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British North Sea workers to vote on strikes

Shift issues for oil and gas workers in the North Sea prompt vote for labor stoppage from unions. Photo by James Jones Jr./Shutterstock LONDON, May 21 (UPI) — British North Sea oil and gas workers said they’ll vote on a labor stoppage after talks broke down with the industry over working conditions. Trade unions Unite and GMB said talks broke down with industry group Offshore Contracts Association on changes to working conditions in the North Sea. Union officials had said there were safety concerns about shift lengths. GMB National Officer David Hulse said in a statement Thursday some progress was made in recent talks with industry representatives, but not enough to resolve the dispute . "We remain available for talks should the employers want to pull back from going ahead with the unilateral changes to working practices that has provoked this dispute," he said. In March, Hulse said there […]

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5 scenarios for oil prices, including ‘meltdown’

The past year’s drop in crude oil prices will be fundamentally different from previous downturns. What started in June 2014 with a growing imbalance between soft demand in Asia and robust North American shale-oil production seemed typical: Brent crude prices started to fall from $105 per barrel, the market went in contango in October, and expectations were high in anticipation of the late-November OPEC meeting as oil was hitting $75 per barrel. The expectation was that things would revert quickly with a reduction of production quotas. The story went off script when OPEC announced it would not act, sending oil prices crashing below $50 per barrel. Subsequent announcements by influential members of the cartel confirmed that pricing for crude oil would be based on free-market economics. That marked a fundamental shift from over 100 years of price-setting from the Seven Sisters and OPEC, which had governed periods of stability […]

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Oil Edges Higher After Stronger Chinese Manufacturing Data

By Eric Yep Crude-oil futures erased early losses and moved higher in Asian trade Thursday as markets weighed stronger Chinese manufacturing data and a further decline in U.S. oil storage levels. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in July traded at $59.14 a barrel at 0240 GMT, up $0.16 in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.24 to $65.27 a barrel. The preliminary HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, a gauge of nationwide manufacturing activity, edged up to 49.1 in May, compared with a final reading of 48.9 in April, HSBC Holdings PLC said. The PMI was however weaker than the expected forecast of 49.3, according to a Reuters poll. "Today’s PMI reading suggests that downward pressure on growth may now be starting to ease," Julian Evans-Pritchard, economist at Capital Economics said. He said the recovery […]

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Oil edges further above $65 on U.S. inventory drop, Iraq

LONDON Oil rose further above $65 a barrel on Thursday, gaining for a second day, supported by expectations that a global supply glut is starting to ease and by fighting in Iraq. The U.S. government’s supply report on Wednesday showed crude inventories declined for a third week. Stockpiles had been at record levels due to excess supply, raising concern that storage capacity was getting tight. [EIA/S] Brent crude LCOc1 was up 23 cents at $65.26 as of 0828 GMT, after earlier falling as low as $64.83. U.S. crude CLc1 was up 22 cents at $59.20. "Brent is getting a bit of impetus from the threat Islamic State is posing in Iraq," said Christopher Bellew, senior broker at Jefferies Bache. "I can see prices moving up further from here on geopolitics towards $70." In Iraq, the city of Ramadi fell to Islamic State on Sunday in the most significant setback […]

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Japanese growth lifts oil prices

Japanese economic momentum helps erase early week slump in crude oil prices, with key indices rising more than 1 percent. Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI NEW YORK, May 20 (UPI) — Strong growth in the Japanese economy helped crude oil prices recover from an early-week slump with major indices gaining more than 1 percent early Wednesday. Japan’s Cabinet Office reported real gross domestic product grew by 2.4 percent from January through March, an improvement over the revised 1.1 percent reported from October through December. Japan, the world’s third largest economy, announced in February it exited two quarters of consecutive recession. Gross domestic product during fourth quarter grew by 2.2 percent, but the pace was subdued by a decrease in consumer spending. The price for Brent crude oil, which suffered heavy losses in Tuesday trading, gained 1.3 percent from the previous close to fetch $64.87 per barrel early in the Wednesday […]

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U.S. crude stockpiles fall for third week; refiners rev up

NEW YORK U.S. crude oil stocks last week fell for a third consecutive week as refineries hiked output, while gasoline and distillate inventories both declined, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Wednesday. Crude inventories fell 2.7 million barrels to 482.2 million in the week to May 15, compared with analysts’ expectations for an decrease of 1 million barrels. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell 241,000 barrels, a fourth consecutive weekly draw at the delivery point for the U.S. light sweet crude futures contract traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the data showed. "It’s a fairly neutral report at the best as the weekly change is mildly bullish within a bearish overall stock situation," said James L. Williams, energy economist at WTRG Economics in London, Arkansas. Crude futures pared gains slightly after the EIA report. At 11:03 a.m. EDT (1503 GMT), U.S. July […]

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Oil prices rise on U.S. stock draw, strong Japan data

LONDON Crude oil prices bounced back on Wednesday from steep falls in the previous session as industry data showed that U.S. crude stocks fell more than expected last week and strong Japanese economic growth surprised markets, stoking producer hopes of increased demand. Brent futures LCOc1 rose 79 cents to $64.81 a barrel by 0840 GMT. U.S. crude prices CLc1 rose 58 cents to $58.57 a barrel. The price rises came after a session on Tuesday that saw oil slide over 3 percent on a dollar rally and concerns of a building glut, which Goldman Sachs said would lead to a return towards 2015 lows. "The market came under a lot of pressure yesterday and it’s not unusual to see a bit of a correction the day after," said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist with Netherlands-based ABN Amro. U.S. crude inventories fell by 5.2 million barrels last week, said […]

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Natural Gas Falls for Third Session

By Timothy Puko Natural gas prices retreated for a third straight session Wednesday as traders locked in profits ahead of a weekly storage report. Natural gas for June delivery settled down 3.3 cents, or 1.1% lower, at $2.915 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The bull run that the market has been on since April 27 appears to be over, traders said. Many traders who made big gains in recent weeks wanted to sell out and lock in those profits before the U.S. Energy Information Administration releases its inventory update on Thursday morning, said John Woods, president of JJ Woods Associates and a Nymex trader. "In short term, it’s just jockeying," he said. The EIA is likely to report that gas storage levels grew by 97 billion cubic feet during the week ended May 15, according to the average forecast of 16 analysts surveyed […]

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Oil volatility fades as risks become more balanced: Kemp

LONDON Oil prices have become much less volatile in recent weeks as the record short position previously established by hedge funds has been squared up and prices return to a level at which many U.S. shale wells are profitable. Realized volatility, a technical measure of the day to day variability in prices, has fallen to an annualized rate of just 24 percent, down by more than half from its peak of 60 percent in late February. Volatility in front-month Brent futures has dropped to its lowest level for almost five months and is now roughly in line with the very long-run average of about 27 percent. After displaying its wild side, the oil market has reverted to a milder state, to use terms employed by Benoit Mandelbrot to describe erratic volatility in commodity markets (“The (mis)behavior of markets” 2004). The reduction in volatility reflects a number of factors of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple