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African Oil Producers Seeks Production Cut, Start Initiative

The African Petroleum Producers Association, which represents oil and gas producers from Algeria to South Africa, called for a cut in oil output globally. The group also includes the continent’s biggest producers, Nigeria and Angola. It’s starting an initiative, led by Angola and Algeria, to seek collaboration between members of OPEC and other oil producers to reduce output and stabilize oil prices, which have halved since the end of June. APPA wants “to set up a platform of commitment at the international level from the producing countries,” said Ousmane Doukoure, director of exploration and production at Ivory Coast’s oil ministry, as he read out a statement on Friday at the end of an APPA meeting in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s commercial capital. African countries from Angola to Nigeria to Equatorial Guinea have had to cut their budgets in recent months after the plunge in oil prices affected the amount of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Nigeria: What Oil Industry Expects From Buhari’s Presidency

THE incoming government of Major General Mohammadu Buhari (rtd) should ensure speedy passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), revival of ailing refineries, adoption of zero tolerance on corruption, business friendly electricity tariff and deregulation of the down stream sector of the oil and gas industry. These were the demand list of stakeholders in the oil industry such as the former President of Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) and the President/Managing Director of Danvic Petroleum International, Dr. Mayowa Afe; President, Nigeria-Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Prince Oye Akinsemoyin, and the Executive-Secretary of the Lubricant Producers Association of Nigeria (LUPAN), Emeka Obidike. Speaking with The Guardian yesterday, Afe commended the just concluded 2015 elections, saying that the latest development has already started opening doors for investment in the oil and gas sector. According to Afe, what has happened has opened up a lot of enthusiasms among foreign partners […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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‘Change’ unseated Nigeria’s president, but may be slow in coming

ABUJA, Nigeria — Muhammadu Buhari won an upset victory over Nigeria president Goodluck Jonathan this week using a catchphrase that’s familiar to anyone who’s paid attention to American politics over the past eight years: “change.” Buhari leveraged the same slogan used to much success by Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign to unseat Jonathan and his ruling People’s Democratic Party, which has had its candidates occupy the presidency since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999. The change Buhari promised was an end to the Boko Haram insurgency that has killed thousands of Nigerians and forced over a million to flee. He campaigned on a reputation as an anti-corruption crusader, and made populist pledges such as stipends for poor people and health care for all. Jonathan campaigned on the motto of continuity for his “Transformation Agenda,” saying the growth Nigeria enjoyed during his first elected term — during which the country […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Nigeria: Shell Is Rumored To Have Shut Down Flow Stations

According to unnamed community sources, Shell Petroleum Development Company has closed its flow stations in Nigeria’s Delta and Bayelsa states because of threats from militants, The Nation Online reported April 3. Shell has denied operation interference, but not commented on reports of threat, saying it does not discuss security issues. Militants are suspected to have threatened to attack flow stations following Goodluck Jonathan’s loss in the 2015 presidential election . Stratfor provides global awareness and guidance to individuals, governments and businesses around the world. We use a unique, intel-based approach to analyze world affairs. Copyright © 2015 Stratfor Global Intelligence, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 221 West 6th Street Suite 400 – Austin, TX 78701, USA unsubscribe from this list     update subscription preferences | forward email

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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The case for an extraction tax

First, some background on U.S. natural gas sources and markets. Most of our country’s gas is consumed in the major population centers of the northeast, the so-called Washington-to-Boston corridor. It’s cold here in the winter and a number of homes use gas as a primary heat source. Gas is also used year-round to heat water, cook and dry clothes. Business and industry use gas to heat and cool buildings and it’s increasingly used for power generation. Starting around World War II and prior to the shale gas boom of the past eight years, most of the natural gas used in Pennsylvania came out of the ground in Oklahoma, Texas and under the Gulf of Mexico — yes, there are pipelines on the sea floor. (Fuel coming from outside Pennsylvania is referred to below as imported gas.) There is already major infrastructure in place to bring imported gas here. Large, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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A June rate rise can now surely be ruled out

WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 24: People walk into a meeting of the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve, October 24, 2013 in Washington DC. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System held an open meeting to discuss a proposed rulemaking to introduce a quantitative liquidity requirement in the United States. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) US unemployment data are notoriously noisy. They are maddeningly prone to huge revisions, and many in the market complain that the monthly ritual of waiting for the Bureau of Labor Statistics to speak is an overblown anachronism. All that said, sadly there is ample reason to take seriously the April number on non-farm payrolls , the biggest negative surprise compared with market expectations since December 2009. This in turn has profound implications for the question that has preoccupied markets for months now: when will the Federal Reserve finally start to raise […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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California drought may find relief from Down Under

Drought-related cactus installation called "Desert of Cantareira" by Brazilian artist and activist Mundano is seen at Atibainha dam The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own. California Governor Jerry Brown may want to look Down Under for relief from the state’s years-long drought. The amount of water stored in reservoirs and snowcaps is so low that on Wednesday he ordered an unprecedented 25 percent cut in statewide use. It’s a wise though belated move. Now he needs a comprehensive plan to help turn California’s water woes around. Melbourne, Australia offers a good model. The city suffered through what’s known as the millennium drought between 1997 and 2009. Like their California counterparts, Melbourne officials failed to react at first. They assumed abnormally low rainfall and high temperatures would not last for long, and enough water was flowing into city reservoirs to meet residents’ needs. That […]

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Exclusive: California used 70 million gallons of water in fracking in 2014

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – California oil producers used 214 acre-feet of water, equivalent to nearly 70 million gallons, in the process of fracking for oil and gas in the state last year, less than previously projected, state officials told Reuters on Thursday. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, occurs when water and some chemicals are injected deep underground at high pressure to break up rock and release oil and gas into wells. The practice has been criticized in the state, which is suffering from a drought so severe that Governor Jerry Brown announced the first-ever mandatory 25 percent statewide reduction in water use on Wednesday. “Hydraulic fracturing uses a relatively small amount of water – the equivalent of 514 households annually,” said Steven Bohlen, the state oil and gas supervisor. About 100,000 gallons of water is used on average, he said. Previous industry estimates said that fracking used about 100 million […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Nonhydro electricity storage increasing as new policies are implemented

Although pumped hydroelectric storage makes up most of the total electricity storage capacity in the United States, nonhydro storage has doubled in electric power sector capacity from 160 megawatts (MW) to nearly 350 MW over the past five years. About 98% of the U.S. electricity storage is pumped hydroelectric storage, where water is pumped to a higher-elevation reservoir during off-peak demand and then run back down through a turbine during peak demand. However, pumped storage facilities are expensive to build and have specific siting requirements , making additional capacity builds in pumped storage infrequent. Nonhydro storage systems, which include compressed air, batteries, and flywheels, can provide several ancillary services to the grid , including regulating the grid’s frequency on a second-to-second or minute-to-minute basis and fast-ramping capacity to cover sudden and unexpected gaps between electric demand and supply. The economic value of these services is beginning to be captured […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. Economy Gained 126,000 Jobs in March, an Abrupt Slowdown in Hiring

Photo A Pennsylvania Department of Transportation crew working last month. While hiring in sectors like construction and government didn’t change much last month, analysts blamed the punishing winter for March’s overall slowdown. Credit John Rucosky/The Tribune-Democrat, via Associated Press The yearlong streak of robust monthly job creation was broken on Friday with the Labor Department’s report that employers added just 126,000 workers in March, a marked slowdown in hiring that echoed earlier signs that sluggish business investment and punishing weather were exacting a toll on the economy. Analysts blamed the plunge in oil prices as well as the pall cast by a difficult winter across the Northeast and Midwest, a combination that put a crimp on spending in the energy patch and held back consumer spending and construction. Still, this new report presents only a limited snapshot, and many said they expected the economy to regain at least some […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple