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Insurgency in Iraq Widens Rivals’ Rift

Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Islamic rivals of the Middle East, appeared to escalate on Wednesday over the Sunni extremist insurgency convulsing Iraq, as President Hassan Rouhani of Iran declared readiness to defend Iraq’s Shiite holy sites with force and Saudi leaders issued a barely veiled admonishment not to intervene. The sharpened tone coming from both countries, which have long regarded each other with suspicion — Iran is overwhelmingly Shiite and Saudi Arabia Sunni — suggested that their recent tentative efforts to improve relations might be faltering over the Iraq crisis. Both countries have long vied for influence in the region and support opposing sides in Syria’s civil war. The Saudis are also increasingly concerned about Iran’s efforts to ease its longstanding estrangement with the United States, a close strategic and economic partner of Saudi Arabia. While the United States and Iran differ on many issues, most notably […]

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Kurdistan forms government as President calls veterans to arms

Kurdistan forms government as President calls veterans to arms The Cabinet of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq was inaugurated in Parliament on Wednesday, as the region’s President called up veterans to bolster the region’s border against a rise of insurgent violence to the south. "Today we announce the formation of the government in complicated circumstances," said KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani. The formation of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Cabinet ends an eight-month period of haggling among Kurdish political parties following regi… 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 .

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China's oil operations in Iraq unaffected, cuts some staff

PetroChina, thesingle biggest investor in Iraq’s oil sector, is pulling some ofits staff out of the Middle East nation, but production remainsunaffected as militant Islamists threaten the unity of OPEC’ssecond-largest producer. China is Iraq’s largest oil client, and its state energyfirms, which also include Sinopec Group and CNOOC Ltd,together hold more than a fifth of the country’s oil projectsafter securing some of its fields through auctions held in 2009. Some non-essential staff have been evacuated, said MaoZefeng, joint company secretary of PetroChina, China’s largestenergy firm, without saying how many or if they had been movedout of Iraq entirely or to safer zones in the country. A few oilfield service staff have been evacuated, a secondcompany official said. "We’ve got our contingency plan," said Mao. "But as ourfields are all in the south, they are not affected yet." Iraqi officials say the southern regions that […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China’s oil operations in Iraq unaffected, cuts some staff

PetroChina, thesingle biggest investor in Iraq’s oil sector, is pulling some ofits staff out of the Middle East nation, but production remainsunaffected as militant Islamists threaten the unity of OPEC’ssecond-largest producer. China is Iraq’s largest oil client, and its state energyfirms, which also include Sinopec Group and CNOOC Ltd,together hold more than a fifth of the country’s oil projectsafter securing some of its fields through auctions held in 2009. Some non-essential staff have been evacuated, said MaoZefeng, joint company secretary of PetroChina, China’s largestenergy firm, without saying how many or if they had been movedout of Iraq entirely or to safer zones in the country. A few oilfield service staff have been evacuated, a secondcompany official said. "We’ve got our contingency plan," said Mao. "But as ourfields are all in the south, they are not affected yet." Iraqi officials say the southern regions that […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Conflict in Iraq Adds New Angle to U.S.-Iran Nuclear Talks

The Iranian leadership had a message for Washington on Wednesday: If President Obama really wants some cooperation on stabilizing Iraq, he might first think about speeding forward with a permanent deal over Iran ’s nuclear capability. That statement by President Hassan Rouhani’s chief of staff, Mohammad Nahavandian, to reporters at an international relations forum in Oslo, hardly surprised the American and European negotiators. They are growing skeptical that a deal both Mr. Obama and Mr. Rouhani can embrace — and sell at home — is possible by a deadline agreed upon with the Iranians last year, now a little more than a month away. “The Iranians desperately needed leverage,” one European negotiator said Wednesday after weeks of arguments over how many centrifuges Iran would be permitted to keep spinning, and how fast the sanctions that have so crippled the economic lives of ordinary Iranians could be lifted. […]

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Statoil, ExxonMobil make another gas discovery offshore Tanzania

Statoil ASA and coventurer ExxonMobil Corp. have made what the companies are calling a “high-impact” gas discovery in the Piri prospect offshore Tanzania, marking the sixth discovery on Block 2 by the firms ( OGJ Online, Dec. 6, 2013 ). Piri-1, drilled by the Discoverer Americas drillship, is 2 km southwest of the Lavani-1 well in 2,360 m of water. Discoverer Americas is now drilling the Binzari prospect on Block 2. The discovery was made in the same Lower Cretaceous sandstones as the gas discovery in the Zafarani-1 well drilled in 2012 ( OGJ Online, Dec. 22, 2012 ). Statoil says discovery of an additional 2-3 tcf of gas in place in the Piri-1 well brings to 20 tcf the total of in-place volumes on the block. Additional prospectivity has been mapped and will be tested throughout this year and next, Statoil said, adding that the company expects […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Nigeria's Bid to Cut Oil Smuggling

A suspected oil thief rides a wooden boat full of stolen crude oil on the creeks of Bayelsa, Nigeria in May 2013. Nigeria is moving its efforts to cut oil smuggling to target foreign players increasingly implicated in the trade. Associated Press LONDON—Nigeria last month handed down a long prison term, in absentia, to the Indian owner of a vessel suspected of carrying stolen crude—moving its efforts to cut oil smuggling to target foreign players increasingly implicated in the trade. Africa’s largest economy has long battled theft from its oil pipelines in the southern Niger Delta. That’s sapped revenue and scared off foreign investment. Nigerian courts have tried and convicted individual thieves accused of tapping into oil pipelines, or crews arrested on board vessels carrying stolen oil. But authorities have generally not taken action against the international shippers alleged to increasingly carry the oil out to international waters. But […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Nigeria’s Bid to Cut Oil Smuggling

A suspected oil thief rides a wooden boat full of stolen crude oil on the creeks of Bayelsa, Nigeria in May 2013. Nigeria is moving its efforts to cut oil smuggling to target foreign players increasingly implicated in the trade. Associated Press LONDON—Nigeria last month handed down a long prison term, in absentia, to the Indian owner of a vessel suspected of carrying stolen crude—moving its efforts to cut oil smuggling to target foreign players increasingly implicated in the trade. Africa’s largest economy has long battled theft from its oil pipelines in the southern Niger Delta. That’s sapped revenue and scared off foreign investment. Nigerian courts have tried and convicted individual thieves accused of tapping into oil pipelines, or crews arrested on board vessels carrying stolen oil. But authorities have generally not taken action against the international shippers alleged to increasingly carry the oil out to international waters. But […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China Regulators ‘Overwhelmed’ as Reactors Built at Pace

China is moving quickly to become the first country to operate the world’s most powerful atomic reactor even as France’s nuclear regulator says communication and cooperation on safety measures with its Chinese counterparts are lacking. In the coastal city of Taishan, 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the financial hub of Hong Kong , Chinese builders are entering the final construction stages for two state-of-the-art European Pressurized Reactors. Each will produce about twice as much electricity as the average reactor worldwide. France has a lot riding on a smooth roll out of China’s EPRs. The country is home to Areva SA (AREVA) , which developed the next-generation reactor, and utility Electricite de France SA , which oversees the project. The two companies, controlled by the French state, need a safe, trouble-free debut in China to ensure a future for their biggest new product in a generation. And French authorities have […]

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China says moving 2nd oil rig closer to Vietnam

BEIJING (AP) — China said Thursday it is moving a second oil rig closer to Vietnam’s coast, showing its determination to press its territorial claims and continue searching for resources in disputed waters despite a tense confrontation with Vietnam over another oil rig to the south. The 600-meter (1,970-foot) -long rig is being towed southeast of its current position south of Hainan Island and will be in its new location closer to Vietnam by Friday, the Maritime Safety Administration said on its website. It asked vessels in the area to give it a wide berth. Vietnam isn’t expected to react strongly to the placement of the second rig because it lies far to the north of the politically sensitive waters surrounding the Paracel Islands, where ships from the two countries have been ramming each other for more than 40 days near the first oil rig. A Vietnamese Foreign Ministry […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple