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Kurdish Forces Reverse Militant Gains as U.S. Continues Airstrikes

BAGHDAD—Kurdish forces said they retook two important parts of northern Iraq on Sunday, reversing gains by Islamist militants while U.S. warplanes conducted a third day of airstrikes on the insurgents. The advance of the radical Sunni group Islamic State into the semiautonomous region last week sparked a humanitarian disaster and prompted the first U.S. military intervention in Iraq in three years. Kurdish fighters overtook Islamic State positions in Makhmur District, a region north of the city of Kirkuk, and the nearby town of Gwair. The fighters, who until recently had called themselves the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, also known as ISIS or ISIL, had taken over the two towns last week as part of a broader push toward Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region. The U.S. State Department on Sunday relocated "a limited number" of staff from the American embassy in Baghdad and the U.S. consulate […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Capitalizing on U.S. Bombing, Kurds Retake Iraqi Towns

With American strikes beginning to show clear effects on the battlefield, Kurdish forces counterattacked Sunni militants in northern Iraq on Sunday, regaining control of two strategic towns with aid from the air. The American airstrikes, carried out by drones and fighter jets, were intended to support the Kurdish forces fighting to defend Erbil, the capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, according to a statement by the United States Central Command. They destroyed three military vehicles being used by the militant group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and damaged others, the statement said, adding that the warplanes also destroyed a mortar position. The wreckage of three heavily armed trucks lay twisted and scorched in Gwer, one of the recaptured towns, a few hours after the strikes, and body parts from at least three militants were scattered nearby. Kurdish militiamen, known as pesh merga, confirmed seeing […]

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Iraq’s political situation appears dire as prime minister fiercely digs in

Special forces teams and army tanks surrounded the Green Zone housing Iraq’s government as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki fiercely clung to power Sunday, taking the stability of the country to the brink at a moment when it is already facing a lethal challenge from radical Islamist fighters. In actions that had all the markings of a political coup, Maliki gave a defiant late-night speech in Baghdad saying he would lodge a legal case against the country’s president, who has resisted naming him as the candidate for another term as prime minister. Tanks rumbled onto major bridges and roads in the capital as security forces were put on high alert, with militiamen also patrolling Shiite neighborhoods. The special forces teams surrounding the Green Zone were taking orders directly from the prime minister, security officials said. Maliki’s critics blame him for overseeing the de facto fragmentation of the country, […]

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Oil fields remain beyond reach of frontline fight

Anti-government forces lose ground in areas of northern Iraq heavily populated by people and oil reserves. Oil fields remain beyond reach of frontline fight Peshmerga keep watch to the south of the Khurmala Dome central processing facility, whose flares burn in the background. (BEN LANDO/Iraq Oil Report) American air strikes helped Kurdish forces take back two key towns from anti-government fighters who were threatening key oil installations and the city of Erbil.If militants had been able to hold the towns of Guair and Makhmour, they would have had a direct path to the Khurmala Dome oil field a dozen kilometers away.But the frontline has thus far been successfully held by Kurdish fighters, in coordination with American and Iraqi forces, here In the cradle of the oil industry in Iraq, th… This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may […]

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OPEC Annual Statistical Bulletin + MOMR

OPEC 12 Saudi Arabia OPEC ASB Reserves OPEC ASB Wells OPEC ASB Wells Prod. OPEC ASB Cumulative OPEC ASB Population G OPEC ASB Exchange Rate There are conspiracy theories and conspiracy theories. The ones to steer well clear of are the over-arching ones that seek to explain every significant political development. The ones that don’t trace themselves back to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion trace them back instead to the British Royal Family. Most people who believe them are nutters, but some of the people pushing them are more sinister. On the other hand, conspiracy theories to explain certain limited facts and/or situations can be credible. For a while I entertained one or two 9/11 conspiracy theories, until I decided that they required having too many people in on it in some fashion and would result, if they actually existed, in a whistle-blower coming forward. There is […]

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Egypt’s Suez Canal Expansion Plan Raises Some Questions

The Suez Canal–one of the world’s vital trading routes–is set for the first major expansion in its 145-year history. Egypt’s ambitious multi-billion-dollar plan, which could nearly double the waterway’s capacity to 97 passing ships a day by 2023, has been largely welcomed by shipping industry executives and economists, albeit with some skepticism. Sure, the expansion will help relieve bottlenecks. The Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean with the Red Sea, can mostly only facilitate one-way traffic–either ships heading north or south–as it is too narrow at some points for vessels to cross both ways. The new canal is expected to solve this problem, cutting the waiting time for ships to three hours from 11 hours. The waterway, however, won’t be deepened to allow fully-laden supertankers, which usually lighten their […]

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Nigeria: Shell Records Massive Oil Spill On Its Nembe Creek

A major oil spill has occurred at a Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, (SPDC), oil pipeline between the Santa-Barbara and Tego Rivers in Owuanga-Toru of Kula Kingdom in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State. The cause of the incident is yet to be ascertained as at press time but the company is pushing for investigation and mitigation exercise. Shell has confirmed the spill, which members of the affected communities described as "massive." "On August 6, 2014, the SPDC JV observed a leak on a section of the Nembe Creek Trunkline (NCTL) at Owangia community, Akuku-Toru LGA in Rivers State. "The impacted section has been shut down, preparatory to investigation into the cause of the leak and repairs. Some tools suspected to have been used for crude theft activities were recovered in the area," Shell Nigeria spokesman, Mr. Precious Okolobor said. Community secretary of Owuanga-Toru Community, Alabo Fiola, […]

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China’s Energetic Enforcement of Antitrust Rules Alarms Foreign Firms

HONG KONG — When almost 100 government antitrust investigators simultaneously marched into four of Microsoft’s offices across China late last month, they were not looking for tea and gossip. In what Microsoft characterized internally as “surprise visits,” the agents from China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce interrogated a company vice president and other senior managers, copied contracts and financial records, and downloaded large amounts of data from the company’s computer servers, including emails and other internal communications. The swoop on Microsoft stood out for its scale, but it was just one of dozens of similar actions across China recently that have set off alarm in boardrooms across the globe. Chinese regulators appear to be energetically expanding enforcement of the antimonopoly law, and foreign companies fear that they could become easy targets for officials from an array of competing agencies and local governments aiming to impress President Xi Jinping, […]

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Tribe Wants Fee On Wasted Natural Gas

"We certainly hope the state and the tribe can concur on who has regulatory authority," said Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, a group representing more than 500 companies working in the state’s oil patch. "It doesn’t do anybody any good to try to determine whose rules you got to follow." Natural gas is a byproduct of oil drilling, but a third of it is burned off in North Dakota — at a cost of more than $1 million a month in lost state revenue — because building infrastructure to capture the gas hasn’t kept pace with oil drilling. The Three Affiliated Tribes notified oil drillers late last week of the fee plan, which would require companies that burn-off natural gas to pay royalties beginning a month after a well has been drilled. Separate documents also furnished by the oil companies to the AP show that […]

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North Dakota Considers Requiring Treatment of Bakken Crude

North Dakota officials are considering requiring energy companies to treat the crude they pump from the Bakken Shale to make it less volatile before it is loaded onto trains. The North Dakota Industrial Commission plans to hold a public hearing in the coming weeks on possible steps to reduce volatility at a well site before oil is stored or transported, said a spokeswoman for North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple. The commission, the state’s chief energy regulator, is considering issuing new standards for treating crude as well as monitoring requirements, she said. Several trains carrying Bakken crude have derailed since the summer of 2013, exploding violently and in one instance killing 47 people in Quebec. As The Wall Street Journal has reported , light crude tapped from North Dakota shale is more combustible than many other grades of oil and, unlike in other places, seldom stabilized. Production of this volatile […]

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In U.S. Energy Boom, Alaska Is Unlikely Loser

WSince joining the Alaskan oil rush in the early 1980s, Richard Repper has jumped from project to project in the state, with no job more than a three-hour flight from this town about 70 miles south of Anchorage. But last fall, he began working in North Dakota, more than 2,000 miles away. A construction manager for an oil-field-services company, the 60-year-old Mr. Repper is finding more opportunity in the Bakken Shale oil fields than on Alaska’s North Slope. He returned to his farmhouse here for just two weeks between Halloween and Easter. "The job keeps getting longer and longer," says his wife Irene. "I didn’t know he would be working so much." The energy boom sweeping North America is producing […]

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BNSF Nears Shift To One-Member Crews, Possibly Even on Dangerous Oil Trains

This is a guest post by Cole Stangler. For decades, the U.S. railroad industry has successfully shed labor costs by shifting to smaller and smaller operating crews. Now, it’s on the verge of what was once an unthinkable victory: single-member crews, even on dangerous oil trains. A tentative agreement reached by BNSF Railway and the Transportation Division of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation (SMART) union would allow a single engineer to operate most of the company’s routes. It would mark a dramatic change to a labor contract that covers about 3,000 workers, or 60 percent of the BNSF system.   It’s not just bad news for workers. The contract has major safety implications—especially amid North America’s dangerous, and sometimes deadly, crude-by-rail boom. Last year’s Bakken shale oil train derailment and explosion in Lac Mégantic, Quebec, which killed 47 people, brought increased scrutiny to oil trains.  In response, Canadian regulators outlawed […]

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Ukraine Rebuffs Rebels’ Cease-Fire Call; Sanctions Mulled

Ukraine’s military demanded that pro-Russian rebels surrender and dismissed their offer of a cease-fire as lawmakers prepared to consider sanctions that may curb Russian shipments of natural gas to Europe . “If there’s an initiative, it should be implemented by practical means, not only with words — by raising white flags and putting down weapons,” Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for the country’s military, told reporters yesterday in Kiev. “In that case, no one will shoot at them.” Ukraine is trying to dislodge thousands of separatists from its easternmost regions, where its U.S and European allies say President Vladimir Putin has been stoking deadly unrest for months. Russia , which denies involvement, wants its neighbor’s military campaign to end and is offering assistance to tackle what it describes as a worsening humanitarian disaster. As ties between the former Soviet allies sour further, lawmakers in Kiev will vote tomorrow on a […]

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Ukraine Troops 'Tighten the Ring' Around Donetsk

A woman holds a newborn baby inside a bomb shelter in a maternity hospital during shelling in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels were vowing to make a final stand. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Intensifying gunfire and explosions rocked Donetsk again Sunday as Ukrainian forces fought to complete the encirclement of pro-Russia insurgents in their largest remaining stronghold. Amid warnings by the rebels of civilian suffering, Russia said it was in talks with Kiev and international agencies about delivering humanitarian relief to the rebel-held cities. Overnight, troops advanced to "tighten the ring" around Donetsk, destroying "a large quantity of armor" and killing many insurgents, the Ukrainian command said. The Donetsk city council said that during a "massive bombardment from heavy weapons," shells hit an outpatient clinic, a private house and other civilian infrastructure, injuring one woman. The separatists said they are turning Donetsk into a military camp and described conditions […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Ukraine Troops ‘Tighten the Ring’ Around Donetsk

A woman holds a newborn baby inside a bomb shelter in a maternity hospital during shelling in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels were vowing to make a final stand. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Intensifying gunfire and explosions rocked Donetsk again Sunday as Ukrainian forces fought to complete the encirclement of pro-Russia insurgents in their largest remaining stronghold. Amid warnings by the rebels of civilian suffering, Russia said it was in talks with Kiev and international agencies about delivering humanitarian relief to the rebel-held cities. Overnight, troops advanced to "tighten the ring" around Donetsk, destroying "a large quantity of armor" and killing many insurgents, the Ukrainian command said. The Donetsk city council said that during a "massive bombardment from heavy weapons," shells hit an outpatient clinic, a private house and other civilian infrastructure, injuring one woman. The separatists said they are turning Donetsk into a military camp and described conditions […]

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US sanctions not mere ‘trifles’ for Russia’s oil industry

Gennady Timchenko is grounded. Ever since the Russian billionaire and friend of Vladimir Putin was hit by US sanctions back in March, his private jet has been stuck on the tarmac: Gulfstream will not service it or provide spare parts. In an interview with the ITAR-TASS news agency this week, Mr Timchenko admitted that the US penalties had caused him “certain difficulties” – but these were “trifles” compared with the task of safeguarding Russia’s national interests. More On this topic IN Oil & Gas Mr Timchenko is one of the most high-profile targets of a sanctions campaign aimed at Russia’s most strategic industry – oil and gas. Last month the US Treasury in effect barred Rosneft and Novatek , in which Mr Timchenko has a 23 per cent stake, from long-term US capital markets. Yet such sanctions could turn out to be as trifling as Mr Timchenko’s little local […]

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Scientists may have cracked the giant Siberian crater mystery — and the news isn’t good

A crater, discovered recently in the Yamal Peninsula, in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. (AP Photo/Associated Press Television) Researchers have long contended that the epicenter of global warming is also farthest from the reach of humanity. It’s in the barren landscapes of the frozen North, where red-cheeked children wear fur, the sun barely rises in the winter and temperatures can plunge dozens of degrees below zero. Such a place is the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia, translated as “the ends of the Earth,” a desolate spit of land where a group called the Nenets live. By now, you’ve heard of the crater on the Yamal Peninsula. It’s the one that suddenly appeared, yawning nearly 100 feet in diameter, and made  several rounds in the global viral media machine. The adjectives most often used to describe it: giant, mysterious, curious. Scientists were subsequently “baffled.” Locals were “mystified.” There were whispers that aliens were responsible. Nearby residents peddled theories […]

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Before the fear of war, fear of fracking in Ukraine

SLOVYANSK, Ukraine — A hot July day, and the neighbors and children of a half-ruined five-story building on Bulvarnaya Avenue gathered around a bench for a long discussion of their daily fears. Locals seemed to have consensus on who’s at war: the U.S. and Russia over control of Ukraine, they all agreed. But even now, three months past the day the first shell fell on Slovyansk, they still had trouble comprehending why their green, sleepy hometown still was trapped in this conflict. Residents of the bombed building remembered how in April, local and Russian-assigned rebel commanders chose to set up the capital for their forces in this town. shale, Donbass, Ukraine The people of the Donbass, the country’s gritty industrial region in the east, were not naive. They realized that gas pipelines crossing the border with Russia and the shale gas fields near Slovyansk — with a potential reserve […]

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Peak Oil: Written on Tombstones

Not too long, another in the endless procession of skate-past-facts-we-don’t like articles made its way into publication via a piece entitled “Here’s The Statistic That Will Be Written On The Tombstones Of Peak Energy Believers” Those concerned about the peak in oil production have apparently earned themselves a promotion! Now we are peak “energy” advocates. Who knew? Seriously … who knew? A nice little attempt to distract from the facts, but use whatcha got! ‘Peak oil’ proponents – the guys and gals who believe overconsumption combined with scarce resources will lead to stratospheric energy prices – are now clinging* to the hope that the shale oil and gas boom will fizzle out as the cost of drilling climbs. For the most part, the boom has held up, though no one believes it will last forever. But there is a fifth-column phenomenon this group has completely overlooked that will once-and-for-all […]

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SUV Back in Vogue

SUV Back in Vogue SUV redux Until the second half of the 2000s, big SUVs were undisputed road royalty in the United States. But then Katrina and her sisters made gas prices spike by destroying oil infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Financial Crisis made the economy tank, forcing a lot of people to downsize. Add to the mix new CAFE fuel economy regulations that, for the first time in a loooong time, forced automakers to make a bigger effort to boost the MPG numbers of their vehicles, and it looked like we were really moving in the right direction. But there’s now a new wave of SUV revival going on. For the first time in many years, more people are buying SUVs than sedans. This is partly because the economy is also reviving, and to many people “bigger = better”. But it’s also because many […]

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Oil Prices Up After U.S. Airstrikes in Iraq

U.S. crude prices gained on Friday, after a session of choppy trading, as investors assessed the potential impact of the U.S. airstrikes in Iraq on global oil supplies. Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose 31 cents, or 0.3%, in price to settle at $97.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The market traded in a range of $1.30 between the day’s highs and lows, turning negative for part of the session before climbing back in the afternoon. The global Brent crude-oil contract also seesawed, trading over a range of $2.18 and at one point hitting a one-week high. Brent crude for September delivery ended down 42 cents at $105.02 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. Andy Lebow, a trader at investment bank Jefferies, said some market participants were placing bets on prices either rising or falling, as they sought to assess the impact of […]

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Brent Crude Slips as U.S. Strikes Seen Protecting Supply

Brent crude fell on speculation that U.S. airstrikes against militants from Islamic State in Iraq will stabilize supplies from OPEC’s second-largest producer. Brent narrowed its premium over West Texas Intermediate for the first time in five days. U.S. planes carried out a strike on artillery positions that were used by the militants to attack Kurdish forces defending their regional capital Erbil, Pentagon spokesman Admiral John Kirby said on Twitter. The Islamic fighters took full control of the Ain Zala and Batma oilfields in the Kurdish area, state-run Northern Oil Co. said Aug. 2. “In the longer term, the U.S. getting involved is probably bearish for oil because any support the Kurds get increases the probability that they are able to retake the oil fields and territory from the militants,” said James Williams , an economist at WTRG Economics, an energy-research firm in London, Arkansas. Brent for September settlement slid […]

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Natural-Gas Prices Close at Three-Week High on Warming Forecasts, Power Sector Demand

(Adds details and prices) By Timothy Puko NEW YORK–Natural-gas prices closed at a three-week high as weather forecasts show some warmer temperatures on the way. Prices for the front-month September contract settled up 8.6 cents, or 2.2%, to $3.962 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the highest closing price since July 16, the last time gas prices closed above $4/mmBtu. Gas gained 4.3% on the week, the market’s largest percentage gain since the week ended March 28. It finished higher in four of the past five sessions. Several factors created the perfect conditions for a brief rally Friday, said Anthony Lerner, senior vice president of industrial commodities at brokerage R.J. O’Brien in New York. It started with weather, several analysts said. Though forecasts are mixed, they are showing some spurts of summer heat likely to come in parts of the country both […]

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OPEC July Oil Production Rises to Highest Level in Five Months

Oil production in the North African country rose by 200,000 barrels a day in July. European Pressphoto Agency LONDON—OPEC’s oil production rose to its highest in five months in July, boosted by the reopening of ports and oil fields in Libya, the oil producers’ group said Friday. In its monthly oil market report, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said Libya’s production rose by 200,000 barrels a day last month, bolstering the group’s output by 167,000 barrels a day to total 29.9 million barrels a day. The increase in production came after Libya’s government reached an agreement with rebel forces in July to reopen oil ports and fields that had been closed for nearly a year, raising hopes that its exports could begin to rise. […]

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Islamic State Advances on Iraqi Kurdistan

Sunni insurgents expanded their push along the borders of Iraqi Kurdistan, a semiautonomous region in Iraq’s north, as thousands of people besieged by the militants on a mountainside received fresh aid supplies. The group calling itself Islamic State , which began a new offensive this week that brought it to 25 miles from the Kurdish capital Erbil, seized a town farther north called Sheikhan, closer to the Kurdish-controlled province of Dohuk . The militants appear to be trying to connect the towns they have seized along the 650-mile border of Kurdish-controlled territory, an advance that has alarmed the Kurdistan Regional Government and panicked the residents of this region. The advance came after two rounds of U.S. strikes aimed at halting […]

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Oil Companies Evacuate Staff From Iraqi Kurdistan

Oil companies have begun evacuating staff and suspending operations at some fields in Iraqi Kurdistan as the U.S. begins airstrikes intended to halt the advance of Sunni extremists toward the region’s capital Erbil. London-based Afren and Canada-listed Oryx Petroleum both announced Friday they had suspended parts of their operations in the country. Anglo-Turkish Genel Energy said it was withdrawing some nonessential personnel, following a similar announcement by Chevron Thursday. The security situation in the area bordering Iraqi Kurdistan has deteriorated rapidly this week as the militant group Islamic State pushed into territory held by the Peshmerga, the region’s security force, raising serious concerns about areas previously considered safe. Oryx said it had suspended operations at two sites on its Hawler license near to areas where clashes were recently reported, while production at its Demir Dagh field has also been shut in. Meanwhile, Afren has stopped operations at its Barda […]

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Iraq Oil Explorers Evacuate More Staff After Islamist Surge

Oil explorers in Kurdistan halted operations and evacuated more staff as Islamist militants advanced into northern Iraq. Afren Plc (AFR) suspended work at its Barda Rash block on the region’s western border, while Oryx Petroleum Corp. stopped production at its Demir Dagh facility and temporarily halted drilling at two other areas. Genel Energy Plc (GENL) evacuated some staff and Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (GKP) increased security. Two U.S. jet fighters struck artillery used by Islamic State militants to attack Kurdish forces defending the road to the regional capital of Erbil, where American diplomats and some military staff are based. President Obama yesterday authorized airstrikes to protect U.S. citizens and a humanitarian effort to help save thousands of Iraqi civilians fleeing Islamist attacks. “In line with moves by other operators, we are taking the prudent and precautionary step of withdrawing non-essential personnel from our non-producing assets in the region,” Genel […]

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ISIS Capture Iraq’s Largest Dam

ISIS Capture Iraq’s Largest Dam Sunni militants captured the Mosul dam, the largest in Iraq, on Thursday as their advances in the country’s north created an onslaught of refugees and set off fearful rumors in Erbil, the Kurdish regional capital. Residents near the dam and officials in the region confirmed that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, held the dam, a potentially catastrophic development for Iraq’s civilian population. The dam, which sits on the Tigris River and is about 30 miles northwest of the city of Mosul, provides electricity to Mosul and controls the water supply for a large amount of territory. A report published in 2007 by the United States government, which had been involved with work on the dam, warned that should it fail, a 65-foot wave of water could be unleashed across areas of northern Iraq. Atheel al-Nujaifi, the governor of Nineveh Province, […]

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Iran jockeys for better energy ties with Azerbaijan

An Iranian official said Friday during talks in Azerbaijan both sides could work together on energy issues possibly extending into the European economy. Iranian Minister of Communication and Information Technologies Mahmoud Vaezi met in Baku with Rovneq Abdullayev, director of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic. The Iranian minister said he was reviewing an offer from Baku to coordinate energy policies more closely for the sake of the needs of the European community. "Azerbaijan and Iran has large oil and gas reserves, which indicates the need for increased cooperation between the countries in this area," he said . Azerbaijan is scheduled to supply natural gas from its Shah Deniz field to European consumers through a network of pipelines that would run through Turkey to southern Europe. Dubbed the Southern Corridor , the network is meant to diversify a European energy sector influenced heavily by Russia. Iran has held […]

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Libyan oil output highest since January

Libyan oil production is at its highest level since the beginning of the year, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Friday. OPEC said in its latest monthly market report crude oil production from member states averaged 29.9 million barrels per day. Production fell primarily in member states Iraq and Angola, while production increased from Libya and Saudi Arabia. Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington his government "has managed to solve" the oil crisis plaguing what was once one of North Africa’s top oil producers. OPEC said in its market report Libyan crude oil production has doubled since June. "Libyan production rose past 500,000 barrels per day for the first time since January," the report said. OPEC data show Libyan crude oil production reached a post-war peak of around 1.4 million bpd in 2013, before starting a precipitous decline toward the […]

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Suez Canal Set for First Major Expansion

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi signs a document at an event marking the announcement of plans for a major upgrade of the Suez Canal, in Cairo August 5, 2014. Reuters CAIRO—One of the world’s great trading routes, the Suez Canal, is set for the first major expansion in its 145-year history, if a planned multibillion-dollar investment by the Egyptian government goes ahead. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi this week announced plans for a ‘new’ Suez Canal that will run in parallel to the current waterway, which provides a vital shipping link between Europe and Asia. The Egyptian plan, part of an $8.4 billion project to upgrade the Suez Canal, could raise its capacity to 97 passing ships a day by 2023, up from 49 currently. But while shipping industry executives have welcomed the idea of expanding the Suez Canal to help relieve bottlenecks, there are doubts over […]

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Greenpeace claims edge over Statoil

A decision by Statoil to end a campaign in the arctic waters of the Barents Sea shows it never should have drilled there in the first place, Greenpeace said. Norwegian energy company Statoil said it ended its campaign in the frontier Hoop area of the Barents Sea. Small volumes of hydrocarbons were encountered, but nothing in the way of a commercial discovery. The drilling program was the target of a Greenpeace protest aimed at highlighting the risks of operating in the pristine arctic environment. The Hoop reserve area is near Bear Island, a unique island ecosystem that Greenpeace said would be spoiled should a spill occur in the area. Truls Gulowsen, director of the Norwegian branch of Greenpeace, said dry wells in the Hoop area suggest it’s the arctic environment itself that’s rejecting the presence of oil companies like Statoil. "The licenses should never have been awarded in the […]

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Venezuelan Energy Company Investigated in U.S.

Federal and New York City prosecutors have opened preliminary investigations into a Venezuelan company that became one of that country’s leading builders of power plants during the administration of President Hugo Chávez , as well as into a Missouri-based company which played a key role in its success, people familiar with the matter say. The U.S. Department of Justice and the Manhattan District Attorneys’ office are probing Derwick Associates, a Venezuelan company that was awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts in little more than a year to build power plants in Venezuela shortly after the country’s power grid began to sputter in 2009, the people familiar with the matter said. ProEnergy Services, a Sedalia, Mo.-based engineering, procurement and construction company which sold dozens of turbines to Derwick and helped build the plants, is also under investigation, these people say. The probes are in their initial phases, […]

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Petrobras Profit Misses Estimates as Crude Exports Slide

Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4) , the biggest oil producer in deep waters, posted an unexpected profit decline in the second quarter after its fuel imports surged and crude exports fell. Net income fell 20 percent to 4.96 billion reais ($2.2 billion), or 0.38 reais a share, from 6.2 billion reais, or 48 centavos, a year earlier, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said yesterday in a statement. That trailed the 55-centavo average of 12 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg, making this the third time in four quarters that Petrobras missed forecasts. Rising Brazilian demand for gasoline and diesel that Petrobras sells at a discount relative to international prices is leading the state-run producer to export less crude and increase refinery output. It cut sales to overseas markets by 14 percent from a year earlier, while the refining boost wasn’t enough to prevent a 56 percent surge in fuel imports. The […]

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Oil Rigs Hit Record as Drillers Move Outside Big Basins

Rigs targeting oil in the U.S. surged to a record as drillers ventured outside the nation’s biggest basins to search for crude in developing plays such as the South-Central Oklahoma Oil Province, known as SCOOP. Oil rigs jumped by 15 to 1,588 this week, even as the counts in some of the most established basins, including the Permian of Texas and New Mexico , were either unchanged or down, data posted on Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) ’s website show. It was the most since Baker Hughes separated the oil and gas rig counts in 1987. Rigs targeting crude outside the major plays jumped by 19 to a record 399, the Houston-based field services company said. The count in Oklahoma rose to the highest level in almost six years. Drillers are seeking new oil plays as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling help them pull energy deposits out of shale formations […]

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The Imminent Peak in US Oil Production

The seven years of production of tight oil in the US has produced enough data to enable estimation of the amount of oil that will be recovered from these systems and the timing of peak production. Based on data to May 2014, the four main tight oil basins will produce a total of 7.7 billion barrels with a peak production rate of 3.9 million barrels per day in mid-2015. Following that peak, production is predicted to decline as rapidly as it rose. That in turn is expected to cause a re-assessment of the ability to produce sufficient transport fuels based on current policies. The Bakken in North Dakota Jean Laherrere has plotted monthly oil production from the Bakken Fm in North Dakota using Hubbert linearization: Laherrere 2014 FIG. 1 Also called a logistic decline […]

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Judge overturns Fort Collins, Colorado, fracking ban

For the second time in two weeks a state judge in Colorado has overturned a city’s attempt to regulate hydraulic fracturing within its borders. In a Thursday decision in the District Court of Larimer County, Judge Gregory Lammons ruled that the city of Fort Collins’ five-year ban on the use of fracking and the storage of fracking waste was pre-empted by the state’s Oil and Gas Conservation Act. Lammons’ ruling comes in a case brought by the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, following a vote last November in which voters called for the city to impose a five-year moratorium on fracking and disposal of fracking waste within the city’s boundaries. On July 24, District Judge D.D. Mallard of the Boulder County District Court overturned a fracking ban that the city of Longmont had instituted, ruling that it was pre-empted by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Act, which gives […]

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BHI: US rig count pierces 1,900 mark for first time in 2 years

The US drilling rig count surpassed the 1,900 mark for the first time since August 2012, jumping 19 units to 1,908 rigs working during the week ended Aug. 8, Baker Hughes Inc. reported. Meanwhile, the average US rig count for July, released by BHI on Aug. 7, totaled 1,876 units, a 15-unit gain from June and a 110-unit gain from July 2013. The worldwide rig count for July totaled 3,608, a 163-unit gain from June and a 246-unit gain from July 2013. During the past week, land rigs jumped 18 units to 1,832, while offshore rigs tallied 4 units to reach 62. Rigs drilling in inland waters dropped 3 units to 14. Oil rigs represented most of the weekly gain, tallying 15 units to reach 1,588. Gas rigs tallied 3 units to 316, and rigs considered unclassified edged up a unit to 4. Horizontal drilling […]

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Study highlights Pennsylvania’s shale gas development boom

The rapid shale gas development in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale formation has presented both challenges and opportunities to local governments and communities. In particular, concerns that local governments might be entering a “boom and bust” cycle—similar to previous resource extraction experiences in Pennsylvania’s history—are on the rise. A recent study, Getting the Boom Without the Bust: Guiding Southwestern Pennsylvania Through Shale Gas Development , released by the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and Washington & Jefferson College’s Center for Energy Policy & Management confirms that the gas boom in Pennsylvania is still under way, and explores best practices that communities can implement to better protect themselves against a bust experience. Boom cycle Heightened industrial activity at the beginning of a resource extraction development usually induces an influx of workers into hosting communities, placing strains on the local government’s ability to provide public services, including healthcare and public […]

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CRED: Colorado Initiatives Not the Way to Settle Fracking Debate

When dueling sides in Colorado’s debate over fracking agreed this week to drop voter initiatives that could have had long-term consequences for the state’s energy future, it was a sign that “cooler heads prevailed,” Jon Haubert, Coloradans for the Responsible Energy Development (CRED) director of communications, told Rigzone. Activists and pro-energy forces agreed during the week to work with Colorado Governor John Kickenlooper and a task force on a compromise solution. Both sides then dropped their respective initiatives, a step which Haubert said was in everyone’s best interests. CRED said it was committed to its long-term educational mission at informing the general public about the energy, economic and environmental benefits of safe and responsible oil and natural gas development, and that it is looking forwarding to working with the new state task force. It is hard to overstate […]

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US Forecasters See Below-Normal Atlantic Hurricane Season

Federal forecasters on Thursday downgraded their outlook for the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season, predicting "below normal" activity with seven to 12 named storms, no more than two of which are expected to reach major hurricane status. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said it was more confident of a below-normal season than when it issued its initial advisory in May, when a "near or below normal" season was predicted. The revised forecast predicts 70 percent chances of a below-normal season, compared to the 50 percent odds issued by NOAA’ forecasters in May. A typical season has 12 named storms, with six hurricanes and three hurricanes reaching major Category 3 status. The six month-long hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. In its new outlook, the agency cited the strengthening of climate conditions that are not favorable to hurricane development, […]

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Ukraine Threatens Oil and Gas Cut-Off in Russia Sanctions

Ukraine threatened to block Russian oil and gas supplies to Europe in new sanctions against Vladimir Putin ’s government, which it blames for a separatist uprising that has ravaged the country’s east. Ukraine, which no longer receives any gas from Russia but acts as a conduit for its neighbor’s European customers, is considering a “complete or partial ban on the transit of all resources” across its territory, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told reporters today in Kiev. It may also ban Russian planes from its airspace and cut defense-industry cooperation. “There’s no doubt that Russia will continue its course — started a decade ago — aimed at banning imports of Ukrainian goods, limiting cooperation with Ukraine, pressure and blackmail,” Yatsenyuk said. “In the most negative scenario for Ukraine, losses during the first year may reach $7 billion, not only because of sanctions but also because of the Kremlin’s aggressive policy.” […]

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Exxon Drilling Russian Arctic Shows Sanction Lack Bite

Sanctions, what sanctions? Exxon Mobil Corp. will start drilling a $700 million well in the Arctic Ocean tomorrow, Russia’s government said, showing that for all the talk of action against Vladimir Putin ’s oil industry, the largest U.S. energy company is undeterred. As Russia’s relations with Europe and the U.S. deteriorated to the lowest point since the Cold war over the conflict in Ukraine, the European Union imposed a third round of sanctions last week, restricting the export of equipment used for offshore oil production. That doesn’t affect Exxon’s plans because the contract to hire the rig was signed before the measures were announced. Developing the Arctic is vital for Russia, where energy provides half the state’s revenue, to maintain oil production near a post-Soviet high of more than 10 million barrels a day. For Exxon, where output fell to a five-year low in the second quarter, a discovery […]

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Three Reasons Why Europeans Aren’t Too Worried About Putin’s Energy Power

Has a tit-for-tat spiral begun? After Europe launched tougher sanctions against Russia at the end of July, Russian President Vladimir Putin this week banned food imports from Europe . Some fear this might only be the beginning of a long-term Russian retaliation. Putin eventually could cut energy exports. Many Europeans would then suffer a hard winter. That’s at least the theory. In practice, Europeans—and in particular Germans—aren’t too worried about Putin’s unquestionable energy power. Why? Here are three reasons: 1. Stopping energy exports would severely damage the Russian economy and destabilize Putin’s power. In 2012, the country exported almost $300 billion in oil and gas . These products accounted for about two-thirds of all Russian exports. The country needs the money. Half of the government’s budget depends on income from energy exports. Putin spends the money for everything from maintaining social welfare to keeping up its military […]

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Oil Higher After U.S. Authorizes Airstrikes in Iraq

Crude-oil futures rose in Asian trade Friday after U.S. President Barack Obama authorized airstrikes in Iraq and data showed China’s oil imports in July rose from a month earlier. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September traded at $98.04 a barrel at 0521 GMT, up $0.70 in the Globex electronic session. September Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.96 to $106.40 a barrel. The U.S. has authorized targeted airstrikes in Iraq along with emergency humanitarian assistance in the country’s north. President Obama said the U.S. would act to protect American personnel and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe. "Right now the market reaction is how the market typically reacts when there is headline news on geopolitical tensions. This is traditional behaviour," economist Barnabas Gan at Singapore’s OCBC Bank said. Oil had slumped to a multi-month low in the last […]

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Crude Rises After Obama Authorizes Air Strikes in Iraq

Crude oil prices rose as U.S. President Barack Obama authorized airstrikes in parts of Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest producer, while Chevron Corp. said it was withdrawing some workers. Brent futures advanced as much as 1.3 percent in London and West Texas Intermediate by 1.1 percent in New York. Obama said yesterday that the strikes, if needed, would be used to protect U.S. personnel and Yezidis, a minority sect concentrated in northern Iraq, who have been targeted by militants and are stranded on a mountain. Conflict in the OPEC producer has so far spared production in Iraq’s south, home to about three-quarters of its crude output. “U.S. approval of airstrikes moved the conflict to a new level, and made its extreme potential for danger in the region visible,” Eugen Weinberg , head of commodities research at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt , said by e-mail. Brent for September settlement gained as much […]

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Natural-Gas Rally Loses Steam as Weather Outlook Cools

Natural-gas prices gave up early gains and slid 1.4% Thursday after midday weather forecast revisions turned uniformly cooler over the next two weeks, slashing expectations for gas-fired electricity demand and knocking out a key driver of the market’s recent rally. Natural gas for September delivery lost 5.7 cents to settle at $3.876 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, ending a three-session winning streak and giving back more than a third of its gains since the start of the month. The market opened higher, building on Wednesday’s close at a two-week high, and continued to rally into the 10:30 a.m. weekly release of U.S. government data on natural-gas inventories. But the market gave back some of those gains after the report’s release and turned solidly negative after the midday revisions to weather outlooks for the coming weeks. "We’re giving back today because […]

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A Rogue State Along Two Rivers

How ISIS Came to Control Large Portions of Syria and Iraq The militant group called the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria seemed to surprise many American and Iraqi officials with the recent gains it made in its violent campaign to create a new religious state. But the victories achieved in the past few weeks were built on months of maneuvering along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which define a region known as the cradle of civilization. Cities: ISIS Control Attacked by ISIS The Euphrates The Tigris After establishing footholds in Syria and Anbar Province, ISIS turned to northern Iraq. The swift capture of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and a key political, military and commercial hub, gave ISIS a launching pad for a rapid series of attacks in which its fighters seized towns along the Tigris River heading south to Baghdad. Additional reporting by TIM ARANGO, MIKE BOSTOCK, C.J. […]

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Kurdish oil installations safe, Gulf Keystone says

Gulf Keystone Petroleum said Thursday its operations in the Kurdish north of Iraq are safe, though precautionary measures are in place. Gulf Keystone is one of the premier oil producers in the Kurdish north of Iraq. The company in June said production from the Shaikan oil field in the region should be at 40,000 barrels per day by year’s end. Kurdish forces this week responded to incursions from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a Sunni-led group that declared an Islamic state over parts of northwestern Iraq. The company, which has headquarters in London, said its Shaikan production facilities are safe and secure. "While there is no immediate threat to any of the company’s operations in the region, we continue to monitor the situation closely and operate with increased security as a precaution," the company said in a statement . Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said in a […]

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Move Comes as Islamic State Pushes Closer to Iraq's Kurdish Area

U.S. oil major Chevron Corp. said it has cut the numbers of its overseas staff working in the Kurdish region of Iraq as the militant group Islamic State pushed their offensive closer to the area, and amid reports of a car bomb blast in the nearby northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Chevron’s move comes as shares in Kurdistan-focused oil producers listed in Europe plunged on Thursday. "We are closely monitoring the situation," a Chevron spokeswoman in London said. "We have reviewed the business critical positions and as a consequence made a reduction in the total numbers of expatriates in the region." Exxon Mobil is also evacuating staff from Kurdistan, Reuters reported Thursday, citing an industry source. A spokesman for the company said it doesn’t comment on security matters. Shares in London-listed Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd fell as much as 13%—to their lowest level since 2010—after the Islamic State captured […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple