Category:

2015 Carries Risks for Oil Prices

Expansions by U.S. refiners might not come soon enough to keep crude prices afloat in 2015, as the companies rush to add capacity to process more shale oil, Credit Suisse says. Bloomberg News This year, the market has managed to stave off threats of an oversupply by processing more oil and importing less. As crude production keeps rising, the challenge will be to keep prices from tanking next year. “2015 looks a slightly more risky year for U.S. crude prices versus Brent than 2014,” Credit Suisse says. Brent is the global oil benchmark. Despite growing production, the benchmark U.S. oil price has traded just $7.68 a barrel below Brent, on average, this year, up from an average discount of $10.59 a barrel in 2013, according data provided by FactSet. The reason: New pipelines cleared bottlenecks, allowing oil supplies to more easily reach refineries on the Gulf Coast. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

LG Chem Working on Battery to Rival Tesla's Range

GM’s Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid currently gets fewer than 85 miles in range on a single charge. Getty Images The electric car era may hit in 2017 when at least two battery-powered cars that can attain 200 miles of driving range and cost less than $40,000 enter the market. In addition to Tesla Motors Inc. ‘s forthcoming Model 3, a leading battery maker says it is preparing a pack for an electric car that is more than double that of most vehicles on the road today, but at a similar price. "We are definitely working on making a 200-mile-range battery electric vehicle at around the $30,000 to $35,000 price target," said Prabhakar Patil, the chief executive officer of LG Chem Power Inc., a U.S.-based research arm of the South Korean battery company. "It’s more than a possibility. We feel we will be able to support such a vehicle around […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

LG Chem Working on Battery to Rival Tesla’s Range

GM’s Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid currently gets fewer than 85 miles in range on a single charge. Getty Images The electric car era may hit in 2017 when at least two battery-powered cars that can attain 200 miles of driving range and cost less than $40,000 enter the market. In addition to Tesla Motors Inc. ‘s forthcoming Model 3, a leading battery maker says it is preparing a pack for an electric car that is more than double that of most vehicles on the road today, but at a similar price. "We are definitely working on making a 200-mile-range battery electric vehicle at around the $30,000 to $35,000 price target," said Prabhakar Patil, the chief executive officer of LG Chem Power Inc., a U.S.-based research arm of the South Korean battery company. "It’s more than a possibility. We feel we will be able to support such a vehicle around […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Ukraine Approves Red Cross-Led Aid Mission to East

Ukrainian forces on Monday zeroed in on rebel strongholds as the government welcomed an international humanitarian relief mission into the rebellious east involving Russia, the United States and the European Union. The mission will be conducted under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The organization said in a statement it is ready to facilitate the operation with the involvement of all sides concerned following a Russian initiative to provide humanitarian assistance to people in eastern Ukraine. It wasn’t clear when the deliveries would start. "The practical details of this operation need to be clarified before this initiative can move forward," said Laurent Corbaz, the ICRC’s head of operations for Europe and Central Asia. Moscow had long urged Kiev to allow the aid delivery, but Ukraine and the West previously had opposed the move, fearing that it could serve as a pretext for […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Russia sending aid convoy to Ukraine despite Western warnings of 'invasion pretext'

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday Russia is sending an aid convoy to eastern Ukraine despite urgent Western warnings against using humanitarian help as a pretext for an invasion. With Ukraine reporting Russia has massed 45,000 troops on its border, NATO said there was a "high probability" that Moscow could intervene militarily in the country’s east, where Kiev’s forces are closing in on pro-Russian separatists. Western countries believe that Putin – who has whipped up the passions of Russians with a nationalist campaign in state-controlled media since annexing Crimea from Ukraine in March – could now send his forces into the east to head off a humiliating rebel defeat. Thousands of people are believed to be short of water, electricity and medical aid due to the fighting, but U.S. President Barack Obama told his Ukrainian counterpart that any Russian intervention without Kiev’s consent would be unacceptable […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Russia sending aid convoy to Ukraine despite Western warnings of ‘invasion pretext’

President Vladimir Putin said on Monday Russia is sending an aid convoy to eastern Ukraine despite urgent Western warnings against using humanitarian help as a pretext for an invasion. With Ukraine reporting Russia has massed 45,000 troops on its border, NATO said there was a "high probability" that Moscow could intervene militarily in the country’s east, where Kiev’s forces are closing in on pro-Russian separatists. Western countries believe that Putin – who has whipped up the passions of Russians with a nationalist campaign in state-controlled media since annexing Crimea from Ukraine in March – could now send his forces into the east to head off a humiliating rebel defeat. Thousands of people are believed to be short of water, electricity and medical aid due to the fighting, but U.S. President Barack Obama told his Ukrainian counterpart that any Russian intervention without Kiev’s consent would be unacceptable […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Ukraine Says It Is Near End of Operation to Surround Rebels

The Red Cross said it’s working on getting aid to rebel-held areas of east Ukraine, where government forces have encircled major cities, as the U.S. warned Russia not to use the mission to send in troops. The situation in the city of Luhansk and other areas “is critical — thousands of people are reported to be without access to water, electricity and medical aid,” Laurent Corbaz, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross ’s operations for Europe, said in an e-mailed statement today. Still, “the practical details of this operation need to be clarified before this initiative can move forward.” The ICRC met with Ukrainian and the Russian authorities and passed on documents specifying the manner in which such an operation could take place, the Geneva-based organization said. One requirement is that all sides must guarantee the security of Red Cross staff and vehicles for the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Rumors fly over EU, Russian, Ukrainian gas talks

Russian state media reports Monday sources inside the European Union say they expect to hold another round of gas talks with Russia and Ukraine in September. "A meeting on energy issues is being prepared, in particular on gas," a source in the European Union was quoted as telling Russia’s state-controlled RIA Novosti . "I hope that the trilateral ministerial format will resume in September." Last week, citing a source in the Russian Energy Ministry, RIA reported talks between Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and European Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger were scheduled for the end of August . European leaders are trying to diversify a natural gas sector that depends heavily on Russia. Most of the gas Russia sends to Europe runs through a Soviet-era pipeline network in Ukraine and ongoing crises there add a layer of risk to the European energy sector. No venue was announced […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Greenpeace doubts British fracking survey

Greenpeace said a British survey showing public support for hydraulic fracturing is biased because the industry itself was behind the assessment. Research group Populus conducted a survey for U.K. Onshore Oil and Gas that found more than half of the 4,000 people it surveyed expressed support for hydraulic fracturing in the country, compared with 27 percent expressing no opinion and 16 percent opposed. A spokesman for Greenpeace said the poll was biased because it was backed by the oil and gas industry. "This is just more smoke and mirrors to hide the obvious fact that fracking remains a highly controversial industry, far less popular than clean and safe alternatives like wind and solar," the spokesman said . The government in July announced it was opening up the bidding process for shale deposits in the country. The British Geological Survey estimates the country has enough shale on hand to meet […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Kara Sea reserves unrivaled, Rosneft says

| License Photo Operations with Exxon Mobil in the arctic waters of the Kara Sea should be on par with those in North America or Saudi Arabia, Russian oil company Rosneft said. Rosneft announced it started work with Exxon in the northern region that it said would help address international energy security concerns. "Comparing this project in terms of a resource base to other projects, we can say for sure that it is highly competitive with the largest resources, such as the resource base of Saudi Arabia, and will by far surpass the capacities of the Gulf of Mexico Shelf, Alaska and Canada," Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin said Saturday. Rosneft positioned the West Alpha rig , provided by Norwegian company North Atlantic Drilling, at the East Prinovozemelskiy-1 license area in the Kara Sea. The company said the entire area could hold as much as 87 billion barrels […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple