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A mostly Muslim world

The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy. By the year 2030, Pakistan will overtake Indonesia as the largest Muslim country in the world. This and other notable demographic trends were announced by the Pew Research Centre in its latest survey, The Future of World Religions: Population Growth and Projections 2010-2050. The survey’s findings also forecast that by 2070 Islam will overtake Christianity as the world’s most populous faith for the first time in world history. The world’s largest Muslim population, however, will not live in a Muslim country but in India, which, while retaining its Hindu majority, will see its Muslim population rise from the current 15pc to 17pc. Other projections of the survey include the fact that Islam, which has for a while been the largest-growing religion in Europe, will see a doubling of its demographic share. In 2010, there were 43 million Muslims […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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The Bakken bust continues

North Dakota’s oil production fell 3.1 percent from December to January, and another 1.5 percent from January to February, according to statistics I compiled from the state, ahead of their monthly “Director’s Cut” report. Bakken is mostly in North Dakota—and North Dakota’s oil production is overwhelmingly from the Bakken. So Bakken and North Dakota are, for most intents and purposes, the same thing. So this means Bakken oil production has declined for two months in a row, and was running at a rate of 1.17 million barrels per day in February. (Remember, folks, you heard it here first.)  The graph above shows my compilation of the North Dakota data—and for comparison, a year-and-a-half of the state’s own figures. For whatever reason, mine is consistently coming out a tad lower—about 0.6 percent lower, to be exact. Perhaps there are some small number of older wells that I’m missing. In any […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil Eases With U.S. Stockpiles, Production Back in Focus

Dow Jones Newswires By Eric Yep Crude-oil futures eased in Asian trade Tuesday as investors booked profits after solid gains in the previous trading session and with U.S. oil inventories back in focus. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in May traded at $51.86 a barrel at 0535 GMT, down $0.28 in the Globex electronic session. Brent crude for May delivery on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.51 to $57.61 a barrel. However, oil prices still retained most overnight gains of around 6%. Money managers have been clear buyers of Brent crude since November, building the largest net long position since last June’s record peak, analyst Tim Evans at Citi Futures said. "So far it seems as though they are still willing to add to those exposures rather than run away," he said in a report. Mr. Evans said despite the buying there […]

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Natural Gas Retreats as Weather Forecasts Turn Warmer

By Timothy Puko Natural gas prices retreated to within nearly seven cents of a multiyear low after weather forecasts became much warmer over the weekend, lowering expectations for demand in an oversupplied market. Natural gas for May delivery settled down 6.3 cents, or 2.3%, at $2.65 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It has lost ground in nine of the past 12 sessions and is just 2.8% above its lowest point since June 2012. Spring weather often causes a steep fall in gas prices, which are strongly connected to winter weather. Half of all U.S. homes use natural gas for heat, making demand highest when temperatures are low. The coming weather is likely to accelerate the seasonal drop in demand, forecasters said. Several are predicting above-average temperatures for at least two weeks. A rapid warm-up is also sending this week’s temperatures across the Midwest […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil Surges on Signs of Growing Demand

Oil prices surged to their biggest gains in two months on signs of rising demand in both the U.S. and Asia. Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose $3, or 6.1%, to $52.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the U.S. benchmark’s biggest day of gains since Feb. 3 and its highest settlement since Feb. 17. ENLARGE Oil prices rose Monday. A drill rig sat earlier this year on the site of a well in North Dakota. Photo: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News Data provider Genscape Inc. reported that supplies in Cushing, Okla., a key storage hub and the delivery point for the benchmark U.S. futures contract, fell by nearly 300,000 barrels between March 31 and April 3, according to a broker. Cushing’s supplies are at a record, and this is the first time that those stocks have had a drawdown in Genscape data since early December, […]

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Saudi Arabia raises crude prices to Asia for May for second month

SINGAPORE/SAUDI ARABIA (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia, the world’s top crude exporter, raised the prices for all the grades it will sell to Asia in May, increasing levels for the second straight month as robust refining margins supported demand in the region. The OPEC producer kept output steady and cut prices sharply late last year in a fight for market share during a global supply glut. Its ability to raise prices for April and May suggested its strategy was working, although stiff competition kept its flagship Arab Light at a discount to Oman/Dubai quotes, analysts said. "Even though it’s a slight increase, overall it’s still a discount," said Shunling Yap, a senior oil and gas analyst at BMI Research. "There is still competition for the Asia market, even though it is also a sign that some of the production elsewhere is less able to compete in the market right now." […]

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Oil up more than $1 after Saudi’s Asia price hike

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil futures climbed more than $1 a barrel on Monday, after Saudi Arabia raised prices for crude sales to Asia for a second month, signaling better demand in the region. International benchmark Brent regained ground after tumbling as much as 5 percent on Thursday, when a preliminary nuclear deal was finally reached between world powers and Iran. More Iranian oil could enter global markets if that is followed by a comprehensive deal by June. But analysts warned a ramp-up in exports could take months and would likely not happen before 2016. "While clearly a bearish headline, a final deal and full lifting of sanctions still faces a number of obstacles," Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note. "Even if a final deal is reached, we do not expect any physical market impact before 2016," the analysts said. Brent crude for May delivery LCOc1 touched a high […]

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Oil prices spike on end of Saudi discount

U.S. markets reopen after Good Friday’s release of labor figures with crude oil prices up more than 2 percent at the opening bell. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI NEW YORK, April 6 (UPI) — A Saudi decision to raise market prices for Asia pushed oil upward in Monday trading, erasing concerns from last week’s poor U.S. labor showings. Brent crude oil prices were up more than 2.5 percent in early Monday trading to around $56.40 per barrel. Brent see-sawed last week as the market weighed the prospects of more available Iranian crude oil as a result of nuclear negotiations in Switzerland. Brent rallied after the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known also as Saudi Aramco, said it was raising its price for Asian buyers in a sign of improving global demand . Prices for Asia were cut after the Sunni-led kingdom hinted that it needed to protect its market share […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iraq: The lesser of two evils

Shia militias have helped fight Isis, but many worry they are pushing their own brand of sectarianism Iraqi security forces in Tikrit after pushing Isis out of the city with help from Shiite militiamen I t was a trip he took often, a 90-minute drive from his mansion on the outskirts of Babel province to the capital. But something went wrong around the time he was stopped at one of many checkpoints in southern Baghdad. Exactly what transpired remains unclear, but the night ended with Qassem Jenabi, a prominent Sunni tribal leader , his son Mohamed and their five bodyguards dead, their bullet-riddled bodies dumped next to their car. Nearly $7,000 in cash was untouched, and Mr Jenabi’s nephew, a member of Iraq’s parliament, was let go, as if the killers did not want the international attention that would come with murdering an elected official. “The militias did this,” […]

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Crisis in Palestinian Camp in Syria Has Worsened Since ISIS Invasion, U.N. Says

Photo A man climbed a staircase inside a demolished building in the Yarmuk refugee camp near the Syrian capital of Damascus on Monday. Credit Youssef Karwashan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images UNITED NATIONS — Relief officials at the United Nations expressed growing alarm on Monday about a deepening humanitarian disaster in Syria’s Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, which was invaded last week by Islamic State militants and their allies. Roughly 18,000 people, including 3,500 children, have been trapped by fighting in Yarmouk, which is on the southern outskirts of the capital, Damascus, and is less than 10 miles from the presidential palace. Pierre Krähenbühl, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which administers aid to Palestinian refugees in the Middle East, said the residents are slowly starving. He gave an emergency briefing on the crisis Monday to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council via video link from […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple