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Russia sees EU gas production waning

A report Wednesday from Russia’s National Energy Security Fund finds gas production from EU member states declines 43 percent over the next 12 years when compared with 2013 levels. The research note finds the reduction in gas production is equivalent to the total annual consumption rate of Italy. It says the EU currently is able to meet only 35 percent of its domestic demand for gas and has few export partners outside Russia. A report from Eurostat, the EU statistics office, finds more than 40 percent of the region’s production of energy came from the combined contribution from renewable energy resources and coal. The share of natural gas in the energy mix of the 28 member states was 16.8 percent, while crude oil accounted for the rest. Eurostat said Russian exports of natural gas to EU members declined from 45.2 percent to 29.5 percent between 2002-10, but this trend […]

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Schlumberger expects loss from Russian sanctions

Oil services company Schlumberger said it expects to take a financial hit as a result of Western sanctions targeting the Russian energy sector. The United States, European and Canadian governments are among those targeting the Russian energy sector with sanctions in response to Moscow’s policies in eastern Ukraine and Crimea. Schlumberger said it was monitoring the events to make sure its activities are in line with applicable regulations regarding Russia’s energy sector. The company said the financial impacts should be limited to about 3 cents of earnings per share. "The sanctions are placing some restrictions on the engagement of certain people and equipment in our Russian operations which in the short term will have an impact on operational efficiency and costs in Russia," Schlumberger said in a statement Tuesday. British energy company BP said in July sanctions on the Russian energy sector, particularly oil company Rosneft, could impact business […]

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Ukraine accuses Russia of cynicism over convoy; death toll rises sharply

KIEV/VORONEZH Russia (Reuters) – Ukraine denounced Russia’s dispatch of a humanitarian aid convoy now advancing towards the border as an act of unbounded cynicism serving pro-Russian separatists, and the UN said the death toll in fighting had doubled in the last two weeks to over 2,000. Kiev said the trucks would not be allowed to pass. "First they send tanks, Grad missiles and bandits who fire on Ukrainians and then they send water and salt," Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said at a government meeting on Wednesday. The comments reflected suspicions in Kiev and Western capitals that passage of the convoy onto Ukrainian soil could turn into a covert military action to help pro-Russian separatists now losing ground to government forces. The convoy of 280 heavy trucks rumbled out of Moscow region on Tuesday and traveled some 500 km (300 miles) to the southwestern Russian town of Voronezh. There it […]

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Ukraine Open to Russian Aid If Distributed by Red Cross

Ukraine opened the door to a compromise over humanitarian aid arriving on hundreds of trucks from Russia, saying it could accept the supplies if the Red Cross distributed them in the nation’s war-torn eastern regions. Ukraine also demanded that its own customs and border officers examine the shipments first near a checkpoint into the Luhansk region, where pro-Russian separatists have been battling government troops for months. Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry, didn’t answer a call to her mobile phone seeking comment outside of office hours in Moscow. There were conflicting reports on the location of the truck convoy. “A decision was taken to accept aid for Luhansk to avoid a full-scale invasion from Russia ,” Svyatoslav Tsegolko, a spokesman for President Petro Poroshenko, told reporters yesterday in Kiev. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe would also be involved in checking the cargo that left Moscow […]

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Germany Puts Curbing Russia Ahead of Commerce

BERLIN — Over recent months, something significant has happened in Europe: In the crisis over Ukraine, Germany has assumed leadership not just in its familiar fashion of trying to coax Russia away from belligerence and bluster, but in standing firm and imposing sanctions on Moscow even if they hurt German business. Perhaps even more remarkable is that Germans, long anxious to preserve commercial, energy and cultural ties with their vast eastern neighbor, have gone along. Seventy percent of 1,003 adults polled last week by Infratest dimap for the public broadcaster ARD approved of stricter sanctions; just 15 percent viewed Russia as a reliable partner in a poll with a three-percentage-point margin of sampling error. In marked contrast to France’s leadership, Chancellor Angela Merkel and her government — a united “grand coalition” of center-right and center-left — have kept German businesses apprised of any shift in thinking and made it […]

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Russia vulnerable as oil prices hit nine-month low on IEA 'glut' warnings

A worker of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation checks oil flow of well PK-2 during its inauguration at Ingoli village, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Ahmadabad, India Oil prices have fallen to a nine-month low as surging supply from Opec and the US floods the market and fresh demand wilts, leading to an “oil glut” in the Atlantic region despite the twin crises in Iraq and Russia. The International Energy Agency (IEA) cut its forecast for the rise in global consumption to just 1m barrels a day (b/d) this year due to near recession conditions in Europe and as pervasive weakness in the world economy disappoints. This comes as supply rises by a further 300,000 b/d beyond what was already planned. The warning sent Brent crude prices tumbling to $104 a barrel, the lowest this year. The sudden shift in the balance of the market has allowed the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Russia vulnerable as oil prices hit nine-month low on IEA ‘glut’ warnings

A worker of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation checks oil flow of well PK-2 during its inauguration at Ingoli village, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Ahmadabad, India Oil prices have fallen to a nine-month low as surging supply from Opec and the US floods the market and fresh demand wilts, leading to an “oil glut” in the Atlantic region despite the twin crises in Iraq and Russia. The International Energy Agency (IEA) cut its forecast for the rise in global consumption to just 1m barrels a day (b/d) this year due to near recession conditions in Europe and as pervasive weakness in the world economy disappoints. This comes as supply rises by a further 300,000 b/d beyond what was already planned. The warning sent Brent crude prices tumbling to $104 a barrel, the lowest this year. The sudden shift in the balance of the market has allowed the […]

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Oil Extends Losses, Brent Hits 13-Month Low

By Neena Rai Brent crude oil futures hit a 13-month low in Europe on Wednesday as markets remain well supplied despite geopolitical tensions. Brent crude traded at its lowest since early July 2013 after the International Energy Agency cut global demand forecasts Tuesday for both 2014 and 2015 and said markets remain well supplied, despite events in the Middle East and Ukraine. The U.S. Energy Information Administration also cut its forecast for global oil consumption in 2014 and 2015 in its monthly short-term energy outlook published Tuesday, although it noted slowing oil production growth by countries outside the OPEC cartel. September Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange was down 0.4% at $102.60 a barrel. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September were flat at $97.30 a barrel. "The IEA’s monthly report certainly did not help already downbeat sentiment on Tuesday," said […]

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Brent Falls to 13-Month Low Amid Signs China Is Slowing

Brent crude fell to its lowest intraday level in 13 months after slower industrial output and a plunge in new credit indicated the recovery is at risk in China , the second-biggest oil user. West Texas Intermediate was steady. Futures slipped as much as 0.6 percent in London . China’s broadest measure of new credit plunged to the lowest since the global financial crisis, while the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing said growth in factory production slowed to 9 percent in July from 9.2 percent in June. U.S. government data today may show crude supplies shrank last week, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Libya exported the first oil cargo from Ras Lanuf port since it was closed by rebels a year ago. “The demand side has potential for a bearish surprise as we have growing uncertainty,” said Frank Klumpp, an analyst at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg in Stuttgart, Germany […]

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Stocks firmer as oil prices plumb 13-month low

LONDON (Reuters) – World stock markets ticked higher on Wednesday as brighter corporate results offset gloomy economic news from Asia and as oil prices plumbed 13-month lows as ample supply offset disruption risks posed by tensions in Iraq and Libya. European shares gained ground, helped in part by forecast-beating results from bellwethers such as Swiss Life (SLHN.VX) – whose stock jumped 3.5 percent after the open. The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares was up 0.4 percent, with MSCI’s world stock index .MIWD00000PUS up 0.6 percent. Recent market anxiety over the standoff between Russia and Ukraine ebbed slightly after Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said late on Tuesday that the possibility of Russia’s military invading eastern Ukraine has receded after Moscow agreed to send in humanitarian aid under Red Cross auspices. Russian shares rose 0.4 percent on the reports that the aid convoy would cross the border […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple