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Iraq launches offensive against Isis

Iraqi security forces and Shia fighters gather in preparation for an attack on Islamic State strongholds Iraqi forces, backed by Shia militia, Sunni tribesman and thousands of volunteers, launched a military operation to clear the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known as Isis, from Salahaddin province and the city of Tikrit, the home town of former leader Saddam Hussein. Thousands of men from army and militia units based in Baghdad and Diyala province, began moving into position in the mostly Sunni province, home to an important Shia shrine and an oil refinery already under the control of pro-government forces. Iraq has been struggling to take the offensive against the militants since Isis , together with allied Sunni groups, seized control of swaths of Iraq’s west and northwest in a lightning campaign last June. Government forces finally appear to be making progress and have seen battlefield success outside […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline not abandoned

Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline not abandoned thumbnail The Pakistani commerce minister says the country has not abandoned the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project, which is scheduled to provide Pakistan with Iranian natural gas. Pakistan will pursue the IP project after the removal of anti-Iran sanctions, the Express Tribune quoted Khurram Dastgir Khan as saying in a Saturday report. “A gas pipeline that is going to be laid from [the Pakistani port city of] Gwadar to [the port city of] Nawabshah can be extended by 11 kilometers to Iran,” the minister said. Iran and Pakistan signed an agreement for the construction of the gas pipeline in 1995. Later, Iran made a proposal to extend the pipeline from Pakistan into India. In February 1999, an accord between Iran and India was signed. But due to the US pressure, India withdrew from the project in 2009. Iran has already built its 900-kilometer share […]

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Nigeria hit by fuel shortage as marketers cut imports over unpaid subsidies

Lagos (Platts)–2Mar2015/519 am EST/1019 GMT A fresh round of gasoline shortages has hit Nigeria as fuel importers drastically cut imports following the government’s delay in settle over Naira 264 billion ($1.41 billion) on debts owed on subsidies for previous imports. Moreover, Nigerian businesses, hard hit by the fuel shortage, Monday restated their demand that the government completely abolish subsidies on imported fuel, saying it would avoid recurring shortages and free up resources. Motorists formed long queues at gas stations in major cities including the federal capital Abuja and the commercial capital of Lagos, which marketers blamed on low fuel stocks. "Most marketers have run out of stocks over the last two weeks because of the drop in imports," Femi Lawore, spokesman for the main oil marketers group, told Platts. "We have warned the government before about the danger of continuing to delay the outstanding claims on subsidies totaling N264 […]

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Venezuela: A Closer Look at the Oil Economy of Venezuela

Venezuela: A Closer Look at the Oil Economy of Venezuela thumbnail Venezuela contains some of the largest oil and natural gas proven reserves in the world. In 2013, Venezuela was the third-largest exporter of crude oil to the United States. It consistently ranks as one of the top suppliers of crude oil to the United States. Venezuela was the world’s 9th largest exporter and 12th largest producer of petroleum and other liquids in 2013. At 2.49 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of petroleum and other liquids produced in 2013, Venezuela is the world’s 12th largest producer and the 5th largest producer in the Americas. Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt may contain upwards of 513 billion barrels of crude oil. However, much of the resource is heavy and requires additional capital to bring it to market. Venezuela was the fourth-largest supplier of imported crude oil and petroleum products to the United States […]

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China’s Long Food Chain Plugs In

Photo An employee of the fruit producer Joyvio helped a shopper, right, use an app to detail a box of kiwis’ thousand-mile journey to a Beijing supermarket. Credit Gilles Sabrie for The New York Times HONG KONG — The smartphone tells the story of a kiwi fruit in China . With a quick scan of a code, shoppers can look up the fruit’s complete thousand-mile journey from a vine in a lush valley along the upper Yangtze River to a bin in a Beijing supermarket. The smartphone feature, which also details soil and water tests from the farm, is intended to ensure that the kiwi has not been contaminated anywhere along the way. “I have scanned some electronic products before, but never any food,” said Xu Guillin, who recently tested the tracking function at the supermarket while shopping with her 3-year-old grandson. “We pay lots of attention to food […]

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Film Renews Focus on Pollution in China Before National Congress

Buildings are shrouded in smog in Changsha, Hunan Province of China. Air pollution has become a focus of public discourse in China in the past few years as thick smog has blanketed large swathes of the country. Source: ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images (Bloomberg) — A documentary investigating the fallout of China’s poor air quality drew millions of viewers last weekend, putting a renewed spotlight on pollution as the nation’s lawmakers prepare for their annual gathering in Beijing. Called “Under the Dome,” the film released online by former China Central Television reporter Chai Jing cites weak enforcement of environmental laws and poor fuel standards among the causes of the smog. It was the most searched topic on search engine Baidu early Monday, and was played 21 million times on video-sharing site Youku.com. China’s annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, which begins March 5 in Beijing, is expected to set […]

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Striking Oil Workers, Shell to Resume Talks Next Week

(Bloomberg) — The United Steelworkers union, representing 30,000 oil workers in contract talks, will resume negotiations next week with Royal Dutch Shell Plc, prolonging the biggest refinery strike in 35 years. Shell, negotiating on behalf of employers including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., and the USW have agreed to meet on March 4, statements from both sides show. The union, which is trying to limit the number of contractors at plants, said in a text message on Friday that Shell will need to bargain a fair and safe contract “or see strike expand.” The meeting will be the first official one since Feb. 20, when talks between the two sides broke down and the union spread its strike to include the nation’s largest refinery. The stalled negotiations have drawn out a national walkout that began Feb. 1 at seven refineries and has since widened to include 12. Together, […]

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Oil Prices Don’t Change Because of Rig Count

Oil prices don’t change based on weekly rig count reports.   Yet every week, there are proclamations by analysts that oil prices are poised to recover because of some change in the  Baker Hughes North American rig count . Others state that U.S. tight oil production will continue to rise despite falling rig counts because of the miracle of shale rig efficiency. What this really means is that nobody has any idea about when oil prices will rebound. As I have previously  written , that is because nothing has happened so far to cause a change in oil prices.   What can we learn from rig counts?  The weekly U.S. rig count is another data point that, along with other data points, can help us to see potential trends while we wait for something meaningful to happen that causes oil prices to rise…or to fall farther. But we have to do some work with the data before […]

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The Fracking Bust Exacts Its Pound Of Flesh

Breathtaking booms and obliterating busts have made the oil and gas business. Booms draw money, which begets more money, which allows for technologies to be invented or perfected, and it builds enthusiasm that turns into blind faith among investors, and they throw more money at it. The money gets drilled into the ground. The debt remains on the balance sheet. Production soars. Demand doesn’t keep up. Storage levels rise. The price begins to plunge. And all hell breaks loose. The fracking bust didn’t start last summer when the price of oil began to skid. It started in October and has progressed with phenomenal rapidity. In the latest week, according to Baker Hughes, which publishes the data every Friday, drillers idled an additional 33 oil rigs. Only 986 rigs were still active, down 38.7% from October, when they’d peaked at 1,609. In a period of 20 weeks, drillers have cut […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple