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Q&A: Anbari tribal leaders

Members of Kataeb Hezballah, standing in front of their militia flag, distribute food for other fighters and displaced people in the desert near Ramadi city east of Anbar province on May 28, 2015 in Anbar, Iraq (AHMAD MOUSA/The Washington Post via Getty Images) Months before the so-called Islamic State (IS) organization chased pro-government forces out of Ramadi, Anbari tribal fighters throughout the province were raising alarms.On a practical level, the problem was that pro-government forces were not numerous or strong enough to defend the areas they still held while also wresting territory back from IS militants.On a strategic level, the problem was that Iraqi military planners were failing to recognize the limitations of their forces, launch… 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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Iraq: Arbil Denies Ceasing Oil Shipments To Baghdad

The Ministry of Natural Resources in Iraq’s Kurdish region has denied reports that it ceased oil shipments to the national government’s State Oil Marketing Organization, Shafaq News reported June 3. Earlier in the day, Reuters had reported that Arbil was no longer transferring crude to the state-owned company. The Kurdish regional government confirmed that it was abiding by its previous energy agreement with Baghdad, which dictates that it export an average 550,000 barrels per day through Baghdad. The semi-autonomous region has made moves toward energy independence in the past, but the shared opposition to the Islamic State has brought Kurds into closer cooperation with the Iraqi government. Stratfor provides global awareness and guidance to individuals, governments and businesses around the world. We use a unique, intel-based approach to analyze world affairs. Copyright © 2015 Stratfor Global Intelligence, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 221 West 6th Street Suite […]

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Iran urges OPEC to cut oil supplies to balance prices

TEHRAN, June 3 (Xinhua) — OPEC needs to reconsider crude supplies to the market as its excessive supply has led to the drop of oil prices, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh told Press TV on Wednesday. "It’s very clear that we have oversupply in the market and this oversupply puts pressure on prices," Zangeneh said, adding that the issue requires "appropriate decision" by OPEC. Zangeneh’s remarks came as OPEC member states are scheduled to meet in the Austrian capital Vienna on Friday. "It is now our responsibility to review this situation and to take an appropriate decision for balancing the market, but it depends on consensus among all OPEC members," he was quoted as saying. Iran has criticized some oil exporting countries for flooding the market with crude products. OPEC currently supplies 30 million barrels of crude oil per day to the global market. Iran is planning for a […]

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Israel bombs Gaza sites after rocket attack claimed by Islamic State sympathizer

GAZA Israel retaliated on Thursday for rockets fired at it from Gaza with bombing raids against three militant training camps, and a radical group sympathetic with Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks on Israel. Witnesses and medics said the predawn attacks on two camps belonging to Hamas, which dominates the Gaza Strip, and to the smaller Palestinian group Islamic Jihad caused some damage but no casualties. Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said in a statement that Israel held Hamas responsible for the rocket attacks from Gaza "even if those doing the shooting are rogue gangs from global jihadi groups trying to challenge Hamas by shooting at us". The rockets aimed at the Israeli city of Ashkelon and town of Netivot on Wednesday night were the second such attacks in the past week. They broke a hiatus in cross-border fire since a 50-day Israeli war with Hamas ended with […]

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Nigeria: Importation of Refined Petroleum Products Major Drain On Nigeria’s Revenue – PENGASSAN

Abuja — The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has called on President Muhamadu Buhari to increase local refining capacity before embarking on any deregulation process This is contained in a statement on Tuesday by PENGASSAN National Public Relations Officer, Mr Emmanuel Ojugbana. The union called on the president to ensure that the focus of deregulation policy was based on local production rather than importation. It said that if local refining was not increased to meet local demand for petroleum products, especially the premium motor spirit (petrol), removing subsidy on petroleum products would bring more hardship on Nigeria. It stated that removing subsidy while the country depended on importation of refined products would make prices of refined products to be out of the reach of the masses and would cause inflation. It said that importation of refined petroleum products was a major drain on the […]

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Venezuela finds new front in attack on U.S. fracking: water

VIENNA Venezuela sought to open a new front in its months-long verbal assault on the U.S. shale oil industry on Wednesday, suggesting it posed a grave threat to water supplies. In the latest criticism of the hydraulic fracturing technology that has yielded a gusher of crude supplies in Venezuela’s biggest oil market, oil minister Asdrubal Chavez cited the "huge environmental impact" from shale. "This does not seem to raise any concerns among the governments promoting it or the companies involved," he told an OPEC seminar in Vienna attended by chief executives of some of the world’s biggest oil companies, including Exxon and BP, both of which operate in U.S. shale. "It is a responsibility of the conventional crude oil-producing countries to develop price mechanisms that take into account these economic and geopolitical actors that promote technologies that threaten the availability of the fundamental resource for human existence: water." The […]

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El Niño Clouds Prospects for Southeast Asian Crops

SINGAPORE—Unusually dry weather in parts of Southeast Asia in recent weeks has raised the prospect that food crops across the region could be severely harmed this summer by the return of the El Niño weather phenomenon. Countries in this region are among the top global producers of a range of agricultural commodities from coffee to rubber. If prolonged dry weather sets in, their crop output will likely be reduced, potentially hitting raw-material costs for a myriad of industries from food to tires. A growing number of weather forecasters, including the official U.S., Australian and Japanese weather bureaus, have confirmed that the El Niño weather pattern will return this year after a near five-year absence, although its likely duration and intensity is as yet unclear. El Niño is typified by a warming of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean and a cooling of its western region. That leads to a […]

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US Crude oil production heading 11 to 15 million barrels per day

The latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecast for US crude oil production is for an increase to about 11 million barrels per day and then having a plateau. When US crude oil production gets past 10.1 million barrels per day then it will have passed the old production peak in 1970. This will take a further increase of about 500,000 barrels per day. About 5% more production. Getting to 11 million barrels per day is the the low oil price case. If oil prices strengthen and/or oil recovery technology improves more then the US crude oil production would head to 13-15 million barrels per day by 2025. The High Oil and Gas Resource case in AEO2015 was developed using assumptions that result in higher estimates of technically recoverable crude oil and natural gas resources than those in the Reference case. Estimates of technically recoverable tight and shale crude oil […]

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US coal exports down in April but show increased shipments to India

US coal exports totaled slightly more than 6.4 million mt in April, down 5.2% from the prior month and down 11.3% from the year-ago month, the US Census reported Wednesday. The weaker figures were partly due to weather-related delays in February, which pushed some loadings into March. However, the year-over-year decline also reflects continued weakness in the seaborne market for both thermal and metallurgical coal. Platts assessed the spot price for low vol US met coal FOB US East Coast on Wednesday at $102.50/mt, down 13.3% from a year-ago. Met coal exports totaled 3.8 million mt in April, down 20.2% from March and down 18.1% from the year-ago month. For the year, met coal exports total 16.1 million mt, down 19.5% compared with the same period last year. Article continues below… Platts Coal Trader provides the latest prices for key benchmark coals, as well as: Daily pricing for tons […]

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California Oil Spill Pipeline Was Badly Corroded, Government Report Finds

LOS ANGELES–A pipeline rupture that spilled an estimated 101,000 gallons of crude oil near Santa Barbara last month occurred along a badly corroded section that had worn away to a fraction of an inch in thickness, federal regulators said Wednesday. The preliminary findings released by the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration point to a possible cause of the May 19 spill that blackened popular beaches with crude oil and created a 9-mile slick in the Pacific Ocean. The agency said investigators found that corrosion at the break site had degraded the pipe wall thickness to 1/16 of an inch. Additionally, the report noted that the area that failed was close to three repairs that had been made to the pipeline because of corrosion after 2012 inspections. The findings indicate that over 80% of the metal pipe wall had worn away over time because of corrosion, said Richard […]

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Denton Hits Pause On Fracking Ban Repeal

Denton’s ban on hydraulic fracturing within its city limits will stay on the books – at least, for now. The Denton City Council had considered repealing the ban, which passed in November with 59 percent of the vote, in anticipation of legal action . However, after hearing several hours’ worth of testimony in which residents made impassioned pleas for more time to weigh their options, the council demurred and let the agenda item fail without a vote. All of which means that once the council is satisfied it has fully researched the option – or even take another strategy – it can reconsider action. Denton resident Christopher Furman told the council that if they chose to “undermine our fracking ban,” the outcome would make both the city and the council look weak. After seven months, the ban was in play again because the Texas Legislature and governor in recent […]

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Shale Oil: The Sky’s the Limit

Shale Oil As crude prices plunged throughout the fall of 2014, producers tightened their budgets and changed their strategies to wait out the crisis. Not only are these tactics working for individual companies, but the efficiencies and innovations that are occurring may be setting the stage for another season of prosperity. Cutting Costs Producers have slashed costs associated with drilling through greater efficiencies and supplier reductions, including these first quarter results: Sanchez reported Q1 costs at 30 to 40% below fourth quarter 2014 Matador reduced operating costs 30% to 40% for Q1 Continental ’s drilling and completion costs fell by 15% EOG announced it has benefitted greatly from the pull-back in activity and progress is being made to lowering cost in each phase of their operations Innovation Looking for greater efficiency also means innovation. Cutting edge producers are pushing the science and technology to new levels as they work […]

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Canadian oil exports by rail fall

Canadian crude oil exports by rail down by more than a quarter year-on-year, federal data show. Photo by Steven Frame/Shutterstock CALGARY, Alberta, June 3 (UPI) — Canadian crude oil exports by rail for the three months ending in March declined by more than 25 percent year-on-year, federal data show. The National Energy Board updated data on total crude oil exports by rail , showing an average 119,755 barrels per day were shipped for the three months ending in March. That’s down 24 percent from the three-month period ending in December and 27 percent less than the same period in 2014. Though rail shipments have declined recently, the volume delivered through March 2015 is six times greater than the volume delivered for the three months ending March 2012, data show. North American crude oil production has increased to the point that it’s more than the existing pipeline infrastructure can handle, […]

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Report: LNG could challenge oil as transport fuel

Trucking fleets may be considering natural gas as their fuel of choice, a report from IHS finds. File Photo by UPI/Ezio Petersen PARIS, June 3 (UPI) — China may take the lead, along with the trucking sector, in the transport shift from oil to natural gas and liquefied natural gas, a report from IHS finds. Michael Stoppard, chief gas strategist for the consultant firm, said lower crude oil prices have taken the spotlight off the pursuit for natural gas as an alternative transport fuel. "Nonetheless, the shift to greater use of gas in trucks is set to continue," he said in an emailed statement. "It is widely accepted that power generation is the primary growth market for natural gas demand, but gas as a fuel offers a new market with potentially more value." While passenger vehicles and trucks are comparable in terms of oil consumption, the study finds truck […]

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Fire threat to oil abates in Alberta

Crews returning to oil installations in Alberta as threat of wildfire subsides. Rain forecast through end of the week in the Canadian province. File Photo by UPI/Al Golub CALGARY, Alberta, June 3 (UPI) — Staff members are returning to Alberta oil installations after emergency service officials cleared the area of major wildfire threats, Cenovus Energy said. Rain is expected through the end of the week in Calgary, the nation’s forecaster said. Hot, dry weather led provincial authorities in May to issue an open-fire ban to curb the spread of wildfires in Alberta. As of Friday, more than 43,000 hectares have burned, though only five of the 41 active fires are considered out of control. Cenovus Energy said its crews were working to restore power to its Foster Creek oil sands operation, which has the capacity to process 135,000 barrels of oil per day. Foster Creek was closed by fire […]

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Back off, Alaskan energy group tells Shell activists

Alaskan energy coalition says it’s frustrated by non-state activists protesting Shell work planned for its territorial waters. UPI/Brian Kersey ANCHORAGE, Alaska, June 3 (UPI) — With pressure building on Shell’s port activity in Seattle, an Alaskan energy coalition said the state’s economy won’t be held hostage by external activists. "We don’t like our economy being held hostage by activists from another state," Anne Seneca, president of the Consumer Energy Alliance-Alaska, said in a statement. With federal approval in hand, Shell said it may start its drilling campaign in the arctic waters off the coast of Alaska as early as this summer. Shell’s drilling rig, Polar Pioneer, is stationed at the Port of Seattle ahead of the program’s start. In mid-May, a flotilla of kayakers took to the waters off the coast of Seattle to protest Shell. Advocacy group Friends of the Earth launched a legal challenge against the federal […]

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Former PHMSA chief questions need for Keystone XL

Former U.S. pipeline regulator said domestic landscape may longer be suitable for a pipeline like Keystone XL. Photo courtesy of TransCanada HOUSTON, June 3 (UPI) — U.S. crude oil production may be at a point where the planned Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada isn’t needed, a former U.S. pipeline regulator said. President Barack Obama in February made good on his pledge to veto legislation the White House said circumvents the normal vetting procedures for the pipeline planned to cross the U.S.-Canadian border. Cynthia Quaterman, the former administrator for the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, told delegates at a Houston summit sponsored by energy reporting agency Argus the Keystone XL pipeline might not fit in the U.S. oil landscape. "With the amount of crude that’s being produced in this country now, I think it’s quite possible that the president might not approve the project," she said. "I […]

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North Dakota orders oil wells shut in on flooding concerns

WILLISTON, N.D. North Dakota oil regulators ordered small, privately held Zavanna LLC to shut in oil wells near the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers on Wednesday after more than 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) of rainfall sparked flooding concerns. The state’s Department of Mineral Resources said it is concerned the confluence, located near the state oil capital of Williston, could exceed flood stage levels of 22 feet (6.7 meters) by this weekend after Tuesday’s rainfall, which easily surpassed the record of 0.9 inch (2.3 cm) set in 2002. Denver-based Zavanna, which produces roughly 10,000 barrels of oil per day in North Dakota, typically keeps 15 wells near the confluence shut in during May due to flooding concerns. The state’s order on Wednesday effectively forces the company to keep those wells closed for the foreseeable future. "We’re going to wait until we’re more comfortable starting them up," said Kelsi […]

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US crude oil exports in April reach record 586,000 bpd

[NEW YORK] US crude oil exports in April reached a record high of 586,000 barrels per day, foreign trade data showed on Wednesday. April’s exports, which were some 169,000 bpd higher than the previous month, were the highest recorded since data was available in 1920 from the US Energy Information Administration. This surpasses a previous 502,000 bpd record in November. Meanwhile, a record 492,000 bpd were exported to Canada, compared with the 378,000 bpd in March, US Census Bureau’s foreign trade data showed. Other exports went to China, South Korea, the Netherlands and Spain, the data showed. A US law dating back to the oil shortages of the 1970s generally bars exports of domestically produced crude, but shipments to Canada are broadly allowed, as are re-exports of foreign oil. The figures combine domestically produced and re-exported crude oil. US Census’s foreign trade oil data is published weeks earlier than […]

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Greece will not pay IMF on Friday without prospect of a deal: lawmaker

ATHENS Greece will not make a June 5 repayment to the International Monetary Fund if there is no prospect of an aid-for-reforms deal with its international creditors soon, the spokesman for the ruling Syriza party said on Wednesday. The payment of 300 million euros ($335 million) is the first of four this month totaling 1.6 billion euros from a country that depends on foreign aid to stay afloat. Greece owes a total of about 320 billion euros, of which about 65 percent to euro zone governments and the IMF, and about 8.7 percent to the European Central Bank. On Tuesday, Greece’s creditors drafted the broad outlines of an agreement to put to the leftist government in Athens in a bid to conclude four months of negotiations and release aid before the country runs out of money. "If there is no prospect of a deal by Friday or Monday, I […]

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Greek Debt Impasse Spurs Third Day of Losses for European Stocks

European stocks deepened a drop as another round of talks failed to end a stalemate in Greek debt talks. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.6 percent to 393.71 at 8:11 a.m. in London. Greek debt talks have dragged on even with loan-payment deadlines looming, helping push the benchmark gauge 5 percent down from a record in April. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras rejected proposals by European leaders and the International Monetary Fund to help unlock more aid, instead backing his own government’s plans. The country has to make four payments totaling more than 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion) to the IMF this month, even as its euro region bailout expires. Tsipras indicated that Greece won’t miss the first installment due Friday. Still, traders are betting stock swings will fade with Greek worries, letting them return their focus to the economy and company earnings. Options market data shows expectations […]

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Ukraine forces, separatists fight first serious battles in months

KIEV Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists on Wednesday fought their first serious battles in months and Ukraine’s defense minister said an attempt by rebels to take the eastern town of Maryinka had been thwarted. The Ukrainian military said the Russian-backed rebels had tried to advance using tanks and up to 1,000 fighters west of the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk, in the most significant escalation of the conflict in about three months and in defiance of a ceasefire deal. Estimates of casualties varied. The separatists, who denied their forces had launched an assault, said 15 people had been killed when government troops fired artillery into rebel-held territory near the city. A Ukrainian presidential spokesman, Yuri Biryukov, on his Facebook page put total casualties at 7 p.m. (1600 gmt) at two dead and 30 injured, while regional police chief Vyacheslav Abroskin said three civilians had been killed. In Moscow, the […]

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Russia in Full ‘Crisis’ to Kudrin Forecasting Longer Recession

Former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin Russia will endure a longer recession than forecast by the government, former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said, urging the central bank to refrain from further interest-rate cuts as economic risks persist. Gross domestic product may continue shrinking into the first quarter of next year, putting the economy on track for zero growth in 2016 after a slump of about 4 percent in 2015, Kudrin said in Moscow on Wednesday. Kudrin, 54, took issue with the contention by government officials that Russia has put the worst of the economic crisis behind it and warned that companies are only now beginning to feel the pain of collapsing demand. “We are now in a full-fledged crisis,” Kudrin said. “The situation in the real sector is still very bad.” The assessment by the long-time ally of President Vladimir Putin is at odds with government expectations for a […]

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Euro pauses after biggest gains in six years

LONDON The euro took a breather on Thursday, after its biggest two-day gain against the dollar in over six years on Thursday as the European Central Bank played down the impact of bond market volatility and the euro zone returned to inflation. The biggest mover among major currencies on Thursday was the Australian dollar, which skidded 1 percent to $0.7708 after weak data renewed expectations of further monetary easing. AUD=D4 Tracking a spike in German Bund yields on Wednesday, their biggest two-day move since 1998, the euro had rallied across the board, touching a two-week high against the dollar at $1.12855 EUR= after ECB President Mario Draghi indicated the ECB would not add more stimulus because of rising yields. But having gained over 3 percent in the two previous days, the euro edged down 0.1 percent in European trading on Thursday to $1.12595, as Bund yields came off their […]

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Forget the Noise: Oil Prices Won’t Crash Again

Oil rising to $60/bbl is displeasing some people, particularly the shorts. Some of the more extreme –those calling for oil in the $20’s – have wisely fallen silent. Others, like Goldman Sachs, who a few months ago had set their flag in the 30’s, have unfortunately not gone so silent. They recently moved their flag into the 40’s but they continue to talk a lot. A better strategy – though one that would require some humility — would be to stop talking and listen. Recent and compounding data will soon wash away the walls of worry erected by the experts. Four consecutive weeks of inventory draws, each one larger than the last is irrefutable proof that a 60% decline in the rig count means something. Shorts will downplay this trend and point to last week’s surge in US production. But this could have had as much to do with […]

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Oil prices drop as oversupply weighs on markets

SINGAPORE Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday as oversupply weighed on markets, with OPEC not expected to announce a production cut at its meeting on Friday. Core Gulf members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which controls over 40 percent of the world’s crude production, have a consensus to maintain the group’s oil output at its meeting this week, a senior Gulf OPEC delegate told Reuters in Vienna on Tuesday. "There is consensus among Gulf OPEC countries, and others, to keep the (production) ceiling unchanged," the source said. "Nobody wants to rock the boat. The meeting is expected to be smooth sailing." High production by OPEC, but also from other regions like U.S. shale producers and Russia, has contributed to oversupply and left tankers filled with millions of barrels of oil without buyers. Some analysts said there was a chance OPEC could increase its production target. […]

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Oil Slips on Investor Caution, U.S. Inventory Data Awaited

By Eric Yep Crude-oil futures slipped in Asian trade Wednesday after an industry report showed a surprise uptick in U.S. oil inventories and as investors were reluctant to boost positions ahead of Friday’s OPEC meeting. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in July traded at $60.91 a barrel at 0325 GMT, down $0.35 in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.28 to $65.21 a barrel. Late Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute reported an unexpected 1.8-million-barrel increase in U.S. oil stocks for the week ended May 29. The more definitive inventory data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration is due later Wednesday and markets expect a decline. U.S. oil inventory data, along with oil production levels, affect oil prices as traders and investors have been looking for any sign of how the U.S. shale industry will respond […]

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Oil prices stabilize, firm demand counters oversupply

SINGAPORE Crude oil prices stabilized on Tuesday due to firm demand after dipping in early trade on expectations that OPEC would not cut output at its meeting this week. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meets this Friday in Vienna to discuss its production strategy, with U.S. bank Citi saying the group was likely to maintain current production. Prices were supported as Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi said overnight that demand would pick up and tighten the market in the second half of the year. "Comments from Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali al-Naimi were characteristically upbeat, acknowledging a current surplus in the market, but anticipating stronger second half demand and an eventual rebalancing of the market," Citi said in a note responding to his comments. Front-month Brent crude futures fell to a low of $64.71 per barrel on Tuesday, before edging back to $64.85 by 0345 GMT. […]

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Natural Gas Rallies as Bears Exit

By Timothy Puko Natural gas surged Tuesday afternoon as more optimistic demand forecasts and data showing falling production are chasing bears from the market. Prices for the front-month June contract gained 4.9 cents, or 1.9%, to $2.698 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It is the second straight winning session and gas rallied more than 3.5% intraday after it fell to $2.606/mmBtu just after noon. Weather models grew slightly warmer in their midday updates, which built up expectations for gas demand at power plants that are feeding air conditioners, meteorologists said. It wasn’t a big change, but many traders are already nervous and the change likely pushed some to cover their bets, said Marc Kerrest, a trader in San Francisco. "It wasn’t that impressive, but it seemed like that was driving things along," said Matt Rogers at Commodity Weather Group LLC in Bethesda, Md. […]

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Oil Industry Takes Aim at Coal, Pushes Gas Ahead of Climate-Change Talks

By Sarah Kent and Inti Landauro PARIS–Europe’s largest oil companies on Tuesday came out forcefully against coal, taking aim at a competing fossil fuel as they push cleaner-burning natural gas ahead of climate-change talks. Executives from Royal Dutch Shell PLC, BP PLC, Total SA and others told industry officials at a conference that their increased production of gas could help reduce carbon emissions and lessen the world’s reliance on coal for heating homes and creating electricity. Coal, they said, was a pollutant that set back environmental efforts. "Together with renewable energies it is important to promote the use of gas to replace coal," Total CEO Patrick Pouyanné said. "It would contribute at a low cost to meet carbon emissions targets." The message was delivered at the World Gas Conference in Paris six months before United Nations climate-change talks that could result in an agreement to curb carbon emissions and […]

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How Long Can OPEC Maintain Its Current Strategy?

The six-month clock is up. OPEC is convening this week in Vienna, as it does every six months, to discuss and decide on how the group will coordinate. The November 2014 meeting was one of the most widely covered in years. After leaving its collective output quota unchanged for several consecutive meetings in a row, much of the world watched for a major policy change. The glut of oil had led to a crash in prices, falling from well over $100 per barrel, down to the $70 range. As it had in the past, surely the cartel would pull the production lever downwards, switching off a million barrels per day or so in order to stop the bleeding? That decision never came. In a move that shocked the oil markets, and enraged many of OPEC’s own members, production levels were not touched. Saudi Arabia looked into the history books […]

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Oil exports keep pushing record highs

Iraqi Minister of Oil Adil Abd al-Mahdi (R) takes a tour of Basra Gulf export platforms on Sept. 21, 2014, (HAIDAR MOHAMMED ALI/AFP/Getty Images) Iraq notched its third straight record-setting month of oil exports in May, and is poised for further growth in June due to an overhaul of how oil is blended and marketed in Basra.May exports averaged 3.145 million barrels per day (bpd), according to the Oil Ministry, up from 3.077 million bpd in April. The average sale price was also higher – $55 in May compared to $51 in April – and revenues rose from $4.8 billion to more than $5.3 billion.The export gains could continue.As 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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OPEC finds oil output consensus: ‘Don’t rock the boat’

VIENNA OPEC is set to carry on pumping oil nearly flat-out for months more, content that last year’s shock market therapy has revived moribund demand and knocked back growing competition. With oil prices having stabilized, for now, at around $65 a barrel, some $20 off their January lows, there’s little appetite within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to modify production limits, as some analysts have suggested is an outside possibility. "There is consensus among Gulf OPEC countries, and others, to keep the ceiling unchanged," a senior Gulf OPEC delegate told Reuters late on Tuesday after an informal meeting of the four core Gulf Arab OPEC members earlier in the day. The group meets on Friday following a two-day seminar featuring the chief executives of the world’s biggest energy groups, including BP ( BP.L ) and Exxon ( XOM.N ), companies whose fortunes have been abruptly altered by […]

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Is OPEC About to Step Up Production?

Could there be some real news out of OPEC? The global oil market has been pretty clear that it doesn’t expect the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to make any adjustments to its production quota, which currently stands at 30 million barrels a day, when its members meet in Vienna on Friday. There is the old refrain about OPEC cutting its production quota so as to push up global prices. OPEC members have said they’ll consider a cut if other major producers such as Russia also agree to cut back. That has all but been ruled out. Now, however, there is a slight shift in the other direction. Maybe OPEC might double down, and increase its production quota? In recent days, a number of analysts have started to suggest that’s exactly what the OPEC members may decide. If they do, it would at best be symbolic, as its members […]

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Russia, Non-OPEC Producers Met with OPEC Last Month

VIENNA—Officials from Russia’s energy ministry last month met with other oil producing countries at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries headquarters in Vienna to discuss a global oil glut that has sent prices tumbling. The secret conversations ended on May 13 after two days of discussions and without the release of a public statement, people familiar with the matter said. The discussions underscore the distance between OPEC and Russia, the world’s largest oil producer, ahead of Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak’s unusual visit to Vienna for OPEC’s semiannual meeting. Though Mr. Novak is expected to meet with OPEC Secretary General Abdalla Salem el-Badri and some OPEC ministers from outside the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, he has signaled Russia won’t do what some OPEC hard-liners want: namely cut its own production. “At the meetings, it is not planned to agree on production volumes,” Mr. Novak told the Interfax news […]

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OPEC Is Winning the Oil War

As OPEC ministers meet in Vienna this week they’ll be debating whether the strategy that’s upended oil markets is working. The last time the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries met, in November, it jolted markets by leaving production unchanged instead of staunching a glut by trimming output. Prices collapsed to the lowest in six years. OPEC said it wanted to “restore market equilibrium” with stable prices. That means flooding the market so oil drops to a level that forces higher-cost producers to scale back, ultimately pushing prices back up. Now the 12-member group, which controls about 40 percent of world supplies, has to decide whether to change course or stick to its target. These charts illustrate to what extent the strategy has been paying off. Producers are cutting back… Data from the Energy Information Administration shows a contraction in monthly production growth from the top three shale producing regions […]

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OPEC hopes for further oil price recovery despite glut

VIENNA Angola’s oil minister said on Tuesday that $80 per barrel may be right for crude, joining a chorus of OPEC officials and delegates hoping for a further price recovery in months to come despite a global glut. "I would like the price (to) go up, but it is not easy," Jose Botelho de Vasconcelos told reporters. OPEC meets on Friday and is widely expected to maintain its production policy. Last November, OPEC refused to cut output and chose instead to defend market share, adding to the supply surplus arising from booming U.S. oil output. The decision prompted a crash in oil prices to as low as $46 per barrel in January, although crude has recovered to $65 in recent weeks on hopes of a slowdown in U.S. output growth. On Monday, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Ali al-Naimi said he saw supply thinning and demand improving although he added […]

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Iraq PM says allies not doing enough to counter Islamic State

PARIS Iraq’s prime minister on Tuesday accused the international coalition fighting Islamic State of not doing enough to tackle the group, and said important members such as Saudi Arabia are not curbing the flow of foreign fighters to his country. Western and Middle Eastern countries in the coalition are meeting this week in Paris. Part of their agenda is to persuade the Iraqi government to repair its relationship with Iraq’s Sunni minority. The meeting follows the Iraqi government’s biggest military setback in nearly a year. On May 17, Islamic State seized Ramadi from the weakened Iraqi army. The capital of the overwhelmingly Sunni Anbar province is just 90 km (55 miles) west of Baghdad. Since then, government troops and Shi’ite militias have been building up positions around the city. Many of Iraq’s minority Sunnis dislike hardline Sunni Islamic State but also fear the Shi’ite militias after years of bloody […]

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New Iraqi crude meets cool reception in Asia

SINGAPORE Asia has given Iraq’s launch of its new Basra Heavy crude oil grade a poor reception after the No. 2 OPEC producer appears to have misjudged demand, supplying too much, too soon. Sellers of the new grade have struggled to find buyers, with at least one Malaysian-based trader taking a deep discount to offload 2 million barrels, while others have complained about a lack of pre-marketing and slow delivery of technical details to refineries. The problems, which have increased shipping and marketing costs for term buyers and Iraq’s equity partners in its southern oilfields, may hamper the country’s efforts to ramp up exports and could lead Asian buyers to look closely at Iranian oil if sanctions are lifted. "Asian refiners are conservative. You cannot bring new crude overnight and expect it to be taken up quickly," a trader with a western firm said. Iraq – which sells more […]

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Assad’s Forces May Be Aiding New ISIS Surge

ISTANBUL — Building on recent gains in Iraq and Syria, Islamic State militants are marching across northern Syria toward Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, helped along, their opponents say, by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad . In the countryside northeast of Aleppo on Tuesday, Islamic State fighters fought rival Syrian insurgents amid fears that the Islamic State was positioning itself to make Aleppo its next big prize. Syrian opposition leaders accused the Syrian government of essentially collaborating with the Islamic State, leaving the militants unmolested as they pressed a surprise offensive against other insurgent groups — even though the government and the Islamic State are nominal enemies — and instead striking the rival insurgents. At the same time, the rebels complained that the United States has refrained from contributing air support to help them fend off simultaneous attacks by the government and the Islamic State. The United States has […]

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Anti-ISIS Coalition Makes Little Progress at Paris Meeting

PARIS — With Islamist militant fighters on the ground in Syria and Iraq moving faster than the international coalition arrayed against them, a meeting in Paris by coalition members on Tuesday seemed unlikely to reverse the momentum anytime soon. With the French and American governments playing host, 24 foreign ministers or their representatives have been meeting here in the aftermath of serious losses to the Islamic State in both Iraq and Syria last month and the possibility that more territory will be lost in the coming days. The group did not embrace any major changes and appeared set to continue on its current course, even though over the past few weeks Syria’s government had lost control of the strategically important city of Palmyra and the Iraqi government has lost control of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province, to the Islamic State. Both of those cities have strategic and symbolic […]

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Saudi Arabia to boost defence spending

Saudi Arabia is on track to become the world’s fifth-largest military spender by 2020 as it boosts its defence budget by 27 per cent over the next five years despite lower oil prices. With regional conflicts worsening the oil-rich kingdom‘s neighbours, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, are also planning to increase spending on their militaries, said consultancy IHS Jane’s Aerospace, Defence & Security. By contrast, smaller Gulf states are reacting to the lower oil-price by making deeper cuts to defence plans. The IHS forecasts assume oil prices will recover to $80 a barrel by 2017, rising to $100 a barrel by the end of the decade. IHS says Saudi defence spending will be $48.7bn in 2015, a 2 per cent contraction over last year. It will rise slightly to $49.5bn next year before jumping to $52bn in 2017 and reaching $62bn by 2020. Riyadh’s defence budget had been […]

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IHS: Arab defense spending influenced little by oil

Military budgets for some Arab countries in the Middle East remains strong despite low prices for crude oil. File photo by Mohammad Abdullah/UPI LONDON, June 2 (UPI) — Despite the heavy influence oil revenue plays for some Middle East countries, spending on defense remains positive, a review from IHS Inc. finds. IHS in its review of defense spending by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates finds upward momentum despite a weakened crude oil market. "Despite Saudi Arabia’s heavy exposure to oil price fluctuations, there have been very few signs of any severe reactionary adjustments to government spending trends," Craig Caffrey, principal defense budget analyst at IHS Jane’s Aerospace, Defense and Security, said in a Tuesday statement. "The Kingdom has only cut defense and security expenditure once over the last 15 years." IHS finds Saudi Arabia’s defense budget has accelerated to a rate of 19 percent a year since […]

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How Saudi Arabia’s 79-year-old King Salman is shaking up the Middle East

CAIRO — When King Salman became Saudi Arabia’s ruler this year, few people expected much change. He was 79 and reputedly in ill health. The longtime governor of Riyadh province, Salman was known as a capable administrator and skilled mediator, not as a man who challenged the status quo. But since taking the throne in January, Salman has shaken up Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy and the royal family’s succession plans. He has launched a bombing campaign against Shiite rebels in Yemen and increased support for rebels in Syria , signaling a more assertive role for an oil-rich kingdom that traditionally relied on the United States for security. Salman’s goal, analysts say, is to guard Sunni Muslims against what he sees as the growing influence of Shiite Iran. “This is a Saudi moment for the region,” said Nawaf Obaid, a former adviser to the Saudi royal court who is now […]

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Oasis at Risk: Oman’s Ancient Water Channels Are Drying Up

Since pre-Islamic times, Oman’s water systems known as aflaj have brought water from the mountains and made the desert bloom. But now, unregulated pumping of groundwater is depleting aquifers and causing the long-reliable channels to run dry. It was 47 degrees Celsius. Make that 117 degrees Fahrenheit. In mid-May, the desert of northern Oman may have been the hottest place on the planet. But in the shade of the oasis, the temperature was dramatically cooler. Ali Al Muharbi, in his white robes and beard, beamed as he showed me around the date palms. All were irrigated by water gurgling down a channel dug many centuries ago to tap underground water in the nearby Hajar mountains. In Oman, a country on the shores of the Arabian Sea, these magical waters conjured from the most arid land imaginable are called “unfailing springs.” Image by Fred Pearce: Ali Al Muharbi (right) says […]

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Could Middle East Switch From Oil to Renewables?

Decreasing prices in solar power could provide opportunities for oil-poor countries “Costs have halved in just three years,” energy consultant Robin Mills noted last week , “meaning solar can now beat all conventional generation apart from the very cheapest gas.” Mills cited the bids in Jordan’s recent solar auction, which were just over 6 US cents per kilowatt-hour. These were just slightly above the record 5.84 cents from Acwa Power last November for the 200 MW second phase of Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar park. It could be Egypt’s turn next, Mills suggested, as the North African country struggles with a gas and power crisis and is reportedly working on 6,500 MW of solar deals. “Petroleum-poor countries such as Jordan should seize the opportunity now to boost their economic and energy security,” Mills, the head of consulting for Dubai-based Manaar Energy, urged in an article for Abu […]

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Nigeria: Fuel Crisis Persists Despite FG, Marketers’ Assurances

Abuja — Despite the assurances by stakeholders in the petroleum sector on the resolution of the crisis in the sector, fuel scarcity has persisted in Abuja with widespread sharp practices recorded across almost all the petrol stations. Of note is the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, mega stations along the Kubwa Expressway, where some officials of the outlet connived with some policemen and security agents to frustrate motorists and heighten the suffering of Nigerians. Specifically, when Vanguard visited the petrol station, some policemen stationed outside the entrance were collecting N1,000 from some motorists and allowing them to enter into the petrol station through the exit gate, thereby, leaving other motorists who had queued for hours stranded. Only 9 out of 40 pumps dispensing Also, of the over 40 pumps in the station, only about nine were dispensing to motorists. Two of the pumps were selling to the hundreds of […]

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