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WTI, Brent Oils Set for Weekly Drop on Slow Jobs Growth

West Texas Intermediate and Brent crudes dropped after weaker-than-estimated U.S. jobs growth in August and as Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists agreed to a cease-fire. Both benchmark oils capped weekly declines. U.S. employers added the fewest number of jobs this year in August, Labor Department data showed today. The two sides agreed to stop fighting at 6 p.m. local time today, Heidi Tagliavini, a representative of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said after talks in Minsk, Belarus. Russia is the world’s largest energy exporter. “The jobless report was disappointing,” Kyle Cooper, director of research with IAF Advisors and Cypress Energy Capital Management in Houston, said by phone. “It’s evidence that the economy isn’t going gangbusters. This raises demand concerns, especially when economies elsewhere are looking weak.” WTI for October delivery slipped $1.16, or 1.2 percent, to close at $93.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. […]

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NYMEX crude settles down by $1.16/b, pulled lower by Ukraine ceasefire

The oil complex settled lower Friday after a ceasefire agreement in Ukraine helped minimize the oil market’s risk premium, while concerns remain over the impact of Russian sanctions on European demand. NYMEX October crude closed $1.16/barrel lower at $93.29/b. ICE October Brent crude was down $1.01/b to $100.82/b. Refined products futures also ended the day lower. NYMEX October RBOB was down 1.65 cents to $2.5834/gal, while October ULSD was down 1.71 cents to $2.8192/gal. Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group, said the market turned lower when US President Barack Obama told reporters at the NATO summit in Wales that Western sanctions against Russia would remain in place, despite the ceasefire. Article continues below… Oilgram Price Report is a daily report that covers market changes, market fundamentals and factors driving prices. Oilgram Price Report also brings a vast array of Platts international prices for crude and products, […]

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MARKET WATCH: Crude oil experiences week-long ‘bumpy ride’

09/05/2014 The crude oil market was taken on a “bumpy ride” down a rocky road for much of this week, according to a commodities research note from Barclays Research, “as soft fundamentals and escalating tensions in Eurasia sparked price volatility.” “In the US,” noted analyst Michael Cohen, “high seasonal stock levels, growing production, and fall refinery maintenance could pressure domestic crude prices over the next 2 months and potentially shift [West Texas Intermediate] into contango.” Cohen said the oil supply-demand balance “continues to look weak,” adding, “Light crude production is set to grow in the coming weeks with the restart of the Buzzard field (200,000 b/d) and Libyan production progressing towards 800,000 b/d.” The New York Mercantile Exchange October crude oil contract dropped again on Sept. 3 after the previous day’s rebound, falling $1.09 to $94.45/bbl. The November contract declined 97¢ to settle at $93.71/bbl. The October natural gas […]

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Obama Enlists 9 Allies to Help in the Battle Against ISIS

NEWPORT, Wales — President Obama escalated the American response to the marauding Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Friday, recruiting at least nine allies to help crush the organization and offering the outlines of a coordinated military strategy that echoes the war on terror developed by his predecessor, George W. Bush, more than a decade ago. In his most expansive comments to date about how the United States and its friends could defeat ISIS, a once-obscure group of Sunni militants that has now upended the Middle East and overshadowed Al Qaeda, Mr. Obama said the effort would rely on American airstrikes against its leaders and positions, strengthen the moderate Syrian rebel groups to reclaim ground lost to ISIS, and enlist friendly governments in the region to join the fight. While the president’s aides maintained that he has not yet decided to authorize airstrikes in Syria — which he has […]

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Exports lag due to violence

Exports lag due to violence Iraq’s battle with anti-government militants has begun to hamper the country’s exports, which fell in August to their second-lowest monthly average of the year.The State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) sold an average of 2.375 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, "with more than 25 million barrels rolled over from August nomination program into September," an official close to SOMO said. "There were no exports from Kirkuk or to Jordan."A senior official at the state-run South Oil … This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .

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Iraq Pursues New Tack in Bid to Seize Tanker Off Texas

Iraq ’s Oil Ministry has asked a U.S. judge for permission to change its legal arguments in a bid to seize $100 million in Kurdish crude waiting in a tanker off Texas since late July. Stymied by the judge’s ruling last month that he didn’t have jurisdiction under admiralty law, the nation has come back with claims under maritime and Texas statutes. U.S. District Judge Gray Miller in Houston threw out an arrest warrant that gave federal agents authority to take the 1 million-barrel cargo and store it, at Iraq’s expense, if the tanker entered U.S. waters. Miller said he had no authority to intervene in a foreign ownership dispute under U.S. laws governing property stolen on the high seas. Iraq cited those laws as the basis for to recover crude exported from wells in the northern Iraqi region of Kurdistan without permission. Iraq’s Oil Ministry has now revised […]

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Exclusive: Islamic State guides Egyptian militants, expanding its influence

CAIRO (Reuters) – Islamic State, fighting to redraw the map of the Middle East, has been coaching Egypt’s most dangerous militant group, complicating efforts to stabilize the biggest Arab nation. Confirmation that Islamic Sate, currently the most successful of the region’s jihadi groups, is extending its influence to Egypt will sound alarm bells in Cairo, where the authorities are already facing a security challenge from home-grown militants. A senior commander from the Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which has killed hundreds of members of the Egyptian security forces over the last year, said Islamic State has provided instructions on how to operate more effectively. "They teach us how to carry out operations. We communicate through the internet," the commander, who asked to remain anonymous, told Reuters. "They don’t give us weapons or fighters. But they teach us how to create secret cells, consisting of five people. Only one person has […]

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U.S. government welcomes Israeli gas deal

Israel’s Delek Group, alongside U.S. energy company Noble Energy, signed the letter with the National Electric Power Co. of Jordan for natural gas deliveries from the Leviathan natural gas field off the Israeli cost. The U.S. State Department said it facilitated talks between the parties in February that led to the signing of a similar deal for gas from Israel’s offshore gas field, Tamar. Acting Special Envoy for International Energy Affairs Amos Hochstein was on hand for a signing ceremony for Leviathan, hosted by U.S. Ambassador to Jordan Alice Wells. "This letter of intent [on Leviathan] marks the beginning of the second phase of the project, and represents an important step towards promoting peace and prosperity in the Middle East by encouraging collaboration to overcome energy challenges," the State Department said in a Thursday statement. Leviathan, with an estimated 18 trillion cubic feet of gas, should go onstream in […]

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Ghana to Double Oil Production by 2017 on Tullow, Eni Deposits

Ghana will double crude production by 2017 as offshore deposits being developed by Tullow Oil Plc and Eni SpA start producing oil, Minister of Energy Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah said. Tullow’s TEN development will produce about 80,000 barrels a day by then, the minister said by phone today. Eni’s Sankofa Gye-Nyame deposit will pump 50,000 barrels, he said. Production at Ghana’s Jubilee field will rise to 120,000 barrels from 110,000 today. Ghana and partners Tullow and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. plan to invest $20 billion in the next 10 years to develop offshore oil deposits. The world’s second-largest cocoa producer needs revenue to help narrow its budget deficit, which will probably exceed 10 percent of gross domestic product for a third year, according to Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service. To contact the reporter on this story: Ekow Dontoh in Accra at [email protected] To contact the editors responsible for this story: […]

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PDVSA Said to Hire London PR Firm as Venezuela Struggles

Petroleos de Venezuela SA hired a public relations agency founded by Margaret Thatcher ’s press adviser, two people familiar with the matter said, as Venezuela sells U.S. refineries and responds to World Bank court rulings. PDVSA, as the state-owned oil producer is known, contracted Tim Bell’s Bell Pottinger Private in May to improve its image abroad, said the people, who asked not to be identified because it hasn’t been made public. It’s the first time the company has hired an international PR firm since late-President Hugo Chavez began his so-called Bolivarian revolution in 1999. PDVSA, which accounts for 97 percent of Venezuela’s dollar earnings, is struggling to fund record social spending and subsidies, leading to shortages of everything from razors to flour in a country with the largest oil reserves. President Nicolas Maduro , Chavez’s handpicked replacement, is facing the world’s fastest inflation and foreign reserves near 11-year lows. […]

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Shell Trims China Shale Venture on Sichuan Population Challenges

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) , which signed the first shale-gas production sharing contract in China , will trim its project in Sichuan province because of geological challenges and the area’s dense population. The Anglo-Dutch company along with China National Petroleum Corp. had planned billions of dollars in investment from this year to meet the country’s energy demand, the world’s largest. Shell now plans to focus chiefly on the development of the Changbei tight gas field in the Shaanxi region. “In Sichuan progress has been slower and more difficult than we might have hoped: partly geological reasons, partly some of the challenges of operating in the very highly populated agricultural region,” Shell Chief Financial Officer Simon Henry told investors today in New York . “It’s likely it will be smaller than originally envisaged.” China may miss its 2020 target for shale-gas production as a lack of infrastructure and technology […]

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Rail Lines Face Bottlenecks in Bakken

Oil Rail Car Image Crude Oil Rail Car | Click to Enlarge At the Surface Transportation Board (STB) hearing this week in Fargo, ND, officials from the state and other upper Midwestern states urged U.S. regulators to put pressure on railroads to fix issues that are blocking grain shipments. The culprit some believe is the oil & gas industry – in August, approximately 60% of oil produced in North Dakota was transported out of the state by rail, and some argue the railroads are favoring oil companies over agriculture. Bloomberg reported, as grain produced last year sits in storage, waiting for trains to carry it to market, the bottlenecks may get worse as an anticipated record grain harvest begins, officials warned. John Hoeven, the Republican Senator from North Dakota, said at the hearing, “the bottom line is that we need greater rail capacity to meet the growing needs of […]

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EIA: U.S. fuel markets still rely on imports

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said exports of U.S. gasoline , jet fuel and other petroleum products averaged 3.7 million barrels per day in June, the last full month for which data are available. EIA said increased exports from the Gulf Coast accounted for 72 percent of all growth in the U.S. petroleum export market. "Despite higher total U.S petroleum product exports, the East Coast remains reliant on imports to meet regional demand for both gasoline and distillate [diesel and other fuel oils]," EIA said in a weekly report published Thursday. EIA said the East Coast market receives much of its fuel from domestic sources, though pipeline and maritime shipping constraints limit how much of the petroleum products refined elsewhere in the United States can reach the region . EIA says trade in petroleum products varies depending on supply and demand. "With U.S. refining capacity in the Gulf Coast […]

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New oil pipeline from North Dakota proposed

Energy company Enterprise Products Partners said it’s vetting interest in a pipeline that would service North Dakota and Colorado shale oil basins. Dubbed the Bakken-to-Cushing pipeline, Enterprise said it was opening a vetting period to determine demand for capacity for a line that could carry an initial 340,000 barrels per day and expand to 700,000 bpd. The pipeline would extend about 1,200 miles and service the Bakken shale area in North Dakota, as well as the Powder River and Denver-Julesburg basins in Colorado . "This pipeline offers a reliable, safe, and economical solution that promotes continued development of some of our nation’s most prolific producing areas and reduces the need for imports of crude oil," A.J. Teague, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Enterprise, said in a statement. The United States is producing more oil than the existing network of pipelines can handle. Industry officials said transporting […]

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BHI: US rig count posts double-digit gain for second straight week

The US drilling rig count gained 11 units to reach 1,925 rigs working during the week ended Sept. 5, Baker Hughes Inc. reported. Land rigs were up 9 units to 1,847 while rigs drilling in inland waters were up 3 units to 13. Offshore rigs edged down a unit to 65. Oil rigs were also up 9 units, bringing that total to 1,584. Gas rigs gained 2 units to 340. No unclassified rigs were gained or lost, leaving the one remaining untouched. Directional drilling rigs jumped 14 units to 224. Horizontal drilling rigs were up 3 units to 1,333. Canada’s rig count increased 5 units to 414, giving the country 25 more units compared with this week a year ago. An 8-unit rise in gas rigs to 186 was cut into by a 3-unit decline in oil rigs to 228. Major states, basins As usual, Texas led the major […]

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Nebraska Court Hears Questions About Keystone XL Pipeline Plan

LINCOLN, Nebraska, Sept 5 (Reuters) – Nebraska’s Supreme Court heard arguments on Friday about whether Governor Dave Heineman acted properly when he blessed a route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, and the court’s decision could weigh on the controversial project. A lawyer for landowners who may be in the pipeline’s path hoped to persuade the seven-member panel that Heineman overreached and that a decision on the route should be left to an independent state agency. The 30-minute hearing played out in the court’s somber wood-paneled chamber. Keystone opponents who watched the proceedings from an adjacent room, were not so subdued. "It just makes sense, how can they not see that," said Shannon Graves, a Nebraska landowner who opposes the plan and was in the viewing room. At issue was a 2012 law that gave Heineman authority to approve a route for TransCanada Corp’s proposed $5.4 billion pipeline. The […]

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Truce in Ukraine Spawns Hope, Doubt in West

Ukraine signed a cease-fire with the pro-Russian rebels on Friday. This could be a real move into ending the five-month conflict. WSJ’s Moscow Bureau Chief Greg White joins Lunch Break’s Tanya Rivero with the details. Photo: Getty MOSCOW—A tentative peace deal for Ukraine reached Friday raised hopes for a resolution of the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War, even as the U.S. and Europe beefed up sanctions aimed at pressuring Russia to leave the battlefield. After a day of continued fighting, Ukrainian forces and the pro-Russia separatists in the east of the country said they had stopped their military operations when the cease-fire went into effect at 6 p.m. local time. The deal was described as a series of 12 steps toward ending the five-month conflict that has cost at least 2,000 lives. The first step, the cease-fire, was to be followed by a prisoner exchange and delivery […]

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North Sea Oil and Scottish Independence: where does the truth lie?

North Sea Oil and Scottish Independence: where does the truth lie? How much oil and gas is left in the North Sea? 16 billion barrels oil equivalent (boe) according to Sir Ian Wood or 24 billion boe according to Oil and Gas UK? The correct answer for official proved+probable reserves is between 8 and 9 billion boe, a figure that both DECC and Oil and Gas UK agree on. With over 9 different classes of reserves, this debate is sterile and this is not the correct question to ask. How wealthy will oil make Scotland? In 2013, the direct tax take from oil and gas production for the whole of the UK was £4.67 billion and falling. This compares with annual spending of the Scottish government (plus UK spending on Scotland) running at £65.2 billion. Hence, direct taxation of oil and gas production may account for less than 7% of the Scottish […]

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Judge’s Ruling May Encourage BP to Settle

While BP PLC has pledged to fight a federal judge’s ruling that it acted recklessly in the fatal 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill, Thursday’s decision may ratchet up pressure for it to pursue a different tack: settle. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier found BP took irresponsible drilling risks and failed to recognize danger signs preceding the deadly accident, leaving the company open to up to $18 billion in federal Clean Water Act penalties for polluting the Gulf of Mexico. BP has called the ruling of gross negligence "erroneous." Expecting the court to find it merely "negligent"—a determination that would have cut its liability by about a fourth—BP had set aside just $3.5 billion for Clean Water Act penalties. If the ruling stands, any final penalty will be based on how much oil is determined to have been spilled and what the court decides BP did to mitigate the […]

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BP ruling raises liability stakes for high-risk industries

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. court ruling that dramatically ramped up BP Plc’s potential penalties for the 2010 Gulf oil spill could create new liability risks not just for deep water drillers but also for other industries like mining and nuclear power generation. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday found that BP was guilty of "gross negligence" ahead of the rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. The April 20, 2010 blast killed 11 workers and spewed millions of barrels of oil for nearly three months. The "gross negligence" designation could quadruple BP’s federal financial penalties, adding as much as $18 billion to the bill for worst offshore environmental disaster in U.S. history. BP said it would appeal the decision, arguing that "the law is clear that proving gross negligence is a very high bar that was not met in this case." Legal […]

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Oil Steady Ahead NATO Summit Outcome, U.S. Jobs Data

By Eric Yep Crude-oil futures were steady in Asian trade Friday as markets wait for the outcome of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Europe and ahead of U.S. jobs data. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in October traded at $94.47 a barrel at 0419 GMT, up $0.02 in the Globex electronic session. October Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.05 to $101.78 a barrel. World leaders at the NATO summit in Wales are still working on a new set of sanctions against Moscow for supporting pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine and allegedly sending thousands of troops there. NATO members are also evaluating the situation in Iraq and said they would help form a military coalition to confront the rising threat from Islamic State militants. "Markets hinge on the results of the NATO summit talks which should end today," Howie […]

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WTI Heads for Weekly Drop as Refiners Slow Rates; Brent Steady

West Texas Intermediate headed for a weekly decline as U.S. refineries reduced operating rates at the end of the peak season for gasoline demand in the world’s biggest oil consumer. Brent was steady in London . Futures were little changed in New York and poised for a 1.6 percent weekly drop. Refineries operated at 93.3 percent of their capacity last week, down 0.2 percentage points, according to the Energy Information Administration. Processing plants schedule maintenance during September and October as a transition to making winter-grade fuels. Libyan crude output was steady at 725,000 barrels a day, National Oil Corp. said. “Lower demand is certainly the base case scenario, but it’s unlikely the sellers will get too aggressive,” Michael McCarthy , a chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, said by phone. “Firstly, we start to move into the hurricane season in the U.S., and secondly, peak demand for oil […]

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Natural-Gas Prices Fall on Larger-Than-Expected Surplus

By Timothy Puko Natural-gas futures closed lower Thursday for the third straight session after a weekly stockpile report showed a larger-than-expected surplus. The front-month October contract settled down 2.8 cents, or 0.7%, to $3.819 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have fallen 6% this week, undoing nearly all of a two-week rally that had seen natural gas peak above $4/mmBtu on Friday. Producers added 79 billion cubic feet of gas to storage for the week ended Aug. 29, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. The addition was 6 bcf larger than the 73-bcf consensus average expectations of analysts and brokers surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. Traders use the EIA update to gauge how quickly stockpiles are recovering from high demand that drained them to 11-year lows this winter. Last week’s addition refilled stockpiles to 2.7 trillion cubic feet, within 16% of the […]

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UK edges closer to military operations against Isis

An RAF Tornado GR4 takes off Four British Tornados are already on an intelligence-gathering mission over Iraq The UK is moving closer to scaling up its operations against jihadis in Iraq after meetings with world leaders in Wales at the Nato summit and efforts in Westminster to begin canvassing support for a more full-blooded intervention. British military chiefs have yet to be given any directions on operations in the Middle East but one senior officer said they understood a nod from Number 10 could be imminent. Any operation would be limited in scale, they stressed, and would be likely to take the form of something such as a small, non-combat deployment to Baghdad to train and assist the Iraqi army from behind the front lines or airstrikes alongside the US. A government source played down the notion of any military engagement soon. The UK was “in a place where […]

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NATO to help coordinate security assistance for Iraq

NEWPORT Wales (Reuters) – NATO leaders are set to agree at a summit on Friday to help organize security assistance for Iraq in its fight against Islamic State militants, including coordinating the airlift of supplies, a Western official said. NATO is expected to set up a clearing house that would match offers of military supplies to help the Iraqi authorities with available transport aircraft, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. NATO would not take part in any combat operations, and the security assistance would be provided by individual member states and partners, he said. (Reporting by Adrian Croft ; Editing by Paul Taylor)

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Baghdad to file new claims against KRG exports

Baghdad to file new claims against KRG exports Flares burn at the Khurmala Dome processing facility, a key gathering station for Kurdish exports. (BEN LANDO/Iraq Oil Report) Iraq’s central government is filing new legal claims in its ongoing battle to prevent the autonomous Kurdistan region from independently exporting oil to international markets.On Thursday, lawyers representing Baghdad will file a new claim – as well as an amendment to a previous claim – against an oil tanker filled with Kurdistan-exported crude, which has been idling off the coast of Texas.On Friday or Monday, they will also file a claim in a Greek court against the owner of many tanke… This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .

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BP Signs Fresh Deal on Iraq Production Goals

LONDON— BP PLC said Thursday it reached an agreement with the Iraqi government to lower the production target for the vast Rumaila oil field and extend a BP-led group’s time frame to manage the resource. BP signed a deal in 2005 to boost Rumaila’s production from less than 1 million barrels a day at the time to 2.85 million by 2016—a goal which BP said would have made it the world’s second-largest producing field, behind Saudi Arabia’s supergiant Ghawar field. Rumaila currently produces about 1.3 million barrels a day, a BP spokesman said. More recently, the Iraqi government has been negotiating to lower production targets for several fields, including Rumaila. Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem Luaiby said in December that the government was working to renegotiate the Rumaila deal. BP said Thursday that under the new agreement it plans to bring production to 2.1 million barrels a day "within […]

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Jordan secures gas exports from Israel

Israel’s Delek Group signed the letter with the National Electric Power Co. of Jordan. "The estimate scope of the binding agreement [outlined in the letter] is for the supply of an overall amount of 45 billion cubic meters [1.6 trillion cubic feet] over a period of 15 years," the Israeli company said. Jordan in the past has struggled to find a reliable source of natural gas in part because of downstream problems in Egypt. In February, Jordanian companies Arab Potash and Jordan Bromine secured a total gross quantity of 66 billion cubic feet of natural gas from the Tamar field, also located off the Israeli coast Leviathan, with an estimated 18 trillion cubic feet of gas, should go onstream in 2016. Much of the reserves from the offshore field are already designated for exports to regional customers. Tamar is estimated to hold as much as 10 trillion cubic feet […]

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Statoil wades deeper into Colombia

"We are gaining access to a vast underexplored frontier area through early access at scale, which is in line with Statoil’s exploration strategy," Nick Maden, a senior vice president for Statoil’s exploration activities in the Western Hemisphere, said in a statement. Statoil, for an undisclosed sum, acquired a minority share in two offshore areas in Colombia from Repsol. Statoil in July made its debut in Colombia in a deal with Repsol and the Colombian subsidiary of Exxon Mobil. Much of the country’s oil is focused inland in the foothills of the Andes and in the Amazonian jungle. Colombia holds an estimated 2.4 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, though offshore is considered frontier territory. While no reserve potential was available, Repsol has already conducted seismic surveys offshore to get a better understanding of the license area.

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China Vets Investors For a Unit Of Sinopec

China is kicking off a potentially significant experiment in injecting some entrepreneurial juice into its state-owned firms. State-owned China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. , known as Sinopec, last week started the process of vetting would-be investors in a new unit that operates more than 30,000 gasoline stations and 23,000 convenience stores in some of the richest areas of the country. Some 37 companies and consortia—including Chinese Internet power Tencent Holdings Ltd. —have expressed interest, according to people familiar with the deal. Sinopec is selling as much as a 30% stake in the unit, Sinopec Sales Co., which is valued by the company at $56 billion. Some of the potential investors, such as Tencent, are also signing up for business partnerships with the unit, according to an announcement by Sinopec. Those partners will get priority consideration for investment spots, Sinopec’s chairman, Fu Chengyu , said in an interview. The Chinese […]

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China now gets more oil from the Middle East than the US does

China is quickly overtaking the United States as the world’s biggest importer of oil. Not only that, but China now buys more crude oil from the Middle East than the US does — a shift that some experts think could have big geopolitical implications in the years ahead. Roughly half of China’s imported oil now comes from the Persian Gulf, whereas America’s reliance on Middle Eastern crude has been steadily shrinking in recent years. Here’s  a good map from Bruce Jones, David Steven, and Emily O’Brien of the Brookings Institution laying out China’s situation: Where China’s oil imports come from china oil imports map (Brookings Institution) China currently imports around 5.6 million barrels of oil per day on net, with about half of those imports coming from the Persian Gulf region. As the map shows, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Oman, and Iraq dominate the list (as do Russia and Angola) — […]

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In Keystone Pipeline Debate, Nebraska High Court Will Have Sway

Hess To Form MLP For North Dakota Oil, Gas Transport Assets WASHINGTON, Sept 4 (Reuters) – Nebraska’s top court will hear arguments on Friday about how the Keystone XL pipeline might cross the state – a narrow question of routing and permitting that has clouded the project’s fate after more than five years of wrangling at the federal level. At issue is a 2012 law that gave Governor Dave Heineman authority to approve a route for TransCanada Corp’s proposed Canada-to-Texas project. Siting issues are typically settled by the state’s Public Services Commission (PSC). In February, a Nebraska court ruled that the governor had been wrong to interrupt that process. The decision was a win for landowners and environmentalists who oppose the Keystone project, aimed at transporting at least 730,000 barrels per day from the oil sands region of Western Canada to Gulf Coast refineries. The Nebraska court decision forced […]

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As Keystone awaits fate, other tar sands projects move forward

The federal government has quietly approved major tar sands transportation projects with unstudied environmental effects — managing to circumvent the executive branch’s impact analysis that paralyzed development of the Keystone XL pipeline and bolstered activists’ claims that the project is dangerous and damaging to the environment. Over the past few years, the Keystone pipeline has become a household name. The controversy caused by Canadian pipeline company TransCanada’s project, which would bring hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil from Canada’s tar sands to the U.S. each day, has ignited an environmental movement across the country, and has elicited responses from top U.S. politicians, including President Obama. But the U.S. has approved other cross-border tar sands transportation projects with little fanfare. Those projects include one by TransCanada competitor Enbridge to build a facility in Illinois to transport crude oil from the tar sands via train, which was approved by the […]

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Solid U.S. employment growth eyed in August

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. job growth likely accelerated a bit in August and the unemployment rate probably fell to 6.1 percent, offering fresh evidence of sustained momentum in the economy. Economists predict that nonfarm payrolls increased 225,000 last month, according to a Reuters survey. It would mark the seventh straight month that employment has expanded above 200,000 jobs – a stretch last witnessed in 1997. The government reported last month that the economy added 209,000 jobs in July. Economists, however, expect June and July data will be revised to show more jobs created than previously reported, in line with a recent trend of upward revisions. "It would be further confirmation that the economy is strengthening and is poised to break out later this year or early next," said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The Labor Department will release its monthly employment report […]

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Crime growing issue in North Dakota’s oil patch

Federal law enforcement agents need to be positioned in the heart of the North Dakota oil patch to address rising crime rates, Sen. said. The state attorney general said in a July report violent crimes in the state in 2013 increased by 7.4 percent while arrests for drug-related offenses increased 19.5 percent from 2012. Hoeven, R-N.D., said FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency officials aren’t stationed permanently in Williston, the heart of the state’s oil boom, to the frustration of local law enforcement agents . "Our local law enforcement officials have the best understanding of the situation and do a good job with the tools and resources they have, but we can better address drug trafficking and other serious crimes with the active engagement and permanent presence of experienced, well equipped federal agents," he said in a statement Wednesday. North Dakota in August received a $3 million federal grant to […]

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Statoil comes up dry in Gulf of Mexico

Norwegian energy company Statoil said it would reposition a rig in the Gulf of Mexico after coming up dry in the deep water Martin prospect. Statoil said it completed operations at the Martin well, coming up only with a small discovery the company said had no commercial prospects. Once abandonment operations are completed, the company said it would reposition the Maersk Developer drilling rig to the Persues project in the Gulf of Mexico. Statoil says it’s one of the largest lease holders in the Gulf of Mexico, describing the area as "among the most attractive in the industry." From an office in Houston, the company said it handles about 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent from the Gulf of Mexico, a level it says is on pace for a steady increase. In July, the company, one of the largest in the world, said it was cutting as many as 1,400 […]

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AAA: $3 per gallon gas possible

The official summer driving season runs from Memorial Day through Labor Day. On Sept. 15, U.S. refiners can switch to a winter blend of gasoline, which is less expensive to produce. In the days leading up to the refiner deadline, gasoline supplies can get limited, but motor club AAA said prices should continue to drop through the season. "The big crunch in summer travel is done and most of us can look forward to lower gas prices during the next few months," AAA spokesman Avery Ash said in a statement Wednesday. AAA says the national average price for gasoline is $3.43. AAA said prices could drop by as much as 20 cents by October and some gasoline retailers could post prices below $3 per gallon. Gasoline prices are a reflection of oil prices, which typically rise and fall in response to global geopolitical tensions. AAA in past reports said […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Nova Scotia may ban fracking

Dave Collyer, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said the provincial government’s decision could leave Nova Scotia on the sidelines of the emerging shale gas boom . "The government’s decision appears to be largely based on considerations other than the technical knowledge and experience of industry regulators and experts in Canadian jurisdictions where hydraulic fracturing has been used safely for many decades to develop natural gas," he said in a statement Wednesday. Shale is in the pioneer stage in the province. CAAP said hydraulic fracturing has been used safely for more than 60 years in Western Canada with few incidents. Nova Scotia Energy Minister Andrew Younger said he had legislation prepared to prohibit hydraulic fracturing at inland shale basins. "Nova Scotians have overwhelmingly expressed concern about allowing high volume hydraulic fracturing to be a part of onshore shale development in this province at this time," he said […]

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Use Trains for Grain Not Oil, U.S. Urged to Tell Railways

Officials from North Dakota and other upper Midwestern states today urged U.S. regulators to pressure railroads to fix the logjams that are blocking grain shipments as harvest season approaches. Congestion on the rail lines operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (CP) and Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s (BRK/A) BNSF railroad, caused by a harsh winter and growing demand for railcars to accommodate North Dakota’s oil boom, is already costing farmers millions of dollars, U.S. Senator John Hoeven, a Republican, told the Surface Transportation Board at a Fargo, North Dakota, hearing. As grain produced last year sits in storage, waiting for trains to carry the crops to market, the bottlenecks may get worse without immediate steps as an anticipated record grain harvest begins, officials warned. “There’s great apprehension in how things will go this fall,” said Governor Jack Dalrymple, a Republican, said. The board ordered the rail lines in June to provide […]

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The crisis of rising sea levels

Part 1: A Reuters analysis finds that flooding is increasing along much of the nation�� coastline, forcing many communities into costly, controversial struggles with a relentless foe. WALLOPS ISLAND, Virginia ��Missions flown from the NASA base here have documented some of the most dramatic evidence of a warming planet over the past 20 years: the melting of polar ice, a force contributing to a global rise in ocean levels. The Wallops Flight Facility�� relationship with rising seas doesn�� end there. Its billion-dollar space launch complex occupies a barrier island that’s drowning under the impact of worsening storms and flooding. NASA’s response? Rather than move out of harm�� way, officials have added more than $100 million in new structures over the past five years and spent $43 million more to fortify the shoreline with sand. Nearly a third of that new sand has since been washed away. Across a narrow […]

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Packing in the wells: a look at a Bakken downspacing pilot

Overview To see how tightly they can pack wells in North Dakota’s Bakken oil play, Continental Resources is now running several pilot projects. In releasing some preliminary results from one pilot, Continental was upbeat. But rather than taking the company’s word for how that project is going, I took a close look at the production data available from North Dakota—and it looks to me like the results are actually bad news. Published 23 hours ago The first company to go big in the North Dakota’s Bakken oil boom was Continental Resources—as they call themselves, “America’s Oil Champion”—and they’ve long been on the optimistic side about the Bakken’s long-run potential. The company’s founder and CEO, Harold Hamm, has argued that the play could ultimately yield 24 billion barrels of oil. Continental’s president bumped that number higher in a March 2014 talk, saying the Bakken could yield 32 billion barrels . […]

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Ukraine and Russia-Backed Rebels Say They Are Ready for Cease-Fire

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during talks with the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, on Thursday. Zuma Press KIEV, Ukraine—Ukraine and Russia-backed rebels both said Thursday they are ready for a cease-fire in the country’s war-torn eastern provinces if a peace deal is signed at talks on Friday. At a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Wales, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he hoped a cease-fire would be agreed to at the meeting of negotiators in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. But the most important details of the plan were still unclear—particularly the contentious issue of how much territory the Ukraine government could effectively have to cede to rebels. Russian President Vladimir Putin has presented a plan that would call for Ukraine to pull back forces and leave the rebels in control of some territory. Mr. Poroshenko hasn’t made public exactly what he […]

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Ukraine battles rage despite ceasefire talks

A volunteer of the Ukrainian paramilitary Azov battalion waits on an armoured vehicle, as pro-Russian separatists fire heavy artillery, on the outskirts of the key southeastern port city of Mariupol, on September 5, 2014. NATO leaders are expected to announce a raft of fresh sanctions against Russia on Friday over its actions in Ukraine, although hopes remain that a ceasefire can be forged at peace talks in Minsk on the same day. AFP PHOTO/PHILIPPE DESMAZES The sound of shelling rattled Mariupol in southeast Ukraine on Friday morning, sparking fresh fears that Russian-backed separatists were plotting to seize the strategic Azov Sea coast city hours before ceasefire talks and a looming EU decision to expand economic sanctions against Moscow. Nato leaders, holding their second day of summit talks in Wales, were considering their response to Russian aggression against Ukraine. More On this story On this topic IN Europe Witnesses reported […]

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BP May Be Fined Up to $18 Billion for Spill in Gulf

NEW ORLEANS — In the four years since the blowout on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 workers and sent millions of barrels of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, BP has spent more than $28 billion on damage claims and cleanup costs, pleaded guilty to criminal charges and emerged a shrunken giant. But through it all, the company has maintained that it was not chiefly responsible for the accident, and that its contractors in the operation, Halliburton and Transocean, should shoulder as much, if not more, of the blame. On Thursday, a federal judge here for the first time bluntly rejected those arguments, finding that BP was indeed the primary culprit and that only it had acted with “conscious disregard of known risks.” He added that BP’s “conduct was reckless.” By finding that BP was, in legal parlance, grossly negligent in the disaster, and not merely […]

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Judge’s negligence ruling catches BP investors off guard

US district judge Carl Barbier’s finding that BP acted with gross negligence and wilful misconduct in the Deepwater Horizon disaster is rooted in decisions taken on the day of the accident, April 20 2010. The details of what happened on that day have been thoroughly rehearsed in several inquiries and in the evidence presented at the trial last year. Yet the judge’s assessment of those events, which puts the oil group on the hook for up to $18bn in penalties, still took many in the markets by surprise. BP shares closed nearly 6 per cent lower on Thursday. More On this story On this topic IN Oil & Gas The ruling focuses on the “negative pressure test”, intended to check whether the Macondo well had been safely sealed with cement so the rig could detach from it and move away. Judge Barbier argues that BP knew that deepwater drilling […]

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BP Ruling ‘Wakeup Call’ as Risks Mount in Oil Search

A U.S. judge’s watershed ruling means the final cost to BP Plc for the 2010 Gulf oil spill may eclipse $50 billion, wiping out years of profits and highlighting the risks of drilling as the industry pushes into more dangerous areas such as deeper waters and ice-bound Arctic fields. Yesterday’s court decision that BP acted with gross negligence in the Gulf of Mexico disaster may hamstring the company financially as the industry’s search for resources becomes more expensive and dangerous. Companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are also facing increasing pressure to show investors they can still grow as production declines. As producers scour the globe for oil and natural gas, the ruling shows they’ll be held accountable for mistakes that may be inevitable given the complexity of the work, said Edward Overton, professor emeritus at Louisiana State University’s department of environmental sciences in Baton […]

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BP can absorb new oil spill fine, analysts say

LONDON (Reuters) – BP should be able to meet the cost of up to $18 billion of new fines for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill without major asset sales or a big cut in its dividend, analysts say. The oil group’s shares dropped nearly 6 percent on Thursday after U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans, Louisiana, said it was "grossly negligent" in the April 20, 2010, rig explosion and spill that killed 11 workers. However, BP said it would appeal the ruling, meaning any decision on indemnities could be years away. "The headline is obviously negative, but BP will appeal and the appeals process is likely to be dragged out for years," said Bernard Hodee, analyst at Raymond James, which kept its rating on BP shares unchanged at "fair value". BP has set aside only $3.5 billion for fines under the Clean Water Act, part […]

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Eni’s Supply Woes Are a Europe-Wide Issue

The European Central Bank’s surprise interest-rate cut aims to stimulate an economy hobbled by flat or falling prices. It comes against a backdrop of European businesses struggling with a production glut in anything from washing machines and cars to gasoline. An aging oil refinery near the small Sicilian town of Gela offers a window into that struggle. A sharp drop in energy demand in Italy—where consumption of refined petroleum products has slid 30% since 2006, double the European average—has sent capacity usage at the refinery plummeting to 29% from 89% just four years ago. Eni SpA, the Italian energy giant that owns the plant, has racked up €1 billion ($1.31 billion) in operating losses at the facility in five years. As a result, it seemed to make perfect sense when the company began considering the closure of the huge refinery this summer. Yet pressure from unions and politicians quickly […]

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Royal Dutch Shell CEO: Can’t Deny Returns Are Too Low

‘We cannot deny that our returns are too low,’ Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said, here pictured in May. European Pressphoto Agency NEW YORK— Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s new chief executive has an unusual message for the boss of an oil major: He’s prepared to see the company shrink, if that boosts returns. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal here, Ben van Beurden said he won’t set production-growth targets for the Anglo-Dutch company and would consider reducing Shell’s exposure to oil-products. He said he is focused instead on ensuring Shell keeps generating enough cash to keep its dividend growing. "We cannot deny that our returns are too low," Mr. van Beurden said. "We don’t have a [production] volume or capital-employed target. What I want to show is that we can grow free cash flow." Since taking the helm at Shell in January, Mr. van […]

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Oil Prices Fall Amid Volatile Trading

Brent crude fell Thursday, after rebounding a day earlier from falls earlier in the week. Trading has been volatile over the past week, said Andrey Kryuchenkov of VTB Capital, after a long summer decline in prices. "Players in the U.S. returned to the market after the long holiday weekend on Tuesday and aggravated the short selling while volumes have finally started to gain," he wrote in a note to clients. "A stronger U.S. currency added to the pain, with oil futures joining a broader commodity selloff," he said. The low prices are making Brent competitive against other types of crude oil. Saudi Arabia released its prices for October loading crude, with "cuts for every grade in every region," according to JBC Energy. The deepest cuts were to prices for oil deliveries in Asia, according to JBC. JBC noted that Saudi crude was still expensive relative to key competitors such […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple