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Saudis Expect to Boost Crude Output in Second Half of the Year

Saudi Arabia expects to boost its crude output in the second half of this year, an oil official with the Kingdom said Monday. The remarks are the clearest signal to date that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ kingpin will respond to rising demand as the group prepares to meet in Vienna on Wednesday. "We expect Saudi output to be higher in the second half if OPEC estimates for demand are higher," said the official, who requested anonymity. OPEC sees demand for its oil rising by about 1 million barrels a day in the second half of 2014, compared with the preceding six months. Already, Saudi Arabia slightly increased its output to 9.705 million barrels a day in May, up by about 35,000 barrels a day from 9.66 million barrels a day the previous month. The rising demand also comes as OPEC ponders how to make up for […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Libyan oil output plummeting

The Libyan government estimates crude oil exports are below 200,000 barrels per day because of ongoing internal political issues. The government said oil exports from the state-run National Oil Co. were 24.2 million barrels of oil for first quarter 2014. While on average, the rate is more than 200,000 bpd, the government said lingering stalemates with federalists pushed the recent daily rate even lower. Optimism over a rebound in the Libyan oil sector increased in April when the NOC announced it lifted an emergency declaration on oil operations at its Zueitina terminal in the east of the country, where anti-government forces have control. John Kingston , director of news operations for the Platts energy reporting agency, told Voice of America it appears Libyan oil exports have all but stopped and there is "no good news" coming from a nation that once produced about 1.6 million bpd. […]

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Libya's top court rejects appointment of new PM

Libya’s top court on Monday rejected the Islamist-led parliament’s appointment of a new prime minister in a contested vote, ending one power struggle as a renegade general’s offensive against Islamist militias in the east rages on. The Supreme Constitutional Court declared Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteg’s appointment unconstitutional, but gave no further details or instructions. Islamists in parliament and Maiteg said they would abide by the decision, thus leaving interim Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni in office. The top U.N. envoy to Libya called the decision and promises to abide by it "a sign of hope." "This will not solve the political crisis but at least it would open the way forward towards a resumption of a normal political process," Tarek Mitri told reporters after briefing the U.N. Security Council in New York. Al-Thinni refused to give up his office after last month’s vote in parliament, which […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Libya’s top court rejects appointment of new PM

Libya’s top court on Monday rejected the Islamist-led parliament’s appointment of a new prime minister in a contested vote, ending one power struggle as a renegade general’s offensive against Islamist militias in the east rages on. The Supreme Constitutional Court declared Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteg’s appointment unconstitutional, but gave no further details or instructions. Islamists in parliament and Maiteg said they would abide by the decision, thus leaving interim Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni in office. The top U.N. envoy to Libya called the decision and promises to abide by it "a sign of hope." "This will not solve the political crisis but at least it would open the way forward towards a resumption of a normal political process," Tarek Mitri told reporters after briefing the U.N. Security Council in New York. Al-Thinni refused to give up his office after last month’s vote in parliament, which […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Israel, EU envision environmental and energy ties

A new framework for cooperation between the European Union and Israel extends to the realm of energy and environmental protection, a top EU official said. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso met Sunday in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to sign a partnership agreement through the so-called Horizon 2020 program. With a budget of more than $100 billion over the next seven years, the Horizon program is billed by the European Union as the largest research and innovation program of its kind in the world. "Israel is a strong player in research and innovation and for this reason an important partner for the EU to address societal challenges of common concern, such as aging, food safety, environment protection or cleaner energy, and to strengthen the competitiveness of our industries," Barroso said in a statement. The European Commission said the association agreement with Israel has "a very broad […]

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Kazakh Kashagan oil field to change management model, keep current operator

Kazakhstan’s troubled giant offshore Kashagan field is set to see a revamp of the management model in the next several months, but will not change conditions of the field’s production sharing agreement (PSA) and its shareholding structure, the Kashagan operator NCOC said in a statement Monday. Earlier this month, Kazakhstan’s oil and gas minister Uzakbay Karabalin told local media that the ministry was dissatisfied with Kashagan’s rising costs and slow decision-making processes and expected the project’s management system to become more efficient after the planned revamp. "No changes to the PSA and/or the NCSPSA [the North Caspian Sea Production Sharing Agreement] ownership structure are envisioned as a result of the planned transition," NCOC said in a statement. An NCOC spokesman denied last week’s report by the Nefte Compass publication that US major ExxonMobil is to take over as Kashagan’s effective operator from Italy’s Eni. […]

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South Sudan: Is South Sudan Falling Into Oil Resource Curse?

The notion of resource curse has engulfed African countries, which are rich in natural resources and heavily depend on revenues from these resources. The resource curse is characterized by poverty-stricken, corruption and violent. Relatively small group ( Elite ) captures vast wealth while leaving the entire society without basics need such as clean drinking water, electricity, shelter and consumption goods that define the absolute minimum resources necessary for long-term physical well-being. Political instability triggered the oil resource curse; the evident suggests that countries with bad institutions are likely to experience the natural resource curse. One of solution to get out from oil curse is to improve institutions, good governance, accountability and transparency. South Sudan can voluntarily signed up to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) promoted by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2002 that became an independent NGO in 2007. The main point of this is […]

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Nigeria eyes European gas market

The top executive at a state-owned energy company in Nigeria said the European market is a good one for its abundant natural gas reserves. Members of the European Union are looking for new sources of natural gas in an effort to add diversity to an energy market dominated by Russia. Andrew Yakubu, chief executive of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., said Europe could be a good customer for the estimated 187 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that’s been largely untouched in Nigeria. "Europe is a good market for gas," he was quoted by the Platts energy news website as saying Sunday. "We are working on independently marketing our abundant gas resources to Europe." In May, state-led Nigeria LNG Ltd., said it was sending 180 Nigerians to South Korea to learn how to build vessels used in the liquefied natural gas sector. LNG offers more transport […]

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China: Vietnam rammed us more than 1,000 times

Vietnam has rammed Chinese vessels near an oil rig in disputed waters more than 1,000 times since early May, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. China started drilling operations near the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea in early May. The Vietnamese government said the program is a violation of its sovereignty. In a statement Sunday, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Vietnamese have harassed its vessels in the area repeatedly since drilling operations began. "There were as many as 63 Vietnamese vessels in the area at the peak, attempting to break through China’s cordon and ramming the Chinese government ships for a total of 1,416 times," the statement said. The ministry said Chinese oil companies have been working in the region for the past 10 years. Drilling operations near the islands, it said, are part of a "routine" exploration process. Vietnamese […]

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China’s Clean-Fuel Focus Tests U.S. Coal-Export Lifeline

The mud-colored air that blankets Chinese cities these days is bad for the people who live there. It may prove unhealthy for U.S. coal producers, too. Intense opposition on the U.S. West Coast, over climate change , rail congestion and damage to Native American fisheries, already is blocking new export terminals designed to ship coal across the Pacific Ocean . Now, China — which consumes almost as much coal as the rest of the world combined — is accelerating a planned switch to cleaner fuels, including a possible cap on carbon emissions and limits on new coal-fired plants. Even if such changes don’t occur as fast as environmentalists might hope, Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to scrap the economic strategy that spawned coal-eating steel plants in every province. Mounting anti-coal sentiment in China and the U.S. imperils the ambitions of companies like Peabody Energy Corp. (BTU) and Arch Coal […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple