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8 Things You Should Know About The Biggest Thing A President’s Ever Done On Climate Change

On Monday morning, the Environmental Protection Agency released its proposed rule to limit the amount of carbon pollution that existing power plants can dump into the atmosphere. This is the most significant move President Obama has made to address the direct causes of climate change. The Clean Air Act , passed by Congress in 1970 and amended in 1990, is finally getting to tackle carbon pollution from the nation’s 491 smoke-spewing coal power plants. Contrary to what fossil fuel advocates claim , though, it does not mean that EPA will be directly shutting down coal plants. Each state would have a broad menu of carbon-cutting options, including energy efficiency improvements, adding clean energy sources, implementing a carbon tax, or instituting or joining a cap-and-trade system. By 2020, states will have to have drop their carbon emissions from existing power plants 25 percent from 2005 levels. By 2030, according to […]

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The oil mistake

An anti-government fighter sits with an anti-aircraft weapon at an oil refinery in Libya in 2011. Oil may be the most sought-after resource in the world, but it’s no secret that it can also be a curse. Political scientists have long observed that the oil industry concentrates power in the hands of the few. Governments that rely on oil sales, rather than taxes, are less democratic and quicker to quash dissent. According to Michael Ross , author of the “The Oil Curse,” petroleum-producing countries are 50 percent more likely to be ruled by dictators — and twice as likely to descend into civil war. That’s because oil gives people something extra to squabble over, as we have seen recently in South Sudan, Libya, and Syria. In a new twist on an old problem, rebels in all three countries have laid claim to […]

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Oil Futures Rise on China Data

Crude-oil futures rose in Asian trading hours Monday helped by stronger manufacturing data from China, even as some analysts remained skeptical about the resilience of the country’s oil demand. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in July traded at $103.26 a barrel at 0507 GMT, up $0.55 in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.41 to $109.82 a barrel. Both oil benchmarks ended last month on a stronger note with Nymex WTI crude gaining around 3% in May, while Brent crude gained around 1.24%. This month, the oil market will be watching the scheduled meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and any potential changes to oil-production quotas by the cartel’s members. The gathering begins June 11 in Vienna. Over the weekend, data showed China’s official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 50.8 in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Brent Falls a Second Day on Libya; WTI Discount Narrows

Brent crude fell to a three-week low, narrowing its premium to West Texas Intermediate, as OPEC output climbed and Libya prepared to reopen an export terminal. Brent and WTI slipped as a Bloomberg survey showed OPEC crude production increased in May for the first time in three months. Libya’s Hariga port is set to resume operating within two days after authorities approved salary payments to Petroleum Facilities Guard members who are preventing loadings, according to the country’s National Oil Corp. Gasoline and diesel futures also fell amid speculation a government report will show fuel supplies gained last week. “Rising OPEC production will help keep a lid on prices,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on energy. “As things right themselves in places like Libya, the market will come under further pressure.” Brent for July settlement fell 58 cents, or […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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IEA Expects World to Rely More on Middle East Oil

A top energy watchdog said the world will need more Middle Eastern oil in the next decade, as the current U.S. boom wanes. But the International Energy Agency warned that Persian Gulf producers may still fail to fill the gap, risking higher oil prices. In its first update to the agency’s energy investment outlook in more than a decade, the IEA–which represents some of the world’s largest consumer nations–said it sees "growth in oil demand [becoming] steadily more reliant on investment in the Middle East." Surging American production from tight oil–extracted from shale formations in places like Texas and North Dakota–has led the agency and other oil-market analysts to predict the U.S. could leapfrog the world’s largest oil producers, Saudi Arabia and Russia, by 2020. That has triggered debate in Washington about easing a long-standing ban on most crude exports from American shores. It has also […]

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Kurds say Iraqi oil sales legal

The government of the semiautonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq said its oil policies are in line with the Iraqi constitution despite Baghdad’s complaints. The Kurdistan Regional Government announced a tanker loaded with more than 1 million barrels of crude oil departed a Turkish sea port May 22 bound for the European market. It was the first such sale of oil taken from the northern Kurdish region. KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzan met Saturday with U.N. special envoy to Iraq Nikolay Mladenov to stress his commitments to all obligations related to Iraq. This includes Iraq’s commitments regarding oil, he said. "The prime minister emphasized that the KRG oil policy is fully in line with the federal constitution of Iraq," the KRG said in a statement . There was no statement from Mladenov or the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq on the May oil sale. The central government in Baghdad […]

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First Kurdish crude cargo from Ceyhan headed towards Mohammedia: data

United Leadership, which is carrying the first cargo of Kurdish crude loaded out of the Turkish port of Ceyhan, was outside of the Moroccan port of Mohammedia on Monday, according to Platts cFlow vessel tracking software. The vessel, which is carrying more than 1 million barrels of crude, is currently stationary outside of the port, which is the delivery point for the 200,000 b/d Mohammedia refinery, owned by Samir. A representative for Samir could not be immediately reached for comment. "The United Leadership arrived in Mohammedia today at 11:00 am [1000 GMT] and is to be received by Moroccan refiner Samir," a port agent said. As of last week, the cargo appeared to be headed towards the US Gulf Coast, but it turned sharply southeast over the weekend towards Morocco. United Leadership was loaded at Ceyhan a week and a half ago with stored Kurdish barrels at the Botas […]

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Turkey leans away from Russia with Azeri gas deal

| License Photo Turkey says its move to acquire a stake in the natural gas field off the coast of Azerbaijan is part of a regional diversification strategy. State-owned Turkish Petroleum Corp. agreed to buy the 10 percent share in Shah Deniz owned by French energy company Total for $1.45 billion. The deal is part of an effort by Turkey to lessen its dependence on Russia, the English-language newspaper Today’s Zaman reported Sunday . Russian energy company Gazprom counts Turkey as its second-largest energy importer. Turkey serves as a major regional energy hub, hosting portions of the second-longest oil pipeline in the world, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan. Shah Deniz is controlled by a consortium that includes BP and the State Oil Co. of the Azerbaijan Republic. Michael Borrell, a senior vice president for Total’s exploration and production business in Europe, said in a statement the sale to TPAO was in line with […]

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Algeria talks shale with U.S. energy secretary

The Algerian government views shale oil and natural gas as a way to add diversity to its energy sector, Algerian Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi said. Yousfi met with visiting U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz in Algiers to discuss energy developments in the country, more than a year after terrorists stormed the In Amenas gas facility in the country’s eastern desert. "Algeria is currently evaluating the potential for shale oil and gas, attempting to determine the quality of the rock while studying all potential environmental impact," he said Sunday. "It is absolutely vital for us to use all possible resources to achieve energy security." Moniz, for his part, said U.S. companies experiencing success in the shale sector were interested in tapping into the Algerian energy market. Algeria has the tenth-largest natural gas deposits in the world and is the third-largest gas supplier to Europe. Its exports have […]

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China's PMI rises to highest level in 2014

Growth in China’s manufacturing sector continued to accelerate in May, rising to the highest level for this year and adding to signs of a stabilizing economy, official data showed on Sunday. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) increased to 50.8 in May, up from 50.4 in April, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP). The reading, which inched further above the 50-point level separating a monthly expansion in factories’ activity from a contraction, indicated a pickup in China’s manufacturing sector and the economy as a whole. This is the third consecutive monthly uptick of the widely watched data. The index, seen as one of the key indicators of how the economy performs, began to climb in March after three months of declines. Zhang Liqun, a researcher at the Development Research Center of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple