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U.S. Oil Rig Count Declines for 12th Straight Week

Oil Declines Below 60USD A Barrel (Bloomberg) — U.S. oil explorers idled rigs for the 12th straight week, extending the steepest dropoff in drilling on record as crude prices headed for a second week of losses. Rigs targeting oil in the U.S. fell by 33 to 986, dropping below 1,000 for the first time since June 2011, Baker Hughes Inc. said on its website Friday. Those seeking gas dropped by nine to 280, the Houston-based field services company said. The total U.S. count declined by 43 to 1,267, including a miscellaneous rig. The U.S. has lost more than a third of its oil rigs over four months in an unprecedented retrenchment in drilling that threatens to bring the nation’s shale boom to a halt as early as this year. Collapsing oil prices have already wiped out thousands of U.S. jobs and dried up more than $86 billion in capital […]

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U.S. Oil Rigs Get Hammered for the 12th Week

Photographer: Brittany Sowacke U.S. oil rigs declined for the 12th straight week despite still-rising levels of production. Drillers idled 33 oil rigs (excluding gas rigs), dropping the number to 986, Baker Hughes reported on Friday. The rig count is down 39 percent since October, an unprecedented retreat. The median forecast from a Bloomberg survey of 38   # RigCountGuesses  on Twitter was for a decline of 35.  The Baker Hughes rig count has been around since 1944, but only since the price crash last year has it has emerged as a  widely popular , though controversial , signal for U.S. oil watchers. Rigs are used to explore for new deposits and to drill new wells. The theory goes that when oil rigs decline, fewer wells are drilled, less new oil is discovered, and oil production slows. That would be good news for investors hoping for a rise in crude prices after the oil crash.  But production isn’t […]

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Exxon Settles New Jersey Lawsuit Over Refinery Pollution

(Bloomberg) — Exxon Mobil Corp.p. has reached an agreement with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s environmental regulators to settle litigation about pollution released over decades by an oil refinery and petrochemical plant. Lawyers for Exxon and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection told a judge in a Feb. 20 letter they agreed to settle the decade-old litigation. The New York Times first reported the settlement, saying Exxon will pay $250 million, without identifying its sources. The state initially sought $8.9 billion, the paper reported. A consent decree outlining the agreement must be approved by a state judge, and isn’t yet publicly available, according to the letter. The settlement followed an eight-month trial last year on damages to the state for its loss of natural resources. Exxon and the state asked the judge hearing the case in Burlington County to hold off on a decision while they negotiated a […]

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California Energy Chief Calls Brown’s Fuel Target a ‘Moon Shot’

(Bloomberg) — California Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to cut the state’s use of petroleum for transportation in half by 2030 will be “tough” to reach, the chair of the state’s energy policy and planning agency said on Friday. “The governor certainly envisioned this much more as a moon shot type of goal,” Robert Weisenmiller, chair of the California Energy Commission, said during an interview in Berkeley. “He didn’t set any of these as the no-brainer easy goals. If anything, the question is which is the toughest.” California has been setting the pace for U.S. policy on climate change and greenhouse gases. In January, Brown outlined environmental goals aimed at reducing carbon emissions in the next 15 years, including cutting petroleum use in cars and trucks by 50 percent, doubling the efficiency of existing buildings and increasing from one-third to 50 percent the electricity delivered from renewable sources. The transportation […]

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US fuel oil demand hits record low 257,000 b/d in 2014, down 50% from 2009: EIA

Houston (Platts)–27Feb2015/332 pm EST/2032 GMT US residual fuel oil demand in 2014 was a record low 257,000 b/d, down by half from 2009 and further evidence the product’s utility is waning, Energy Information Administration data showed Friday. The US EIA published a host of detailed figures for December that also provide a full calendar-year 2014 look at domestic supply and demand trends. It was another down year for fuel oil, which has set the consumption bar lower for nine consecutive years. The 2014 figure was no exception, even with increased demand from the electric sector during a brutal first quarter winter in the Northeast. "That included some big utility buying in January-February-March and October-November," an East Coast broker said of 2014’s record low. "I’m not sure we see anything like that this year." With domestic demand all but disappearing, the US has solidified itself as a net export of […]

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U.S. Growth Poised to Pick Up

ENLARGE The U.S. economy returned to its sluggish trajectory late last year, though underlying signs of strength suggest growth will pick up in 2015. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the economy, expanded at a 2.2% annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday, weaker than an earlier 2.6% estimate.The latest figures show the 5% pace in the third quarter and 4.6% in the second quarter were unsustainable. For 2014 as a whole, GDP expanded 2.4%, slightly better than the average 2.2% growth of 2010-13. By comparison, the economy grew an average 3.4% a year during the 1990s. Still, Friday’s report showed that consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of output in the U.S., matched its fastest pace since early 2006 during the fourth quarter. Personal consumption expenditures advanced 4.2%. Consumers have been the brightest spot in recent months. […]

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Kremlin: Ukraine has natural gas until Tuesday

Sign up for our daily Energy Newsletter Gas tap for Ukraine may close without additional payments, Russia’s energy minister says. (UPI Photo/Sergey Starostenko) MOSCOW, Feb. 27 (UPI) — The natural gas spigot could be closed for Ukraine as early as Tuesday unless it pays for more deliveries in advance, Russia’s energy minister said Friday. Russian energy company Gazprom confirmed it received $15 million from its Ukrainian counterpart, Naftogaz, which ensures gas deliveries until Tuesday . "They can also pay for Tuesday – it depends on them now," Energy Minister Alexander Novak said. "If they want gas, they have to pay." Gazprom in the winters of 2006, 2009 and 2014 cut gas deliveries through Ukraine briefly in response to contractual disputes with Kiev. That left downstream consumers in Europe short on natural gas supplies. The latest payment row coincides with ongoing skirmishes between pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine and government […]

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West coast refinery issues spill over to pump

Refinery issues, including fire at California plant, spilling over to consumer gasoline prices. UPI/Shutterstock/Kodda Sign up for our daily Energy Newsletter WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 (UPI) — Maintenance at U.S. refineries should leave some markets short on gasoline supplies, with West Coast markets suffering most, the Energy Department said. The Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, issued an update on the impact of planned maintenance at U.S. refineries. Beginning in February, most refineries undergo regular maintenance as they switch from producing a winter blend of gasoline to a summer blend that requires additional measures to prevent vaporization. For West Coast markets, EIA said planned maintenance is "light," though a Feb. 18 fire at an Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance, Calif., could have a "significant impact" on gasoline production in the region. "It is too soon to assess what that impact might be," EIA said in a […]

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U.S. economy slows in fourth quarter, but growth outlook still favorable

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. economic growth braked more sharply than initially thought in the fourth quarter amid a slow pace of stock accumulation by businesses and a wider trade deficit, but the underlying fundamentals remained solid. Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.2 percent annual pace, revised down from the 2.6 percent pace estimated last month, the Commerce Department said on Friday. The economy grew at a 5 percent rate in the third quarter. With consumer spending accelerating at its quickest pace since the first quarter of 2006 and sturdy gains in other measures of domestic demand, the slowdown in growth is likely to be temporary. Growth in consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, was revised down by one-tenth of a percentage point to a 4.2 percent pace in the fourth quarter, still the fastest since the first quarter of 2006. A tightening […]

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The European Commission Unveils Its Energy Union Plan

EU Commissioner of Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete (R) and EU Commissioner for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic (L) speak at EU headquarters in Brussels on Feb. 25.(JOHN THYS/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Europe may be on its way to finding long-term relief from dependence on Russian energy. The European Commission on Feb. 25 released its Energy Union Package of proposals designed to continue developing the bloc’s energy market and energy security. The proposals, meant to establish a European Energy Union, are more a continuation of EU energy policies than a radical departure from them. The proposals will not substantially decrease the energy supplies flowing from Russia to Europe, but they will continue to erode Moscow’s ability to dictate prices in European markets — a tool Russia often uses to achieve political ends. Some of the broader initiatives, such as the greater harmonization of energy markets, will conflict with some […]

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