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Oil Prices Up After U.S. Airstrikes in Iraq

U.S. crude prices gained on Friday, after a session of choppy trading, as investors assessed the potential impact of the U.S. airstrikes in Iraq on global oil supplies. Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose 31 cents, or 0.3%, in price to settle at $97.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The market traded in a range of $1.30 between the day’s highs and lows, turning negative for part of the session before climbing back in the afternoon. The global Brent crude-oil contract also seesawed, trading over a range of $2.18 and at one point hitting a one-week high. Brent crude for September delivery ended down 42 cents at $105.02 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. Andy Lebow, a trader at investment bank Jefferies, said some market participants were placing bets on prices either rising or falling, as they sought to assess the impact of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Brent Crude Slips as U.S. Strikes Seen Protecting Supply

Brent crude fell on speculation that U.S. airstrikes against militants from Islamic State in Iraq will stabilize supplies from OPEC’s second-largest producer. Brent narrowed its premium over West Texas Intermediate for the first time in five days. U.S. planes carried out a strike on artillery positions that were used by the militants to attack Kurdish forces defending their regional capital Erbil, Pentagon spokesman Admiral John Kirby said on Twitter. The Islamic fighters took full control of the Ain Zala and Batma oilfields in the Kurdish area, state-run Northern Oil Co. said Aug. 2. “In the longer term, the U.S. getting involved is probably bearish for oil because any support the Kurds get increases the probability that they are able to retake the oil fields and territory from the militants,” said James Williams , an economist at WTRG Economics, an energy-research firm in London, Arkansas. Brent for September settlement slid […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Natural-Gas Prices Close at Three-Week High on Warming Forecasts, Power Sector Demand

(Adds details and prices) By Timothy Puko NEW YORK–Natural-gas prices closed at a three-week high as weather forecasts show some warmer temperatures on the way. Prices for the front-month September contract settled up 8.6 cents, or 2.2%, to $3.962 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the highest closing price since July 16, the last time gas prices closed above $4/mmBtu. Gas gained 4.3% on the week, the market’s largest percentage gain since the week ended March 28. It finished higher in four of the past five sessions. Several factors created the perfect conditions for a brief rally Friday, said Anthony Lerner, senior vice president of industrial commodities at brokerage R.J. O’Brien in New York. It started with weather, several analysts said. Though forecasts are mixed, they are showing some spurts of summer heat likely to come in parts of the country both […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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OPEC July Oil Production Rises to Highest Level in Five Months

Oil production in the North African country rose by 200,000 barrels a day in July. European Pressphoto Agency LONDON—OPEC’s oil production rose to its highest in five months in July, boosted by the reopening of ports and oil fields in Libya, the oil producers’ group said Friday. In its monthly oil market report, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said Libya’s production rose by 200,000 barrels a day last month, bolstering the group’s output by 167,000 barrels a day to total 29.9 million barrels a day. The increase in production came after Libya’s government reached an agreement with rebel forces in July to reopen oil ports and fields that had been closed for nearly a year, raising hopes that its exports could begin to rise. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Islamic State Advances on Iraqi Kurdistan

Sunni insurgents expanded their push along the borders of Iraqi Kurdistan, a semiautonomous region in Iraq’s north, as thousands of people besieged by the militants on a mountainside received fresh aid supplies. The group calling itself Islamic State , which began a new offensive this week that brought it to 25 miles from the Kurdish capital Erbil, seized a town farther north called Sheikhan, closer to the Kurdish-controlled province of Dohuk . The militants appear to be trying to connect the towns they have seized along the 650-mile border of Kurdish-controlled territory, an advance that has alarmed the Kurdistan Regional Government and panicked the residents of this region. The advance came after two rounds of U.S. strikes aimed at halting […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil Companies Evacuate Staff From Iraqi Kurdistan

Oil companies have begun evacuating staff and suspending operations at some fields in Iraqi Kurdistan as the U.S. begins airstrikes intended to halt the advance of Sunni extremists toward the region’s capital Erbil. London-based Afren and Canada-listed Oryx Petroleum both announced Friday they had suspended parts of their operations in the country. Anglo-Turkish Genel Energy said it was withdrawing some nonessential personnel, following a similar announcement by Chevron Thursday. The security situation in the area bordering Iraqi Kurdistan has deteriorated rapidly this week as the militant group Islamic State pushed into territory held by the Peshmerga, the region’s security force, raising serious concerns about areas previously considered safe. Oryx said it had suspended operations at two sites on its Hawler license near to areas where clashes were recently reported, while production at its Demir Dagh field has also been shut in. Meanwhile, Afren has stopped operations at its Barda […]

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Iraq Oil Explorers Evacuate More Staff After Islamist Surge

Oil explorers in Kurdistan halted operations and evacuated more staff as Islamist militants advanced into northern Iraq. Afren Plc (AFR) suspended work at its Barda Rash block on the region’s western border, while Oryx Petroleum Corp. stopped production at its Demir Dagh facility and temporarily halted drilling at two other areas. Genel Energy Plc (GENL) evacuated some staff and Gulf Keystone Petroleum Ltd. (GKP) increased security. Two U.S. jet fighters struck artillery used by Islamic State militants to attack Kurdish forces defending the road to the regional capital of Erbil, where American diplomats and some military staff are based. President Obama yesterday authorized airstrikes to protect U.S. citizens and a humanitarian effort to help save thousands of Iraqi civilians fleeing Islamist attacks. “In line with moves by other operators, we are taking the prudent and precautionary step of withdrawing non-essential personnel from our non-producing assets in the region,” Genel […]

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ISIS Capture Iraq’s Largest Dam

ISIS Capture Iraq’s Largest Dam Sunni militants captured the Mosul dam, the largest in Iraq, on Thursday as their advances in the country’s north created an onslaught of refugees and set off fearful rumors in Erbil, the Kurdish regional capital. Residents near the dam and officials in the region confirmed that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, held the dam, a potentially catastrophic development for Iraq’s civilian population. The dam, which sits on the Tigris River and is about 30 miles northwest of the city of Mosul, provides electricity to Mosul and controls the water supply for a large amount of territory. A report published in 2007 by the United States government, which had been involved with work on the dam, warned that should it fail, a 65-foot wave of water could be unleashed across areas of northern Iraq. Atheel al-Nujaifi, the governor of Nineveh Province, […]

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Iran jockeys for better energy ties with Azerbaijan

An Iranian official said Friday during talks in Azerbaijan both sides could work together on energy issues possibly extending into the European economy. Iranian Minister of Communication and Information Technologies Mahmoud Vaezi met in Baku with Rovneq Abdullayev, director of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic. The Iranian minister said he was reviewing an offer from Baku to coordinate energy policies more closely for the sake of the needs of the European community. "Azerbaijan and Iran has large oil and gas reserves, which indicates the need for increased cooperation between the countries in this area," he said . Azerbaijan is scheduled to supply natural gas from its Shah Deniz field to European consumers through a network of pipelines that would run through Turkey to southern Europe. Dubbed the Southern Corridor , the network is meant to diversify a European energy sector influenced heavily by Russia. Iran has held […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Libyan oil output highest since January

Libyan oil production is at its highest level since the beginning of the year, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Friday. OPEC said in its latest monthly market report crude oil production from member states averaged 29.9 million barrels per day. Production fell primarily in member states Iraq and Angola, while production increased from Libya and Saudi Arabia. Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington his government "has managed to solve" the oil crisis plaguing what was once one of North Africa’s top oil producers. OPEC said in its market report Libyan crude oil production has doubled since June. "Libyan production rose past 500,000 barrels per day for the first time since January," the report said. OPEC data show Libyan crude oil production reached a post-war peak of around 1.4 million bpd in 2013, before starting a precipitous decline toward the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple