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Iran Holds Out Improved Oil-Contract Terms

TEHRAN—Iran is prepared to offer longer term and more profitable contracts to international oil and gas firms but expects substantive partnerships with Iranian companies, said oil ministry officials, signaling how the cloistered country will try to entice billions of dollars in energy investments following any nuclear deal. The new contract model, which Iran has discussed with foreign companies but not yet released in its entirety, would pay companies more for boosting production, last longer and encourage joint ventures from the earliest stages of field development, said Ali Kardor, the vice president for investment and finance at the National Iranian Oil Co. The companies will also be expected to share more technology and management expertise with their Iranian partners. “They will have the incentive to produce more, and to transfer the technology,” Mr. Kardor said. Attention has focused on Iran’s oil and gas reserves, the fourth largest and biggest in […]

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Currency volatility reflects Iraq economic woes

Money changers count wads of Iraqi dinars in Baghdad on Oct. 1, 2012. (SAAD SHALASH/Reuters) Money changers count wads of Iraqi dinars in Baghdad on Oct. 1, 2012. (SAAD SHALASH/Reuters) The value of Iraq’s currency is falling – a new symptom of the ongoing financial crisis that the government is struggling to contain.Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Thursday called a meeting of his economic crisis team in the Cabinet to emphasize the importance of protecting the value of the Iraqi dinar."The Prime Minister stressed the need for follow-up and addressing any emerging issues, particularly maintaining the value of the dinar against the dollar in the domestic market," Ab… 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 .

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Seeds of destruction: Yemen civil war ripping society apart

ADEN, Yemen — The crows and their haunting screams are pervasive. They scavenge through mountains of rubbish lining the streets and tear at rotting bodies lying in the no man’s land separating the two warring sides in a conflict that has decimated this once bustling seaport. Yemen’s southern port city of Aden was, until recently, a popular if slightly dilapidated holiday retreat for throngs of Yemenis. Amid rising tension on March 19, Houthi militiamen, along with renegade military units loyal to the country’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, launched an assault in the city that quickly escalated into civil war. The widespread destruction caused by months of relentless fighting has torn the heart out of Aden, including the historic old town known as Crater that nestles in the dramatic backdrop of a dormant volcano. The most densely populated area of Aden is now ghostly quiet, save for the crows […]

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Saudi Oil Minister to Meet Russia Counterpart as Pact Discussed

Saudi Arabia’s oil minister will meet his Russian counterpart in St. Petersburg to discuss energy, after which the world’s two biggest crude exporters plan on signing a cooperation pact. The countries will sign an agreement after talks Thursday between Saudi Arabia’s Ali Al-Naimi and Alexander Novak, the Russian minister said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. He didn’t discuss the meeting’s agenda, which he said would focus on increasing energy cooperation. The pact won’t involve a joint oil production or export strategy, Reuters reported, citing a person it didn’t identify. Saudi Arabia is leading the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in a strategy of maintaining oil production levels at a time when the global crude market is in surplus, insisting suppliers outside the 12-nation group must help tackle the excess. Novak said as recently as June 3 that cutting crude production would hurt the oil market. The two […]

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Saudi April Crude Exports Drop as More Supply Used Locally

Saudi Arabia reduced crude oil exports in April as the world’s biggest producer used record supplies domestically for a burgeoning refining industry. Shipments fell to 7.74 million barrels a day from 7.9 million in March, the Riyadh-based Joint Organisations Data Initiative said on its website Thursday. The nation processed 2.22 million barrels a day in domestic refineries in April, the most since at least January 2002 when JODI started collecting statistics from governments. Saudi Arabia began operating a 400,000 barrel-a-day refinery at Yanbu on the Red Sea last year. Another plant with the same capacity is scheduled to begin operation in 2017 at Jazan in the country’s southwest. The kingdom’s oil-product exports rose 44 percent last year following the startup of a refinery in the Gulf port of Jubail, according to JODI data. “Saudi needs more crude to stay at home,” Kamel al-Harami, an independent oil analyst in Kuwait, […]

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Russia, Saudi Arabia to discuss broad oil cooperation agreement

ST PETERSBURG, Russia The oil ministers of Russia and Saudi Arabia plan to discuss a broad cooperation agreement on Thursday at an economic forum in St Petersburg, two sources told Reuters. Saudi Arabia is the top producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the world’s top oil exporter, while Russia, which is not an OPEC member, is the second biggest oil supplier to the global markets. One source said the agreement to be discussed between Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi would not be about joint oil production or export strategy. Russia has stepped up contacts with OPEC after oil prices plunged last year, but it has dismissed any suggestion it might cut output to prop up prices. OPEC has also refused to curb its output in order to defend market share. A spokeswoman for Russia’s Energy Ministry confirmed the meeting […]

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Nigeria’s Central Bank Said to Call Meeting Friday on FX Rules

Nigeria’s central bank will meet with banking executives and currency dealers on Friday and will probably discuss foreign-exchange trading restrictions, people familiar with the matter said. While the agenda hasn’t been disclosed, officials from the Central Bank of Nigeria may consult about easing currency trading rules, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified as the meeting is private. Traders and bankers have called for a loosening of controls enforced by central bank Governor Godwin Emefiele to protect the currency of Africa’s biggest oil producer against a 40 percent slump in Brent crude prices in the past year. The naira has weakened 18 percent against the dollar in that period. Central bank spokesmen Ibrahim Mu’azu and Ugochukwu Okoroafor couldn’t immediately confirm whether a meeting is taking place when contacted by phone on Thursday.

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Nigeria Loses $11.5bn to Tumbling Oil Prices

The federal government and the oil and gas producing companies may have lost an estimated $11.5billion to the drop in the price of Brent crude oil from $115 per barrel in June to $68.62 yesterday, THISDAY has learnt. With Nigeria producing about 2.4 million barrels per day and exporting 2.2 million barrels per day, the country may have lost as much as $11.5 billion between June and November this year, forcing the federal government to introduce a raft of measures to shore up its revenue in the face of dwindling earning from crude oil, its main revenue source. The situation may even become more dire should the slide persist. When THISDAY called the Minister of Finance and coordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala late last night for confirmation of the amount lost so far, she said: “It is not a straight forward arithmetical issue. It is pretty late […]

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Refining Magnate O’Malley’s PBF Soars on Exxon-PDVSA Deal

PBF Energy Inc. surged a record 14 percent after agreeing to buy a Louisiana crude refinery jointly owned by Exxon Mobil Corp. and Venezuela’s state-controlled oil company. The transaction, valued at $322 million, will increase PBF’s refining capacity by more than one-third and marks the Parsippany, New Jersey-based company’s first foray into the Gulf Coast, the biggest U.S. crude-processing region. It “represents a significant step in the strategic growth of PBF,” Chief Executive Officer Thomas Nimbley said in a statement on Thursday. Executive Chairman Thomas O’Malley, a former oil trader, has spent the last quarter century amassing refining assets and selling them at a premium to bigger operators. Today’s purchase involves a 189,000 barrels-a-day refining and chemicals plant in the New Orleans suburb of Chalmette, as well as a patchwork of related pipelines and storage facilities. PBF climbed to $29.97 at the close in New York in the biggest […]

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Venezuela Oil Loans Go Awry for China

HONG KONG—As Venezuela’s economy totters thanks to low oil prices and years of mismanagement, a Chinese government-owned bank is badly on the hook. China Development Bank has lent nearly $37 billion to Venezuela since 2008, helping to prop up the regime of Hugo Chávez and his successor, Nicolás Maduro, while becoming one of the Latin American nation’s biggest creditors. Venezuela says China has pledged billions more. CDB’s plan was simple. In return for its largess, Venezuela would send China millions of barrels of crude each year. Since the middle part of the last decade, the bank has doled out tens of billions in similar loans to energy companies and governments in other oil-producing countries to help secure resources for China’s expanding economy. In Venezuela, the strategy has gone awry. In recent months, CDB has extended loan maturities and eased repayment terms, allowing the country to send it less oil […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple