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Natural Gas Prices Edge Lower on Strong Supply, Comfortable Weather

By Timothy Puko NEW YORK–Natural-gas prices closed lower on Friday for a second day, as big surpluses of the fuel and expectations of lower demand encouraged selling. Prices for the front-month October contract fell 7.3 cents, or 1.9%, to $3.837 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. After a rally above $4/mmBtu to start the week, two days of losses have brought gas back toward the bottom of a 32-cent range in which it has traded for nearly all the past two months. Traders began selling on Thursday, after the U.S. government reported stockpiles grew last week faster than expected. That selling continued into Friday, traders and analysts said. Producers are refilling storage at a record rate, fast enough to get storage levels back to nearly normal, even though they started the spring at an 11-year low, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Weather […]

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U.S. Hopes Face-Saving Plan Offers a Path to a Nuclear Pact With Iran

Over the years, the United States has shown considerable ingenuity in its effort to slow Iran ’s production of nuclear fuel: It has used sabotage, cyberattacks and creative economic sanctions. Now, mixing face-saving diplomacy and innovative technology, negotiators are attempting a new approach, suggesting that the Iranians call in a plumber. The idea is to convince the Iranians to take away many of the pipes that connect their nuclear centrifuges, the giant machines that are connected together in a maze that allows uranium fuel to move from one machine to another, getting enriched along the way. That way, the Iranians could claim they have not given in to Western demands that they eliminate all but a token number of their 19,000 machines, in which Iran has invested billions of dollars and tremendous national pride. And if the plumbing is removed, experts at America’s national nuclear laboratories have told the […]

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Iran Nuclear Talks Resume After Gap

NEW YORK—The first full round of nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers resumed Friday in New York after a two-month gap, with Western officials saying the coming days are critical to reaching a deal by the Nov. 24 deadline. The talks are taking place to the backdrop of the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting, meaning leaders and foreign ministers from Iran and the six powers will be in town. Western officials say they hope that will inject some needed momentum into discussions and help them answer their biggest question of whether Iran’s negotiating team has political cover to accept a major cut in Tehran’s current nuclear-enrichment program under a final deal. "We are entering the crucial phase of the…negotiations with Iran," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters Friday. "There is no more room for Iran to play for time. We are willing to offer Iran […]

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Iran, 6 powers seek to unblock nuclear talks

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — With little more than two months to deadline, Iran and six world powers on Friday launched a fresh effort at narrowing stubborn differences on what nuclear concessions Tehran must agree to in exchange for full sanctions relief. The talks once again bring Iran to the negotiating table with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. But this time they are taking place on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. That means U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterparts will likely join in, adding their diplomatic muscle to the meeting. With the clock ticking down, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the talks had entered a "crucial phase," and suggested Iran would be to blame if the sides failed to seal a deal. "There is no more room for Iran to play for time," he told reporters, urging Tehran to "move […]

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Nigerian Oil Unions Halt Strike After Pension Dispute

Nigeria’s oil unions called off a four-day strike, averting a threat to exports from a nation whose shipments equate to about 2 percent of global demand. The Pengassan union that represents managers and blue-collar Nupeng oil union suspended industrial action after talks with Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke and state-owned Nigeria National Petroleum Corp. “The strike action embarked upon by Nupeng and Pengassan is hereby suspended,” according to a joint e-mailed statement today by the minister, labor leaders and NNPC. The strike started on Sept. 16 in a dispute over pensions and unions representing workers at NNPC. Nigeria is the continent’s largest oil producer and relies on the commodity for more than 70 percent of government revenue and 95 percent of foreign-exchange income. The West African nation pumped 2.3 million barrels a day of oil in August, the most since 2006, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “The strike didn’t […]

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Mexico’s oil hedging deal exposed

Bloomberg Photo Service ‘Best of the Week’: Workers prepare drilling pipe on the Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) La Muralla IV deep sea crude oil platform in the waters off Veracruz, Mexico, on Friday, Aug. 30, 2013. Gulf of Mexico crudes strengthened on concern that the conflict in Syria might spread and threaten imports from the Middle East. Photographer: Susana Gonzalez/Bloomberg Mexico’s oil hedging programme – a highly secretive deal that is the largest single trade in crude markets – appears to be unfolding in public for the first time, according to traders. The public disclosure of a large options trade on a new database has led to speculation that the country’s government has locked in a price for most of its oil exports next year. More On this topic IN Commodities Put options locking in the sale of 5m barrels of crude for at least $80 per barrel were this […]

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With 38% of Global Shale Gas Located in Regions of Water Stress, More Oversight of Fracking is Urgently Needed

Natural gas rig in the Piceance Basin in Colorado. Fracking in water-stressed areas poses risks to energy producers and communities. Photo: Energy Tomorrow/Creative Commons 2.0. As more data emerge, shale gas increasingly appears to be in the cross-hairs of the water-energy nexus, and far too little is being done to defuse impending conflicts. While  hydraulic fracturing  (or “fracking”), the process used to unleash natural gas from shale deposits, has raised serious concerns about  groundwater contamination , less attention has been given to the added competition for limited water supplies the process can bring. Each fracking well can require up to 25 million liters (6.6 million gallons) of water. A new  study  by the  World Resources Institute  (WRI), a research group based in Washington, DC, attempts to fill this knowledge gap by overlaying known recoverable resources, or “plays,” of shale gas onto maps of water stress.   The results raise concerns. […]

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Oil Companies Eye Crude Price Drop But Keep Drilling

Hess To Form MLP For North Dakota Oil, Gas Transport Assets HOUSTON, Sept 19 (Reuters) – A 13 percent slide in crude oil prices since June has eroded some of the allure of drilling U.S. shale resources and raised investor concerns, but companies are pushing ahead as prices are still above the breakeven levels that might prompt a slowdown. U.S. light sweet crude traded in New York has dropped to around $93 per barrel from $107 in late June as supplies pumped from oily rocks in Texas and North Dakota grow and a strong U.S. dollar makes imports more attractive. On Thursday, shares of Bakken operator Continental Resources Inc stumbled as much as 8 percent after the company raised its capital budget for this year by $500 million to $4.55 billion and said some well completion techniques would be costlier. The company also replaced a key executive. But oil’s […]

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BHI: US drilling rig count holds steady at 1,931

The US drilling rig count was unchanged at 1,931 rigs working during the week ended Sept. 19, Baker Hughes Inc. reported. A 4-unit rise in land rigs to 1,856 was offset by a 4-unit decline in offshore rigs to 62. Rigs drilling in inland waters were unchanged at 13. Oil rigs were up 9 units to 1,601, which was nullified by a 9-unit drop in gas rigs to 329. The one rig considered unclassified remains unmoved from last week. Directional drilling rigs fell 5 units to 212 while horizontal drilling rigs edged down a unit to 1,341. Canada’s rigs count lost 28 units during the week, settling at a total of 377, down 11 units compared with this week a year ago. Oil rigs comprised a majority of the loss, falling 20 units to 202. Gas rigs dropped 8 units to 175. Major states, basins Activity in the major […]

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API: Oil imports at historic low

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (UPI) — API said in its monthly report on trends in the U.S. energy sector crude oil imports of 7.6 million barrels per day in August, the last full month for which data are available, was 6.2 percent less than last year and the lowest level for August since 1996. Total imports of petroleum productions were down 10.2 percent year-on-year. August crude oil production of 8.6 million bpd, meanwhile, was the highest for the month in nearly three decades. Production was boosted largely by output from North Dakota and Texas. In terms of demand, API said its petroleum delivery metric showed a 1 percent increase year-on-year to 19.3 million bpd, the highest in three years. "Petroleum demand last month showed slow but steady growth, mirroring economic indicators for domestic manufacturing, air travel and job creation," said API Chief Economist John Felmy . Production of gasoline in […]

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