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Iraq’s largest oil fields reduce staff

The international oil companies in charge of Iraq’s two most prolific oil fields have significantly reduced their presence in Basra after a shockwave of violence struck northern Iraq and Shia militia activity and recruitment began to spike throughout the south. BP and ExxonMobil, which operate Rumaila and West Qurna 1, respectively, have sent most or all of their foreign staff out of the country, according to varying accounts given by Iraqi workers at those fields. There is no indication that… 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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Iraq blowback: Isis rise manufactured by insatiable oil addiction

Following the bulk of western reporting on the Iraq crisis, you’d think the self-styled ‘Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ‘ ( Isis ) popped out of nowhere, took the west completely by surprise, and is now rampaging across the Middle East like some random weather event. The reality is far more complex, and less palatable. The meteoric rise of Isis is a predictable consequence of a longstanding US-led geostrategy in the Middle East that has seen tyrants and terrorists as tools to expedite access to regional oil and gas resources. Since the second world war, as British historian Mark Curtis documented extensively in his seminal study, The Ambiguities of Power , US and UK goals in the Middle East have focused on oil. As a secret British document from 1958 explained: "The major British and other western interests in the Persian Gulf [are] (a) to ensure free access […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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American Airlines cutting flights to Venezuela

American Airlines said Tuesday that it will cut nearly 80 percent of its flights to Venezuela in a dispute over revenue being held by the South American country. American said that beginning July 2 it will operate 10 flights per week instead of the current 48. And it will only fly to Venezuela from Miami, scrapping flights from New York, Dallas and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The airline says Venezuela is holding on to at least $750 million in revenue that American wants to bring back to the U.S. Other airlines are locked in similar disputes. The International Air Transport Association, a trade group for major world airlines, said this month that Venezuela is holding $4 billion in airline money because of problems with the country’s currency-control system. Air Canada and Italy’s Alitalia have suspended all flights to Caracas and Panama’s Copa has reduced […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Gazprom Expects $25 Billion Prepayment in China Gas Deal

Gazprom OAO will receive $25 billion from China as a prepayment under the terms of a $400 billion contract Russia’s natural-gas monopoly signed last month though the details and timing of payments and delivery of the gas aren’t yet finalized, the company’s deputy chief executive said Wednesday. Gazprom’s Alexander Medvedev said he would not disclose the price that China National Petroleum Corp. has agreed to pay for the Russian gas but insisted the deal will make money for the state-controlled Russian energy group. The lack of details of the contract, which is seen by analysts as the Kremlin’s attempt to reduce its dependence on the European gas market, has raised questions in Russia about whether the criteria for striking the deal were primarily political rather than economic . In the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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BP, China Confirm 20-Year LNG Supply Pact

BP PLC and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation have signed heads of agreement for the supply of up to 1.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas a year over 20 years, starting in 2019. BP said its expects a full commercial contract to be agreed in mid-2014. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that BP would sign a $20 billion long-term contract to supply LNG to southeast China, quoting the company’s chief executive. Speaking to reporters at the World Petroleum Congress, Bob Dudley said the 20-year deal would be signed with Chinese state-owned Cnooc in London in front of British Prime Minister David Cameron and Premier Li Keqiang during the Chinese leader’s three-day visit to Britain . BP added that it would likely supply LNG from its global portfolio, using its own LNG tanker fleet and chartered ships delivering gas to a number of terminals in China. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China and Vietnam to Hold Talks Amid Standoff Over Disputed Oil Rig

This video grab image taken on June 1, 2014, from a Vietnam Coast Guard ship shows the Chinese Coast Guard ship chasing a Vietnamese vessel near the site of the Chinese oil rig in the disputed waters in the South China Sea. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images China and Vietnam will hold high-level talks on Wednesday as relations remain strained over the deployment in early May of a Chinese drilling platform to waters claimed by Hanoi and Beijing. The meeting between Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh in Hanoi will be the first official contact between the Asian neighbors after more than six weeks of angry confrontations. While neither side is likely to back down in their dispute over the Paracel Islands and the surrounding waters of the South China Sea, the diplomatic opening is the first sign that Beijing and Hanoi are seeking to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China, Britain vow to jointly combat climate change

LONDON, June 17 (Xinhua) — China and Britain agreed here on Tuesday to deepen their cooperation in fighting climate change during a visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to the European country. Hailing the existing "strong relationship" on low carbon cooperation, the two countries agreed to intensify bilateral policy dialogue and practical collaboration through the China-Britain Working Group on Climate Change, according to a joint statement released by both sides. The statement warned that unless actions were taken now, the impact of climate change will worsen in coming decades, giving examples of sea levels rising and ice melting faster than expected. Noting that climate change and air pollution "share many of the same root causes" and "same solutions," China and Britain pledged to work together toward a global framework for ambitious action to bring about low carbon transitions in their own countries. The two sides also called on the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Obama’s New Emission Rules: Will They Survive Challenges?

The sweeping nature of President Obama’s proposed regulations limiting carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants is likely to open his initiative to serious legal challenges. To date, however, the courts have given the federal government wide latitude in regulating CO2 under the Clean Air Act. The Obama Administration’s recent announcement that it plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal-fired power plants evoked cries of protest and warnings of economic doom from the political right, and praise from the center and the left. As the controversy over the proposed rules continues to unfold, two important questions loom: What is the likelihood that these new regulations will actually be put into effect, and how big an impact would they have on the fight to slow climate change? Two things could completely derail the rules. First, if a Republican president is elected in 2016, he or she could halt […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Upshot of Domestic Oil Boom: Fewer Shocks

The latest spasm of violence in the Middle East has sent crude-oil prices climbing in recent weeks, a familiar action-reaction that frequently has proved to be a drag on economic growth. Yet that dynamic figures to ease in coming months and years as U.S. dependence on Mideast oil is, by a variety of measures, at a generational nadir. In the current flare-up of unrest, Islamist militants have swept across northern Iraq, threatening Baghdad and spurring fears that violence could disrupt the country’s 2.7 million barrels a day in exports. Amid this, the U.S. crude-oil benchmark on the New York Mercantile Exchange has climbed to around $107 a barrel, the highest level since September. The oil-price instability has been playing out broadly since late 2010, when a string of popular political revolutions across the Middle East drove up the price of crude to $113 a barrel from $85 over five […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple