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WTI Declines as Crude Stockpiles Expand at Cushing

West Texas Intermediate fell for the first time in three days as crude stockpiles increased at the biggest U.S. oil-storage hub. Brent was steady in London . Futures dropped as much as 0.5 percent in New York . Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma , the delivery point for WTI contracts, expanded by 508,000 barrels to 20.7 million last week, the Energy Information Administration reported yesterday. That’s the highest level since July. Libya may boost production to 1 million barrels a day by the end of the September, according to state-run National Oil Co. The crude benchmark “took minor losses after the weekly U.S. fuel inventory report from the EIA posted crude gains for Cushing,” Andrey Kryuchenkov , an analyst at VTB Capital in London, said in a report. “The market in London is likely to remain in the current sideways pattern.” WTI for October delivery declined as much as 43 […]

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New gas demand price driver, forecast shows

Bentek Energy, a forecasting unit of energy reporting group Platts, said non-traditional and recovering sources of gas demand could pass the 5 million cubic feet per day mark by 2019. These new sources of demand, from new export facilities for liquefied natural gas to more gas-fired power plants, could be a driver in a future North American shale market. Rocco Canonica, lead author of a 50-page report on demand, said the trends show an era where cheap energy reserves sourced from shale basins in North America may be drawing to a close . "If demand growth reaches its full potential, we could expect a tighter U.S. market and upward price pressure," he said in a statement Wednesday. The American Petroleum Institute, which represents the interests of the energy sector, said the U.S. economy would be better off with more natural gas production, particularly if producers could tap into export […]

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Kurds claim win in latest oil row

A Texas court ruling to dismiss an order to seize Kurdish oil parked off the U.S. coast should give potential buyers confidence, the Kurdish government said. A Texas judge had ordered U.S. Marshals to seize Kurdish oil loaded onto the United Kalavrvta tanker, parked off the coast of Galveston, Texas, in international waters. The semiautonomous Kurdish government and the federal government in Baghdad filed competing claims in Texas, though the court eventually sided with the Kurdish claims that its oil could reach U.S. ports. "The ruling of the Texas court should give confidence to buyers of Kurdistan crude oil in the United States and elsewhere," Kurdish Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami said in a statement Tuesday. The minister said all Kurdish crude oil exports and sales are legal according to the terms spelled out in the Iraqi constitution, a claim countered by Baghdad. The U.S. government in the […]

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Fractures in Arab Gulf alliance a greater threat to oil security than Islamic State

French 15-year-olds thought to be youngest jihadis to travel to Syria In 1981 six Arab monarchies, which today control about a fifth of the world’s oil supply, formed the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC). As the war between Iraq and Iran intensified, the Sunni Arab sheikhdoms of the Gulf peninsula – Saudi Arabia, Oman, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar – originally came together in theory to form a Middle Eastern version of the European Union. Although the group has no formal political charter like the EU, it still provides the only official forum where all six leaders of these oil-rich countries can sit down together to debate and agree on mutually beneficial policies in the region. But the rise of Islamic extremism across the Middle East, America’s growing willingness to deal with Iran and lingering leadership succession issues amongst member states are now unpicking the ties that […]

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Iran Altering Reactor in Bid for Nuclear Deal

Atomic power engineers in Iran have started redesigning a partly constructed reactor in the northwest city of Arak to limit the amount of plutonium it produces, the country’s top nuclear official said Wednesday, expressing hope that the change would help alleviate Western objections that the plutonium could be used in weapons. The official, Ali Akbar Salehi, the director of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, did not specify how much plutonium would be produced under the redesign of the reactor, which officials have said was constructed for the peaceful purpose of creating medical isotopes. But in remarks reported by Iran’s state-run Press TV website, Mr. Salehi said experts at the facility had offered to “redesign the heart of the reactor in order to allay the concerns of some countries.” Both plutonium and uranium can be used as the fuel of nuclear weapons . The Arak reactor is one of […]

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Backing the Kurds will stabilise Iraq

Since US airstrikes began on Islamic State targets in Iraq’s Kurdistan region,  a number of Western countries  have finally decided to empower and arm Iraq’s Kurds in the ever-expanding battle against the radical group. The West has finally made the right decision, as the Islamic State group can only be confronted and defeated with the help of a reliable regional ally such as the Kurds. Western support for the Kurds should be part of a long-term strategy aimed at stabilising Iraq as a whole. In other words, help the Kurds help Iraq. Iraq’s problems are the Kurds’ problems Iraq’s Kurds and Arabs can work together. The retaking of the Mosul dam through a joint Kurdish-Arab force – a dam that the Islamic State could have used to flood cities like Baghdad – proves that not only is intervention in Iraq working but also that these are reliable and organised […]

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Analysis: Kurdistan’s export quest remains unfinished

Analysis: Kurdistan’s export quest remains unfinished In Dohuk province, a pipe-laying machine stands beside sections of 36-inch diameter steel pipe, which await welding. (PATRICK OSGOOD/Iraq Oil Report/Metrography) Nine months after inaugurating its oil pipeline to Turkey, Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is still striving to build a track record of reliable international oil sales.The KRG has scored some notable victories recently, including a U.S. court decision Monday that cleared the way for a Kurdish-chartered ship, the United Kalavryta, to offload more than 1 million barrels of Kurdish exports onto American shores. But even that progress has been equivocal: Monday’s narrow ru… 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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Military Skill and Terrorist Technique Fuel Success of ISIS

BAGHDAD — As fighters for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria continue to seize territory, the group has quietly built an effective management structure of mostly middle-aged Iraqis overseeing departments of finance, arms, local governance, military operations and recruitment. At the top the organization is the self-declared leader of all Muslims, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi , a radical chief executive officer of sorts, who handpicked many of his deputies from among the men he met while a prisoner in American custody at the Camp Bucca detention center a decade ago. He had a preference for military men, and so his leadership team includes many officers from Saddam Hussein’s long-disbanded army. They include former Iraqi officers like Fadel al-Hayali, the top deputy for Iraq, who once served Mr. Hussein as a lieutenant colonel, and Adnan al-Sweidawi, a former lieutenant colonel who now heads the group’s military council. The pedigree of […]

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Islamic State Fills Coffers From Illicit Economy in Syria, Iraq

Islamic State militants have overrun parts of Iraq and Syrian provinces such as Raqqa, above, capturing munitions. The group, formerly known as ISIS or ISIL, raises money through extortion, oil pirating and kidnapping. Reuters The Islamic State runs a self-sustaining economy across territory it controls in Syria and Iraq, pirating oil while exacting tribute from a population of at least eight million, Arab and Western officials said, making it one of the world’s richest terror groups and an unprecedented threat. That illicit economy presents a new picture of Islamic State’s financial underpinnings. The group was once thought to depend on funding from Arab Gulf donors and donations from the broader Muslim world. Now, Islamic State—the former branch of al Qaeda that has swallowed parts of Iraq and Syria—is a largely self-financed organization. Money from outside donors "pales in comparison to their self-funding through criminal and terrorist activities," a U.S. […]

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Islamic State Entrenches in Syrian City as Obama Mulls Next Step

In the Syrian city of Raqqah on the banks of the Euphrates River, Islamic State militants are busy building a capital fit for their followers. Human rights observers say they have stoned women to death for adultery, while residents report that religious textbooks have been imported for schools and the market flooded with black cloaks for girls as young as 6 years old. Even as it wages war on multiple fronts, the group has had time to focus on the details, recruit thousands into its forces and celebrate victories by parading the heads of its enemies. It’s a reflection of how entrenched the group has become in Syria and how difficult it will be to uproot it from the country where it was able to assemble and train enough forces to push into Iraq in June. U.S. airstrikes alone won’t do it and the international community doesn’t have any […]

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Tanzania positioned as LNG hub, BG Group says

BG Group said a test from an appraisal well at the Mzia discovery off the coast of Tanzania yielded a sustained gas flow rate of 101 million cubic feet per day. A similar well last year flowed at 57 million cubic feet per day. BG Group Chief Operating Officer Sami Iskandre said the results are a "critical factor as we progress design of the upstream production facilities and infrastructure" tied to liquefied natural gas development. Last year, energy consultant group Wood Mackenzie published a report saying Tanzania was a part of a growing number of emerging producers in East Africa. The report said output from Tanzania could help regional production increase from the current rate of 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to 1.5 million barrels of oil equivalent. BG Group said test results from offshore developments "provided further support for a hub development to supply a potential […]

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Shell Agrees to Sell Some Nigeria Oil Blocks

LONDON–Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Wednesday it had agreed to sell some of the oil blocks in Nigeria previously earmarked for disposal as the Anglo-Dutch oil group moves forward with its divestment program. Shell said last year it wanted to divest four oil licenses and a pipeline in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, where sabotage and oil theft has dogged oil companies working in the region. "We have signed sales and purchase agreements for some of the oil mining leases but not all that we are seeking to divest," a Shell spokesman said, without providing any details. The sale process "hasn’t yet concluded," the spokesman said. Shell remained committed to Nigeria where it plans to retains offshore production, he said. The divestment, if completed, would be part of $15 billion worth of assets Shell wants to sell by the end of 2015 as it seeks to focus on its more profitable […]

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Russia to take rubles, yuan for oil

For exports from the Novoportovskoye field in the arctic, the company said it would accept the Russian currency, while China could use its own currency for oil delivered from the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline. The switch could help the Russian economy reduce its dependency on the U.S. dollar in an era when Western economies are imposing tough sanctions on Moscow in response to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. Gazprom Neft said it made $2.4 billion in net profits and increased production 4.1 percent during the first half of the year. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, said in a July brief that exports of crude oil, petroleum products and natural gas accounted for 68 percent of all export revenues for Russia in 2013. The first branch of the ESPO pipeline entered service in January 2010. Gazprom Neft started work in the arctic field […]

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Chinese oil demand declines

Apparent oil demand, a reflection of how much oil goes into domestic refineries combined with net oil product imports, decreased 2.1 percent in July year-on-year. From June, apparent oil demand dropped 6.2 percent to 9.61 million barrels per day. "The weakness in China’s oil demand reflects the ongoing slowdown in its economy," James Bourne, Platts associate editorial director for Asia news, said in an emailed statement. That’s in contrast to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which said in its latest monthly oil market report Chinese oil demand should increase another 3.8 percent during the fourth quarter of the year. Asian economies are growing at a faster rate than other major markets. OPEC said in a 97-page annual report published earlier this year that oil demand should increase most notably in China, Thailand and Indonesia. OPEC said commercial oil inventories in China fell by 4.9 million barrels in June […]

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Labor Day gas prices cheapest since 2010

Samir Cook fills up his vehicle at a city-run station on Saturday, July 19, 2014, in Somerset, Ky. The station on the outskirts of Somerset opened to the public on Saturday, selling regular unleaded gas for $3.36 a gallon. In the first three hours, about 75 customers fueled up at the no-frills city station, where there are no snacks, no repairs and only regular unleaded gas. The city’s mayor says he hopes the no-frills station will lower gas prices around town.(Photo: Bruce Schreiner, AP) The late summer slide in global crude oil prices will push the cost of U.S. gasoline to its lowest Labor Day level since 2010. Better yet: Prices are likely to continue dropping to 2014 lows by mid-autumn. Nationally, regular gasoline will average $3.41 a gallon — 18 cents less than 2013’s Labor Day weekend and 42 cents less than the record $3.83 average for the […]

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U.S. liquid fuels production growth more than offsets unplanned supply disruptions

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook August 2014 and IntercontinentalExchange Note: The difference between U.S. liquid fuels and crude oil production represents production of hydrocarbon gas liquids, biofuels, and refinery processing gain. Non-OPEC supply disruptions include both crude oil and liquid fuels, while OPEC disruptions include only crude oil. Growth in oil production and supply disruptions represents changes since January 2011. Record-setting liquid fuels production growth in the United States has more than offset the rise in unplanned global supply disruptions over the past few years, although differences in quality and location suggest that the substitution may not be exactly 1-for-1. U.S. liquid fuels production, which includes crude oil, hydrocarbon gas liquids, biofuels, and refinery processing gain, grew by more than 4.0 million barrels per day (bbl/d) from January 2011 to July 2014, of which 3.0 million bbl/d was crude oil production growth. During that same period, […]

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Conoco’s Bakken Production Up 19% – Q2 2014

Conoco Phillips Bakken Acreage Map Conoco Phillips Bakken Acreage Map | Click to Enlarge Liquids production volumes from Conoco Phillips’ (COP) Lower 48 assets increased by 22% year-over-year thanks largely to the Eagle Ford and the Bakken, company officials reported in their second quarter 2014 report at the end of July. COP production grew by 38% year-over-year to 208,000 boe/d in the Eagle Ford Shale and Bakken Shale plays combined. That’s ~39% of the company’s total production for its Lower 48 asset portfolio. In the Bakken alone, production grew 19% quarter-on-quarter from 43,000 boe/d to 51,000 boe/d. However, company officials expect for the rate of growth to slow in both plays in the second half of the year due to multi-pad drilling effects and weather-related issues in the fourth quarter. Read more :  Conoco Phillips’ Bakken Ford Production Up 80% in Q4 2013 to 43,000 boe/d Conoco’s EVP, Exploration and […]

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Fracking Foes Force Some Oil Drillers to Tread Lightly

A fight over fracking is looming in Texas . Another stand-off is shaping up in Colorado . Yet drillers’ reactions couldn’t be more different. In Texas, drillers are doing their noisy in-your-face fracking as usual. Meanwhile, on a small farm about an hour from the Colorado Rocky Mountains, the oil industry is giving fracking a makeover, cutting back on rumbling trucks and tamping down on pollution. Oil companies in Colorado are responding to a rising tide of resentment as local communities and environmental activists vie to impose measures to ban fracking or restrict drilling. A series of ballot initiatives and other grass roots opposition around the country is seen as threatening the booming shale industry, even in oil-friendly Texas, where the U.S. energy renaissance began. If those initiatives “continue to proliferate then companies lose access to those resources,” said David B. Spence, professor of law, politics and regulation at the […]

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North Dakota gets more gas processing capacity

"We remain committed to meeting the needs of our customers by building essential natural gas and natural gas liquids infrastructure in the Williston Basin," Terry Spencer, president and chief executive officer of ONEOK Partners, said in a statement Tuesday. The company, which has headquarters in Oklahoma, said its gas processing capacity in the area today is five times greater than it was four years ago. More gas processing capacity in the state means less gas associated with oil deposits is burned off, or flared. North Dakota lacks the infrastructure necessary to take full advantage of natural gas associated with oil reserves in the state at the heart of the shale oil and natural gas boom. The state government said, however, that gas processing capacity has increased from 200 million cubic feet per day to 1.3 billion cubic feet per day since 2006. ONEOK said it should have 1.1 billion […]

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Texas oil production up 25 percent from 2013

The Railroad Commission of Texas, the state’s energy agency, said crude oil production in July averaged 2.15 million barrels per day, up from the 1.68 million bpd reported in July 2013. The rise in production reflects a 31 percent increase in the number of drilling permits issued year-on-year. For natural gas, the commission said production of 602 billion cubic feet in June is an 8 percent increase year-on-year. Texas is the No. 1 oil producer in the nation. Combined with North Dakota, the No. 2 producer, they produced 120 million barrels of oil in April, the last full month for which data are available from the U.S. Energy Department. Texas is host to the Eagle Ford shale reserve area, one of the most prolific shale basins in the United States.

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Shell Canada: Oil-Sands Mines May Not Meet Waste Targets

CALGARY—The head of Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s Canadian unit Wednesday said the company may not be able to meet promised targets for reducing toxic wastes from oil sands and called for greater regulatory flexibility. Shell, which operates two major oil-sands surface mines in northern Alberta, had committed to cutting the amount of waste generated by its heavy-oil extraction projects in Canada. But the company and other producers have struggled to meet reduction targets mandated by the government and now face the prospect of penalties if those goals remain unmet. "It’s going to be very challenging" to achieve mandated reduction targets next year, said Lorraine Mitchelmore, president of Shell Canada Ltd. Growth in natural gas and oil sands is a core focus for the energy company, she said, adding the company is committed to its operations in Canada as a "multi-decade opportunity." Ms. Mitchelmore said Shell hopes to link inland […]

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Russian-backed separatists enter southeast Ukraine town

KIEV (Reuters) – Separatists backed by Russian soldiers have entered the town of Novoazovsk in southeastern Ukraine, a pro-government militia fighter said on Thursday. A military source said the separatist forces had also taken Savur-Mohyla, a hill east of Donetsk which gives strategic command over large areas of the territory. The sudden reverses for the Ukrainian military appeared to confirm the arrival of Russian forces to support the separatists, who have in recent weeks been under pressure from government forces in their strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk, the east’s two main cities. "There is military equipment in Novoazovsk which came across the border two days ago from Russia," the fighter, from the so-called Azov battalion which supports the Ukrainian army, told Reuters by telephone. "The equipment is carrying the flags of the DNR (Donetsk People’s Republic) rebels but they are regular Russian forces," the fighter who did not wish […]

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Ukraine Reports Russian Invasion on a New Front

DONETSK, Ukraine — Determined to preserve the pro-Russian revolt in eastern Ukraine, Russia reinforced what Western and Ukrainian officials described as a stealth invasion on Wednesday, sending armored troops across the border as it expanded the conflict to a new section of Ukrainian territory. The latest incursion, which Ukraine’s military said included five armored personnel carriers, was at least the third movement of troops and weapons from Russia across the southeast part of the border this week, further blunting the momentum Ukrainian forces have made in weakening the insurgents in their redoubts of Donetsk and Luhansk farther north. Evidence of a possible turn was seen in the panicky retreat of Ukrainian soldiers on Tuesday from a force they said had come over the Russian border. Russia, which has denied it is helping the insurgents, did not acknowledge the military movements. But the Russians have signaled that they would not […]

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European refiner squeeze seen in W. African crude changes

HOUSTON, Aug. 27 08/27/2014 European refining is pivotal in “a second wave of structural changes” pummeling West African (WAF) crude oil prices in response to growing production of light oil in North America, notes a report from the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, London. “In a way, WAF has become the swing barrel heading into North America,” write Bassam Fattouh, the institute’s director, and Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects. Attractiveness in North America of light WAF crudes depends strongly on price differentials between West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude, they point out. In the first wave of structural change for WAF, rising production of light crude from tight-oil plays backed out imports of WAF crude on the US Gulf Coast, which fell from a high above 1.3 million b/d in 2007 to zero at the end of last year, the analysts note. Meanwhile, growth of railroad […]

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WTI Gains on Positive U.S. Economy Data, Supply Outlook

West Texas Intermediate oil climbed as U.S. durable goods data and consumer confidence boosted economic optimism, while analysts forecast crude supplies fell. WTI gained 0.6 percent after orders for U.S. durable goods jumped in July by the most on record, while consumer confidence reached the highest level in almost seven years. A government report tomorrow will probably show U.S. crude supplies fell 2.5 million barrels last week, according to a Bloomberg survey. Russian President Vladimir Putin began talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, as tensions flared on the two nations’ border. “Things are getting better for the U.S. economy,” Bill O’Grady, chief market strategist at Confluence Investment Management in St. Louis, which oversees $2.6 billion, said by phone. “It’s absolutely undeniable that the U.S. is growing and that’s going to be good for fuel demand. We’ll now see if the U.S. is strong enough to be the locomotive […]

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WTI Trades Near Three-Day High Before Supply Data

West Texas Intermediate traded near a three-day high before a government report forecast to show crude stockpiles dropped for a second week in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent advanced in London. Futures rose 0.3 percent in New York. Crude inventories probably shrank by 2.5 million barrels to 360 million last week, according to a Bloomberg News survey before data from the Energy Information Administration today. The American Petroleum Institute was said to have reported that supplies fell by 1.3 million barrels. Iran is joining efforts to back Iraqi Kurds battling Islamic State militants who have captured swathes of northern Iraq. “That crude draw from last night did support WTI a little,” Andrey Kryuchenkov , an analyst at VTB Capital in London, said by e-mail. Prices will “hold well” if the Energy Department data is similar, he said. WTI for October delivery was at $94.12 a barrel […]

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Natural Gas Closes Lower on Uncertainty Over Warming Forecast

By Timothy Puko NEW YORK–Natural-gas prices closed lower Tuesday with traders unconvinced that a warming forecast would translate into a significant increase in demand. The front-month September contract settled down 2.6 cents, or 0.7%, to $3.911 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The more actively traded October contract settled down 3 cents, or 0.8%, to $3.949/mmBtu. September options expired at close and the contract expires Wednesday. Both contracts flip-flopped around unchanged on a lot of mixed signals, primarily from the weather, analysts said. Though most forecasts showed another spurt of summer heat coming in early September, that wasn’t a unanimous prediction. The warmer forecasts also included signs that cooler fronts could break up or limit the heat likely to hit the south and east. "Without the forecast (for heat) being extended into the first three weeks of September, we don’t really have enough momentum…to […]

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U.S. Mobilizes Allies to Widen Assault on ISIS

WASHINGTON — The United States has begun to mobilize a broad coalition of allies behind potential American military action in Syria and is moving toward expanded airstrikes in northern Iraq, administration officials said on Tuesday. President Obama, the officials said, was broadening his campaign against the Sunni militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and nearing a decision to authorize airstrikes and airdrops of food and water around the northern Iraqi town of Amerli, home to members of Iraq’s Turkmen minority. The town of 12,000 has been under siege for more than two months by the militants. “Rooting out a cancer like ISIL won’t be easy, and it won’t be quick,” Mr. Obama said in a speech on Tuesday to the American Legion in Charlotte, N.C., using an alternative name for ISIS. He said that the United States was building a coalition to “take the fight to these barbaric […]

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Iraq crisis worsens Jordan’s economic woes

Amman, Jordan – As violence escalates in Iraq, neighbouring Jordan is facing a dire economic situation. Trade between the two countries, once a pillar of the Jordanian economy, has dropped dramatically. "The situation is disastrous, as our exports have almost stopped," said Nabeel Rumman, president of the Association of Investors in the Free Zone. Jordanian and foreign investors are not taxed in Jordan’s free zones to encourage trade. Through the free zones, companies were exporting $120m worth of cars and other goods each month to Iraq, according to Rumman, who estimated that the group’s monthly losses total approximately $78m. "Only a few investors have shipped basic things like food and medicine [to Iraq] during the past couple of months," Rumman told Al Jazeera. Iraq previously imported 20 percent of Jordan’s total exports , and in 2013, exports from Jordan to Iraq totalled approximately $1.25bn, according to the Jordan Chamber of Industry […]

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Islamists in Iraq Rely on Mines, Booby Traps in Battlefield Strategy

Islamic State militants are using mines and IEDs to thwart Kurdish Peshmerga forces trying to dislodge them from positions in northern Iraq. WSJ’s Tamer El-Ghobashy reports from the scene. JALAWLA, Iraq—Islamic State insurgents have planted land mines and other explosives to stall a Kurdish push to retake this town, an unfolding battlefield strategy that foes describe as built on patience, the element of surprise and a willingness to take losses. The fighters borrowed the tactic from their predecessors, al Qaeda in Iraq, who used improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, to prevent U.S. forces from retaking ground during the decadelong war that ended in 2011. The strategy has proved effective. Last week, Iraqi troops were slowed by mines planted along highways into the city of Tikrit, causing a stalemate in a renewed counteroffensive against Islamic State fighters there. Repeated Iraqi military attempts to retake Tikrit, a city of about a […]

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DNO Targets Kurdish Oil Exports in Market Opened by U.S. Ruling

DNO ASA (DNO) , the oil producer focused on northern Iraq , said a U.S. court ruling has opened a market for Kurdish crude and it could make its first independent export sales by the end of the year at international prices. A U.S. district judge in Houston yesterday ruled that the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government can take 1 million barrels of crude ashore in Texas even though Iraq’s central government claims ownership of it. That’s “good news” for DNO, which has been cleared by the KRG to export oil independently, Executive Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani said. “That opens up a market, and we’ll walk into that market as well,” he said today in Stavanger, on Norway ’s west coast. “It’s not just a legal matter or political matter, it’s also a matter of having refineries take this oil, run it through their refineries and see how it works.” DNO, […]

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Sanctions hurt South Pars, Iran says

Sanctions targeting the Iranian energy sector have curtailed development of the South Pars natural gas field, the Iranian energy minister said Tuesday. Iranian Energy Minister Bijan Zangeneh said sanctions imposed in response to Iran’s controversial nuclear research program means the Iranian economy is using more fuel oil than it would if South Pars were fully developed. "Unfair sanctions against Iran have delayed the implementation of projects for gas production from the giant South Pars field," he said in a statement. Iran in mid August said natural gas production during the first four months of the Iranian year, which begins March 21, was up 30 percent year-on-year. South Pars accounts for about 35 percent of the total volume of gas produced from Iran. In the past, the government has held out the field’s output as an option for Europe. Zanganeh said in May his government was "always willing" to play […]

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Shell-led group close to selling Nigeria oilfields for $5bn

(FILES) This file photo taken on May 18, 2005 shows Shell’s major oil and gas terminal on Bonny Island in southern Nigeria’s Niger Delta. Nigeria has overtaken South Africa as the continent’s largest economy with a GDP of $453 billion in 2012, officials said on April 6, 2014. The figure is based on a long-overdue rebasing of Nigeria’s gross domestic product to reflect changes in the structure of production and consumption, and compares with South Africa’s 2012 result of $384 billion. AFP PHOTO / PIUS UTOMI EKPEI A Royal Dutch Shell -led consortium is close to selling several Nigerian oilfields for about $5bn to domestic buyers, as foreign companies retreat from sub-Saharan Africa’s oldest oil industry. The price tag for the four oilfields and a key pipeline co-owned by Shell, France’s Total and Eni of Italy has doubled since initial estimates towards the end of last year, highlighting the […]

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Brazil’s Petrobras gets help with pre-salt basin

Oil services company Wood Group Kenny said Tuesday it secured more than $2 million in contracts for work off the coast of Brazil from Petrobras. Program director Hugues Corrignan said the company has a strong relationship with Brazilian energy company Petrobras, a relationship strengthened by new contracts. "We are particularly pleased to be selected to support Petrobras in these challenging projects and have the opportunity to positively contribute to the introduction of innovative technologies in the Brazilian environment," he said in a statement. Wood Group Kenny said it would help Petrobras and its partners develop heated pipeline technology for oil deposits trapped beneath a thick layer of submarine salt, dubbed pre-salt. The oil services company said the technology would be the first ever in a pre-salt environment. The technology targets the Lapa field, located about 170 miles off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Petrobras in December said the […]

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India court’s coal ruling fuels confusion

Day laborers load coal onto a truck at the Goladi coal depot, operated by Coal India Ltd. subsidiary Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. (BCCL), in Jharia, Jharkhand, India, on Saturday, April 5, 2014. Coal India, the world’s largest producer, estimates on its website that the nation faces a supply deficit of 350 million tons by 2016-2017, thereby overtaking import demand from China, the world’s biggest coal consumer and producer. Photographer: Sanjit Das/Bloomberg “Coal is king and paramount lord of industry,” wrote India’s Supreme Court this week. Few in the country’s fuel-starved industrial economy would disagree – hence the dismay that followed when the court ruled as illegal every coal licence given to private sector companies for the past two decades. Since 2012, the threat of sanction has hung over many prominent businesses in sectors such as power and steelmaking, which had been handed exclusive use of so-called “captive” coal mines […]

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China Probes China Resources Power President Wang Yujun, Company Says

China Resources Power Holdings said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it has suspended Mr. Wang. Here, the China Resources Building in Hong Kong, China. Jerome Favre/Bloomberg BEIJING—Prosecutors in China are investigating Wang Yujun, president of state-owned China Resources Power Holdings Co. , the second major official probe to hit the group this year, the company said. The energy investment and production company said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange late Tuesday that it has suspended Mr. Wang from his duties as company president, temporarily replacing him with company chairwoman Zhou Junqing, who also retains her current role. Mr. Wang couldn’t be reached for comment. Mr. Wang will remain an executive director of the company, pending the investigation’s outcome, China Resources Power said. The Communist Party in April ousted Song Lin , chairman of China Resources Holdings Co., the parent company of […]

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Obama Pursuing Climate Accord in Lieu of Treaty

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is working to forge a sweeping international climate change agreement to compel nations to cut their planet-warming fossil fuel emissions, but without ratification from Congress. In preparation for this agreement, to be signed at a United Nations summit meeting in 2015 in Paris, the negotiators are meeting with diplomats from other countries to broker a deal to commit some of the world’s largest economies to enact laws to reduce their carbon pollution. But under the Constitution, a president may enter into a legally binding treaty only if it is approved by a two-thirds majority of the Senate. To sidestep that requirement, President Obama’s climate negotiators are devising what they call a “politically binding” deal that would “name and shame” countries into cutting their emissions. The deal is likely to face strong objections from Republicans on Capitol Hill and from poor countries around the world, […]

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Investment in electricity transmission infrastructure shows steady increase

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Financial Reports, as accessed by Ventyx Velocity Suite There has been a five-fold increase in new electricity transmission investment in the United States by major investors and privately owned companies during the 15 years from 1997 to 2012. The investment increased from $2.7 billion in 1997 to $14.1 billion in 2012—reversing a three-decade decline . The first major wave of electricity transmission investment ended in the late 1960s. It began with electrification in the early 1900s and was driven by increased use of new transmission technology, the growing use of large central station generating plants to serve large areas, and growing electricity demand following World War II. From then until the mid-1990s, investment in transmission infrastructure declined. It has increased since then for several reasons: Improving reliability. In mid-August 2003, an electric power blackout lasted up to four […]

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US coal fundamentals weak, natural gas demand to increase in 2015: Barclays

Investment bank Barclays Tuesday said most market participants believe it will be another year before any improvement is seen in the seaborne metallurgical coal market, while the bank expects US natural gas demand to pick up "significantly" in 2015 as a number of coal-fired power plants are shuttered. Barclays detailed its near-term outlook for the US coal and natural gas markets in its Global Energy Outlook for August. Fixed income analyst Matthew Vittorioso said US coal companies are a challenging place to find value due in part to weak met and thermal coal prices. "The spot price for top quality metallurgical (met) coal has been stuck down at $110-115/[mt] for a couple of quarters now and most market participants think it will be another year before things start to improve," Vittorioso said. Article continues below… Platts Coal Trader provides the latest prices for key benchmark coals, as well as: […]

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The Time for Burning Coal Has Passed

Active Citizens , Active Citizens , Civil Society , Climate Change , Editors’ Choice , Energy , Environment , Europe , Featured , Headlines , Natural Resources , Projects , TerraViva United Nations Anti-coal human chain crossing the Niesse river which separates Poland and Germany, August 2014. Credit: Courtesy of Greenpeace Poland GRABICE, Poland / PROSCHIM, Germany, Aug 26 2014 (IPS) – “People have gathered here to tell their politicians that the way in which we used energy and our environment in the 19th and 20th centuries is now over,” says Radek Gawlik, one of Poland’s most experienced environmental activists. “The time for burning coal has passed and the sooner we understand this, the better it is for us.” Gawlik was one of over 7,500 people who joined an 8-kilometre-long human chain at the weekend linking the German village of Kerkwitz with the Polish village of Grabice to oppose […]

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Norway to Cut Oil-Production Forecasts as Costs Delay Projects

By Mikael Holter Aug 26, 2014 Norway, western Europe’s biggest oil producer, will probably cut its long-term forecast for crude production as companies reduce spending to counter rising costs and improve shareholder returns. As investments in Norway’s oil industry fall after a peak this year, production beyond 2015 will be lower than expected, according to Bente Nyland, head of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. The estimate cuts are expected to be reflected in the NPD’s annual prognosis scheduled to be published in January. “There might be a certain decrease,” she said in an interview in Stavanger today. “It’s capital discipline, it’s costs.” Norway is struggling to sustain oil production that’s more than halved since a peak in 2000 as producers including Statoil ASA (STL) scale back spending plans. The NPD in its latest prognosis in January predicted oil production would rise this year and remain stable through 2018. Still, the […]

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Norwegian energy outlook strong

The Norwegian government could pull in $84 billion in taxes from the natural reserves yet to be developed in its territory, analysis from finds. Energy consulting group Wood Mackenzie said Tuesday it believes there are 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent discovered, but yet to be developed, in Norway. About 60 percent of that could be developed commercially, resulting in $84 billion in taxes and $22 billion in profits for the companies involved. Norway has more oil reserves than any other European country and is one of the largest suppliers of natural gas to the region. Wood Mackenzie analyst James Webb said "strict capital discipline" in Norway, however, means some large discoveries might not be developed. "Despite the obvious obstacles for development, the pipeline for future projects in Norway is strong," he said in a statement Tuesday. The National Petroleum Directorate, a government regulator, said preliminary production figures for […]

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IEA: U.S. LNG won’t matter much for Europe

International delegates are gathered for an annual energy conference in Stavenger, Norway. The theme for the ONS conference , organizers said, is change. Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said the glut of natural gas from North American shale is changing the dynamics of a global energy sector where demand centers are pivoting toward Asian economies. Van der Hoeven said time will tell how much of an impact exports in the form of liquefied natural gas will have on the global marketplace. For the European market, more LNG from North America is not the panacea "talked up by some" in Washington, she said. "As I’m sure many of you in this room already know, a few tens of [billion cubic feet] of LNG will not make much difference, given that OECD-Europe production continues to fall by similar quantities," she said during her Monday address. […]

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UK oil output threatened by platforms running out of juice

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s oil industry is facing the threat of a cascade of North Sea rig closures, unless ageing platforms can urgently source more gas to help squeeze out the remaining barrels. The potential threat to oil revenues looms as Scotland prepares to vote in September’s independence referendum — a debate in which oil production forecasts have become a political football. The affected Northern North Sea (NNS) is a very mature part of the basin where producers are trapped in a vicious circleukbu of falling output, rising costs to patch up ageing platforms, and dwindling power supplies. To lift more oil from these depleted reservoirs, producers need to inject vast quantities of water — a power intensive process that requires a reliable source of energy, known as fuel gas. Some platforms are not able to generate enough of their own fuel so have to try and import the […]

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Oil Trades Sideways Ahead of U.S. Stocks Data

By Eric Yep Crude-oil futures traded in a narrow price range in Asia Tuesday with some support from international tensions but ample supply still dominates market sentiment. On the New York Mercantile Exchange light, sweet crude futures for delivery in October traded at $93.63 a barrel at 0527 GMT–up $0.28 in the Globex electronic session. October Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.13 to $102.78 a barrel. The presidents of Ukraine and Russia will meet in Minsk, Belarus later Tuesday. Tensions are high as a second convoy of vehicles carrying what Russia describes as humanitarian aid tries to enter Ukraine while Kiev accuses Moscow of moving tanks across the border. U.S. and its European allies have condemned escalating violence in Libya after Islamist militias took control of an international airport in Tripoli. Meanwhile, the U.S. is preparing to send surveillance aircraft into Syria to gather intelligence on […]

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WTI Crude Trades Near Seven-Month Low

West Texas Intermediate traded near the lowest price in seven months before supply data that may signal the strength of fuel demand in the U.S, the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent was steady in London . Futures were little changed in New York after falling 0.3 percent yesterday. Crude inventories probably shrank by 1.8 million barrels to 360.7 million last week, a Bloomberg News survey shows before an Energy Information Administration report tomorrow. Stockpiles have risen to the highest level for this time of the year since 1990 amid increased U.S. production. Libya ’s output dropped because of power outages at some fields, according to state-run National Oil Corp. “The U.S. supply side could potentially just keep prices from escalating, barring any geopolitical twists,” David Lennox , a resource analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney, said by phone today. “Fresh production in the U.S. has probably been the key […]

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Oil experts say demand will stay high

Every year in August there is a week-long event — “The Oil & Gas Conference.” It draws an international audience and by most accounts EnerCom is the best on the schedule. This year 118 companies made presentations. If I could only hear one presentation, and attend one breakout session, I’d choose Netherlands-based Core Labs — hands down. “The maximum yearly oil production of the planet is taking place now!” That from CEO Dave Demshur. Core Labs has 70 offices in 50 countries. Their business is analyzing drilling results for all major, and hundreds of smaller companies in the global energy finding industry. Core Labs (CLB $150) has a unique view of the world few others could envision. As a byproduct of their normal business activities, CLB accumulates data about the current status of all major oil and gas basins on the planet. World instability has prompted them to withdraw […]

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New York jet spikes more than 10 cents/gal on low supplies

New York jet fuel differentials skyrocketed more than 10 cents Monday amid high demand at the end of summer and inventories 12% off year-ago levels. Traders said 25,000 barrels traded for delivery into Buckeye Pipeline, which takes jet fuel the final leg into most regional airports, at NYMEX September ULSD futures plus 22 cents/gal, compared with plus 11.50 cents/gal Friday. Sources said Vitol bought from Valero, but at least two other companies also have been bidding up all morning, with few offers. "It might go even higher. It’s nuts," one jet trader said. New York barges and Colonial Pipeline barrels were said to be 1 cent below Buckeye barrels, rising from plus 10.75 cents/gal on Friday. Benchmark New York barges were flat to the NYMEX going into August. US jet fuel stocks reached 1996 lows in early August before rebounding 891,000 barrels to 35.56 million barrels as of August […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple