Category:

Oil output cut at Libya’s el-Feel field

LONDON–Oil production has been slashed at Libya’s el-Feel field, an oil official said Thursday, as a crude output recovery in the country starts to fizzle. The reopening of two key oil ports and a production restart at the country’s largest oil field, Sharara, drove international oil prices to a three-month low last week. But after ramping up to a five-month high, Libya’s oil production started falling again earlier Thursday. Now output is set to decline further after staff cut production at the 130,000 barrel-a-day el-Feel field, which is operated by an Eni SpA joint venture. Eni didn’t return a request for comment. "The field only has five wells under operation, other wells are totally closed," a person at the joint venture said, citing mounting insecurity. Staff are also considering shutting the field altogether, he said. An outbreak of violence in Tripoli–the worst in six months–led to fear of new […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

More than 5,000 civilians killed in Iraq this year: U.N.

At least 5,576 Iraqi civilians have been killed this year in violence, the United Nations said on Friday in the most detailed account yet of the impact of months of unrest culminating in an assault by Sunni militants through the north of the country. At least 11,665 have been wounded since January, when Sunni insurgents led by al Qaeda offshoot now known as the Islamic State overran the city of Falluja in the western province of Anbar, the U.N. said in a report. Last month, the insurgents seized swathes of northern Iraq, including the area’s largest city Mosul. Of the 2,400 people killed in June, 1,531 were civilians, the U.N. said earlier this month. The report documents what it calls "systematic and egregious violations" of international law by the group now calling itself the Islamic State. The U.N found the group had executed civilians, committed sexual […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Egypt Cuts Tax Breaks for Fuel; Few Protest

When President Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt said he intended to raise the price of flour, rice and other subsidized goods in 1977, he ignited days of riots that left more than 70 people dead and stood as a lasting warning to his successors about the perils of forcing impoverished Egyptians to make do with even less. So it was a surprise when, as one of his first major policy initiatives, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi sharply raised fuel prices two weeks ago, cutting deeply into energy subsidies, the most expensive single part of the government’s sprawling and expensive subsidy system. Even more surprising, perhaps, has been the absence of widespread civil unrest. The relative quiet appeared to signal an acknowledgment among many Egyptians that the fuel prices, which were among the lowest in the world, could not stay that way forever in an economy battered by years of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Egypt: Fuel Price Raise to Increase Taxi Fares By 3-10 Percent – Capmas

Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) has released a report saying that the recent increase in fuel prices will increase taxi fares by 3-10 percent. The Egyptian government recently increased fuel prices by up to 75 percent in an effort to decrease the budget deficit and reduce an economic burden that has increased in the past three years due to political turmoil. Cairo Governor Mostafa Saeed has promised that the raise would not affect public transport fares. Egypt has also increased electricity prices.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Islamic State fighters seize Syria gas field

Fighters from the self-declared jihadist group, the Islamic State, have seized a gas field in the desert region of Palmyra in the Syrian central province of Homs, a monitoring group and the governor of Homs said. The fighters on Thursday morning attacked the Shaer gas field, east of the ancient site of Palmyra, killing 23 guards, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "The fate of 340 National Defence Force (paramilitary) members, guards, engineers and employees who were in the field, is unknown, as they were either taken prisoner or wounded during the operation," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. The operation, he added, was the Islamic State’s "most important so far against the government" of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. Abu Bilal, an activist linked to the Islamic State in Homs province, also reported the attack. At least 12 members of the Islamic State had been slain in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Iran oil exports normal

Any declines in Iranian oil exports are normal, though supplies to Asian economies are in line with contractual obligations, an executive said. Mohsen Qamsari, director of international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Co., said exports to China and India are in line with contractual volumes. In its latest monthly oil report , the International Energy Agency said Iranian oil exports were down by as much as 36 percent to 510,000 barrels per day. Qamsari said any variances in export levels were natural. Iran secured some relief from Western sanctions targeting its energy sector in exchange for a November agreement from Tehran to curb nuclear research activity. The U.S. government said Iran can export oil so long as it stayed around 1 million bpd, according to the terms of the November agreement. Qamsari offered no export level for India. Exports to China, he said, increased 36 percent in May, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Brazil, China Sign Power-Grid, Plane Deals

China and Brazil signed a number of deals on Thursday, ranging from jet sales to power-grid investments, at the end of a summit meant to showcase a bigger global role for emerging economies. The agreements come as Chinese President Xi Jinping wraps up a visit to Brazil for a meeting of the Brics nations, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. With China’s growing influence in Latin America, Mr. Xi’s presence far outweighed that of the other visiting leaders, most of whom left earlier in the week. In one of the deals, Brazilian plane maker Embraer SA clinched an order to sell 60 regional airplanes to Chinese companies, totaling $3.2 billion at list price. The agreement marks a major advance in Embraer’s China business—a market it has been cultivating for years. Not too long ago, Brazil and China had virtually no trade between them. But in the last […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Indian Power Company Says Coal Running Low

India’s biggest power company said coal shortages at six of its power stations are threatening to disrupt electricity generation in 22 of the country’s states and territories. In a letter to India’s Power Ministry on Monday, Arup Roy Choudhury , chairman of NTPC Ltd. said the generating stations had coal supplies sufficient for two days or less of power production. Mr. Choudury’s letter, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, didn’t say why coal was running low. Coal shortages–mainly because of failures by the state-run coal monopoly to deliver adequate supplies–are a major cause of power outages in India, where more than half of electricity-generation capacity depends on coal. Power supplies are especially strained now, with hot summer temperatures pushing up demand and below-normal monsoon rainfall denting generation by hydroelectric plants. According to government data, as many as 46 of India’s 100 coal-fired power stations have coal stocks of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Environmentalists Denounce Repeal of Australia’s Carbon Tax

SYDNEY, Australia — Opposition politicians and environmentalists in Australia reacted with dismay Thursday to the country’s repeal of laws requiring large companies to pay for carbon emissions , saying that it made Australia the first country to reverse progress on fighting climate change. The Senate voted 39 to 32 on Thursday to repeal the so-called carbon tax after Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s conservative government secured the support of a number of independent senators. The House of Representatives had voted earlier in the week to repeal the unpopular measure, which has been a highly contentious issue in Australian politics for seven years. The tax was devised to penalize hundreds of Australia’s biggest producers of carbon emissions, setting a price of 23 Australian dollars, or $21.50, per metric ton of carbon dioxide when it was put into effect in 2012 under then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard of the Labor Party, which is […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Australia Repeals Carbon Tax

CANBERRA, Australia—Australia repealed laws forcing companies to pay for carbon emissions, making it the world’s first developed nation to undo legislation aimed at dealing with perceived man-made climate change. Australia’s Senate on Thursday voted to repeal the so-called carbon tax that conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott pledged to get rid of ahead of elections last year. The move follows almost a decade of heated political debate and wrangling between senators over the issue.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple