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Challenges to Shiite Establishment Further Threaten the Future of Iraq

From his modest office in the shrine city of Najaf, Iraq’s highest religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, leader of the country’s Shiite establishment, issued a call to arms asking his followers to join with the government military to stop the blitzkrieg by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. But one cleric, Moktada al-Sadr, who led a militia that fought the government and lost in 2008, decided instead that he too would challenge the state. Mr. Sadr revived his Mahdi Army, possibly one of the largest and most experienced battle groups in Iraq, and announced that under no circumstances would it be under the control of the government. His open challenge to Iraq’s Shiite establishment lays bare the latest in a series of cracks that are dividing the country’s three main ethnic groups, the Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, as the Iraqi state comes unraveled. But […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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In Iraq’s Sectarian Violence, a Show of Each Side’s Worst

Sectarian violence in Iraq on Monday showed both sides in the conflict at their brutal worst, as Iraqi police officers were reported to have killed scores of Sunni insurgent prisoners along a highway in the south, and militants in the north turned over the bodies of 15 Shiite civilians they had killed, including women and children, only to bomb the cemetery during their funerals, according to one account. In a third episode without clear sectarian links, a family of six, including three children, was found fatally shot in Tarmiya, a Sunni area in Baghdad Province north of the capital. There was no confirmation about who was behind their deaths. The killings of the Sunni prisoners, all of whom had been arrested on terrorism charges but had not been convicted, were reported near Hilla, a town south of Baghdad, and represented the second such episode in less than […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Last of Syria’s Known Chemical Arms Are Shipped Abroad for Destruction

After months of delay, Syria exported the last of its known supplies of chemical weapons components on Monday for destruction overseas, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced, calling it a major achievement in a country engulfed by war. But the organization, which is helping oversee Syria’s compliance with its chemical disarmament promises, stopped short of pronouncing Syria free of all chemical weapons. It said that verification work was not complete and reminded the Syrian authorities that they have not yet destroyed — as required — a dozen facilities used for making and mixing the munitions. A separate inquiry by the organization into suspected use of chlorine gas bombs in the conflict is also pending. Syria delivered the final stocks of the more than 1,300 tons of chemical agents it had declared to the port of Latakia, where they were loaded aboard a Danish vessel […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iran can make up for Iraqi oil, minister says

Iran has the ability to make up for any supply issues stemming from ongoing conflict in neighboring Iraq, the Iranian oil minister said. Crude oil prices spiked last week on word Islamist insurgents in Iraq had laid siege to an oil refinery north of the capital city Baghdad. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said Saturday his country was ready to step in should output from Iraq suffer. "Iran has currently enough capacity to make up for Iraq’s oil supply shortage," he told the Oil Ministry’s news agency, Shana, "Iraq’s upheavals aside, Iran has always sought to maintain a steady and stable supply in the oil market." Closure of the Baiji oil refinery in Iraq has caused national supply disruptions, though U.S. officials have said there are no export problems tied directly to the Sunni-led insurgency. Zanganeh said his country was ready to work with foreign companies who may be […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Russia, Iran nuclear contract imminent

Russian plans to sign a contract with Iran to help expand the Bushehr nuclear power facility by the end of the year, Russia’s nuclear regulator said Monday. Sergei Kirienko , chief executive at Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corp., said talks with Iranian officials are close to completion. "We hope that by the end of this year we will move on to the final signing and additions to the intergovernmental agreement, and then the according contract," he said Monday. Russia supplies Iran with fuel needed to power its Bushehr nuclear reactor . In March, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said the agreement calls for the pair of 1,000-megawatt reactors to be built near the first unit of the Bushehr nuclear power plant . Russia is under pressure from a U.S. government frustrated with the Kremlin’s reaction to Ukraine’s move toward the European Union, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Vietnam asks China to move oil rig

Vietnam’s official media reports a request was sent to the Chinese side asking they remove the oil rig positioned in disputed maritime territory. China in early May dispatched an oil rig to waters claimed by both the Chinese and Vietnamese governments. A second rig was reportedly sent to the region last week. Both sides have met in Hanoi to discuss the situation, though each side blames the other for the lingering tensions. The official Vietnam News reported Sunday surveillance vessels were still operating within 10-12 nautical miles of the first rig. "[They] conducted communication actions requesting the Chinese side to withdraw the rig and ships from Vietnamese waters," the Sunday report said. The report said Chinese vessels positioned around the rig fired water cannons and rammed Vietnamese boats in the region, causing "many" injuries. Pro-government China Daily published a Sunday editorial suggesting Vietnam was painting itself as the victim […]

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China Seen Bolstering Oil Security as Stockpiles Swell to Record

China may be bolstering its emergency crude reserves as refiners in the world’s second-largest oil consumer expanded commercial stockpiles to a record high in May. Crude inventories rose 4 percent from April, China Oil, Gas & Petrochemicals, published by the official Xinhua News Agency, said in an e-mailed report today. That’s about 33.59 million metric tons, or 246.2 million barrels, the most in records going back to January 2010. Gasoline supplies also swelled to a record, climbing 0.9 percent to an estimated 7.6 million tons. China’s commercial oil stockpiles can be channeled for strategic use, according to industry consultants including ICIS-C1 Energy in Shanghai and FGE in Singapore . Refiners accelerated crude imports in April and May as the nation sought to increase its energy security with prices at a “fairly” high level, said Amy Sun, an oil analyst at ICIS-C1. “We believe high commercial stocks may indicate refiners […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Upton: GOP has true energy vision

| License Photo Republicans have a true vision of what an "all-of-the-above" energy strategy looks like for the U.S. government, U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., said. Upton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, delivered the weekly Republican address. "The U.S. has entered an era of energy abundance, and now we need the architecture — the infrastructure and policies — to support it," he said in his Saturday address . In its monthly market report, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said it estimated U.S. oil production in May averaged 8.4 million bpd, the highest monthly average in a quarter century. Some U.S. lawmakers say the increased output means the government should embrace more oil exports and pipelines like Keystone XL to take advantage of the situation. Upton says the Republican vision is in contrast to a White House strategy that he says delays Keystone XL and forces states […]

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Bakken Shale Rig Count Increases by One to 173

North Dakota Surpasses the 1-million b/d Oil Mark in April 2014 Bakken Oil Production Forecast – NDPA Bakken Oil Production Forecast – NDPA | Click to Enlarge The  Bakken-Three Forks rig count  increased by one to 173 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week. The NDIC notes 189 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 15 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up. In recent Bakken news, the State of North Dakota has surpassed the 1-million b/d oil mark according to the North Dakota Industrial Commission’s (NDIC) Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), thanks mostly to the Bakken Shale and Three Forks formation. The preliminary data, released in the monthly  Director’s Cut  in June of 2014, revealed April oil production was 1,001,149 b/d. North Dakota is second only to Texas for oil production. Read more:  North Dakota Hits the 1-Million b/d […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Study: Pollution laws reduce deaths from lung illness

North Carolina study finds lung disease mortality rates fell sharply after state passed 2002 air quality law Girls play on a soccer field near a complex operated by Duke Energy in Wilmington, N.C., on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2014. Randall Hill / AP Regulations designed to reduce air pollution in North Carolina have led not just to cleaner air but to fewer deaths from lung diseases, according to a new  study report released Monday . Researchers at Duke University reviewed 17 years of state air quality data and death records, and found a distinct correlation between the start of stricter pollution rules in 2002 and a marked decline in the number of people perishing from emphysema, asthma and pneumonia. The report was published in the International Journal of COPD.  The evidence pointing to the consequences of air pollution rules likely applies globally, the study’s head author said, adding that it […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple