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Fate of Kurdish presidency divides Iraqi Kurds

Iraqi Kurdish President Massoud Barzani (R) addresses the media during a joint news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Erbil, April 6, 2015. (photo by REUTERS/Azad Lashkari) ERBIL, Iraq — As the tenure of Iraqi Kurdistan’s President Massoud Barzani is coming to an end soon, the question of transfer of power has divided Kurdish political factions and threatens to destabilize the Kurdistan Region of Iraq amid an ongoing war against the Islamic State (IS). Barzani has been president for 10 years. When his term was about to end in June 2013, his Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and then-ally Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) — led by former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani — agreed to extend his term via a parliamentary motion for two years. The legal provisions introduced in June 2013 to extend Barzani’s term explicitly state that the president’s tenure will not be prolonged for more than […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Saudi Arabia rewrites its oil game with refining might

LONDON Saudi Arabia’s rapid transition into one of the world’s largest oil refiners adds an extra dimension to the oil exporter’s role as the driver of OPEC policy. When it attends OPEC’s next meeting in two weeks, it does so with major new state-of-the-art oil refineries that can profit from cheaper crude and reviving world fuel demand – exactly as international oil firms have over the past six months. The kingdom now has stakes in more than 5 million barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity, at home and abroard, landing it a place among the global leaders in making oil products. Its own target of 8-10 million bpd of refining firepower would eclipse even ExxonMobil.   "Saudi have moved into the product business in a big way," said Fereidun Fesharaki, chairman of FGE energy. Its oil trading arm, Aramco Trading, could soon find at least two thirds of its […]

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Tanker-Driver Strike Worsens Nigeria Fuel Crisis: Flights Cancelled, Airwaves Go Quiet

A man carries jerrycans to search for fuel in Lagos, Nigeria, on May 21. ENLARGE Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images LAGOS, Nigeria—Nigerian airlines grounded flights on Saturday and radio stations were silenced, as a monthslong fuel shortage aggravated by striking oil-tanker drivers worsened in Africa’s biggest oil producer. Vehicles also were grounded. Normally bustling roads in Lagos, a metropolis of 20 million, were half-empty and gas stations closed on Saturday. One station owner said he had fuel, but strikers were threatening to set fire to any stations selling it. He insisted on anonymity for fear of reprisals. Police were arresting black marketers selling fuel at roadsides at four times the regulated 87 naira (40 cents) a liter. Meanwhile, radio stations went dead on Saturday night, including Classic FM, The Beat and City FM, hit by frequent power outages and out of diesel fuel for generators. Confusion reigned at bus stations […]

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Nigeria: Oil Workers’ Strike Cripples Activities Nationwide

Nigerians are sitting in long lines to purchase fuel for their cars and generators at high prices as the energy crisis in the country worsens. By Benrard Tolani Dada, Isaiah Benjamin, Juliet Alohan, Nnamdi Mbawike, Osa Okhomina The strike embarked upon by workers in the oil sector under the aegis of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) over federal government’s transfer of the operatorship of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 42 to indigenous firms have resulted in a near collapse of business and commercial activities nationwide. The development is further compounded by the ongoing industrial action also embarked upon by the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) and the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) who have refused to lift petroleum products from the coastal depots in protest of the huge amounts owed them by […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil Companies Look to Join Climate Debate

ENLARGE Environmental activists have focused much of their effort on trying to rein in the use of oil companies’ bread and butter: carbon-emitting fossil fuels. Photo: Getty Images Oil companies are ratcheting up their involvement in the debate over climate change as governments, activists, churches and some big investors gear up for a global summit on the issue at the end of the year in Paris. The stated goal of the summit is to keep man-made warming limited to two degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, but governments remain far apart on how to achieve it. Meeting such a goal will require far-reaching changes in energy-consumption patterns and likely efforts to put a cost on carbon use, many experts believe. Activists have long focused much of their effort on trying to rein in the use of these resource companies’ bread and butter: carbon-emitting fossil fuels. Pope Francis is also planning […]

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Coal-Fired Power Plant Loses Steam

ENLARGE Southern Co.’s $6.2 billion coal-fired power plant near Meridian, Miss., lost a utility partner, raising the stakes for the project and resulting in a request for higher power rates to help pay for the project. Photo: GARY TRAMONTINA/BLOOMBERG NEWS The future of the most expensive fossil-fuel power plant built in the U.S. is facing new pressures after a Mississippi utility backed out of its commitment to the clean-coal project. South Mississippi Electric Power Association, which furnishes power to smaller utilities in the state, dropped its plan to buy a $600 million, 15% stake in the project spearheaded by Atlanta-based Southern Co. SO -0.35 % , citing construction delays. Southern, in turn, notified state regulators that it may have to raise electricity rates for Mississippi power customers by 41%, or $37 a month for the typical household, to pay for the project. South Mississippi Electric Power’s move deals a […]

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« Hope Fades: U.S. Storage Withdrawals About Price, Not Supply & Rig Count Drop Stalls

Storage withdrawals and falling rig count have been the main sources of hope that U.S. tight oil production will fall and that oil prices will rebound. That hope is fading as it is now clear that recent withdrawals from U.S. crude oil storage are because of price, not falling supply, and that the drop in rig count has stalled. Figure 1 below shows the relationship between U.S. crude oil storage inventory and WTI price. The recent inventory build correlates almost perfectly with the fall in oil prices and the withdrawals from storage over that last 3 weeks correlate with the 35% increase in oil prices since late March. Figure 1. Monthly change in U.S. crude oil inventory and WTI oil price (3-month moving average of inventory volumes). Source: EIA and Labyrinth Consulting Services, Inc. Previous builds and withdrawals from inventory also correlate with price but generally price followed changes in inventory. In […]

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Exclusive: Prosecutors probe possible criminal case in California oil spill

SANTA BARBARA Government prosecutors are investigating the company at the center of the California oil spill for possible criminal sanctions, according to the district attorney of Santa Barbara – a city that helped spawn the modern environmental movement. Perhaps one of the worst places on Earth for a crude oil leak, Santa Barbara is a beautiful sun-kissed coastal city rich with wildlife, environmental lawyers and wealthy liberal activists. This week it is also crawling with federal, state and local investigators and attorneys searching for grounds for a possible criminal prosecution against the Texas company whose ruptured pipe fouled beaches and offshore waters. "I am working with the federal government and the attorney general’s office to look into potential criminal, and/or civil prosecution," said Joyce Dudley, Santa Barbara’s district attorney. In an email sent to Reuters on Friday, Tami Kelly, a spokeswoman for Plains All American Pipeline, the Texas-based company […]

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Is the slowdown in productivity growth a result of energy costs?

Slowing productivity growth in the United States has been in the news in recent months. It has become a concern to policymakers because they believe it is one of the primary contributors to a middle-class economic squeeze  according to the annual report of the White House Council of Economic Advisors . Simply put, productivity growth refers to the growth in economic output per worker or more precisely, per hour of work. When this growth slows, the potential for real wage increases diminishes since the growth in wages typically reflects the ability of workers to create more output per unit of time. To the obstensibly naive observer the following idea may seem a plausible explanation: Higher-cost energy inputs into the production of goods and services reduce productivity growth because the economic output per dollar of energy consumed declines. And, though energy inputs aren’t the only thing to consider, they are […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple