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Oil Tankers Are Filling Up and Raking It In

The oil-tanker market is heating up, a development some analysts say is a warning flare that signals further price declines for crude. The Baltic Dirty Tanker Index, which tracks the rates to hire oil tankers plying 16 routes, has shot up 25% this month, as global oil output continues to grow. The index is now at its highest level since January 2014. But an increasing number of these oil cargoes have nowhere to go. Oil producers and traders are rushing to lease tankers while they scramble to find buyers, effectively turning these ships into floating storage facilities. The oil-supply glut has worsened since the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries earlier this month decided to maintain crude-output levels. A recent rebound in oil prices has stalled amid copious supplies world-wide, and many market watchers are bracing for the resumption of a selloff that sent Brent crude, the global benchmark, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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EU’s Mogherini says “not impossible” to get Iran nuclear deal

PARIS European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Sunday it was not impossible to get a deal between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program but said tough days lay ahead as a self-imposed June 30 deadline nears. France’s foreign minister said on Saturday an accord remained elusive due to disagreements over fundamental issues, while the U.S. and Iranian top diplomats said hard work was still needed for what could be their final negotiations to bridge significant differences. "If a few days more are needed we will take them," Mogherini told reporters on arrival in Vienna. "It is going to be tough… but not impossible. It is a matter of political will," she said before meeting the U.S., British, German and French foreign ministers. The talks also include Russia and China. The deadline for a deal under which Iran would cut back its nuclear program in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iran supasses Russia in natural gas reserves

The National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) in an announcement said the measured reserves of natural gas in Iran have increased to above 34 trillion cubic meters (tcm) which is about 1.4 tcm more than the reserves of Russia. NIGC reported the figure had been provided by BP in its 2015 Statistical Review of World Energy and puts Iran ahead of Russia whose reserves stand at about 32.6 tcm for a second consecutive year. The report further adds that Iran’s gas production saw an increase of 5.2 percent in 2014 to reach a total of 172.6 bcm.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Assad Chemical Threat Mounts

Activists say regime forces hit Ibleen, Syria, with chlorine gas in May. U.S. intelligence agencies believe there is a strong possibility the Assad regime will use chemical weapons on a large scale as part of a last-ditch effort to protect key Syrian government strongholds if Islamist fighters and other rebels try to overrun them, U.S. officials said. Analysts and policy makers have been poring over all available intelligence hoping to determine what types of chemical weapons the regime might be able to deploy and what event or events might trigger their use, according to officials briefed on the matter. Last year, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad let international inspectors oversee the removal of what President Barack Obama called the regime’s most deadly chemical weapons. The deal averted U.S. airstrikes that would have come in retaliation for an Aug. 21, 2013, sarin-gas attack that killed more than 1,400 people. Since then, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Baghdad-Erbil oil deal crumbling

KRG Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami during a speech at the 2015 Sulaimani Forum on March 11, 2015, as Iraqi Oil Minister Adil Abd al-Mahdi looks on. (Source: American University of Iraq – Sulaimani) Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is backing away from its troubled oil export and revenue sharing agreement with Baghdad, by allocating much more of its oil production to autonomous sales and seeking to renegotiate its fiscal relationship with Baghdad.KRG leaders have not formally declared an end to the deal, but they notified Kurdish members of the Iraqi Cabinet that they can no longer guarantee the transfers of oil prescribed in the 2015 national budget law. Deputy Pri… 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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Kurdish Bond Opens New Front in Autonomy Battle With Baghdad

An Iraqi official said the Kurds who govern the north of the country have no right to sell their own bonds, opening a new dispute between the Baghdad government and the breakaway region. The Kurdistan Regional Government says it has hired Goldman Sachs International and Deutsche Bank AG to gauge interest in a sale of dollar bonds, and meetings with international investors are scheduled this week. “How can they issue them? Who will guarantee them?” Muneer Mohammed Omran, director general of the central bank’s investor department in Baghdad, said by phone. “They’re not allowed to issue international bonds, this is a federal measure. Only the federal government can do that.” Iraq’s Kurds, who have largely ruled themselves since the early 1990s, have edged closer to financial independence in recent years. Amid disputes with Baghdad over territory and how to share budget revenues, the Kurds have sought to market their […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Why the Saudis Are Going Solar

Prince Turki bin Saud bin Mohammad Al Saud belongs to the family that rules Saudi Arabia. He wears a white thawb and ghutra , the traditional robe and headdress of Arab men, and he has a cavernous office hung with portraits of three Saudi royals. When I visited him in Riyadh this spring, a waiter poured tea and subordinates took notes as Turki spoke. Everything about the man seemed to suggest Western notions of a complacent functionary in a complacent, oil-rich kingdom. But Turki doesn’t fit the stereotype, and neither does his country. Quietly, the prince is helping Saudi Arabia—the quintessential petrostate—prepare to make what could be one of the world’s biggest investments in solar power. Near Riyadh, the government is preparing to build a commercial-scale solar-panel factory. On the Persian Gulf coast, another factory is about to begin producing large quantities of polysilicon, a material used to make […]

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Syrian media: Mortars fall on central Damascus for 2nd day

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s official news agency says a mortar round has hit a central Damascus square, wounding three people in the second such attack in the Syrian capital in as many days. It is not uncommon for Damascus to be shelled, but Monday’s attack targeted the Ummayad Square, home to the headquarters of Syria’s state TV and radio, and the opera house. It’s also close to the Defense Ministry. The agency says the shell caused damage, but gave no details. On Sunday, two mortar rounds hit a crowded outdoor market and al-Amarra district, also in central Damascus, killing three people and wounding 12, including a child and two women. Armed Islamic factions fighting forces loyal to President Bashar Assad control parts of the Syrian capital and large parts of the city’s suburbs.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China to launch first crude futures contract no sooner than Sep

China’s first crude futures contract will be launched no sooner than September, based on a statement by regulators that they need three more months to complete the process. The statement by the China Securities Regulatory Commission on Friday was its first timing estimate for the contract, which has been in the works for several years. In December, the watchdog approved Shanghai Futures Exchange’s application to host the contract through Shanghai International Energy Exchange, its wholly owned subsidiary in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone. CSRC said it needs three months to work with various ministries and organizations to issue supporting guidelines and administrative rules for the contract, to examine and approve trading rules for the host exchange, to recruit members and overseas investors and to educate market players. Article continues below… The Platts Global Energy Awards is a competitive awards program honoring excellence and accomplishments in the global energy industry. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China Struggles to Balance Volatile Markets

BEIJING—As the past trading week drew to a close, the People’s Bank of China was getting increasingly nervous about the money evaporating from Chinese stocks. The central bank decided it was time for an about-face, quickly moving to ease credit. Just a week or so earlier, China’s central bank had quietly drained some funds from the country’s financial system, another step in the dance between the PBOC and investors. Its objective, according to banking executives and officials close to the central bank: to take some heat out of the country’s feverish stock market by preventing banks flush with cash from funneling money into stocks. But the effort had gone awry, sending a signal to investors that Beijing’s recent easing cycle was coming to an end. Chinese equities plunged in the following days, culminating in Friday’s 7.4% decline, their biggest one-day drop in years. Panic selling even spilled over to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple