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Ukrainian shale handcuffed, company says

Ukrainian shale explorer granted more areas for work, but says business climate too cost prohibitive to start drilling campaign. File Photo by ekina/Shutterstock LONDON, May 18 (UPI) — Junior shale explorer JXK Oil & Gas said Monday it was granted more areas for work in Ukraine, though the cost of business was still prohibitive to drilling. JXK, which has headquarters in London, said Ukrainian authorities expanded by 13 square miles its production license in the Elizavetovskoye area, to bring the total to 40 square miles. The company started a multistage hydraulic fracturing operation in Ukraine in 2013, describing it as likely the largest operation of its kind in Europe to date. The company said it was pleased with the license expansion, but was unable to continue with operations in the country. "This further award is recognition of our ability to develop the potential of our Ukrainian licenses," JKX Chief […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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English Channel to host wind farm

German energy company E.ON makes final investment decision to build wind farm in English Channel. File Photo by UPI/Shutterstock/Teun van den Dries. DUSSELDORF, Germany, May 18 (UPI) — German energy company E.ON said Monday it’s continuing its legacy as the largest European investor in wind by building a wind farm in the English Channel. E.ON said it made a final investment decision on the Rampion wind farm in the English Channel. Backed by a $374 million commitment by the U.K. Green Investment Bank, the project is expected to generate enough energy to meet the annual demand of 300,000 average households. The German company is the third-largest offshore wind energy operator, with 1.2 gigawatts of capacity on the regional grid. Since 2007, the company said it’s invested more than $10 trillion on renewable power. "Our Rampion project starts from a strong position," Mike Winkel, an E.ON board member, said in […]

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« Oil Prices Will Fall: A Lesson in Gravity

The oil price collapse is not over yet.  It is more likely that Brent price could fall back into the mid-$50 range than that it will continue to rise toward $70 per barrel.   That is because oil prices have risen based on sentiment alone. The fundamentals of supply and demand indicate a dismal reality: oil prices will fall and may fall hard in the near term.   Our present situation is like that of the cartoon character Wile E. Coyote.  He routinely ran off of a cliff and as long as he didn’t look down, everything was fine.  But as soon as he looked down and saw that there was no ground beneath him, he fell.  Hope and momentum cannot overcome gravity.  Figure 1. Wile E. Coyote cartoons. Sources: The Braiser, Dubsisms and Forbes. Neither can ignoring the data. When I look down from $60 WTI and almost $68 Brent, I see no […]

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US Crude Oil Consumption Peaked a Decade Ago

A world without crude oil is almost unthinkable. And yet, there are indications that such a transition is happening. OPEC is jockeying for market share. Russia is increasing production and US tight oil producers as well as their Canadian oil sands counterparts have found themselves priced out of the market. So what is going on? As humans, we tend to like to place things in neat little boxes. So we look at coal and natural gas and think electricity generation. We look at crude oil and think transportation sector. And all this is correct. But trends are emerging that are likely to turn this on its head. For instance, on shore wind and solar are gaining traction as viable energy production means. Costs are falling rapidly and Lazard now estimates that onshore wind is the cheapest provider of electricity on a levelized cost basis. Solar is not far behind […]

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Oil prices rise on Middle East fighting; OPEC output in focus

SINGAPORE Oil prices rose on Monday following fighting in Iraq and Yemen, but Iranian comments that OPEC was unlikely to cut output as well as signs of strengthening U.S. production capped gains. Front-month Brent futures LCOc1 were up 1 percent, or 65 cents, at $67.46 a barrel by 11.54 a.m. ET. U.S. crude CLc1 rose 79 cents to $60.48. Prices were supported by concerns that conflict in Iraq and Yemen could disrupt supplies after Islamic State militants said they had taken control of the Iraqi city of Ramadi in a big blow to the government. In Yemen, a Saudi-led coalition resumed air strikes against Houthi militia in Aden, a port-city on the shores of key Middle East oil routes. Despite these Middle East conflicts, analysts said oil markets remained oversupplied, and that the glut could worsen if U.S.-production picked up and output by producer-club OPEC remained strong. "Oil prices […]

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Oil Prices Rangebound as OPEC Meeting Draws Nearer

By Eric Yep Crude-oil futures moved in a narrow price range in early Asian trade Monday, with gains capped by worries about a recovery in U.S. shale-oil production and as OPEC’s meeting draws closer. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in June traded at $59.77 a barrel at 0252 GMT, up $0.08 in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.09 to $66.90 a barrel. Nymex crude ended 0.5% higher last week and has been up for three consecutive weeks, while Brent crude gained 1% last week and has been up for seven of the past nine weeks. Oil-price gains were capped due to some weak U.S. economic data from Friday and on worries U.S. shale production could recover quickly if prices kept on rising. Last week’s Baker Hughes U.S. drilling rig-count also lost momentum, falling by […]

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Iran-backed militias ‘head for Iraq’s IS-held Ramadi’

Islamic State The Iraqi government is reported to be sending Iran-backed Shia militias to Ramadi to recapture the city seized by Islamic State (IS) militants on Sunday. About 500 people are reported to have died when the Iraqi military abandoned positions in the city – only 70 miles (112km) west of Baghdad. A regional government official spoke of people fleeing Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, "in great numbers". But the US has said it is confident the capture of Ramadi can be reversed. Speaking in South Korea, Secretary of State John Kerry said: "I am convinced that as the forces are redeployed and as the days flow in the weeks ahead that’s going to change." The Shia militias, known as the Popular Mobilisation (Hashid Shaabi), were key to the recapture from IS of another city, Tikrit, north of Baghdad, two months ago. But their use has raised concern […]

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Key Iraqi City Falls to ISIS as Last of Security Forces Flee

Photo Iraqi security forces withdrawing from Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, on Sunday. As the city fell to the Islamic State, militants from the group carried out executions of people loyal to the government. Credit Associated Press BAGHDAD — The last Iraqi security forces fled Ramadi on Sunday, as the city fell completely to the militants of the Islamic State, who ransacked the provincial military headquarters, seizing a large store of weapons, and killed people loyal to the government, according to security officials and tribal leaders. The fall of Ramadi, despite intensified American airstrikes in recent weeks in a bid to save the city, represented the biggest victory so far this year for the Islamic State, which has declared a caliphate, or Islamic state, in the vast areas of Syria and Iraq that it controls. The defeat also laid bare the failed strategy of the Iraqi government, which […]

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Islamic State says it has full control of Iraq’s Ramadi

BAGHDAD Islamic State militants said they had taken full control of the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Sunday in the biggest defeat for the Baghdad government since last summer. In a statement, the group said it had seized tanks and killed "dozens of apostates", its description for members of the Iraqi security forces. Ramadi is the capital of Iraq’s western Anbar province, which is dominated by Sunni Muslims. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi signed off on the deployment of Shi’ite militias to attempt to seize back the area, a move he previously resisted for fear of provoking a sectarian backlash. Earlier, security sources said government forces evacuated a key military base after it came under attack by the insurgents, who had already taken one of the last districts still holding out. It was the biggest victory for Islamic State in Iraq since security forces and Shi’ite paramilitary groups began […]

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Iran deputy oil min says OPEC unlikely to cut output

KUALA LUMPUR The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is unlikely to implement a production cut at its next meeting in June, a senior Iranian official said on Monday. Asked if OPEC would cut output at the upcoming June 5 meeting, Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister Rokneddin Javadi told Reuters: "I don’t think so." Iran, along with Venezuela, has repeatedly called for OPEC to cut output to shore up low prices that have eaten into producers’ oil revenues. Javadi’s comments signal an admission that the group was unlikely to agree to a reduction, especially after its current strategy has succeeded in curbing non-OPEC output and allowed OPEC to regain market share. OPEC, led by oil kingpin Saudi Arabia, decided at a meeting in November to maintain output and keep global markets amply supplied so that low prices would force high-cost U.S. shale oil producers to cut production first. Javadi […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple