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U.S. sees no signs of Iranian oil deal with Russia

There are no indications Iran has reached a deal to swap oil for goods with the Russian government, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said. Iran in April said it was in serious negotiations with the Russian government to swap oil for goods. In a letter sent Monday, U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said sanctions on Iran’s energy sector should be able to interrupt the deal. "It is very troubling that a potential agreement with Russia could allow Iran to increase its oil exports by nearly 500,000 additional barrels per day," his letter to Secretary of State John Kerry read. Marie Harf, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, told reporters during her regular press briefing Tuesday, however, that no such arrangement was in place. "We have no indications that reports of an oil-for-goods deal have moved forward with Russia," […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Deaths in fresh wave of Iraq violence

A wave of attacks across Iraq, including a twin car bombing in the country’s north, killed at least 20 people, officials said.  Wednesday’s violence, which struck in and around Baghdad, as well as in Salaheddin and Kirkuk provinces also wounded at least 50 people. No group immediately claimed responsibilty for the attacks, but Sunni fighters have frequently detonated bombs in the disputed northern territory.  Two people were killed when a suicide bomber set off a truck bomb in Suleiman Bek, while a corpse booby-trapped with explosives killed a policeman in nearby Tuz Khurmatu. Both towns, like Kirkuk, lie in the disputed territory, which stretches from Iraq’s border with Iran to its frontier with Syria. In the adjoining province of Salaheddin, two separate bombings left a policeman and a soldier dead. And in Baghdad, a car bomb killed four people in a shopping area of the Sunni-majority northern neighbourhood of Saba […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Maliki’s call for unity conference in Anbar may be too late

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ’s call on May 28 for holding a conference to resolve the Anbar crisis did not come as a surprise. However, the residents of Anbar felt that this call came late. In his weekly speech , Maliki called on “Anbar tribes and all those who confronted al-Qaeda and Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) militants to attend an expanded conference that achieves national unity far from disputes.” “I call on all people and tribes, who find enough will, awareness and ability in their hearts to support those who carried arms, issued fatwas to fight al-Qaeda, and joined the army and police, to hold an expanded conference as soon as possible. The conference will aim at declaring national unity in Anbar, to get rid of al-Qaeda. I hope that we will not bring up the disputes, although we respect them and we will work […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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New Gulf infrastructure opens up export growth

A tug boat maneuvers near an oil tanker at the Al-Basra Oil Terminal. (BEN LANDO/Iraq Oil Report/Metrography) Oil exports increased by an average of 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May over April, with a third single point mooring (SPM) buoy put into action and a new platform metering crude in the Basra Gulf. The average 2.58 million bpd of exports was a massive jump from the previous month, which itself was revised upward after the final data were calculated. It is an important milestone in a country that is solely dependent on oil revenue, especially as the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline (ITP) remained ou… 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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Nigeria No Longer Has Tangible Oil Trade With U.S. – Petroleum Minister

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, has stated that Nigeria no longer has any tangible trade in crude oil with the United States of America, following the shale oil boom in the country. Alison-Madueke said this yesterday at an interactive forum on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) which is awaiting passage at the National Assembly. She warned that the development should spur Nigerians to impress it on the legislature to pass the PIB as soon as possible. The minister said this just as the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Dakuku Peterside, also disclosed that the National Assembly would in its consideration of the bill expunge a certain provision that allows ministerial discretion in granting extension to the three-year deadline to end gas flaring after the PIB is passed. Represented by the Group Coordinator, Corporate Strategy and Planning of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Americans oil giants are looking to partner with Mexico's Pemex.

The miracles of modern engineering and, specifically, fracking and deepwater drilling are rapidly changing the risk-reward assessments of petroleum investment. When OPEC members meet in Vienna next week, the organization is scheduled to offer its latest assessment of global demand and projected production. And closer to home, U.S. oil titans are aligning with Mexico’s Pemex to secure access to new crude oil. As I reported in an earlier post , there’s good reason for Mexico’s newfound optimism and popularity. At the time, Pemex, the state-run oil monopoly and world’s fourth largest producer, had just discovered three deep-water deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, with an estimated 26.5 billion barrels of crude oil. And there’s no doubt about the high quality of that crude. So it shouldn’t have surprised anyone when California-based Chevron quietly became the first major international oil producer to partner with Pemex following landmark legislation that Pemex […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Americans oil giants are looking to partner with Mexico’s Pemex.

The miracles of modern engineering and, specifically, fracking and deepwater drilling are rapidly changing the risk-reward assessments of petroleum investment. When OPEC members meet in Vienna next week, the organization is scheduled to offer its latest assessment of global demand and projected production. And closer to home, U.S. oil titans are aligning with Mexico’s Pemex to secure access to new crude oil. As I reported in an earlier post , there’s good reason for Mexico’s newfound optimism and popularity. At the time, Pemex, the state-run oil monopoly and world’s fourth largest producer, had just discovered three deep-water deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, with an estimated 26.5 billion barrels of crude oil. And there’s no doubt about the high quality of that crude. So it shouldn’t have surprised anyone when California-based Chevron quietly became the first major international oil producer to partner with Pemex following landmark legislation that Pemex […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Chinese cities falling behind pollution goals

| License Photo Less than 5 percent of the major Chinese cities subject to air quality monitoring have met national standards, the government said Wednesday. Li Ganjie, vice minister for environmental protection, said only 3 of the 74 major cities subject to air quality monitoring met national quality standards set in 2013, the official Xinhua News Agency reported . Beijing in May announced new standards meant to cut emissions from various pollutants, ranging from mercury to tin. Last month, the government said it would pull more than 5 million cars off the road as part of a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions , a critical step for a country facing a growing ecological crisis and international pressure to reduce pollution. Early this year, Chinese officials said the amount of smog blanketing major metropolitan areas like Beijing meant the country’s agricultural future may be at risk. A report from […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Focus on Relentless Improvement Needed for Big Oil's Success in Shale

Big oil companies can be successful in shale, but success requires a focus on “relentless productivity improvement”, according to the leader of BHP Billiton’s U.S. onshore business. BHP’s U.S. shale production from its assets in the Eagle Ford, Permian Basin, Fayetteville and Haynesville comprised 42 percent of the company’s 670,000 barrel of oil equivalent per day (boepd) production, compared with 34 percent from Australia, 13 percent from the Gulf of Mexico and 11 percent from international operations. The company’s oil and gas production has doubled in the past five years due to development of its Australia and U.S. Gulf assets and acquisition of unconventional U.S. assets. But the company, which had primarily been focused on deepwater, realized a year into its operations in U.S. shale that its offshore business model would not work, Rod Skaufel, assets president of shale for BHP Billiton, told reporters at a briefing in Houston […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Focus on Relentless Improvement Needed for Big Oil’s Success in Shale

Big oil companies can be successful in shale, but success requires a focus on “relentless productivity improvement”, according to the leader of BHP Billiton’s U.S. onshore business. BHP’s U.S. shale production from its assets in the Eagle Ford, Permian Basin, Fayetteville and Haynesville comprised 42 percent of the company’s 670,000 barrel of oil equivalent per day (boepd) production, compared with 34 percent from Australia, 13 percent from the Gulf of Mexico and 11 percent from international operations. The company’s oil and gas production has doubled in the past five years due to development of its Australia and U.S. Gulf assets and acquisition of unconventional U.S. assets. But the company, which had primarily been focused on deepwater, realized a year into its operations in U.S. shale that its offshore business model would not work, Rod Skaufel, assets president of shale for BHP Billiton, told reporters at a briefing in Houston […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple