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Abandoned Oil Wells Spouting Significant Levels of Methane: Study

A Princeton University study has found that leaks from abandoned oil and gas wellbores pose not only a risk to groundwater, but represent a growing threat to the climate. Between 200,000 and 970,000 abandoned wells in the state of Pennsylvania likely account for four to seven per cent of estimated man-made methane emissions in that jurisdiction, a source previously not accounted for, the study says. Pennsylvania, much like Alberta in Canada, is the oldest oil and gas producer in the United States and the scene of intense environmental controversy due to the impact of hydraulic fracturing on its well-punctured landscape. As a consequence, leaks from the shale gas and conventional gas infrastructure could make the industry dirtier than coal production. Scientists in the field have consistently found that models used by the oil and gas industry and regulators significantly underestimate methane leaks from valves, pumps, pipelines, gas plants and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil Rises On Stockpile Drop, Iraq Tensions

Crude-oil futures edged higher in Asia Thursday after overnight data showed a small drop in U.S. weekly oil stockpiles and as events in Iraq continue to play out. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in July traded at $106.59 a barrel at 0630 GMT, up $0.62 in the Globex electronic session. August Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.46 to $114.72 a barrel. The two global oil benchmarks had diverged overnight, with Nymex WTI crude settling lower for three consecutive sessions, while Brent crude has been up for six straight sessions, its longest winning streak since the six-day period ending Aug. 16. U.S. oil stockpiles posted a decline of 579,000 barrels last week, but its gasoline stocks rose unexpectedly, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The country’s domestic crude production however continues to rise and is currently at its highest […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Brent Trades Near Nine-Month High on Iraq Conflict

Brent crude traded at a nine-month high as Iraqi forces battled insurgents north of Baghdad . West Texas Intermediate rose for the first time in four days after a government report showed U.S. crude supplies shrank. Futures advanced as much as 0.5 percent in London. Iraqi security forces regained control of the Baiji oil refinery, the country’s biggest, as President Barack Obama told top U.S. lawmakers that he won’t need additional congressional approval for the options he’s considering in response to the crisis. U.S. crude inventories fell by 579,000 barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said yesterday. “The short-term risks have increased significantly, and a test of $120 for Brent next week wouldn’t come as a surprise,” Hans van Cleef, an energy economist at ABN Amro Bank NV, said by phone from Amsterdam. “All the tensions are in the north of Iraq , and as long as exports […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Natural Gas Retreats Ahead of Storage Report

By Nicole Friedman NEW YORK–Natural gas slipped Wednesday on expectations that weekly government storage data will show a larger-than-average increase for this time of year. Natural gas for July delivery settled down 5 cents, or 1.1%, at $4.659 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Analysts and traders expect the U.S. Energy Information Administration to report that storage levels rose by 109 billion cubic feet in the week ended June 13, according to a Wall Street Journal survey. The EIA is scheduled to release the data on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. EDT. That would exceed the 97-bcf injection seen in the same week last year and the 88-bcf five-year average injection for the week. If the storage estimate is correct, total supply will be 31% below the five-year average for the same week. Natural-gas inventories were depleted by a long, frigid winter, and prices remain […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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As Moderate Islamists Retreat, Extremists Surge Unchecked

TUNIS — Islamist politicians swept elections across the region in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, stepping close to power in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Morocco and undermining the thesis of Qaeda-style militants that violence offered the only hope for change. Today, those politicians are in frantic retreat from Riyadh to Rabat, stymied by their political opponents, stalked by generals and plotted against by oil-rich monarchs. Instead, it is the jihadists who are on the march, roving unchecked across broad sections of North Africa and the Middle East. Now they have seized control of territory straddling the borders of Iraq and Syria where they hope to establish an Islamic caliphate. And they are reveling in their vindication. “Rights cannot be restored except by force,” the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the surging Qaeda breakaway group, declared last year after the Egyptian military removed President Mohamed Morsi of the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Extremists Attack Iraq’s Biggest Oil Refinery

Refinery workers, witnesses and an Iraqi Army officer reported the seizure of Iraq’s biggest oil refinery by Sunni extremists on Wednesday after army helicopter gunships failed to repel their attack. But other Iraqi officials, including the commander of the garrison defending the refinery in Baiji, asserted that fighting was still going on inside the extensive facility, shut down by the violence. The battle in Baiji, 130 miles north of Baghdad, came as the Obama administration, which extricated American troops from Iraq less than three years ago, was weighing a more muscular response, including airstrikes, to help the besieged government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Wednesday in Saudi Arabia that Iraq had asked for American airstrikes, according to Al Arabiya television. That would make Mr. Zebari the first top Iraqi official to publicly confirm that request, reported by The New York Times […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Battle for Iraq's Largest Oil Refinery Simmers

By Ali A. Nabhan and Matt Bradley Government security forces fought Thursday to regain control of the Iraq’s largest oil refinery in a decisive test of Baghdad’s ability to protect an economic pillar from Sunni Muslim insurgents. Although the battle for the refinery in Beiji, 130 miles north of the capital Baghdad, subsided early Thursday, workers in the facility’s employee housing compound said they heard mortar fire overnight. Operations at the refinery have ceased, and electricity has been cut, said Dhahi Al Jubouri, an engineer. Refinery employees said the militants had taken over most of the installation and that major gas line and two large fuel tanks had been heavily damaged in fighting between government forces and an insurgency led by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. "Gunmen are controlling some areas, and security forces are still controlling the administrative office and the production department," Mr. Jubouri said. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Battle for Iraq’s Largest Oil Refinery Simmers

By Ali A. Nabhan and Matt Bradley Government security forces fought Thursday to regain control of the Iraq’s largest oil refinery in a decisive test of Baghdad’s ability to protect an economic pillar from Sunni Muslim insurgents. Although the battle for the refinery in Beiji, 130 miles north of the capital Baghdad, subsided early Thursday, workers in the facility’s employee housing compound said they heard mortar fire overnight. Operations at the refinery have ceased, and electricity has been cut, said Dhahi Al Jubouri, an engineer. Refinery employees said the militants had taken over most of the installation and that major gas line and two large fuel tanks had been heavily damaged in fighting between government forces and an insurgency led by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. "Gunmen are controlling some areas, and security forces are still controlling the administrative office and the production department," Mr. Jubouri said. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Militants fly their black flags over Iraq refinery

Mideast Iraq Mideast Iraq Mideast Iraq Mideast Iraq Mideast Iraq Mideast Iraq Mideast Iraq Mideast Iraq BAGHDAD (AP) — Sunni militants have hung their black banners on watch towers at Iraq’s largest oil refinery, a witness said Thursday, suggesting the vital facility had fallen to the insurgents in control of vast territories across the country’s north. A top Iraqi security official, however, said the government still held the facility. The fighting at Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad, comes as Iraq has asked the U.S. to launch airstrikes targeting militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. While U.S. President Barack Obama has not fully ruled out the possibility of launching airstrikes, such action is not imminent, officials said, in part because intelligence agencies have been unable to identify clear targets on the ground. The Iraqi witness who drove past the Beiji refinery, said […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iran's Status at Stake in Iraq as Ally Maliki Is Attacked

Iran , already deeply mired in Syria’s civil war, now finds itself center stage in a fight against Sunni militants threatening to topple its most important regional partner in Iraq . Iran is pledging to defend Shiite shrines in Iraq and help Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki defeat an al-Qaeda breakaway group that has routed his northern army. More than 130 members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards entered Iraq’s eastern Diyala province, which borders the Islamic republic, the BBC reported last week. The conflict will test Iran’s ability to prop up its two closest Arab allies to preserve the political influence built in the region over the past decade. The collapse of Maliki’s government, without a pro-Iranian alternative ready to take over, would cut Iran’s leverage in its power struggle with regional Sunni powers such as Saudi Arabia and in its efforts to overhaul ties with the U.S. Related: “The fragility […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple