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Ukraine convoy attack near Luhansk leaves 'no survivors'

Ukrainian soldier with a Grad rocket launcher (18 August) Both sides in the conflict use Russian-made Grad rockets Continue reading the main story No-one survived an attack on a convoy of refugees in the Luhansk area of eastern Ukraine on Monday, a rebel source has told the BBC. Details of the attack are still unclear but a Ukrainian military spokesman has said 15 bodies have so far been recovered from the scene. Ukraine has accused pro-Russian rebels of attacking the convoy but they have denied involvement. Meanwhile, heavy fighting is reported in the centre of Luhansk itself. The government in Kiev said on Tuesday that street battles were taking place and an interior ministry aide told the Interfax Ukraine agency that the military was recapturing the city "block by block". The city centre was reported to have been shelled on Monday night. Tens of thousands of civilians have fled […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Ukraine convoy attack near Luhansk leaves ‘no survivors’

Ukrainian soldier with a Grad rocket launcher (18 August) Both sides in the conflict use Russian-made Grad rockets Continue reading the main story No-one survived an attack on a convoy of refugees in the Luhansk area of eastern Ukraine on Monday, a rebel source has told the BBC. Details of the attack are still unclear but a Ukrainian military spokesman has said 15 bodies have so far been recovered from the scene. Ukraine has accused pro-Russian rebels of attacking the convoy but they have denied involvement. Meanwhile, heavy fighting is reported in the centre of Luhansk itself. The government in Kiev said on Tuesday that street battles were taking place and an interior ministry aide told the Interfax Ukraine agency that the military was recapturing the city "block by block". The city centre was reported to have been shelled on Monday night. Tens of thousands of civilians have fled […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Russian import ban fuels food price rises

Shopper in St Petersburg supermarket Shopper in St Petersburg: For years the city has imported many basic products from the West Continue reading the main story Related Stories Food prices are rising in parts of Russia and experts say the state embargo on imports of Western food appears to be making things worse. Since the ban was imposed on 7 August imported pork used in processed meat in Moscow has gone up by 6%, Russian business daily Kommersant reports. In St Petersburg food prices have risen 10%. That inflation occurred even before the impact of sanctions. Russia’s ban on many Western foods is retaliation for sanctions over Ukraine. The St Petersburg government’s economic policy chief, Anatoly Kotov, said the pork price had risen by 23.5% and chicken by 25.8%. On Monday, Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said he did not expect the ban on food imports to lead to […]

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UK oil and gas forecasts 'incredibly pessimistic', says Scotland

Scottish oil and gas Among N-56’s recommendations is that a more competitive tax regime is established for the North Sea. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/PA Forecasts of future revenues from North Sea oil and gas by an economics watchdog have been described as "incredibly pessimistic" and could be six times lower than the actual levels, according to a report. The Scottish and UK governments have repeatedly clashed over the future of the industry, particularly around forecasts from the UK Office for Budget Responsibility on the amount of cash it expects to be raised from the North Sea. The Scottish government argues the OBR forecasts are based on a "very low estimate of future total production", while its own figures have been criticised by opponents who claim they are overly optimistic. In July, the OBR chairman, Robert Chote, revealed the body was now forecasting that revenues of £61.6bn would be raised between […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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UK oil and gas forecasts ‘incredibly pessimistic’, says Scotland

Scottish oil and gas Among N-56’s recommendations is that a more competitive tax regime is established for the North Sea. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/PA Forecasts of future revenues from North Sea oil and gas by an economics watchdog have been described as "incredibly pessimistic" and could be six times lower than the actual levels, according to a report. The Scottish and UK governments have repeatedly clashed over the future of the industry, particularly around forecasts from the UK Office for Budget Responsibility on the amount of cash it expects to be raised from the North Sea. The Scottish government argues the OBR forecasts are based on a "very low estimate of future total production", while its own figures have been criticised by opponents who claim they are overly optimistic. In July, the OBR chairman, Robert Chote, revealed the body was now forecasting that revenues of £61.6bn would be raised between […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil Futures Fall, Brent Crude Drops Below $103/bbl

By Eric Yep Crude-oil futures dropped in Asian trade Monday, reversing most of Friday’s gains as investor sentiment remained largely bearish. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September traded at $96.67 a barrel at 0624 GMT, down $0.68 in the Globex electronic session. October Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.93 to $102.60 a barrel. Despite Nymex and Brent gaining on Friday on reports of Ukraine destroying a Russian convoy, oil prices registered a loss for the week ended Aug. 15. For the whole of last week, Nymex September crude lost 30 cents, and has been lower for four consecutive weeks; Brent crude for October lost $2.09 and has been down for two of the past three weeks. Money managers such as hedge funds continued to cut their bullish bets on WTI crude in the week ended Aug. 12, according […]

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Brent Falls as Iraqi Kurds Retake Most of Mosul Dam

Brent crude fell after Iraq ’s Kurds recaptured most of the country’s largest dam from Islamist militants. West Texas Intermediate declined in New York . Futures dropped as much as 1.1 percent in London , extending a 1.4 percent loss last week. Kurdish forces took control of the Mosul dam as the deployment of U.S. air power in the campaign helped reverse some of the gains made by Islamic State militants in the north. Production in Libya, also an OPEC member, increased to 540,000 barrels a day as the port of Es Sider prepared to ship crude, according to National Oil Corp. “Prices are sliding again and likely to break into fresh low ground, perhaps today, certainly this week,” Christopher Bellew , senior broker at Jefferies International Ltd., said by e-mail. “The civil war in northern Iraq has stabilized without the Islamic State moving towards Baghdad . Although IS […]

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Natural Gas Slides in Cool Weather

It has been a cruel summer for natural-gas investors. Gas prices were buoyed in early June by low supplies and the prospect for a hot summer, which would boost demand for the fuel. But temperatures have been tepid, with weather forecasts through the end of August turning cool. Prices have lost 20% since mid-June, ending Friday at $3.776 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a nearly three-week low. If the end-of-summer outlook holds true, it will serve as a fitting coda to a mild season that has kept demand in check and allowed producers and utilities to rebuild inventories badly depleted last winter. Utilities burn natural gas to generate electricity, and a hot summer can boost demand for gas to run air conditioning in homes and businesses. In the winter, natural gas is used to warm more than half of the homes in the […]

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Kurds push to drive militants from Mosul Dam with U.S. air support

DOHUK Iraq (Reuters) – Kurdish fighters pushed to retake Iraq’s largest dam on Sunday in an attempt to reverse gains by Islamic State insurgents who have overrun much of the country’s north, officials said. Islamic State militants have seized several towns and oilfields as well as Mosul Dam in recent weeks, possibly giving them the ability to flood cities or cut off water and electricity supplies. Asked about a Kurdish push to dislodge the militants on Sunday, a Kurdish official said they had not retaken the dam itself but had seized "most of the surrounding area". Islamic State militants have told residents in the area to leave, according to an engineer who works at the site. The engineer said the militants told him they were planting roadside bombs along roads leading in and out of the facility, possibly in fear of an attack by Kurdish fighters who have been […]

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China Confronts Its Coal Problem

The Chinese government has indicated a strong desire — and made some specific proposals — to reduce its reliance on coal, a step that would be a welcome development for the Chinese people and the planet as a whole. But there is a lot we don’t know yet about Beijing’s strategy and whether it will be bold enough to have a meaningful effect on local air quality and climate change. State-owned news outlets reported this month that the government would ban the use of coal in Beijing and other urban areas by 2020 in an effort to reduce the noxious air pollution that chokes many cities. In July, a Chinese academic who is also a senior lawmaker said the government was considering a national cap on coal use as soon as 2016. China is the world’s largest consumer of coal , using about 45 percent of the global total. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple