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LNG Rally Fading on New Supply as Nukes Set to Restart

The three-year rally in liquefied natural gas is cooling as Asia-Pacific supplies jump and demand slows from Japanese utilities preparing to restart nuclear reactors. LNG shipped to northeast Asia next winter may be sold at the lowest price since 2012 for that time of year, when demand typically peaks, according to a Bloomberg News survey of traders and analysts. Exxon Mobil Corp. and BG Group Plc are bringing new supplies to Asia this year before at least four projects start in 2015, including the first U.S. exports. Prices have doubled over the past three years since the Fukushima disaster in March 2011, as utilities turned to fossil fuels such as LNG to compensate for the loss of the atomic plants. Japan is preparing to restart at least two of 48 nuclear reactors that were shut in the wake of an earthquake and tsunami that hit the country. “We have […]

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Gazprom starts clock on Chinese gas pipeline

The first welds of a pipeline meant to deliver Russian natural gas to China should be set within the next two months, the chairman of Gazprom said. Gazprom said it planned to start delivering large-diameter pipes for what it’s calling the Power of Siberia natural gas pipeline to China in July. "We have a particular action plan," Gazprom Chairman Alexei Miller said in a Wednesday statement . "Our objective is to weld the Power of Siberia first joint already this August." The Russian energy company said it started working on the infrastructure necessary for the pipeline almost immediately after signing a contract for gas to China in May. The contract between Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp. is for 30 years and calls for 1.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas per year. Gazprom has sought entrance into the growing Asian market in an effort to diversify an asset […]

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API: US production outpaced petroleum demand in May

US crude oil production in May increased 14.7% from May 2013 to 8.3 million b/d—the highest level for the month since 1987—according to a report from the American Petroleum Institute . Total US petroleum deliveries, a measure of demand, meanwhile, increased 1.9% from last May to average 18.9 million b/d, the highest May deliveries in 6 years. The report comes on the heels of BP PLC’s 63rd annual Statistical Review of World Energy in which the firm said the US recorded the largest increment to global oil consumption in 2013, while recording the largest increase in the world and the largest annual increment in the country’s history for a second consecutive year ( OGJ Online, June 16, 2014 ). “Last month saw a continuation of recent trends, with strong demand and even stronger production resulting in falling import levels,” said John Felmy, API chief economist. Total imports averaged […]

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As U.S. Production Increases and Imports Drop, Oil-Exporting Nations Find Another Outlet

With increased domestic production, the U.S. is importing less oil; fortunately for oil-producing nations, Asia looks ready to pick up the slack. Associated Press SINGAPORE—Asia will be able to absorb increasing amounts of crude oil not needed by the U.S. in the years ahead, providing an important outlet for oil suppliers in several regions. With new technology having unlocked vast quantities of North American crude and natural gas previously trapped in shale rock beds, oil suppliers accustomed to selling to the U.S. are already having to search for new customers. They are finding buyers in Asia—particularly China and India. Insufficient Asian reserves and relatively strong economic growth in parts of the region should ease worries among African, Latin American and even Middle Eastern oil producers that they might struggle, or have to offer deep discounts. Producers of displaced oil for now can draw comfort from not having to compete […]

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Murkowski wary of Keystone XL oversell

While bipartisan leaders in a Senate committee passed a bill in support of Keystone XL, Sen. warned against overselling the win. Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sens. Mary Landrieu , D-La., and John Hoeven , R-N.D., moved their bill in support of the pipeline through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee with a 12-10 vote. "I am pleased to move the issue of the Keystone XL pipeline forward, but I think we need to be cautious not to oversell it," Murkowski said in a statement Wednesday. The measure is nearly identical to similar efforts to push Keystone XL past President Obama ‘s desk. Murkowski said her counterparts in the House have already passed similar legislation, but noted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., has largely ignored the issue on the Senate floor. Pipeline planner TransCanada issued a permit request for the pipeline more than five years […]

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Short-term U.S. oil imports up

| License Photo U.S. crude oil imports are lower than they were last year, though short-term data show an increase, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. EIA, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, said crude oil imports over a four-week period ending June 13 averaged 7.3 million barrels per day, 6.6 percent less than the same four-week period in 2013. For the week, the United States imported on average 7.2 million bpd, which is up 88,000 bpd from the week ending June 6, EIA said in its weekly petroleum report , published Wednesday. Canada was the top oil exporter to the United States for the week ending June 13. The country sent 2.7 million bpd on average to the U.S. market that week, up 53,000 barrels from the previous week. Saudi Arabia was the No. 2 oil exporter to the U.S. market, sending an average 898,000 bpd to […]

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Progress made since Lac-Megantic, Canada says

Canadian transportation officials are making good progress in addressing the safety issues of crude oil transport by rail, the Transportation Safety Board said. The safety board in Canada said progress made on safety since last year’s deadly oil train derailment in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, was satisfactory. Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Wendy Tadros said her agency was "pleased" with steps taken so far by Transport Canada to reduce the risks. "There are risks to carrying more and more oil by rail and the board’s recommendations are aimed at bringing those risks down," she said in a statement . The Lac-Megantic disaster left more than 40 people dead. Canadian Transport Minister Lisa Raitt in January ordered rail cars designated as DOT-111, or Class-111, out of service. Those type of rail cars were involved in last year’s accident and similar incidents in the United States. Tadros said Canada is leading […]

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Rising U.S. Output Seen Curbing Impact of Iraq on Oil

The U.S. shale boom, which has sent the nation’s output to a 28-year high, is curbing the impact of the Iraq crisis on the oil market, said Nansen Saleri, former head of reservoir management at Saudi Arabian Oil Co. Prices would have climbed more this month if techniques such as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling hadn’t bolstered U.S. crude output, said Saleri, who is now chief executive officer of Houston-based consultant Quantum Reservoir Impact. West Texas Intermediate oil, the U.S. benchmark, has climbed $5 to $10 on supply anxiety, he said. “Were it not for the increase in U.S. production, that’s gained close to 2 million barrels a day, we would see a $20 to $30 rise in prices,” Saleri said in a telephone interview. “The surge in U.S. production is a hugely stabilizing factor.” WTI for July delivery rose to $107.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile […]

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As Military and Rebels Clash in Ukraine, Doubt Falls on Cease-Fire Prospects

Fierce fighting raged here on Thursday between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian separatist rebels, with hours of intense shelling casting grave doubts on the prospects of a unilateral cease-fire that was promised just a day earlier by the new Ukrainian president, Petro O. Poroshenko. As government forces intensified their drive to crush the separatist insurrection that has plunged Ukraine into conflict, explosions rocked villages between Seversk and Krasny Liman, a railroad hub north of the regional capital of Donetsk that could provide a lifeline to the blockaded rebel stronghold of Slavyansk. In another foreboding development, the NATO secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said Thursday that Russia had redeployed several thousand troops along the Ukrainian border. A month ago, President Vladimir V. Putin had ordered soldiers withdrawn from the border area in what appeared to be an effort to defuse Ukraine’s crisis, along with statements that Russia […]

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Peak Oil: This One Is On Us # 1

General Ideas Mason Inman recently posted an excellent 2012 interview he conducted with James Schlesinger, our nation’s first Secretary of Energy, who passed away shortly before that posting. [Quotes here are from that interview.] There are some lessons available to all of us. Mr. Schlesinger was a bit more direct than I and others have been in urging more effort from the public to recognize the challenges ahead. Sometimes the truth is just the truth, plain as can be. While we’d all like to believe/hope/wish that the bigger problems can be handled by others without our involvement, life tends not to work that way very often. Reality is what it is, and if we are going to prepare ourselves for inevitable changes which will certainly affect each and every one of us even though that may not be at all clear today, then we all need to step up […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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. […]

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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. […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Battle for Iraq refinery as U.S. hesitates to strike

Iraqi government forces battled Sunni rebels for control of the country’s biggest refinery on Thursday as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki waited for a U.S. response to an appeal for air strikes to beat back the threat to Baghdad. The sprawling Baiji refinery, 200 km (130 miles) north of the capital near Tikrit, was a battlefield as troops loyal to the Shi’ite-led government held off insurgents from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and its allies who had stormed the perimeter a day earlier, threatening national energy supplies. A government spokesman said around noon (0900 GMT) that its forces were in "complete control" but a witness in Baiji said fighting was continuing and ISIL militants were still present. A day after the government publicly appealed for U.S. air power, there were indications Washington is sceptical of whether that would be effective, given the risk […]

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In Washington, growing chorus calls for Iraq's Maliki to go

President Barack Obama came under pressure from U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday to persuade Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to step down over what they see as his failed leadership in the face of an insurgency threatening his country. As Obama held an hour-long meeting with congressional leaders on U.S. options in Iraq, administration officials joined a chorus of criticism of Maliki, faulting him for failing to heal sectarian rifts that militants have exploited. Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a congressional hearing that Maliki’s Shi’ite-led government had asked for U.S. air power to help counter Sunni militants who have overrun northern Iraq. The general did not say whether Washington would meet the request. But Dempsey signaled that the U.S. military – apparently much like Obama – was in no rush to launch air strikes in Iraq, citing the […]

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In Washington, growing chorus calls for Iraq’s Maliki to go

President Barack Obama came under pressure from U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday to persuade Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to step down over what they see as his failed leadership in the face of an insurgency threatening his country. As Obama held an hour-long meeting with congressional leaders on U.S. options in Iraq, administration officials joined a chorus of criticism of Maliki, faulting him for failing to heal sectarian rifts that militants have exploited. Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a congressional hearing that Maliki’s Shi’ite-led government had asked for U.S. air power to help counter Sunni militants who have overrun northern Iraq. The general did not say whether Washington would meet the request. But Dempsey signaled that the U.S. military – apparently much like Obama – was in no rush to launch air strikes in Iraq, citing the […]

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Half-Price Kurd Oil Threatens Iraq Breakup With Turkish Help

A tanker containing a million barrels of crude oil is floating around the Mediterranean, and its cargo is available at half-price. Yet if any country seizes the bargain, it may be pushing Iraq closer to disintegration. The oil aboard the tanker is at the center of a fight over its ownership between the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, which pumped and shipped the crude from its territory in northern Iraq, and the central government in Baghdad, which claims the rights to all oil revenue. Kurdish Peshmerga armed forces seized on the anarchy in northern Iraq, where militant Islamists routed the Baghdad government’s army last week, to occupy the region’s key oil hub, Kirkuk. The oil dispute has raised the possibility of the Kurdish region achieving financial self-sufficiency to go with those expanding territorial ambitions. “If that tanker docks, Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government will take an important step toward independence and […]

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Exxon, BP Evacuate Iraq Workers as Oil Drilling Continues

Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP Plc began removing employees from Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest oil producer, after Islamist militants seized cities north of Baghdad and attempted to capture a refinery. Exxon evacuated some workers from the West Qurna oil field, according to a person familiar with the company’s Iraq operations. BP Plc removed non-essential workers, Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley said June 17. Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd . moved 28 of its 166 Iraq employees to Dubai, the company said by e-mail yesterday. Royal Dutch Shell Plc isn’t evacuating staff yet and is ready to do so, Andy Brown, head of Shell Upstream International, said in an interview in Moscow. Related: The companies all said they’re continuing to pump oil and there are few signs Iraq’s production has been curbed after Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant fighters took northern cities including Mosul. Police near the Baiji refinery, the […]

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U.S. Signals Iraq's Maliki Should Go

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared before a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee as President Obama weighs next steps in dealing with the Iraq crisis. Photo: AP WASHINGTON—The Obama administration is signaling that it wants a new government in Iraq without Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, convinced the Shiite leader is unable to reconcile with the nation’s Sunni minority and stabilize a volatile political landscape. The U.S. administration is indicating it wants Iraq’s political parties to form a new government without Mr. Maliki as he tries to assemble a ruling coalition following elections this past April, U.S. officials say. Such a new government, U.S., officials say, would include the country’s Sunni and Kurdish communities and could help to stem Sunni support for the al Qaeda offshoot, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, that […]

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U.S. Signals Iraq’s Maliki Should Go

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared before a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee as President Obama weighs next steps in dealing with the Iraq crisis. Photo: AP WASHINGTON—The Obama administration is signaling that it wants a new government in Iraq without Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, convinced the Shiite leader is unable to reconcile with the nation’s Sunni minority and stabilize a volatile political landscape. The U.S. administration is indicating it wants Iraq’s political parties to form a new government without Mr. Maliki as he tries to assemble a ruling coalition following elections this past April, U.S. officials say. Such a new government, U.S., officials say, would include the country’s Sunni and Kurdish communities and could help to stem Sunni support for the al Qaeda offshoot, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, that […]

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OPEC May Bring Forward Next Meeting if Iraq Crisis Disrupts Exports

Baiji oil refinery, north of Baghdad. Reuters LONDON—The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries could meet ahead of schedule if the continuing crisis in Iraq disrupts the country’s exports of crude oil, officials from Gulf states that are members of the cartel said Wednesday. At the end of its latest meeting last week, OPEC said it would keep its production ceiling for 2014 at 30 million barrels of oil a day and would next meet on Nov. 27. But that plan could change if the oil supply from Iraq is disrupted. Iraqi oil exports currently run at around 2.5 million barrels of oil a day. The psychological impact of the Iraqi unrest has been "big on the market , and we did not calculate this could happen when we left the ceiling unchanged," one Gulf oil official said. With Libyan oil supplies also hampered by political unrest in that […]

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Uneasy Alliance Gives Insurgents an Edge in Iraq

Meeting with the American ambassador some years ago in Baghdad, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki detailed what he believed was the latest threat of a coup orchestrated by former officers of Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party. “Don’t waste your time on this coup by the Baathists,” the ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, chided him, dismissing his conspiracy theories as fantasy. Now, though, with Iraq facing its gravest crisis in years, as Sunni insurgents have swept through northern and central Iraq, Mr. Maliki’s claims about Baathist plots have been at least partly vindicated. While fighters for the extremist Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, once an offshoot of Al Qaeda, have taken on the most prominent role in the new insurgency, they have done so in alliance with a deeply rooted network of former loyalists to Saddam Hussein. The involvement of the Baathists helps explain why just a few thousand […]

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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 .

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Might the Bakken Boom Get Derailed?

Bakken crude oil production has many of the classic characteristics of an economic bubble. It looks likely that, as with every bubble before, it will end. Whether it ends catastrophically or just badly depends on how regulators act. Some of the primary features of a bubble include a very rapid market expansion based on an unrealistic assessment of underlying risk, lax regulation, and an overly optimistic belief in continued rapid growth. In hindsight, it should have been obvious that hundreds of billions of dollars of poorly hedged sub-prime loans that depended on ever-rising housing prices were a huge risk. When the sub-prime mortgage bubble burst, the entire financial system was so distressed that a government bailout was required to save it. On a smaller scale, the same might be said for shipping huge amounts of explosive shale oil in unsafe,  poorly insured tank […]

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Eni Hits 25,000 BPD at Alaskan Oilfield

Eni Hits 25,000 BPD at Alaskan Oilfield 6/19/2014 URL: Italy’s Eni reported Thursday that it has achieved 25,000 barrels of oil per day at its Nikaitchuq field, offshore the North Slope of Alaska. The field, which is located under shallow water, holds reserves that are estimated at 200 million barrels of crude oil. The Nikaitchuq field is the first to be operated by Eni in the Arctic region, with production having started in January 2011. The development of Nikaitchuq has included the drilling of wells and the construction of facilities both on land and on an artificial island built by Eni in the Beaufort Sea. Eni said that the location’s extreme climate and environmental constraints required the application of its proprietary technologies and expertise to drill multilaterals, horizontal wells and to build one of the most-advanced production facilities in the North Slope. Nikaitchuq production is transported through the Trans-Alaska […]

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Barrasso questions purpose of Senate Energy panel’s Keystone vote

As he announced his support for it, US Sen. John A. Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said the Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s vote on Chairwoman Mary L. Landrieu’s (D-La.) bill to bypass the White House and approve the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline “seems more like a cheerleading exercise than a meaningful effort to get Keystone built.” Barrasso said he thinks it’s unlikely Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) would bring Landrieu’s bill to the floor despite the committee’s approving it by 12 to 10 votes, and Landrieu and Ranking Minority Member Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alas.) statements they would press him to do so. “The undeniable fact is there is already a bill on the Senate Calendar which would approve the Keystone XL pipeline,” Barrasso said, noting that a similar measure by another member of the committee, John Hoeven (R-ND), has 55 Republican and Democratic cosponsors, and has been pending on […]

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DOE releases report on water-energy nexus

The US Department of Energy (DOE) released a new report that frames an integrated challenge and opportunity space around the water-energy nexus for DOE and its partners and lays the foundation for future efforts. Present day water and energy systems are tightly intertwined. Water is used in all phases of energy production and electricity generation. Energy is required to extract, convey, and deliver water of appropriate quality for diverse human uses. Recent developments have focused national attention on these connections. A hybrid Sankey diagram shows the magnitude of energy and water flows on a national scale. The diagram illustrates that thermoelectric power generation both withdraws large quantities of water for cooling and dissipates tremendous quantities of primary energy due to inefficiencies in converting thermal energy to electricity (“withdrawn” water is diverted from a surface water or groundwater source). The intensity of water use and energy dissipated varies with generation […]

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Technology 'knocks peak oil theory'

Advances in technology will continue to ensure that there are adequate reserves of oil and gas, as fears over supply recede, according to BP’s head of technology, David Eyton. Addressing the 21st World Petroleum Congress in Moscow, Eyton said that generally speaking the theory of peak oil has had its time. There may be other reasons for demand declines, but technology has enabled an increase in reserves. The industry has an excellent track record to increase production and replace reserves, enabled by a sustained high oil price and technology developments over the last 30 years, he said. The potential to enhance oil recovery from reservoirs is very significant, he said, adding that the average oil recovery rate from reserves in the world today is estimated about 35%. “You […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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Technology ‘knocks peak oil theory’

Advances in technology will continue to ensure that there are adequate reserves of oil and gas, as fears over supply recede, according to BP’s head of technology, David Eyton. Addressing the 21st World Petroleum Congress in Moscow, Eyton said that generally speaking the theory of peak oil has had its time. There may be other reasons for demand declines, but technology has enabled an increase in reserves. The industry has an excellent track record to increase production and replace reserves, enabled by a sustained high oil price and technology developments over the last 30 years, he said. The potential to enhance oil recovery from reservoirs is very significant, he said, adding that the average oil recovery rate from reserves in the world today is estimated about 35%. “You […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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North Dakota Hits the 1-Million b/d Mark

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. It’s certain poor weather conditions at the end of 2013 and the beginning of this year prevented the production milestone from being hit sooner. According to North Dakota officials, in the month of February, there were 18 days with temperatures five or more degrees below normal. Four days were recorded where wind gusts were too high for completion work. Despite the poor weather, the state set a new record […]

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Turmoil in Iraq is pushing up US gasoline prices

Violence in Iraq is pushing U.S. gasoline prices higher, depriving drivers of the usual price break between Memorial Day and July Fourth. The national average price of $3.67 per gallon is the highest price for this time of year since 2008, the year gasoline hit its all-time high. The good news is that gasoline is not likely to spike above $4 as it did 6 years ago. Or even cross $3.90, as in 2011 and 2012. "You are going to pay a little more than we thought you were going to pay," says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service and GasBuddy.com. "But you are not going to see any apocalyptic numbers." Gasoline prices typically fall in the weeks following Memorial Day, after supplies increase enough to fill up the cars of the nation’s vacationers as summer approaches. This year, drivers are paying more. The […]

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Ethanol Tumbles as Report Shows Output at Record High

Ethanol declined to a six-week low after a government report showed production of the biofuel rose to a record. Futures fell after the Energy Information Administration said output rose 3 percent to 972,000 barrels a day last week, the most in four years of weekly data from the Energy Information Administration. Corn prices that have dropped 34 percent in the past year have helped reduce production costs for ethanol makers and allowed them to boost operations. One bushel of the grain makes at least 2.75 gallons of the renewable fuel. “People are looking to place gallons and get rid of supply that they may have laying around,” Mark Ruyack, a manager at StarFuels Inc., a Jupiter, Florida-based broker, said today in a telephone interview. Denatured ethanol for July delivery slumped 8.5 cents, or 4 percent, to settle at $2.057 a gallon on the Chicago Board of Trade, the lowest […]

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First westbound natural gas flows begin on Rockies Express Pipeline

The Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) announced on Monday that it expects service to commence as soon as today for the first 0.25 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of capacity on its 0.60 Bcf/d Seneca Lateral pipeline in southeast Ohio. The 14.3-mile lateral will flow gas north from the MarkWest Seneca natural gas processing plant to the REX mainline, where a newly built compressor station will allow this gas to be delivered to points west in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois . No new pipelines will be added to the mainline; the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple