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Western Oil Companies to Continue in Russia Despite Sanctions

SOCHI, Russia—Western oil companies have pledged their readiness to continue working in Russia despite Western sanctions, which have already put a brand new project into question. Speaking at an investment conference in Russia’s southern port of Sochi, Olivier Lazare, the president of Shell Russia, said the company’s strategy in Russia hasn’t changed because of the sanctions. "But of course we have to comply with the sanctions," he said, adding that the company is seeking clarification on what the sanctions mean for its business in Russia. General director of Total E&P Russie, Jacques de Boisseson, also said the company is committed to work in Russia. "We have continued to work in spite of sanctions, this is about consistency, about long-term work, about trust with our partners," he said. "Yes, we are used to work with sanctions. No, we don’t like to do that." Western countries have imposed sanctions against Moscow […]

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Oil Heads for Weekly Gain on Speculation OPEC May Cut Production

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude headed for this month’s first weekly increases as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries considers cutting its production target next year. Futures were little changed in London and poised for a 0.6 percent increase this week. OPEC, supplier of about 40 percent of the world’s oil, may reduce its daily quota by 500,000 barrels to 29.5 million in 2015, Secretary-General Abdalla El-Badri said in Vienna on Sept. 16. Libya halted output from the Sharara field after an attack at the Zawiya plant. “The market appears to have formed a bit of a base,” Ric Spooner, a chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, said by phone today. “We may also be getting close to a level where the market is a little nervous about taking more risk premium out of oil prices . There’s not a lot in there now and that leaves […]

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Oil-Price Quirk Sends Crude Out to Sea

Sinopec leased the 3.2 million-barrel supertanker TI Europe, above, to hold crude in storage, and plans to pick up more cargoes in the coming days. Euronav Big oil companies and traders are stashing millions of barrels of crude on massive tankers bobbing in the ocean, in a bid to profit from a quirk in oil markets. Instead of moving crude from one port to another, a growing number of tankers are serving as floating warehouses for companies including Sinopec Ltd. and Vitol Group, according to people with knowledge of their operations. Other companies such as Mercuria Energy Group are using the tankers to haul crude to on-shore storage facilities, these people said. In a rare split, crude is cheaper in the spot market than in the futures market, where bets are made on where prices will be in the months ahead. By buying physical stocks of oil and immediately […]

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

By Timothy Puko NEW YORK–Natural-gas futures closed lower Thursday after a weekly stockpile update showed a larger-than-expected surplus. Prices for the front-month October contract settled down 10.3 cents, or 2.6%, at $3.91 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The retreat put natural gas back in the middle of a 32-cent range it has traded in for nearly all of the past two months. Producers added 90 billion cubic feet of gas to storage for the week ended Sept. 12, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. The addition was larger than the 89 bcf consensus average expectations of analysts and brokers in The Wall Street Journal survey. 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 2.9 trillion cubic feet, about 13% below the five-year […]

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Islamic State Brings Saudi-U.S. Ties Into Line After Discord

Saudi and U.S. leaders have been speaking in harmony about the threat posed by Islamic State, after a period in which the allies of 70 years frequently sounded discordant notes. The breakaway al-Qaeda group’s rampage through northern Iraq and eastern Syria has persuaded the U.S. to launch air strikes and seek Arab support for a broader campaign. Saudi Arabia hosted a coalition-building summit last week for Secretary of State John Kerry and 10 Middle Eastern states. After that session, and more than two hours of talks with King Abdullah, Kerry told reporters that “you could not have heard a more fulsome commitment to doing anything that is necessary.” Such solidarity hasn’t always characterized ties between the nations since 2001, when Saudi citizens were involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. A decade later, they split again over the Arab revolts, with Saudis blaming the U.S. for abandoning allies such as […]

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Iraqi oil exports down more than 2 percent

BAGHDAD, Sept. 18 (UPI) — Oil ministry spokesman Assim Jihad said Thursday oil exports from the southern port city were sent to nearly three dozen international companies. August exports were down more than 2 percent from the 75.7 million barrels sent from southern port cities the previous month. SOMO is the only entity authorized to export oil from Iraq, the federal government in Baghdad says. The semiautonomous Kurdish government has exported oil taken from its northern provinces at least since May, to the frustration of Baghdad. The Oil Ministry said Thursday exports to Ceyhan from a pipeline from the restive northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk have been idled since May because of terrorist actions. Militants from the Islamic State, referred to often as ISIS or ISIL, claimed in June they took over the Baiji oil refinery , the largest in Iraq. Oil Minister Adil Abdel Mahdi visited the Baiji […]

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Iraq’s Fight Against ISIS May Fall to Provinces

ERBIL, Iraq — Gov. Atheel al-Nujaifi wants his province back. Since early June, when jihadist militants swept into Nineveh Province in northern Iraq and seized control of its capital , Mosul, Mr. Nujaifi has been a man without a home. As Iraqi forces and various militias, backed by American airstrikes , have sought to beat back fighters calling themselves the Islamic State, Mr. Nujaifi has pursued his own military response, narrowly tailored toward reclaiming Mosul. He is trying to assemble a 3,000-person militia of Sunni Muslims from Nineveh Province to deploy against the militant group, also known as ISIS. “We want to give a new image to the people: that Mosul will fight ISIS with people mainly from Mosul,” he said. “The people will not accept a return of the Iraqi Army.” There are countless hurdles to this project, not least of which is that the central government in […]

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U.S. Official Says Nuclear Talks With Iran Were Constructive

NEW YORK—The U.S. team negotiating a comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran were "not very optimistic" about the chances of a breakthrough in the talks, a senior U.S. official said Thursday, but bilateral discussions with Iran over the last 24 hours have been "constructive." "Coming into New York, many of us were not very optimistic," the official said. However, after discussions with Iran Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, "it is clear that everyone has come here to go to work." The official said U.S. President Barack Obama is "open to" meeting with Iranian President Hasan Rouhani on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly next week but that there was no meeting scheduled. The official said "the choice is really Iran’s." Mr. Obama and Mr. Rouhani held a historic 15-minute phone conversation at last year’s annual General Assembly meeting. Iran is negotiating a nuclear deal with the U.S. and […]

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Nigeria’s Power Woes Slow to Abate After Privatization

Award-winning Nigerian sculptor Olu Amoda took eight months to complete The Sunflower, a giant artwork of steel and metal spoons, in his studio in Lagos, Africa ’s biggest city, because of electricity shortages. Amoda could have finished the piece in several weeks if he lived in a country with a steady power supply, such as the U.S., where he has presented works at the New York Museum of Art and Design. But he lives in Nigeria , which produces a 10th of the amount generated in South Africa even though its population of 170 million is more than three times larger. Blackouts are a daily occurrence. “In some places people ask ‘how’s the weather’,” he said. “Here my friends ask, ‘how is electricity in your area’.” While the government last year sold its power distribution monopoly and the hydro- and natural gas-powered plants it ran to attract investment needed […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple