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Continue reading the main story Video Play Video|1:09 Obama Hosts Saudi Princes Obama Hosts Saudi Princes President Obama hosted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, a day before the Gulf Cooperation Council summit. By Associated Press on Publish Date May 13, 2015. Photo by Doug Mills/The New York Times. WASHINGTON — When President Obama began making the case for a deal with Iran that would delay its ability to assemble an atomic weapon, his first argument was that a nuclear-armed Iran would set off a “free-for-all” of proliferation in the Arab world. “It is almost certain that other players in the region would feel it necessary to get their own nuclear weapons ,” he said in 2012. Now, as he gathered Arab leaders over dinner at the White House on Wednesday and prepared to meet with them at Camp […]
WASHINGTON — If President Obama hoped that the danger of chemical warfare in the Middle East receded when Syria gave up tons of poison gas, mounting evidence that toxic weapons remain in the strife-torn country could once again force him to decide just how far he is willing to go to enforce his famous “red line.” The discovery of traces of ricin and sarin in Syria, combined with the use of chlorine as a makeshift weapon in the country’s grinding civil war, undercut what Mr. Obama had viewed as a signal triumph of his foreign policy, the destruction of President Bashar al-Assad ’s chemical arsenal. But Mr. Obama appears no more eager to use military force against Mr. Assad’s government today than he was in 2013 when he abruptly called off a threatened airstrike in exchange for a Russian-brokered agreement in which Syria voluntarily gave up its chemical weapons. […]
Crude oil prices have continued to be on an upward swing in the last few days, signalling hope of better economic fortunes for Nigeria and other Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Brent crude futures rose towards $66 yesterday, which is far above the approved $53 per barrel benchmark for crude oil in Nigeria’s 2015 budget. The price of OPEC basket of 12 crudes stood at $62.03 a barrel on Monday, while it recorded $62.44 the previous Friday. June Brent crude was up 88 cents at $65.79 (£42.02) a barrel by 14.52 London time, easing back from an intraday high of $66.45 a barrel. June West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 58 cents to $59.83 a barrel, after touching $60.55 a barrel earlier in the day. Meanwhile, OPEC has warned against price speculators, accusing them of contributing to the uncertainty in crude oil prices. Speaking on the recent uncertainty in […]
State-run Coal India has failed to keep pace with the country’s demand for electricity. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to whip the giant mining outfit into shape. Photo: Sanjit Das/Bloomberg News BEJDIH, India—Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to end decades of crippling electricity shortages and turn this country into a manufacturing dynamo. At the state-run behemoth’s mine here, men still move coal in baskets on their shoulders. At another project, electricity is so unreliable miners descend in a steam-powered elevator. One giant mine that opened last year runs at a fraction of capacity because a rail line to haul its coal is mired in bureaucracy. Committees and economists have long studied how to whip Coal India, the world’s largest producer of the fuel, into shape. Labor unions and their allies oppose ideas such as breaking the company into smaller units or privatizing it. Mr. Modi is taking a gradual […]
SINGAPORE Beijing has cut the pace at which it is allowing Chinese refiners to ship out oil products this year by more than 40 percent in its second quarter review of annual export volumes, traders familiar with China’s oil markets said on Wednesday. China controls oil product exports through quotas to state-run refiners after assessing domestic needs. Sinopec Corp, CNOOC Ltd and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) [CNPET.UL] were given an additional oil product export quota of 5.6 million tonnes for the year, down from the 9.75 million tonnes initially awarded for the year in the first quarter. The state refiners could not be reached for official comment on the matter. The refiners can usually apply for more allowances once initial quotas are used up. The quotas are typically given every quarter after a review of domestic supply and demand balances. The drop in the volumes issued this quarter […]
ENLARGE Protesters rally in Tokyo on May 1 in opposition to nuclear power. The government’s 15-year energy strategy calls for restarting most of the country’s nuclear reactors, which were taken offline in the years after the Fukushima disaster. Photo: European Pressphoto Agency TOKYO—Four years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Japan is finding old energy habits hard to shake. The government’s tentative energy plan for the next 15 years seeks to significantly increase renewable sources, but will still draw heavily on the country’s traditional energy suppliers: unpopular nuclear power and imported fossil fuels. Defenders of the energy strategy, released late last month, say it’s a balanced approach for a country with few natural resources of its own. Critics say it’s a blown opportunity for a bolder move toward energy self-sufficiency and future economic growth through the development of Japanese companies’ energy technologies. With Japan’s nuclear reactors shut down in the […]
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Deep-water drilling is set to resume near the site of the catastrophic BP PLC well blowout that killed 11 workers and caused the largest U.S. offshore oil spill five years ago off the coast of Louisiana. A Louisiana-based oil company, LLOG Exploration Offshore LLC, plans to drill into the Macondo reservoir, according to federal records reviewed by The Associated Press. Harper’s Magazine first reported the drilling plans late Tuesday. LLOG’s permit to drill a new well near BP’s site was approved April 13 by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which oversees offshore oil and gas drilling operations. The company’s exploration plan was approved last October following an environmental review by a sister agency, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The company, a privately owned firm, will be looking to extract oil and gas deep under the Gulf of Mexico’s seafloor, an undertaking that […]
Trican Well Service Ltd., headquartered in Calgary, reduced its North American workforce by approximately 2,000 as a result of cost-cutting measures initiated in late 2014. The global well service company reported its 1Q results for 2015 Tuesday, which included 26 percent decrease in consolidated revenue from 1Q of 2014. According to the report, the company’s Canadian operations generated 1Q revenue of $222.7 million and operating income of $7.8 million for 2015, compared to $353.3 million and $62.5 million, respectively, for 1Q results in 2014. Its 1Q Canadian results were “negatively impacted by reduced customer activity caused by low commodity prices.” There was a sharp decline in activity levels in late February that remained low throughout the remainder of the first quarter. Similarly, U.S. operations generated $201.4 million, a 41 percent decrease from a year prior, in revenue for 1Q of 2015. The report cited “a weak U.S. operating environment […]
North Dakota posted a surprising jump in oil and natural gas output in March, as producers leaned on newer technologies and processes to offset a slump in commodity prices. WILLISTON, N.D., May 13 (Reuters) – North Dakota posted a surprising jump in oil and natural gas output in March, as producers leaned on newer technologies and processes to offset a slump in commodity prices. Many industry observers had expected output to fall for the third consecutive month in the wake of a more than 50 percent drop in oil prices since last summer. "We scratched our heads in the month of March" as to why production increased, Lynn Helms, director of the state’s Department of Mineral Resources, said during a conference call with reporters. Yet the increase shows producers’ willingness to wring efficiencies out of existing operations, as well as their attempt to maintain production, even at depressed prices, […]
