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EU sees light at the end of the climate tunnel

Chair Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Rajendra Pachauri speaks at the UN Climate Summit one day before the 69th United Nations General Assembly in the UN building in New York City on September 23, 2014. UPI/John Angelillo "We have a choice and we must have the political courage to act now, with ambition and collectively," Members of the European Union in October agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent, increase the renewable energy footprint by 27 percent and enhance energy efficiency by 27 percent from a 1990 benchmark by 2040. Miguel Arias Cañete, European commissioner for climate action and energy, told the European Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety the bloc has the policies in place to arrest climate change . A report published last week by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found emissions of carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas, from the […]

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Rosneft Must Keep Hands Off State Wealth Fund, Kudrin Says

The man who designed Russia’s rainy-day fund to protect against swings in commodity prices says the country’s state oil company shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the money. OAO Rosneft (ROSN) , headed by Igor Sechin , a long-time ally of President Vladimir Putin , asked last month for more than $44 billion from Russia’s Wellbeing Fund to finance investment after sanctions closed capital markets for the company. The request runs totally against the spirit of the reserve, designed to hedge against dependence on energy exports, said Alexei Kudrin , who was finance minister for more than a decade until 2011. Investing the fund’s $81.7 billion in oil and gas defeats the purpose, as does concentrating so much of the money in one place, said Kudrin, who charted Russia’s path through the 2008 financial crisis when oil crashed to less than $40 a barrel. He envisaged one of the fund’s […]

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US Government Oil Forecasts “Wildly Optimistic”

4708 Votes We would do well to pause, and ponder both the data and implications presented in the Post Carbon Institute’s latest report , released a few days before Halloween, “Drilling Deeper: A Reality Check On U.S. Government Forecasts for a Lasting Tight Oil & Shale Gas Boom” . The PCI’s new report exposes current oil industry & Energy Department oil production forecasts as wildly exaggerated. Further, it makes a compelling case that production of “U.S. shale gas and tight oil reserves will peak and drop off swiftly, long before officially predicted by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.” The report was written by PCI Fellow and geoscientist David Hughes, who previously predicted the vast downgrade of available oil resources in California’s Monterey Shale. According to PCI Executive Director Asher Miller, “based on our analysis, the reality is far different from what the industry is telling the Energy Department, and […]

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Saudi Arabia is trying to sabotage America’s shale oil boom

4708 Votes Saudi Arabia is trying to sabotage America’s shale oil boom We’ve been here before. By “here,” I mean Saudi Arabia throwing its weight around in the global oil markets and triggering what we can only call a kind of reverse oil shock as a result. The consequences were particularly visible last Tuesday, when Saudi Arabia slashed the price at which it is willing to export crude oil to the United States, even as it boosted prices to buyers in Europe and Asia. That sent the benchmark U.S. crude oil price — West Texas Intermediate — skittering down to $76.45 a barrel, a level not reached in three years. Welcome back to the geopolitics of oil. If you thought that crude oil prices were set simply by what is happening to the global economy — the forces of supply and demand, and the answers to pressing questions such […]

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Oil Choppy in Asian Trade; Brent Trades Near 4-Year Low

By Eric Yep Crude-oil futures were choppy in Asian trade Tuesday after sharp overnight losses as markets continue to look for cues that could drive prices higher. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in December traded at $77.08 a barrel at 0423 GMT, down $0.32 in the Globex electronic session. December Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.28 to $82.06 a barrel. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, had settled at its lowest since October 2010 and is still under pressure after Kuwait’s oil minister said he doesn’t expect the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut output. Traders said oil prices will remain choppy in the run up to OPEC’s highly anticipated meeting on November 27. Meanwhile, weekly U.S. oil inventory data will be delayed by a day due to the Veterans Day holiday. On tap Wednesday is the launch […]

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Brent Slumps to 4-Year Low on Concern OPEC in No Hurry

Print Back to story Brent crude slumped to a four-year low on speculation the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is in no hurry to cut output to reverse a four-month slide in prices. West Texas Intermediate crude also fell. Crude has dropped into a bear market this year amid a global glut. The largest OPEC producers are responding by cutting prices, resisting calls to reduce supply as they compete with the highest U.S. production in three decades. Kuwait’s oil minister said he doesn’t expect the group to trim output at its next meeting in Vienna on Nov. 27. Prices also retreated on plans by Libya to resume pumping at two fields within days. “There’s downward pressure here to the extent that we are not seeing any real signs of an OPEC cutback,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on […]

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Brent Oil Falls to 4-Year Low as WTI Slides on Stockpiles

Brent crude fell to the lowest in four years as forecasts for rising U.S. crude stockpiles bolstered speculation that supply gains are outpacing demand. West Texas Intermediate slid in New York . Futures dropped as much as 1.3 percent in London. Crude inventories in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer, probably expanded by 1 million barrels last week, a Bloomberg News survey shows before a government report on Nov. 13. The oil market is oversupplied, partly because of rising U.S. oil production, United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei told reporters today in Abu Dhabi . Crude is extending losses in a bear market amid signs that global demand isn’t keeping pace with supply. Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries including Saudi Arabia and Iraq are resisting calls to cut output and instead reduced export prices to the U.S., where they’re competing with the fastest […]

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Natural Gas Extends Rally as Forecast Turns Colder

By Christian Berthelsen Natural gas futures extended gains Monday after weekend revisions to weather outlooks projected a bigger and stronger polar vortex over much of the U.S. in the coming days, bolstering expectations for a burst of gas-fired heating demand. Natural gas futures for December delivery were up 1.1 cents, or 0.3%, to $4.4230 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, continuing a rally that has added more than 23% to prices since late October. Gas futures have risen in the nine previous trading sessions. Forecasters are predicting a larger and colder spate of weather in the coming days over the plains and Midwest states, that will reach as far south as Texas and push eastward as well through mid-November. Though the worst is expected to subside going into late November, temperatures are expected to remain much-below normal over the northeast, Midwest, Plains and parts […]

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Natural-Gas Futures Fall as Traders Take Profits From Rally

By Christian Berthelsen Natural-gas futures sold off sharply Monday as traders took profits from a run of nine straight rising sessions. The front-month December natural-gas contract ended the day down 15.7 cents, or 3.6%, at $4.255 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, ending a string of gains that saw prices rise more than 23% during that time. With a looming onslaught of fiercely cold weather over much of the U.S. in the next two weeks, analysts said traders were taking the opportunity to lock in profits from bullish trades now that the mercury is set to drop. We had an incredible streak of gains, and the storm comes tomorrow," said Phil Flynn, an account executive with brokerage Price Futures Group in Chicago. "They’ve been buying the rumor nine days in a row, and selling the fact it’s about to descend on us." Forecasters are […]

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Oil at $80 Is No Bar for BP, Total on Exploring for More Crude

Oil at $80 a barrel won’t stop BP Plc (BP/) or Total SA (FP) from exploring and developing crude deposits. Oil has dropped into a bear market this year, with prices falling as much as 26 percent since June amid a global glut. OPEC won’t cut its collective output when it meets this month and global oil prices will stabilize once the surplus is absorbed by the market, Kuwait Oil Minister Ali Al-Omair said at an oil conference in Abu Dhabi, the capital of United Arab Emirates , yesterday. All projects under way now will go ahead with oil at $80 a barrel, London-based BP Chief Executive Officer Robert Dudley said at the conference. Total, based in Paris, can proceeed with its projects at $80, Arnaud Breuillac, president of exploration and production, also said in Abu Dhabi . Brent crude , benchmark for more than half of the world’s […]

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Kuwait Oil Minister Sees No OPEC Output Cut This Month

OPEC won’t cut its collective crude output when it meets this month and global oil prices will stabilize once the surplus is absorbed by the market, Kuwait Oil Minister Ali Al-Omair said. OPEC, which supplies about 40 percent of the world’s oil, meets Nov. 27 to debate supply. The 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which has a production target of 30 million barrels a day, pumped 30.974 million barrels a day in October, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “I don’t think there will be any cut in the production,” Al-Omair said at a conference in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates . “We feel prices will settle down once surplus oil is absorbed.” Oil tumbled into a bear market this year as supply expanded from the U.S. to Libya . OPEC members Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have resisted calls to cut output while Libya, Venezuela and […]

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The EIA’s International Energy Statistics 2

The EIA, a few days ago posted their International Energy Statistics . They publish lots of statistics here but on monthly basis I only follow their  production of world  Crude Oil including Lease Condensate . The data on all charts below is Crude + Condensate production through July 2014 and is in thousand barrels per day. World C+C production was up 168,000 bpd to 77,023,000 bpd. The high, so far, was in February at 77,409,000 bpd. Non-OPEC C+C was down 135,000 bpd from it high so far. It has been on a 9 month plateau high. World Less US & N-O Less US That surge upward in world C+C production was, of course all US production. Without US production Non-OPEC production is 1,365,000 bpd below the peak in November, 2010 and is currently below the level hit on November, 2003. World C+C less US is 2,069,000 bpd below the […]

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Lacking breakthrough, sides weigh next moves in Iran nuclear drama

MUSCAT/BEIJING (Reuters) – Senior officials from Western powers and Iran started a one-day round of talks in Muscat on Tuesday, with a deadline for reaching a nuclear deal less than two weeks away and no imminent breakthrough in sight. Tuesday’s discussions follow two days of meetings between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and EU envoy Catherine Ashton aimed at resolving years of dispute over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. "There’s more work to do, clearly," a senior State Department official said. Iran’s top negotiator, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, described the negotiations in Oman as "two days of very hard work", the official IRNA news agency reported. He added that he was "not in a position to claim that progress is achieved", but sounded more upbeat in a subsequent interview with Iranian state television. "There is a capacity to reach a deal by November […]

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Little progress made in nuclear talks with U.S., EU: Iran official

MUSCAT (Reuters) – Little progress was made in two days of nuclear talks between Iran, the United States and the European Union (EU) held in Oman, a senior Iranian official said on Monday. "After hours of talks we could make little progress," the official told Reuters. "Still differences remain and still we have gaps over issues." U.S. officials had no immediate comment following the end of the talks on Monday evening. With two weeks until a deadline for an overall agreement, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and EU envoy Catherine Ashton met in Oman to tackle a decade-long dispute that has raised the risk of wider conflict in the Middle East. The discussions aim to put verifiable limits on Iran’s uranium enrichment work – and any other potential path to a nuclear weapon – in return for a gradual lifting of sanctions. […]

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Libya Plans to Resume Output at Biggest Oil Field Today

Libya , holder of Africa ’s largest crude reserves, is resuming output at its biggest oil field even as operations at some export terminals are disrupted. The Sharara and Elephant fields in southwestern Libya will restart production by today after gunmen returned equipment they had stolen from the sites, Mohamed Elharari, a spokesman for state-run National Oil Corp., said by telephone yesterday from Tripoli. Crude shipments from the eastern Hariga terminal remain halted, said Ihab Said, an inspector at the facility. Two other export ports, Es Sider and Mellitah, were shut last week because of bad weather, three traders with knowledge of the matter said Nov. 7. Loadings at Hariga were affected by worker strikes, according to two traders. Es Sider, Libya’s largest port, has capacity for 340,000 barrels a day of crude, while Mellitah can handle 160,000 barrels and Hariga can ship 110,000 barrels. Libya is seeking to […]

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Iraq Tracks Saudi Arabia With Discounts for Its Crude Oil Sales

Iraq priced its crude more competitively in the U.S. while raising costs for customers in Asia and Europe, mirroring moves a week ago by Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter. The second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is offering December cargoes of its Basrah Light grade to the U.S. at a discount to the local benchmark, instead of a premium charged in November, the country’s Oil Marketing Co., known as SOMO, said today. Saudi Arabia reduced prices last week for December shipments to the U.S. “The trend setter is Saudi Arabia, the others follow,” Olivier Jakob , managing director at Petromatrix GmbH in Zug, Switzerland, said by e-mail. Global oil prices slid into a bear market last month on speculation the biggest OPEC producers were discounting their crude to maintain market share, resisting calls to cut output amid slowing demand growth. December shipments of Basrah […]

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BP commits to big Egyptian investments

BP commits to spending lavishly on exploration and production in Egypt. UPI/Maryam Rahmanian BP said it committed to invest $240 million on developing two new exploration blocks near the Nile Delta and in the northwestern Egyptian waters of the Mediterranean Sea through a partnership with Emirati energy company Dana Gas. "Exploring the two blocks will require substantial investments to unlock their potential, and will be done as part of our commitment to meeting Egypt’s energy needs," Hesham Mekawi, regional president for BP, said in a statement. BP said it will spend at least six years on exploration and production in the area. BP’s announcement follows a downgrade from rival BG group , which said last month it expects its Egyptian gas production to decline. BG Group said its activities in Egypt accounted for 10 percent of its production and around 3 percent of its earnings during the third quarter. […]

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Report: Israel wants more U.S. gas partners

Israeli delegate in Houston hoping to drum up interest in offshore natural gas potential. UPI/Maryam Rahmanian Amit Lang, director general of the Israeli Ministry of Economy , told the Houston Chronicle that U.S. companies "might find gold" in the form of natural gas through partnerships in Israel. "All the predictions say that our gas discoveries are not done," he said in an interview published Sunday. In September, Israel’s Delek Group, alongside U.S. energy company Noble Energy, signed an agreement with the National Electric Power Co. of Jordan for natural gas deliveries from the Leviathan natural gas field off the Israeli coast to the delight of the U.S. State Department . "We probably have more gas around the Leviathan," Lang said. "And we need more companies to come get licenses for exploration." The State Department facilitated talks between the parties in February that led to the signing of a similar […]

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Iraq military: Troops take center of refinery town

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi soldiers battling the Islamic State group recaptured the heart of the town of Beiji, home to the country’s largest oil refinery, state television and a military official said Tuesday. Retaking Beiji, 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad, could allow Iraqi forces a base to attack neighboring Tikrit, taken by the extremists after their lightning advance this summer. It also represents a morale boost for Iraq’s beleaguered security forces, which saw many of its troops flee the militant offensive. State television quoted the top army commander in Beiji, Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, as saying troops recaptured the city’s local government and police headquarters at the center of the town. It aired what appeared to be archival footage of the town showing Iraqi army troops firing their weapons from behind sand barriers. Al-Saadi later spoke to state television by telephone but the line appeared to be cut […]

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Militant Group in Egypt Vows Loyalty to ISIS

CAIRO — They have slaughtered hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police officers, recruited experienced fighters and staged increasingly sophisticated raids from the Western desert to the Sinai Peninsula. They have beheaded informants and killed an American in a carjacking, say Western officials familiar with intelligence reports. On Monday, Egypt ’s most dangerous militant group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, also pledged obedience to the organization that calls itself the Islamic State, becoming its first significant international affiliate in the bet that the link will provide new money, weapons and recruits to battle the government in Cairo. The affiliation could pull the militant group away from its current, almost exclusive focus on attacking Egyptian military and security forces toward the Islamic State’s indiscriminate mass killings of civilians. The pledge alone could undermine the government’s efforts to win the trust of Western tourists, a vital source of hard currency. The decision injects the […]

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Namibia Expects Explorers to Drill Up to Five Oil Wells in 2016

Namibia sees as many as five oil exploration wells being drilled in 2016 as companies searching for deposits off the southwest African coast are undeterred by 19 dry wells. Tullow Oil Plc (TLW) and Royal Dutch Shell, which has two exploration blocks in the Orange River Basin, will probably sink wells in 2016, Namibia’s Petroleum Commissioner Immanuel Mulunga said. Murphy Oil Corp. (MUR) may drill toward the end of 2015 or early 2016, he said. “In 2016 we might have three to five wells being drilled,” Mulunga said in a phone interview in Windhoek yesterday. “There could be some other players which might also drill during that same time,” he said, citing HRT Participacoes em Petroleo SA (HRTP3) , Serica Energy and Chariot Oil & Gas. (CHAR) Basins off Namibia have attracted attention from the world’s biggest oil explorers on a bet the nation’s coastal shelf may mirror that […]

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Pemex plan for a $6 billion LNG export terminal faces skepticism

Mexico City (Platts)–10Nov2014/402 pm EST/2102 GMT A plan by Mexican state-owned Pemex to build a $6-billion natural gas liquefaction plant at Salina Cruz on the country’s Pacific Coast has been met with skepticism by analysts. The aim of the project is to cash in on the wide differentials in natural gas prices between Asia and North America. Speaking at a conference in Houston, Alejandro Martinez, director-general of the Pemex Gas subsidiary, said that the gas would be transported by a planned natural gas pipeline linking Pajaritos on the Gulf of Mexico and Salina Cruz on the Pacific Coast, a distance of some 120 miles. "The aim is to take advantage of our country’s geographical location and the business opportunities offered by the market conditions," Martinez said last week in a Houston presentation to potential project investors. "The natural gas that we produce in the Gulf of Mexico can be […]

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Coal versus climate in Australia

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has described the science on climate change as ‘crap’ [Getty Images] Australia continues to frustrate efforts by fellow G20 members to include climate change on the agenda at the upcoming leaders’ summit in the eastern city of Brisbane this weekend. As the host nation sets the G20 meeting’s agenda , Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott – an avowed sceptic of human-caused climate change – has resisted calls for global warming to be discussed when world leaders gather on November 15 and 16. Despite a recent official draft summary of proceedings appearing to make token references to climate change, the level of importance afforded to the issue remains unclear. Climate change was on the agenda at the previous eight G20 summits. Since forming the government in September 2013, Abbott has repealed Australia’s nascent emissions trading scheme and slashed funding to agencies and programmes promoting renewable energy and […]

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Transocean warns of offshore oil downturn

Petroleos Mexicanos offshore jack-up rigs drill in the Ku-Maloob-Zaap field in the Gulf of Mexico 65 miles northeast of Ciudad del Carmen, Mexico, on Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010. Ku-Maloob-Zaap, Mexico’s largest oil project, will keep producing about 850,000 barrels a day "for the next two or three years," the company said in May. Pemex, as the state-owned company is known, is Latin America’s largest oil producer. Photographer: Susana Gonzalez/Bloomberg ©Bloomberg The offshore oil industry has gone into a “cyclical downturn” as a result of the fall in crude prices, one of the world’s largest drilling contractors has warned. Switzerland-based Transocean said on Monday the industry faced “challenging” conditions that were likely to create an oversupply of offshore drilling rigs. The group also warned that it might be forced by deteriorating business conditions to make writedowns beyond the $2.79bn write-off of goodwill and other asset value it announced on Friday. […]

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US crude stocks likely decreased 500,000 barrels last week: analysts

Home | News & Analysis | Latest News Headlines | US crude stocks likely decreased 500,000 barrels last week: analysts New York (Platts)–10Nov2014/408 pm EST/2108 GMT US commercial crude stocks are expected to have fallen by 500,000 barrels in the reporting week that ended November 7, according to a Platts analysis and a survey of oil analysts Monday. The American Petroleum Institute will release its weekly stocks data at 4:30 pm EST (2130 GMT) Wednesday and the US Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its weekly data at 11:00 am EST (1600 GMT) Thursday. Both sets of data are delayed one day due to the Veterans Day holiday. The EIA five-year average shows inventories rising slightly this reporting week by 232,000 barrels. Refineries tend to enter into maintenance when the summer driving season concludes, causing stocks to accumulate through late October, stabilize for a few weeks, and then […]

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Halcon Resources Slashes Drilling Rigs on Oil Price

Nov 10 (Reuters) – Oil and gas producer Halcon Resources Corp said on Monday it is cutting nearly half the rigs it originally planned to operate next year due to the more than 25 percent slide in crude oil prices. Shares of Halcon, which operates in the Bakken in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford in Texas, fell nearly 10 percent to $2.94 after the close of regular trading. "In response to lower oil prices, the company expects to operate six rigs in 2015, five rigs less than originally planned," the Houston company said in its third quarter earnings release. Companies have so far had a varied response to the slide in oil prices. Earlier on Monday, Bakken operator Hess Corp boosted its five-year oil and gas production forecast, underscoring its optimism about oil prices. Crude has fallen sharply in recent weeks, hit by slowing global demand and growing […]

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Hess Boosts Production Forecast, Sees Oil Price Rebound

URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/135833/Hess_Boosts_Production_Forecast_Sees_Oil_Price_Rebound Nov 10 (Reuters) – Oil and gas producer Hess Corp boosted its five-year production forecast on Monday, citing strength in output from North Dakota’s Bakken shale formation and the Utica shale in Ohio. The bullish forecast, though, is based on crude oil prices much higher than current levels, an ambitious target that implies strong confidence that prices will rebound from recent steep falls. "Our company is uniquely positioned with our resilient portfolio of high quality assets and strong balance sheet to provide low risk production growth and generate free cash flow under various price scenarios," Chief Executive John Hess said in a statement. The company expects its production to grow 6 to 10 percent each year through 2018, an uptick from its previous forecast of 5 to 8 percent growth. The new estimates are based on Brent oil prices around $90 to $100 per barrel, far above […]

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Continental Resources CEO ordered to pay $995 million in divorce

(Reuters) – Continental Resources ( CLR.N ) Chief Executive Officer Harold Hamm has been ordered to pay nearly $1 billion to his ex-wife in one of the largest-ever U.S. divorce judgments, according to a court filing on Monday. In an 80-page ruling following a more than nine-week divorce trial that ended last month, Oklahoma Special Judge Howard Haralson ruled that oil magnate Hamm should pay his ex-wife a total of $995.5 million. Although the award could make Sue Ann Hamm, 58, one of the 100 wealthiest women in the United States, according to Forbes’ rankings, it is far smaller than the amount her lawyers sought and does not require Harold Hamm to sell shares of Continental. He holds 68 percent of the firm’s shares. During the trial, Sue Ann Hamm’s lawyers had asked Haralson to split a marital estate they estimated to be worth at least $17 billion, tied […]

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The Hummer is back. Thank falling oil prices.

(AP Photo/Mark Avery, File) The military-style Hummer H1, more tank than truck, disappeared from the new car lots long ago, killed off by General Motors for the sin of guzzling a gallon of gas every 10 to 12 miles. And as the cost of gas hung above $3.50 for four years, even used Hummers languished on used lots, too. That is, until the price of crude oil — and gasoline — started to nosedive. “We’ve sold a few just in the last few weeks,” said Blake Sharkey, an assistant sales manager at Stadium Auto in Arlington, Texas. Over the last month, auto analysts say, consumers have shown a fresh interest in the kind of SUVs — Hummers, Lincoln Navigators, Ford Explorers — that typified America’s bigger-is-better mindset of twenty years ago. The new mindset among some car buyers is one of the most unexpected consequences of a domestic oil […]

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What We Can Learn from Fracking Bans Winning and Losing at the Polls

Resilience Published on Resilience (http://www.resilience.org) "Nation Divided on Fracking" by Faces of Fracking, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 Whether or not a ban on fracking is favored by the American people is still up for debate after reviewing this year’s election season. The races were evenly split across the nation: four won fracking bans, four lost. But there is one thing that has emerged clear as crystal: grassroots groups are claiming victories in the face of millions of powerful industry money stacked against them. Let’s look at the numbers. Residents looking to ban fracking in Denton, TX – the birthplace of fracking — were outspent 10 to 1, but garnered 58% of the vote. In San Benito, CA those opposed to fracking and other intensive oil production methods were outspent 13 to 1 but claimed 57% of votes. Mendocino, CA and Athens, OH tipped the scales with 67% and 78%, respectively, […]

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Russian primary industry cannot withstand this roller coaster.

4705 Votes Russian primary industry cannot withstand this roller coaster. Katarina Lagervall DN called me last Friday and we had a long and interesting conversation about oil and the global economy. A summary of our conversation is now available at dn.se [ in Swedish ] under “Russian primary industry cannot withstand this roller coaster.” (I have added some clarifications with parentheses) (Published 2014-11-07 13:17) Falling oil prices on the world market are hard on the Russian economy. But those who should be most worried about these developments are the oil-dependent nations of the EU. So says oil analyst Kjell Aleklett. – Our energy costs will be expensive in the long run because we do not have any of our own fossil natural resources. Russia has oil in the ground and if they do not produce it now, they can do so later, he said. Since June, the price of […]

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Russia presses ahead with fully floating the rouble

A Russian national flag flies above the headquarters of Bank Rossii, Russia’s central bank, in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013. The ruble gained for a fifth day as Chinese economic data improved and a Russian proposal for Syria to surrender its chemical weapons eased concern over a U.S. strike, boosting investor appetite for riskier assets. Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg ©Bloomberg The Bank of Russia pressed ahead with fully floating the rouble on Monday, a move that helped the currency to stabilise on the foreign exchange market as the central bank showed its determination to deter investors from betting against it. The central bank abandoned the dual-currency trading band with which it had so far calculated the nominal exchange rate and ended a policy of daily foreign exchange interventions to prop up the rouble. More On this story Editorial Rouble dive exposes Putin miscalculation Rouble’s wobbles worry Putin’s Kremlin […]

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Oil Edges Up on Positive China Economic, Oil Data

By Eric Yep Crude-oil futures rose in Asian trade Monday on the back of positive Chinese economic data, but gains were limited as oil markets remained focused on production levels from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting countries. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in December traded at $79.03 a barrel at 0506 GMT, up $0.38 in the Globex electronic session. December Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.47 to $83.86 a barrel. China’s overall export growth slowed in October to 11.6% from September’s 15.3%, weekend data showed, but was still faster than expected and helped boost market sentiment. The country’s economic risks are manageable and Beijing has the tools to address the perceived risks, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting over the weekend. China’s trade data showed its imports of crude oil rose 18.0% from […]

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Brent Gains as China Exports Rise More Than Forecast; WTI Climbs

Brent crude rose for the third time in four days as Chinese export data signaled foreign demand may help sustain the economy in the world’s second-biggest oil consumer. West Texas Intermediate gained in New York . Futures climbed as much as 0.7 percent in London . Overseas shipments increased 11.6 percent from a year earlier, according to Chinese customs data on Nov. 8, exceeding the 10.6 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. last week shrank to the lowest since August, Baker Hughes Inc. said last week. Oil has slumped into a bear market amid a global glut, slowing drilling at U.S. shale formations. Leading producers in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are responding by cutting prices, resisting calls to reduce supply as they compete with the highest U.S. output in three decades. “It could be taken […]

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Bullish Oil Wagers Cut in Sign of Growing OPEC Skepticism

Speculators are the least bullish on U.S. crude in 20 months as they lose faith in OPEC’s willingness to ease a global supply glut. Money managers reduced net-long positions in West Texas Intermediate by 8 percent in the week ended Nov. 4, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Long positions retreated to the least since May 2013 while short holdings rose. WTI tumbled into a bear market this year as crude supply expanded from the U.S. to Libya and demand sputtered from Europe to China . Saudi Arabia cut its export charges to the U.S. this month, signaling a preference for market share over prices. The kingdom accounts for almost a third of OPEC’s output and the 12-nation group meets in about two weeks to debate supply. “The market needs some OPEC action and the only thing we get out of the Saudis is the price cut to […]

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The EIA’s International Energy Statistics

The EIA, a few days ago posted their International Energy Statistics . They publish lots of statistics here but on monthly basis I only follow their  production of world  Crude Oil including Lease Condensate . The data on all charts below is Crude + Condensate production through July 2104 and is in thousand barrels per day. World C+C production was up 168,000 bpd to 77,023,000 bpd. The high, so far, was in February at 77,409,000 bpd. Non-OPEC C+C was down 135,000 bpd from it high so far. It has been on a 9 month plateau high. World Less US & N-O Less US That surge upward in world C+C production was, of course all US production. Without US production Non-OPEC production is 1,365,000 bpd below the peak in November, 2010 and is currently below the level hit on November, 2003. World C+C less US is 2,069,000 bpd below the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Progress on water supply project for Basra oil fields

Rigs working the Rumaila oilfield in Basra on Sept. 4, 2014. At 1.4 million bpd of capacity, it is the country’s largest producing field, and is in need of water re-injection to maintain pressure. [ESSAM AL-SUDANI/Reuters] Iraq is making progress on a long-delayed, $4 billion-plus project to supply southern oil fields with water, without which the country cannot meet its future oil production targets.The Common Seawater Supply Project (CSSP) is supposed to supply 12 million barrels per day (bpd) of water by 2020 to at least five oil fields in Basra and one in Missan province. Those fields will use that water to generate the pressure needed to produce nearly 8 million bpd of crude, according to technical servic… 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 . […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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US faces last best chance on Iran nuke deal

AP Photo/Nicholas Kamm MUSCAT, Oman (AP) — The Obama administration is facing its last best chance to curb Iran’s nuclear program – not just to meet an end-of-the-month deadline for a deal, but also to seal one before skeptical Republicans who will control Congress next year are able to scuttle it. In the final stretch of years of negotiations to limit Tehran’s nuclear production, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Monday for a second straight day of talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and European Union senior adviser Catherine Ashton in Oman’s capital. There was no sign of an imminent breakthrough. The stakes are high as the Nov. 24 deadline approaches. A deal could quell Mideast fears about Iran’s ability to build a nuclear bomb and help revive the Islamic Republic’s economy. It also would deliver a foreign policy triumph for the White House, which is being […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iran, West hold unscheduled second day of nuclear talks

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran, the United States and the European Union began an unscheduled second day of talks on Monday over disagreements blocking the resolution of a confrontation over Tehran’s nuclear programme, U.S. and Iranian officials said. With two weeks to a deadline for an overall agreement, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and EU envoy Catherine Ashton met in Oman’s capital Muscat to tackle a decade-long dispute which has raised the risk of wider conflict in the Middle East. The discussions aim to put verifiable limits on Iran’s uranium enrichment work – and any other potential path to a nuclear weapon – in return for a gradual lifting of sanctions. U.S. President Barack Obama told CBS television there was still a big gap between Iran and Western powers and said a deal could be out of reach. Economic sanctions led by the […]

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Iran’s uranium stockpile grows before deadline for nuclear deal

VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium gas has grown by 8 percent to nearly 8.4 tonnes in about two months, U.N. atomic inspectors say, an amount world powers probably will want to see cut under any nuclear deal with Tehran. The International Atomic Energy Agency issued a confidential report on Iran to IAEA member states on Friday, less than three weeks before a Nov. 24 deadline for Iran and six world powers to resolve their stand-off over Tehran’s atomic activities. Iran’s holding of refined uranium gas is one of the factors that could determine how much time it would need for any attempt to assemble nuclear weapons. Iran says it has no such goal but the West wants verifiable action by the Islamic Republic to make sure it cannot produce an atomic bomb any time soon. Iran and the six states will meet in Vienna from Nov. […]

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Aramco Said to Name New Asia Head Amid OPEC’s Share Fight

Aramco sold 53.8 percent of its crude to Asian customers, according to its 2013 annual review. Source: MyLoupe/UIG via Getty Images Saudi Arabia , the largest oil exporter, is seeking to build crude sales and expand in Asia as OPEC producers fight for market share in the U.S. Ibrahim al-Buainain, formerly in charge of Saudi Arabian Oil Co.’s global energy investments, was appointed head of Saudi Aramco’s Asian operations, based in Beijing, according to three people who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak to the media. The company, known as Saudi Aramco, didn’t respond immediately to an e-mail seeking comment about the appointment. Aramco Asia will become a holding company and run all of Aramco’s ventures in the region, the people said. Global oil prices slid into a bear market last month on speculation that the biggest producers in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Libya Plans to Resume Output at Biggest Oil Field Today

Libya , holder of Africa ’s largest crude reserves, is resuming output at its biggest oil field even as operations at some export terminals are disrupted. The Sharara and Elephant fields in southwestern Libya will restart production by today after gunmen returned equipment they had stolen from the sites, Mohamed Elharari, a spokesman for state-run National Oil Corp., said by telephone yesterday from Tripoli. Crude shipments from the eastern Hariga terminal remain halted, said Ihab Said, an inspector at the facility. Two other export ports, Es Sider and Mellitah, were shut last week because of bad weather, three traders with knowledge of the matter said Nov. 7. Loadings at Hariga were affected by worker strikes, according to two traders. Es Sider, Libya’s largest port, has capacity for 340,000 barrels a day of crude, while Mellitah can handle 160,000 barrels and Hariga can ship 110,000 barrels. Libya is seeking to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Egyptian Militant Group Pledges Loyalty to ISIS

CAIRO — An Egyptian militant group that has waged a deadly campaign mostly against local security forces released an audio statement early Monday pledging its allegiance to the Islamic State, the extremist group fighting in Iraq and Syria. The statement, released on a Twitter account associated with the Egyptian group, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, demonstrated the growing clout of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. The group has recruited jihadists from dozens of countries, including thousands of fighters from North Africa and the Persian Gulf. In the recording, which was said to come from Ansar Beit al-Maqdis’s information department, a man said the group promised to “obey” the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. (News reports from Iraq said Mr. Baghdadi was wounded in airstrikes over the weekend, but there was no definitive word on his status.) The confrontation between insurgents and the Egyptian government […]

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Russia, China Add to $400 Billion Gas Deal With Accord

China and Russia deepened their energy ties yesterday with a second blockbuster deal that lessens Russian reliance on Europe and would secure almost a fifth of the gas supplies China needs by the end of the decade. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed the preliminary gas-supply agreement in Beijing the day before U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in the Chinese capital for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The deal is slightly smaller than the $400 billion accord reached earlier this year, shortly after Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Russian oil firm OAO Gazprom is negotiating the supply of as much as 30 billion cubic meters of gas annually from developments in West Siberia to China over 30 years, it said yesterday. At the same time, another Russian producer, OAO Rosneft, agreed to sell a 10 percent stake in a Siberian unit to state-owned China National Petroleum […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple