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Chinese Lending Slowed Drastically in July

HONG KONG — Chinese lending unexpectedly and drastically slowed in July to the lowest level since the depths of the global financial crisis, with a weak property market appearing to drive down demand for new loans despite recent moves to ease credit. A broad measure of new credit was 273.1 billion renminbi, or $44.3 billion, in July, the central bank reported on its website Wednesday. That is the lowest monthly total since October 2008, the month before China announced a huge stimulus program that was seen as key to China’s success in avoiding the deep recessions experienced in the United States and Europe. In an unusual step, the People’s Bank of China issued a separate statement that offered some explanations for the weakness of the July credit figures, citing better supervision of the so-called shadow lending sector, a natural slowdown after strong credit expansion in June of almost 2 […]

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N. China province suffers worst drought in 63 years

A river narrows due to lingering drought in Furong Town of Fuxin Mongolian Autonomous County, northeast China’s Liaoning Province, Aug. 12, 2014. Liaoning Province is suffering the harshest drought in 63 years with its precipitation since July hit a record low since meteorological records began in 1951. The drought may be caused by the weather anomaly known as El Nino, which usually triggers drought in northern China while bringing more rains to southern China. Liaoning has raised its emergency response level to the third-highest in a bid to reduce the drought’s impact. Local meteorologists said they are prepared to fire artificial rain-making rockets to force rainfall if conditions are suitable. (Xinhua/Pan Yulong) SHENYANG, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) — North China’s Liaoning Province is suffering the harshest drought in 63 years, and things could get worse. Since July, the province has received the least precipitation since meteorological records began in 1951, […]

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North Carolina coast considered for wind farms

| License Photo The federal U.S. government said it outlined three areas off the coast of North Carolina as potential sites for commercial wind energy development. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said more than 307,000 acres off the coast could be developed for wind energy. So far, the agency has awarded five commercial wind energy leases for the Atlantic coast, though none of the projects are in service. "We look forward to working with the state of North Carolina, industry and a broad range of stakeholders as this exciting process continues to further commercial wind development in the United States," U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a statement Monday. The Mid-Atlantic Wind Energy Institute estimates the region could host the development of enough wind energy to support the annual electricity needs of more than 50 million homes. BOEM said it’s only considering the issuance of leases and […]

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IEA: Oil demand to rise in 2015

The International Energy Agency said Tuesday it lowered its growth forecast for global oil demand to 1 million barrels per day in part due to weaker economic outlook from the International Monetary Fund. For the United States, one of the world’s leading economies, the IMF said in a July report parts of the economy were still struggling to gain traction, though overall growth for 2015 should "accelerate to the fastest annual pace since 2005" barring any unforeseen shocks. Globally, IEA said in its oil market report for August that "as the economy improves in 2015, [oil] demand is set to accelerate by 1.3 million bpd." In July, the Paris-based group said oil supplies increased by 840,000 bpd on the back of a 1.2 million bpd increase from producers outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. That helped offset declines among most OPEC members, though IEA said it was an […]

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Dalrymple wants safer oil transit measures

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple said he was pressing the U.S. energy secretary on comprehensive ways to make crude oil transportation safer. Dalrymple arrived in Washington to take part in the U.S. Energy Department’s Quadrennial Energy Review. He said he was there to press U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on ways to make the transportation of crude oil as safe as possible. The state’s government said May oil production , the last full month for which data are available, was 1.04 million barrels per day, a new all-time high for the state and the second consecutive month with oil output above the 1 million bpd mark. More than 90 percent of the oil produced from North Dakota comes from the Bakken reserve area, though there’s not enough pipeline capacity to keep up with the accelerating pace of production. Industry officials say that leaves rail as the primary alternative transit […]

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AAA: Gas prices continue steady decline

AAA reports a national average price Tuesday of $3.47 for a gallon of regular unleaded, down 2 cents from this time last week and 15 cents from one month ago. The national average price for this date last year was $3.52 per gallon. AAA says drivers in most states saw prices at the pump decline, though some markets posted incremental increases last week because of refinery issues in the Midwest and Central states. In an asessment on price trends, published Monday, AAA said crude oil prices have traded near multi-month lows despite U.S. airstrikes on Sunni insurgents in Iraq , simmering internal conflicts in Libya and ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine . "None of these occurrences have resulted in a disruption to supply," AAA said . The U.S. Energy Department says 67 percent of the price at the pump is tied to crude oil prices, with the bulk […]

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Ohio's Utica Region now included in EIA's monthly Drilling Productivity Report

The Utica Region in eastern Ohio, one of the fastest growing natural gas production areas in the United States, has been added to the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). Total natural gas production in the Utica Region, which includes production from the Utica and Point Pleasant formations as well as legacy production from conventional reservoirs, has increased from 155 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) in January 2012 to an estimated 1.3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in September 2014. Utica formation drilling activity has been primarily focused in eastern Ohio since mid-2012, although the geologic formation extends into Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Some producers are successfully targeting the Utica formation in northern West Virginia, but these wells fall within the existing DPR Marcellus Region. The DPR analyzes all drilling and production within geographic areas in order to capture total production volumes supplied to the market […]

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Ohio’s Utica Region now included in EIA’s monthly Drilling Productivity Report

The Utica Region in eastern Ohio, one of the fastest growing natural gas production areas in the United States, has been added to the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). Total natural gas production in the Utica Region, which includes production from the Utica and Point Pleasant formations as well as legacy production from conventional reservoirs, has increased from 155 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) in January 2012 to an estimated 1.3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in September 2014. Utica formation drilling activity has been primarily focused in eastern Ohio since mid-2012, although the geologic formation extends into Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Some producers are successfully targeting the Utica formation in northern West Virginia, but these wells fall within the existing DPR Marcellus Region. The DPR analyzes all drilling and production within geographic areas in order to capture total production volumes supplied to the market […]

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Production growth, mild weather lower forecast for gas prices: US EIA

Strong growth in natural gas production coupled with mild weather this summer has sped the pace of gas injections into storage and helped lower gas prices, a US Energy Information Administration official said Tuesday. "Natural gas storage injections continue on pace for a record refill of 2.6 trillion cubic feet by the end of October," EIA Administrator Adam Sieminski said in a statement. These factors, he said, have prompted the agency to raise "its forecast for onshore marketed natural gas production this year and in 2015, and [lower] its natural gas price outlook." EIA said in its Short Term Energy Outlook, released Tuesday, that gas marketed production is expected to grow by an annual rate of 5.3% in 2014 and 2.1% in 2015. The agency increased its third-quarter gas marketed production estimate 1.3 Bcf/d to 74.54 Bcf/d, and raised its Q4 estimate 1.7 Bcf/d to 75.18 Bcf/d. EIA’s forecast […]

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Columbia to build Marcellus-Utica gas pipeline

Columbia Gas Transmission (CGT), part of NiSource Inc.’s Columbia Pipeline Group , will build a 160-mile natural gas pipeline , Leach XPress, in Ohio and West Virginia, supporting gas supply development in western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, and eastern Ohio. Long-term firm service agreements with Range Resources Appalachia LLC, Noble Energy Inc., Kaiser Marketing Appalachian LLC, and American Energy-Utica LLC (AEU), support the project. CGT describes the 1.5-bcfd pipeline as providing access to multiple Marcellus and Utica receipt points and establishing a new header system serving the Appalachian supply basin. It will interconnect with NiSource’s Columbia Gulf Transmission pipeline in Leach, Ky. The same four shippers are also underpinning Columbia Gulf’s Rayne XPress project, which will boost the line’s capacity by 1 bcfd through additional compression. AEU recently completed acquisition of 27,000 net acres in Monroe County, Ohio ( OGJ Online, Aug. 5, 2014 ). CGT has begun outreach […]

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Oil Production In Permian Causes Pipeline Bottleneck In Texas

NEW YORK, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Oil production from the burgeoning Permian Basin of West Texas is outpacing pipelines’ ability to transport oil to the Gulf Coast, causing coastal refiners to pay an additional premium to acquire oil. On Monday, that bottleneck caused oil for delivery at Midland, Texas <WTC-WTM> to trade at nearly $20 a barrel less than Gulf Coast benchmark Light Louisiana Sweet <WTC-LLS>, the deepest discount in 17 months. It was little changed on Tuesday. The deep discount is a consequence of the U.S. shale revolution, which has unleashed a revival in U.S. production, unlocking billions of barrels of reserves of crude oil, boosting the economy and potentially outstripping domestic demand. In shale formations in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, the rate of growth for oil production is set to increase for the sixth consecutive month in September, according to data from the […]

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Ukraine to Block Russian Aid Trucks as It Tightens Noose Around Rebels

A convoy Russia says is loaded with humanitarian assistance for rebel-held areas of Ukraine headed for the border, as the government in Kiev set conditions for letting the aid in and the Red Cross demanded more details. Russia’s government said 280 trucks with 2,000 metric tons of donated food, medicine and water left Moscow yesterday and would proceed into Ukraine under the auspices of the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross. Viktor Shcherbanyuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Red Cross in Kiev, said today there were was no agreeement for the convoy’s entry either with his organization or with the ICRC. The convoy was on its way to the Russian city of Belgorod about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, RIA Novosti said today. Related: Russia Stocks Fluctuate as Aid Convoy Rekindles Ukraine Tensions Ukraine expressed fears the convoy is carrying military equipment to […]

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Repsol Wins Final Permit to Drill for Oil Off Canary Islands

Spain’s government gave Repsol SA (REP) final authorization to begin exploring off the Canary Islands , capping the energy company’s 12-year quest for permission to tap what may be the nation’s biggest oil find. The Industry Ministry approved the project in a resolution dated Aug. 11 and published today in the Official Bulletin. The Spanish company’s partners are Woodside Energy Ltd. of Australia and German power company RWE AG. Should the drilling be successful, Madrid-based Repsol has estimated it will spend as much as 7.5 billion euros ($10 billion) to develop the site in waters near the Canary Islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote off Africa’s west coast. Spain’s largest oil company, which was held up for more than a decade by environmental challenges and delays by the government, has said it expects to begin work before year-end. Geologists have estimated the area between the Canaries and Morocco may hold […]

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Norway Oil Services See Russia Sanctions Risking Arctic Push

Aker Solutions ASA (AKSO) , the offshore engineering company controlled by billionaire Kjell Inge Roekke, could miss opportunities to expand into Russia ’s Arctic region if Europe and the U.S. uphold sanctions on the country. “If the political situation continues and the sanctions are long-term, they will mean lost market opportunities,” Chairman Oeyvind Eriksen said in Oslo yesterday. While the Fornebu, Norway-based company isn’t currently involved in any large projects in Russia, it’s “ready to consider” opportunities when the restrictions are lifted, he said. Aker Solutions , which has experience of the Arctic through projects it’s worked on off Norway , is seeking to expand into new markets as the company splits to focus on its subsea and engineering businesses to cut costs and improve shareholder returns. The company’s owners, which include Roekke’s investment company Aker ASA (AKER) and the Norwegian state, approved the split at a meeting in […]

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Gazprom Neft posts strong profits

The oil arm of Russian gas company Gazprom said Tuesday it made $2.4 billion in net profits in the first half of the year, up 13 percent from 2013. Gazprom Neft released its report for the first half of the year. On top of a boost in net profits, the company said an increase in hydrocarbon production helped drive sales up 13.9 percent year-on-year. "Hydrocarbon production volumes in the first half of the year increased 4.1 percent year-on-year to 234.18 million barrels of oil equivalent," the company said in a statement. The company last month announced a subsidiary started drilling into the arctic Dolginskoye field , where it estimates reserves at more than 200 million tons of oil equivalent. It June, the company started preliminary oil production from the Badra oil field in Iraq, which has estimated reserves of 3 billion barrels of oil. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, […]

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Russia Sends Aid Convoy to Eastern Ukraine

A convoy of 280 trucks near Moscow left for Ukraine on an international humanitarian relief mission on Tuesday morning. Ukrainian and Western leaders have expressed concerns that Russia could use an aid mission as cover for sending troops into rebel-held territory. (Photo: AP) MOSCOW—Russia sent a convoy of 280 trucks carrying what it said was humanitarian aid for war-torn cities in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, setting off diplomatic tension over efforts to ease civilian suffering there. Ukrainian officials said that they had been notified by Moscow of the column and that it was expected to cross the border at a post near Kharkiv, under the control of Ukrainian authorities and the International Red Cross. But Kiev said the cargo would have to be transferred from the Russian trucks to Red Cross vehicles at the border, warning that any unilateral attempt to deliver aid would be viewed as an act […]

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Ukraine Crisis Takes Toll on Germany’s Economy, Powerhouse of the Eurozone

PARIS — An important reading on the health of the eurozone economy is expected to show this week that growth stagnated in the most recent quarter as German output faltered, confirming the assessment of many analysts that a lasting recovery remains out of reach for the region. Economists are expecting that in the 18-nation currency bloc, gross domestic product expanded 0.1 percent in the second quarter compared with the first quarter, equivalent to an annual rate of growth of 0.4 percent. The eurozone eked out quarterly growth of 0.2 percent in the first three months of the year. The eurozone G.D.P. report, to be released Thursday by the European Union statistical agency, Eurostat, is based on data from before the latest tensions over Ukraine, and before the sanctions against Russia for its involvement in the crisis began to be felt. That means there are plenty of questions hanging over […]

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Oil-price moves were muted Monday

Oil-price moves were muted Monday as clashes in the Middle East and Eastern Europe appeared to have a limited potential effect on supplies. Light, sweet crude for September delivery rose 43 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $98.08 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The global Brent crude contract fell 34 cents, or 0.3%, to $104.68 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. The market appeared to be stabilizing after a slide that has knocked about 8% off barrel prices in the U.S. and 9% globally since mid-June highs, with the U.S. benchmark touching a six-month low last week, said Gene McGillian, a broker at wholesale brokerage Tradition Energy. The market reached a crescendo then as traders speculated that violence in Iraq, Ukraine and Libya would interrupt global crude flows, but traders have since sold bullish positions to their lowest level since January after those disruptions […]

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Crude Rises for Third Day as U.S. Inventories Seen Lower

West Texas Intermediate gained for a third day on estimates that U.S. oil inventories dropped as refineries processed record amounts of crude for this time of year. Brent slipped. Stockpiles may have declined for a seventh time in the week ended Aug. 8, according to a Bloomberg survey before an Energy Information Administration report on Aug. 13. Refineries used 16.4 million barrels of oil a day in the week ended Aug. 1, the most since EIA began weekly data in 1989. Brent narrowed its premium over WTI on speculation that U.S. air strikes in Iraq diminished the threat to oil supplies posed by insurgents. “We are still seeing that trend here in the U.S. in terms of strong refinery demand,” said John Kilduff , a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on energy. “There is a bit of an argument for WTI to […]

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Hedge Funds Unfazed by Iraq as Bullish Brent Bets Cut

Hedge funds cut bullish bets on Brent crude to the lowest level in six months last week, another signal that traders expect supplies from Iraq to remain safe from an Islamist insurgency in the north of the OPEC member. Brent futures traded near a nine-month low in London today as U.S. air strikes against Islamic State militants in northern Iraq reassured investors that oilfields in the adjacent Kurdish region would stay unaffected. Supplies from southern Iraq, home to about 85 percent of the nation’s output, continue to flow undisturbed by violence in the north, with Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi saying that exports will exceed 2.5 million barrels a day in August. “For me, it’s justified,” Torbjoern Kjus, an analyst at DNB ASA in Oslo said of the pull-back by traders. “I wouldn’t be putting on any new positions. It’s going to be a mess in Iraq for a […]

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Natural-Gas Rally Inches on as Warm Weather Forecast

-Natural-gas prices closed barely higher Monday, advancing a new three-week high as weather forecasts show summer heat on the way. The front-month September contract settled up 0.3 cent, or 0.1%, at $3.965 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the highest closing price since July 16 and the market crested at $4 overnight for the first time since then. It was the fifth gain in the last six sessions. Traders showed a mixed opinion on what was ultimately a mixed weather forecast, analysts said. While forecasts do show some of the strongest heat of the summer, they also show unseasonably cool weather in the immediate few days and a cold front from Canada pushing back into view late next week. That left the market wary over whether the […]

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Move against Maliki deepens Iraq crisis

Haidar al-Abadi, the UK-educated engineer appointed to form a government in Baghdad The political crisis in Iraq intensified on Monday after the country’s president named a new prime minister to replace Nouri al-Maliki , raising fears of a prolonged power struggle amid the raging battle with Islamist insurgents. In a major blow to Mr Maliki, the largest grouping in parliament nominated Haidar al-Abadi, a member of Mr Maliki’s own Shia-dominated party, as prime […]

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Iraq President and Prime Minister Maliki on Collision Course

;Iraq’s political crisis headed toward confrontation after the president designated the deputy parliament speaker to form the next government and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki dismissed the appointment, claiming he was the rightful nominee. President Fuad Masum selected Haider al-Abadi, a spokesman for Mr. Maliki’s own Dawa Party, after he was nominated by the largest political bloc earlier in the day. He now has 30 days to choose a new cabinet of ministers. "What happened had no value at all," Mr. Maliki said in a nationally televised address, flanked by a few dozen of his political allies. "My nomination is still valid and we will correct this mistake for sure." Mr. Maliki blamed his loss on U.S. diplomats, accusing […]

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Al-Abadi Asked to Form Iraq Government to Replace Maliki

Iraq ’s President Fouad Masoum asked the deputy speaker of parliament to try to form a new cabinet and end a three-month political stalemate that’s helped Islamist insurgents seize large swaths of the country. While the U.S. quickly backed Masoum’s designation of Haidar al-Abadi, embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki rejected Masoum’s move, setting the stage for further political deadlock and potentially a confrontation after Maliki sent troops into the streets of Baghdad early today. Masoum tapped Abadi hours after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pulled support from Maliki, warning him not to hinder the political process while the country is under threat from the Islamic State’s advances across the north. The U.S. and Iraqi political parties have blamed Maliki’s divisive policies for the onslaught in northern Iraq by the Sunni militant group, and President Barack Obama has tied expanded U.S. military strikes against the al-Qaeda breakaway group to […]

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US sending arms to Kurds in Iraq

The Obama administration has begun directly providing weapons to Kurdish forces who have started to make gains against Islamic militants in northern Iraq, senior U.S. officials said Monday, but the aid has so far been limited to automatic rifles and ammunition. Previously, the U.S. sold arms in Iraq only to the government in Baghdad, which has largely failed in recent years to transfer them to the Kurdish forces in the north, American officials have said. Baghdad made some transfers with American help in recent days, since U.S. airstrikes began to support Kurdish forces fighting off the Islamic State advance toward the northern city of Irbil. But U.S. officials decided to begin their own deliveries. The Kurdish peshmerga fighters had been losing ground to Islamic State militants in recent weeks, in part because they were outgunned and at times ran out of ammunition, officials said. The weapons […]

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TAQA suspends operations in Kurdish north of Iraq

Production from the Atrush block in the Kurdish north of Iraq should start in 2015 but operations are on hold because of the violence, energy company TAQA said. U.S. President Barack Obama ordered limited airstrikes against Sunni-led insurgents in the mountainous north of Iraq last week. In an address Saturday, the president said the strikes "successfully destroyed arms and equipment" held by the militants. The semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government last week said oil operations in the north deserved close monitoring, though were largely unaffected by the violence. Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., known by its Arabic initials TAQA, said it suspended operations at the region’s Atrush block as a security precaution. "TAQA has suspended its operations at the Atrush block as a result of recent developments and escalating instability around the Kurdistan Region of Iraq," it announced: Sunday. Several other energy companies operating in the area […]

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Three ways that oil matters for the crisis in Iraq

For months now, Sunni militants from the Islamic State (better known as ISIS ) have been seizing control of large swathes of Iraq. ISIS is now threatening a major oil-producing region of Iraq But it wasn’t  until they encroached into semi-autonomous Kurdish territory and near the Kurdish capital of Erbil — an oil boomtown full of Western companies like Chevron and ExxonMobil — that the Obama administration decided to authorize airstrikes against ISIS. That rather felicitous timing has already led a few commentators to  suggest that the current US intervention is all about oil. That’s probably overstating things — the US intervention seems to have a variety of goals here , like protecting the Kurds more generally and preventing ISIS from massacring Iraq’s Yazidis. But it’d also be wrong to pretend that oil is totally irrelevant to the larger crisis in Iraq. Iraq is currently the world’s seventh-largest oil […]

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New Frontiers: Counting up all the battles in the Middle East

The Middle East and North Africa region has wielded geopolitical clout far outweighing its share of global population since its early days. It has also had more than its share of armed conflicts, which more than once in modern times have threatened to disrupt global oil supplies. Now the MENA region is again in flux as borders imposed by outsiders or local strongmen collapse and the artificial states they contained fragment, with substantial petroleum output offline or under threat. The biggest impact on oil supplies resulting to date from the past three years of MENA-region turmoil has been in Libya, an OPEC […]

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Drought conditions in key hydropower region prompt LNG buying in Brazil

Drought conditions in Brazil’s Southeast-Central West region are putting pressure on state-owned oil and gas company Petrobras to seek out prompt and near-term LNG cargoes to supplement the country’s power supply, sources said Monday. Petrobras was recently heard in the market lifting an FOB cargo from Qatar for an undisclosed price. The 157,000 cubic meter Wilpride, currently under Petrobras’ control, loaded the cargo Friday from the port of Ras Laffan, Qatar. The vessel is currently in the Gulf of Oman and is expected to arrive at the Bay of All Saints terminal in Salvador, Bahia, by late August. Petrobras has also been heard in the market looking for cargoes for FOB lifting or delivery in September, October and possibly November, ahead of the rainy season which runs from December through April. The recent push to shore up the country’s power supply comes as reservoir levels in Brazil’s Southeast-Central West […]

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The Untold Story about the Health Impacts of Fracking

Nick Grealy Administrator of  NaturalGas2.0 ,  NoHotAir  and  ShaleGasInfo  Blogs The health impacts of fracking get a lot of attention but, unfortunately, most of it consists of anecdotes and speculation. There is, nevertheless, plenty of evidence regarding the health impacts of fracking – it’s an untold story. Everyone knows shale gas causes pollution right? That’s what the big debate is all about and the biggest questions revolve about the truly emotive topics of water, children and health. If we are to have a fact based debate, a logical place to concentrate on is Pennsylvania, an area of the US that, like Europe today, was completely unfamiliar with natural gas production until recently. It is also one which went from producing 1 BCM in 2008 to over 150BCM in only six years. Just for perspective; 150 BCM is more than the entire annual use of the UK. And Germany. Combined. We’re […]

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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. […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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In Britain, Nuclear Reactors to Be Shut Down in Fault Investigation

LONDON — EDF Energy, the British subsidiary of the French state-controlled utility, said on Monday that it was shutting down three nuclear reactors and that a reactor with a fault that has been shut down since June would remain so. The facilities, which are being investigated as a precaution, generate nearly a quarter of nuclear capacity in Britain. The British Office for Nuclear Regulation said that there had been no release of radioactive material and no injuries. Industry experts did not anticipate much effect on electricity supplies or prices in the short term. EDF said that over the next few days it would idle a second reactor at the facility where the fault was found last year, Heysham 1, in northwest England. The company said it would also shut down two other reactors of similar design at Hartlepool in northeast England to investigate whether they had the same flaws. […]

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Oil Rangebound as Markets Assess Tensions in Iraq, Ukraine

Crude-oil futures traded in a narrow price range in Asia Monday as markets weighed the impact of ongoing tensions in Iraq and Ukraine. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September traded at $97.95 a barrel at 0453 GMT, up $0.30 in the Globex electronic session. September Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.13 to $105.15 a barrel. Oil futures had ended mixed last week, with Nymex crude losing 23 cents and Brent crude gaining 18 cents for the week ended August 8. The U.S. continued airstrikes in Northern Iraq over the weekend and relocated some of its personnel from the American consulate in the city of Erbil to safer areas. Last week, OPEC said in its monthly report that the cartel’s oil production rose to its highest in five months in July on the back of higher […]

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Brent Crude to Extend Decline on U.S. Action in Iraq, Mills Says

Brent crude , a global benchmark, is set to extend its decline after the U.S. pledged to press ahead with airstrikes against militants in Iraq to protect supplies and help stabilize OPEC’s second-largest producer. U.S. jets and drone aircraft hit Islamic State fighters in multiple attacks yesterday to prevent the massacre of ethnic and religious minorities in northern Iraq and protect American personnel. President Barack Obama called on Iraqi political leaders to form a more inclusive government to pursue a long-term fight against the militant group formerly known as ISIS, which has seized oil fields near the country’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. “Brent should fall because the U.S. has made it clear that it’s going to support the Kurds and the Baghdad government against ISIS and they will not be allowed to continue advancing,” Robin Mills, the head of consulting at Manaar Energy Consulting & Project Management, said by phone […]

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Brent Trades Near 9-Month Low After U.S. Iraq Strike

Brent crude traded near its lowest level in nine months amid speculation that U.S. air strikes in Iraq diminished the threat to oil supplies posed by insurgents. West Texas Intermediate was little changed. Futures lost as much as 0.3 percent in London. U.S. jets and drone aircraft hit Islamic State fighters in multiple attacks intended to protect American personnel and prevent a massacre of ethnic and religious minorities in northern Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki deployed troops and tanks on the streets of Baghdad as he resists U.S. President Barack Obama ’s push for a more inclusive government. The U.S. action “eased fears of oil supply disruptions as hopes increased that this would prevent the Islamic State militants from gaining more land,” Michael Poulsen, an analyst at Global Risk Management Ltd. in Middelfart, Denmark , said in a report. Brent for September settlement slipped 21 cents, or 0.2 […]

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Hedge Funds Snub Natural Gas Rally as Supply Gains Loom

Hedge funds are betting that the rally in U.S. natural-gas prices won’t last. Money managers cut the combined net-long position across four benchmark contracts by 21 percent in the week ended Aug. 5, after 15 weeks of above-average stockpile increases. Bullish wagers retreated to an 18-month low even as futures traded in New York gained 2.3 percent in the report week, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut its price forecast last week as shale-gas production in the eastern U.S. surged to an all-time high. Power demand in June and July fell to five-year seasonal lows amid unusually cool weather from Texas to Boston , Edison Electric Institute data show. Gas futures have dropped 12 percent since the start of summer. “If you are a money manager and you see above-average storage injections week after week and a decline in price, selling is rational,” […]

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APNewsBreak: US sending arms to Kurds in Iraq

The Obama administration has begun directly providing weapons to Kurdish forces who have started to make gains against Islamic militants in northern Iraq, senior U.S. officials said Monday. Previously, the U.S. had insisted on only selling arms to the Iraqi government in Baghdad, but the Kurdish peshmerga fighters had been losing ground to Islamic State militants in recent weeks. The officials wouldn’t say which U.S. agency is providing the arms or what weapons are being sent, but one official said it isn’t the Pentagon. The CIA has historically done similar quiet arming operations. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the operation publicly. The move to directly aid the Kurds underscores the level of U.S. concern about the Islamic State militants’ gains in the north, and reflects the persistent administration view that the Iraqis must take the necessary steps […]

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Iraq's highest court paves way for Maliki to serve third term

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s highest court ruled on Monday that Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s bloc is the biggest in parliament, meaning he could retain his position, state television reported. The president, according to the constitution, must now ask Maliki to form a new government in Iraq, which is facing a major challenge from Islamic State Sunni insurgents and widepread sectarian bloodshed. Maliki, serving in a caretaker capacity since an inconclusive election in April, has defied calls from Sunnis, Kurds, some fellow Shi’ites and regional power broker Iran to step aside to make room for a less polarizing figure. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Louise Ireland )

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Iraq’s highest court paves way for Maliki to serve third term

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s highest court ruled on Monday that Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s bloc is the biggest in parliament, meaning he could retain his position, state television reported. The president, according to the constitution, must now ask Maliki to form a new government in Iraq, which is facing a major challenge from Islamic State Sunni insurgents and widepread sectarian bloodshed. Maliki, serving in a caretaker capacity since an inconclusive election in April, has defied calls from Sunnis, Kurds, some fellow Shi’ites and regional power broker Iran to step aside to make room for a less polarizing figure. (Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Louise Ireland )

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Iraq's al-Maliki steps up struggle to keep his job

Iraq’s embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is taking his struggle to keep his job to the courts after announcing he will file a legal complaint on Monday against the country’s newly elected president. The deadlock over a new government has plunged Iraq into a political crisis at a time it is fighting a land grab by militants from the Islamic State in the country’s north and west. Al-Maliki has resisted calls for his resignation and the political infighting could hamper efforts to stem advances by the Sunni militants. Senior U.S. officials said Monday that the Obama administration, which launched airdrops and airstrikes last week to support Kurdish and Iraqi forces battling the militants, has begun directly providing weapons to the Kurdish peshmerga forces who have started to make gains against the al-Qaida breakaway group. In a televised speech after midnight Sunday, al-Maliki declared he will file […]

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Iraq’s al-Maliki steps up struggle to keep his job

Iraq’s embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is taking his struggle to keep his job to the courts after announcing he will file a legal complaint on Monday against the country’s newly elected president. The deadlock over a new government has plunged Iraq into a political crisis at a time it is fighting a land grab by militants from the Islamic State in the country’s north and west. Al-Maliki has resisted calls for his resignation and the political infighting could hamper efforts to stem advances by the Sunni militants. Senior U.S. officials said Monday that the Obama administration, which launched airdrops and airstrikes last week to support Kurdish and Iraqi forces battling the militants, has begun directly providing weapons to the Kurdish peshmerga forces who have started to make gains against the al-Qaida breakaway group. In a televised speech after midnight Sunday, al-Maliki declared he will file […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple