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Greece Requests Three-Year Bailout in First Step Toward Meeting Creditors’ Demand

BRUSSELS—Greece took a first step toward addressing demands that eurozone leaders say it must meet to stay in the euro, as pressure grew on both sides to reach a deal and avert the country’s imminent financial meltdown. The government in Athens formally asked for a three-year bailout from the eurozone’s rescue fund on Wednesday and pledged to start implementing some economic-policy overhauls by early next week, according to a copy of the request seen by The Wall Street Journal. But whether European leaders accept the application for more emergency loans at a crisis summit on Sunday still depends on Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras making a drastic turnaround on pension cuts, tax increases and other austerity measures after five months of often-acrimonious negotiations. Eurozone officials expect the request for more aid to be followed up by a full list of detailed policy overhauls and budget cuts that go beyond those […]

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Fear Grows in Greece as Decisive Hour Nears

People in Athens line up on Wednesday to withdraw money from an ATM cash dispenser. Greece requested a new three-year bailout from its skeptical eurozone creditors and pledged some economic overhauls on Wednesday, but the euphoria some Greeks felt after Sunday’s “no” vote on the last deal was fading fast. Whether European leaders accept the Greek government’s application for more emergency loans at a crisis summit Sunday still depends on Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras making a drastic turnaround on pension cuts, tax increases and other austerity measures after five months of often-acrimonious negotiations. “The actual examination can only begin once the full package has been put on the table,” said a spokesman for German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, who has pushed a hard line on Greece and made clear that Germany is prepared for a potential Greek exit from the eurozone. His comments echo those of German Chancellor Angela […]

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Greece Requests a 3-Year Loan but Is Vague on Its Financial Plans

ATHENS — Greece , running out of money and under a tight deadline from European leaders, requested a three-year loan on Wednesday from the eurozone’s bailout fund as the country and its creditors began what could be a last effort to avert a historic rupture. But in making a formal request for new aid that it needs to avoid further defaults on its debts, Greece did not provide any details of what it would do in return to show that it is serious about strengthening the government’s finances, other than alluding generally to a willingness to make quick changes to its tax and pension systems. The government said it would provide those specifics on Thursday. Nor did it publicly describe the size of the loan it sought. Some economists estimate that Greece will need 50 billion euros (about $55 billion), or possibly more. Eurozone leaders rebuked the Greek prime […]

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Oil Turns Negative as Market Sentiment Sours Further

By Eric Yep Crude-oil futures turned negative in Asian trade Wednesday, erasing some early gains, as market sentiment soured further with another decline in China’s equity markets. Oil prices have fallen into bearish territory, after being stuck in a narrow trading range for several weeks, and are now trading at nearly half their level since a year ago. The return of a downward trajectory for oil has dashed any hopes oil producing and oil services companies had of a recovery when prices had found support in the April-June quarter. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in August traded at $51.98 a barrel at 0348 GMT, down $0.35 in the Globex electronic session. August Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange fell $0.28 to $56.57 a barrel. A "perfect storm of events has hit oil markets" but it is mostly just a sentiment-driven move […]

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Oil prices fall as China share crisis worsens, traders hedge for further drops

A pump jack is seen at sunrise near Bakersfield, California October 14, 2014. Oil futures fell again on Wednesday as worries over the Greek debt crisis and China’s stock market turmoil outweighed an expected U.S. inventory drop, with traders anticipating further drops. China’s stocks tanked further on Wednesday in a deepening crisis in which China’s Securities Finance Corp said it would provide liquidity to ease "panic" as over 500 Chinese-listed firms suspended trading. Front-month Brent crude futures were 38 cents lower at $56.47 a barrel at 0452 GMT, and are down over 6 percent so far this week to levels last seen in April. U.S. crude was down 35 cents at $51.98, down more than 8 percent for the week. "A perfect storm of events has hit oil markets," Morgan Stanley said. The bank said "turmoil in China and Greece may put recent robust demand growth at risk," although […]

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Oil under $60 beyond 2016 suggests market rethinking shale

A man fills up his car at a petrol station in Rome January 6, 2015. The almost 10 percent nosedive in headline oil prices this week has many hallmarks of a shocking but short-lived slump, triggered by a confluence of external events and exacerbated by safety-seeking investors and momentum-chasing traders. By Tuesday afternoon, the crowded race to the exit was winding down, with prices recovering from three-month lows as traders reassessed the factors they blamed for the worst slide in four months: Greece’s debt woes; China’s stock market meltdown; talks with Iran over its nuclear program; a stronger dollar; a rise in the number of U.S. oil rigs; a breach of key technical triggers. Yet a deeper look at the market suggests an important and more lasting rethink may now be afoot: longer-term oil prices, normally less volatile and reactive than immediate delivery, have suffered an almost equally violent […]

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EIA Slightly Raises 2015 And 2016 Oil Production Forecasts

NEW YORK, July 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. government on Tuesday modestly raised its 2015 and 2016 U.S. crude oil production forecasts while lowering its price outlook. In its short term energy outlook, the U.S. Energy Information Administration raised its 2015 U.S. crude oil production growth forecast to 750,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 720,000 bpd. The EIA forecast 2016 production will fall by 150,000 bpd, slightly less than its previous forecast of a 160,000 bpd decline. The energy agency also lowered its forecasts for U.S. and global crude oil prices for 2016. The average 2016 price for West Texas Intermediate crude , the U.S. benchmark, was forecast at $62.04 per barrel, a 5.4 percent drop from the previous monthly EIA forecast. The global benchmark Brent was forecast to average $67.04 per barrel, a 4.9 percent drop from the previous monthly EIA forecast. (Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by […]

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US EIA predicts natural gas output growth to resume in July despite declines

Work on a pipeline capacity expansion project slowed natural gas production in the Marcellus shale play in recent months, but output is expected to kick back into high gear in July and keep pace with a projected 5.7% increase in production from last year, the US Energy Information Administration said Tuesday in its monthly outlook. EIA, in its July Short-Term Energy Outlook, forecast gas marketed production at 78.65 Bcf/d for the second quarter and 79.28 Bcf/d for Q3, down 130 MMcf/d and 100 MMcf/d, respectively, from the agency’s June estimate. EIA said in the report that Northeast production dipped in May and June because of maintenance and construction in the Marcellus producing area, contributing to a 1.2 Bcf/d drop in average output between April and June. It noted that Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line has restricted capacity on parts of the Leidy Line that delivers gas from the Marcellus to […]

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Survey: OPEC keeps plugging away

Platts survey finds oil production from OPEC increased in June, the fourth straight month of gains in an already oversupplied market. Photo by sakhorn/Shutterstock HOUSTON, July 7 (UPI) — Output from Saudi Arabia and Iraq helped lead to the fourth straight monthly increase from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, a survey found. A survey by energy reporting service Platts finds OPEC production in June reached 31.3 million barrels per day, a 5.5 percent increase from May and the fourth straight month of gains from the 12-member group. Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of OPEC , produced an average 10.3 million bpd in June, about 1 million barrels more than the United States. The increase in production from U.S. shale basins is keeping markets weighted on the supply side. Saudi Arabia has said it would keep its output higher despite the glut in an effort to stay competitive […]

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Short-Term Energy Outlook

Highlights North Sea Brent crude oil prices averaged $61/barrel (b) in June, a $3/b decrease from May. Crude oil prices fell by about $4/b on July 6 in the aftermath of the "no" vote in Greece on the economic program, as well as lingering concerns about lower economic growth in China, higher oil exports from Iran, and continuing growth in global petroleum and other liquids inventories. A percent price change of this extent on a single day is unusual, but despite daily price volatility, monthly Brent crude oil prices have averaged between $55/b and $65/b per month since falling to $48/b in January. EIA forecasts that Brent crude oil prices will average $60/b in 2015 and $67/b in 2016. Forecast West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices in both 2015 and 2016 average $5/b less than the Brent price. The current values of futures and options contracts for December […]

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Natural Gas Falls as Weather Signals Soft Demand

By Timothy Puko Natural gas fell to its lowest settlement in nearly a month as temperate weather forecasts suggest soft demand on the way. The front-month August contract settled down 4 cents, or 1.5%, to $2.716 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. A two-day losing streak has now pushed gas below the tight, 17-cent range it had settled within every session since June 9. Weather forecasts are suggesting that the early part of the summer isn’t going to be hot enough to drive the kind of demand needed to soak up near-record production, analysts said. Hot weather can lead people to use air conditioning and gas-fired power. But the Northeast and Midwest, some of the largest markets, are seeing normal to unseasonably cool forecasts, said Paul Markert, senior meteorologist at MDA Weather Services in Maryland. "It’s harder to believe that hot weather will bail […]

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Kurdish government in Iraq selling more oil

Kurdish government of Iraq said its selling more of its own oil, accusing Baghdad of falling short of its obligations. A portion of funding from oil sales supports Iraqi forces fighting the Islamic State. Photo by Frontpage/Shutterstock ERBIL, Iraq, July 7 (UPI) — The semiautonomous Kurdish government in Iraq said it increased direct oil sales in response to debts stemming from budget cuts imposed by Baghdad. The Kurdish government said the Turkish sea port of Ceyhan received an average 571,000 barrels of oil per day and an average 150,000 bpd was delivered to the federal State Oil Marketing Co. in June. The government said it increased direct oil sales because of "significant debt backlog arising from the budget cuts of 2014 imposed by the federal government, and the need to pay down debts accumulated in 2014 from pre-payments for oil sales." Under the terms of an agreement reached in […]

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Six powers and Iran to continue nuclear talks past deadline: EU

VIENNA Iran and six major powers will keep negotiating past Tuesday’s deadline for a long-term nuclear agreement as they tackle the most contentious issues, including the continuation of a U.N. arms embargo on Iran, the big powers said. "We are continuing to negotiate for the next couple of days. This does not mean we are extending our deadline," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said outside the hotel where the talks between Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States are taking place. The spokeswoman for the U.S. delegation, Marie Harf, said the terms of an interim deal between Iran and the six would be extended through Friday to give negotiators a few more days to finish their work. "We’re frankly more concerned about the quality of the deal than we are about the clock, though we also know that difficult decisions won’t get any easier with […]

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Iran talks to continue beyond Tuesday deadline to Friday

Negotiations on a nuclear deal that could see additional Iranian oil flowing onto world oil markets within months will continue past Tuesday’s deadline to Friday July 10, State Department adviser Marie Harf said. US Secretary of State John Kerry will remain in Vienna to continue talks with other P5+1 partners, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Harf said in an emailed statement. "We’ve made substantial progress in every area, but this work is highly technical and high stakes for all of the countries involved. We’re frankly more concerned about the quality of the deal than we are about the clock, though we also know that difficult decisions won’t get any easier with time — that is why we are continuing to negotiate," she said. "To allow for the additional time to negotiate, we are taking the necessary technical steps for the […]

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Iran Talks Drag On With Make-or-Break Date Pushed Back to Friday

Foreign ministers meet during the nuclear talks in Vienna, today. Photographer: Thomas Imo/Photothek via Getty Images Diplomats missed another deadline for a nuclear deal with Iran and may prolong talks until the end of the week or beyond, as they spar over an arms embargo and what would happen if the accord is breached. World powers extended until July 10 the interim arrangement that freezes Iran’s most sensitive nuclear work in exchange for limited relief from sanctions. While the negotiators in Vienna are playing down talk of deadlines, the timetable for review by the U.S. Congress means that any further easing of the curbs will be delayed by at least a month if a final agreement isn’t reached by Friday morning. “We’re frankly more concerned about the quality of the deal than we are about the clock, though we also know that difficult decisions won’t get any easier with […]

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U.S. Suggests Open-Ended Iran Talks

International powers negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran failed to meet another deadline on Tuesday, the second missed target in a week, raising the prospect of an open-ended diplomatic process over an issue on which President Barack Obama has staked his foreign-policy record. Senior administration officials in Vienna and Washington said progress was still being made and negotiators “have never been closer” to a comprehensive deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting international sanctions. Mr. Obama has said talks would end in a deal that reflects a framework reached in April, or with no agreement at all. But with negotiations making little headway, the White House on Tuesday laid the groundwork for a third outcome: continuing talks while keeping in place a November 2013 interim agreement that provided Iran with limited sanctions relief in exchange for rolling back parts of its nuclear program. Such an outcome […]

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OPEC Beware: West Africa Could Lead The World’s Next Production Boom

The right technology and tolerance for risk could make West Africa the next "North Sea," possibly offsetting the balance of the world’s production hub. During the early 1970s, Saudi Arabia cut production as a reminder that it held the cards to the world’s petroleum resources. What the swing country did not count on was the slew of development and production that would subsequently take place in the North Sea. As a result, a new oil supply was born far away from the Middle East. Fast forward to today: With oil saturating the market again, Saudi Arabia has kept its spigots on this time to try and prove once again its place on top of the hydrocarbon pyramid. Despite its effort to slow production – primarily from shale in the United States – there is still room for surprise in the oil marketplace. The small offshore oilfields of West Africa, […]

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Oman to Build Giant Solar Plant to Extract Oil

A rendering of a solar-thermal facility in the desert. For years, the unforgiving desert of Oman has required special tools to extract some of the planet’s heaviest crude. The Persian Gulf sultanate’s repertoire now includes a technology not generally associated with oil pumping: solar power. One of the world’s largest solar plants will be constructed to coax Oman’s heavy oil out of the ground, according to Oman and its partners, Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A -0.29 % PLC and French energy company Total SA TOT 0.59 % . Called Miraah, which means “mirror” in Arabic, the 1,021 megawatt solar-thermal facility is slated to be completed in 2017 and located at the Amal West oil field in South Oman. The solar plant will be built by Petroleum Development Oman, a joint venture between the Omani government, Shell and Total, and GlassPoint Solar, a Fremont, Calif.-based solar manufacturer. The construction of a […]

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Deadly car bombs hit Yemen, day after almost 200 killed

Two deadly car bombs hit the capital Sanaa and a southern city in Yemen on Tuesday, state news agency Saba reported, a day after air strike and clashes killed almost 200 people nationwide. Islamic State in Yemen claimed responsibility in a statement posted online for the Sanaa attack, latest in a string of recent actions by the hardline Sunni Muslim group against Shi’ite Houthis who run the capital. One of the explosives-laden cars detonated near a hospital in downtown Sanaa, which the news agency controlled by Yemen’s dominant Houthi group said killed and injured "numerous" people, while another killed around 10 people in al-Bayda, capital of a province in the country’s battle-weary south. Saudi-led coalition air strikes and clashes killed at least 176 fighters and civilians in Yemen on Monday, residents and media run by the Houthi movement said, the highest daily toll since the Arab air offensive began […]

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Nigerian President Denies Oil Savings Account to Be Depleted

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari denied that the oil savings account will be depleted to pay government debts, including civil servants’ salaries. The government will use a $2.1 billion dividend paid into the Treasury by Nigeria LNG Ltd., Africa’s biggest producer of liquefied natural gas, to pay wages, Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, said Tuesday in an e-mailed statement from the capital, Abuja. Nigeria’s 36 states and local arms of the government will also be able to draw “soft loans” from the central bank and have some debt restructured, he said. The comments seek to clarify statements made by Nigeria’s Accountant General Ahmed Idris on Monday that the Excess Crude Account, which holds the nation’s oil savings and has a balance of about $2 billion, will be drawn down by $1.7 billion. The funds will be shared by the federal, state and local governments to meet their financial obligations, Idris said. […]

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Scant Relief From Beijing for Bruised Investors

Photo Stock investors playing cards at a brokerage in Beijing on Tuesday. Reassuring words from Premier Li Keqiang that China had the ability to deal with economic challenges had little calming effect. Credit Wu Hong/European Pressphoto Agency HONG KONG — For millions of ordinary Chinese who have borne the brunt as the mainland’s stock market has plummeted in recent weeks, government measures to bolster the market are offering little relief. Chinese shares fell on Tuesday, with the Shanghai composite index closing down 1.3 percent after a gain on Monday. The Shenzhen index, which covers smaller companies, had another steep drop, down 5.3 percent. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong, which fell sharply on Monday, finished down a more moderate 1 percent on Tuesday. The state-run news media reported that an increasing number of companies, 200 on Tuesday alone, were filing for a suspension in trading to insulate themselves […]

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China stocks nosedive as regulator warns of ‘panic’

A floor trader reacts as he checks share prices during morning trading at the Hong Kong Exchanges in Hong Kong, China July 8, 2015. Chinese stocks dived on Wednesday, as the country’s securities regulator warned investors were in the grip of "panic sentiment" and the market showed signs of freezing up as companies scrambled to escape the rout by having their shares suspended. Beijing, which has struggled for more than a week to bend the market to its will, unveiled yet another battery of measures to arrest the sell-off, and the People’s Bank of China said it would step up support to brokerages enlisted to prop up shares. "I’ve never seen this kind of slump before. I don’t think anyone has. Liquidity is totally depleted," said Du Changchun, an analyst at Northeast Securities. "Originally, many wanted to hold blue chips. But since so many small caps are suspended from […]

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Market’s Dive Could Delay Economic Reforms in China

Photo The opening ceremony in November of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect program. Plans for a similar link with Shenzhen could be postponed. Credit Chen Fei/XinHua, via Associated Press HONG KONG — China ’s stock market tumble has presented the government of President Xi Jinping with a searing test of its commitment to overhaul the country’s financial system and open up the state-controlled economy. Building off the work of his predecessors in the last three decades, Mr. Xi has been introducing competition into the banking industry, overhauling state-owned companies and making it easier for foreign investors to buy Chinese stocks. But the pace of reform may slow if the stock market slump persists, or even accelerates. The stock market represents the swirl of social, political and economic forces at play in the reform efforts. Tens of millions of individual investors flocked to stocks in the last year, many of […]

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Shell Places Huge Bet on Arctic Oil Riches

Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A -0.29 % PLC is days away from drilling in the Arctic Ocean—betting it can find enough oil to justify the huge risks that keep almost every other competitor out of those icy waters. The company is hauling two massive rigs—the Polar Pioneer and the Noble Discoverer—more than 2,000 miles up and around the Alaska coast to the Chukchi Sea, where it plans to begin work the third week of July. Accompanying the rigs are 30 support vessels and seven aircraft, a large entourage even by big oil-company standards. The voyage represents Shell’s effort to mount a comeback in the Arctic three years after a different rig ran aground following an unsuccessful drilling season. This time, Shell executives say they have both costs and safety under control, but the project has already hit a snag. A federal agency said last week that Shell can’t drill wells […]

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Shell’s Ice Management Vessel Damaged In Alaska

July 7 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s icebreaker vessel Fennica returned to the Dutch Harbor in Alaska with a small breech in the hull, raising concerns about the company’s plan to resume drilling in the Arctic later this month. Shell said in June it plans to restart drilling for oil in the Arctic off Alaska as early as the third week of July after a conditional approval by the United States. "Any impact to our season will ultimately depend on the extent of the repair," spokeswoman Kelly op de Weegh said in an e-mail to Reuters. Fennica, owned by Arctia Offshore, is one of the primary ice management vessels in the Port of Helsinki during European winter. Shell was given a conditional approval by the U.S. Department of the Interior in May to return to the Arctic for the first time since its mishap-plagued 2012 drilling season. (Reporting […]

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ExxonMobil Selling Cook Inlet Assets, Remains Committed to Alaska

As part of its goal to become a dominant player in Alaska’s energy industry, Hilcorp Energy is reportedly buying the Cook Inlet assets owned by XTO Energy, an Exxon Mobil Corp. subsidiary. Suann Guthrie, a media advisory for XTO Energy in Fort Worth, confirmed to Rigzone that XTO has agreed to sell its interest in the Cook Inlet, which include 29 producing wells from two platforms and an onshore facility to Hilcorp Alaska. Altogether, the assets produced about 2,000 barrels of oil per day in 2014. The deal isn’t expected to run into regulatory hurdles from the state of Alaska. Guthrie said the divestment will impact some XTO employees, but all workers will receive job offers from Hilcorp or be reassigned within XTO’s other operations. “ExxonMobil remains committed to its operations in Alaska. This sale does not impact ExxonMobil’s other Alaska operations or early planning activities for a possible […]

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BioSolar extends agreement with UCSB for further development of novel polymer cathode; projecting up to 459 Wh/kg and $54/kWh for Li-ion cells

« Bosch offering sub-$10K 24 kW DC fast charger for North America; SAE J1772 DC Combo connector | Main Startup BioSolar, Inc. has signed an agreement to extend the funding of a sponsored research program at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), to further develop its “super battery” technology—a novel polymer cathode that leverages fast redox-reaction properties rather than conventional lithium-ion intercalation chemistry to enable rapid charge and discharge. The lead inventors of the technology are UCSB professor Dr. Alan Heeger, the recipient of a Nobel Prize in 2000 for the discovery and development of conductive polymers, and Dr. David Vonlanthen, a project scientist and expert in energy storage at UCSB. Both are scientific advisors to BioSolar. In a 2014 paper publishedin the journal Advanced Materials , Heeger, Vonlanthen and their colleagues reported the development of a polyaniline-supercapacitor with quinone electrolytes that remained stable over 50,000 galvanostatic charge-discharge […]

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Archbishop of Canterbury Concerned About Arctic Drilling

LONDON—Oil companies need to do more to tackle climate change, the Archbishop of Canterbury said Tuesday, noting he was particularly concerned about the recent push to drill in Arctic Ocean waters. Archbishop Justin Welby, the leader of more 85 million Anglicans and Episcopalians around the world, didn’t speak about the most immediate foray being made into the Alaskan Arctic by Royal Dutch Shell RDS.A -0.29 % PLC. But he mentioned some of the same arguments made by environmentalists who oppose Shell’s drilling campaign, which begins this month in the Chukchi Sea. In the Arctic, “the drilling window is very, very limited and if you have a blowout towards the end of the window it might be eight or nine months before you drill a relief well and cap the flow,” said Archbishop Welby, a former oil-company executive before he was ordained. A Shell spokesman said in an email that […]

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U.S. wades deeper into marine energy

Federal government testing early-stage wave energy technology at Navy site in Hawaii. File Photo by UPI Photo/Earl S. Cryer. HONOLULU, July 7 (UPI) — Testing a prototype wave energy device at a U.S. Navy site in Hawaii will provide information needed to determine commercial possibilities, the government said. The U.S. Energy Department deployed a wave energy prototype dubbed Azura at a test site at Kaneohe Bay off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii. Developer Northwest Energy Innovations, with help from a $5 million federal grant, tested an earlier prototype off the coast of Oregon in 2014. The government said the pilot project in Hawaii will give federal researchers the chance to monitor a wave energy converter for potential commercial deployment . With more than half the U.S. population living within 50 miles of a coastline, the government said marine and hydrokinetic technologies could provide an untapped renewable energy resource. "With […]

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Houston-based LINN leaves Texas shale

Houston-based LINN Energy dumps remaining shares in Texas shale basin while securing capital support for future developments. Photo by Christopher Halloran/Shutterstock HOUSTON, July 7 (UPI) — Struggling LINN Energy said it was selling its stake in a Texas shale basin while simultaneously brokering capital investment deals to fund future developments. LINN said it signed a deal to sell its remaining 6,400 net acres in the Permian shale basin in Texas to an undisclosed buyer for $281 million. The company said the acreage yields an average 2,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from around 133 wells. Permian production increased 58 percent from 2007 to reach 1.35 million barrels per day last year, which represents 18 percent of total U.S. crude oil production. The low price of crude oil, still struggling to break through $60 per barrel, has forced many companies to cut staff levels and spending on production from […]

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Gas prices could go up, AAA says

Retail gasoline prices holding relatively stable, though a spike in summer demand could send prices higher though August, motor club AAA reports. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI WASHINGTON, July 7 (UPI) — Though retail gasoline prices are holding steady, motor club AAA said an increase in consumer demand could lead to further spikes through August. The national average retail price for Tuesday was $2.76 for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline, down a fraction of a percent from Monday and relatively unchanged from one month ago. Motor club AAA said that, though some regional refinery issues caused price spikes , notably in the Great Lakes region, many consumers saw gas prices drop in time for the long July 4 holiday weekend. Last July, AAA said gas prices declined in the United States for all but one day for a total drop of 16 cents per gallon. Gasoline prices on this […]

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German Green Power Forces Neighbors to Bolster Blackout Defenses

Chart: German Wind Power Peaks Germany’s drive to harness wind and solar power is producing so much electricity that it’s spilling over into neighbors’ grids and increasing the threat of blackouts. Poland and the Czech Republic are spending $180 million on equipment to protect their systems from German power surges, while Austria is curbing some trading to prevent regional networks from collapsing. On a windy day, the overflow east can exceed the output from four atomic reactors. Germany’s fivefold increase in green energy in the past decade has outpaced investment in power lines to move it across the country. Electricity is looping through Poland and the Czech Republic to reach southern Germany, where supply is constrained as Chancellor Angela Merkel shuts nuclear plants after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. The disruptions show the limits to the European Commission’s vision of a single power market. “A huge accumulation of […]

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Greece debt crisis: Eurozone sets deadline for new plan

Greek banks remain shut, with controls on cash machine withdrawals The eurozone has given Greece until Thursday to present new proposals to secure a deal with creditors, and has called a full EU summit for Sunday. The moves came after an emergency eurozone leaders’ summit in Brussels. The eurozone had asked Greece to submit fresh plans after its voters rejected a draft bailout in a referendum. But Greece brought no written plans, suggesting instead a few changes to an earlier draft, which would respect "the mandate of the referendum". On Sunday a meeting of all 28 members of the European Union will be held. European Council President Donald Tusk said that this was perhaps the "most critical moment in the history of the eurozone". "The final deadline ends this week," he said. Mr Tusk said a Greek bankruptcy and the collapse of the Greek banking system would affect the […]

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Greece Delays Offering New Plan on Debt

Photo Greeks caught up with the news in Athens on Tuesday, ahead of an emergency summit meeting of European leaders. Credit Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images BRUSSELS — Greece’s prospects for staying in Europe’s currency union darkened on Tuesday after the new Greek finance minister showed up for an emergency meeting in Brussels without a specific new proposal, leaving European finance ministers aghast and unable to judge whether a deal for another bailout package was possible. Greece’s failure to present a detailed plan turned what had been billed as a last-chance opportunity for Greece into yet another display of the substantive and stylistic gulf between the left-wing government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his country’s big creditors, starting with Germany. The new finance minister, Euclid Tsakalotos , signaled that Greece would put a plan forward as soon as Tuesday night, and a government official said later that […]

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Oil rallies after huge selloff, outlook weak

LONDON Oil prices rallied on Tuesday, after one of their biggest selloffs this year, but looked vulnerable to further falls after China’s stock market took another tumble and Greece moved closer to leaving the euro zone. Investors also kept a close eye on talks in Vienna over Tehran’s nuclear programme that could lead to increased exports of Iranian crude at a time of global oversupply. Brent crude for August LCOc1 was up 70 cents at $57.24 a barrel by 0810 GMT (4.10 a.m. EDT), following a more than 6 percent drop in the previous session. On Monday, Brent briefly touched $56.38, its lowest since April 10. U.S. crude CLc1 traded at $53.10 a barrel, up 57 cents from the settlement on Monday, when it reached levels last seen in mid-April. Despite the rally, most analysts were bearish. "Macroeconomic headwinds are rising — be it in the form of the […]

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Crude Creeps Higher After Downturn

Crude oil prices rose in European trade on Tuesday, clawing back some ground after steep overnight declines , but the persistent glut in global markets is likely to keep prices under pressure. The overnight selloff in oil prices was much sharper than in other commodities, almost rivaling the price decline in the aftermath of OPEC’s decision to not intervene in oil markets last year. Nymex crude lost 7.7% on Monday, its largest one-day dollar and percentage decline since Feb. 4, while Brent crude lost 6.3%, its largest one-day dollar decline since Nov. 27, data showed. On Tuesday, light, sweet crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange for delivery in August traded at $52.92 a barrel at 0352 GMT, up $0.39 in the Globex electronic session. August Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.52 to $57.06 a barrel. Worries over Greek debt and Iranian nuclear talks were […]

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China, Greece, Iran Upend Oil’s World

Fret not, oil bulls: Once again China is riding to the rescue. Or maybe fret even more because of that. PetroChina PTR -1.74 % saw its mainland-listed A-shares jump almost 10% Monday. What explained this stellar performance? Certainly not a jump in the price of the company’s main product: Brent crude dropped more than 3% to around $58 a barrel, its lowest level since April. Instead, investors can thank Beijing’s break-glass responses this weekend to slumping Chinese stocks, jamming funds into domestic shares, especially those of large-capitalization stocks like PetroChina. But while the Chinese authorities’ panic gave its oil champion’s shares a boost, it has the opposite effect on oil itself. China’s appetite for oil was the biggest factor keeping prices high over the past decade or so—and it is still forecast by the International Energy Agency to account for 29% of global demand growth this year. So any […]

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Oil Prices Tumble Nearly 8%

By Timothy Puko Oil prices on Monday skidded to their biggest single-day declines in more than three months, as gyrations in Chinese stocks and the prospect of more crude from the U.S. and Iran revived worries about the global supply glut. China’s stock markets have plunged in recent weeks, which sparked worries among investors about oil demand in the world’s second-largest consumer. Iranian officials also have signaled they want to export even more crude than traders had expected if diplomats can hammer out a final deal on Iran’s nuclear program in the coming days. These elements have taken on major importance as investors try to sort out whether the global oil market has rebalanced from a historic collapse. Prices fell nearly 60% after rapidly growing production from the U.S. shale boom overwhelmed the market. They rebounded by a third and stabilized throughout the spring as some investors bet that […]

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Oil falls on Greece vote, China stock market turmoil

LONDON Oil prices fell sharply on Monday after Greece rejected debt bailout terms and as China rolled out emergency measures to prevent a full-blown stock market crash, adding to worries about poor demand growth at a time of global oversupply. The result of Greece’s referendum has put in doubt its membership in the euro, pulling down the single currency EUR= against the dollar. A strong dollar tends to pressure commodities as it makes fuel more expensive for holders of other currencies. Commodities were also sucked into market turmoil that has seen Chinese shares .CSI300 fall as much as 30 percent since June due in part to an economy that is growing at its slowest pace in a generation. Chinese brokerages and fund managers have agreed to buy massive amounts of stocks to support markets, helped by China’s state-backed margin finance company, which in turn would be aided by a […]

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Natural Gas Sinks on Heavy Production

By Timothy Puko Natural gas fell to its lowest settlement in more than a week as heavy production keeps a lid on prices. The front-month August contract settled down 6.6 cents, or 2.3%, to $2.756 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Most of the session’s losses came in limited electronic trading on the Friday holiday, which were included in Monday’s settlement. Prices were nearly unchanged since electronic trading reopened Sunday evening. Late Thursday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration warned that record production from several states in the middle of the shale-drilling boom had the potential to bring hub prices down even further. Much of the new production coming from eastern states including Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia is still trapped by pipeline bottlenecks, but a series of new pipelines is going to be carrying that production out of the region soon. Many regional spot […]

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Iran Says Nuclear Deal Must Include Lifting of U.N. Arms Embargo

VIENNA—Iran is pushing for the United Nations’ arms embargo on the country to be completely lifted, as part of a final agreement to curb its nuclear program, a senior Iranian diplomat said on Monday. Tehran’s demand is among the final issues still being negotiated between Iran and six world powers—Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the U.S.—in an effort to reach a final agreement in the Austrian capital. The Obama administration has cited Tuesday as the deadline for concluding the talks. But U.S. and Iranian officials have suggested privately in recent days that the negotiations could extend to later in the week. “What has been the reason for the inclusion of the arms embargo in the first place? This is one of the important issues we are discussing,” a senior Iranian negotiator said on the sidelines of the negotiations on Monday. “There should not be a place for the […]

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Israeli Gas Boon Blocks Out Solar Industry Hopes

TARABIN, Israel—The residents of this village in the Negev desert have everything they need to build a solar-panel field: construction permits and loans, a contract with a company to build the field, and plenty of sun. But Tarabin village doesn’t yet have permission from the government to sell its solar power to the national grid—a crucial prerequisite for making the project economical. Dozens of communities across Israel are in the same situation, and executives and backers of the solar industry here are blaming an unlikely culprit: natural gas. Two big offshore gas finds in 2009 and 2010 shifted priorities and resources away from solar projects, they say. Shortly after, the government stopped approving the hookup of new solar projects to the grid. That has left villages like Tarabin waiting. It has also devastated the small, once-promising solar-power industry here. The proposed site for the field outside of town here […]

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Iranians Divided Over Nuclear Talks

TEHRAN—Inside Tehran’s Mosalla mosque, a handful of prostrate worshipers were chanting “Death to America” in between prayers—a phrase that has come to epitomize Iran’s relationship with the West since its 1979 revolution. But outside Tehran’s main mosque recently, an argument erupted over the headline of a hard-line newspaper, the Martyrs of Islam, that read–“Mullahs Sign Agreement With Unbelievers.” “You can’t say that,” one worshiper said. He argued that the nation’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supported talks with world powers to lift sanctions in exchange for curbs on the country’s nuclear program. “You’ll have to complain to the editor,” the newspaper seller responded. A woman walks in front the compound of the Mosalla mosque in Tehran.. A robust debate has unfolded in the cloistered Islamic Republic as negotiators in Vienna close in on a sanctions deal this week and the country veers toward an agreement that could unlock billions […]

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Saudi Arabia to Invest up to $10 Billion in Russia

MOSCOW—Saudi Arabia has signed a commitment to invest up to $10 billion in Russia, the Russian Direct Investment Fund said Monday. Russia’s latest pact with its closest oil-producing rival marks Moscow’s efforts to replace Western funding, which has been hit by sanctions , just a few days before a summit of five major emerging economies, known by the acronym of Brics, to be held in Russia’s town of Ufa. The majority of the $10 billion from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund, Public Investment Fund, will be spent on Russia’s agricultural projects, as well as on medicine, logistics, and the country’s retail and real estate sectors, RDIF chief Kirill Dmitriev told The Wall Street Journal. The agreement was reached after a “great” contribution from Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, who met Russia’s President Vladimir Putin during an annual economic forum in Saint Petersburg in June, […]

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U.S. Seeks Mideast Shift to Follow Iran Deal

WASHINGTON—The White House is crafting a Middle East strategy for the remaining 18 months of President Barack Obama ’s term that would more forcefully address conflicts in Iraq, Yemen and Syria amid tensions over the conclusion of talks with Iran. U.S. and Iranian negotiators narrowed some key differences for completing a deal that would scale back Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. The talks face a Tuesday diplomatic deadline, but the two sides remained at odds on Monday over several critical elements. Any reorientation of Mr. Obama’s Middle East strategy would test the durability of his broader foreign-policy doctrine, and senior administration officials said the president is intent on cleaning up leftover messes in the region before leaving office in 2017, including relations with key allies that have been strained by the Iran talks. White House officials see the conclusion of Iran talks as a gateway […]

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Iraqi Forces Plan Offensive to Retake Ramadi From ISIS

Photo Members of Iraq’s Shiite militia and security forces gathered on Monday in Anbar Province. Credit Reuters Seven weeks after their frenetic retreat from Ramadi, Iraqi security forces are preparing to mount a counteroffensive in the coming weeks to try to reclaim the pivotal western Iraqi city from the Islamic State, American and Iraqi officials say. Since the Islamic State seized Ramadi in May, about 2,000 militant fighters have been building up defenses — including rigging empty buildings with explosives. Struggling to regain the momentum in its campaign to “degrade” and ultimately defeat the Islamic State, the militant group also known as ISIS or ISIL, the Obama administration wants the Iraqis to retake the city before the militants dig in even more. At the Pentagon on Monday, President Obama said the fall of Ramadi was a setback that had “galvanized” the Iraqi government and accelerated an American effort that […]

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Dana Gas claims headway in legal fight with KRG

The processing facilities run by the Sharjah-based company Dana Gas at the Khor Mor field in Iraqi Kurdistan. (BEN VAN HEUVELEN/Iraq Oil Report) A multi-billion dollar dispute between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and its largest gas sector investor continues, as an international arbitration court issued a second, partial ruling on July 2.The ruling itself remains confidential, and the two sides have offered vastly different characterizations of its contents. But the stakes are high, with claims and counter-claims worth billions of dollars, and the fate of Kurdistan’s most prospective gas assets hanging in the balance.I… 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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Uganda: Country Fails to Lure Majors Into Oil Industry

Last week, the ministry of Energy and Mineral Development released a list of 19 multinational companies that expressed interest in taking up licenses to explore for oil in the Albertine graben. However, the list reveals one glaring reality: Uganda has failed to attract a major company into its oil industry. By most measures, all the companies that have expressed interest are what one would call junior firms, which are more willing to take risks with exploring for oil in wildcat wells. Many of the firms are from Nigeria, South Africa, United Arab Emirates (EAE), and USA. Petroleum directorate officials had said global oil companies such as Exxon Mobil and Shell had shown interest in coming to Uganda, after it had been de-risked with success stories from companies such as Heritage Oil and Tullow Oil. Releasing the list of companies on Wednesday, the permanent secretary in the ministry of Energy, […]

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Nigeria: Oil Crash, Dwindling Revenue Threaten Nigeria’s 2015 Budget

One of the first major tasks the administration of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari will have to contend with will be how to finance the 2015 budget in the wake of low oil price and rising threats from declining revenue. This becomes very critical when viewed against the backdrop of the tough economic conditions witnessed over the last couple of months in the country, especially in the area of declining crude oil and gas receipts and Federal Government’s inability to meet some of its financial obligations. Budget highlights It was bad enough that the 2015 budget was being passed more than four months into the year, and was passed by the House of Representatives some days ago at a higher spend rate. The House increased the budget to N4.493 trillion from the N4.358 trillion proposed by the Executive, without taking into consideration the prevailing volatility in crude oil prices. The House […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple