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Ties to Islamic State Cited by Group in Libya Attacks

CAIRO — Militants pledging allegiance to the Islamic State claimed responsibility for three car bombs that killed at least 38 people in a town in eastern Libya on Friday in the latest escalation in a surge of violence linked to the group. The attacks, in the town of Qubbah, appeared to be one more turn in a cycle of retaliation that began when the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, released a video last week showing its fighters in western Libya beheading more than a dozen kidnapped Egyptian Christians . The government of Egypt responded with airstrikes on the city of Derna, a hub of Islamist militancy in eastern Libya where another group of fighters has pledged loyalty to the Islamic State. On Friday, the Islamic State branch in Derna claimed responsibility for the latest bombings “in revenge for the bloodshed of Muslims” in the city, according […]

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Security woes dash Iraq gas plans

An Iraqi army vehicle secures the Akkas gas field in the western desert of Iraq October 19, 2010. (ALI AL-MASHHADANI/Reuters) Published Thursday, February 19th, 2015 Recommend 388 people recommend this. Sign Up to see what your friends recommend. The Akkas gas field once symbolized Iraq’s ambition to become a major natural gas producer, and its promise to bring economic development to Anbar province. Now, it is an unofficial refugee camp.At least 500 internally displaced people have moved into the facilities that were originally built for the South Korean company Kogas and its subcontractors, according to a resident of the nearby Karabilah village, an engineer at the Akkas power plant and a Kogas official.After the rise of the s…

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Multiple Suicide Bombings in Libya Kill at Least 45

TRIPOLI, Libya — Multiple suicide car bombings struck an eastern Libyan town, killing at least 45 people on Friday not far from a main base of the Islamic State group’s Libyan offshoot. The group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it came in retaliation for recent Egyptian airstrikes that avenged the beheading of 21 Christian hostages by Libyan Islamic State militants. The massive bombings rocked the town of Qubba, which is under control of the country’s internationally recognized government and about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Darna — a stronghold of Libya’s Islamic State branch. In a statement posted on social networking sites, the group said two of the "Caliphate’s knights" carried out the bombings, targeting what they described as a Libyan army operations room.

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Islamic State Claims East Libya Bomb Attacks as 33 Reported Dead

(Bloomberg) — Islamic State’s affiliate in Libya claimed responsibility for bomb attacks in the country’s east that left dozens dead, saying they were directed at the commander of a campaign against Islamist forces. The triple car bombing in Qubba, near the base of Libya’s internationally recognized government in Tobruk, killed at least 33 people including four Egyptian laborers, Al Jazeera television reported, citing Ibrahim Khalid, head of a local hospital. The attacks followed airstrikes carried out by Egypt’s military against Islamic State’s stronghold in Libya earlier this week, a response to the beheading of 21 captured Egyptian Christians by the jihadist group. Islamic State said on one of the websites it uses that the attack targeted the headquarters of Khalifa Haftar, a commander based in eastern Libya, who’s conducting a campaign against Islamist militias. He’s one of the local warlords to gain prominence in Libya as central authority in […]

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Caracas Mayor’s Arrest Rallies His Supporters

CARACAS, Venezuela—The arrest of one of the government’s leading critics here by armed state agents has angered the opposition, which rallied in protest Friday as condemnation mounted, much of it coming from former regional leaders and human-rights groups. “It’s becoming clearer every day that we’re living in a dictatorship,” Mitzy Capriles, wife of this capital city’s mayor, Antonio Ledezma, said in an interview a day after intelligence-service commandos broke down her husband’s office door and took him into custody. The 59-year-old Mr. Ledezma—one of the few remaining conservative lawmakers whose career survived the rise of late leftist firebrand Hugo Chávez in 1998—was charged in court Friday to face charges of conspiracy to “organize and execute violent acts,” against the government, state prosecutors said. Attempts to contact a lawyer for Mr. Ledezma weren’t successful. The attorney general said Mr. Ledezma, who leads an antigovernment movement, was also suspected of coordinating […]

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Caracas Mayor Arrested on Sedition Accusation, Plunging Venezuela into New Crisis

Photo Supporters of the mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma, demanded his release on Thursday. Credit Ariana Cubillos/Associated Press Photo Mr. Ledezma was accused by President Nicolás Maduro of plotting with the United States to overthrow him. The State Department issued a statement saying, “Venezuela’s problems cannot be solved by criminalizing dissent.” Credit Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters CARACAS, Venezuela — A new political crisis convulsed Venezuela on Friday over the arrest of the Caracas mayor, one of the country’s top opposition figures, accused by President Nicolás Maduro of abetting what he called an American plot to overthrow the government. Supporters of the mayor, Antonio Ledezma, quickly mobilized protests over his arrest — which they called a kidnapping — which was carried out without warning Thursday night. Human Rights Watch and other advocacy groups demanded Mr. Ledezma’s release, and hundreds of demonstrators gathered in a Caracas plaza to protest. But Mr. Maduro, whose […]

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Filthy India air cutting 660 million lives short by 3 years

NEW DELHI (AP) — New research estimates India’s air pollution is cutting 660 million lives short by three years on average. The study published Saturday in the Economic & Political Weekly highlights the extensiveness of India’s air problems after years of pursuing an all-growth agenda with little regard for the environment. Thirteen Indian cities are now included on the World Health Organization’s list of the world’s 20 most polluted. That pollution burden nationwide is estimated to be costing more than half the population at least 3.2 years of their lives. The study’s authors acknowledge their estimations may be too conservative, as they are based in part on satellite data that tend to underestimate levels of fine particulate matter known as PM2.5. India has a sparse system for monitoring air quality.

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Another Big Reason to Think Oil Prices Aren’t Going Up Soon

A storage tank under construction. Oil just had its first weekly decline in a month, breaking a rally in crude prices. A bit of context: After what’s happened over the last year, "rally" seems a bit of an overstatement.  Oil ‘Rally’ One big factor that may be driving prices down this week: The U.S. is pumping so much oil it’s running out of places to stash it.  Crude oil in storage in the U.S. has jumped to the highest levels in at least 80 years, according to a Bloomberg Industries analysis. The EIA this week reported that U.S. inventories rose 7.7 million barrels to 425.6 million. That’s more than 20 percent higher than the five-year average.  U.S. Oil Inventories Reach 80-Year High The buildup of supply has been "colossal" and is responsible for oil prices falling this week, Thomas Finlon, director of Energy Analytics Group LLC, told Bloomberg News.  Winter weather and refinery outages have contributed to […]

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China’s water grab

Marxists a century or so ago believed that what they called “Oriental despotism” arose in Asia because of the need in China and elsewhere to control the water supply. In 1957, Karl Wittfogel ’s work on the subject, “Oriental Despotism,” was published, warning that the need to control water for irrigation and other purposes in the region had given birth to a totalitarian state unlike any that had developed in the West. China is now the world’s largest economy. Though its ascension has been a long time coming, China ’s new status has analysts once again looking to water as one of its most powerful strategic levers. In fact, understanding China ’s water policy is as crucial to fostering world peace and international relations in the 21st century as arms treaties and diplomatic missions. In much of the world today, water is a more precious natural resource than oil. […]

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Oil Drillers Idle Fewest Rigs in 7 Weeks as Retreat Slows

(Bloomberg) — U.S. oil explorers idled the fewest rigs in seven weeks, dragging oil prices to an intraday low on speculation that crude production won’t fall fast enough to balance the market. Rigs targeting oil in the U.S. dropped by 37 to 1,019 after averaging an 87-rig loss in the previous three weeks, Baker Hughes Inc. said on its website Friday. Since Dec. 5, 556 have been taken offline in an unprecedented retreat, bringing the count to the lowest level since July 2011. The unprecedented retrenchment in U.S. oil drilling underscores how deeply the global collapse in crude prices has wounded the world’s energy producers, eliminating more than 100,000 jobs internationally and shrinking capital spending this year by at least $86.4 billion. “The rig drop today was half the drop from last week, so the market might be mildly bearish on it,” James Williams, president of energy consulting company […]

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U.S. Oil Rigs Tumble Again, in Line With Twitter Estimates

A derrick hand in Knox County, Ohio. U.S. oil and gas rigs continued to fall this week despite still-rising levels of production. Drillers idled 48 rigs (37 of which were oil rigs), dropping the number to 1,310 and marking the 11th consecutive decline, Baker Hughes reported on Friday. The total U.S. rig count is down 32 percent since October, an unprecedented retreat. The median forecast from a Bloomberg survey of ten  # RigCountGuesses  on Twitter was for a decline of 52.  Active oil and gas rigs for the last five years. Source: Baker Hughes The Baker Hughes rig counts is a newly popular and 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 […]

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BHI’s rig count reaches 5-year low; forecast projects more losses

HOUSTON, Feb. 20 02/20/2015 The US drilling rig count fell 48 units—markedly fewer compared with declines in recent weeks—to settle at 1,310 rigs working during the week ended Feb. 20, Baker Hughes Inc. reported. That total is the lowest since Jan. 22, 2010, and 461 fewer units compared with this week a year ago. The count has now fallen 12 consecutive weeks, losing 610 units during that time ( OGJ Online, Dec. 5, 2014 ). In analysis releases this week, Wood Mackenzie says it expects a continued decline in rigs through the first half of the year, leveling off at 1,000 units by August. The pace of land rigs being idled will continue to accelerate, with the first two weeks in February seeing another 200 rigs coming off contract. “The oil price collapse is hitting onshore activity and rig operators, drilling rigs are currently being stacked at an alarming […]

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Canada Unveils an Oil-Train Safety Tax

A Canadian National Railway train carrying crude oil derailed near Timmins, Ontario last weekend. ENLARGE Photo: Transportation Safety Board of Canada/Reuters OTTAWA—Canada said it would create a compensation fund to cover the potential costs of oil-train derailments and finance the move with a new levy on crude shippers. The planned fund—first reported by The Wall Street Journal earlier Friday—was one of several new measures Canada unveiled to bolster the safety of a rail system carrying growing volumes of crude. Canada had pledged to hold railways and shippers more accountable after the derailment of a crude-carrying train in Quebec in July 2013 killed 47 people and wiped out the town’s core. The Lac-Mégantic accident spurred regulatory changes in the U.S. and Canada—from beefed up emergency-preparedness requirements to new rules governing railcars—while raising concerns about the risks the oil-by-rail boom poses to communities across North America. Those risks were highlighted again […]

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Cabot Oil Slashes Capital Budget, Production Guidance For 2015

ENLARGE Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. slashed its capital budget and pared back its production plans for 2015. Illustration: Bloomberg News/Landov Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. on Friday slashed its capital budget and pared back its production plans for 2015, as the energy company said it swung to a fourth-quarter loss amid plummeting energy prices. Cabot had posted stronger earnings in recent years as it benefited from the energy boom and last year announced plans to spend $210 million to boost acreage in the Eagle Ford Shale, a rock formation in south Texas. But oil prices have plunged since June as an oversupply from U.S. energy firms has flooded the global market. Oil prices fluctuated Friday and were headed for their first weekly loss in a month after data showed U.S. oil supplies were at an 80-year high. Cabot said it has cut its 2015 capital budget to $900 […]

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U.S. refinery strike widens to include nation’s largest refinery

HOUSTON (Reuters) – The U.S. refinery strike widened as workers at the nation’s largest refinery walked off their jobs at 12 a.m. CST (0600 GMT) on Saturday, according to the United Steelworkers union (USW). Shortly after talks between union and oil company representatives ended on Friday night, the union notified Motiva Enterprises [MOTIV.UL] of a strike by its members at the company’s 600,250 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Port Arthur, Texas. The USW also gave notices on Friday of strikes to begin in 24 hours at Motiva’s 235,000 bpd Convent, Louisiana and 238,000 bpd Norco, Louisiana refineries and the Shell Oil Co chemical plant in Norco, the union said. "The industry’s refusal to meaningfully address safety issues through good faith bargaining gave us no other option but to expand our work stoppage," USW International President Leo Gerard said in a statement. Motiva is a 50-50 joint venture of […]

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Shale Producers Postpone Oil Well Completions

URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/137322/Kemp_Shale_Producers_Postpone_Oil_Well_Completions US shale producers are postponing well completions to conserve cash and defer production until prices recover, says John Kemp. John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) – EOG Resources became the latest major shale producer to state that it would "delay a significant number of completions" when it announced fourth-quarter results. The company plans to end 2015 with 285 wells awaiting completion services, up from 200 at the end of 2014, it told investors during an earnings call on Thursday. Continental Resources has also announced plans to go slow on well completions in response to the slump in oil prices. Apache and Anadarko Petroleum are among other shale producers to announce a deliberate strategy of delaying completions. U.S. shale producers are postponing well completions to conserve cash and defer production until prices recover. There are a large […]

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Chevron’s 2014 Oil, Gas Reserves Slip After Chad Asset Sale

URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/137325/Chevrons_2014_Oil_Gas_Reserves_Slip_After_Chad_Asset_Sale Chevron says its oil and natural gas reserves fell 1% last year largely due to the sale of its stake in a Chad oil field. WILLISTON, N.D., Feb 20 (Reuters) – Chevron Corp, the second-largest U.S.-based oil producer, said on Friday its oil and natural gas reserves fell 1 percent last year largely due to the sale of its stake in a Chad oil field. The company had proved reserves of 11.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent on Dec. 31, about 1 percent lower than a year earlier. Even as Chevron has five major projects coming online by the end of the decade, dwindling reserves have become a key concern for international energy companies, many of which have massive capital budgets to find and extract oil and natural gas. San Ramon, California-based Chevron is also grappling with plunging crude oil prices , which Chief Executive John Watson […]

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Cold weather pushes PJM demand to winter record, tops prior best by over 1,000 MW

Washington (Platts)–20Feb2015/303 pm EST/2003 GMT The PJM Interconnection recorded a new winter demand peak Friday as frigid weather fueled electricity demand across the grid operator’s footprint, it said in a statement. PJM said demand topped out at about 143,800 MW around 8 am EST (1300 GMT), according to preliminary data. Real-time power prices at the peak of demand were around $500/MWh for many of the major PJM zones. –Eric Wieser, [email protected] –Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, [email protected]

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US Interior unveils Arctic oil, gas drilling regulations

Washington (Platts)–20Feb2015/359 pm EST/2059 GMT The Obama administration Friday issued proposed Arctic-specific drilling regulations that will apply to potential exploration operations in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. The regulations include new requirements for operators to submit "region-specific" response plans for oil spills, have "prompt access" to source control and containment equipment, and have a separate relief rig available in case well control is lost, the Department of Interior said. "If there were to be an uncontrolled well event, we want to make sure that the well can be secured within the drilling season," Brian Salerno, director of Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, said during a conference call. That requirement was quickly criticized by industry. "Other equipment and methods, such as a capping stack, can be used to achieve the same season relief with equal or higher levels of safety and environmental protection," said Eric Milito, the American […]

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Residents return home after W. Va. derailment

http://launch.newsinc.com/share.html?trackingGroup=91585&siteSection=unitedpress&videoId=28581637 Oil tanker train. Photo by Steven Frame/Shutterstock MOUNT CARBON, W.Va., Feb. 20 (UPI) — Some of the residents in and around communities evacuated in response to a West Virginia oil-train derailment can return home, a unified command said. Federal regulators said about 28 cars from a CSX line derailed Monday afternoon near Mt. Carbon, W. Va. State officials said about half of the derailed cars were transporting crude oil from North Dakota, which would equate to approximately 8,000 barrels. At least one home was destroyed in the massive fireball that followed the derailment. A unified command established to respond to the incident said some evacuated residents can go home, though others were still under restrictions because of safety concerns. Six of the derailed cars were put back on their tracks by recovery crews. Some of the oil still left in the derailed cars was transferred elsewhere for later […]

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Diesel in N.Y. Jumps as Freeze Boosts Demand, Slows Deliveries

(Bloomberg) — Diesel futures jumped the most in more than a year as cold weather in the Northeast boosted demand while refinery outages reduced supplies. The March contract rose as much as 7.2 percent as Delta Air Lines Inc. shut units at its Trainer refinery in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Energy Solutions had an upset at its complex, the largest on the East Coast. Natural gas pipelines in the eastern U.S. have limited flows across their systems as cold weather spreads through the region. “This is a result of the natural gas curtailments that continue through the region,” said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates LLC in Houson. “Compounding the problem is the fact that the Delta Trainer refinery shut down units.” Diesel for March delivery rose 9.47 cents, or 4.7 percent, to $2.0885 a gallon at 10:51 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The front-month contract’s premium […]

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Arctic Oil Drillers Face Tighter U.S. Rules to Stop Spills

(Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc and any oil drilling company that prospects in the Arctic Ocean must boost safety practices to prevent spills in the frigid and often hostile waters or mitigate the impact, U.S. regulators proposed Friday. The Interior Department’s first Arctic-specific drilling rules respond to mishaps that plagued Shell as it sought oil north of Alaska three years ago. As the White House considered the plan, Shell said the requirements might make it too expensive to invest in the isolated but energy-rich waters. “The Arctic region is known for its challenging environmental conditions, geographic remoteness and relative lack of existing infrastructure,” according to the proposal from the department’s offshore safety agency. There is a “need to develop additional measures specifically tailored to the operational and environmental conditions of the Arctic.” Shell has said it wants to resume exploration when the weather gets warmer this year after […]

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Chevron Dry Holes Rate Almost Doubles Amid Shift to Americas

(Bloomberg) — Chevron Corp.’s exploration failure rate almost doubled last year as the second-largest U.S. energy producer shifted more drilling efforts to American fields from other parts of the world. Dry holes, or exploratory wells where commercially viable quantities of oil or natural gas weren’t found, represented 30 percent of the total drilled last year, up from 18 percent in 2013, the company said Friday in a public filing. Chevron plans to quit searching Romania’s shale fields this year after abandoning Polish and Ukrainian prospects in 2014. Chevron is accelerating spending cuts that got underway last year as falling crude prices eroded cash available for exploratory drilling, platform construction and other capital projects. The San Ramon, California-based company last month said it plans to reduce outlays by 13 percent this year to $35 billion, more than three times the 3.7 percent cut during 2014. The oil and gas producer […]

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Amid controversy, oil trains quietly rerouted through Virginia towns

(Reuters) – Hundreds of communities across the United States have become accustomed to the sight of mile-long oil trains rumbling by in recent years. Pembroke, Virginia, was not one of them, until now. CSX Corp is temporarily rerouting up to five oil trains through this small riverside town to bypass the site of an explosive oil train derailment that occurred 90 miles north in Mount Carbon, West Virginia, on Monday. The trains will likely travel instead on a track that hugs the New River and at one point sweeps into the Pembroke town limits. In line with a federal protocol established last year following a string of fiery derailments across North America, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management on Tuesday informed 16 counties and cities that oil trains could be coming through their towns, local officials and fire departments said, one day after the Mount Carbon derailment. Those counties […]

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Kiev accuses Russia of sending more tanks to east Ukraine

DEBALTSEVE, Ukraine/KIEV (Reuters) – Kiev accused Russia on Friday of sending more tanks and troops into eastern Ukraine and said they were heading towards the rebel-held town of Novoazovsk on the southern coast, expanding their presence on what it fears could be the next battlefront. Russia did not immediately respond to the accusation which, if confirmed, would go further to kill off a European-brokered truce that was met by relentless rebel advances after it came into force on Sunday. Moscow has always denied accusations in the past that its forces are fighting in Ukraine. Nevertheless, there were signs that the rebels may be prepared to halt their advance, having achieved their main military objective this week by seizing the strategic town of Debaltseve in defiance of the ceasefire. Reuters journalists in the battle zone, including Debaltseve itself now firmly in rebel hands, said it was quieter than it had […]

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Gazprom Neft ships first winter oil from arctic

Russian energy company Gazprom Neft shifts first winter batch of oil from field located above the Arctic Circle. Photo courtesy of Gazprom Neft Gazprom Neft said Friday it made its first ever winter shipment of oil from a field located above the Arctic Circle. The company said 117,280 barrels of crude was shipped on a tanker to European consumers from the Novoportovskoye, or Novy Port, field in the Yamal Peninsula under the escort of an icebreaking ship. Board Chairman Alexander Dyukov said his company has invested "significant funds" in developing a commercial-scale arctic oil operation. "We are continuing to actively develop these projects, and in just a few years they will account for a significant part of Gazprom Neft’s production," he said in a statement. Greenpeace has objected to Russian efforts to extract oil from the arctic, saying it poses a risk to the pristine ecosystem there. Greenpeace last […]

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Russia Gets Second Junk Rating From Moody’s on Ukraine, Oil

Russia’s credit rating was cut to junk by Moody’s Investors Service as the conflict in Ukraine and plunging oil prices curb growth and erode financial stability. Photographer: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — Russia’s credit rating was cut to below investment grade by Moody’s Investors Service, which joined Standard & Poors in ranking the country’s debt as junk, citing the conflict in Ukraine and plunging oil prices. The rating company downgraded Russia one step to Ba1, the highest non-investment level and in line with countries including Hungary and Portugal. Moody’s has a negative rating outlook on the country, according to a report released Friday. The move follows Standard & Poor’s decision to cut the country to speculative grade in January. “The existing and potential future international sanctions, the erosion of the country’s foreign exchange buffers and persistently lower oil prices plus high and rising inflation will take a negative toll on […]

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Nato must prepare for Russian attack, warns UK general

A Nato exercise in Estonia Nato forces must prepare for a large-scale conventional assault by Russia on an eastern European member state designed to catch the alliance off guard and snatch territory, the deputy supreme commander of the military alliance has warned. Openly raising the prospect of a conventional armed conflict with Russia on European soil, the remarks by Sir Adrian Bradshaw, second-in-command of Nato’s forces in Europe, are some of the most strident yet from the alliance. The warning comes as relations with the Kremlin worsen just days into a second fragile ceasefire aimed at curbing the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine between Kiev’s forces and Russian-backed separatists. Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank in London on Friday, Sir Adrian said that as well as adapting to tackle the “hybrid” military tactics — a combination of conventional, irregular and cyber warfare techniques — being used by Russia […]

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Oil falls below $60 as oversupply weighs

LONDON (Reuters) – Brent crude oil fell below $60 a barrel on Friday as oversupply, supported by record-high U.S. crude stocks, weighed on the market. U.S. crude inventories rose 7.7 million barrels to 425.6 million last week, rising for a sixth straight week to record highs, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Thursday. Stockpiles of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) U.S. crude at the Cushing oil hub in Oklahoma rose the most in six years, the EIA said. "With total crude stocks now about 425 million barrels and Cushing north of 46 million barrels, WTI is looking increasingly mispriced high above $52 per the April contract," said Jeffries Futures analysts in a note to traders. Brent crude futures for April were down 27 cents at $59.94 by 0915 GMT, having hit an intraweek low of $57.80 in the previous session. U.S. crude for March delivery CLc1 was […]

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Oil falls sharply as U.S. crude inventories rise

LONDON (Reuters) – Oil prices tumbled on Thursday after another big weekly build in U.S. crude inventories and a possible rise in Saudi output stoked worries about oversupply. U.S. crude stocks rose by 14.3 million barrels last week, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed after Wednesday’s settlement, compared with analysts’ expectations for an increase of 3.2 million barrels. [API/S] If U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data due at 1600 GMT confirms the large build, it would be the biggest weekly addition in barrels since such data became available in 1982. The API and EIA reports are a day late this week because of a U.S. holiday on Monday. At 0843 GMT, benchmark Brent crude futures for April were down $1.67 at $58.86 a barrel, extending declines from Tuesday’s two-month high of $63. U.S. crude for March delivery, which expires on Friday, was down $2.05 at […]

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Oil’s Volatility Reflects Debate: Is Worst Over Yet?

New evidence of surging U.S. oil supplies sent prices on a roller-coaster ride Thursday, reflecting the growing divide among traders over whether an eight-month rout is over. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said oil inventories grew by 7.7 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 13. Analysts said swelling stockpiles are a sign that producers aren’t cutting back on output despite a more than 50% collapse in prices since last summer. In its report, the EIA said U.S. oil production was on track to reach a 42-year high this month. But traders in the futures market had been bracing for much worse, and many took the data as a cue to buy. On Wednesday, an industry group had estimated a jump of 14.3 million barrels for last week, which would have been a record had it been borne out in the government data. Although both reports depend on surveys […]

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Natural Gas Prices Make Limited Gains on Larger-than-Expected Stockpile Drain

By Timothy Puko Natural gas futures made small gains Thursday after data showing a larger-than-expected draw from stockpiles. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said storage levels fell by 111 billion cubic feet in the week ended Feb. 13. That is 3 bcf more than the 108-bcf consensus average of 17 forecasters surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. The EIA update is widely considered one of the best measures of supply and demand, and this draw would indicate lower supply or larger demand than expected. In the minute after the data, prices rose 0.9% to $2.856 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. They briefly fell reverted to losses before flipping again. The front-month March contract recently traded up 1.4 cents, or 0.5%, at $2.845/mmBtu. Cold winter weather, like that chilling the eastern half of the country right now, usually drives demand and raises prices. But […]

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Inspectors Say Iran Is Evading Questions as Nuclear Talks Enter a Crucial Stage

WASHINGTON — With only five weeks remaining for a basic agreement to be reached with Iran on the fate of its nuclear program , the world’s nuclear inspectors reported on Thursday that Iran was still refusing to answer their longstanding questions about suspected work on nuclear weapons and designs. The report, by the International Atomic Energy Agency , was issued just as an American negotiating team heads to Geneva for four days of talks that will, by Sunday, include Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif. Most of those negotiations focus on the future, particularly on the question of how much nuclear fuel Iran would be permitted to produce and stockpile. But a lurking issue has been whether, as part of any final accord, Iran will be compelled to answer all questions that the I.A.E.A. has put to it about evidence of past work […]

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Oil-Drop Pain Spreads to Saudi Arabia’s Energy Behemoth

ENLARGE ‘Like everyone else, we’re using the downturn as an opportunity to sharpen our fiscal discipline,’ Aramco CEO Khalid Al Falih said during the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. Photo: Bloomberg News Saudi Arabia’s refusal late last year to rein in oil production helped trigger the price crash that has hurt oil-producing countries and publicly listed energy companies alike. And now even the kingdom’s own oil company is feeling the pain. As a result, state-owned Saudi Aramco is looking for ways to cut costs everywhere, from pushing contractors for better deals on oil-well services to negotiating discounts on its phone and power bills, according to people familiar with the matter. The company—the world’s largest oil producer—is also considering slashing its future spending on production and exploration by as much as 25%, much like private oil companies, industry sources said. “Like everyone else, we’re using the downturn as […]

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Pentagon reveals plans to retake Mosul from Isis

Iraqi policemen raise their weapons during a training session at a camp in the Bardarash district in January The Pentagon took the unusual step on Thursday of disclosing plans for an Iraqi-led attempt to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, from Islamist militants with a ground offensive this spring. A senior US official said that a force of 20,000 Iraqi and Kurdish soldiers was being prepared to conduct the battle against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant , known as Isis, which took control of the northern Iraqi city last year. The US has been publicly signalling an impending assault to retake Mosul for months, in part as an attempt to frighten Isis fighters or convince non-Isis insurgent groups that have worked with it to drift away While the broad objective of launching a ground campaign to retake Mosul in the late spring or early summer has been widely […]

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Saudi King Unleashes a Torrent of Money as Bonuses Flow to the Masses

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — European leaders are still battling over austerity. The United States Congress is gearing up for another fight over the budget. But in Saudi Arabia , there are no such troubles when you are king — and you just dole out billions and billions of dollars to ordinary Saudis by royal decree. Not surprisingly, Saudis are very happy with their new monarch, King Salman. “It is party time for Saudi Arabia right now,” said John Sfakianakis, the Riyadh-based Middle East director of the Ashmore Group , an investment company, who estimates that the king’s post-coronation giveaway will ultimately cost more than $32 billion. That is a lot of cash, more, for example, than the entire annual budget for Nigeria, which has Africa’s largest economy. Since King Salman ascended the throne of this wealthy Arab kingdom last month, he has swiftly taken charge, abolishing government bodies and […]

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Pro-Islamic State militants seize Libyan university: residents

CAIRO (Reuters) – Militants claiming loyalty to Islamic State have seized the university in the central Libyan city of Sirte, residents said on Thursday, days after a video showed them staging a convoy parade. Islamist militants have made inroads into parts of the North African oil-producing country, exploiting a power vacuum created by a violent struggle for control between two competing governments. On Monday Egyptian planes struck suspected Islamic State targets in eastern Libya, after the group released a video showing the execution of 21 Egyptian Christians kidnapped in Sirte. On Wednesday Egypt and the official Libyan government asked the United Nations Security Council to lift an arms embargo and help build up the army to tackle the jihadists. "The group took control of the university yesterday," a Sirte resident said, asking not to be named. A picture posted on social media showed an Islamic State flag at the […]

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Big Investors Exit Petrobras as Corruption Scandal Drags On

SÃO PAULO—Some big international investors have been selling shares in Brazil’s state-run oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, as the company faces the biggest crisis of its history amid corruption allegations. Investors including Soros Fund Management LLC, which invests for billionaire investor George Soros and his family; BlackRock Fund Advisors; and Fidelity Management Research Co., cut their stakes in the Brazilian company in the fourth quarter, when the corruption scandal gained force. “Big international investors prefer to stay away from Petrobras because the uncertainty surrounding the company is huge. So they’ve opted to take a conservative path until they see a clearer scenario for the company,” said João Pedro Brugger, a portfolio manager at Leme Investimentos, based in Florianopolis. Mr. Brugger said his company owns shares in Petrobras as part of a portfolio matching Brazil’s Ibovespa stocks index. Soros slashed its stake in Petrobras by 60% to 2 […]

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Union rejects contract offer from oil cos in U.S. refinery strike

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Union negotiators on Thursday rejected the latest contract offer from oil companies and said the largest U.S. refinery strike since 1980 may spread to more plants beyond the 11 where walkouts are underway. The United Steelworkers union (USW) said in a message to members and news media including Reuters that the latest proposal from lead oil company negotiator Royal Dutch Shell Plc failed to improve safety at refineries and chemical plants in an "enforceable way." The union also told workers not on strike to be prepared to walk out in the coming days. "New offer fails to improve safety in enforceable way," the USW said in the text message. "All units instructed to reject and prepare to join (unfair labor practices) strike if called upon. Union at table ready to bargain." A USW spokeswoman confirmed the message, but said the union would have no further comment. […]

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U.S. crude stocks jump more than expected: EIA

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. crude stocks rose more than twice expected levels last week as refineries cut output, while gasoline stocks increased and distillate inventories fell, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Thursday. Crude inventories rose by 7.7 million barrels in the last week, compared with analysts’ expectations for an increase of 3.2 million barrels. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 3.663 million barrels, EIA said. Refinery crude runs fell by 122,000 barrels per day, EIA data showed. Refinery utilization rates fell by 1.3 percentage points. Gasoline stocks rose by 485,000 barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 167,000 barrels gain. Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 3.8 million barrels, versus expectations for a 2.1 million barrels drop, the EIA data showed. U.S. crude imports fell last week by 181,000 barrels per day. (U.S. […]

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Marathon Oil going after costs, has saved $225 million so far

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Marathon Oil Corp said on Thursday it has so far captured $225 million in savings, citing streamlined shale drilling and completion processes and lower prices from oilfield service providers. While many oil and gas companies forecast cost savings, Marathon said it is already seeing savings as it squeezes well costs in fields in south Texas and elsewhere and renegotiates service contracts in response to the steep drop in crude oil prices that have upended the sector. "With margins compressed by lower commodity prices it’s incumbent upon us to be aggressive in pushing those service costs and tangible costs down," Lance Robertson, vice president for North American Operations told investors on a conference call. Marathon said its has reduced its per well cost by $1.3 million to an average of $6.3 million through efficiency and service costs reductions. The Houston company is also working to pare general […]

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Oil’s Pain Is Wal-Mart’s Gain

Wal-Mart Stores finally hit its number this morning, posting its first quarterly gain in store traffic in 24 months. This may be cause for other retailers to celebrate as well, as Wal-Mart welcomed cash that would have otherwise been spent on gas. It’s a theory popular among economists: Plummeting fuel costs lift all boats, not like a tide but like a sort of shipping lock, to play the metaphor through. Analysts at Goldman Sachs note that the longer gas prices stay low, the more consumers like to spend. There’s some evidence that’s exactly what happened at Wal-Mart in the recent quarter . Revenue from the fuel pumps at the company’s Sam’s Club stores was down 2.4 percent in the quarter. Meanwhile, sales at Sam’s Club minus fuel costs were up 2 percent. Companywide, Wal-Mart revenue ticked up 1.5 percent. U.S. consumers spend about $370 billion a year on gasoline. […]

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Environmental team surveying W. Va. oil-train disaster

Crews are on the ground in and around the site of Monday’s oil-train derailment in West Virginia deploying containment boom, the response team said. The National Transportation Safety Board estimated 28 tank cars of the 109 from a CSX line slipped the rails early Monday afternoon near Mt. Carbon, W. Va. State authorities estimated about a dozen of those cars were transporting crude oil from North Dakota, which would equate to approximately 8,000 barrels. A unified command set up by CSX, local, state and federal authorities said crews are on the ground surveying land and water contamination . No cars fell into the nearby Kanawha River. "The response crews were able to deploy about 500 feet of containment boom as a precautionary measure to limit potential impact on the environment," the command center said in its latest update Wednesday. "The use of additional boom material is being evaluated." West […]

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Union cries foul after Exxon refinery blast

‘Large Fire Explosion’ at ExxonMobil Torrance Refinery Prompts Emergency Response PITTSBURGH, Feb. 19 (UPI) — The United Steelworkers union said the fire at an Exxon Mobil refinery in California is a reminder of the lopsided policies in the downstream energy industry. A blast at the 750-acre refinery in Torrance, Calif., shook nearby buildings and left at least four people with minor injuries . Most of the damage was contained to the site of what was described as a small fire. Dave Campbell, secretary of the USW Local 675, which represents workers at the facility, said the blast occurred near a fluid catalytic unit , part of the refinery’s infrastructure used to process gasoline. "We thank God that no worker at ExxonMobil – hourly, management, or technical – was killed or seriously injured," he said in a Wednesday statement. USW workers at 11 refineries are striking against what they see […]

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North Dakota oil boom deflating

North Dakota oil production hasn’t yet declined due to lower rig count. Photo by David Gaylor/Shutterstock WILLISTON, N.D., Feb. 19 (UPI) — Low oil prices haven’t yet dimmed confidence in North Dakota, though there may be concerns lingering over the mid-term horizon, those on the ground said. Oil prices have remained above what some consider the floor price for the recent downturn, trading in recent sessions above the $50 per barrel mark for West Texas Intermediate crude oil. That’s more than 18 percent above late January lows, but still 50 percent less than June prices, forcing many in the industry to lay off staff and cut spending on exploration and production. Oil prices are down in part because of a weakened global economy and a market swing to the supply side. Oil produced from U.S. shale, like the Bakken formation in North Dakota, is behind some of the momentum. […]

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West Virginia Oil Train That Derailed Was Traveling Under Speed Limit

ENLARGE The CSX train that derailed near Mount Carbon, W.Va., was going 33 miles an hour in a 50 mph zone, said Sarah Feinberg, acting head of the Federal Railroad Administration. Photo: Office of the Governor of West Virginia/Associated Press The crude-oil train that derailed and exploded in West Virginia on Monday was traveling well below the track’s speed limit, according to an onboard recording system, a federal official said Thursday. Sarah Feinberg, acting head of the Federal Railroad Administration, said the CSX Corp. train that derailed near Mount Carbon, W.Va., was going 33 miles an hour in a 50 mph zone. The cause of the derailment remains under investigation, and Ms. Feinberg said investigators would look at the condition of the rails, tanker car wheels and other factors that could have contributed to the accident. Investigators have so far examined outward-facing video footage from the train, as well […]

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U.S. Oil Workers Reject Shell’s Contract Offer Prolonging Strike

Representatives from the United Steel Workers Union (USW) hold a rally at the entrance to the Marathon refinery in Catlettsburg, Kentucky, on Feb. 7, 2015. (Bloomberg) — The United Steelworkers, representing more than 30,000 U.S. oil workers, instructed members to reject a seventh labor contract offered by Royal Dutch Shell Plc as the biggest refinery strike since 1980 dragged on. The proposal, the first one made by Shell since Feb. 5 on behalf of companies including Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp., “fails to improve safety” in an enforceable way, the USW said in a text message, instructing local units to prepare to join the strike “if called upon.” Ray Fisher, a spokesman for The Hague, Netherlands-based Shell, said the company had no comment beyond saying the two sides met. Since Feb. 1 more than 5,000 USW workers have walked out of a chemical plant, a cogeneration complex and […]

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Apple Wants to Start Producing Cars as Soon as 2020

(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc., which has been working secretly on a car, is pushing its team to begin production of an electric vehicle as early as 2020, people with knowledge of the matter said. The timeframe — automakers typically spend five to seven years developing a car — underscores the project’s aggressive goals and could set the stage for a battle for customers with Tesla Motors Inc. and General Motors Co., both of which are targeting a 2017 release of an electric vehicle that can go more than 200 miles on a single charge and cost less than $40,000. “That’s the inflection point — the proving ground — that brings on the electric age,” Steve LeVine, author of “The Powerhouse,” a book about the automotive battery industry, said on Bloomberg TV Thursday. “Now you have Apple coming in and this is critical mass. Was GM really going to be […]

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Canada Unveils Tax Breaks for LNG Development

Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper. ENLARGE Photo: Zuma Press OTTAWA—The Canadian government unveiled Thursday tax breaks for developers of liquefied natural gas export projects in an effort to kick-start investment amid a low energy-price environment. At an event in suburban Vancouver, British Columbia, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said LNG developers would be eligible to write off industrial equipment and real estate at a faster pace. The write-off is eligible for equipment and real estate acquired after Thursday up until 2025. Ottawa estimates the cost to the federal treasury of about 50 million Canadian dollars (US$40.3 million) over a five-year period. The province of British Columbia, which is banking on LNG development and shipments to spur future growth, had lobbied for such tax breaks, as did the industry. Mr. Harper said in a statement that the move “builds on our low tax plan for jobs and growth, strengthening the […]

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