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Oil gains further on concerns over Ukraine, Gaza

The price of oil rose above $103 a barrel Tuesday on persisting jitters over the situation in Gaza and the standoff over the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner in Ukraine. U.S. benchmark crude for September delivery was up 21 cents to $103.06 a barrel at 0615 GMT in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 91 cents to $102.86 on Monday. The August contract, which expires Tuesday, was up 41 cents at $105.00 a barrel. Brent crude for September delivery, a benchmark for international oils, gained 3 cents to $107.71 on the ICE exchange in London. Israel bombed five mosques, a sports stadium and the home of the late Hamas military chief across the Gaza Strip early on Tuesday, as U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met in Cairo to launch the highest-level push yet to end two weeks […]

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Natural-Gas Prices Fall to Near Eight-Month Low on Cool Weather

Natural-gas prices on Monday slid to a nearly eight-month low as another sweep of unseasonably cool weather across the U.S. is expected to keep a lid on demand. Gas prices have slid 24% since mid-June as cooler-than-normal temperatures have reined in the use of power-thirsty air conditioning. In the hotter months of summer, rising electricity consumption has spurred power plants’ natural-gas demand. This year, the lack of that additional demand has resulted in a rapid buildup of natural-gas supplies, which has weighed on prices. Natural gas for August delivery, the front-month futures contract, dropped 10.2 cents, or 2.6%, to $3.849 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Monday’s close was the lowest since Nov. 26. The cooler-than-normal temperatures have extended into the latter half of July and are poised to continue into the beginning of August, a period that is usually the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Natural gas falls to an 8-month low

Natural gas was falling to its lowest level in eight months following forecasts that nationwide summer temperatures are expected to be milder than normal. The price of natural gas fell 10 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $3.85 per 1,000 cubic feet on Monday. That’s the lowest since mid-November. Weather analysts expect U.S. temperatures to be lower than normal for the next two to three weeks, which is typically when U.S. temperatures are at their hottest. In the summer natural gas is used for to generate electricity, particularly when demand is high and other sources are at full capacity. Crude oil rose $1.46, or 1.5 percent, to $104.59 a barrel and wholesale gasoline rose three cents, or 1 percent, to $2.89 a gallon. Gold and silver rose. Crop prices fell.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Kurdish Oil Gambit Hits Troubled Waters

ERBIL, Iraq—Shortly before midnight, an oil tanker set sail from Turkey’s Ceyhan port one day in late May with a historic, $100 million cargo. The tanker, United Leadership, ferried the first major consignment of Kurdish crude into the Mediterranean that night, a million-barrel payload with the potential to shift oil markets and transform the geopolitics of the Middle East. The oil, pumped to Turkey through a newly built pipeline, is part of a gambit by northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government, or KRG, to carve out a nation for Iraq’s 6.5 million Kurds, even as Iraq defends its north against the Jihadist Sunni militant group, the Islamic State. Iraq, with U.S. backing, is treating the oil as stolen goods and an attack on its sovereignty. Iraqi authorities have accused the Kurds of treason, and threaten to sue any buyer of crude taken from Iraq without permission. After zigzagging the Mediterranean […]

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Five Kuwait politicians' citizenship revoked

Kuwait has stripped five well-known opposition figures of their citizenship, including the owner of a newspaper and television station. The official Kuwait News Agency announced the decision by Kuwait’s cabinet on Monday, which approved a draft decree to revoke the citizenship of the five. Among those named in the decision is Abdullah al-Barghash, a former Islamist opposition legislator, and three other members of his family. The government also revoked the nationality of Ahmad al-Shemmeri, owner of the independent Al-Youm television station and Alam Al-Yawm newspaper. His newspaper was ordered temporarily shut down twice this year by a court for defying a prosecutor-ordered media blackout about an investigation into a coup plot to overthrow the Gulf monarchy’s government. The state news agency account did not give a reason for the cabinet’s decision.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Five Kuwait politicians’ citizenship revoked

Kuwait has stripped five well-known opposition figures of their citizenship, including the owner of a newspaper and television station. The official Kuwait News Agency announced the decision by Kuwait’s cabinet on Monday, which approved a draft decree to revoke the citizenship of the five. Among those named in the decision is Abdullah al-Barghash, a former Islamist opposition legislator, and three other members of his family. The government also revoked the nationality of Ahmad al-Shemmeri, owner of the independent Al-Youm television station and Alam Al-Yawm newspaper. His newspaper was ordered temporarily shut down twice this year by a court for defying a prosecutor-ordered media blackout about an investigation into a coup plot to overthrow the Gulf monarchy’s government. The state news agency account did not give a reason for the cabinet’s decision.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Seven killed in clashes between army and militants in Libya's Benghazi

Islamist militants attacked an army base in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Monday, triggering fierce clashes involving helicopters and jets that killed at least seven people and wounded 40 others after days of escalating violence. Benghazi’s clashes followed a week of fighting between rival militias for control of Tripoli International Airport in the capital that has prompted the North Africa country to appeal for international help to stop Libya becoming a failed state. Tripoli was calmer on Monday, but in Benghazi, militants linked to Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia attacked an army camp and were repelled by troops and forces loyal to renegade retired general Khalifa Haftar, who has been carrying out a self-declared war on Islamist fighters, security sources said. "Ansar al-Sharia tried to take over one special forces camp, but the special forces and Hafter’s forces fought back, using helicopters and military […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Seven killed in clashes between army and militants in Libya’s Benghazi

Islamist militants attacked an army base in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Monday, triggering fierce clashes involving helicopters and jets that killed at least seven people and wounded 40 others after days of escalating violence. Benghazi’s clashes followed a week of fighting between rival militias for control of Tripoli International Airport in the capital that has prompted the North Africa country to appeal for international help to stop Libya becoming a failed state. Tripoli was calmer on Monday, but in Benghazi, militants linked to Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia attacked an army camp and were repelled by troops and forces loyal to renegade retired general Khalifa Haftar, who has been carrying out a self-declared war on Islamist fighters, security sources said. "Ansar al-Sharia tried to take over one special forces camp, but the special forces and Hafter’s forces fought back, using helicopters and military […]

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Lebanon Set to Delay Oil and Gas License Auction Until 2015

Lebanon is likely to delay again the first auction of oil and natural gas licenses in its coastal waters until 2015 because of political gridlock over decrees needed to start the bidding process, people familiar with the matter said. The nation, which claims it may have as much as 96 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 850 million barrels of oil off its coast, repeatedly has delayed the bidding round for the licenses after a cabinet failed to approve two necessary decrees. "The situation is quite complicated. The ministerial committee that was formed to review the decrees has not done much since some members are not happy about the royalties and taxes mentioned in the drafts," one official familiar with the matter said. "Now no one wants to move forward with any action until the parliament elects a new president and we have a new government, which could […]

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Libya publishes parliamentary election results

Libya’s electoral committee on Monday announced results of an earlier parliamentary election, but many fear it might fuel the ongoing clashes between pro-secular militia and armed Islamist groups. The polls, held on June 25, elected the new parliament House of Representatives to replace the previous General National Congress. All 1,714 contestants were registered as independent candidates, as party lists are not allowed under current electoral law. Of the total 200 seats in the new parliament, 188 were set, while the remaining 12 seats were absent due to boycott or insecurity in some electoral districts, according to Libya’s High National Electoral Commission. Analysts said the secular factions have seemingly taken most of the seats, while the Islamist lawmakers, who had a bigger say in the old parliament, only won around 30 seats this time. Some feared that the results might intensify the current armed clashes between […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple