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U.N. Atomic Agency Meeting With Iran Facilitates ‘Better Understanding’

ENLARGE International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Yukiya Amano, right, welcomes Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araghchi, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters BRUSSELS—The United Nations’ Atomic agency said Tuesday a meeting with a senior Iranian official had led to a “better understanding” between the two sides but there was little sign of a breakthrough in efforts by the agency to gain greater insight into past nuclear work Tehran has carried out. The International Atomic Energy Agency has been in talks with Iran for years about Iran’s past work, which western officials believe was aimed at getting nuclear know-how. The IAEA’s Director-General Yukiya Amano met earlier this month in Munich with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to discuss the issues. They agreed that there should be more frequent senior official discussions between Iran and the agency. In a follow-up to that meeting, Mr. Amano met […]

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Islamic State in Syria abducts at least 150 Christians

AMMAN (Reuters) – Islamic State militants have abducted at least 150 people from Assyrian Christian villages in northeastern Syria they had raided, Christian Syrian activists said on Tuesday. A Syrian Christian group representing several NGOs inside and outside the country said it had verified at least 150 people missing, including women and the elderly, who had been kidnapped by the militants. "We have verified at least 150 people who have been adducted from sources on the ground," Bassam Ishak, president of the Syriac National Council of Syria, whose family itself is from Hasaka, told Reuters from Amman. Earlier the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 90 were abducted when the militants carried out dawn raids on rural villages inhabited by the ancient Christian minority west of Hasaka, a city mainly held by the Kurds. The United States condemned the attacks in Hasaka and called for the immediate and […]

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OPEC has no plan for special meeting before June: delegates

RIYADH (Reuters) – OPEC has no plans to hold an emergency meeting before its next scheduled gathering in June, two of the organization’s delegates said on Tuesday. Nigerian Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke told the Financial Times in comments published on Monday that she would call an emergency meeting if oil prices fell any further. "There are no concrete actions going on to organize any emergency meeting of OPEC countries," said one of the delegates, who declined to be identified. Nigeria, set to hold elections in less than six weeks, is current holder of the rotating presidency of OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries). The president is responsible for liaising with OPEC members and its secretary-general on the need for an emergency meeting. "Given that the presidential elections in Nigeria have been pushed from Feb. 14 by six weeks, it is difficult not to discount the statement as […]

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OPEC rumors stir oil market pot

Rumors of an extraordinary meeting from OPEC stir crude oil market struggling to sustain an early-2015 rally. UPI/Maryam Rahmanian In an interview published Monday by the Financial Times, Nigerian Oil Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke said most members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries are "very uncomfortable" with the market situation, adding an extraordinary meeting may take place if price volatility continues. Though Nigeria’s oil minister serves as the president of OPEC, it’s unlikely de facto leader Saudi Arabia will follow the lead. A November decision from Saudi Arabia to keep output steady despite the decline in crude oil prices added durability to the bear market for crude oil. When Saudi King Abdullah died in late January, successor King Salman bin Abdulaziz showed no indications he’d change the government’s standing on crude oil policies . Riyadh had defended its position by saying it needed to ensure it was holding its […]

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Nigeria Suffers ‘Substantial’ Revenue Loss as Oil Prices Fall

(Bloomberg) — Nigeria’s government revenue fell 15 percent in January as falling oil prices eroded the income of Africa’s biggest crude producer. Revenue fell to 416.1 billion naira ($2.1 billion) in January compared with 490 billion naira a month earlier, Accountant-General Jonah Otunla said Wednesday in an e-mailed statement. The volume of oil exports declined 33 percent in November and December, resulting in $159.88 million of lost revenue, Otunla said. Nigeria has “suffered a substantial loss in revenue as a result of the massive drop in crude oil price at the international oil market,” he said. The continent’s largest economy has been hit by the halving in Brent crude prices since the middle of last year as the West African nation prepares for presidential elections next month. Nigeria relies on export of the commodity for more than 90 percent of foreign exchange income and 70 percent of government revenue. […]

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Oil companies in Venezuela to use new favorable forex rate: PDVSA

CARACAS (Reuters) – About a dozen foreign energy companies in Venezuela have been authorized to exchange foreign currency at a new, more advantageous rate in bolivars in order to boost cash flow and speed up projects, a high-level PDVSA source said on Tuesday. The companies, participating in joint ventures in various fields around Venezuela, can now buy local currency at the Simadi rate, currently averaging 172 bolivars per dollar, compared to far more disadvantageous rates used in the past. "This will increase the bolivars they have for capital expenditure and operational expenditure. It is a huge incentive and drastically affects cash flow," the PDVSA source, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, told Reuters. "Partners who have been skeptical will now be encouraged to speed up," the source said. State-owned oil and natural gas company PDVSA’s foreign partners have long cited as […]

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A Thirsty, Violent World

Credit Photograph by Mauricio Lima/The New York Times/Redux Angry protesters filled the streets of Karachi last week, clogging traffic lanes and public squares until police and paratroopers were forced to intervene. That’s not rare in Pakistan, which is often a site of political and religious violence. But last week’s protests had nothing to do with freedom of expression, drone wars, or Americans. They were about access to water. When Khawaja Muhammad Asif, the Minister of Defense, Power, and Water (yes, that is one ministry), warned that the country’s chronic water shortages could soon become uncontrollable, he was looking on the bright side. The meagre allotment of water available to each Pakistani is a third of what it was in 1950. As the country’s population rises, that amount is falling fast. Dozens of other countries face similar situations—not someday, or soon, but now. Rapid climate change, population growth, and a […]

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Obama vetoes Keystone XL pipeline bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Tuesday swiftly delivered on his vow to veto a Republican bill approving the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, leaving the long-debated project in limbo for another indefinite period. The Senate received Obama’s veto message and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell immediately countered by announcing the Republican-led chamber would attempt to overturn the veto by March 3. Obama rejected the bill hours after it was sent to the White House. Republicans passed the bill to increase pressure on Obama to approve the pipeline, a move the president said would bypass a State Department process that will determine whether the project is in the U.S. national interest. "Through this bill, the United States Congress attempts to circumvent longstanding and proven processes for determining whether or not building and operating a cross-border pipeline serves the national interest," Obama wrote in his veto message. Republicans, […]

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Obama Vetoes Keystone XL Pipeline Bill

ENLARGE President Barack Obama vetoed the Keystone XL legislation on the grounds that it would have bypassed the State Department’s review process. Photo: European Pressphoto Agency WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama Tuesday vetoed legislation that would have approved the Keystone XL pipeline, a project that is a top priority for congressional Republicans and a touchstone issue for environmentalists and the nation’s booming energy industry. The bill would have authorized Canadian company TransCanada Corp. to construct the 1,179-mile pipeline, which has been under review by the Obama administration for more than six years. The bill, which declared the pipeline to have satisfied environmental laws, passed the GOP-controlled Congress earlier this year. White House officials said in early January that Mr. Obama would veto the legislation because it would have bypassed a continuing review process at the State Department, which has authority over cross-border pipelines like Keystone. Mr. Obama vetoed the legislation, not […]

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Keystone Veto Signals to Pipeline Foes Obama May Reject Project

A worker walks through the TransCanada Corp. Houston Lateral Project pipe yard in Mont Belvieu, Texas. TransCanada proposed the original line to link the oil sands and U.S. refineries in 2006. It was approved with zero fanfare less than two years later on Feb. 28, 2008, under President George W. Bush. Photographer: Scott Dalton/Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama’s veto of the Keystone XL bill is the latest sign to pipeline opponents that he’s prepared to reject a project he said won’t create many jobs or reduce U.S. oil prices. Obama rejected the Republican-backed bill because it interfered with a review being led by the State Department, though he hasn’t decided whether to approve a permit for the pipeline, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday. Pipeline backers in Congress may seek to attach Keystone to other bills that the president supports. Republicans don’t have the votes to override […]

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Barack Obama Has Issued Fewer Vetoes Than 75% of Presidents

Mr. Obama, shown here signing, rather than vetoing, legislation, was spared having to wield the veto pen when Democrats controlled the Senate 2009-2014. Getty Images President Barack Obama ’s veto of Keystone XL pipeline bill was just the third veto of his presidency and the first legislation he has rejected since 2010. Mr. Obama’s statement saying legislation that would have approved the pipeline project “has earned my veto” was a rarity for a president who has wielded his veto pen fewer times than any U.S. leader in more than a century. James Garfield , who never used the power of the veto and who was assassinated in 1881 after less than a year in office, was the last president to veto fewer bills than Mr. Obama. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the high-water mark with a total of 635 vetoes. Mr. Obama’s predecessor, Republican  George W. Bush , vetoed […]

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Striking Oil Workers’ Union Agrees to Talk to Shell This Week

(Bloomberg) — The United Steelworkers, representing 30,000 oil workers in contract negotiations, plans to talk this week with Royal Dutch Shell Plc, bargaining on behalf of oil companies amid the biggest U.S. refinery strike in 35 years. Shell and the union, with members at more than 200 U.S. refineries, fuel terminals, pipelines and chemical plants, agreed Friday to be in contact this week after reviewing proposals, USW International President Leo Gerard said at a conference in Atlanta on Tuesday. The stalled negotiations are prolonging a walkout that began Feb. 1 at seven refineries, expanded to nine a week later and added three more, including the nation’s biggest complex, over the weekend. Together, the plants account for almost 20 percent of the country’s refining capacity. It’s the first national walkout of U.S. oil workers since 1980, when a work stoppage lasted three months. A further expansion of the strike will […]

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Oil-Rich Alberta Sees Mass Job Loss as Crude Prices Slump

(Bloomberg) — Alberta, the Canadian province holding the world’s third-largest oil reserves, expects 31,800 jobs to be lost for the remainder of the year as a crude price crash forces producers to reduce costs. Even with the job losses, overall employment will rise 1 percent in 2015 because of gains carried over from December, the provincial finance ministry said Tuesday in a statement. That compares with a 2.2 percent increase in employment last year. It would take a loss of 80,000 jobs before year-end to prevent employment from rising, the government said. “Our reliance on the roller coaster of oil prices is something we have to change,” Finance Minister Robin Campbell said on conference call. “Even if the price of oil bounces back today, we can’t go on this way.” Suncor Energy Inc., Cenovus Energy Inc. and other oil producers have already shed thousands of jobs this year as […]

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Obama Limits on Alaskan Oil Threaten Pipeline Flow, Senator Says

(Bloomberg) — Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said the Obama administration’s restrictions on oil production in her state threatens to dry up supplies that could flow through the trans-Alaska pipeline. President Barack Obama has proposed declaring 12 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness, limiting offshore leasing in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi Seas and block drilling in some portions of the National Petroleum Reserve. Those steps, announced Jan. 25, put much of the state off limits to new oil production, Murkowski said Tuesday. “The actions of this administration seem destined to shut down our trans-Alaska pipeline, weaken our economy, forcing our state to make steep budget cuts and really violating the promises that were made to us at statehood and since then,” Murkowski told Interior Secretary Sally Jewell at a hearing on the department’s budget. “As an energy producing state, this is what we do.” Without […]

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U.S. gas prices rise for 29 straight days

Gasoline prices in a steady increase, with only two states reporting an average price at the pump below the $2 per gallon mark. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (UPI) — The price per gallon for regular unleaded gasoline has increased 29 days in a row as of Tuesday because of U.S. refinery issues and commodity markets, AAA said. AAA reports an average national retail price for a gallon of gasoline at $2.31, up about a penny from Monday and 28 cents from one month ago. Gasoline prices dropped steadily during the latter half of 2014 as oil prices traded in a bear market, though it was Jan. 26 last time prices at the pump fell . The motor club said in a Monday report that some of the increase is tied to seasonal maintenance at U.S. refineries, which limits fuel production and crimps supplies. Refineries in […]

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Gazprom Threatens Natural Gas Deliveries to Ukraine

ENLARGE Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller. He said Gazprom hasn’t received the latest prepayment from Kiev, and that only 219 million cubic meters—enough for two days of deliveries—remained of volumes already purchased. Photo: maxim shipenkov/European Pressphoto Agency The European Commission currently doesn’t expect a standoff between Russia’s and Ukraine’s gas companies to affect supplies to the European Union, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. “At the moment, gas flows to the EU are normal,” said Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, a spokeswoman for the EU’s executive. “We expect that the gas transit to the EU won’t be affected by the situation” in eastern Ukraine. The comment follows a warning by Russian state gas company OAO Gazprom that supplies to the EU were at a “serious risk,” after it said Ukraine had failed to make a payment for new shipments. Gazprom said that the remaining volumes that have already been prepaid would last for just […]

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Winter’s Fuel Prices Are Heating Up

ENLARGE California drivers have been hit the hardest by the recent gasoline-price increases, with retail prices up 52 cents in 24 days and likely to top $3 a gallon this week. Here, a customer at a California gas station on Feb. 9. Photo: Getty Images Fuel prices are staging a surprisingly strong winter rally, putting an end to $2-a-gallon gasoline for now. The national average gas price at the pump has climbed for 28 consecutive days to $2.30 a gallon on Monday, according to AAA, and are at a 2½-month high in the futures market. Diesel futures are up 20.1% this year. Driving and home-heating costs are rising even as oil prices languish after dropping more than 50% since June. The selloff had pushed gasoline costs to levels unseen since 2009. Prices usually rise this time of year as many U.S. refineries shut to perform maintenance. Also driving the […]

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Oil Bust Empties Out Private-Jet Parking Lot in Texas

In petroleum capitals such as Midland, a place long known for swaggering wildcatters who made and lost fortunes, personal jet travel becomes a bellwether when times get tight. Photographer: Thomas Black/Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — The oil boom last year was easy to see at the airport in Midland, Texas, the gateway to the biggest crude-producing region in the U.S. The 30 or so spaces for private planes were often filled. On one day in early February, a lone corporate jet sat on the tarmac, the empty spots a harbinger of the slowdown looming in a city that is 85 percent dependent on the oil and gas industry. In petroleum capitals such as Midland, a place long known for swaggering wildcatters who made and lost fortunes, corporate and personal jet travel has been a bellwether for the health of the energy business. That indicator took a turn down in January, when […]

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Gasoline Plunge Wipes Out Profits for U.S. Ethanol Makers

An ethanol plant runs at the Port of Stockton in Stockton, California, Friday, March 7, 2014. A deep water port located 75 miles from San Francisco, over 1 billion dollars of cargo passes through the facility every year. (Bloomberg) — Ethanol producers are cutting output after getting squeezed by the biggest drop in gasoline prices since 2008. Valero Energy Corp. and Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc., representing about 15 percent of U.S. capacity, have reduced operations as margins narrowed. At a typical mill in Illinois that makes ethanol from corn, profit margins have almost totally disappeared, compared with $1.33 a gallon a year ago, according to AgTrader Talk, a Clive, Iowa-based consulting company. Gasoline and crude fell more than 50 percent from their peaks in June as the U.S. shale boom helped global oil production outpace demand. While that was good for consumers, saving each American household $750, it […]

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Diesel Falls Most Since 2008 as Cargoes Steam to East Coast

(Bloomberg) — Diesel futures fell the most in more than six years as East Coast refineries restarted units and traders aimed cargoes at New York. The March contract fell 8.5 percent after rising 11.2 percent the past two trading days. Philadelphia Energy Solutions showed activity in a unit that’s been shut since Feb. 8, according to Genscape Inc. Shippers booked 35 tankers to carry oil product cargoes to the East Coast in the past seven days, compared with 27 the previous week, according to provisional fixture data compiled by Bloomberg. “It’s been super volatile to say the least,” said Andrew Lebow, senior vice president at Jefferies Bache LLC in New York. “You had an extreme move to the upside. Now there are cargoes, and the Northeast refiner issues that looked like they would be longer term, now they’re not.” Ultra-low-sulfur diesel for March delivery fell 18.9 cents to settle […]

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U.S. shale oil’s crash diet likely to bring forward output dip

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Shale oil producers are throttling back so quickly on drilling that U.S. crude output could fall sooner than expected, within months, executives say as they slash costs to cope with tumbling crude prices and compete with Persian Gulf rivals. About a dozen chief executives who talked to Reuters or who spoke publicly, acknowledged they were taken aback by the scale and speed of the cutbacks, noting how this oil price downturn was different from several previous episodes in their careers. For one, companies are cutting costs deeper and faster than before as Wall Street investors increasingly place a premium on capital discipline rather than just production growth. Some also say the nature of shale makes it easier for companies to defer work and wait for prices to recover. The wells that drove the U.S. energy boom of the last decade rapidly deplete, so overall output will […]

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Oil Refiners Enjoy a Snow Day

ENLARGE Boston’s pain is oil refiners’ gain. Cold weather combined with the persistent problem of natural-gas pipeline bottlenecks in the Northeast translate into higher demand for fuel oil to run generators and heat homes. Meanwhile, that same freeze caused several East Coast refineries to curtail output last week. Futures for fuel oil and diesel have jumped, meaning big profits for those refiners that can keep producing. The 3:2:1 crack spread—a benchmark theoretical refining margin—has jumped 50% to $18 a barrel in roughly the past month, according to FactSet. Futures prices for ultralow-sulfur diesel are at their highest ratio to the West Texas Intermediate crude oil benchmark ever, according to a report from JBC Energy on Tuesday. Additionally, a strike involving the United Steelworkers is spreading slowly across the U.S. refining sector, tightening the products market further. Winter weather may pass, but one other tailwind for refiners has re-emerged in […]

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Rivals Hit Oil Exporter That Opened U.S. Spigot

ENLARGE Oil companies using Enterprise Products terminals on the Houston Ship Channel say its loading fee are raising costs on their exports. Photo: Corbis A Houston pipeline company became the envy of the energy industry last year when it found a way around the decades-old legal ban on exporting U.S. oil. But now several oil companies have turned on the company, Enterprise Products Partners LP, complaining it is trying to dominate the lucrative export business and muscle out competitors. Companies including BP PLC have complained to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which is investigating, according to people familiar with the matter. The commission, BP and Enterprise all declined to comment on the probe. But people in the industry say it stems from Enterprise’s purchase last fall of a rival pipeline and logistics firm, Oiltanking Partners LP. The $5.9 billion deal gave Enterprise control of the single largest oil-storage operator […]

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New PNNL electrolyte may enable use of lithium anodes in very high capacity advanced batteries

« French Post Office and Renault Trucks testing electric truck with fuel cell range extender | Main | Proterra introduces new extended range battery pack for electric transit buses; up to 180 miles » Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have developed a new electrolyte that allows lithium-sulfur, lithium-metal and lithium-air batteries to operate at 99% efficiency, while having a high current density and without growing dendrites that short-circuit rechargeable batteries. An open-access paper on their work is published in the journal Nature Communications . “ This new discovery could kick-start the development of powerful and practical next-generation rechargeable batteries such as lithium-sulfur, lithium-air and lithium-metal batteries ,” said PNNL physicist Ji-Guang Zhang, corresponding author of the paper. Lithium (​Li) metal is an ideal anode material for rechargeable Li batteries due to its extremely high theoretical specific capacity (3,860 mAh g −1 ), low density (0.534 g cm −3 ) and the […]

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The shale oil “miracle”: how growth may falsely signal abundance

Oil production (all liquids in barrels per day) in the US and Canada. (From Ron Patterson’s blog ). Does this rapid growth indicate that the resources are abundant and that all the worries about peak oil are misplaced? Maybe not…. Sometimes, we use a simple metric to evaluate complex systems. For instance, a war is a complex affair where millions of people fight, struggle. suffer, and kill each other. However, in the end, the final result is seen in terms of a yes/no question: either you win or you lose. Not for nothing, General McArthur said once that “ there is no substitute for victory” . Now, think of the economy: it is an immense and complex system where millions of people work, produce, buy, sell, and make or lose money. In the end, eventually, we think that the final result can be described in terms of a simple […]

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Russia Heightens Dispute With Ukraine Over Natural Gas

MOSCOW — As Russia warned Ukraine on Tuesday that it could run out of natural gas within two days because of a dispute over payments, Britain said it was sending military trainers to aid Ukrainian forces while European diplomats labored to patch up a flagging peace agreement in eastern Ukraine . The warning by Aleksei B. Miller, the chief executive of Gazprom, the state-controlled Russian energy behemoth, illustrated how the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine are hardly limited to the battlefields in eastern Ukraine, where a cease-fire agreed to nearly two weeks ago has still not fully taken hold . Russia has long used its muscle as the region’s major energy supplier to wield political and economic influence, particularly in disputes with Ukraine and other former Soviet republics. A bitter feud over gas payments has been a subplot of the wider political dispute between Moscow and Kiev over the […]

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Gazprom threatens to cut Ukrainian gas supplies

Russian energy company Gazprom says Ukraine may face gas shortages within two days. Igor Golovniov/Shutterstock Ukraine’s natural gas contract with Gazprom calls for a pre-payment mechanism. Unless a payment registers in the company’s account within two days, Gazprom Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller said the spigot would be closed . "The supply of gas to Ukraine at the ordered amount … will result in a full stop of Russian gas supplies to Ukraine, which creates serious risks to gas transit to Europe," he said. 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 row sparked concerns from European leaders over the influence Gazprom has over the regional energy markets, leading policymakers to create measures to deter companies from controlling natural resources and transit arteries. […]

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U.K. North Sea Oil’s 1,500 Job Cuts This Year Is Tip of Iceberg

Total SA’s Elgin platform is seen in the North Sea, U.K. Companies looking to cut back include Total, which said Feb. 12 it will reduce investment in mature North Sea fields. Source: Total E&P UK via Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — The world’s biggest oil and gas producers, already cutting hundreds of jobs a week from the U.K.’s North Sea, are just warming up. BP Plc, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Total SA are among those reducing staff, curbing investment or closing operations as oil prices that have fallen by half since June add to troubles from rising costs and aging resources. About 1,500 jobs have been lost in offshore oil and gas this year, according to Unite, Britain’s largest labor union. Ian Wood, author of a state-commissioned report into the needs of the offshore fossil-fuel business, warned that about 15,000 positions relying on the industry could disappear in months. “The […]

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EU dairy export focus shifts from Russia to Far East as supply rises

BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) – The European Union is aiming to boost dairy exports to the Far East and parts of Africa as its seeks to cope with increased production and the loss of sales to Russia, EU farm commissioner Phil Hogan said in an interview on Tuesday. Hogan said there had been a 5-1/2 percent increase in milk production in the EU last year which coincided with the loss of a key export market, Russia. Russia banned imports of dairy products from the EU last August as part of its response to EU sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis. "It (the situation with Russia) is not going to get better in the short term," Hogan, an Irish politician who became EU farm commissioner in November last year, said. "In my view therefore we have to look outside the conflicts and the geopolitical regions like Russia, Ukraine to see where […]

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Quakes in Gas Fields Ignored for Years, Dutch Agency Finds

Dutch gas fields The Groningen field lies under a 900 square-kilometre area in the northern part of the Netherlands. Gas field image via shutterstock . Reproduced on Resilience.org with permission. A report from the Dutch Safety Board has accused the oil and gas industry and Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs of willfully downplaying the risk of earthquakes caused by the rapid depletion of Europe’s largest gas field. The board’s conclusions offer lessons for other regions coping with earthquakes caused by fluid injection and hydraulic fracturing. Ever since the shale gas industry changed the seismic record of states and provinces like Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and British Columbia, many industry lobbyists and regulators have been quick to deny and dismiss citizen’s concerns about the seismic hazards. The Groningen field, which lies under a 900 square-kilometre area in the northern part of the Netherlands, has been drained by a consortium — Nederlandse […]

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The Year the Dam of Denial Breaks on Climate Change

Flood water image via shutterstock. Reproduced at Resilience.org iwth permission. This is the year the “dam of denial” will break and the momentum for climate action will become an unstoppable flood. It will be messy, confusing and endlessly debated but with historical hindsight, 2015 will be the year. The year the world turned, primarily because the market woke up to the economic threat posed by climate change and the economic opportunity in the inevitable decline of fossil fuels. That shift will in turn unlock government policy and public opinion because the previous resistance to action argued on economic grounds, will reverse to  favour  action on economic grounds. Before I argue for this conclusion, let me explain what I mean by the “dam of denial” and why the concept is so important to understanding what’s underway. Anyone who “gets” the urgency of the climate issue and the scale of economic […]

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Oil prices dip as worries over U.S. oversupply drag

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices dipped on Monday on worries about oversupply in North America, with Brent futures testing support around $60 a barrel and U.S. contracts hovering around $50.70. After an initial rise on Monday along with global markets on optimism that another euro zone crisis over Greek debt had been averted for now, prices began dipping as analysts said crude markets remained oversupplied, especially in the United States, where inventories are at record highs. Benchmark U.S. WTI crude futures were trading down 9 cents at $50.72 a barrel by 0745 GMT. Brent crude was trading 5 cents lower at $60.17. Several banks on Monday said they expected prices to keep falling. "We expect prices to head back below $50/bbl in the coming weeks, with a target of $43/bbl over the next 2-3 months," ANZ said. Barclays also said the market would weaken again in the near future. […]

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Crude Prices Start Week in the Red

NEW YORK—Oil prices slid Monday on concerns about rising crude inventories, while diesel prices jumped as cold weather in the Northeast boosted demand. Light, sweet crude for April delivery settled down $1.36, or 2.7%, to $49.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent, the global benchmark, fell $1.32, or 2.2%, to $58.90 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. A rally in crude-oil prices halted last week after U.S. data showed that domestic crude inventories are at their highest in about 80 years. “Troubles continue to grow for the U.S. crude market,” Morgan Stanley said in a weekly report, adding that U.S. data on supply and drilling are “likely to appear ominous” in the coming weeks. Prices briefly spiked Monday afternoon on a Financial Times report that the president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries could call an emergency meeting of the cartel if oil prices […]

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Diesel Jumps to Two-Month High as Weather Affects Supply

(Bloomberg) — Diesel jumped to a two-month high in New York as cold weather reduced supply from area refineries and boosted heating demand. Futures gained as much as 6.2 percent as below-normal temperatures curtailed operations at plants including Phillips 66’s Bayway site in New Jersey. Ice also delayed fuel shipments to New York Harbor, according to the Coast Guard. Front-month futures’ premium over the second-month contract jumped to a record. New York is the delivery point for U.S. diesel and gasoline futures and the hub for supplies delivered into the northeast. The increase in prices has made it profitable to ship diesel and heating oil from Europe to the East Coast, according to Energy Aspects Ltd., KBC Energy Economics and FGE. “The weather is impacting both refinery operations and the ability to deliver imported diesel cargoes,” said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates LLC, an energy consulting firm […]

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Natural Gas Slips as Supplies Remain Ample

By Nicole Friedman NEW YORK–Natural-gas futures declined Monday as traders weighed the currently oversupplied market against expectations that frigid weather has boosted demand for the heating fuel. March futures fell 7.2 cents, or 2.4%, to settle at $2.879 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices rose as high as $3.039/mmBtu in overnight trading. About half of U.S. households use natural gas as their primary heating fuel, and cold weather can cause price spikes as utilities and other buyers compete for supplies. This winter, robust production and moderate temperatures have kept prices subdued. Unusually cold weather settling in across the Midwest and East Coast in recent weeks has boosted prices somewhat. Weather forecasts released Monday showed a colder outlook for the next six to 10 days, and below-normal temperatures are expected to persist in the next 11 to 15 days, said Gaithersburg, Md.-based forecaster MDA […]

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NYMEX March gas futures settle at $2.879/MMBtu, down 7.2 cents

Houston (Platts)–23Feb2015/338 pm EST/2038 GMT The NYMEX March natural gas futures contract settled at $2.879/MMBtu Monday, down 7.2 cents, as traders continued to show concern about oversupply, despite current heavy weather-driven demand. "Traders will assume that oversupplied conditions persist until they are proved incorrect," said Aaron Calder, Gelber & Associates analyst. "The last five withdrawals have indicated oversupply, a powerful trend. Even though there is evidence to suggest freeze-offs and fuel-switching will lead to undersupplied withdrawals in the coming weeks, the burden of proof is on the disruption of the status quo." WSI’s 11- to 15-day forecast calls for below-normal temperatures over most of the US from the central Rockies to the East Coast, except for the South Atlantic and Gulf Coast. The National Weather Service’s six- to 10-day forecast calls for strong chances for below-normal temperatures across almost all of the US except for the Gulf Coast and […]

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OPEC Said Not to Plan Emergency Meeting Amid Falling Oil Prices

(Bloomberg) — The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has no plans to hold an emergency meeting amid falling oil prices, according to a delegate from the group. Crude prices have dropped almost 50 percent from a June peak as OPEC refused to cut production and U.S. output reached a three-decade high. There have been no concrete discussions about holding an emergency meeting, said the delegate, who asked not to be identified because the group’s talks are private. OPEC’s next regular meeting is on June 5. Brent futures dropped $1.32 to $58.90 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Prices rebounded to gain 45 cents in intraday trading after OPEC President Diezani Alison-Madueke said in an interview with the Financial Times that she will call a meeting if prices keep declining. “An emergency meeting would suggest that they are going to do something to support the market,” said Bill O’Grady, […]

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Oil slide could trigger Opec emergency meeting

Diezani Alison-Madueke Members of Opec have discussed holding an emergency meeting if crude continues to slide , according to Nigeria’s oil minister, in a sign of their growing alarm over the impact of a lower oil price on their economies. The comments by Diezani Alison-Madueke come three months after the cartel’s decision to hold production at 30m barrels a day, even as the oil price has plunged since mid-June. That move, driven by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies, marked a sharp deviation from Opec’s traditional strategy of adjusting production to keep prices high. The group’s main objective is now to defend market share, despite dramatically reduced revenues. The price plunge has forced energy companies all over the world to rewrite their investment plans , and caused a major slowdown in the US shale oil industry. But it has also thrown the fiscal balances of big oil producers such […]

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Iran Nuclear Talks Make Progress, Says U.S. Official

GENEVA—A nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers would keep Tehran 12 months away from amassing enough nuclear material for a bomb for a minimum of 10 years, a senior U.S. official said Monday. After a weekend of nuclear talks in Geneva between senior Iranian and U.S. diplomats, the official said progress had been made, including on some of the toughest issues. However the person said “there are very tough issues still. As I said, we still have a long way to go.” Iran and the six powers have until late March to agree the framework of a deal. A full, comprehensive accord must be signed by June 30. At the center of the talks is an effort to push back Iran’s nuclear activities so that they are at least a year away from amassing enough nuclear fuel for a bomb. In return, tight international sanctions on Iran […]

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Negotiators Weigh Plan to Phase Out Nuclear Limits on Iran

GENEVA — Iranian and American officials ended a round of high-level nuclear talks here on Monday considering a proposal that would strictly limit, for at least 10 years, Iran ’s ability to produce nuclear material, but gradually ease restrictions on Tehran in the final years of any deal. The proposed phasing out of restrictions is part of a broader effort to mollify critics in Tehran, where some hard-liners in the government and the military oppose any deal that would force Iran to forsake nuclear production for a generation, and Washington, where some members of Congress have objected to an agreement that would not impose lengthy restrictions on Iran’s program. The question of how long any agreement would endure is a critical one: President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have said they will not sign an agreement that would give Iran the ability to produce enough fuel for […]

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Russia Offers to Sell Powerful Air-Defense System to Iran

MOSCOW—Russia has offered to sell a powerful air-defense system to Iran, a top executive said, five years after the Kremlin canceled the sale of an earlier version under U.S. and Israeli pressure. Sergei Chemezov, chief executive of the Russian defense conglomerate Rostec, said Tehran was considering its offer to sell Antey-2500 anti-ballistic missile systems. A 2007 contract to supply the less-advanced S-300 system was canceled in 2010 . “They are thinking (about it). The decision hasn’t been taken yet,” Mr. Chemezov told reporters at a weapons exhibition in Abu Dhabi on Monday, the state-controlled news agency TASS reported. The comments come amid the most-serious standoff between the West and Russia since the end of the Cold War, which has seen the U.S., the European Union and others apply sanctions against Moscow for its incursions into Ukraine . Mr. Chemezov is among those on the U.S. sanctions list . Rostec […]

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Iran to quit nuclear talks if pressures mount: negotiator

 •  Iran will quit nuclear talks if the other party aimed to impose their wills on Tehran in the ongoing negotiations.  • The talks should meet the interests of both Iran and the world powers, Iran’s senior negotiator said.  • Representatives from P5+1 group, Iran met in Geneva Sunday for fresh talks over Tehran’s nuclear program. TEHRAN, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) — Iran will quit nuclear talks if the other party aimed to impose their wills on Tehran in the ongoing negotiations, the country’s senior negotiator told state IRIB TV on Monday. "If the other party wants to impose their wills at the cost of diplomatic means, we will not hesitate to leave the negotiating table," Abbas Araqchi said. The talks should meet the interests of both Iran and the world powers, Araqchi said. Political pressures and the media hype have not forced Iran to change its position and give up its demands, […]

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Talks End With Proposal to Limit Iran’s Nuclear Production for at Least 10 Years

GENEVA — Iranian and American officials ended a round of high-level nuclear talks here on Monday considering a proposal that would strictly limit for at least 10 years Iran ’s ability to produce nuclear material, but gradually ease restrictions on Tehran in the final years of a deal. A senior American official traveling with Secretary of State John Kerry and Energy Secretary Ernest J. Moniz said the United States would insist that Iran’s nuclear program be constrained for “at least a double-digit number of years” from being able to produce enough material for a bomb should it decide to “break out” of the accord. The United States has insisted that Iran’s breakout capacity be constrained for as long as possible from producing enough nuclear material to create a bomb in a year. Iranian officials have said they want an agreement that would allow their country to ramp up the […]

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Iran’s president claims economic miracle

Iranian budget planners look to trim oil revenues as President Hassan Rouhani makes progress on reducing inflation. Photo: UPI/Maryam Rahmanian Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the inflation rate has dropped from 40 percent under his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to around 16 percent. "Economically speaking, as domestic and foreign opinion-makers have written to me, it has been like a miracle," he said. For fiscal year 2013-14, the World Bank estimates the Iranian economy contracted at an annual rate of 1.7 percent. The Iranian economy emerged from recession in December, however, which was something the government said came as a result of heavy government investments in national development projects. Though its economy is dependent on oil export revenue, the government in early January said non-oil exports from the beginning of the Iranian year, which starts in March, increased to $35 billion, or about 20 percent year-on-year. Budget planners are working to […]

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EOG Reduces 2015 Capex 40 Percent

EOG Resources Bakken Acreage Map 2014 Recap EOG announced a strong fourth quarter for 2014 and revealed a disciplined 2015 spending plan that leverages their position to get them through the current difficult market. The company gives much of the credit for its success to the outstanding performance from its interests in the Bakken formation in North Dakota. EOG reported its Q4 net income at $445 million, which stands in sharp contrast to many companies who saw losses as crude prices plummeted through the fall. Overall, 2014 brought a net income of $2,915 million for the company, compared to $2,197 million for 2013. Related:  Energy Giants Announce Layoffs 2015 Capital Plan As EOG looks to the new year, they expect their capital expenditures to range from $4.9 to $5.1 billion. This number includes projects for production facilities and midstream expenditures and will primarily be directed to EOG’s highest rate-of-return […]

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Gas discovery confirmed in Moroccan shale

Gas discovery confirmed in onshore shale basin in Morocco, a third for Gulfsands Petroleum. Map courtesy: Gulfsands Petroleum. The company said results from an exploration well dubbed DOB-1 in the Rharb permit area of northern Morocco indicated a discovery after a test-flow rate of 10 million cubic feet of gas per day was achieved. DOB-1 is the third such success for the company in the permit area, Chief Executive Officer Mahdi Sajjad said in a statement. Morocco is one of the West African countries that have drawn interest from international energy companies eager to tap into unexploited reserves. Onshore, the country holds an estimated 20 trillion cubic feet of recoverable shale oil and natural gas reserves. Gulfsands, which has headquarters in London, said last year it planned to spend $3.5 million to develop its acreage in northern Morocco. "We are continuing with our efforts to commence production from these […]

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Brazil Shipyard EAS Ends $6 Billion Deal to Make Petrobras Rigs

(Bloomberg) — Sete Brasil Participacoes SA, the company founded to lease oil rigs to Petroleo Brasileiro SA, said it’s considering legal measures against a shipyard that pulled out of a $6 billion deal to build drillships. Estaleiro Atlantico Sul, or EAS, owned by Grupo Camargo Correa and Grupo Queiroz Galvao, notified the company that it’s canceling the contract, Rio de Janeiro-based Sete Brasil said today in an e-mailed statement. Sete Brasil didn’t disclose any further details from the cancellation letter. O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported today that missed payments from Sete spurred the decision. The cancellation is another setback for Sete Brasil after a former executive and Petrobras manager said in testimony made public Feb. 5 that he took bribes from shipyards, allegedly including EAS, in exchange for contracts. Numerous phone calls and e-mails to EAS for comment weren’t answered. The accusation of corruption increases concern that […]

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Venezuelan leader seeks to rally poor with mayor’s arrest

AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos World Video Buy AP Photo Reprints Multimedia Venezuelan ‘System’ Brings Classics to Barrios CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro appears to have chosen his latest foe carefully. While the arrest of Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma provoked spontaneous demonstrations and drew international condemnation, it also reminded many Venezuelans of what they most disliked about the politicians who preceded Maduro and his late mentor Hugo Chavez at a time when the socialist government faces an economic crisis that has sent the president’s popularity plummeting. Over the past year, Maduro’s embattled government has arrested several opposition politicians and business executives, accusing them of plotting to destabilize the government. None, however, fits the role of boogeyman quite like Ledezma, who plunged into politics in his 20s and has amassed a bevy of political liabilities over the years. Chief among them is his close relationship with disgraced former President […]

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A Crackdown in Caracas

Last week, Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma received an unexpected visit from the Venezuelan political police. After being taken into custody from his office without a warrant, Ledezma was charged with conspiring to overthrow the government of President Nicolás Maduro. He is now being held in the Ramo Verde military prison, where Leopoldo López and several other opposition leaders are also in detention. (The photo above shows Ledezma supporters demonstrating outside the headquarters of the domestic intelligence service in Caracas on Feb. 19.) Ledezma’s imprisonment marks a dangerous new watershed for Venezuela’s escalating political and economic crisis, one whose solution becomes more difficult to visualize with each passing week. The polarization in the country, caused by the government’s harsh treatment of the opposition, makes it practically impossible for Venezuelans to address their country’s challenges on their own. The tragedy is that there seem to be no honest brokers left to help usher […]

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