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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 […]

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Jihadists Rout Kurds in North and Seize Strategic Iraqi Dam

BAGHDAD — The crisis gripping Iraq escalated rapidly on Thursday with a re-energized Islamic State in Iraq and Syria storming new towns in the north and seizing a strategic dam as Iraq’s most formidable military force, the Kurdish pesh merga, was routed in the face of the onslaught. The loss of the Mosul Dam, the largest in Iraq, to the insurgents was the most dramatic consequence of a militant offensive in the north, which has sent tens of thousands of refugees, many from the Yazidi minority, fleeing into a vast mountainous landscape. In one captured town, Sinjar, ISIS executed dozens of Yazidi men, and kept the dead men’s wives for unmarried jihadi fighters. Panic on Thursday spread even to the Kurdish capital of Erbil, long considered a safe haven, with civilians flooding the airport in a futile attempt to buy tickets to Baghdad. As chaos tore through northern Iraq, […]

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Petrodollar Under Threat As Russia And Iran Sign Historic 500,000 Barrel A Day Oil Deal

Russia Delivers Blow To Petrodollar In Historic $20 Billion Iran Oil Deal Russia signed a historic $20 billion oil deal with Iran to bypass both western sanctions and the dollar based western monetary system yesterday. President Putin Admire Gold Bar (London Gold Delivery Bar) Currency wars are set to escalate as the petro dollar’s decline continues.   Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and his Iranian counterpart Bijan Zanganeh signed a five-year memorandum of understanding in Moscow, which included cooperation in the oil sector. "Based on Iran’s proposal, we will participate in arranging shipments of crude oil, including to the Russian market," Novak was quoted as saying. The five year accord will see Russia help Iran “organise oil sales” as well as “cooperate in the oil-gas industry, construction of power plants, grids, supply of machinery, consumer goods and agriculture products”, according to a statement by the Energy Ministry in Moscow. […]

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Israeli Billionaire Finds 3B Barrel Oil Reserve In Congo

An oil company owned by Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler said on Thursday it had discovered around 3 billion barrels of oil in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an amount similar to the proven reserves of oil producers Britain and South Sudan. The crude was discovered around Lake Albert on Congo’s eastern border with Uganda, Oil of DRCongo said in a statement. An analysis of seismic survey data "indicates around 3 billion barrels of oil in place", it said, although it was not yet clear what portion was recoverable. "These are very positive results from our extensive seismic campaign," said Giuseppe Ciccarelli, Oil of DRCongo’s CEO. "We continue to believe the project has the potential to provide significant revenues and multiple other benefits to the people of (Congo)." The nearby Ugandan blocks are estimated […]

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Petrobras's New Oil Stems Decline

Petrobras’ oil production from frontier fields offshore is soaring. Pictured, a platform prepares for its first day working a ‘pre-salt’ field in 2010. Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO—When Brazil’s state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA disclosed its biggest-ever oil find, in 2007, then-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva quipped that the discovery proved that God is Brazilian. New production figures are making believers out of many in the industry. Output from the "pre-salt" fields has passed 500,000 barrels of oil a day, nearly triple that of 2012, and now accounts for nearly a quarter of the company’s total production of two million barrels a day. It is a quick ramp-up for Petrobras, and is taking place in one of the most challenging oil patches in the world. The deposits lie nearly 200 miles off Brazil’s southeastern coast, buried deep below the sea floor under a thick layer of salt, […]

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Petrobras’s New Oil Stems Decline

Petrobras’ oil production from frontier fields offshore is soaring. Pictured, a platform prepares for its first day working a ‘pre-salt’ field in 2010. Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO—When Brazil’s state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA disclosed its biggest-ever oil find, in 2007, then-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva quipped that the discovery proved that God is Brazilian. New production figures are making believers out of many in the industry. Output from the "pre-salt" fields has passed 500,000 barrels of oil a day, nearly triple that of 2012, and now accounts for nearly a quarter of the company’s total production of two million barrels a day. It is a quick ramp-up for Petrobras, and is taking place in one of the most challenging oil patches in the world. The deposits lie nearly 200 miles off Brazil’s southeastern coast, buried deep below the sea floor under a thick layer of salt, […]

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Mexico Opens Energy Sector to Private Investors

Mexican lawmakers late Wednesday completed an historic opening of the country’s energy sector to private investors after 76 years of state monopoly, in a move with far-reaching implications for the sector and the country’s economy. Completion of the overhaul is a political victory for President Enrique Peña Nieto, who made it the cornerstone of a reformist agenda intended to improve Mexico’s competitiveness and stimulate economic growth. The victory seemed unthinkable to many when he took office in December 2012. Over the past quarter century, every Mexican president had tried but failed to secure political support to diminish the state energy monopoly. The opening of the energy sector is the culmination of a decades-long effort to liberalize the Mexican economy that began in 1982, when then-President Miguel […]

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China Oil Data Show July Crude Imports at 23.76 Mln Tons

By Wayne Ma BEIJING–China imported 23.76 million metric tons of crude oil in July, equivalent to 5.6 million barrels a day, preliminary data from the General Administration of Customs showed Friday. Imports were 9.0% lower than the 26.11 million tons of crude shipped in during the corresponding month last year, and up around 2.0% from 23.28 million tons in June, according to The Wall Street Journal’s calculations. Refined oil product imports totaled 1.86 million tons, while exports totaled 2.31 million tons, the data showed. Write to Wayne Ma at [email protected]

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China Finds Shale Gas Challenging, Halves 2020 Output Target

China has halved the quantum of shale gas it expects to produce by 2020 after early exploration efforts to unlock the unconventional fuel proved challenging, according to an industry website and a government source. China, believed to hold the world’s largest technically recoverable shale resources, is hoping to replicate the shale boom that has transformed the energy landscape of the United States. About four years of early evaluations and drilling have so far yielded one large find – Fuling field – in the most prospective gas province of southwest Sichuan, but experts say the Fuling success is hard to repeat due to complex geology and high cost of production. Citing Wu Xinxiong, the head of China’s National Energy Administration, industry website www.cpnn.com.cn reported that China aims to pump 30 billion cubic metres (bcm) […]

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Plains All American Moving to Join Condensate Exporters

Plains All American Pipeline LP (PAA) says it should be on the list of companies that can export lightly processed oil from the U.S. The company has all the same assets in place that helped Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (PXD) and Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) get relief from 29-year-old crude export restrictions this year, Plains Chief Executive Officer Greg Armstrong said in a conference call with analysts yesterday. “We have the stabilization, distillation towers and the pipeline system all the way to the dock, we can pretty much trace the pedigree of that barrel all the way through,” Armstrong said. “The only thing that might get in our way is political arbitrariness.” Pioneer and Enterprise jolted the oil industry when they said the U.S. Commerce Department issued private rulings allowing them to export ultra-light crude that has gone through a stabilizer that uses a distillation tower. The first […]

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Hurricane Iselle Set to Be First Over Hawaii in 22 Years

Hurricane Iselle grounded flights, shut tourist areas and closed government offices as it approached Hawaii and threatened the first direct strike on the islands in 22 years. Iselle had top winds of 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour and was 70 miles southeast of Hilo as of 8 p.m. local time on Aug. 7, the U.S. Central Pacific Hurricane Center said . It’s forecast to strike the Big Island overnight, and if it retains hurricane strength, it would be the first such system to hit the state since 1992. “Iselle is expected to make landfall as a Category 1 storm, and in doing so would become the first recorded hurricane landfall on the Big Island of Hawaii,” Scott Stransky, principal scientist at catastrophe-modeling firm AIR Worldwide based in Boston , said by e-mail. Farther east, Hurricane Julio had top winds approaching 115 mph and was traveling west. The storm […]

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Permian Drilling Boom Prompts Talk of Sand Shortage

Concho Resources Inc. (CXO) is facing delays of several hours to get sand for fracking in the Permian Basin as a drilling boom in West Texas drives up demand and creates delivery bottlenecks. Talk of a sand shortage is most prominent in the Delaware Basin region of the play, Joe Wright, chief operating officer of the Midland, Texas-based company, said on its earnings conference call today. The Permian Basin accounts for 30 percent of the 1,889 active U.S. drilling rigs, according to Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) “There has been a lot of chatter around sand shortages,” Wright said. “It’s really more of a transportation of sand, or distribution of sand” issue, he said. Wright expects the delays to persist during the next 30 days. The use of sand for fracking in the U.S. and Canada is expected to increase 17 percent a year, reaching 130 billion pounds (59 billion […]

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Investment decision made for Cameron LNG

French energy company said Thursday it made a final investment decision on a liquefied natural gas plant planned for Louisiana. GDF Suez is a partner with Cameron LNG for the LNG plant planned for Hackberry, La. The plant is designed to produce and export up to 12 million tons of LNG per year. "We are very pleased to partner in one of the first LNG export projects in the United States," Gerard Mestrallet , president and chief executive officer of GDF Suez said in a statement . Production of the facility should be completed in 2019 at a cost of $10 billion. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued its final environmental impact statement on the Cameron LNG facility in early May. The construction and operation of the facility would result in some environmental damage, but that damage would be rendered "less-than-significant" by the company’s proposed mitigation strategies, FERC said. […]

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Canada tightens sanctions noose on Russia

Canadian Prime Minister said new economic pressure on Russia targets technology used for oil exploration and extraction. Harper said he had grave concerns over Russia’s provocative military action in eastern Ukraine. Pro-Russian separatists there are suspected of playing a role in the downing of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet last month, killing all 295 people on board. The prime minister said he was imposing a travel ban on 19 Russian and Ukrainian individuals and economic sanctions on close to two dozen Russian and Ukrainian groups. "We are also committed to imposing the necessary regulations to enact export restrictions on technologies used in Russia’s oil exploration and extraction sector," Harper said in a statement Wednesday. "Those will be implemented in parallel with our allies." Harper in July announced sanctions against 10 separate Russian entities, including Russian independent gas company Novatek and Gazprombank, the financial arm of Russian gas giant Gazprom. […]

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U.S. gas prices should continue decline

U.S. gasoline prices have declined steadily in line with the drop in crude oil prices attributed to ample supply, the U.S. Energy Department said. The Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, said the national average price for a gallon of gasoline as of Aug. 4 was $3.52, more than 3 percent lower than the same time last year. Motor club AAA reports a national average price Thursday for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline at $3.47, 18 cents cheaper than one month ago. EIA said crude oil prices, which account for the bulk of the price at the pump, are down globally because of ample supply compared with demand. EIA forecasts show retail gasoline prices have been on a general decline since around June. Trend lines suggest the price at the pump should continue to decline slowly through at least September. Long-term, EIA expects retail […]

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More inland rigs in U.S. than anywhere else

Oil services company Baker Hughes said Thursday there were more rigs actively exploring for oil or gas in the United States than any place else in the world. Baker Hughes published its monthly rig count for July. It shows 1,819 rigs active in the United States, compared with the 1,394 rigs combined for Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. The closest rival to the United States for July was the Middle East with 378. Rig counts are an indication of the number of drilling rigs actively exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. Onshore shale oil and natural gas basins are contributed to the increase in U.S. production in part due to advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, the controversial practice dubbed fracking. The United States is on pace to become a world leader in oil and gas production. The U.S. Energy […]

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Watch: Will this be the first Texas city to ban fracking?

It was almost dinnertime when an ice cream truck lazily made its way through the North Texas subdivision. A few kids came running. Maile Bush’s children weren’t among them, because she won’t let them go outside. The family moved to Denton for their slice of heaven. That was, she said, before the fracking industry came knocking. “You constantly live in a state of terror because you have no idea what they’re doing precisely and they don’t tell you,” Bush said. “But your home is at risk. Your family is at risk.” Located 40 miles north of Dallas, Denton sits atop the Barnett Shale, one of the largest natural gas deposits in the nation. The Barnett Shale is also home to the most intensive gas drilling operations ever attempted in an urban area. Now Bush is sandwiched between a gas well and a compressor station, and her […]

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Peak oil proponents still dancing around reality

The debate over whether we are running out of oil sometimes resembles the medieval controversy over how many angels could dance on the head of a pin. By redefining the size of the pin and the agility of the angels, today’s “peak oil” proponents have managed to continue the argument. The characters have changed though. Matthew Simmons, author of Twilight in the Desert, casting doubt on Saudi oil production, died in August 2010, and the Oil Drum website closed down last September. New disputants, including economist James Hamilton from the University of California, and Stephen Kopits, the managing director of the consultancy Douglas-Westwood, argue that oil production is limited by geology and is a severe drag on economic growth. These factors will ultimately drive up the oil price if they are right. On the other side of the argument, voices such as the Reuters columnist John Kemp, who states […]

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Russian consumers prepared to swallow food ban

Less than 24 hours after Vladimir Putin issued а blanket ban on western meat, dairy and other produce, Dmitry Kornilov, a well-heeled Moscow shopper, had one thing to say to the Russian president: keep up the good work. Never mind that Mr Kornilov, an economist, shops at one of the capital’s most expensive, import-laden grocery stores, travels regularly to the US and was picking up a bottle of French white on his way to getting a manicure. Like many in Russia, he believes Mr Putin was right to respond to three rounds of serious western sanctions . “If someone comes up to the street and insults you not once, not twice but three times, the third time you’re going to answer back,” Mr Kornilev said. “Pride is not just in a person, it is in a nation.” Over the past six months, Mr Putin’s popularity has risen in line […]

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Is the Peak Oil Myth Dead?

In his 2005 New York Times best-selling book  Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy , renowned oil analyst Matthew Simmons outlined his belief that Saudi Arabia’s giant Ghawar oil field would soon begin a terminal decline that would result in permanently falling global oil production. Indeed, from the post-recession lows of 2003 until peaking in 2008, oil prices seemed to prove peak oil proponents correct — with prices seemingly on a long-term exponential increase. However, what Mr. Simmons and other peak oil theorists failed to consider is that America’s shale oil revolution could not only make up for Ghawar’s production fall, but even replace the field entirely. Permian Basin: dethroning the Saudis According to Pioneer Natural Resources , the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico holds an estimated 75 billion barrels of recoverable oil, an estimate that is up 50% in […]

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Oil Swings Near Six-Month Low Before China Data Tomorrow

Brent crude traded near its lowest closing level in nine months before the European Central Bank announced its monthly decision on monetary policy. West Texas Intermediate was near a six-month low. Futures were little changed in London. ECB officials led by President Mario Draghi are forecast by economists in Bloomberg News surveys to keep the main refinancing rate at a record-low 0.15 percent and the deposit rate at minus 0.1 percent. In Iraq , Kurdish exports remain unaffected by turmoil that also has spared supply from the nation’s south, home to more than three-quarters of its crude output. “I don’t expect any more rate cuts or measures right now, but if the ECB have something in the wording, it can impact the euro-dollar and so impact oil prices,” Andy Sommer, an analyst at Axpo Trading AG in Dietikon, Switzerland, said by phone. “Prices are a little bit below fair […]

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Oil Traders Flee Brent as Prices Signal Glut: Chart of the Day

Oil traders are fleeing Brent crude at the fastest pace in eight years as signs of a glut undermined bets that the Islamist insurgency in Iraq would threaten supply. The CHART OF THE DAY shows how the number of outstanding contracts in Brent crude collapsed in July as the forward curve on the ICE Futures Europe exchange moved into a structure called contango, where immediate prices are cheaper than later ones. The shift surprised traders, prompting them to close positions taken to benefit from an expected premium on immediate deliveries because of Iraq, according to Natixis SA. “Positioning had built up quite heavily on the escalation in geopolitics, but then as the physical market softened, it was a rush to the exits,” Miswin Mahesh, an analyst at Barclays Plc in London , said by e-mail. The move to contango may also hurt demand among financial investors as it removes […]

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Natural-Gas Prices Close at Two-Week High; Forecasts, Low Prices Spur Buying

Natural-gas prices closed at a two-week high Wednesday as weather forecasts and low prices gave buyers the upper hand. Prices for the front-month September contract settled up 3.6 cents, or 0.9%, at $3.933 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the market’s third straight day of gains, the longest streak since the first week of June. Prices have recently stabilized and this week started to rebound slightly from a summer of losses. While unseasonably cool forecasts are still signaling soft demand, they aren’t as cool as they once were, inspiring some buying, analysts said. Utilities have also had time to adjust and, with prices below $4, are likely switching away from coal to use more gas, said Aaron Calder, senior market analyst at energy-consulting firm Gelber & Associates in Houston, in a note. Last week’s stockpile addition […]

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Iraqi Oil in South Keeping Dollar Bond Slump Contained

The slide in Iraq ’s dollar bond since June, when Islamic militants overran much of the country’s north, is being contained by rising oil revenue as exports increase in the south. The yield on Iraq’s January 2028 dollar security has jumped 109 basis points to 7.37 percent since tumbling to an 16-month low on June 9, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The rate remains below this year’s high of 7.74 percent in February, and compares with a 30 basis-point increase in the JPMorgan Chase & Co. Emerging Markets Global Sovereign Bond Yield Index. While insurgents from the Islamic State, an al-Qaeda offshoot, have seized oil fields and are battling for control of two dams as they threaten Prime Minister Nouri Kamil Al-Maliki’s government, most of the nation’s production is flowing without interruption in the south. Crude sales rose 5 percent last month to 2.44 million barrels a day. […]

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Sunni Extremists Repel Kurdish Forces in Iraq

Sunni extremists repelled efforts by Kurdish pesh merga forces on Wednesday to push them back in areas east of Mosul in northern Iraq , and shelled a predominantly Christian village there, in what appeared to be a renewed push along the Kurdish border to take ground, control oil fields and water resources and expel minority groups. As artillery shells landed in the village of Qara Qosh, which is largely Christian, and plumes of smoke from the explosions drifted across the dry Nineveh plain just 25 miles from the Kurdish capital, Erbil, panicked residents fled in cars and pickups piled with their belongings, creating long lines at checkpoints guarded by the Kurdish pesh merga. “We heard the sound of artillery,” said Ahmed, a father of three. “It was very close to us; the windows were shaking, and when I looked at my family’s faces, I had to […]

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Sunni and Kurdish Forces Battle for Control of Northern Iraqi Towns

As Sunni and Kurdish forces battled on Thursday for control of towns west of Erbil, the regional capital of northern Iraq, civilians fleeing the fighting flooded the airport here and swamped the Iraqi Airways office in a futile attempt to get tickets to Baghdad. In the early hours of Thursday, forces from the Kurdish pesh merga left checkpoints guarding several largely Christian settlements because they had been called to defend Kurdish towns closer to Erbil, according to a colonel in the Kurdish Defense Ministry. By late Wednesday night, Kurdish television was reporting that Mahmour and Gwar, two Kurdish settlements less than 20 miles west of Erbil, had fallen to Sunni extremists from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. By Thursday morning, a colonel in the pesh merga said that Mahmour had been retaken, while militants remained in control of Gwar. The latest ISIS […]

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Kurds, Islamic State clash near Kurdish regional capital

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Kurdish forces attacked Islamic State fighters near the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil in northern Iraq on Wednesday in a change of tactics supported by the Iraqi central government to try to break the Islamists’ momentum. The attack 40 km (25 miles) southwest of Arbil came after the Sunni militants inflicted a humiliating defeat on the Kurds on Sunday with a rapid advance through three towns, prompting Iraq’s prime minister to order his air force for the first time to back the Kurdish forces. "We have changed our tactics from being defensive to being offensive. Now we are clashing with the Islamic State in Makhmur," said Jabbar Yawar, secretary-general of the ministry in charge of the Kurdish peshmerga fighters. The location of the clashes puts the Islamic State fighters closer than they have ever been to the Kurdish semi-autonomous region since they swept through northern Iraq […]

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As civilians die, Kurds decry international inaction

The combined efforts of the Iraqi and Kurdish governments have not rescued the thousands of civilians threatened with imminent death after the most recent ISIS offensive. As civilians die, Kurds decry international inaction Thousands of members of Iraq’s Yezidi minority remain stranded on Sinjar Mountain, as Kurdish and Iraqi efforts to provide support have failed in the face of a persistent insurgency.The U.S. and other foreign powers have not provided direct assistance to the Yezidis, either in the form of humanitarian air drops or military air support to the Kurdish soldiers fighting to free them. Kurdish leaders warn that such international inaction spells doom for the Yezidis and risks empowering anti-gove… This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .

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ISIS Marches On (And The Saudis Are Getting Nervous)

The chickens are now coming home to roost on Obama’s stupid middle east policy. Obama pulled US troops out of Iraq assuming everything was hunky dory. Then obama did nothing as ISIS rampaged in Syria, and he did nothing when ISIS took over northern Iraq. It would seem to be pretty obvious that the last thing the US would want to see is the Islamist nutjobs of the former al Quaida in Iraq reinventing themselves as a Caliphate and seizing huge swaths of territory and threatening a large part of the world’s oil supply, but thats what is happening while Obama golfs. Fishman on Wed, 6th Aug 2014 6:27 pm  Ah, the religion of Pieces bobinget on Wed, 6th Aug 2014 7:29 pm  Plantagenet, OK: I’ll bite, how in the world did President Obama’s ‘stupid’ Middle East […]

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Contract let to return Nigerian refinery to nameplate capacity

Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC), through a service provider, has let a contract to General Electric Co. to provide gas turbines to be used to generate a reliable, uninterrupted supply of power to NNPC’s refining complex in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, that would enable the complex to return to its full production capacity. GE will deliver three, 25-Mw, trailer-mounted TM2500+ aeroderivative gas turbines to GEL Utility Ltd., a subsidiary of independent power producer Genesis Electricity Ltd., with whom NNPC signed a 20-year power purchase agreement in November 2013 for the Port Harcourt refinery, GE said in an Aug. 4 news release. In addition to delivery of the gas turbines, whichwill provide both the baseload and backup power to support refining operations at Port Harcourt, the recent agreement also includes the future modernization of Nigeria’s other two existing refineries, GE said. The installation of the mobile gas […]

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Egypt, Iran, Jordan Call Off Gas Pipeline Talks

Egypt , Iraq and Jordan have called off talks regarding construction of a gas pipeline as a result of violence, instability and insecurity, reports Daily News Egypt . The goal of the proposed pipeline was to carry Iraqi fuel to Jordan and Egypt or to transform gas to its liquid form in one of the factories operating in Egypt, which would then be exported. According to the Egyptian newspaper, a study focusing on the construction of a pipeline was supposed to be completed at the end of this year. In March this year, the three countries signed two agreements regarding the pipeline. The first agreement dealt with transferring natural gas through the Arab Gas Pipeline. The second agreement required connecting of LNG project to the gas tube with a link up with the Jordanian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources and the National Electricity Company on the one hand and […]

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Libya Says Tripoli Fuel-Tank Fire Under Control

A huge pall of smoke rises on the horizon after rockets fired by one of Libya’s militias struck and ignited a tank in the capital’s main fuel depot, in Tripoli, Libya, on Saturday, Aug. 2. European Pressphoto Agency A huge fire at Libya’s main fuel depot in the capital Tripoli is now under control, but the facility still faces real risks as militias continue to clash in the battle-torn nation, a spokesperson for the National Oil Corp., or NOC, said Wednesday The blaze was ignited near Tripoli airport Saturday when a missile strike from one of the militias fighting in Libya hit the depot, which contains 90 million liters (almost 24 million gallons) of fuel and cooking gas. "Eight fuel tanks were ablaze, but the situation is now under control and firefighters are watching closely to make sure that the fire doesn’t spread to other tanks," NOC spokesman Mohamed […]

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U.S. Nuclear Negotiator to Resume Talks With Iran

The Obama administration’s chief nuclear negotiator is meeting Thursday with Iranian officials in Geneva as negotiations resume on a deal to prevent the Islamic republic from developing nuclear weapons. The State Department said Undersecretary Wendy Sherman will be part of a U.S. delegation that also includes Deputy Secretary of State William Burns. Iran and six world powers failed last month to meet their target date for cutting a nuclear deal but agreed to extend the talks until November . In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ms. Sherman refused to provide a hard deadline for a deal with Iran. —Copyright 2014 Associated Press

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Shell gets new oil online in Nigeria

Royal Dutch Shell said Wednesday it started oil production from the first well at its deepwater Bonga North West development off the coast of Nigeria. "This is an excellent addition to our deep-water portfolio — a key growth theme for Shell’s world-wide upstream business," Andrew Brown , Shell’s director of international exploration and production, said in a statement . The entire Bonga prospect started oil and gas production in 2005 and was Nigeria’s first development in deep waters. Shell said the new start-up represents a significant step forward for the project. Oil from Bonga North West will be sent through a pipeline to a floating production, storage and offloading export facility near the Nigerian shore. At its peak, the facility is expected to process as much as 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Nigeria, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is the largest oil producer […]

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Venezuela Says Citgo Assets Worth More Than $10 Billion

Petroleos de Venezuela SA , the Latin American nation’s state-owned crude producer, said the U.S. oil refining and marketing assets it’s seeking to sell are worth more than $10 billion. “Their value is much, much more,” Rafael Ramirez , president of the oil producer known as PDVSA, told reporters yesterday. He said the company is receiving offers for assets of Houston-based Citgo Petroleum Corp., without providing details on the value of the bids. Citgo owns three refineries capable of handling about 749,000 barrels a day in Louisiana , Texas and Illinois . It also operates the sixth-largest U.S. retail gasoline chain through about 5,900 branded stations, according to the Arlington, Virginia-based National Association of Convenience Stores. Argus Media reported July 24 that the government has received offers in the range of $10 billion to $15 billion for the assets. “We are not a refining company, we’re an oil-producing company,” […]

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Bakken output up, profit down for Continental

Continental Resources said Wednesday production from the Bakken reserve area in the Northern Plains increased 23 percent year-on-year, though profits were down. The company said net production from the Bakken field, spread out over much of North Dakota and Montana, totaled 108,573 barrels of oil equivalent per day during the second quarter, an 11 percent increase from the first quarter and 23 percent year-on-year. Nearly 90 percent of the output came from North Dakota, where output increased 13 percent from the first quarter of the year. Continental boasted that cumulative oil production from the Bakken reserve reached the 1 billion barrel mark at some point during the first quarter. The company is the largest producer, driller and leaseholder in the Bakken field, which it says may be the largest oil field discovered in the world in more than 40 years. The company said its quarterly profit, however, was down […]

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Sand mines are latest fracking concern

The backlash against sand used in fracking operations should be a warning to countries looking to replicate North American success, an opposition group said. Energy companies in North America use a silica crystal during hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, operations. The practice involves water mixed with the fine particles and trace amounts of chemicals to create fissures in shale that release trapped oil and gas deposits. Companies mining the sand are growing, though there’s been a backlash against their operations. Last week, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources ordered a mine operator to shut down because of environmental concerns. The Price of Oil , a group critical of the oil and gas industry, said there have been corresponding health concerns with so-called frac-sand. The fine silica sand mined for fracking can cause lung damage, it said. The group said Wednesday the outcry over fracking now extends to sand, which should […]

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Colorado fracking initiatives pulled

An advocacy group in Colorado said it withdrew initiatives aimed at regulating oil and gas work in response to compromise measures from the state’s governor. Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said Monday he made a deal with the environmental advocacy community and those in the energy industry that would ward off initiatives that would have curtailed oil and gas drilling in the state. Instead, the governor said he created a task force that would oversee the issue in a way that would benefit residents and the state’s economy. Coloradans for Safe and Clean Energy, in coordination with Reps. Frank McNulty and Jerry Sonnenberg, both state Republicans, said Wednesday it withdrew so-called Initiative 88, which would require drilling rigs to be located 2,000 feet from homes, and Initiative 89, creating and environmental bill of rights, for ballot consideration. "Going forward the grassroots movement that has driven this campaign will remain engaged […]

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Bakken Major Contributor to EOG’s Production Growth in Q2

EOG Resources Bakken Acreage Map EOG Resources Bakken Acreage Map In its second quarter report,  EOG Resources  said the Bakken and  Eagle Ford Shale  plays were major contributors to EOG’s overall production growth. EOG’s U.S. crude oil production grew 33% year-over-year and associated natural gas liquids NGLs grew 22% year-over-year. See below for EOG’s U.S. production volumes for the quarter: Crude Oil and Condensate – 274,600 b/d NGLs – 78,500 b/d Natural Gas – 925 MMcfd The company said most of its activity was focused on its core acreage in Mountrail County during the quarter. According to company officials, well productivity improved due to continued refinements in completion designs. In EOG’s first-quarter report, the company indicated its activity in the Bakken would nearly double. So far, the company is on track to hit their target goal. Read more : EOG Resources Plans to Nearly Double Bakken Activity in 2014 […]

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Chesapeake Energy Profit Slides as Costs, Revenue Rise

Chesapeake Energy Corp. said its second-quarter earnings fell 67%, dragged down by a loss on the repurchase of debt securities related to a refinancing. The company, however, raised its midpoint of 2014 production outlook by 10,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and posted a bigger-than-expected increase in revenue. Chief Executive Doug Lawler said Chesapeake plans to connect 35% more wells in the second half of the year compared with the first six months. "As our pace of well connections accelerates, we expect our production growth trajectory will increase accordingly," he said. The company also completed its spinoff of its oil and natural-gas business, now known as Seventy Seven Energy Inc., on June 30. The division—which as a part of Chesapeake offered drilling, hydraulic fracturing and rig relocation, among other services—pulled in about $2.2 billion in revenue last year. In conjunction with the spinoff, Chesapeake removed $1.1 billion of […]

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EIA mapping tool shows which U.S. energy facilities are in areas at risk of flooding

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration A new component of EIA’s Energy Mapping System allows users to view critical energy infrastructure that may be vulnerable to coastal and inland flooding. These new map layers enable the public to see existing energy facilities that could potentially be affected by flooding caused by hurricanes, overflowing rivers, flash floods, and other wet-weather events. The mapping tool combines flood hazard information from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with EIA’s existing U.S. Energy Mapping System that shows power plants, oil refineries, crude oil rail terminals, and other critical energy infrastructure. The maps can help readers understand what energy infrastructure assets are currently exposed to flood risk. The maps show areas that have a 1% and 0.2% annual chance of flooding (essentially a 1-in-100 and 1-in-500 chance, respectively). The tool also contains regulatory floodways, levees, areas with levees (and therefore reduced flood risk), and areas […]

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API: Energy exports boost US economic vitality, diplomatic strength

American energy exports are revitalizing the economy and shifting the balance of power around the world, as shown by the Aug. 6 trade report from the US Department of Commerce, said American Petroleum Institute Chief Economist John Felmy. According to the report, US exports in goods and services totaled $2,280 billion in 2013, up from $2,216 billion in 2012. The US trade deficit in 2013 decreased by $61 billion from 2012. Exports in this year’s first half were $1,159 billion compared with $1,127 billion and $1,101 billion for the same periods of 2013 and 2012, respectively. The report also showed that exports of crude oil and petroleum products are up from the same month last year more than $1.2 billion to $12.7 billion. For year-to-date, the total trade deficit for crude oil and petroleum products is down $20.4 billion from the same period last year. “Domestic oil and natural […]

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US crude exports seen helping consumers

Ending the US ban on exports of crude oil would hurt refiners now profiting from low feedstock costs but help producers and consumers, says an analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas . In a July report, Michael D. Plante, senior research economist in the bank’s Research Department, describes how transport constraints have created localized oversupply, lowering regional crude prices in relation to global prices of similar crudes. With the transportation system adjusting to new production from unconventional resources in the US interior, oversupply is developing rapidly on the US Gulf Coast. “If the export ban were not in place, this would not be a problem,” Plante writes. “The extra oil would be shipped to other countries with the appropriate refining capacity for light crude. Crude oil prices in the US then would reflect global prices.” Complicating the problem is a quality mismatch. Many […]

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Range Resources Faces Fine Over Pennsylvania Fracking Wastewater Leak

Oil and gas producer Range Resources did not properly monitor leaks from a wastewater containment pond in Pennsylvania and the state has begun enforcement action that could lead to a fine, state officials said on Wednesday. A leak was detected earlier this year at the Yeager impoundment in Amwell Township in Washington County, in southwestern Pennsylvania, according to the Notice of Violation issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection on July 24. The pond contains a briny mixture of fluids, including drilling water that returns to the surface after fracking, the process that involves pumping chemical-laced water and sand underground to fracture rock to release oil or gas, said Range Resources spokesman Matt Pitzarella. "During its operation of the (pond), flow was often detected in the leak detection zone, but Range did not satisfy the permit’s weekly chlorides testing requirements," the notice […]

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Russia Favorite With Banks to Energy Unless Sanctions Hit

Some of the most lucrative banks and energy companies in the world are also among the cheapest. What’s the catch? They are Russian. While OAO Novatek has the best return on equity and assets among the 100 largest energy companies and OAO Sberbank has the second-highest net interest margin among lenders, deepening international sanctions against Russia are turning investors away. The two stocks have lost about $23 billion in combined market value in the past six weeks, leaving both at discounts of more than 40 percent to their industry rivals, as they became targets of the measures aimed at punishing Russia for its support of Ukrainian rebels. Look beyond Novatek in the energy industry and the findings are similar. Six of the biggest Russian oil and gas companies, including OAO Lukoil, OAO Bashneft and OAO Rosneft, have an average return on equity of 18.8 percent, almost four times the […]

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Russia: U.S. ruined Iranian oil deal

An official inside the Kremlin said Wednesday the U.S. government got in the way of a possible deal between Iranian and Russian oil companies. Iran can export around 1 million bpd under the terms of a November arrangement that brought some relief from economic sanctions in exchange for a commitment to curb nuclear research activity. In the wake of the agreement, Iran said it was in serious negotiations with the Russian government to swap oil for goods. Both sides already cooperate in the energy sector, with Russia supplying fuel for Iran’s nuclear reactor in Bushehr. A source inside in the Russian government told Russian business daily newspaper Kommersant the U.S. government "attempted to torpedo the [oil] deal by threatening both Russian and Iranian companies with sanctions." When the deal surfaced early this year, U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said it was […]

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Russia hits back at sanctions with food ban

Russian president Vladimir Putin Russian president Vladimir Putin Russia banned imports of all meat, fish, seafood, vegetables, fruit, milk, dairy products and a wide range of processed foods from the US, the EU, Australia, Canada and Norway for a year on Thursday, in a massive retaliation against western sanctions over its role in the Ukraine crisis . The government also threatened more counter-sanctions. Prime minister Dmitry Medvedev confirmed that the cabinet was discussing a proposal to ban European and American Airlines from flying over Russian airspace en route to Asia. He added that Moscow was also “potentially ready” to introduce protective measures in a number of industrial sectors including the automobile industry, shipbuilding and aircraft production. More On this topic IN Europe Moscow’s harsh move comes as tension over Ukraine is again spiking, with Nato warning of a renewed Russian troop build-up on its border with Ukraine and some […]

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Nearly 4% of the world’s oil supply is offline due to wars, unrest, sanction

The world’s oil prices have stayed high since 2010 — bouncing around $100 per barrel — for two basic reasons. Oil demand keeps rising, and production is struggling to keep up. But why is production struggling to keep up? One big factor has been geopolitical conflict. Wars, unrest, and sabotage have increasingly plagued oil producers like  Iraq ,  Libya , and Syria since 2011. The US and EU  sanctions on Iran’s oil industry have also removed a lot of oil from global markets. All told, some 3.3 million barrels of oil per day — equivalent to nearly 4 percent of global supply — are currently offline due to “unplanned outages”: Hamilton, 2014 The chart above comes from  a new paper (pdf) by James Hamilton, an economist who studies oil at the University of California, San Diego. He argues that the oil markets have changed dramatically in recent years — and […]

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Making Sense of the US Oil Story

We frequently see stories telling us how well the United States is doing at oil extraction. The fact that there are stories in the press about the US wanting to export crude oil adds to the hype. How much of these stories are really true? If we believe the stories, the US is now the largest producer of oil liquids in the world. In fact, it has been the largest producer since the fourth quarter of 2012. Figure 1. US Total Liquids production, including crude and condensate, natural gas plant liquids, "other liquids," and refinery expansion. Oil “Extenders” One of the issues is that a few years ago, the US created a new oil-related grouping, combining valuable products with much less valuable (lower energy content, less dense) products. Using this new grouping, the US was able to show much improved growth in total “oil” supply. The US EIA now […]

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Oil Futures Steady Ahead U.S. Inventory Report

By Eric Yep Crude-oil futures were slightly higher in Asian trading hours Wednesday but were unable to recover most of the losses from the previous trading session. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September traded at $97.49 a barrel at 0513 GMT, up $0.11 in the Globex electronic session. September Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.20 to $104.81 a barrel. Nymex crude lost 91 cents per barrel in overnight trade and has been down for eight of the past 11 sessions, while Brent crude lost 80 cents overnight and has settled lower for four of the past five trading sessions. The U.S. oil benchmark was supported by expectations of another drop in weekly oil stockpiles. Late Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said its data indicated a 5.5-million-barrel draw in crude supplies in the week ended Aug. 1. The more […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple