Category:

Norway oil fund sets out expansion plans

Norway’s $885bn oil fund is shaking up its top executives after criticism about its investment in Formula 1 and worries about how it will deal with its growing size. Norges Bank Investment Management, the arm of the central bank that manages the fund, will double the number of top executives to 12, creating new positions for compliance and several in its nascent property portfolio. More On this topic IN Capital Markets Three chief investment officers will be appointed to take over the asset allocation responsibilities currently held by chief executive, Yngve Slyngstad. “We are moving in the direction of trying to exploit the fund’s characteristics more clearly,“ Mr Slyngstad said to explain the move to three CIOs for allocation, asset and equity strategies. The CIOs will deal with both equities and bonds as well as benchmark indices increasingly tailored for the fund and its long-term outlook. The shake-up is […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Russian President Vladimir Putin to Meet With Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko

Ukrainian soldiers walk in a trench as they guard their position in the Luhansk region on Monday. AFP/Getty Images Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his Ukrainian counterpart next week for the first time in two months, officials in both countries said, intensifying a fresh diplomatic push that could force Ukraine’s government to choose between pressing ahead with its military campaign against pro-Russia separatists or making concessions to Russia to stop the bloodshed. Calls for a cease-fire are growing louder from both Moscow and Europe amid a deepening humanitarian crisis. But Ukrainian politicians and voters are deeply skeptical of agreeing to a truce now, since doing so could give separatists the chance to consolidate control over some territory and provide Russia with a long-term mechanism to influence events in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said the meeting in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 26 could lead toward a peace plan to end […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

European Gas Reverses Biggest Drop Since 2009 on Ukraine

European natural gas prices are reversing their biggest slump in five years as concern mounts that tension between Russia and Ukraine will again disrupt flows to the region. Gas for next-month delivery in the U.K. rallied 18 percent over the past six weeks as Ukraine said it may ban OAO Gazprom, Europe’s biggest supplier, from shipping the fuel across its territory because of Russia’s support of separatists. The Moscow-based company, which meets 15 percent of European gas demand through Soviet-era pipelines across Ukraine, halted supplies to its neighbor on June 16 in a debt and price dispute. Gas storage in Ukraine is less than half full and the nation began this month to limit domestic use to conserve fuel. U.K. prices, the regional benchmark, fell to their lowest since 2010 last month after a mild winter left storage sites across the 28-nation European Union at their fullest for this […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Russian President Vladimir Putin to Meet With Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko

Ukrainian soldiers walk in a trench as they guard their position in the Luhansk region on Monday. AFP/Getty Images Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his Ukrainian counterpart next week for the first time in two months, officials in both countries said, intensifying a fresh diplomatic push that could force Ukraine’s government to choose between pressing ahead with its military campaign against pro-Russia separatists or making concessions to Russia to stop the bloodshed. Calls for a cease-fire are growing louder from both Moscow and Europe amid a deepening humanitarian crisis. But Ukrainian politicians and voters are deeply skeptical of agreeing to a truce now, since doing so could give separatists the chance to consolidate control over some territory and provide Russia with a long-term mechanism to influence events in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said the meeting in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 26 could lead toward a peace plan to end […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Bulgaria puts South Stream on hold

The Bulgarian government said it was suspending all actions related to the planned Russian natural gas pipeline, South Stream, because of European rules. Bulgarian Minister of Energy and Economy Vasil Shtonov called Monday for a suspension of all actions on South Stream because "the project does not meet the legal requirements of the European Commission." European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger in June said the South Stream project should be put on hold because it’s not in compliance with legislation passed in the European Union . European leaders are wary of allowing companies that produce gas to control the corresponding transit systems. South Stream is a Russian gas pipeline meant to avoid geopolitically sensitive territory in Ukraine. Russia meets about a quarter of Europe’s gas needs, though the bulk of those supplies run through the Soviet-era transit network in Ukraine. In May, Gazprom said it signed the necessary contracts needed […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Construction on Russian gas line to China slated for September

Construction on a natural gas pipeline meant to feed the Chinese market is set for the beginning of September, a Russia official said Tuesday. A pipeline contract between Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp. is for 30 years and calls for 1.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas per year. Russian energy company Gazprom said it started working on the infrastructure necessary for the pipeline almost immediately after signing a contract for gas to China in May. A Russian source told state news agency RIA Novosti construction on the pipeline should begin next month. "Sept. 1 is a tentative date, and it will all depend on the schedules of the country’s leaders," the source said Tuesday. Gazprom has been looking to expand into the growing Asian market in an effort to diversify an asset base tied to a European economy still struggling to grow. Ongoing disputes over gas debt […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Statoil formally opens new production platform

Norwegian oil company Statoil said Tuesday the nation’s prime minister attended a ceremony for the launch of its first new regional oil platform in nine years. Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg opened the Gudrun platform in the North Sea , the first new oil platform operated on the Norwegian continental shelf since 2005. "Gudrun has proven that we are able to take our industry into a new era with global competition and local value creation," Statoil Chief Executive Officer Helge Lund said in a statement. Statoil, alongside its partners at French energy company GDF Suez and Austria’s OMV, said the field should produce as much as 184 million barrels of oil and gas equivalent over its lifespan. Discovered in 1975, the Norwegian company described it as a megaproject, representing more than $1.9 billion in investments. Initial production from Gudrun is estimated at 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Crude-Oil Futures Bounce in Europe

Crude-oil futures rose in Europe Tuesday, bouncing after the previous session’s slump. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September traded at $96.70 a barrel in morning European trade, up $0.29 on the day. October Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.22 to $101.82 a barrel. Oil prices fell to 14-month lows on Monday amid concern over rising supply in Libya. Oil production in the country has been held well below capacity in recent months due to labor unrest and port closures. However, exports are now increasing, and the state-owned National Oil Co. is planning to restart exports at the country’s largest oil port, Es Sider, this week. Despite steadying Tuesday, oil prices look likely to remain in a downward trend, analysts at Commerzbank said. Oil "is still under pressure from a combination of factors: plentiful supply, a lack of supply […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

WTI Crude Rises Before Supply Data; Brent Close to 14-Month Low

West Texas Intermediate advanced for the second time in three days before supply data that may signal the strength of fuel demand in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent traded near the lowest in almost 14 months. Futures climbed as much as 0.7 percent in New York . Crude stockpiles probably fell by 1.75 million barrels to 365.3 million last week, a Bloomberg News survey showed before an Energy Information Administration report tomorrow. CVR Energy Inc. (CVRR) ’s refinery in Coffeyville, Kansas is restarting operations, Genscape Inc. said yesterday. Brent plunged yesterday as Kurdish and Iraqi forces regained control of Iraq ’s largest dam, stalling an advance by Islamic State militants. “WTI is being supported by the restart of the Coffeyville, Kansas, refinery, and by the expectation of a draw in U.S. crude oil inventories,” Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates Ltd. in London , […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Slump in Oil Prices Continues on Reduced Geopolitical Fears

By Nicole Friedman NEW YORK–Oil prices slid Monday as Iraqi and Kurdish forces made gains against Islamic insurgents, reducing investor concerns about threats to Iraq’s oil production and exports. Iraqi and Kurdish forces recaptured the core of a critical dam on Monday. Militants had seized the dam Aug. 7. Oil prices jumped to nine-month highs in June when Sunni insurgents first captured cities in northern Iraq, as traders worried that the insurgents could spread to the south of Iraq, where the country’s oil production and exports are based. The current campaign is the latest indication to market watchers that Iraq’s oil output isn’t in immediate risk. "The Iraq situation, although very troubling, has not resulted in any real disruption of oil coming out of the fields there," said Richard Soultanian, co-president of NUS Consulting Group. Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell 94 cents, or 1%, to $96.41 a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple