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For Western Oil Companies, Expanding in Russia Is a Dance Around Sanctions

Like many chief executives of American companies, Rex W. Tillerson of Exxon Mobil didn’t attend the major business forum in Russia last month, at the urging of White House officials. But the company’s exploration chief, Neil W. Duffin, did. In a ceremony at the event, Mr. Duffin signed an agreement with Igor I. Sechin, the head of the state-owned Rosneft, to expand its joint ventures to drill offshore in the Arctic Ocean, to explore for shale oil in Siberia and to cooperate on a liquefied natural gas plant in Vladivostok. The deal came just weeks after the United States government imposed sanctions on the personal dealings — though not the corporate activities — of Mr. Sechin, a former military intelligence agent and longtime aide to President Vladimir V. Putin. Despite the push by Western governments to isolate Moscow for its aggression in Ukraine, energy giants are deepening […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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9 Reasons Why Oil Prices May Be Headed For A Bust

Though the U.S. shale oil boom of the past several years has led to a renewed surge of domestic oil production as well as an oil glut, crude oil prices have remained stubbornly high. There are a growing number of reasons, however, why crude oil prices are likely to finally experience a bust in the not-too-distant future. I avoid making firm predictions about the oil market because there are so many conflicting variables that affect oil prices, from supply and demand, geopolitics (which is inherently unpredictable), and the global monetary environment, but it is important to be aware of several factors that have a high probability of pushing crude oil prices lower in the next couple of years. Oil refinery (Photo credit: Dirigentens) 1) The unwinding of record speculative bullish bets To prop up the global economy after the 2008 financial crisis, global central banks dramatically cut interest rates […]

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WTI Trades Near 3-Day High on U.S. Economy; Brent Rises

West Texas Intermediate crude traded near the highest intraday price in three days amid signs that economic growth is being sustained in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent also rose in London . Futures were up as much as 0.6 percent in New York . A Labor Department report showed U.S. employment exceeded the pre-recession peak for the first time. Russia and Ukraine plan another round of bilateral natural gas talks today after President Petro Poroshenko was inaugurated June 7 in Kiev. Ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries say they will probably leave their oil-production target unchanged when they meet this week in Vienna. “The good jobs data from the U.S. at the end of last week are supporting prices,” Christopher Bellew , a senior broker at Jefferies Bache Ltd. in London, said by e-mail. “The key words this week will be Libya , Ukraine […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil Prices Rise On Macroeconomic Buoyancy

By Cassie Werber LONDON–Oil prices are up in London Monday, buoyed by positive economic data that could lead to higher demand. Brent crude for July delivery was up 0.5% at $109.16 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. U.S. crude-oil futures were up 0.6% at $103.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Positive pointers in economic and geopolitical news have been a booting factor, wrote JBC Energy in a note to clients. Japanese gross domestic product is up, Chinese exports have grown and U.S. employment is back at its pre-recession peak, all of which could likely lead to higher oil demand. Chinese data released over the weekend showed the country’s crude-oil imports were 8.9% higher that a year earlier. JBC also notes that "over the weekend, tentative signs of crafting a deal on the Ukraine situation were made." While this could be bearish for oil prices, there have […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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World Needs Record Saudi Oil Supply as OPEC Convenes

OPEC ministers say they will almost certainly leave their oil-production ceiling unchanged when the group meets this week. What really matters for markets is whether Saudi Arabia will respond to global supply shortfalls by pumping a record amount of crude. Just six months ago, energy analysts predicted output from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries would climb too high and Saudi Arabia needed to cut to make room for other suppliers. They changed their minds after production from Libya , Iran and Iraq failed to rebound as anticipated, and industrialized nations’ stockpiles fell to the lowest for the time of year since 2008. Saudi Arabia may need to pump a record 11 million barrels a day by December to cover the other member nations, says Energy Aspects Ltd., a consultant. “Now it’s not whether the Saudis will make room, but whether they’ll keep it going and maintain enough spare […]

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Gunmen occupy Iraqi university campus, take students hostage

RAMADI Iraq (Reuters) – Gunmen occupied a university in Iraq’s western province of Anbar on Saturday, taking hundreds of students and their professors hostage inside the campus, security sources said. After fighting their way past the guards, the militants managed to break into Anbar University in the provincial capital Ramadi overnight and planted bombs behind them to prevent security forces from advancing. Security forces surrounded the university and exchanged fire with militants patrolling the rooftops with sniper rifles. Sources in Ramadi hospital said they had received the bodies of two people, one of them a student and the other a policeman. A professor trapped inside the physics department said some staff whose homes are outside Ramadi had been spending the night at the university because it was the exam period. "We heard intense gunfire at about 4 am. We thought it was the security forces coming to protect us […]

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Kurdish exports in limbo

Kurdish exports in limbo Samir’s Mohammedia refinery in Morocco, upgraded in 2009 by Tekfen Engineering. (Source: Tekfen Engineering) The Kurdish-chartered oil tanker United Leadership is stuck in a purgatory of political and legal controversy, sailing in circles off the coast of Morocco. The autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has not yet offloaded its first-ever ship full of independent pipeline exports, and no money has landed in the KRG’s account in Turkey’s Halkbank, according to two senior Turkish government officials. For the moment, at least, the sale has been prevented by legal and commercial threats fro… 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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Iraqi troops repel ISIS assault on Mosul

Just one day after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham launched an assault on Samarra and briefly took control of five neighborhoods, the jihadist insurgent group attempted to seize Mosul. Additionally, the ISIS took over Anbar University in Ramadi and held hundreds of students and staff hostage for several hours before retreating. Yesterday evening, hundreds of ISIS fighters "advanced on Mosul from the northwest and deployed in large numbers in the west of the city," Reuters reported . Three Iraqi soldiers and four policemen were killed in the resulting clashes. In southern Mosul, a suicide assault team made up of five heavily armed ISIS fighters attacked a weapons depot and killed 11 soldiers. Some of the members of the suicide assault team detonated their suicide jackets during the raid. And in the nearby village of Muwaffakiya, a minority Shabak community, a pair of suicide car bombs killed […]

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Suicide bombing on Kurdish party HQ in Iraq kills 18

BAQUBA Iraq (Reuters) – A suicide bomber blew himself up at the headquarters of a Kurdish political party in Iraq’s ethnically mixed province of Diyala on Sunday, killing 18 people, local officials and medics said. A further 60 people were wounded in the attack in the town of Jalawla, 115 km (70 miles) northeast of Baghdad, most of them members of the Kurdish security forces who were guarding the office of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). “A suicide bomber parked a car packed with explosives near the PUK headquarters and when it went off, he managed to sneak into the building and detonated his vest,” said Khorsheed Ahmed, the chairman of Jalawla city council. Jalawla lies within a band of disputed territory between the Kurdistan region and the rest of the country, and is one of several towns where Iraqi central government troops and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have […]

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Iraq Displacement Grows as Fighting Escalates

GENEVA — The U.N. refugee agency reports growing numbers of Iraqis are fleeing fighting, which is raging in Anbar province.  The UNHCR said the deteriorating security situation in this troubled region is making it more difficult for aid agencies to reach those in need Saturday’ s attack by Iraqi militants on Anbar University in the city of Ramadi is the most recent in three days of violence by Islamist extremists. It follows raids in the cities of Mosul and Samarra.  The deadly assault in Ramadi by militants who killed three guards and seized dozens of students as hostages highlights the chaotic situation enveloping Anbar province for months.   The U.N. refugee agency said the growing violence in this Sunni dominated province is creating a displacement crisis.  It estimates nearly half-a-million people have fled their homes since fighting between Shia-led government forces and Sunni rebels in eastern Anbar escalated in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple