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More gas work slated in Egypt

Emirati energy company Dana Gas to drill first of 30 new natural gas wells in the Niger Delta region of Egypt. Map courtesy of Dana Gas. SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates, June 8 (UPI) — Emirati energy company Dana Gas said it started a new drilling campaign in Egypt in a deal that gives it the right to sell the government’s share of reserves. The company said it will spend the next four months drilling into the Balsam-2 concession onshore in the Nile Delta region, the first of an estimated 30 new wells covered under a gas production enhancement agreement. "Balsam-2 is the company’s first horizontal well in Egypt and is a fitting well to kick off this drilling campaign which effectively targets to develop all the Company’s remaining conventional gas reserves," Mark Fenton, Dana’s general manager for Egyptian operations, said in a statement. Dana under the terms of the […]

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Kurdistan receives May budget payment

Loading arms at the terminal for Iraqi crude exports at the Turkish port of Ceyhan. (STAFF/Iraq Oil Report) The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has received 508.8 billion Iraqi dinars ($424 million*) from Iraq’s federal government for the month of May, as the two sides struggle to sustain a fraught oil export and revenue sharing agreement."This is the total allocation from Baghdad to KRG for May salaries, of which 34 billion Iraqi dinars ($28.3 million*) is for Peshmerga forces," said Iraq’s Deputy Finance Minister Fazil Nabi.Ahmed Abdulrahman, the spokesman for the KRG’s Ministry of … This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .

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China’s May crude oil imports drop, knocked off top buyer spot

BEIJING China’s oil imports fell about 11 percent in May from a year ago in the steepest drop since November 2013, likely knocking the country off its perch as the world’s top crude buyer – a spot it claimed for the first time in April. Lower imports by China, at a time when markets are expected to be oversupplied following OPEC’s decision to keep its output targets unchanged, dragged down global crude prices on Monday. [O/R] China imported 23.24 million tonnes of crude in May, data from the General Administration of Customs showed. This puts China behind the United States, which imported just under 30 million tonnes last month, according to calculations based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. On a daily basis, China’s imports hit 5.47 million barrels in May, down nearly 26 percent from April’s record 7.37 million barrels per day (bpd). Strong imports in […]

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America’s Shale Oil Boom Grinding to Halt as OPEC Stands Pat

America’s Shale Oil Output is Shrinking The shale oil boom that turned the U.S. into the world’s largest fuel exporter and brought $3 gasoline back to America’s pumps is grinding to a halt. Crude output from the prolific tight-rock formations such as North Dakota’s Bakken and Texas’s Eagle Ford shale will shrink 1.3 percent to 5.58 million barrels a day this month, based on Energy Information Administration estimates. It’ll drop further in July to 5.49 million, the agency said Monday . With the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries refusing to curb its own oil production, U.S. shale is coming under pressure to re-balance a global supply glut. Everyone from EOG Resources Inc., the country’s biggest shale-oil producer, to hedge fund manager Andrew J. Hall to banks including Standard Chartered Plc have forecast declines in U.S. output following last year’s plunge in crude prices. The nation was still pumping the […]

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Rig numbers in North Dakota recover

North Dakota rig activity increasing, though still far below levels set when oil prices were plummeting. Photo by Christopher Halloran/Shutterstock BISMARCK, N.D., June 8 (UPI) — The number of rigs actively exploring for or producing oil and natural gas in North Dakota recovered from recent lows, state data show. The state government reports 82 rigs in active service as of Monday, up one from Friday and two more than the number reported June 1, which marked a new record low for the state at the heart of the shale oil boom in the United States. North Dakota is the No. 2 oil producer. Oil production in March, the last full month for which data are available, was 1.19 million barrels per day, an increase from the previous month, but 3 percent below the all-time record set in December. State data from mid-March showed 111 active rigs in the state. […]

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New data series show more detail for crude oil stocks, storage by region

graph of working crude oil storage utilization at refineries and tanks, as explained in the article text Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Working and Net Available Shell Storage Capacity Report Note: PADD is Petroleum Administration for Defense District. In an effort to better present crude oil storage capacity and use across the United States, EIA has prepared new tables as part of the semiannual Working and Net Available Shell Storage Capacity Report . The new series show crude oil stocks held at refineries crude oil in tanks and underground storage in each Petroleum Administration for Defense District (PADD). Previously, this information was only available at the national level. Crude oil stocks in tanks and underground storage are used to calculate storage capacity utilization rates and to derive the quantity of crude oil held in pipelines and in transit by rail and water. Refinery stocks and storage capacity data by […]

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The EIA’s Drilling Productivity Report

The EIA has released its latest Drilling Productivity Report . There were some interesting data presented in the report. DPR Bakken They say the Bakken peaked at 1,311,703 barrels per day in March and will have declined by 74,763 bpd in July. The EIA says the Bakken will get 51,000 barrels per day in July from new wells but legacy wells will decline by 80,000 barrels per day leaving a decline of 29,000 bpd. DPR Eagle Ford The EIA says Eagle Ford peaked in 1,711,376 barrels per day in March and will have declined by a total of 117,971 bpd in July. The EIA says Eagle Ford will get 90,000 bpd from new wells in July but the decline from legacy wells will be 139,000 bpd leaving a decline of 49,000 bpd. DPR Niobrara The EIA says Niobrara peaked in March at 459,861 bpd and will have declined by […]

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Canadian Oil Sands Resume Output as Wildfire Threat Recedes

CALGARY—Two major Canadian oil sands operators said Monday they have resumed output at sites that had been shut down by a more than two-week old wildfire in northern Alberta, which exports much of its crude oil production to the U.S. The blaze had shut-in nearly 10% of Canada’s oil sands output, or about 233,000 barrels a day, since it was first detected on May 22. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. CNQ -2.32 % said it expects to resume full production later this week at its 80,000 barrel-per-day Primrose site, which had been evacuated and shut down, and its 30,000 barrel-a-day Kirby South operation, which was forced to cut output due to the temporary closure of a pipeline. Cenovus Energy Inc. CVE -3.28 % said it began ramping up production at its 135,000 barrel-per-day Foster Creek site over the weekend, but didn’t provide an estimate for when output levels would return […]

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The Bakken ”Red Queen” is restrained with more credit

From Rune’s first ‘Red Queen’ post : The reference in the title to The Red Queen from “Alice in Wonderland” by the English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (perhaps better known from his pseudonym Lewis Carrol) who was an author, mathematician and logician, is deliberate to create associations with The Red Queen’s statement; "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place" . This post is an update on Light Tight Oil (LTO) extraction in Bakken based upon published data from the North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC) as per March 2015. Extraction developments of LTO from Bakken may be followed by county, formation, vintage of wells, and one important source to understand the developments are coming from studying the developments by companies. Holding this up with companies’ financial statements (10-K and 10-Q) is an invaluable source about the companies, their financial capabilities and their strategies. […]

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Greek PM Tsipras says accord possible if pensions are not cut

ROME Greece could reach a deal with its international creditors if they dropped demands including cuts to pensions, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in an interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera published on Tuesday. Reflecting the more conciliatory tone Athens has adopted in recent days, he said the two sides could find a compromise on key elements in any deal, including the size of a primary budget surplus. But he showed no signs of accepting creditor demands for cuts to pensions or other social spending, repeating comments he has made over recent days. "I think we’re very close to an agreement on the primary surplus for the next few years," he told the newspaper. "There just needs to be a positive attitude on alternative proposals to cuts to pensions or the imposition of recessionary measures." The comments came as Greece’s international partners, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and […]

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Oil prices fall as China’s crude imports tumble, OPEC keeps production high

SINGAPORE Crude oil prices fell on Monday as China’s oil imports dropped sharply and markets were expected to be increasingly oversupplied following OPEC’s decision to keep its production targets unchanged. China, the world’s biggest net oil importer, bought nearly a quarter less crude in May than it did in the previous month, according to official data. Its imports of oil products also fell just over six percent while product exports fell 10 percent. [TRADE/CN] China’s fall in imports came after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed on Friday to stick to its policy of high output, which stands above 30 million barrels per day, exacerbating worries about a glut in a market where millions of barrels of crude are stored without a buyer. "Crude demand/supply remains in excess of supplies," said Yasushi Kimura, president of the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ) after OPEC’s decision. Front-month Brent […]

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Oil Prices Retreat as China Imports Soften

Oil prices fell in Asian trade Monday, after China reported a drop in its oil imports and as the impact of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ decision to keep its production level unchanged trickled through. Investors are also expected to turn their attention to the June 30 deadline for the Iran nuclear deal that could pave the way for the lifting of Western sanctions and more Iranian oil hitting the oil market. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in July traded at $58.54 a barrel at 0322 GMT, down $0.59 in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.56 to $62.75 a barrel. Oil markets have struggled to sustain a price rally as bearish supply indicators such as Saudi Arabia’s record output have offset signs of a decline in U.S. shale oil production. This bearishness […]

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G7 summit: Climate and extremism lead day two talks

The G7 leaders attended a working dinner at the end of Sunday’s discussions Climate change and terrorism are expected to dominate talks as the second day of the G7 summit of economic powers gets under way in Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel wants the group to reach an agreement on limiting global temperature rises. She also wants G7 members to contribute to a fund for poor countries suffering the worst effects of climate change. There will also be talks on the threat from radical extremism with the leaders of Nigeria, Tunisia and Iraq. The summit is being held at the picturesque Schloss Elmau hotel in Kruen in the Bavarian Alps. It is being attended by US President Barack Obama, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, French President Francois Hollande, Canadanian PM Stephen Harper and Italian PM Matteo Renzi. G7 venue Schloss Elmau includes 47 suites, three […]

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OPEC oil price anchor could be easy to unmoor

VIENNA To hear OPEC ministers in Vienna last week, one would think the cartel’s battle for market share is a complete success and oil prices are now firmly anchored where they are. "The strategy is working… It will take time for markets to rebalance," was the mantra from OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Ali al-Naimi and his peers. However, the oil markets have probably become even less easier to read now than in November last year when OPEC launched its shock strategy of adding barrels to the already oversupplied market in the hope of winning back market share from higher-cost rivals such as U.S. shale oil. If anything, the list of uncertainties that could pull oil prices both ways from OPEC’s current favorite price range of $60-$70 per barrel has grown longer. It includes the performance of the U.S. oil industry, the return of Iran to oil markets, […]

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Saudi-led air strikes kill 44 in attack on Yemeni army compound: agency

SANAA Saudi-led air strikes killed at least 44 people during an air raid on the main headquarters of the Yemeni army in central Sanaa on Sunday, the Houthi-run state news agency Saba said. The agency said that more than 100 people, including civilians, were also wounded in the attack which also destroyed private houses in Tahrir district in central Sanaa. Residents had earlier said that four explosions shook the compound, where soldiers allied with the Iranian-backed Houthi group that dominates Yemen had gathered since Saturday evening to get their pay checks. "More than 44 citizens were martyred and 100 others including women and children, according to preliminary figures," the agency said. The agency quoted a source at the Health Ministry as saying that rescue teams where working to find people believed to be still under the rubble of houses destroyed by the raids. The escalation of the violence came […]

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Syrian army regains ground against Islamic State in Hasaka city

AMMAN The Syrian army said on Sunday it had repulsed a major offensive by Islamic State militants in the northeastern city of Hasaka and driven out fighters who had taken over key installations on the southern edge of the city. The northeastern corner of Syria is strategically important because it links areas controlled by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Syrian Kurds have also sought to expand their territorial control over a region stretching from Kobani to Qamishili they see as part of a future Kurdish state. The militants, approaching from their stronghold the city of Shadadi, south of Hasaka city, made lighting advances this week after conducting around a dozen suicide attacks using explosives-laden trucks at army checkpoints in the city. But Syrian state television, quoting an army source, said in a newsflash they had taken back an electricity station, a juvenile prison and two villages almost two […]

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Turkish Election Signals That Erdogan’s Power May Have Peaked

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked Turkey for a mandate to reshape the country’s political system and give him more power. On Sunday, Turkish voters replied with a no. Preliminary results showed the ruling AK Party, which Erdogan led for more than a decade before becoming president last year, short of the majority needed for a single-party government. The results are a a blow to Erdogan, who turned the vote into a referendum on his rule, and suggest that after more than a decade as the nation’s most influential politician, he may have over-reached. “This is a major defeat both for Erdogan and the AK Party,” Ozer Sencar, head of MetroPOLL Strategic and Social Research, said Sunday by phone from Ankara. “It’s a clear sign that his power is in decline.” Erdogan argued on the campaign trail that a strong presidency was necessary for Turkey to become one of the […]

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EU: No Iran nuclear deal without UN probe of past

VIENNA (AP) — The European Union is telling Iran to cooperate with a stalled U.N. probe of suspicions that it worked on atomic arms if the country wants a nuclear deal that will see removal of sanctions. The cautionary EU statement comes ahead of a June 30 target date for such an agreement. It was obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its delivery at a meeting of the U.N’s International Atomic Energy Agency that opens Monday. Iran denies any work on – or interest in – nuclear arms and has fended off IAEA demands for cooperation with its investigation. The EU statement says getting to the bottom of the allegations "will be essential" to a nuclear deal. Iran also would have to accept limits on its present nuclear activities.

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Iran and Saudi Arabia on a collision course over oil at Opec

Oil prices continue to trade at around 40pc below last year’s peak due to a global glut of supply. After a week of meetings of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) in Vienna, one thing is clear: Iran and Saudi Arabia are on a collision course that could eventually break the world’s largest oil producing group apart. Faced with Saudi Arabia’s stubborn determination to keep Opec pumping at full choke, Iran’s oil minister Bijan Zanganeh has upped the stakes in this game of double bluff between the Middle East’s two dominant political forces. He has confidently stated that the Islamic Republic will pump an additional 1m barrels per day (bpd) of crude within months of nuclear sanctions being lifted by the West. The move – assuming that Iran agrees to all US demands to curb its nuclear ambitions by the deadline on June 30 – effectively fires […]

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Russia to Start Iran Crude Imports

Russia may start importing crude from Iran next week as part of an oil-for-goods agreement, Iranian Energy Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said. “We hope that next week” Russia will take its first imports, Zanganeh told reporters on board a plane from Vienna late on Friday, after attending a meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. “Much of this will be for cash and we will be using this money to buy commodities from the Russians.” Iranian oil exports have dropped 50 percent since international sanctions against the country were tightened in 2011 amid a dispute over its nuclear program. Companies that trade with Iran are barred from doing business with U.S. and European operators. World powers including Russia and the U.S. plan to complete talks with Iran by the end of June to end the decade-long impasse over its atomic program. Zanganeh said he discussed the deal with […]

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International flotilla rescues 5,900 from Mediterranean in a weekend

ROME/LONDON An international rescue fleet plucked almost 5,900 migrants from rickety boats making the perilous sea crossing for North Africa to Europe on Saturday and Sunday, Italy’s coastguard said. The British warship Bulwark assisted in picking up more than 1,000 refugees, including 10 pregnant women, the Ministry of Defense said. The Italian coastguard, which coordinates rescue efforts from Rome, said British, Swedish, Spanish and Italian ships and a merchant vessel had all been called upon to go to the aid of 15 different boats on Sunday, rescuing 2,400 people in all. On Saturday, 3,500 migrants were rescued about 45 miles from the Libyan coast. The tide of migrants and refugees risking the often deadly sea crossing to reach Europe from Africa is on the rise this year and the U.N. refugee agency estimates more than 1,800 have drowned. About 800 perished in a single shipwreck in April. In response, […]

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Libya’s official government says central bank now based in eastern HQ

BAYDA, Libya, June 5 Libya’s internationally recognised government says the central bank’s headquarters have moved to the eastern city of Bayda, although it was not clear how the bank would control and process payments with its staff and computers still in Tripoli. The Bayda-based government is struggling for control of big state institutions with a rival administration in Tripoli and also says it plans to route oil revenues through the east, bypassing the capital. However, foreign buyers are still paying for oil through the Tripoli-based NOC state oil firm. Libya has been engulfed by violence and chaos since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011, and in August a faction called Libya Dawn seized the capital, forcing the official premier, Abdullah al-Thinni, to flee with his ministers to the east. Ministries and state bodies in Tripoli remain under the control of Thinni’s rivals, who are boycotted by world powers. The […]

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ISIS presents main threat in Libya’s civil war

MISURATA, Libya — As the Islamic State scores new victories in Syria and Iraq, its affiliate in Libya is also on the offensive, consolidating control of Moammar Gaddafi’s former home town and staging a bomb attack on a major city, Misurata. The Islamic State’s growth could further destabilize a country already suffering from a devastating civil war. And Libya could offer the extremists a new base from which to launch attacks elsewhere in North Africa. The Libyan affiliate does not occupy large amounts of territory as the Islamic State does in Syria and Iraq. But in the past few months, the local group has seized Sirte, the coastal city that was Gaddafi’s last redoubt, as well as neighborhoods in the eastern city of Derna. A key reason for the Libyan affiliate’s expansion is the chaos that has enveloped this oil-rich nation since the 2011 Arab Spring revolt. The country […]

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Asian shares slip, China’s imports disappoint

TOKYO Asian shares extended losses on Monday as weak Chinese imports increased concerns over a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy, while the dollar was steady after U.S. jobs data raised chances for a U.S. interest rate hike as early as September. European markets were seen opening mixed, as the specter of Greece’s financial woes still loomed over sentiment. Financial spreadbetters expected Britain’s FTSE 100 .FTSE to open up by 8-15 points, or as much as 0.2 percent higher. Germany’s DAX .GDAXI was seen falling by 11 to 27 points, or as much as 0.2 percent lower, while France’s CAC .FCHI was seen opening unchanged to down by 7 points, or as much as 0.1 percent lower. "European equities are set to start mixed this morning. Although the FTSE looks set to eke out some small gains on the open, continental markets look set to sag on fears […]

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Americans Buy a Fifth of China’s Exports

Americans bought almost $1 out of every $5 worth of goods that China exported in May, the highest share since August 2010. While Chinese shipments to trading partners including Japan, Europe and South Korea tumbled last month from a year ago, those to the U.S. climbed 7.8 percent. That helped make America the destination for 18.8 percent of China’s exports, outstripping all others. The European Union took 15.1 percent, with 11.9 percent for the Southeast Asian grouping of Asean. Evidence of China’s increasing reliance on the world’s largest economy comes just weeks before annual talks between the two nations in Washington, amid signs of tension over the yuan exchange rate. While the U.S. maintains that the yuan is significantly overvalued — something that would give Chinese goods a competitive edge — the International Monetary Fund disagrees . “A better U.S. economy, and a relatively larger share of trade, may […]

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Exxon at the crossroads: buy a rival or shrink

But the company’s focus on cash distributions to shareholders, and the fact that its oil and gas production is lower now than immediately after Exxon bought Mobil back in 1999, certainly look like evidence that it has given up on long-term revenue growth. Exxon is the world’s largest listed energy group, and like all big international oil companies it is facing structural challenges that make it difficult for it to grow. Stability while throwing off a lot of cash may be the best they can do. Critical strategic question Rex Tillerson, now in his tenth year as chief executive, faces a critical strategic question. Does Exxon accept that fate, curbing capital spending and returning cash to investors whenever possible? Or does it attempt to break out by making a large acquisition ? The decline in Exxon’s number of shares outstanding has been dramatic. In 1999, the newly merged company […]

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Exxon to Face Regulators’ Questions Over Quakes

Texas regulators are scrutinizing some of the biggest U.S. energy producers in the wake of several earthquakes that have rocked the Dallas-Fort Worth area. An Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM 0.07 % subsidiary and EOG Resources Inc., EOG 2.63 % one of the biggest shale-oil and gas pumpers, are facing questions about their use of injection wells to dispose of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing operations. The state’s oil-and-gas regulator on Wednesday begins a series of hearings in Austin to assess some oil companies’ role in causing the temblors. A growing body of scientific research from federal, state and academic researchers suggests that disposal wells, often used to get rid of the dirty water leftover from fracking and brine from oil-and-gas production, may be linked to increased seismic activity. Some in the energy industry are trying to discount those studies. The commission’s seismologist, Craig Pearson, has also expressed doubts that fracking […]

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Day After EPA Finds Fracking Does Not Pollute Water, Top Oil Regulator Resigns Over Water Contamination

Put this one in the awkward file: just hours after the EPA released yet another massive study (literally, at just under 1000 pages ) which found no evidence that fracking led to widespread pollution of drinking water (an outcome welcome by the oil industry and its backers and criticized by environmental groups), the director of the California Department of Conservation, which oversees the agency that regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, resigned as the culmination of a scandal over the contamination of California’s water supply by fracking wastewater dumping. An aerial view of pits containing production water from oil wells near California 33 and Lokern Road in Kern County This is what the allegedly impartial EPA said on Thursday when it released its long awaited study: “ we did not find evidence that [hydraulic fracking has] led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the United […]

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Exxon at the crossroads: buy a rival or shrink

But the company’s focus on cash distributions to shareholders, and the fact that its oil and gas production is lower now than immediately after Exxon bought Mobil back in 1999, certainly look like evidence that it has given up on long-term revenue growth. Exxon is the world’s largest listed energy group, and like all big international oil companies it is facing structural challenges that make it difficult for it to grow. Stability while throwing off a lot of cash may be the best they can do. Critical strategic question Rex Tillerson, now in his tenth year as chief executive, faces a critical strategic question. Does Exxon accept that fate, curbing capital spending and returning cash to investors whenever possible? Or does it attempt to break out by making a large acquisition ? The decline in Exxon’s number of shares outstanding has been dramatic. In 1999, the newly merged company […]

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EU Parliament president warns Athens of dramatic consequences if talks fail

BERLIN European Parliament President Martin Schulz urged Greece in a newspaper interview to accept a proposal by its international lenders for a cash-for-reforms deal, warning Athens that failing to reach an agreement would have "dramatic" consequences. The European Union is willing to compromise with the Greek government, Schulz told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag in an interview published on Sunday, adding that the lenders had already made concessions in the debt negotiations. "I can only warn the Greek government against turning down the hand held out to them," Schulz, who has been supportive of Greece’s cause, said. "Time is running out and the consequences would be dramatic." Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has spurned the terms of proposed aid from lenders, creating an impasse that threatens to push Greece into default and out of the euro zone. Schulz said Tsipras and his Syriza party should come to terms with […]

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EU chief rebukes Greece, demands swift debt plan

KRUEN, Germany The European Union’s exasperation with Greece burst into the open on Sunday when its chief executive rebuked leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and warned that time was running out to conclude a debt deal to avert a damaging Greek default. In unusually sharp terms, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker accused Tsipras of distorting proposals by international creditors for a cash-for-reform agreement and of dragging his feet in offering an alternative. He urged Athens to put its own ideas on the table swiftly to enable talks to resume on the sidelines of an EU-Latin America summit on Wednesday in Brussels. U.S. President Barack Obama discussed the Greek crisis with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in private talks before a Group of Seven industrial nations’ summit in Germany and expressed hope that Greece and its partners would chart a course without causing volatility in financial markets, the White House said. […]

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Greece and Ukraine crises drown out G7 summit agenda

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany Leaders from the Group of Seven (G7) industrial nations meet on Sunday in the Bavarian Alps for a summit overshadowed by Greece’s debt crisis and ongoing violence in Ukraine. Host Angela Merkel is hoping to secure commitments from her G7 guests to tackle global warming to build momentum in the run-up to a major United Nations climate summit in Paris in December. The German agenda also foresees discussions on global health issues, from Ebola to antibiotics and tropical diseases. But on the evening before the German chancellor welcomes the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan and the United States, she and French President Francois Hollande were forced into their fourth emergency phone call in 10 days with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to try to break a deadlock between Athens and its international creditors. The two sides have been wrangling for months over the terms of […]

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If You Think Greece’s Crisis Will End Soon, Think Again

Frustrated by Greece’s cat and mouse game with its creditors? Get used to it. Even if Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras clinches as much as 7.2 billion euros ($8 billion) from a bailout tranche creditors are withholding, he’s going to need another cash infusion shortly thereafter. What will ensue is a renewed battle after almost five months of trench warfare. The beleaguered country requires a third bailout of about 30 billion euros, according to Nomura International Plc analysts Lefteris Farmakis and Dimitris Drakopoulos. The final bill will depend on whether fellow euro member states grant Greece any debt relief, and what form that relief would take, they said. Tsipras says any aid must be on his terms rather than those of governments whose taxpayers have forked out billions in the past five years to keep Greece in the euro. The standoff has triggered an unprecedented liquidity squeeze, pushing the country’s […]

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Russia Wields Aid and Ideology Against West to Fight Sanctions

Photo Marine Le Pen of France’s National Front in Moscow in May. Her party has taken money from a bank tied to the Kremlin. Credit Kirill Kudryavtsev/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images WASHINGTON — The war in Ukraine that has pitted Russia against the West is being waged not just with tanks, artillery and troops. Increasingly, Moscow has brought to bear different kinds of weapons, according to American and European officials: money, ideology and disinformation. Even as the Obama administration and its European allies try to counter Russia’s military intervention across its border, they have found themselves struggling at home against what they see as a concerted drive by Moscow to leverage its economic power, finance European political parties and movements, and spread alternative accounts of the conflict. The Kremlin’s goal seems to be to sow division, destabilize the European Union and possibly fracture what until now has been a […]

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7 Epic Droughts Devastating the Planet

Every inhabited continent, to varying degrees, faces extremely high water stress. That means that in certain areas more than 80 percent of the local water supply is withdrawn by businesses, farmers, residents and other consumers every year. Not all of that water is consumed—it may flow back into a river after it’s used and be available again downstream—but the demand still creates competition where it is needed. These wetlands have totally dried up due to the California drought. Photo credit: Shutterstock These “stressed” areas are also the ones most vulnerable to episodic droughts . With chronic over-use of water resources, it only takes a string of a few bad rainfall years or poor management decisions to plunge a region into crisis and chaos. And indeed, that is what we appear to be seeing across the world over the past few years. Here’s a look at seven extreme droughts that […]

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Oil Prices Climb But Post Weekly Loss

NEW YORK—Oil prices rose Friday on a drop in U.S. drilling, but posted a decline for the week as a stronger dollar and continued oversupply of crude oil weighed on the market. Prices are more than 40% below their June highs, as the global market remains oversupplied. Traders are parsing supply-and-demand data from the U.S. and overseas for clues of when the market will come back into balance, either through lower production or improving consumption. Market watchers remain divided about the near-term direction of oil prices. Some say prices will continue rising as demand keeps rising and U.S. shale-oil production falls following sharp cutbacks in drilling. Others say that the physical market remains oversupplied, with some cargoes of crude oil searching for buyers, and prices are set for another decline. Light, sweet crude for July delivery settled up $1.13, or 1.9%, at $59.13 a barrel on the New York […]

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OPEC keeps its 30 million b/d crude oil output ceiling, to meet next on Dec 4

As expected, OPEC ministers agreed to maintain official crude output at 30 million b/d, with the oil producer group’s Gulf Arab members particularly upbeat about the decision. "Same ceiling, 30 million b/d," Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali Naimi told reporters as he left OPEC’s secretariat in the Austrian capital. "You will be surprised by how amicable the meeting was," Naimi said, adding that OPEC would next meet on December 4. UAE oil minister Suhail al-Mazrouei said he was "very happy," while Kuwait’s Ali al-Omair emerged giving the thumbs-up sign. "It is a very good one," Omair said. Analysis continues below… Oilgram News brings you fast-breaking global petroleum and gas news on and including: Industry players, upstream and downstream markets, refineries, midstream transportation and financial reports Supply and demand trends, government actions, exploration and technology Daily futures summary Weekly API statistics, and much more And Qatar’s Mohammed al-Sada described the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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OPEC Keeps Output Unchanged

VIENNA—OPEC on Friday said the cartel would keep its collective output level unchanged at 30 million barrels a day, the second time in six months it decided to take no action amid a global glut of crude and weak oil prices. The decision amounted to an acknowledgment that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ role had fundamentally changed in the past year with a flood of American oil extracted from shale rock . No longer can the group—which pumps about one in three barrels of oil consumed each day—throttle back on output to support prices that have fallen from $114 a barrel to less than $63 today. “The reality now is that we cannot have this $100 (a barrel) anymore. This is a fact. We have less value for our barrels,” OPEC Secretary General Abdallah Salem el-Badri said at a news conference. Friday’s decision affirms its decision last […]

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OPEC Shows It Still Matters, and Now It’s Bearish for Oil

The last time OPEC met, its decision to leave output unchanged cast doubt on the group’s relevance. That was a little premature. From the ministers’ market-moving comments to the array of oil executives gathered in Vienna to court new ventures, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries showed no loss of stature in the run-up to Friday’s meeting, at which it again decided to maintain its current output target. While OPEC has ceded the role of adjusting supply to balance the market, its strategy of keeping up production is still driving prices lower now — and possibly higher later on. “Reports of their death are greatly exaggerated,” Harry Tchilinguirian, head of commodity markets strategy at BNP Paribas SA in London, said in an e-mail. “OPEC is still relevant because by driving down prices, and crowding out investment in higher-cost basins, they are sowing the seeds of the future price rally.” […]

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OPEC agrees to keep pumping as oil glut fears persist

VIENNA Oil group OPEC agreed to stick by its policy of unconstrained output for another six months on Friday, setting aside warnings of a second lurch lower in prices as some members such as Iran look to ramp up exports. Concluding a meeting with no apparent dissent, Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali al-Naimi said OPEC had rolled over its current output ceiling, renewing support for the shock market treatment it doled out late last year when the world’s top supplier said it would no longer cut output to keep prices high. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will meet again on Dec. 4, Naimi said. With oil prices having rebounded by more than a third after hitting a six-year low of $45 a barrel in January, officials meeting in Vienna saw little reason to tinker with a strategy that seems to have resurrected moribund growth in world oil […]

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Saudi Arabia says it shot down Scud missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis

DUBAI Saudi Arabia shot down a Scud missile fired into the kingdom by Yemen’s dominant Houthi group and its army allies on Saturday, according to the Saudi state news agency, in the first use of the missile in over two months of war. The missile was launched early Saturday morning in the direction of Khamees al-Mushait, and was intercepted by a Patriot missile, a statement by the leadership of the Saudi-led joint Arab military coalition said. The area is home to largest air force base in southern Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, but there are no oil facilities in the area. An alliance of Gulf Arab nations has been bombing Yemen’s dominant Houthi militia and allied army units loyal to powerful ex-President Saleh since March 26 in an attempt to restore exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power. The coalition has said a main goal of their […]

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ISIS is using chlorine as a weapon, Australia’s Foreign Minister says

PERTH Islamic State militants have used chlorine as a weapon and are recruiting highly trained technicians in a serious bid to develop chemical weapons, Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop warned. In a speech to an international forum of nations that works to fight the spread of such weapons, Bishop said the rise of militant groups such as ISIS, also known as Daish, posed “one of the gravest security threats we face today.” “Apart from some crude and small scale endeavors, the conventional wisdom has been that the terrorist intention to acquire and weaponize chemical agents has been largely aspirational,” Bishop told a meeting of the Australia Group in Perth. The speech on Friday was posted online. “The use of chlorine by Daish, and its recruitment of highly technically trained professionals, including from the West, have revealed far more serious efforts in chemical weapons development,” she said. “Daish is likely […]

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The Separation Strategy on Iraq

In 2006, Joe Biden, Les Gelb and many others proposed plans to decentralize power in Iraq. Biden, then a United States senator from Delaware, Gelb and others recognized that Iraqi society was fracturing into sectarian blocs. They believed that governing institutions should reflect the fundamental loyalties on the ground. According to the Biden plan , the central Iraqi government would still have performed a few important tasks, but many other powers would have been devolved to regional governments in the Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish areas. The administration of George W. Bush rejected that federalist approach and instead bet on a Baghdad-centric plan. The Iraqi prime minister at the time, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, and his band of Shiite supremacists enflamed sectarian tensions even more, consolidated power, excluded rivals, alienated the Sunnis and Kurds and drove parts of the opposition into armed insurrection. The Obama administration helped oust Maliki and replace […]

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Saudi Arabia’s Celebrity Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi Prepares for Potential OPEC Swan Song

VIENNA—Ali al-Naimi was an unlikely Saudi oil boss. At Saudi Arabian Oil Co., he was known as a technocrat’s technocrat, a company man hired out of a shepherd’s field at age 12—shy and wonky with no political profile. But during about 20 years as oil minister, Mr. Naimi has become the most influential voice in the world oil market and helped steer the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries through some of its most tumultuous times. The spotlight is back on Mr. Naimi this week as he prepares for what may be his last OPEC meeting on Friday . The 79-year-old has previously said he wants to retire, and people familiar with the matter say a successor is being groomed. OPEC ministers on Friday are expected to cement a policy decision that analysts say will be Mr. Naimi’s lasting legacy: Instead of controlling the price of oil by cutting […]

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Senior Israeli Official Asks Washington to Extend Iran Nuclear Talks

WASHINGTON—Israel’s point man on Iran pressed the Obama administration this week to extend nuclear negotiations with Tehran beyond the June 30 deadline, rather than signing a deal his government fears could prove fatal to Israel’s long-term security. Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, in an interview on Friday, said his government believes parameters of a deal that global powers reached with Iran in April provided numerous loopholes for Tehran to exploit if it seeks to become a nuclear power. Mr. Steinitz, a close aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, specifically cited terms that allow Iran to continue to conduct some research and development on more advanced centrifuge machines, which are used to produce nuclear fuel. He also said there aren’t enough guarantees in the proposed agreement to ensure Iran will allow international inspectors real-time access to suspect nuclear and military sites. Mr. Steinitz added the agreement must be strengthened to […]

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Asian Yards Adapt to Industry Downturn

With little signs of a pick-up in newbuild rig orders, shipyards in Asia are turning to other offshore projects to ride out the market doldrums. Years of optimism in the Asian newbuild rig market has been shaken, with major petroleum companies reducing capital spending in line with the decline in oil prices, which have shown little signs of recovering from its descent below $100 a barrel since the second half of 2014. Asian shipyards, whose revenues have shrunk due to the weakness in global oil prices which in turn has led to a slowdown in newbuild rig orders, are looking elsewhere for fresh business opportunities covering floating production and offshore vessels. Vanishing Rig Orders The adverse impact of lower oil prices, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude oil futures falling by around 40 percent since September 2014, was felt almost immediately by Asian rig builders – newbuild […]

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EPA Study: Fracking Puts Drinking Water Supplies at Risk of Contamination

Water splash image via shutterstock. Reproduced at Resilience.org with permission. The Environmental Protection Agency has released its long awaited draft assessment of the impacts that fracking has on the nation’s drinking water supplies — confirming that the process does indeed contaminate water. “From our assessment, we conclude there are above and below ground mechanisms by which hydraulic fracturing activities have the potential to impact drinking water resources,” the EPA wrote. The impacts take a variety of forms, the EPA wrote, listing the effects of water consumption especially in arid regions or during droughts, chemical and wastewater spills, “fracturing directly into underground drinking water resources,” the movement of liquids and gasses below ground “and inadequate treatment and discharge of wastewater.” The agency wrote that it had documented “specific instances” where each of those problems had in fact happened and some cases where multiple problems combined to pollute water supplies. Environmental […]

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Illinois Basin coal market stressed by low demand, prices

The Illinois Basin market continues to wilt as low spot demand and ongoing production leaves more tons on the ground and anxious producers with more to sell, market sources said Friday. "We’re at the point where it’s no longer rhetoric to say we’re going to leave coal in the ground rather than sell at these prices," one producer said. While there have been some indications of production discipline — notably Murray Energy’s recent announcement that it would lay off some Illinois Basin employees as well as rumored production cutbacks at some other basin mines — the market is still dealing with oversupply. "We haven’t been in the market for some time," one utility source said, adding that low power and gas prices are keeping them out of the IB market. "We’re long this year, building our stockpiles." Article continues below… Platts Coal Trader provides the latest prices for key […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple