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Oil prices ease as market downplays supply threat from Yemen

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices fell over a percentage point on Friday as traders estimated that the threat of a disruption to world crude supplies from Saudi Arabia-led air strikes in Yemen was low. Goldman Sachs said in an overnight note that the strikes in Yemen would have little effect on oil supplies as the country was only a small crude exporter and tankers could avoid passing its waters to reach their ports of destination. Internationally traded Brent crude futures LCOc1 were trading at $58.44 a barrel at 0211 GMT, down 75 cents from their last settlement. U.S. crude CLc1 was down 88 cents at $50.55 a barrel. Prices soared as much as 6 percent the previous day after a Saudi-led coalition of Arab nations began strikes on Shi’ite Houthis and allied army units who have taken over much of Yemen and seek to oust President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. […]

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U.S. GDP pulls reins on oil prices

Weak economic data from the United State pulls oil prices back from spike that greeted pan-Arab military operations in Yemen. Photo by Pavel L Photo and Video/Shutterstock NEW YORK, March 27 (UPI) — Crude oil prices pulled back Friday from sharp gains triggered by conflict in Yemen as U.S. data show a decline in economic growth in the fourth quarter. The Commerce Department said Friday gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014. That’s down from the 5 percent increase in GDP during the third quarter. Deceleration in GDP growth in the fourth quarter reflected in part an uptick in imports and a downturn in federal government spending. Corporate profits and related indices decreased $30.4 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with an increase of $64.5 billion in third quarter 2014, the Commerce Department said. The slowdown pressured an economy […]

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Natural Gas Futures Fall as Warmer Weather Looms

Natural gas prices slipped Friday as warmer temperatures crept into the forecasts with the onset of spring, reducing expectations for late-season heating demand that could support the market. The front-month April contract natural gas contract ended down 8.2 cents, or 3.1%, at $2.59 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its third consecutive losing session. The April contract expired with the close of trading Friday. The market is bumping along at its lowest levels of the year as the U.S. enters a so-called shoulder season between winter and spring and demand for gas-fired heating falls away. "Going into shoulder season, there’s not a lot of fundamental support for gas prices, and so they’re starting to slide," said BNP Paribas strategist Teri Viswanath. There were no major revisions to temperature outlooks in the coming days and weeks, but there was a slight warming trend, with above-normal […]

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Transocean prepares for challenges ahead

Rig company Transocean said it’s bracing itself for difficult challenges ahead. UPI/A.J. Sisco.. ZUG, Switzerland, March 27 (UPI) — Rig services company Transocean is bracing itself for an uncertain and difficult road ahead in the offshore drilling market, its chief executive officer said. Transocean published its 325-page proxy statement for 2015 and annual report for 2014. The release comes as most energy companies have announced plans to cut back on spending for exploration and production as oil prices stay depressed in an era of oversupply. Transocean Interim Chief Executive Officer Ian Strachan said in a statement that, while the company held its ground last year as oil prices fell, this year may be different for the rig builder. "We had significant achievements in 2014," he said. "However, despite our progress, the offshore drilling market has become increasingly uncertain and, in all likelihood, the next couple of years will remain […]

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Yemen Houthi rebels advance despite Saudi-led air strikes

ADEN (Reuters) – Yemen’s Houthi rebels made broad gains in the country’s south and east on Friday despite a second day of Saudi-led air strikes meant to check the Iranian-backed militia’s efforts to overthrow President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Shi’ite Muslim Houthi fighters and allied army units gained their first foothold on Yemen’s Arabian Sea coast by seizing the port of Shaqra 100km (60 miles) east of Aden, residents told Reuters. Explosions and crackles of small gunfire rang out across Aden late on Friday as Houthis made a push on the southern port city’s airport, a witness said. The advances threaten Hadi’s last refuge in Yemen and potentially undermine the air campaign to support him. The spokesman for the Saudi-led operation, Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, told a news conference in Riyadh that defending the Aden government was the campaign’s "main objective". "The operation will continue as long as there is […]

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Time for Iran to make tough decisions in nuclear talks: U.S.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) – Negotiations between six world powers and Iran over its nuclear program have been "tough and very serious" and the next few days will show whether Tehran is ready to make the necessary hard decisions, a senior U.S. official said on Friday. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s move to reach out to the leaders of the six powers on Thursday is "hopefully a sign that Iran is ready to make some of the tough decisions," the senior State Department official added on condition of anonymity. The official said that other foreign ministers from the six-power group, which includes Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia as well as the United States, will arrive in the coming days to join the talks in Lausanne, Switzerland ahead of an end-March deadline for a political framework agreement. Tehran and the powers are struggling to hammer out a political framework accord by the […]

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Iran and powers close in on 2-3 page nuclear deal, success uncertain

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) – Iran and major powers are close to agreeing a two- or three-page accord with specific numbers as the basis of a resolution of a 12-year standoff over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, officials have told Reuters. As the French and German foreign ministers arrived in Switzerland on Saturday to join talks between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Western and Iranian officials familiar with the negotiations cautioned that they could still fail. Kerry and Zarif have been in Lausanne for days to try to reach an outline agreement by a self-imposed deadline of March 31 between Iran on the one hand and the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China on the other. "The sides are very, very close to the final step and it could be signed or agreed and announced verbally," a senior Iranian official familiar with […]

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Iran Nuclear Talks Could Push Past Deadline

ENLARGE Secretary of State John Kerry, right, talks with members of his delegation in Lausanne on Friday. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Press Pool LAUSANNE, Switzerland—With Iran nuclear talks nearing a critical deadline Tuesday, diplomats raised doubts that a meaningful deal could be reached in time even as the White House faces political hurdles in Washington to extend negotiations. Gaps between the two sides include how quickly Western nations would lift punitive sanctions against Iran, and what types of nuclear research Tehran would be allowed to continue, diplomats said. Negotiators also are grappling over access by international inspectors to Iran’s military sites, where evidence has suggested the possibility of past experiments on weapons technology. The differences between Iran and international powers are so wide that any agreement reached by Tuesday would likely be vague and wouldn’t necessarily be written down in a formal text, U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond warned Friday. Speaking […]

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Houthi rebels clash with Saudi troops on Yemen’s northern border

Houthi fighters in Sana’a protest against Saudi air strikes Shia Houthi rebels clashed with Saudi military units on Yemen ’s northern border on Friday. The rebels vowed to intensify their campaign for control of the country after a second night of air strikes by a coalition of regional Sunni states led by Saudi Arabia. Houthi fighters also clashed with rival militias in the south of the country. As the fighting intensified, president Abd-Rabbu Hadi, who this week fled the southern port city of Aden in the face of the Houthi advance, travelled to Egypt to attend a summit of Arab leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh. The president vowed to call for an Arab ”Marshall Plan” to rebuild his country once the Houthis have been ousted. Tensions grew on Friday as Saudi and Egyptian warships deployed to the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait in an effort to stop Houthis taking control of […]

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How the Yemen conflict risks new chaos in the Middle East

Saudi Arabia leads airstrikes in Yemen View Photos The campaign, with a coalition of Arab nations, is an effort to dislodge Houthi rebels sweeping through Yemen. BEIRUT — The meltdown in Yemen is pushing the Middle East dangerously closer toward the wider regional conflagration many long have feared would arise from the chaos unleashed by the Arab Spring revolts. What began as a peaceful struggle to unseat a Tunisian dictatorfour years ago and then mutated into civil strife now risks spiraling into a full-blown war between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran over a country that lies at the choke point of one of the world’s major oil supply routes. With negotiators chasing a Tuesday deadline for the framework of a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program, it seems unlikely that Iran would immediately respond militarily to this week’s Saudi airstrikes in Yemen, analysts say. But the confrontation has […]

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