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Lukoil ships oil from southern Iraqi port

Russian oil company Lukoil said Tuesday a tanker loaded with crude oil taken from the West Qurna project in Iraq has left the southern port city of Basra. Lukoil said Sea Triumph, a tanker chartered by its international marketing subsidiary, left port with 1 million barrels of oil. Lukoil said it’s the first batch of oil from its operations in the West Qurna-2 project in Iraq. "The vessel is bound for Augusta, Sicily," the company said in a statement. "Upon unloading, the oil will be transported for refining to Lukoil’s refinery in Priolo [Italy]." First oil was produced from West Qurna-2 , located in southern Iraq, in March. Lukoil, Russia’s largest private oil company, signed a contract revision in June to build two 75-mile pipelines and associated infrastructure. The system links the oil field to an export terminal in Basra, situated along the coast of the Persian Gulf. The […]

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Iran claims boost in gas production

Iran said Tuesday natural gas production is on the rise and on pace to reach 35 billion cubic feet in the next three years with help from the South Pars field. Iranian Deputy Petroleum Minister Rokneddin Javadi said Iran has stopped importing some types of fuel because production has increased . "During the first four months of the current [calendar] year [which started on March 21], our country’s gas production has increased 30 percent from the year before," he said in a statement Tuesday. Iran has held out its vast gas resources as an option for a European community looking to break the Russian grip on the energy sector. Sanctions imposed by Western powers limit some of Iran’s energy ambitions. Iran was eager to take part in the now-shelved Nabucco natural gas pipeline planned for Europe by sourcing gas from the South Pars field , which accounts for about […]

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China Port Seen as Economic Barometer Plans Cargo Record

Qinhuangdao, home to China’s largest coal port that’s been called an indicator of Asia’s biggest economy, is set for record commodity deliveries over the next three years as urbanization boosts demand for the fuel. Shipments of mainly coal and ores via the port, also a popular resort where the late Chairman Mao Zedong holidayed, may rise by 20 million to 30 million metric tons by 2017, Xing Luzhen, the chairman of Qinhuangdao Port Co. (3369) , said on Aug. 14. Supplies hit a record high of 279 million tons in 2011. Power demand in China, the world’s largest energy consumer, is accelerating as a growing rural population uses more household appliances and as urban residents buy more electric cars, according to Xing. The country depends on coal for 66 percent of its energy, data from the National Energy Administration show. “Qinhuangdao port’s coal business will keep rising together with […]

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LG Chem to Supply Batteries For Audi Plug-In Hybrids

An Audi A3 e-tron hybrid vehicle at the New York auto show in April. Bloomberg News SEOUL—South Korean battery maker LG Chem Ltd. has reached a deal to supply hundreds of millions of dollars of batteries for plug-in hybrid vehicles to Audi AG , a unit of German auto maker Volkswagen AG . LG Chem, the world’s largest battery maker by sales, didn’t disclose details of the deal, but said it would help Volkswagen bolster sluggish global sales of plug-in hybrid or electric vehicles. "The batteries will be used in Audi’s next-generation plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Given that Audi shares many auto platforms with parent Volkswagen, we expect more such deals from the German auto group," LG said in a statement Wednesday. LG Chem didn’t disclose the exact value of the deal, saying only that it is worth hundreds of billions of won. It also declined to reveal when […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Chinese Coal Consumption Just Fell for the First Time This Century

Co Authored by Lauri Myllyvirta, Greenpeace International Sources: Compiled from China National Bureau of Statistics and China National Coal Association statistical releases. There may be a light at the end of the long dark tunnel: It appears China’s coal boom is over. While positive signs have been emerging from China for well over a year , it appears the ‘ war on pollution ‘ is not just talk. According to analysis produced by Lauri Myllyvirta and Greenpeace International in the first half of this year, China’s coal use dropped for the first time this century — while the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) actually grew. You read that right: coal and GDP growth have decoupled in China. At the same time, the growth of imports — the seemingly endless source of optimism for the moribund U.S. coal industry — ground almost to a halt, with only 0.9 percent growth […]

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Agency Issues Two New Safety Recommendations

This July 9, 2013, file photo shows workers combing through debris three days after a train derailed, causing explosions of railway cars carrying crude oil in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. The Canadian Press/Associated Press Canada’s transportation safety agency Tuesday said inadequate Canadian government oversight and a railway company’s "weak safety culture" were among a host of factors that led to last year’s devastating oil-train derailment in Quebec. It also recommended even more measures to strengthen safety in a North American rail network dealing with a surge in the transportation of crude by rail. In the months following the July 6, 2013 accident in Lac-Mégantic, a handful of oil trains crashed and caught fire in the U.S., most recently in April at the edge of downtown Lynchburg, Va. No one was injured in those crashes, but those incidents added to concerns about the proliferation of crude-by-rail shipments across the continent. The Transportation […]

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Texas RRC Report + More About Russia

The Texas RRC Oil and Gas Production Data is out with the June production numbers. I must repeat, as I do every month, that this data is much delayed and is and will be subject to updates every month, for about two years. Of course the latest months will be the ones which will be subject to the greatest revisions. Texas Crude Only I have six months of data here to give you some idea of the revisions that can be expected in the coming months. Texas crude only is still increasing. My guess is that it is increasing by about 40 thousand barrels per month. Texas Condensate Texas condensate declined for three months in June, July and August of 2013 but has now started to increase again. I estimate that Texas condensate is currently increasing but only some months. It looks like Texas condensate production in some months […]

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Raymond James Labels Dry Holes a '20th Century Problem’

The relentless escalation in well productivity is proving as impactful to exploration and production (E&P) operators as are commodity prices, say analysts with Raymond James & Associates Inc. The production growth largely has been credited to the discovery of new resources and the elevated rig count, noted analysts John Freeman, J. Marshall Adkins and Praveen Nara. But that’s not necessarily the headline. "The bigger driver is the fact that, on a per-well basis, production rates have continued to move higher in almost every formation where horizontal drilling is being applied," said the trio. "This more important part of the story is clearly evident" based on recent initial production (IP) rate trends for several horizontal plays, including the Bakken, Eagle Ford and Marcellus shales. Most attention each day is given to commodity prices and now they drive production and E&P value because the price to sell oil and gas has […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Raymond James Labels Dry Holes a ’20th Century Problem’

The relentless escalation in well productivity is proving as impactful to exploration and production (E&P) operators as are commodity prices, say analysts with Raymond James & Associates Inc. The production growth largely has been credited to the discovery of new resources and the elevated rig count, noted analysts John Freeman, J. Marshall Adkins and Praveen Nara. But that’s not necessarily the headline. "The bigger driver is the fact that, on a per-well basis, production rates have continued to move higher in almost every formation where horizontal drilling is being applied," said the trio. "This more important part of the story is clearly evident" based on recent initial production (IP) rate trends for several horizontal plays, including the Bakken, Eagle Ford and Marcellus shales. Most attention each day is given to commodity prices and now they drive production and E&P value because the price to sell oil and gas has […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Plenty of Room at the Top of Ukraine’s Fading Rebellion

DONETSK, Ukraine — To outward appearances, Fyodor D. Berezin is the picture of a senior military commander. He wears camouflage, has bodyguards and confidently gives orders as the newly named deputy defense minister of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic. Yet, just four months ago he was an obscure author of 18 science fiction novels, one play and a dozen or so short stories. In an interview, Mr. Berezin said he was as surprised as anybody by his rapid promotion through the rebel ranks. “Reality became scarier than science fiction,” he said in an interview over iced tea at the Havana Banana bar, a favorite rebel haunt. “I live in my books now. I fell right into the middle of my books.” In the real war in eastern Ukraine, it is an inauspicious time to hold a high command in the separatist forces. Under relentless pounding by the Ukrainian military, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple