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Tanker With Kurdish Crude Oil Beyond Reach of U.S. Marshals

A tanker filled with a million barrels of legally contested Kurdish crude oil is beyond the reach of a U.S. court order to seize the cargo unless it comes closer to shore, a federal magistrate said Tuesday. For now, the embattled oil tanker, shipped in defiance of Iraq’s central government, remains in limbo 60 miles off the coast of Galveston, Texas. Federal magistrate judge Nancy Johnson on Monday ordered the U.S. Marshals to seize the oil if it came ashore. But at a hearing Tuesday, she said that the tanker hasn’t come within the boundaries of the state and the court’s authority. She also said Iraq, not Houston, was the proper venue to determine who owns the oil carried on the United Kalavrvta. "Seems to me this is not a matter for the U.S. courts to tell the government–the governments–of Iraq who owns what," she said. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Lawmakers Voice Skepticism on Iran Nuclear Deal

The Obama administration officials engaged in nuclear negotiations with Iran ran into a wall of skepticism at two congressional hearings on Tuesday, with members of both parties insisting on a vote on any final agreement with the Tehran government and administration officials strongly hinting that they have little intention of complying. The disagreements surfaced after Wendy R. Sherman , the under secretary of state for policy and the lead American negotiator with Iran, made the case that the four-month-long extension in negotiations agreed to by the administration, along with modest additional sanctions relief, were warranted “because we have seen significant progress in the negotiating room.” Specifically, she said the progress had been made in discussions about redesigning a plutonium reactor so that it would not produce weapons-grade fuel and converting Iran’s deep-underground uranium enrichment site, called Fordow, to another purpose. Yet Ms. Sherman also acknowledged that Iran […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Buyer of Kurdish oil revealed in report

A report Tuesday says Talmay Trading of the British Virgin Islands is scheduled to take Kurdish crude oil loaded on a tanker parked off the coast of Texas. CNBC reports the company contracted AET Offshore Services in Dallas to unload the 1 million barrels of crude oil on board the United Kalavytra, anchored off the coast of Texas . The vessel left the Turkish sea port of Ceyhan loaded with crude oil offloaded from storage facilities housing Kurdish crude oil. Kurdish oil shipments have sparked outrage from the federal Iraqi government in Baghdad, which says unilateral exports violate the nation’s constitution. The semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government has defended the sales , though the U.S. State Department said it sided with Baghdad on oil export issues. "We believe that Iraq’s energy resources belong to the Iraqi people and certainly have long stated that [exports] need to go through the central […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Algeria's gas role questioned

Algeria’s role as a key supplier of natural gas to Europe should be reviewed given production declines, the European Council on Foreign Relations said Tuesday. The European Union spends an average $1 billion per day on energy imports. More than 60 percent of the region’s gas supplies come from foreign suppliers, notably Russia, Norway and Algeria respectively. A policy brief published Tuesday by the European Council on Foreign Relations said the EU has a short-sighted stance on Algeria, which should be viewed as an "unreliable partner." Mansouria Mokhefi, special adviser for the Middle East and North Africa at the French Institute of International Relations and author of the report, said that, while Europe is eager to diversify an energy sector dependent on Russia, Algeria may not be a good backstop. "Algeria’s sharp rise in domestic energy consumption and concurrent decline in gas production suggests that Algeria […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Algeria’s gas role questioned

Algeria’s role as a key supplier of natural gas to Europe should be reviewed given production declines, the European Council on Foreign Relations said Tuesday. The European Union spends an average $1 billion per day on energy imports. More than 60 percent of the region’s gas supplies come from foreign suppliers, notably Russia, Norway and Algeria respectively. A policy brief published Tuesday by the European Council on Foreign Relations said the EU has a short-sighted stance on Algeria, which should be viewed as an "unreliable partner." Mansouria Mokhefi, special adviser for the Middle East and North Africa at the French Institute of International Relations and author of the report, said that, while Europe is eager to diversify an energy sector dependent on Russia, Algeria may not be a good backstop. "Algeria’s sharp rise in domestic energy consumption and concurrent decline in gas production suggests that Algeria […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Nigeria LNG says global market share slips as Bonny expansion stalls

Nigeria LNG Ltd Wednesday said it was gradually losing global LNG market share due to a delay in the expansion of the six train Bonny LNG plant in the Niger Delta. The Bonny plant produces 22 million mt/year of LNG, but plans to build a seventh train and increase output to 30 million mt/year, initially from 2010, have failed to materialize. "NLNG used to be the 10th-largest supplier but it is gradually losing the market to international competitors who have continued to expand their businesses. It is therefore imperative that NLNG increases its production in order not to lose more market share," the company’s general manager in charge of production, Chima Isilebo, said in a statement. NNPC holds a 49% interest in the Bonny plant alongside Shell (25.6%), Total (15%) and Eni (10.4%). The delay in building the seventh train has cost Nigeria $2.5 billion/year in potential revenue, as […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Where’s That Irish Oil, Investors Wonder Two Years Later

Ireland finally found treasure at the end of the rainbow, or so it seemed in 2012. After drilling in the North Celtic Sea Basin, about 40 miles off the Cork coast, Providence Resources Plc said its Barryroe oil field may hold as many as 1.6 billion barrels. The company’s shares surged, and the government hailed the first “significant” test of oil flows off Ireland for 12 years just as the nation’s debt-ravaged finances cried out for a boost. Two years later, Providence still hasn’t found a partner to develop Barryroe, production has been delayed and the company’s share price has dropped 84 percent. For Ireland, it’s turned into another stalled attempt to emulate the North Sea discoveries that transformed economies and are underpinning Scotland’s bid for independence. “Every couple of years we have the ‘black gold’ headlines, we are going to be the new North Sea,” Pat Shannon, geology […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Russia, China to work on floating nuclear plants

A subsidiary of Russian state nuclear energy company Rosatom said Tuesday it signed an agreement to build floating nuclear power plants with China. "The potential use of floating nuclear power plants is significant," Dzhomart Aliev, chief executive officer at Rusatom Overseas, said in a statement . "The design provides for two options — self-propelled or barge-mounted floating nuclear power plants." The company signed a memorandum of intent to develop floating nuclear power plants with its Chinese counterparts, CNNC New Energy. The signing came as Chinese delegates spent a week touring St. Petersburg and Moscow. Russian interests have pivoted to the East, where Asian economic performance translates to greater demand for the energy products supporting the Russian economy. In May, Russian President Vladimir Putin and special envoy to the Far East Yuri Trutnev said they expected the region would attract as much as $65 billion in new investments. Aliev said […]

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Energy Regulators Say EPA's Climate Rule Poses Grid Challenges

President Barack Obama ‘s proposed rule to curb carbon emissions from the nation’s power plants could raise costs and affect reliability in the U.S. electricity system, federal regulators told Congress. But the commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the government agency charged with overseeing the electric grid and other parts of the nation’s energy infrastructure, also said at a House hearing that the government has a responsibility to act on climate change. As part of Mr. Obama’s climate agenda, the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to cut carbon emissions from the electricity sector by 30% by 2030 based on emissions levels in 2005. States are expected to comply with the rule by using cleaner, though potentially more expensive, energy. Utility companies are already shifting away from coal because of the natural-gas boom and other environmental regulations. The rule is expected to accelerate the trend, which could put pressure […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Energy Regulators Say EPA’s Climate Rule Poses Grid Challenges

President Barack Obama ‘s proposed rule to curb carbon emissions from the nation’s power plants could raise costs and affect reliability in the U.S. electricity system, federal regulators told Congress. But the commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the government agency charged with overseeing the electric grid and other parts of the nation’s energy infrastructure, also said at a House hearing that the government has a responsibility to act on climate change. As part of Mr. Obama’s climate agenda, the Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to cut carbon emissions from the electricity sector by 30% by 2030 based on emissions levels in 2005. States are expected to comply with the rule by using cleaner, though potentially more expensive, energy. Utility companies are already shifting away from coal because of the natural-gas boom and other environmental regulations. The rule is expected to accelerate the trend, which could put pressure […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple