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U.S. oil hits 5-month high as dollar weakens

LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. crude oil hit a five-month high on Thursday as the dollar slipped to its lowest since February and as more evidence emerged of a gradual balancing of the U.S. domestic market. The U.S. currency slipped to a two-month low against a basket of currencies as the euro and Japanese yen rallied, making oil less expensive for holders of other currencies. "The dollar has been the big factor," said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB in Olso. "The dollar index broke below its 60-day moving average on Monday this week for the first time since July and it is only 1.1 percent away from breaking below its 120-day moving average at the moment," he added. Brent crude oil was up 25 cents at $66.09 a barrel by 0830 GMT. U.S. crude oil, also known as West Texas Intermediate or WTI, hit a high of $59.40 […]

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Iran looks inward for economic gains

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says economic strength rests with domestic resolve rather than international diplomacy. UPI/Leader.ir/HO TEHRAN, April 29 (UPI) — Iran’s economic transformation rests with domestic issues and not with ongoing nuclear negotiations, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Wednesday. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Tuesday in New York City with his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif, to review progress on nuclear talks . State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said the meeting "was productive." The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany, are working with their Iranian counterparts to formalize a framework agreement that pulls Iran back from the brink of having the technology needed to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran is restricted to around 1 million barrels per day in exports to a few consuming nations. That’s about half the level from before a joint arrangement went into force in late 2013, though […]

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Asian imports of Iran crude fall 9.2 percent in March as India halts purchases

TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian imports of Iranian crude fell 9.2 percent in March from a year ago as India bought no oil from the sanctions-hit country for the first time in at least a decade under U.S. pressure, offsetting a jump in purchases by Japan and South Korea. Imports by Iran’s four biggest buyers – China, India, Japan and South Korea – totaled 1.04 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, government and tanker-tracking data showed. On a monthly basis, however, imports were at a three-month high. South Korea and Japan roughly doubled purchases in March from a year ago, with Japanese imports hitting a two-year peak. There are indications that purchases will pick up from April following the recent framework deal on Iran’s disputed nuclear program between Tehran and world powers that could see sanctions on Iran eventually lifted if a more permanent pact is finalised by a […]

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A Saudi Royal Shake-Up With a Goal of Stability

Photo From left, the new Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, with Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz and King Salman in January. Credit Saudi Press Agency, via Associated Press BEIRUT, Lebanon — In a series of predawn appointments on Wednesday, King Salman of Saudi Arabia eased the potentially treacherous issue of royal succession by placing a new generation of security-focused leaders first in the line of succession. The far-reaching changes carry the potential to reshape not only the kingdom and its place in the region, but its relations with its most important ally, the United States. “The government is now in the hands of the next generation, under the supervision of the king,” said Khalid al-Dakhil, a Saudi political analyst. With Saudi Arabia locked in bloody proxy wars with its longstanding regional rival, Iran, for influence in Yemen and Syria, the 79-year-old king promoted the two princes most responsible for […]

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What the Saudi royal reshuffle means for oil

What the Saudi royal reshuffle means for oil thumbnail Uncertainty hit oil markets on Wednesday, with analysts contemplating what a major reshuffle of Saudi Arabia’s ruling elite might meant for the commodity. On Wednesday, it was announced that Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz had appointed a new heir and rotated some of the top ministerial jobs, accelerating the personnel changes set in motion when he took the throne in January. As Saudi Arabia is the world’s top oil exporter and the dominant force in OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), any change to its power structure is of major interest to energy markets. This is particularly the case given OPEC’s maintenance of oil production at high levels—in order to retain market share—which is viewed as exacerbating the 40 percent price decline seen since last June. However, analysts said that Wednesday’s personnel changes, which include the promotion […]

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iPhone Maker Seeks $1.7 Billion in U.K. for Work in Clean Energy

Employees work along a production line in the Longhua Science and Technology Park, also known as Foxconn City, in Shenzhen, China, on Sept. 4, 2010. Photographer: Thomas Lee/Bloomberg Foxconn Technology Group is in talks with U.K. investors to raise about $1.7 billion for green initiatives as the maker of iPhones boosts work on projects designed to save energy. Installation of solar farms, LED lighting and more efficient air conditioning are among Foxconn’s plans to make its operations in China more environmentally friendly and to cut costs, said Allen Wang, director of international business development at unit Shenzhen Fox-Energy Technology Co. Foxconn, which expects to commence installation for the first of its solar-electricity farms this year, joins global technology giants including Apple Inc. and Google Inc. in backing renewables and other green initiatives. Foxconn has already doubled its return on more than 700 million yuan ($113 million) of energy-efficiency projects […]

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Hercules Offshore: Rig market depressed

Rig company Hercules Offshore said market should remain depressed for the year, noting the current climate has been particularly rough for companies in the exploration and production field. Photo courtesy: Hercules Offshore. HOUSTON, April 29 (UPI) — The demand for offshore rigs should remain low for the year with few signs of recovery in the current oil price market, U.S. rig company Hercules Offshore said. "[This year] is shaping up to be a very challenging year for our industry in general and our company in particular," Hercules Offshore President and Chief Executive Officer John Rynd said in a statement Wednesday. Hercules said it posted a first quarter net loss of $57.1 million, compared to net income of $19.9 million during the first quarter of 2014. Crude oil is trading in a bear market in part because of weak demand and surplus, largely built as a result of increased U.S. […]

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Majors’ Quandary: Why Drill for Oil When They Can Buy Somebody Else’s?

ENLARGE The rising costs of finding and producing oil were eating into profits even before global crude prices began to slide last summer from over $100 a barrel to about $66. Photo: Reuters The costs of finding oil are on the rise. The value of some smaller oil companies has tumbled. For the world’s biggest crude producers, this adds up to a question: Is it cheaper to buy someone else’s oil than to go digging for it? As Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM 0.08 % and Chevron Corp. CVX 0.55 % report quarterly profits this week, executives are likely to face questions about their appetite for megadeals like the $70 billion takeover Royal Dutch Shell RDSA 0.61 % PLC disclosed earlier this month of BG Group BG. 0.56 % PLC. “There is no doubt that it’s much, much less expensive to take over a company than develop a new oil […]

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Marcellus Production Outlook

Has Well Productivity Peaked in the Nation’s Largest Shale Gas Play? The Marcellus shale gas play of Pennsylvania and West Virginia came onto the scene in 2007 in a big way and has grown to become the nation’s largest. It has accounted for much of the growth of U.S. shale gas production, and made up for declines in former shale gas giants like the Haynesville and Barnett plays of Louisiana and eastern Texas. Companies have scrambled to build pipeline infrastructure to connect the Marcellus to consumers in the U.S. northeast. Canadians, once supplied by gas from western Canada, are also looking to the Marcellus (and the much smaller Utica play in Ohio) for future supply; the pipelines that delivered gas to the east might be converted to instead deliver bitumen from the western tar sands. Companies in both the northeastern U.S. and eastern Canada are looking to build LNG […]

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In Pitch to End Crude Export Ban, Drillers Promise Cheaper Fuel

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, the Republican chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg The oil industry has a new sales pitch for you: Support efforts to lift the 40-year-old ban on U.S. crude oil exports, and reap the reward of cheaper gasoline. If you’re dubious, you’re not the only one. And that’s the challenge for critics of the export ban, who know they won’t get anywhere unless they can persuade consumers to come on board. The politics are clear. Because voters think the ban saves them money at the pump, most lawmakers won’t touch it. The industry’s top leaders and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, the Republican chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee, hope to offset that idea using reports from the Brookings Institution and the U.S. government that say the opposite is true. “As long as lawmakers are fearful that there […]

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