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International Support Grows for U.S.-led Campaign Against Islamic State

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, meets with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi in Cairo Saturday. Associated Press WASHINGTON—International support for the U.S.-led military campaign against Islamic State gathered strength with the U.K. vowing to destroy the group after it killed a British aid worker, Arab states agreeing to participate in airstrikes and Australia pledging forces. British Prime Minister David Cameron said Sunday his country will do whatever is needed to combat the threat posed by the extremist group operating in Iraq and Syria, reacting to a video released on Saturday that showed the beheading of Briton David Haines. Leading Middle East countries are prepared to join the U.S. in conducting airstrikes on militant targets in Iraq and Syria, according to senior U.S. and Arab officials. Though pledges of support are rolling in, the plan of action is still short on specifics, particularly on the next steps […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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UN nuke agency indicates slow going on Iran probe

VIENNA (AP) — The head of the U.N. nuclear agency is indicating that his attempted probe of allegations that Iran worked on nuclear arms is going slowly. Yukiya Amano of the International Atomic Energy Agency says that Tehran has not met his request to propose two new areas of investigation by Sept. 2. He says that discussions have begun on two other alleged series of experiments that the two sides agreed on earlier but does not say whether his agency is getting the answers it seeks. Amano spoke Monday to the opening session of the IAEA’s 35-nation board meeting. Iran says it does not want nuclear arms and never worked toward them. But the agency says it has collected about 1,000 pages of information that point to attempts to develop such weapons.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. sees Middle East help fighting IS, Britain cautious after beheading

WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) – Washington said countries in the Middle East had offered to join air strikes against Islamic State militants and Australia said it would send troops, but Britain held back even after the group beheaded a British hostage and threatened to kill another. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been touring the Middle East to try to secure backing for U.S. efforts to build a coalition to fight the Islamic State militants who have grabbed territory in Syria and Iraq. The United States resumed air strikes in Iraq in August for the first time since the 2011 withdrawal of the last U.S. troops, fearful the militants would break the country up and use it as a base for attacks on the West. The addition of Arab fighter jets would greatly strengthen the credibility of what is a risky and complicated campaign. "We have countries in this region, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China anxiety knocks shares, oil

LONDON (Reuters) – Stock markets fell on Monday after China’s factory output grew at the weakest pace in nearly six years in August, while worries over the impact of another round of sanctions on Russian projects added to headwinds for Moscow-listed companies and the oil market. Europe’s main markets fell as much as 0.4 percent before recovering some poise .FTEU3 . That followed a 1 percent dive for Asian shares, with European oil and gas stocks – traditionally among the most exposed to signs of weakening demand from China – falling as much as 1.3 percent .SXEP. Brent crude oil slumped to a more than two-year low under $97 per barrel as the lackluster data from the world’s top energy consumer cast a shadow over the outlook for oil demand at a time of abundant supply. "Economic growth in China is one of the key drivers of world growth […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Chevron Shuts Gas Pipeline After Accident

Chevron Pipe Line Co. has shut an Gulf of Mexico offshore gas pipeline after an accident Saturday left a contract worker dead. Reuters Chevron Pipe Line Co. has shut down a natural-gas pipeline that feeds Gulf of Mexico production to the Henry Hub storage and delivery point in Louisiana in the wake of a deadly accident. A contract worker performing routine maintenance on an offshore gas pipeline was killed Saturday and two other workers were injured, the company said. The accident occurred 6 miles south of Timbalier Bay off the southeast coast of Louisiana, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Chevron declined to identify the workers and offered no details about what happened offshore, but said the company has launched an investigation. The gas-handling line had a valve failure Saturday around 11:10 a.m. local time, said Gregory Langley, a spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. There has […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Fracking Gives U.S. Energy Boom Plenty of Room to Run

Cabot Oil & Gas had the most productive gas well in the U.S. last year, in Susquehanna County, Pa., yielding 30.3 million cubic feet a day Getty Images Skeptics of the U.S. energy boom say it can’t last much longer because it requires drilling an ever-increasing number of wells. But the boom already has lasted longer than anyone would have imagined just a decade ago and has more room to run. That’s because oil and natural-gas wells have become more productive—an unrecognized but potent trend that should keep the fuels flowing. Back in 2003, the energy industry had just begun combining the techniques of drilling horizontal bores through shale and then using hydraulic fracturing—shooting tons of water, chemicals and sand into the rocks. Four Sevens Oil Co. drilled the best gas well that year, in the Barnett Shale, just north of Fort Worth, Texas, according to Drillinginfo, an industry […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Bakken and N.D. Update for July

North Dakota has released their Bakken and North Dakota production numbers for July. Bakken Barrels Per Day Bakken production was up 19,456 bpd while all North Dakota production was up 18,134 barrels per day. This means that North Dakota production outside the Bakken fell by 1,322 bpd or a little over 2%. Bakken Wells Bakken wells producing increased by 195 to 8,065. North Dakota wells increased by the same amount to 10,952 so non-Bakken wells were unchanged at 2,860. Bakken bpd per well Bakken bpd per well fell by one to 130. All North Dakota bpd per well was unchanged at 102 bpd per well and wells outside the Bakken were unchanged at 22 bpd per well. Bakken Change The last 12 months has saw an average per month increase in production of 19,708 bpd. That works out to be 236,496 bpd increase over the last 12 months. I […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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President Obama has a huge gas problem

Ahead of the People’s Climate March, activists say Obama must address fracking if he wants to leave a meaningful legacy Later this month, hundreds of delegates will gather inside the U.N. to talk about climate change. President Barack Obama plans to attend the climate summit, and reportedly wants work on a deal with other world leaders to “name and shame” countries that aren’t actively pursuing serious climate action. But outside the U.N., thousands of activists will be protesting with one message: whatever Obama accomplishes at the U.N., it won’t be enough to save his climate legacy. The Obama Administration has been tough on coal, directing the Environmental Protection Agency to severely limit the amount of CO2 power plants are allowed to produce. But at the same time the administration has embraced natural gas with open arms. Environmentalists say that embrace has created a chasm between Obama’s rhetoric and his […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Scotland bets on North Sea oil, even as the wells start to run dry

1 of 25 Full Screen Autoplay Thousands march in Edinburgh against; a different story in Glasgow ABERDEEN, Scotland — The discovery of oil deep beneath the waters of the North Sea has made this ancient port city an energy boom town, with some of the highest wages and lowest unemployment rates anywhere in Europe. Now, leaders of the campaign to break from Britain in a Thursday referendum are counting on the spoils of “Scotland’s oil” to help spread prosperity across their newly independent nation, funding schools, health care and social welfare programs. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has promised an oil fund, modeled on Norway’s, to ensure that the country’s wealth is broadly shared. But in the final days before the vote, that vision of a progressive and egalitarian society built on a foundation of black goo is coming up against the hard reality of energy economics: After four […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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The Greatest Peak Oil Novel Ever Written

The Greatest Peak Oil Novel Ever Written Herman Melville never mentioned “peak whale oil” in his “Moby Dick”, published in 1851. But the novel can be understood taking into account the fact that the American whaling industry was going through its production peak just during those years. We may consider “Moby Dick” as the greatest peak oil novel ever written. In 1970, the United States went through their production peak for crude oil. Production reached a maximum then started a decline that has been lasting up to a few years ago. The peak was an epochal event, it was the “ great U-turn ” of the American economy, which ushered in a new era of larger social inequality and diffuse poverty. But the reaction to the peak itself was a deafening silence. Earlier on, the peak had been discussed and extensively debated since the time when, in 1956, the […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA