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U.S. Breaks Siege on Iraqi Mountain, Defense Officials Say

WASHINGTON — Defense officials said late Wednesday that United States airstrikes and Kurdish fighters had broken the siege on Mount Sinjar, allowing thousands of Yazidis trapped there to escape. An initial report from about a dozen Marines and Special Operations forces who spent the last 24 hours on the mountain said that “the situation is much more manageable,” a senior defense official said in an interview. “A rescue effort now is much more unlikely,” the official said. Defense officials could not say how many Yazidis remained on the mountain, but Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was expected to make an statement later Wednesday night. The announcement came after American military advisers landed on Mount Sinjar early Wednesday to begin assessing how to organize the evacuation. The United States had said it would consider using American ground troops to assist in the rescue if recommended by the military team.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Maliki Plans to Carry Bid for Power to Iraq Courts

BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said Wednesday that he would press ahead in the Iraqi courts with his increasingly unlikely bid to retain power, and would not turn to the army. With so many political forces now aligned against Mr. Maliki, including the United States and Iran, and with his retreat from veiled threats to use force, the political crisis that has gripped Baghdad in recent days diminished in intensity, though it has not been completely resolved. In his weekly speech, Mr. Maliki said he was refusing to step aside because “we are defending the right of those who have voted” in the country’s election in April, in which his Shiite-led bloc won the most seats, though not a majority, in Parliament. “They voted in difficult conditions, because they are aware that Iraq cannot be built unless the right people come to office,” Mr. Maliki said, referring […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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The forgotten front

Outside the zone of American air strikes, Kurdish forces are reeling as insurgents advance in Jalawla, extending their control into a key pocket of land between Kirkuk, Sulaimaniya, Baghdad and Iran. The forgotten front Kurdish Peshmerga pray at an outpost in Jalawla on July 9, 2014, one month into the fight against ISIS. (FERIQ FEREC/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) Peshmerga forces are continuing to lose ground to extremist militants in northeastern Iraq, highlighting critical vulnerabilities of Kurdish defenses outside the limited zone of U.S. air strikes.The five-day American bombing campaign has blunted the momentum of insurgents on the western half of Kurdistan’s 1,000-kilometer border with the so-called Islamic State (formerly the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS).But to the east, near the border with Iran and along a strategic route… This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Mexico Outlines Plan to Open Oil Fields to Private Companies

Workers perform maintenance on the Laurus oil-drilling rig operated by Petroleos Mexicans (Pemex) at Campeche Bay off the coast of Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico, earlier this month. Bloomberg News MEXICO CITY—Mexico on Wednesday set aside the bulk of its currently active oil fields for Petróleos Mexicanos but said private companies will be allowed to bid on four-fifths of prospective resources as the government ends the national oil firm’s seven-decade monopoly. Officials hope that the bidding, starting as soon as next year, will spark an energy boom. Pemex’s chief executive said the new competition will help the company, making it more efficient. "Pemex has been waiting for these changes for decades," CEO Emilio Lozoya said in an interview at its headquarters here. "We’re committed to making sure that Pemex continues to be not only the largest company in Mexico, but to regain the largest spot in Latin America and be […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Pemex Granted All Probable Reserves Sought in Oil Opening

Petroleos Mexicanos , preparing for the end of its 76-year state oil monopoly, was granted rights to all the proved and probable oil reserves it sought for development as Mexico opens its doors to foreign competition. Pemex, as the state-owned company is known, will maintain 83 percent of the country’s so-called 2p reserves and 21 percent of potential reserves, Energy Minister Pedro Joaquin Coldwell said today in Mexico City. Mexico’s investment in fields will be $50 billion in 2015-2018, he said during a presentation of the non-competitive bidding known as round zero. The opening of Mexico’s energy industry to private investment is considered to be on a scale with the North American Free Trade Agreement in terms of economic significance, Alberto Ramos , chief Latin America economist at Goldman Sachs, said in an Aug. 7 research note. The energy ministry will now prepare for the first round of open […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Only 9 Chinese Cities Pass Clean Air Test

Photo A street scene in Beijing, where 20 million residents regularly experience unhealthy levels of pollution. A street scene in Beijing, where 20 million residents regularly experience unhealthy levels of pollution.Credit Wang Zhao/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images If you are looking for a Chinese city with clean air, your best bets would be Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Zhoushan, Zhanjiang, Yunfu, Beihai, Haikou, Sanya or Lhasa, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Those are the only nine out of 161 monitored cities that met China’s new air quality standards in the first half of this year, the ministry announced on Wednesday. The stricter standards were rolled out by the government in 2012 as part of a continuing battle with air pollution in the country, the state news agency Xinhua reported . Chinese leaders have vowed a “war” on pollution as one of its most visible forms, smog, regularly envelops the country’s […]

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Ukraine races to beat Russian humanitarian aid convoy

epaselect epa04351827 A picture made available 13 August 2014 shows the Russian convoy carrying humanitarian aid for residents in rebel eastern Ukrainian regions moving along a road in the city of Voronezh, about 530 km from Moscow, Russia, 12 August 2014. Ukraine said that any foreign humanitarian aid will have to be delivered by the International Committee of the Red Cross, dealing a blow to a large Russian convoy en route to the country’s embattled east. The Ukrainian government fears the Russians could be supplying arms to separatists, under the guise of supplying 2,000 tons of food and medicine to civilians in the rebel-held areas. EPA/KIRILL USOLTSEV/MOE-ONLINE.RU The Russian convoy moves along a road in the city of Voronezh, about 530 km from Moscow on Tuesday. The convoy was still there on Wednesday. The road forks at the city, allowing two routes into Ukraine Kiev sent its own convoy […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. oil production at 27-year high

The Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, said in its monthly short-term market report total U.S. crude oil production reached 8.5 million barrels per day in July, the highest monthly level since April 1987. EIA said oil production for full year 2014 should hold to the July level before rising by 9.3 million bpd in 2015, which would be the highest annual average level of production since 1972 . The highest annual average was 9.6 million barrels per day in 1970. EIA said in its report oil production from the Gulf of Mexico is expected to increase 15 percent from last year to finish 2014 at 1.44 million bpd, as nearly a dozen new projects come on stream. The rise in domestic oil production in turn means lower imports of foreign crude oil. EIA said imports nearly halved from 2005 to average 33 percent of […]

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Enno Peters’ post + EIA DPR Report

The first half of this post is a guest post by Enno Peters. The second half is taken from the latest EIA Drilling Productivity Report. GEOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF WELL QUALITY IN NORTH DAKOTA by Enno Peters SUMMARY I was interested in doing a geographical analysis of the oil production in North Dakota. Detailed information made freely available by the NDIC allowed me to analyze how, geographically, wellperformance has been changing over time, in the area of North Dakota where most oil is produced. RESULTS In the following animated gif, you will see part of North Dakota. It contains the North West corner that borders Montana and Canada. The scale is in miles, with a rather arbitrary origin. Projected on this map is a contour map. The numbers of these contours are the cumulative 1 year returns for wells drilled within that area, and the unit is 1000 barrels of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple