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Kurdish Forces Reverse Militant Gains as U.S. Continues Airstrikes

BAGHDAD—Kurdish forces said they retook two important parts of northern Iraq on Sunday, reversing gains by Islamist militants while U.S. warplanes conducted a third day of airstrikes on the insurgents. The advance of the radical Sunni group Islamic State into the semiautonomous region last week sparked a humanitarian disaster and prompted the first U.S. military intervention in Iraq in three years. Kurdish fighters overtook Islamic State positions in Makhmur District, a region north of the city of Kirkuk, and the nearby town of Gwair. The fighters, who until recently had called themselves the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, also known as ISIS or ISIL, had taken over the two towns last week as part of a broader push toward Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region. The U.S. State Department on Sunday relocated "a limited number" of staff from the American embassy in Baghdad and the U.S. consulate […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Capitalizing on U.S. Bombing, Kurds Retake Iraqi Towns

With American strikes beginning to show clear effects on the battlefield, Kurdish forces counterattacked Sunni militants in northern Iraq on Sunday, regaining control of two strategic towns with aid from the air. The American airstrikes, carried out by drones and fighter jets, were intended to support the Kurdish forces fighting to defend Erbil, the capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, according to a statement by the United States Central Command. They destroyed three military vehicles being used by the militant group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and damaged others, the statement said, adding that the warplanes also destroyed a mortar position. The wreckage of three heavily armed trucks lay twisted and scorched in Gwer, one of the recaptured towns, a few hours after the strikes, and body parts from at least three militants were scattered nearby. Kurdish militiamen, known as pesh merga, confirmed seeing […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iraq’s political situation appears dire as prime minister fiercely digs in

Special forces teams and army tanks surrounded the Green Zone housing Iraq’s government as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki fiercely clung to power Sunday, taking the stability of the country to the brink at a moment when it is already facing a lethal challenge from radical Islamist fighters. In actions that had all the markings of a political coup, Maliki gave a defiant late-night speech in Baghdad saying he would lodge a legal case against the country’s president, who has resisted naming him as the candidate for another term as prime minister. Tanks rumbled onto major bridges and roads in the capital as security forces were put on high alert, with militiamen also patrolling Shiite neighborhoods. The special forces teams surrounding the Green Zone were taking orders directly from the prime minister, security officials said. Maliki’s critics blame him for overseeing the de facto fragmentation of the country, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil fields remain beyond reach of frontline fight

Anti-government forces lose ground in areas of northern Iraq heavily populated by people and oil reserves. Oil fields remain beyond reach of frontline fight Peshmerga keep watch to the south of the Khurmala Dome central processing facility, whose flares burn in the background. (BEN LANDO/Iraq Oil Report) American air strikes helped Kurdish forces take back two key towns from anti-government fighters who were threatening key oil installations and the city of Erbil.If militants had been able to hold the towns of Guair and Makhmour, they would have had a direct path to the Khurmala Dome oil field a dozen kilometers away.But the frontline has thus far been successfully held by Kurdish fighters, in coordination with American and Iraqi forces, here In the cradle of the oil industry in Iraq, th… 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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OPEC Annual Statistical Bulletin + MOMR

OPEC 12 Saudi Arabia OPEC ASB Reserves OPEC ASB Wells OPEC ASB Wells Prod. OPEC ASB Cumulative OPEC ASB Population G OPEC ASB Exchange Rate There are conspiracy theories and conspiracy theories. The ones to steer well clear of are the over-arching ones that seek to explain every significant political development. The ones that don’t trace themselves back to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion trace them back instead to the British Royal Family. Most people who believe them are nutters, but some of the people pushing them are more sinister. On the other hand, conspiracy theories to explain certain limited facts and/or situations can be credible. For a while I entertained one or two 9/11 conspiracy theories, until I decided that they required having too many people in on it in some fashion and would result, if they actually existed, in a whistle-blower coming forward. There is […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Egypt’s Suez Canal Expansion Plan Raises Some Questions

The Suez Canal–one of the world’s vital trading routes–is set for the first major expansion in its 145-year history. Egypt’s ambitious multi-billion-dollar plan, which could nearly double the waterway’s capacity to 97 passing ships a day by 2023, has been largely welcomed by shipping industry executives and economists, albeit with some skepticism. Sure, the expansion will help relieve bottlenecks. The Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean with the Red Sea, can mostly only facilitate one-way traffic–either ships heading north or south–as it is too narrow at some points for vessels to cross both ways. The new canal is expected to solve this problem, cutting the waiting time for ships to three hours from 11 hours. The waterway, however, won’t be deepened to allow fully-laden supertankers, which usually lighten their […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Nigeria: Shell Records Massive Oil Spill On Its Nembe Creek

A major oil spill has occurred at a Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, (SPDC), oil pipeline between the Santa-Barbara and Tego Rivers in Owuanga-Toru of Kula Kingdom in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State. The cause of the incident is yet to be ascertained as at press time but the company is pushing for investigation and mitigation exercise. Shell has confirmed the spill, which members of the affected communities described as "massive." "On August 6, 2014, the SPDC JV observed a leak on a section of the Nembe Creek Trunkline (NCTL) at Owangia community, Akuku-Toru LGA in Rivers State. "The impacted section has been shut down, preparatory to investigation into the cause of the leak and repairs. Some tools suspected to have been used for crude theft activities were recovered in the area," Shell Nigeria spokesman, Mr. Precious Okolobor said. Community secretary of Owuanga-Toru Community, Alabo Fiola, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China’s Energetic Enforcement of Antitrust Rules Alarms Foreign Firms

HONG KONG — When almost 100 government antitrust investigators simultaneously marched into four of Microsoft’s offices across China late last month, they were not looking for tea and gossip. In what Microsoft characterized internally as “surprise visits,” the agents from China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce interrogated a company vice president and other senior managers, copied contracts and financial records, and downloaded large amounts of data from the company’s computer servers, including emails and other internal communications. The swoop on Microsoft stood out for its scale, but it was just one of dozens of similar actions across China recently that have set off alarm in boardrooms across the globe. Chinese regulators appear to be energetically expanding enforcement of the antimonopoly law, and foreign companies fear that they could become easy targets for officials from an array of competing agencies and local governments aiming to impress President Xi Jinping, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Tribe Wants Fee On Wasted Natural Gas

"We certainly hope the state and the tribe can concur on who has regulatory authority," said Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, a group representing more than 500 companies working in the state’s oil patch. "It doesn’t do anybody any good to try to determine whose rules you got to follow." Natural gas is a byproduct of oil drilling, but a third of it is burned off in North Dakota — at a cost of more than $1 million a month in lost state revenue — because building infrastructure to capture the gas hasn’t kept pace with oil drilling. The Three Affiliated Tribes notified oil drillers late last week of the fee plan, which would require companies that burn-off natural gas to pay royalties beginning a month after a well has been drilled. Separate documents also furnished by the oil companies to the AP show that […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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North Dakota Considers Requiring Treatment of Bakken Crude

North Dakota officials are considering requiring energy companies to treat the crude they pump from the Bakken Shale to make it less volatile before it is loaded onto trains. The North Dakota Industrial Commission plans to hold a public hearing in the coming weeks on possible steps to reduce volatility at a well site before oil is stored or transported, said a spokeswoman for North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple. The commission, the state’s chief energy regulator, is considering issuing new standards for treating crude as well as monitoring requirements, she said. Several trains carrying Bakken crude have derailed since the summer of 2013, exploding violently and in one instance killing 47 people in Quebec. As The Wall Street Journal has reported , light crude tapped from North Dakota shale is more combustible than many other grades of oil and, unlike in other places, seldom stabilized. Production of this volatile […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple