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Oil steady; U.S. crude below $50 as stocks rise

Stacked rigs are seen along with other idled oil drilling equipment at a depot in Dickinson, North Dakota June 26, 2015. Oil prices steadied on Thursday after a weaker dollar helped offset the negative impact of rising U.S. stockpiles, which drove U.S. crude prices to near three-month lows. Crude oil stocks in the United States rose 2.5 million barrels last week to above the five-year seasonal average, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), trumping expectations for a 2.3 million-barrel drop. U.S. September crude futures were 18 cents higher by 0827 GMT (4.27 a.m. EDT) on Thursday at $49.37, after having fallen $1.67 on Wednesday to settle below $50 for the first time since April. Brent crude was up 9 cents at $56.19 a barrel, after settling down 91 cents. Brent has lost around 12 percent in July, its largest one-month fall since March, pummeled by concern […]

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Dim crude price outlook may force more spending cuts for oil majors

A pedestrian stands near a sign displaying the cost of gasoline at a filling station in San Francisco, California July 22, 2015. The world’s top oil companies are set to report yet another sharp drop in quarterly profits that could force more spending cuts due to a dim outlook for oil prices. Oil companies rarely scale back capital expenditure (capex) in the middle of the fiscal year. But with oil prices failing to recover and even lurching lower in recent weeks after a nuclear accord between Iran and world powers, boards could take more action beyond cuts already announced, analysts say. "Oil companies are hunkering down for a downturn that will take longer than some initially thought," Martijn Rats, head of European oil and gas equity research at Morgan Stanley, told Reuters. International oil companies including Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Total all reduced 2015 spending […]

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Natural Gas Plunges on Oversupply

By Timothy Puko Natural gas prices had their largest one-day loss in a month after traders pulled back on signs of oversupply. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said producers added 68 billion cubic feet of natural gas to storage in the week ended July 17. The figure is one of the leading measures of balance between supply and demand, and it shows supply outdoing demand by nearly 30% more than it usually does this time of year. Analysts estimate that it puts oversupply at about 1 billion cubic feet a day, despite record demand from the power sector. "Supply continues to outpace demand in the market, and there doesn’t seem to be much of a cure," Aaron Calder, senior market analyst at energy-consulting firm Gelber & Associates in Houston, said in a note. The front-month August contract lost 8.1 cents, or 2.8%, to $2.816 a million British thermal units […]

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Republicans Have Minds Made Up as Debate Begins on Iran Nuclear Deal

Photo Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, scolded Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday. Credit Zach Gibson/The New York Times WASHINGTON — Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee and the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, stared at Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday with thinly veiled disgust. “You have turned Iran from being a pariah to now, Congress being a pariah,” said Mr. Corker, who helped broker a delicate deal with Democrats and the White House allowing lawmakers to review the proposed lifting of sanctions against Iran. While Mr. Corker, who promised a considered assessment of the agreement, may have seemed close to an endgame during a hearing on Capitol Hill, the vast majority of Republicans appear to have made up their minds before a single classified briefing, hearing or visit with administration officials. Their view seems born of genuine distaste for the […]

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Iran’s President Defends Nuclear Deal in Blunt Remarks

Photo Secretary of State John Kerry, left, with Hossein Fareydoun, center, the brother of Iran’s president, and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in Vienna in July. Credit U.S. State Department TEHRAN — Pushing back against domestic critics of Iran ’s nuclear deal, President Hassan Rouhani suggested on Thursday that the alternative was an economic “Stone Age” and that the accord was the precise reason he was elected two years ago. The remarks by Mr. Rouhani at a medical conference, broadcast on national television, were among the bluntest he has made in defending the agreement reached with six big powers , including the United States, on July 14 in Vienna. Under the agreement, economic sanctions on Iran , including restraints on its oil and financial trade, will be lifted in exchange for significant limits on the country’s nuclear activities, with verifiable guarantees that they remain peaceful. Conservative elements of Iran’s […]

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Saudi Arabia Approves of Iran Nuclear Deal, U.S. Defense Chief Says

JIDDA, Saudi Arabia — Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter gave a surprisingly upbeat assessment on Wednesday of American relations with Saudi Arabia , asserting that the kingdom welcomed the international nuclear deal reached with its regional rival, Iran . Mr. Carter, who visited Jidda and held his first meeting with King Salman, also said the Saudi monarch would visit the United States this fall and was committed to fighting the Islamic State, the Sunni militant extremist group. The defense secretary’s description of ties with the Saudis, which he made to reporters after the meeting while en route to Amman, Jordan, was unexpectedly upbeat, considering Saudi Arabia ’s strong reservations about the nuclear negotiations between the big world powers and Iran that yielded an agreement last week. Israel , another crucial American ally in the Middle East, has strongly protested the Iran accord and bluntly conveyed that message to Mr. […]

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Iran to Use Most Stranded Cash for Investments

VIENNA—Iran will spend most of the billions of dollars released under a nuclear deal in investments, a top financial official said Thursday. The planned release of the funds has become a focal point for U.S. critics of the atomic pact clinched last week. Some in the U.S. Congress—which has to vote on the agreement in the next two months—suspect the money could be used to bolster Iran’s allies hostile to American partners in the region. Speaking to reporters at a Vienna trade conference, Akbar Komijani, the deputy head of Iran’s Central Bank, said the country’s cash broad is “primarily intended for investment, not for imported goods.” He cited projects in petrochemicals, natural gas, industry, mining, roads and construction that will “create jobs.” Some projects could go to Europeans if they are competitive, he said. The Vienna conference promoting trade between the European Union and Iran is the first of […]

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Iran eyes $185 billion oil and gas projects after sanctions

Iran on Thursday outlined plans to rebuild its main industries and trade relationships following a nuclear agreement with world powers, saying it was targeting oil and gas projects worth $185 billion by 2020. Iran’s Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said the Islamic Republic would focus on its oil and gas, metals and car industries with an eye to exporting to Europe after sanctions have been lifted, rather than simply importing Western technology. "We are looking for a two-way trade as well as cooperation in development, design and engineering," Nematzadeh told a conference in Vienna. "We are no longer interested in a unidirectional importation of goods and machinery from Europe," he said. The United Nations Security Council on Monday endorsed a deal to end years of economic sanctions on Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear programme. Sanctions are unlikely to be removed until next […]

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How a Chinese Company Slipped on Canada’s Oil Sands

Weeks after the state-controlled oil company bought Nexen for $15 billion, its executives were in Calgary with a blunt message for the Canadian company, which had struggled for years to extract crude from the oil sands in the Alberta wilderness. Cnooc Chief Executive Li Fanrong told staffers Nexen provided just 2% of Cnooc’s profits, say attendees, warning that “2% is not enough.” Two years later, Cnooc is still trying to fix Nexen, its troubles compounded by low crude prices. And now Cnooc must explain an oil spill: This month, a pipeline Nexen installed last year ruptured, spilling nearly 31,500 barrels of a mixture of crude oil, wastewater and sand in northern Alberta. Nexen’s chief executive, Fang Zhi, on Wednesday stood by the oil-spill site near the hamlet of Anzac. “It is very disappointing that this has happened,” he said, the scent of petroleum wafting. “I therefore personally apologize.” Buying […]

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Turkey to Allow Use of Key Air Bases for U.S. Warplanes to Bomb ISIS

AMMAN, Jordan — The United States and Turkey have reached an agreement for manned and unmanned American warplanes to carry out aerial attacks on the Islamic State from two Turkish air bases, Obama administration officials said Thursday. The agreement on the bases, Incirlik and Diyarbakir, was described by one senior administration official as a “game changer” that would significantly strengthen the American military’s ability to strike at ISIS targets in Syria and carry out extended aerial surveillance. It came after months of negotiations that culminated on Wednesday with a phone call between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, and President Obama, another administration official said. The development came as Turkish forces were reported to have engaged in the first direct combat with Islamic State forces on the Syrian side of the border. Both developments vaulted Turkey squarely into the broader battle with the Islamic State, also known as ISIS […]

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