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Natural Gas Inches Lower Tuesday, Posts Quarterly Loss

Dow Jones Newswires By Timothy Puko Natural-gas prices ticked slightly lower Tuesday, as traders eyed spring weather and lower demand. Futures for May delivery settled down 0.4 cent, or 0.2%, at $2.64 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That put gas back within 5 cents of the 7-week low it set on Friday. Natural gas lost 8.6% in the first quarter, marking its third consecutive quarterly loss. Natural gas prices have fallen 41% in the past three quarters, the biggest such losing streak in 3 years. Prices stayed within a 7-cent range in what one analyst called a "spooky" quiet session. Only about 50,000 contracts traded during floor hours, the lowest number since July 30, 2010. About three times that traded in total volume – including electronic trading hours – through 3 p.m. EDT, which would still make this one of the lightest sessions […]

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As Nuclear Talks Drag on, U.S. and Iran Find It Harder to Hear Each Other

Photo The head of Iran’s atomic energy agency, Ali Akbar Salehi, during a break Tuesday in nuclear negotiations in Switzerland. Credit Pool photo by Brendan Smialowski LAUSANNE, Switzerland — As the nuclear negotiations dragged into overtime here on Tuesday, some uniquely American and Iranian political sensitivities were permeating the marathon negotiating sessions, leading many to wonder whether two countries that have barely spoken for 35 years are just not ready to overcome old suspicions. In the hallway chatter overheard in the century-old Beau-Rivage Palace Hotel here, where Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterparts from five other countries are struggling to close a preliminary political deal with Iran , the Americans talk, in a wonderfully American way, about numbers and limits. Yet, when Iranian officials step out of the elegant, chandeliered rooms, where the post-World War I order was negotiated 90 years ago, to brief the news media […]

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Iran nuclear talks miss deadline; U.S. threatens to walk away

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) – Six world powers and Iran negotiated past a March 31 deadline into the wee hours of Wednesday, struggling to conclude an outline accord on Tehran’s nuclear program in the face of a U.S. threat to abandon the talks. With Iran asserting its "nuclear rights", the talks in the Swiss city of Lausanne entered a seventh day, bogged down this time on the issues of nuclear research, the lifting of U.N. sanctions and their restoration if Iran breached the agreement. Officials cautioned that any accord would be fragile and incomplete, but the U.S. State Department gave the go-ahead for talks to go past a self-imposed midnight deadline. "We’ve made enough progress in the last days to merit staying until Wednesday," acting spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement. "There are several difficult issues still remaining."‎ The six powers – the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia […]

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The Saudis Are Losing Their Lock on Asian Oil Sales

Ships sail past SK Innovation Co.’s Ulsan Complex oil refinery facilities in Ulsan, South Korea. The country’s imports from Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia surged to about 8 million barrels last year from just 329,000 in 2013, according to data from state-run Korea National Oil Corp. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — Ships carrying oil from Mexico docked in South Korea this year for the first time in more than two decades as the global fight for market share intensifies. Latin American producers are providing increasing amounts of heavy crude to bargain-hungry Asian refiners in a challenge to Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter and the region’s dominant supplier. “By diversifying, more Asian refiners will be able to reduce the clout that Saudi Arabia has on the market,” said Suresh Sivanandam, a refining and chemical analyst with Wood Mackenzie Ltd. in Singapore. “They will be getting more bargaining power for sure.” […]

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Yemen Rebels Seize Base Near Shipping Lane as Saudis Target Aden

(Bloomberg) — Yemen’s Houthis seized an army base overlooking a key shipping lane in the Red Sea, while Saudi Arabia said its bombing campaign has contained the rebel advance toward the port of Aden. The Houthis on Tuesday took over the Bab al-Mandab base, near the strait of the same name that’s a major commercial waterway, according to Mahfouz Ahmed, a soldier at the facility. He said brigade commanders ordered troops to hand weapons to the Houthis, who started setting up anti-aircraft artillery around the base. Saudi Arabia has assembled a coalition of Sunni Muslim countries to carry out airstrikes against the Houthis and restore President Abdurabuh Mansur Hadi to power. Hadi was driven out of the capital, Sana’a, by the Shiite rebels last month, and then fled his last stronghold in Aden as the Houthis continued to advance. Yemen’s Transport Minister Badr Basalmah said on Tuesday that Hadi, […]

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Isis cleared from Tikrit, says Iraq PM

Iraqi fighters of the government-controlled Popular Mobilisation units take part in the military operation to retake Tikrit Iraq’s prime minister declared jihadi forces had been cleared from the centre of the city of Tikrit, just days after US-led aircraft joined a month-long fight for the provincial capital. In a televised appearance yesterday, Haider al-Abadi said fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or Isis, had been pushed out of the centre of the city after Iraqi troops launched a surprise attack followed six days of US-led bombing runs. “Our heroic forces reached the centre of Tikrit a short time ago and raised the Iraqi flag,” Mr Abadi said. “[They] are currently in the process of purging the rest of the areas of Daesh,” he added, using the Arabic acronym for Isis. Defeat in Tikrit, if confirmed, would represent a serious setback for Isis, which pushed from […]

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Oil shipper drops Kurdistan business under legal pressure

A still image from video taken by a U.S. Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft shows the oil tanker United Kalavyrta approaching Galveston, Texas July 25, 2014. It carries around 1 million barrels of crude loaded by the KRG, which Baghdad has sued for possession of in U.S. court. (REUTERS/US Coast Guard handout) Recommend 10 people recommend this. Sign Up to see what your friends recommend. The Iraqi Oil Ministry said it has settled a lawsuit against Greek shipping firm Marine Management Services (MMS), which it sued in September for providing the ships used to transport the Kurdistan region’s autonomous crude exports.The settlement represents an apparent setback for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which has sold the vast majority of its independent pipeline exports through ships chartered from MMS. KRG leaders have said they intend to continue selling oil autonomousl…

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Iraq oil contract renegotiations begin

Iraqi oil officials lead the first bidding round of technical service contracts on June 30, 2009. (THAIER AL-SUDANI/Reuters) As Iraq begins to renegotiate its contracts with international oil companies, the Oil Ministry is unlikely to allow a full transition to the production sharing contract (PSC) model often favored by the industry.Oil Minister Adil Abd al-Mahdi said he does want to improve the existing technical service contracts (TSCs) to better harmonize the incentives of the companies and the government, and to ensure that all sides share equitably in both the risks and rewards of oil price swings."I do…

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Nigeria: Oil Revenue Drops to U.S.$32.3 Billion, Says IMF

Revenue received by the federation from crude oil sales, Petroleum Products Taxes (PPT), and royalties (after subsidies provided by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and cash calls) has decreased from $45 billion in 2011 to $32.3 billion in 2014, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) Country Report on Nigeria. Besides, between 2011 and 2014, oil lifting fell from 2.38 to 2.19 mbpd (71⁄2 per cent decline), largely due to stoppages associated with pipeline vandalism. The report, which was released on Monday, stated that the drop in oil revenue over 2011 to 2014, was larger than expected from the evolution of oil prices and production. The IMF said that in 2015, oil exports are projected to decline by six percentage points (ppts) of Gross Domestic Product and oil revenue by 2.4 ppts of GDP from 2014 levels, with a reduction in the current account balance and loss in international reserves. […]

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Muhammadu Buhari, a Familiar, and Now Less Divisive, Choice in Nigerian Election

Photo Muhammadu Buhari spent 30 years out of power before winning election as president. Credit Ben Curtis/Associated Press KANO, Nigeria — The 72-year-old former general elected as Nigeria ’s new president this week is not exactly new to the democratic process: He spent much of the past decade campaigning for the office in three successive elections — and failing each time. But then, as detractors insist and many supporters acknowledge, the former general, Muhammadu Buhari, had a long way to go to prove that he had left the military barracks behind. He first came to power in a coup over 30 years ago and became one of his country’s harshest military rulers, waging a “war against indiscipline” that prescribed humiliating punishment for tardy civil servants. He publicly executed young drug dealers on the beach, jailed journalists and expelled thousands of immigrants. He arrested 475 politicians and businessmen on corruption […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple