhenhua, vice minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner, said at a forum that work is needed to keep up with its energy saving schedule by 2015. China aims to reduce energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 16 percent from the 2010 level by 2015, according to the country’s 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015). The indicator dropped 9.03 percent from 2011 to 2013, accounting for only 54 percent of the overall target while 60 percent should have been completed. Xie said local governments that failed to finish their energy-saving tasks would be required to report to the central government, and no new polluting and energy intensive projects would […]

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US shale boom is over, energy revolution needed to avert blackouts

I hate to say I told you so, but… In 2012, the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast that the US would outpace Saudi Arabia in oil production thanks to the shale boom by 2020, becoming a net exporter by 2030. The forecast was seen by many as decisive evidence of the renewal of the oil age, while informed detractors were at best ignored, at worst ridiculed. Among my many reports exposing the geological and economic fallacies behind the shale boom narrative are this , this , this and this . Even here on the Guardian, one headline declared the IEA report shows that " peak oil idea has gone up in flames ." But the IEA’s latest assessment has proved the […]

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The EIA’s Drilling Productivity Report and Other News

The EIA just released its latest Drilling Productivity Report  which is a report on all major shale plays in the U.S. All the data below, unless otherwise noted, is in barrels per day. Three Plays The EIA includes the Permian production as shale or light tight oil production. No doubt some tight oil is produced in the Permian but I think most Permian oil is conventional oil. Total Shale Oil Total shale oil production from all six shale plays. However I believe perhaps one million barrels of this is conventional production. Bakken Change This chart is interesting as it shows what the EIA expects the Bakken and Eagle Ford to do in the next few months. The last seven months of the Bakken and the last nine or ten months of Eagle Ford. They are expecting the Bakken to continue to increase at about 20,000 barrels per day per […]

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Pipeline Projects Key for Canada to Win N. America Oil Export Race

Sharing a border that spans more than 5,000 miles, the United States and Canada are longstanding allies that maintain numerous cultural and economic ties. Even friends, however, can compete against each other from time to time – consider the two countries’ famous rivalry in the sport of ice hockey. Within the energy sphere, Canada and its southern neighbor are engaged in a different type of competition: the race to gain first-mover advantage for exporting crude oil to markets throughout the Atlantic and Pacific basins. According to the U.K.-based research and consulting firm GlobalData, Canada is outperforming the United States in this rivalry by advancing three critical pipeline projects. TransCanada’s Energy East Pipeline , which would carry 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Alberta and Saskatchewan to refineries and terminals in Eastern Canada Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline , a twin pipeline that would carry up […]

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Tennessee Gas expands planned pipeline serving US Northeast

Tennessee Gas has modified its proposed Northeast Expansion Project to include a 117-mile-long supply link and additional infrastructure and renamed the proposal the Northeast Energy Direct Project, Tennessee Gas spokesman Richard Wheatley said Monday. The greenfield natural gas link will extend from the existing TGP pipeline in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, to the existing TGP pipeline in Schoharie County, New York, he said. There it will connect to the Iroquois Gas Transmission System and potentially connect with the planned Constitution Pipeline. The project also involves the construction of about 51 miles of looping along the existing TGP line in Bradford and Susquehanna counties in Pennsylvania, he said. Article continues below… Gas Daily 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 […]

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Canada, Australia Prime Ministers Talk Climate Change

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Australian counterpart, Tony Abbott, said Monday they are taking action on climate change but are against measures that they say would destroy their economies. The comments from the two leaders, who head right-leaning governments, come a week after the Obama administration released a draft rule to regulate carbon emissions from the U.S. coal industry. The proposed rule mandates that fossil-fired power plants cut U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions 30% by 2030 from 2005 levels, and come amid U.S. President Barack Obama’s push to make fighting climate change one of his administration’s achievements. Speaking at a joint news conference with Mr. Abbott, who was on his first official visit to Canada, Mr. Harper said he doesn’t feel added pressure to rethink Canada’s plans on addressing climate change in response to the Obama administration’s move. "I don’t feel any additional pressure other than the pressure we […]

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McClendon's Firm To Buy $4.25B Of US Shale Assets

American Energy Partners LLP, the company started by Aubrey McClendon after he was pushed out as CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp, said it would acquire shale oil and gas assets in Texas, Ohio and West Virginia for $4.25 billion. American Energy said it would enter Texas’s Permian Basin by acquiring about 63,000 net acres of production leases from Enduring Resources LLC for $2.5 billion. The deals in Ohio and West Virginia are worth $1.75 billion. McClendon, who co-founded Chesapeake in 1989, left the company in April last year after clashes with the board over spending and a series of Reuters investigations that led to civil and criminal probes on the company. Since leaving Chesapeake, McClendon has raised more than $4 billion in cash and financing to invest in North American shale formations, mainly in Ohio’s Utica region. Oklahoma City-based American Energy struck deals […]

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McClendon’s Firm To Buy $4.25B Of US Shale Assets

American Energy Partners LLP, the company started by Aubrey McClendon after he was pushed out as CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp, said it would acquire shale oil and gas assets in Texas, Ohio and West Virginia for $4.25 billion. American Energy said it would enter Texas’s Permian Basin by acquiring about 63,000 net acres of production leases from Enduring Resources LLC for $2.5 billion. The deals in Ohio and West Virginia are worth $1.75 billion. McClendon, who co-founded Chesapeake in 1989, left the company in April last year after clashes with the board over spending and a series of Reuters investigations that led to civil and criminal probes on the company. Since leaving Chesapeake, McClendon has raised more than $4 billion in cash and financing to invest in North American shale formations, mainly in Ohio’s Utica region. Oklahoma City-based American Energy struck deals […]

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Oklahoma: Preparing to Become an Oil Producing Powerhouse

Oklahoma is poised to become the third-largest oil producing state following a strong surge in oil production in 2013 and 2014, Harold Hamm, Continental Resources Inc.’s CEO, told the Oklahoman newspaper. The rise in production began when tax incentives for horizontal drilling were started. The incentives proved to be effective, Hamm said. Horizontal drilling in the state started of slowly as drillers spent time learning the best techniques. However, as drillers learned and the incentives went into effect, drillers began applying the techniques in more than 12 different plays across the state, leading to a surge in production, Hamm added. Total oil production in the state in March, 2014 was up 17 percent over year-earlier figures, averaging 388,000 barrels of oil per day, according to figures by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). March 2014 production in the Sooner State was 49 percent over March 2012, and 80 percent over […]

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Change in US LNG permit process to streamline approvals: DOE official

A proposed change in way the US Department of Energy approves application for permission to export LNG will streamline the process by focusing on the projects that have the greatest chance of being built, a DOE official said in Houston Monday. "We need to be cognizant of market forces," Christopher Smith, principal deputy assistant secretary for Fossil Energy, said in a presentation on the proposed changes at Rice University. DOE announced a proposal last month "to review applications and make final public interest determinations only after completion of the review required by environmental laws and regulations," scrapping its previous practice of issuing conditional approvals at the outset of the approval process. Under the Natural Gas Act, the department is required to swiftly approve proposals to export LNG to countries with which the US has free trade agreements, but must determine if proposals to ship LNG to non-FTA countries are […]

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Power sector CO2 emissions sensitive to policy changes and natural gas supply

The GHG10 case assumes a $10 per metric ton fee on CO2 emissions, beginning in the year 2015. The GHG25 assumes a $25 per metric ton fee on CO2 emissions beginning in 2015. Both cases escalate the CO2 fee at a rate of 5% per year. The GHG10 case with low natural gas prices combines the assumptions of the GHG10 case with the High Oil and Gas Resource case, which results in lower gas prices and encourages greater natural gas use. In 2012, almost 40% of total energy-related CO2 emissions resulted from electricity generation. About three-fourths of those power sector emissions occurred from burning coal, the most carbon-intensive fuel. Policies […]

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Canadian Oil Producers' Group Cuts Oil-Sands Production Forecast

A Canadian oil and gas trade group on Monday lowered its long-term outlook for oil-sands production by 400,000 barrels a day, or 7.7%, to 4.8 million barrels a day, citing higher costs and deferment of projects. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers also said overall oil production in Canada will likely rise from 3.5 million barrels a day in 2013 to 6.4 million barrels daily by 2030, which is 300,000 barrels below its forecast a year ago. The lowered estimate comes amid growing concern in Canadian industry and government circles that oil-sands output may be slowed by a lack of pipeline capacity and access to global markets beyond the U.S. "We really do need to see some of these [pipeline] projects get put in place over the next few years in order to enable this growth to happen," said Greg Stringham, vice president of oil sands and markets at […]

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Canadian Oil Producers’ Group Cuts Oil-Sands Production Forecast

A Canadian oil and gas trade group on Monday lowered its long-term outlook for oil-sands production by 400,000 barrels a day, or 7.7%, to 4.8 million barrels a day, citing higher costs and deferment of projects. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers also said overall oil production in Canada will likely rise from 3.5 million barrels a day in 2013 to 6.4 million barrels daily by 2030, which is 300,000 barrels below its forecast a year ago. The lowered estimate comes amid growing concern in Canadian industry and government circles that oil-sands output may be slowed by a lack of pipeline capacity and access to global markets beyond the U.S. "We really do need to see some of these [pipeline] projects get put in place over the next few years in order to enable this growth to happen," said Greg Stringham, vice president of oil sands and markets at […]

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Chesapeake Spins Off Oilfield-Services Company

Chesapeake Energy Corp. on Monday said its board has approved the spinoff of its oilfield-services operations into a separate, publicly traded company. The separation will be achieved through a distribution to Chesapeake shareholders after business closes June 30, as expected, the company said. Chesapeake said shareholders of record at the close of business on June 19 will receive one share of the new company, called Seventy Seven Energy Inc., for every 14 shares they own of Chesapeake common stock. Shareholders will receive the Seventy Seven Energy stock in a generally tax-free distribution, although cash received in lieu of fractional share interests will be considered taxable, Chesapeake said. Chesapeake said earlier this year that it may separate its oilfield-services operations, which provide drilling and pressure-pumping equipment to Chesapeake and other energy concerns. The business generated $2.2 billion in revenue last year. In May, the company said it would proceed with […]

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American Energy to Buy Permian Assets for $2.5 Billion

American Energy Partners LP on Monday said it would acquire about 63,000 net acres of oil and gas properties in Texas’ southern Permian Basin from affiliates of Denver-based Enduring Resources LLC for $2.5 billion. The deal marks the biggest acquisition yet for Aubrey McClendon ‘s new energy company, which was created after Mr. McClendon was ousted as chief executive of Chesapeake Energy Corp . in 2013. It also pushes the company into near territory, after it made its first acquisition in Ohio’s Utica Shale last year. American Energy-Permian Basin LLC, an affiliate of American Energy Partners, will make the acquisition, and said it plans to increase its position in the Permian Basin through additional acquisitions. American Energy Partners said it has raised $10 billion in debt and equity in the last nine months. At closing, the properties are expected to have net production of about 16,000 barrels of oil […]

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Two oil spills reported in North Dakota

Two separate weekend spills in North Dakota, a state at the heart of the U.S. oil boom, released about 1,000 barrels, the state’s health department said. The North Dakota Department of Health said all liquid oil was removed from the site of Saturday’s spill of about 300 barrels in McKenzie County. "Most of the oil was confined to the trench, and no bodies of water were affected by the spill," the state agency said in a Saturday statement . There was no public comment from Belle Fourche Pipeline Co., which operated the pipeline damaged during trenching operations. About 690 barrels of oil leaked from a pipeline in Mountrail County, east of McKenzie County. The state health agency said all of the oil was contained on site, though there was no word what caused the release. Production from the Bakken reserve area in the state makes it […]

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BP Rejected by Supreme Court on Gulf Payments Reprieve

BP Plc (BP/) must pay potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in claims after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to halt disputed payments stemming from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. In a one-sentence order issued today, the justices said they wouldn’t put a hold on lower court rulings that require the oil company to begin making the payments, part of a $9.2 billion accord. BP says some of the money would go to businesses whose losses were unrelated to the spill, including lawyers who lost their licenses and warehouses that burned down before the incident. The company says the process violates the Constitution and the federal rules that govern class action litigation. BP believes that failure to suspend “the payment of business economic loss claims will allow hundreds of millions of dollars to be irretrievably scattered to claimants whose losses were not plausibly caused by the Deepwater […]

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Kremlin: Too early to comment on South Stream

It’s too early to comment on word the Bulgarian government has backed out of the planned South Stream gas pipeline, a Kremlin spokesman said Monday. Bulgarian Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski said his government’s role in the gas pipeline planned through southern European countries would have to wait for consent from a European Union wary of expanding Russia’s energy influence. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday any formal comment from Moscow would be premature. "[The issue] needs to be clarified," he said . "It is early to say anything." Russian energy company Gazprom said last month it signed the necessary contracts needed to start construction of the onshore section of the pipeline later this year. South Stream has an optimum capacity if 2.2 trillion cubic feet per year and should begin service by late 2015. European lawmakers in April passed a resolution to reconsider the pipeline. Oresharski said following meetings […]

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Russian bank chiefs take aim at US dollar

Russia, China have their sights set on undercutting dollar’s dominance as reserve currency but economists are skeptical Russian companies will make bypassing the U.S. dollar in international transactions a top priority, the heads of three Russian banks said this week, in the latest sign that Russia is turning its back on the West and moving toward Asia. Sanctions imposed by the U.S. and European Union after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March have spurred Western banks to drastically reduce their lending activity in Russia in recent months. Concerned the Russian economy was too reliant on the U.S. dollar and therefore vulnerable to Western political opprobrium, Russian politicians have called for a “de-dollarization” of their economy, underpinning a desire for greater independence from U.S. and European financial markets. “Over the last few weeks there has been a significant interest in the market from large Russian corporations to start using […]

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Ukraine, Russia Fail to Reach Deal in Natural-Gas Talks

Ukraine and Russia failed to reach a deal to end their long-running dispute over natural-gas prices during late-night talks Monday. The European Commission hosted the meeting in Brussels in hopes of averting a possible disruption of Russian gas supplies as early as this week and said the two sides agreed to meet again by Wednesday. The marathon talks ended without a definite breakthrough at 3 a.m. on Tuesday, the deadline which Moscow had set Kiev to pay off its gas debts. Russia said that failure to do so could result in disruptions of gas supplies to Ukraine, a move that could also hit supplies to some EU countries. The 28-country block gets more than one-third of its gas imports from Russia, almost half of which is sent via Ukraine. "All sides will now meet again either Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning," said a European Commission spokeswoman. No further details […]

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For Western Oil Companies, Expanding in Russia Is a Dance Around Sanctions

Like many chief executives of American companies, Rex W. Tillerson of Exxon Mobil didn’t attend the major business forum in Russia last month, at the urging of White House officials. But the company’s exploration chief, Neil W. Duffin, did. In a ceremony at the event, Mr. Duffin signed an agreement with Igor I. Sechin, the head of the state-owned Rosneft, to expand its joint ventures to drill offshore in the Arctic Ocean, to explore for shale oil in Siberia and to cooperate on a liquefied natural gas plant in Vladivostok. The deal came just weeks after the United States government imposed sanctions on the personal dealings — though not the corporate activities — of Mr. Sechin, a former military intelligence agent and longtime aide to President Vladimir V. Putin. Despite the push by Western governments to isolate Moscow for its aggression in Ukraine, energy giants are deepening […]

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9 Reasons Why Oil Prices May Be Headed For A Bust

Though the U.S. shale oil boom of the past several years has led to a renewed surge of domestic oil production as well as an oil glut, crude oil prices have remained stubbornly high. There are a growing number of reasons, however, why crude oil prices are likely to finally experience a bust in the not-too-distant future. I avoid making firm predictions about the oil market because there are so many conflicting variables that affect oil prices, from supply and demand, geopolitics (which is inherently unpredictable), and the global monetary environment, but it is important to be aware of several factors that have a high probability of pushing crude oil prices lower in the next couple of years. Oil refinery (Photo credit: Dirigentens) 1) The unwinding of record speculative bullish bets To prop up the global economy after the 2008 financial crisis, global central banks dramatically cut interest rates […]

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WTI Trades Near 3-Day High on U.S. Economy; Brent Rises

West Texas Intermediate crude traded near the highest intraday price in three days amid signs that economic growth is being sustained in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent also rose in London . Futures were up as much as 0.6 percent in New York . A Labor Department report showed U.S. employment exceeded the pre-recession peak for the first time. Russia and Ukraine plan another round of bilateral natural gas talks today after President Petro Poroshenko was inaugurated June 7 in Kiev. Ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries say they will probably leave their oil-production target unchanged when they meet this week in Vienna. “The good jobs data from the U.S. at the end of last week are supporting prices,” Christopher Bellew , a senior broker at Jefferies Bache Ltd. in London, said by e-mail. “The key words this week will be Libya , Ukraine […]

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Oil Prices Rise On Macroeconomic Buoyancy

By Cassie Werber LONDON–Oil prices are up in London Monday, buoyed by positive economic data that could lead to higher demand. Brent crude for July delivery was up 0.5% at $109.16 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. U.S. crude-oil futures were up 0.6% at $103.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Positive pointers in economic and geopolitical news have been a booting factor, wrote JBC Energy in a note to clients. Japanese gross domestic product is up, Chinese exports have grown and U.S. employment is back at its pre-recession peak, all of which could likely lead to higher oil demand. Chinese data released over the weekend showed the country’s crude-oil imports were 8.9% higher that a year earlier. JBC also notes that "over the weekend, tentative signs of crafting a deal on the Ukraine situation were made." While this could be bearish for oil prices, there have […]

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World Needs Record Saudi Oil Supply as OPEC Convenes

OPEC ministers say they will almost certainly leave their oil-production ceiling unchanged when the group meets this week. What really matters for markets is whether Saudi Arabia will respond to global supply shortfalls by pumping a record amount of crude. Just six months ago, energy analysts predicted output from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would climb too high and Saudi Arabia needed to cut to make room for other suppliers. They changed their minds after production from Libya , Iran and Iraq failed to rebound as anticipated, and industrialized nations’ stockpiles fell to the lowest for the time of year since 2008. Saudi Arabia may need to pump a record 11 million barrels a day by December to cover the other member nations, says Energy Aspects Ltd., a consultant. “Now it’s not whether the Saudis will make room, but whether they’ll keep it going and maintain enough spare […]

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Gunmen occupy Iraqi university campus, take students hostage

RAMADI Iraq (Reuters) – Gunmen occupied a university in Iraq’s western province of Anbar on Saturday, taking hundreds of students and their professors hostage inside the campus, security sources said. After fighting their way past the guards, the militants managed to break into Anbar University in the provincial capital Ramadi overnight and planted bombs behind them to prevent security forces from advancing. Security forces surrounded the university and exchanged fire with militants patrolling the rooftops with sniper rifles. Sources in Ramadi hospital said they had received the bodies of two people, one of them a student and the other a policeman. A professor trapped inside the physics department said some staff whose homes are outside Ramadi had been spending the night at the university because it was the exam period. "We heard intense gunfire at about 4 am. We thought it was the security forces coming to protect us […]

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Kurdish exports in limbo

Kurdish exports in limbo Samir’s Mohammedia refinery in Morocco, upgraded in 2009 by Tekfen Engineering. (Source: Tekfen Engineering) The Kurdish-chartered oil tanker United Leadership is stuck in a purgatory of political and legal controversy, sailing in circles off the coast of Morocco. The autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has not yet offloaded its first-ever ship full of independent pipeline exports, and no money has landed in the KRG’s account in Turkey’s Halkbank, according to two senior Turkish government officials. For the moment, at least, the sale has been prevented by legal and commercial threats fro… This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .

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Iraqi troops repel ISIS assault on Mosul

Just one day after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham launched an assault on Samarra and briefly took control of five neighborhoods, the jihadist insurgent group attempted to seize Mosul. Additionally, the ISIS took over Anbar University in Ramadi and held hundreds of students and staff hostage for several hours before retreating. Yesterday evening, hundreds of ISIS fighters "advanced on Mosul from the northwest and deployed in large numbers in the west of the city," Reuters reported . Three Iraqi soldiers and four policemen were killed in the resulting clashes. In southern Mosul, a suicide assault team made up of five heavily armed ISIS fighters attacked a weapons depot and killed 11 soldiers. Some of the members of the suicide assault team detonated their suicide jackets during the raid. And in the nearby village of Muwaffakiya, a minority Shabak community, a pair of suicide car bombs killed […]

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Suicide bombing on Kurdish party HQ in Iraq kills 18

BAQUBA Iraq (Reuters) – A suicide bomber blew himself up at the headquarters of a Kurdish political party in Iraq’s ethnically mixed province of Diyala on Sunday, killing 18 people, local officials and medics said. A further 60 people were wounded in the attack in the town of Jalawla, 115 km (70 miles) northeast of Baghdad, most of them members of the Kurdish security forces who were guarding the office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). “A suicide bomber parked a car packed with explosives near the PUK headquarters and when it went off, he managed to sneak into the building and detonated his vest,” said Khorsheed Ahmed, the chairman of Jalawla city council. Jalawla lies within a band of disputed territory between the Kurdistan region and the rest of the country, and is one of several towns where Iraqi central government troops and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have […]

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Iraq Displacement Grows as Fighting Escalates

GENEVA — The U.N. refugee agency reports growing numbers of Iraqis are fleeing fighting, which is raging in Anbar province.  The UNHCR said the deteriorating security situation in this troubled region is making it more difficult for aid agencies to reach those in need Saturday’ s attack by Iraqi militants on Anbar University in the city of Ramadi is the most recent in three days of violence by Islamist extremists. It follows raids in the cities of Mosul and Samarra.  The deadly assault in Ramadi by militants who killed three guards and seized dozens of students as hostages highlights the chaotic situation enveloping Anbar province for months.   The U.N. refugee agency said the growing violence in this Sunni dominated province is creating a displacement crisis.  It estimates nearly half-a-million people have fled their homes since fighting between Shia-led government forces and Sunni rebels in eastern Anbar escalated in […]

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Across Iraq, Insurgents Show Reach in Attacks

Militants attacked a university in the western city of Ramadi early Saturday, forcing students and professors to flee gunfire and shelling, while in the capital, at least 48 people were killed by car bombs in an apparently coordinated series of explosions. It was the third day of surging violence in Iraq . Since Thursday, Sunni militants have conducted a series of lightning attacks in major cities, leaving scores of people dead and the government forces scrambling to recover. On Thursday, gunmen carrying the banner of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a Sunni extremist group, swept into the central city of Samarra, briefly capturing police stations, city buildings and several neighborhoods before being driven out. Militant gunmen and suicide bombers have also mounted an offensive in the northern city of Mosul over the last few days, killing civilians and police officers. Government troops have been able […]

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At Swearing-In, Ex-General Vows ‘Inclusive’ Egypt

CAIRO — Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the former general who led the military takeover here nearly one year ago, was sworn in as president on Sunday, testing the bet that a new strongman can overcome the economic dysfunction and political polarization that bedeviled Egypt’s three-year experiment with democracy. In an address to dozens of visiting heads of state gathered in a gilded presidential palace, Mr. Sisi pledged to work for security and stability in Egypt and the region. “It is time for our great people to reap the harvest of their two revolutions,” he said, referring to the 2011 uprising that forced out President Hosni Mubarak and the 2013 protests that preceded the military takeover. Mr. Sisi, 59, now takes formal responsibility for a nation racked by three years of turmoil, scarred by the new government’s bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and riven by deepening loathing between rival Islamist […]

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Ukrainian Leader Says Eastern Violence Must End This Week

Ukraine ’s new leader, Petro Poroshenko, said the violence that’s rocked the former Soviet republic’s easternmost regions must end this week as peace talks began involving an envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Poroshenko, who took the oath of office June 7, said negotiations should be held daily. Yesterday’s three-way talks in Kiev included the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany , Pavlo Klimkin, the Russian envoy to Ukraine, Mikhail Zurabov, and Heidi Tagliavini, a special representative of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. “We must stop the violence this week,” Poroshenko said on his website. “Every day when people die, every day when Ukraine pays such a high price is unacceptable.” Poroshenko, who was sworn in a day after discussing proposals toward a cease-fire with Putin, used his inauguration speech to present a plan to bring peace after more than six months of unrest that’s pitted the U.S. […]

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China's May exports gain steam but imports fall unexpectedly

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s exports gained steam in May thanks to firmer global demand, data showed on Sunday, but an unexpected fall in imports signaled weaker domestic demand that could continue to weigh on the world’s second-largest economy. Exports rose 7 percent in May from a year earlier, quickening from April’s 0.9 percent rise, while imports fell 1.6 percent, versus a rise of 0.8 percent in April, the General Administration of Customs said. China’s trade surplus widened sharply to $35.9 billion in May from April’s $18.5 billion, the customs office said. That compared with market expectations in a Reuters poll of a 6.6 percent rise in exports, a 6.1 percent rise in imports and a monthly trade surplus of $22.6 billion. "We do not think the May trade data will change the policy stance significantly," Louis Kuijs, an RBS economist in Hong Kong, said in a note. "While the […]

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China’s May exports gain steam but imports fall unexpectedly

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s exports gained steam in May thanks to firmer global demand, data showed on Sunday, but an unexpected fall in imports signaled weaker domestic demand that could continue to weigh on the world’s second-largest economy. Exports rose 7 percent in May from a year earlier, quickening from April’s 0.9 percent rise, while imports fell 1.6 percent, versus a rise of 0.8 percent in April, the General Administration of Customs said. China’s trade surplus widened sharply to $35.9 billion in May from April’s $18.5 billion, the customs office said. That compared with market expectations in a Reuters poll of a 6.6 percent rise in exports, a 6.1 percent rise in imports and a monthly trade surplus of $22.6 billion. "We do not think the May trade data will change the policy stance significantly," Louis Kuijs, an RBS economist in Hong Kong, said in a note. "While the […]

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China’s Daily Crude Oil Imports Fall From Record on Maintenance

China ’s daily crude oil imports fell in May after reaching a record high the previous month, as refining capacity dropped the most this year due to maintenance. Net overseas purchases were 26.08 million metric tons, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs in Beijing today. That’s about 6.17 million barrels a day, declining from a record 6.81 million in April. Crude-processing capacity in China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, dropped 3.93 million metric tons in May, the sharpest plunge this year, according to ICIS-C1, a commodities researcher based in Shanghai . The decline was even greater than in April, when capacity fell 3.1 million metric tons as more than 80 of the nation’s biggest refineries were taken off-line. Plants in China typically conduct maintenance in the second quarter before fuel consumption peaks during summer. PetroChina Co. halted the Dalian refinery, its largest by capacity at […]

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Oil Prices Rise On Strong Asian Data

Oil prices are up in London Monday, buoyed by positive economic data that could lead to higher demand. Brent crude for July delivery was up 0.5% at $109.16 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. U.S. crude-oil futures were up 0.6% at $103.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Positive pointers in economic and geopolitical news have been a booting factor, wrote JBC Energy in a note to clients. Japanese gross domestic product is up, Chinese exports have grown and U.S. employment is back at its pre-recession peak, all of which could likely lead to higher oil demand. Chinese data released over the weekend showed the country’s crude-oil imports were 8.9% higher that a year earlier. JBC also notes that "over the weekend, tentative signs of crafting a deal on the Ukraine situation were made." While this could be bearish for oil prices, there have been some tremors […]

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China Oil Data Show May Crude Oil Imports 26.08 Million Tons, Up 8.9% on Year

By Chuin-Wei Yap BEIJING–China imported 26.08 million metric tons of crude oil in May, equivalent to 6.37 million barrels a day, preliminary data from the General Administration of Customs showed Sunday. Imports were 8.9% higher than a year earlier, but down 6.4% from April. Refined oil product imports in May totaled 1.81 million tons, the data showed. China exported 2.22 million tons of oil products in May, according to the preliminary data. Write to Chuin-Wei Yap at [email protected]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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New Rules Lift BYD's Electric-Car Sales

In recent months the governments of Beijing and Shanghai started offering subsidies for BYD electric cars. Pictured, a BYD e6 vehicle on display. Reuters Despite being based in one of the world’s biggest and most polluted car markets, Chinese electric-car maker BYD Co. until recently sold few of its hybrid or battery-powered electric cars outside of its home province of Guangdong, thanks to a system of local subsidies. Those rules are now changing under a new effort by China’s central government to push local authorities to treat equally all Chinese car makers when granting green subsidies. This year for the first time, big cities are relaxing subsidy rules that effectively prevented sales of electric and hybrid cars by local manufacturers that weren’t based in their jurisdictions. Such restrictions had been a drag on green-car sales in China, particularly for BYD, a midsize manufacturer of cars, buses and batteries. In […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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New Rules Lift BYD’s Electric-Car Sales

In recent months the governments of Beijing and Shanghai started offering subsidies for BYD electric cars. Pictured, a BYD e6 vehicle on display. Reuters Despite being based in one of the world’s biggest and most polluted car markets, Chinese electric-car maker BYD Co. until recently sold few of its hybrid or battery-powered electric cars outside of its home province of Guangdong, thanks to a system of local subsidies. Those rules are now changing under a new effort by China’s central government to push local authorities to treat equally all Chinese car makers when granting green subsidies. This year for the first time, big cities are relaxing subsidy rules that effectively prevented sales of electric and hybrid cars by local manufacturers that weren’t based in their jurisdictions. Such restrictions had been a drag on green-car sales in China, particularly for BYD, a midsize manufacturer of cars, buses and batteries. In […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Fukushima Watch: Tepco Eyes Radioactive Strontium-Removal System

A storage tank where highly radioactive water leaked at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. European Pressphoto Agency Still trying to work out the bugs in its water processing system, the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has decided to adopt technology to reduce risks posed by a deadly radioactive isotope stewing in water stored in a thousand tanks at the site. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday that the new technology would remove radioactive strontium from the 400,000 metric tons of highly contaminated water. Kurion Inc., the provider of the technology, has already delivered the first set of equipment to the site for inspection and plans to ship the balance of equipment in the coming weeks, the company said in a statement. The California-based company said it expects the processing system, which can handle 300 tons of water a day, to be operational […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Shale Gas Is America's Geopolitical Trump Card

When Russia and China announced a $400 billion deal last month for Russia to supply China with 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually for three decades, some analysts heralded it as a tectonic geopolitical shift. Instead, Vladimir’s Putin’s haste to sign a deal that had been in the making for more than a decade confirmed his country’s political weakness. Despite being buoyed by high energy prices in the first decade of this century, Russia is in decline. Demographically it is shrinking; it has severe health problems (the average Russian male dies in his early 60s); and it is a "one-crop economy" heavily dependent on energy exports. Russia needs reforms to build a diversified, entrepreneurial economy, but its actions in Ukraine have brought on sanctions that weaken its access to Western ideas and technology. Becoming China’s gas station does nothing to reverse this trend. The real geopolitical shift […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Shale Gas Is America’s Geopolitical Trump Card

When Russia and China announced a $400 billion deal last month for Russia to supply China with 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually for three decades, some analysts heralded it as a tectonic geopolitical shift. Instead, Vladimir’s Putin’s haste to sign a deal that had been in the making for more than a decade confirmed his country’s political weakness. Despite being buoyed by high energy prices in the first decade of this century, Russia is in decline. Demographically it is shrinking; it has severe health problems (the average Russian male dies in his early 60s); and it is a "one-crop economy" heavily dependent on energy exports. Russia needs reforms to build a diversified, entrepreneurial economy, but its actions in Ukraine have brought on sanctions that weaken its access to Western ideas and technology. Becoming China’s gas station does nothing to reverse this trend. The real geopolitical shift […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oilmen Head to a Roundup in Calgary

Canada’s largest annual oil and gas trade show gets under way Tuesday in conjunction with an industry conference dedicated to heavy oil, which the country has in greater abundance than anywhere else on the planet. Anastasia Vasilakis Organizers estimate more than 60,000 attendees will flock here from around the world to visit nearly 2,000 corporate exhibitors’ booths at the Global Petroleum Show. Separately, some 1,100 participants are expected to register for the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Heavy Oil Conference, a symposium for peer-reviewed technical papers. The focus of both events will be on business and technology innovations in the booming Canadian oil patch, but industry officials will also address an undercurrent of uncertainty about growth choke points. Looming large is opposition from environmentalists to the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to connect Alberta’s oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries. Increasing options for shipping out crude—by pipe, rail or barge—and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Russian Stocks’ Oil Link Gains on Eased Ukraine Concern

Russian stocks are showing the strongest link to oil prices in more than a year as concern that the Ukraine crisis will escalate fades and investors focus on a main driver of economic growth. The dollar-denominated RTS stock index rose 4.9 percent in Moscow last week, pushing its 35-day correlation coefficient with West Texas Intermediate crude to 0.53, the highest since May 2013. A reading of 1 implies two securities are trading in lockstep, while -1 signals the opposite. Oil is Russia ’s top export and along with natural gas contributes about half its budget revenue. The RTS index had a negative correlation coefficient of as much as 0.37 in March as stock-market volatility surged during the country’s standoff with Ukraine. The link between crude and equities is returning to more typical levels as tensions ease. President Vladimir Putin met with the former Soviet republic’s new leader on June […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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90% Of Gazprom Clients Have “De-Dollarized”, Will Transact In Euro & Renminbi

90% Of Gazprom Clients Have “De-Dollarized”, Will Transact In Euro & Renminbi Following Obama and Putin’s “caught on tape” meeting Vine’d by the French President, we can’t help but wonder if the Russian leaders comments were something akin to “this is not over yet.” With “De-Dollarization” efforts already broadly under discussion , ITAR-TASS reports that Gazprom had signed additional agreements for clients to switch from dollars to euros and renminbi, “nine of ten consumer had agreed to switch.” Via ITAR-TASS, Gazprom Neft had signed additional agreements with consumers on a possible switch from dollars to euros for payments under contracts, the oil company’s head Alexander Dyukov told a press conference. “Additional agreements of Gazprom Neft on the possibility to switch contracts from dollars to euros are signed. With Belarus, payments in roubles are agreed on,” he said. Dyukov said nine of ten consumers had agreed to switch to euros. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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90% Of Gazprom Clients Have “De-Dollarized”, Will Transact In Euro & Renminbi

90% Of Gazprom Clients Have “De-Dollarized”, Will Transact In Euro & Renminbi Following Obama and Putin’s “caught on tape” meeting Vine’d by the French President, we can’t help but wonder if the Russian leaders comments were something akin to “this is not over yet.” With “De-Dollarization” efforts already broadly under discussion , ITAR-TASS reports that Gazprom had signed additional agreements for clients to switch from dollars to euros and renminbi, “nine of ten consumer had agreed to switch.” Via ITAR-TASS, Gazprom Neft had signed additional agreements with consumers on a possible switch from dollars to euros for payments under contracts, the oil company’s head Alexander Dyukov told a press conference. “Additional agreements of Gazprom Neft on the possibility to switch contracts from dollars to euros are signed. With Belarus, payments in roubles are agreed on,” he said. Dyukov said nine of ten consumers had agreed to switch to euros. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Talkin’ trash: Are we literally throwing away energy?

Talkin’ trash: Are we literally throwing away energy? Philipp Schmidt-Pathmann wakes up every day thinking about trash. What got him thinking about it in the first place is how much of it is simply dumped into landfills across America when most of what is not recyclable could instead be turned into energy for homes and businesses everywhere. Schmidt-Pathmann has seen a better approach in his native Germany where only about 1 percent of all municipal waste goes into landfills. This compares with about 68 percent in the United States of the 400 million tons discarded annually, he explains. (Exact numbers are hard to come by, but he prefers figures collected by Biocycle Magazine .) Germans recycle almost 70 percent of their municipal waste and burn almost all the rest to turn it into energy. Schmidt-Pathmann is founder and executive director of the Zero Landfill Initiative based in Seattle. He […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Tech Talk – what the EPA Plan neglects

One of the problems, I suspect, with predictions of future energy use and production is that physical reality can become entangled in the politics of the day. Thus news that tends to negate the optimistic views of future American oil and natural gas production is subsumed by the need to keep the level of those predictions hecause of other political needs. President Obama has now announced his decisions on a new incentive to combat his perception of the future as it sits threatened by the increased carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels, particularly coal. As announced by the EPA, the Clean Power Plan “will maintain an affordable, reliable energy system, while cutting pollution and protecting our health and environment.” The proposed rule has the intent of lowering carbon dioxide emissions by 30% from the levels of 2005, by 2030. As with many energy-related plans this one […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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The Stone Age Didn’t End Because We Ran Out of Stones

“The Stone Age didn’t end because humanity ran out of stones.” — Ronald Bailey We used to be afraid of something called Peak Oil. Peak Oil was the idea that oil production had reached its zenith, or would soon, and was poised to plunge; we inevitably faced a drought of the black gunk. In 2007, CNN reported: The world has reached the point of maximum oil output and production levels will halve by 2030 — a situation that will eventually lead to war and disaster, a report claims. The physicist Niels Bohr said, “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” Some time has passed and we can see how this particular prediction has panned out. In 2006 the world produced about 72 million barrels of oil a day. Last year (despite an ongoing financial slump) the world produced about 73 million barrels of oil a day. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple