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Nigeria: Scarcity – IPMAN Seeks Police Protection, Begins 24-Hour Sale of Fuel

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has appealed to the Inspector-General of Police to provide adequate protection for its members, to enable them sell fuel for 24 hours. Chief Chinedu Okoronkwo, IPMAN’s President, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja. Okoronkwo said the appeal had become necessary following the unions directive to its members to sell fuel for 24 hours to clear the queues that had persisted across the country. The president, who expressed concern over the queues, said the measure was to ease the scarcity and make the product available to motorists. "We were not part of the strike that gave birth to the scarcity but we have taken the measure because when the system is burnt all other parts of the body will be affected. "Major marketers, transporters, owners and drivers, in one way or […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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As Coal Prices Fall, Miners Cut Output

SYDNEY—China’s appetite for coal used in steelmaking is faltering, deepening a market downturn miners say is the worst in recent memory. The price of steelmaking coal shipped from Australia, the world’s biggest exporter, has fallen 23% this year to roughly $86 a metric ton, its lowest level in nearly a decade. The slide extends a decline begun in 2011, during which the fuel’s value has slumped by around three-quarters. But analysts caution that prices will recover only if more cuts are made. The consultancy Wood Mackenzie doesn’t expect the oversupply of steelmaking coal, or coking coal, to clear up until about 2022. China, whose breakneck economic growth has been the engine for most global commodity markets, won’t need as much steelmaking coal in future, analysts now project. That leaves miners who rushed to open new pits in the boom years to struggle. Chinese sectors such as heavy industry and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China May services PMI rises to 53.5, new business up most since 2012

SHANGHAI Activity in China’s services sector accelerated in May as new business rose at the fastest pace in three years, a private survey showed on Wednesday, a rare piece of good news for policymakers struggling to reviving a cooling economy. Still, economists remain cautious on China’s overall economic outlook, as credit growth remains weak and manufacturing stagnates, reinforcing views that authorities will have to roll out more stimulus to avert a sharper slowdown. The headline HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for May was 53.5, up from 52.9 in April and well above the 50-point level that separates expansion from contraction. The May figure represented the fourth straight month of acceleration. The new business sub-component was at 54.4, up from 52.8 in April and the highest reading since 54.7 in May 2012. Employment at services firms grew at the fastest rate since January 2013, the survey showed, another encouraging sign […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China services PMI continues to grow: HSBC

BEIJING, June 3 (Xinhua) — China’s service sector continued to expand in May, according to an industry index released by HSBC on Wednesday. The HSBC/Markit services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) posted at 53.5 in May, up from 52.9 in April, registering the quickest expansion in eight months. The index samples more than 400 private service sector companies in China. A reading above 50 indicates expansion. HSBC said the growth was supported by a further increase in new work in May, and the latest increase in new business and new orders at service sector companies also boosted the PMI growth. On Monday, HSBC/Markit announced that the PMI for China’s manufacturing sector in May stood at 49.2, higher than the preliminary official reading of 49.1. Annabel Fiddes, an economist at Markit, said the latest China PMI data saw a strong service sector performance offsetting a deteriorating outlook among manufacturers, leading to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Why US oil will never go it alone

Let me keep this simple. American energy independence is an enormous red herring, no matter how much the U.S. shale hawks and politicians want it to be true. I can already hear the air over the other side of the Atlantic turning blue as I sit in my airplane seat at 33,000 feet on the way to the OPEC meeting in Vienna. But just bear with me for a moment. What the U.S. shale industry has done in such a short period of time is stunning. Technologically, it is an extraordinary feat; the world of hydrocarbon energy production has been revolutionized. No-one talks about Peak Oil in any meaningful way anymore. No-one questions that shale has added billions of barrels and decades possibly to “in-the-ground U.S. reserves.” In fact if green technologies had done the same feat, then oil would already be history. But there is the point. It […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Rhino Resource Partners idles majority of US Central Appalachia coal operations

Rhino Resource Partners is temporarily idling a majority of its US Central Appalachia coal operations because of the ongoing weakness in the coal markets, the producer said in a statement Tuesday. The company has sent out WARN notices to a total of 192 workers at its CAPP operations that include three surface mines and one underground mine at the Tug River, Rob Fork, and Deane mining complexes located in eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. Exactly how many employees that will ultimately be affected will depend on future market conditions for CAPP metallurgical and thermal coal, Rhino said. "We are taking difficult actions that are necessary due to the persistent weakness in the coal markets," CEO Joe Funk said in the statement. "Demand for Central Appalachia steam coal has fallen to unprecedented levels as utilities choose low-priced natural gas for electricity generation and other coal-fired capacity is shuttered due to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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For green activists, Arctic drilling could be the next big thing

WASHINGTON Michael Brune is pleased that activists in kayaks are training for another "Paddle in Seattle" to confront an expected Royal Dutch Shell rig on its way to the Arctic to explore for oil. What makes the head of the Sierra Club just as happy is the effect Shell’s Arctic ambitions are having on his own environmental organization. Sierra’s funding drive against the resumption in Arctic drilling has taken in three times more money than usual campaigns by the nation’s oldest green group, said Brune, though he wouldn’t reveal specific amounts. And the group’s petition opposing President Barack Obama’s decision in favor of Shell last month has collected more signatures than any appeal in two years. "Our members are outraged because they believe fighting climate change is a moral challenge and they ask how the president can reconcile this move with his goals on climate change," Brune said. "All […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Competitive unconventional production gives US diplomatic muscle

Price declines for crude oil in the last 6 months and natural gas in the last 6 years have made US unconventional producers become so much more efficient to stay globally competitive that the US still has significant energy geopolitical opportunities, an IHS official told a US House Energy and Commerce subcommittee. “Compared with 2014, IHS expects investment capital in US shale oil plays to be 65% more efficient at the start of 2016 than the start of 2015 due to compounding productivity and cost cuts,” said Gerald Kepes, IHS vice-president, upstream research and consulting. “IHS anticipates cost reductions to reach 30% over this year with productivity enhancement as much as 15%,” Kepes said during a June 2 Energy and Power Subcommittee hearing. “In 2016, one US dollar of investment will have the same production impact as $1.65 did in 2014.” Changing US policy to permit more US-produced crude […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple