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Colorado Gearing Up for Fracking Ballot Measures

Coloradans are poised to vote on multiple ballot measures related to fracking and other forms of energy development this fall, setting up a bitter and expensive election fight. With a deadline looming Monday to qualify measures for Colorado’s November ballot, three initiatives already have enough signatures to appear before voters, backers say. Two measures supported by environmental groups would require new oil and gas wells to be drilled at least 2,000 feet from homes and schools, and give local governments more power to regulate energy projects. A third initiative supported by the oil-and-gas industry would bar communities that prohibit energy development from receiving industry revenue administered by the state. The initiatives to rein in energy development are being sponsored by a group called "Safe. Clean. Colorado." The measures are backed by Rep. Jared Polis, a wealthy Boulder Democrat who favors greater local control over fracking, a high-pressure drilling technique […]

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Shale work in Ukraine on hold, Shell says

Operations in shale acreage in eastern Ukraine can no longer continue as planned, the chief executive officer at Royal Dutch Shell said. Shell released strong earnings for second quarter 2014. In a conference call to explain the report, CEO Ben van Beurden said some of the company’s operations in Europe may be influenced by ongoing crises in Ukraine. The European community is trying to diversify an energy sector influenced heavily by Russia. The European market gets about a quarter of its gas needs met by Russia, though most of that runs through the Soviet-era gas transit network in Ukraine. Russia’s role in conflict in eastern Ukraine prompted Western powers to issue harsh sanctions against the Kremlin. Van Beurden said his company wasn’t as vulnerable to those sanctions as other companies, but said the sanctions pressure had changed the game in terms of an investment perspective. In Ukraine itself, the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Rosneft closes rig acquisition deal

Russian energy company Rosneft said Friday it closed on a deal to acquire Venezuelan and Russian assets from oil services company Weatherford International. "The realization of the deal will allow Rosneft to strengthen its positions on the market of drilling … expand the array of service contractors which will enable to boost efficiency of drilling and hydrocarbons production [and] enhance financial results," the company said in a statement . Rosneft under the terms of the deal acquires 8 companies that are part of Weatherford group conducting drilling operations in Russia and Venezuela. The terms of the deal were disclosed in July. The acquisition for $500 million in cash includes 61 land operations in Russia and six in Venezuela. A combined 8,100 members of the rig staff were transferred to Rosneft at the close of the deal Friday. Weatherford said the plan was part of an effort to streamline business […]

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Beyond oil and reserves, Russia running on empty

For all the sanctions Western leaders can throw at Russia, the biggest threat to President Vladimir Putin’s ability to back separatists in east Ukraine is something beyond his or their control: the price of oil. With Russia’s $2 trillion economy heavily dependent on crude exports, oil prices are always closely monitored by the Kremlin, but the government is particularly wary now as tensions with the West mount and sanctions ratchet up. Such conflicts often push up crude prices, but as long as oil, which accounts for 40 percent of state revenues, remains above the average $104 per barrel written into the 2014 budget, Moscow has little immediate need to worry. The alarm […]

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WTI Trades Near 4-Month Low as Fuel Supplies Expand

West Texas Intermediate headed for its biggest weekly decline since January amid signs of weaker fuel demand in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Its discount to Brent crude widened to the most in five weeks. Futures traded in New York declined 4.4 percent this week as the dollar strengthened before data on U.S. employment today. The nation’s gasoline inventories rose to the highest level in four months last week as demand fell and crude output advanced to the highest since 1986 in early July, government data show. Brent is poised for a weekly decline amid speculation that energy supplies from Russia will be unaffected by further sanctions over Ukraine . “Demand has been a bit sluggish,” Hannes Loacker , an analyst at Raiffeisen Bank International AG in Vienna, said by e-mail. “Shale oil growth in the U.S. and oil sands in Canada lead to the situation that […]

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Natural Gas Futures End Higher on Low Storage Build, Weather

Natural gas prices jumped Thursday after weekly U.S. inventory gains were smaller than expected and weather forecasts turned warmer for the coming weeks. Natural gas for September delivery rose 5.5 cents, or 1.5%, to settle at $3.841 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, their highest level in a week. For the month, prices fell 14%. Prices have been in a prolonged slump amid a series of stronger-than-average stockpile increases and mild weather that has kept gas-fired cooling demand to a minimum. Producers added 88 billion cubic feet of gas to storage in the week ended July 25, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Thursday. It was the second week in a row that the storage gain was less than expected. The U.S. is racing to rebuild stockpiles depleted by extraordinary heating demand during the recent severe winter. Though last week’s inventory […]

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Venezuelans struggle with shortages

o A genie appears from a lamp in the hands of an astonished Venezuelan boy to declare: ”You can ask for anything – except toilet paper!” The world’s highest inflation and shortages of basics from milk to toilet roll are really no laughing matter for Venezuelans, but they find solace in a thriving comedy scene lampooning the governance behind the economic strife. Through cartoons like the genie, stand-up comedy, and online satire, humour has become a prominent and poignant form of criticism as mainstream media exercise more self-censorship. ”Despite oil at $100 a barrel, Venezuela is living through the worst economic crisis of its history … It’s the Midas touch in reverse,” stand-up comic Laureano Marquez told Reuters before entertaining a 600-strong audience at a Caracas theatre. His 90-minute routine delivered a witty critique of problems from food queues and medicine shortages, to government corruption and skewed courts. […]

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Libya Islamic militias declare control of Benghazi

Islamic hard-line militias, including the group accused by the United States in a 2012 attack that killed the ambassador and three other Americans, claimed control of Libya’s second largest city, Benghazi, after overrunning army barracks and seizing heavy weapons. The sweep in the eastern city is part of a new backlash by hard-liners against their rivals ahead of the sitting of a new parliament. In the capital Tripoli, escalating battles Thursday between militias prompted multiple foreign governments to scramble to get out their citizens as thousands of Libyans fled across the border into Tunisia. The weeks-long surge of violence renewed fears that Libya, which has been in chaos since the 2011 civil war that ousted longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, is plunging deeper into civil strife. With a crippled central government and weak army and police, the country’s numerous rival militias have held sway in Libya […]

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Conoco excludes Libya in outlook, posts 2Q gains

said Thursday it saw a strong growth in production from North American shale, but Libyan operations remained shut in for the company. The company said it was discounting Libya in its outlook for the rest of the year. "Production from continuing operations, excluding Libya, was 4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in the second quarter, essentially flat compared with the same period in 2013," its second quarter report said . "Libya production remained shut in as a result of the Es Sider terminal shutdown." Ras Lanuf and Es Sider combine for as much as half of Libya’s full export potential of 1.3 million barrels per day. Libyan production has suffered because of ongoing skirmishes between pro-government forces and rival militias. Early 2014 output has been limited to around 250,000 barrels oil per day. "The company is raising the midpoint of its 2014 full-year production outlook for continuing […]

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China PMIs jump to multi-month highs in July, add to view economy is steadying

China’s factories posted their strongest growth in at least 1-1/2 years in July as new orders surged to multi-month highs, two surveys showed on Friday, cementing bets that the economy is re-gaining momentum after a spate of stimulus measures. The official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) issued by the government climbed to a 27-month high of 51.7 in July, beating forecasts for 51.4. A separate PMI published by HSBC/Markit also rose to 51.7, its best performance in 18 months. A reading above 50 indicates an expansion in activity on a monthly basis, and below that a contraction. Analysts welcomed the data as a sign that the world’s second-biggest economy is enjoying a revival after a rocky spell prompted authorities to launch a volley of support measures, including increasing bank lending to spur growth. Now that looser monetary policy is having its intended effect, some analysts questioned the […]

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Shipping Rates Drop as China Hydro Power Cuts Coal Need

Record production of hydropower from China ’s Three Gorges and newer dams is displacing so much coal that rates to transport it have plunged to about record lows, roiling the shipping market. Daily earnings for Panamaxes, vessels that are about 750 feet long and get most of their spot cargoes from hauling coal, slumped as much as 76 percent this year, getting to within $26 of an all-time low. China started hydroelectric plants this year with enough generation to replace 26 million tons of coal, or about 370 cargoes, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The extra power means less imports and weaker freight rates, Morgan Stanley estimates. While global shipments of iron ore and grain are rising, China’s decreasing appetite for imported coal is a challenge to transporters already seeing weaker rates because of an oversupply of Panamaxes. The world’s second biggest economy’s efforts to curb air pollution will […]

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CGG Plans to Cut Fleet, Jobs After Second-Quarter Loss

CGG SA (CGG) , a seismic surveyor of oilfields, will cut jobs and accelerate reductions in its fleet of vessels after delayed orders led to a second-quarter loss. CGG will shrink its fleet to 13 vessels from 18 by the end of the year and cut about 10 percent of its workforce, or more than 1,000 jobs worldwide, the company said in a statement. Sites in Norway, Nigeria and Venezuela will be closed. That’s an acceleration of the plan unveiled in December for a 25 percent reduction in the capacity of its marine fleet through 2016, Chief Executive Officer Jean-Georges Malcor said on a conference call. The company is “clearly at ease” with its leverage and doesn’t need a capital increase, he said. The surveyor has suffered a drop in demand as oil explorers defer orders for seismic studies to curb spending. CGG deploys equipment that drags behind ships […]

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Wyoming Regulators: Setbacks between Wells, Housing May Be Widened

The spacing between oil and gas wells and residential homes has been an issue that several states have taken up as fracking becomes more widespread and moves closer to existing neighborhoods. Wyoming is the latest state to take up the issue. However, before the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the state’s regulative entity on oil and gas, even comes out with its proposal, residents and the energy industry are already critical. The current spacing in Wyoming between homes and oil wells is 350 feet, according to the Casper Star Tribune. That is less distance than in most other municipalities. The setback in North Dakota and Colorado is 500 feet, while Texas leaves it up to municipalities to decide the distance. Fort Worth requires a spacing of 600 feet, while in Dallas, the distance is 1,500 feet. In Coppell, Texas, wells are prohibited 1,000 feet from a residential or […]

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Exxon Bets on Russia as Rivals Stick to U.S. Wells

As Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world’s largest oil companies, bet on increasing production from Russia, smaller rivals are boosting crude supplies by exiting foreign fields to focus on booming U.S. wells. ConocoPhillips, Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) and Apache Corp. reported rising second-quarter output as they divest international assets. Nationwide, U.S. oil production is at a 25-year high because of advanced drilling techniques that cracked petroleum-rich shale formations. Meanwhile, Exxon’s shares fell the most in almost three years after reporting quarterly oil and natural gas output decreased 5.7 percent to the equivalent of 3.84 million barrels a day, the lowest since the third quarter of 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Exxon is searching Russia ’s Arctic seas for crude as part of a global effort by the Irving, Texas-based company to halt a trend of declining output. “Exxon and companies of similar […]

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Sberbank says sanctions hit global financial system

The headquarters of the biggest Russian bank Sberbank in Moscow, Russia, 03 June 2009. Nizhny Novgorod-based Oleg Deripaska’s GAZ Group, Sberbank and Canadian autoparts maker Magna intend to purchase controlling stake in General Motors’ Opel division, newspaper Delovoy Kvartal reports. EPA/SERGEI CHIRIKOV Sberbank , Russia’s largest lender, said on Friday that its partial blocking from European capital markets under EU sanctions would do nothing to ease the Ukraine crisis . “Including Sberbank of Russia, which has no relation to the geopolitical processes, to the sanctions list undermines the foundations of the global financial system and does not contribute to the easing of the European crisis caused by the situation in Ukraine,” the lender said in a statement, echoing earlier comments from the government. More On this topic IN Europe The EU confirmed on Thursday night that Sberbank and four other Russian state-controlled lenders – VTB […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple