Category:

US, East Coast ULSD stocks set record highs: EIA data

US ULSD stocks rose to a record high for the fourth straight week, as East Coast stocks also hit a record for the fifth straight week, according to Energy Information Administration data released Wednesday. Total US stocks of ULSD rose about 2 million barrels in the week that ended Friday to 123.91 million barrels, the highest level since EIA began collecting the data in 2004. US stocks have risen to a record each of the last four weeks, with most of the stock builds concentrated in the East Coast. East Coast stocks of ULSD rose 2.32 million barrels to 41.02 million barrels, the highest ever. Stock builds in the East Coast also have set records in each of the last five weeks. Article continues below… Platts Global Alert is a complete real-time information service for the global energy industry, providing breaking reports of deals done, price indicators for crude […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Texas oil production up year-on-year

Texas crude oil production posts second straight month of gains year-on-year, state regulator says. Photo by ekina/Shutterstock AUSTIN, Texas, July 29 (UPI) — A Texas energy regulator said preliminary estimates show crude oil production in the state increased just over 13 percent in May year-on-year. The Railroad Commission of Texas published data for May 2015 , saying total crude oil production for the month averaged 2.4 million barrels per day, up from the 2.1 million bpd reported for May 2014. May data show the second straight month for gains for the No. 1 oil producer in the nation. April crude oil production of 2.31 million bpd was a 13 percent increase year-on-year. Decreases were posted, however, in early 2015. The momentum comes despite the steep decline in crude oil prices. The weak market leaves energy companies with less capital to invest in exploration and production, a trend reflected in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Dollar Slightly Stronger After Fed Meeting

The dollar rose against the euro and the yen on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled that U.S. short-term interest rates could rise in the coming months. The Federal Open Market Committee painted a strong picture of the U.S. labor market at the conclusion of its two-day policy-setting meeting. The Fed said job gains have been solid, noted how unemployment had declined and upgraded its assessment of the slack in the job market. Consequently, the dollar increased versus the common currency, as one euro bought $1.1029, from $1.1044 ahead of the Fed’s statement, leaving the buck 0.3% higher for the session. The dollar edged higher against the yen to ¥123.78 from ¥123.75 beforehand, now trading 0.2% up on the day. Even though the Fed did not send a clear signal for timing on a rate increase, keeping a September timeline open for the Fed’s first interest-rate increase in more […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

House leader Boehner supports lifting U.S. oil export ban

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) speaks at his weekly press briefing on Capitol Hill in Washington July 9, 2015. Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner told reporters on Wednesday he supports lifting a 40 year-old ban on crude oil exports, a move that could boost support for legislation in his chamber. Boehner said the ban was created during a time when oil markets were much different than they are now and that lifting the trade restriction could create 1 million jobs. A bill introduced by Representative Joe Barton this year has more than 100 co-sponsors. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner ; Editing by Lisa Lambert )

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

U.S. oil firms turn to fracking mixology as crude slides again

Halliburton SandCastle PS-2500 trailers, which store sand for hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, stand at a Hess well site near Williston, North Dakota November 12, 2014. U.S. oil companies, under renewed pressure from falling crude prices, are increasingly tweaking and mixing fracking technologies as they scramble to squeeze more out of wells and eke out profits after rounds of cost-cutting. Shale oil firms need the experiments to payoff now more so than before given that oil prices have resumed their slide to trade around $49 per barrel this week from $60 a few months ago. Quarterly earnings – and the reams of data that accompany them – throughout the next few weeks will offer Wall Street the first opportunity to assess those efforts and pick potential winners and losers. When oil fetched $100 a barrel and profits were fatter, most companies followed a similar script. Now, many try […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

U.S. crude stockpiles fall 4.2 million barrels in latest week: EIA

U.S. crude stocks declined far more than expected last week, while gasoline stocks decreased and distillate inventories rose, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday. Crude inventories fell by 4.2 million barrels in the last week, more than twenty times analysts’ expectations for an decrease of 184,000 barrels. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 212,000 barrels, EIA said. Refinery crude runs fell by 108,000 barrels per day, EIA data showed. Refinery utilization rates fell by 0.4 percentage points. Gasoline stocks fell by 363,000 barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 512,000 barrels gain. Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 2.6 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1.5 million barrels increase, the EIA data showed. U.S. crude imports fell last week by 396,000 barrels per day. (Reporting By Jessica Resnick-Ault)

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Warren Buffett And Elon Musk To Spark A Lithium Boom

The age of electrification across the transportation sector, the solar panel revolution, and Tesla’s battery gigafactory are igniting a battle for the cheapest battery. That will transform lithium into a boom-time mineral and the hottest commodity on the energy investor’s radar. It has been easy to take lithium for granted. This wonder mineral is the backbone of our everyday lives, popping up in everything from the glass in our windows to our mountains of electronics. And while investors have long appreciated the steady rise in demand for this preferred mineral, the number of new applications continues to multiply. Smart phones, tablets, laptops, and other consumer electronics demand more lithium. But the largest driver for future lithium use will be in electric vehicles and home batteries for solar panels. That has lithium on the verge a boom for which supply can no longer be taken for granted. Not since the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Shell to ax 6,500 jobs, cut spending to cope with lower oil prices

Shell’s company logo is pictured at a gas station in Zurich April 8, 2015. Royal Dutch Shell ( RDSa.L ) is to ax 6,500 jobs this year and step up spending cuts to deal with an extended period of lower oil prices which contributed to a 37 percent drop in the oil and gas group’s second-quarter profits. The Anglo-Dutch company also said it was planning more asset disposals as it pushes ahead with its proposed $70 billion acquisition of BG Group ( BG.L ), bringing total asset sales between 2014 and 2018 to $50 billion. "We have to be resilient in a world where oil prices remain low for some time, whilst keeping an eye on recovery," Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said. Shell said it anticipated 6,500 staff and direct contractor reductions in 2015 from a total of nearly 100,000 employees. And the group said it would […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

India Will Be Most Populous Country Sooner Than Thought, U.N. Says

Photo Residents of Maldahiyya basti, a colony of families in Varanasi, India, last year. Credit Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times Demographers have known for some time that the number of people in India would surpass the number in China , the two most populous countries in the world. But they did not anticipate that the change would happen so quickly. The United Nations reported on Wednesday that India’s population will probably surpass China’s by 2022, not 2028, as the organization had forecast just two years ago. In its 2015 revision report , the population division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs said China’s population was now 1.38 billion, compared with 1.31 billion in India. But in seven years, the populations of both are expected to reach 1.4 billion. Thereafter, the report said, India’s population will grow for decades, to 1.5 billion in 2030 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

World’s population to reach 11.2 billion by end of the century

India is set to overtake China and become the world’s most populous country in less than a decade – six years sooner than previously forecast, the United Nations said on Wednesday. Fast-growing Nigeria is on course to outstrip the United States by about 2050 to become the country with the third largest population, the United Nations predicted. The current global population of 7.3 billion is forecast to reach 9.7 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100, slightly above the last set of U.N. projections. Most growth will happen in developing regions, particularly Africa, according to the report World Population Prospects. The demographic forecasts are crucial for designing and implementing the new global development goals being launched later this year to replace the Millennium Development Goals. John Wilmoth, head of the U.N. population division, said the concentration of growth in the poorest countries would make it harder to eradicate […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil prices fall on oversupply concerns, weaker dollar support

Oil pumps are seen at a MAX oil station in Yangon April 21, 2014. Oil prices fell in Asian trade on Wednesday as concerns over global oversupply outweighed the impact of a likely larger than expected draw in U.S. crude stocks and a weakening dollar. Asian investors focused on OPEC production figures that showed members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries produced around 3 million barrels of oil per day more than daily demand in the second quarter, a Reuters survey showed. "Glut is the word," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at Sydney’s CMC Markets. OPEC members pumped 31.25 million barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter against demand of 28.26 million bpd, the Reuters data showed. Both Brent and U.S. crude came off session lows on Tuesday after data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed U.S. commercial crude stocks fell by 1.9 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil prices fall to near six-month lows, rattled by China

A customer prepares to fill the tank of her car at a fuel station in Sint Pieters Leeuw December 5, 2014. Oil prices fell for a fifth straight session on Tuesday to their lowest in almost six months, as a rout in Chinese equities cast further doubt over the outlook for crude demand in the world’s top commodities consumer. China’s already-volatile benchmark stock index, with a combined market capitalization of $4.6 trillion, has lost 10 percent in the last two days of trade. Most household debt is linked to real estate rather than the stock market, but with Chinese economic growth struggling to stick at 7 percent, analysts say demand for crude may not be enough to help mop up a global supply glut. "Typically, equity markets do have a high correlation to quarterly GDP growth," Deutsche Bank strategist Michael Lewis said. "Naturally, there is some risk that this […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Head of North Oil Company removed

Then-NOC Director General Sameer al-Taie (background) joins then-Oil Minister Abdel Karim Luaibi (second from right) and Kirkuk province Gov. Najmaldin Karim (right) in welcoming BP CEO Bob Dudley (left) before a meeting on Nov. 6, 2013. (MARWAN IBRAHIM/AFP/Getty Images) Sameer al-Taie, the director general of the North Oil Company (NOC), has been removed from his position.Oil Minister Adil Abd al-Mahdi issued the decision on July 27, which was relayed in a ministerial order from Hassib Mohammed Hadi al-Sadr, the director general of the Oil Ministry’s Administrative Department. Iraq Oil Report reviewed a copy of the order and confirmed its authenticity with two senior NOC officials."The following has been decided," the order said. "First: end the appoint… 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
Category:

Turkey: Pipeline Attack Halts Natural Gas Flow From Iran

A Turkish pipeline transporting natural gas from Iran was attacked by saboteurs late on July 27, stopping the flow, Turkey’s energy minister said, Anadolu Agency reported July 28. The attack reportedly occurred in the eastern Agri province, some 15 kilometers (roughly 9 miles) from the Iranian border. There has yet to be a claim of responsibility, Reuters reported, though the attack bore the hallmark of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been targeted in a series of Turkish airstrikes over the past few days . The pipeline carries around 10 billion cubic meters of gas between the two countries each year. Officials with Botas, the firm operating the pipeline, said repairs are underway but that it is unclear when natural gas flows would resume.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Iran’s new oil contract plans still ‘not clear’: BP’s Dudley

BP will look for upstream opportunities in Iran once sanctions on the oil producing country are lifted, but is unclear what Tehran’s intentions are for its new oil contracts, BP’s chief executive Bob Dudley said Tuesday. Dudley added he was wary of rushing into Iranian projects until the situation with the sanctions regime was clear. "If the sanctions are relaxed in a way that allows us to go work there, obviously we would explore opportunities in Iran. We are not actively in that phase," Dudley told reporters. "The agreements as laid out are quite complicated and actually no one really knows all the details yet. As a company that works all over the globe it would be natural for us" to work in Iran, he said. Article continues below… The Platts Global Energy Awards is a competitive awards program honoring excellence and accomplishments in the global energy industry. The […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Pemex Reports 11th Straight Loss as Accidents Cripple Output

Petroleos Mexicanos posted its 11th consecutive quarterly loss as a series of accidents combined with a collapse in oil prices to batter the state-run producer’s earnings. The company’s net loss widened to 84.6 billion pesos ($5.2 billion) in the second quarter from 53 billion pesos a year earlier, Pemex, as the Mexico City-based producer in known, said in a statement Thursday. Sales slid 24 percent to 308.9 billion pesos as output fell to the lowest level in 24 years. Pemex’s earnings were crimped after U.S. benchmark oil prices fell an average 44 percent from 2014 and production slid following three offshore accidents in as many months. Production averaged 2.23 million barrels a day in the quarter, a 9.8 percent decrease from a year earlier, and has declined for 10 straight years since reaching 3.3 million in 2004. “We continue to face the effects of the accident at Abkatun along […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Norwegian company surveying offshore Mexican reserves

Norwegian energy company Dolphin Geophysical starts survey of Mexican waters as the nation works to overhaul its oil sector. Map courtesy of Dolphin Geophysical OSLO, Norway, July 28 (UPI) — A Norwegian energy company said it was surveying Mexican waters for the reserve potential in anticipation of a "new era" in the nation’s oil sector. Dolphin Geophysical said Tuesday it started a seismic survey campaign off the western Mexican coast, saying the campaign coordinates with the nation’s recent sector reforms. "Dolphin is very pleased to begin the acquisition of its first survey of this new era in Mexican petroleum exploration," Andy Phipps, regional president for the company, said in a statement. The Mexican government recently auctioned off rights to an estimated 2,600 square miles with reserve estimates of around 686 million barrels of oil equivalent, most of which exists as light crude oil. The auction drew interest from mid-sized […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

World’s Top 3 Shipbuilders Post Record Loss on Deep-Sea Failures

Construction work in the dry dock at the Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg The world’s three biggest shipbuilders posted a combined 4.8 trillion won ($4.1 billion) in operating losses in the second quarter, paying the price for a failed foray into deep-sea oil rigs. Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. and Samsung Heavy Industries Co. — South Korea’s Big Three shipbuilders — all reported losses Wednesday that were far worse than analysts had estimated. The root cause: a venture into offshore oil rigs starting around 2010 to avoid direct competition with Chinese shipbuilders, who had the advantage of cheap labor to make low-profit tankers. Mounting losses at vessel makers are the latest example of difficulties for the global shipbuilding industry after a glut of vessels and low freight rates spelled trouble for Chinese shipyards in recent years, prompting […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Chevron to lay off 1,500 workers amidst oil price slump

A Chevron gas station sign is seen in Del Mar, California, April 25, 2013. Chevron Corp, the second-largest U.S. oil company, said on Tuesday it would lay off 1,500 employees, about 2 percent of its global work force, as it trims costs to offset declining crude prices. Nearly all of the layoffs will be in Texas, where the company has expanded in recent years to develop land in the Permian shale formation, and California, where Chevron is headquartered. Fifty international employees will be laid off and roughly 600 contractor positions will be canceled, the company said in a statement. Of the 1,500 jobs being eliminated, 270 are currently empty and will not be filled, Chevron said. Chevron had previously labeled the Permian as one of its premium assets. Oil prices have plunged by about 55 percent in the past year due to oversupply concerns both in the United States […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Marcellus, Utica provide 85% of U.S. shale gas production growth since start of 2012

graph of natural gas production in selected regions, as explained in the article text The productivity of natural gas wells in the Marcellus Shale and the neighboring Utica Shale is steadily increasing because of ongoing improvements in precision and efficiency of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing occurring in those regions. Since January 2012, natural gas production in the Marcellus and Utica regions has accounted for 85% of the increase in natural gas production reported in EIA’s Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) and has driven recent growth in total U.S. natural gas production. The DPR provides a month-ahead projection of both oil and natural gas production for the seven most significant shale formations in the United States. Although the DPR regions are grouped according to the name of the predominant shale formation, the report analyzes all drilling and production within each geographic area. In practice, this means natural gas production activity […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

2 injection wells shut down, 1 curbing activity after quakes

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Corporation Commission says two oil and gas wastewater injection wells are shutting down and one is reducing operations in the Crescent area following several earthquakes. The commission said Tuesday that Stephens Production and Devon Energy are each voluntarily closing one well. Also, Stephens is reducing operations at another well by 50 percent. Earthquakes in the area recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey on Monday and Tuesday include two of magnitude 4.5 and one of magnitude 4.1. The commission recently announced plans to place more than 200 disposal wells under scrutiny as it investigates whether they are triggering earthquakes in the state. An Oklahoma Geological Survey report in April says it’s "very likely" most of the state’s recent earthquakes were triggered by the injection of wastewater from the wells.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Keystone Backer Hoeven Says Obama Will Reject Pipeline in August

A leading congressional supporter of the Keystone XL pipeline predicted President Barack Obama will reject the project when Congress is set to be out of town in August. Senator John Hoeven, a North Dakota Republican, cited “sources” Tuesday as he discussed the pipeline in a Senate floor speech without identifying where his information came from. “He’ll wait until Congress is out of session for August,” Hoeven said, according to Bloomberg BNA. The $8 billion Keystone XL project proposed by TransCanada Corp. has become one of the most contentious energy issues of Obama’s presidency. Environmentalists oppose the pipeline because it would promote development of the Alberta oil sands, which releases more greenhouse gases than conventional drilling. Hoeven supports the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have the capacity to carry about 830,000 barrels of oil a day to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries. Obama vetoed a bill the Republican-led Congress passed this […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Russia Calling Off Dollar Buying Bolsters Ruble as Oil Slides

The ruble ended five days of losses as the Bank of Russia said it was stopping daily purchases of foreign exchange, signaling policy makers don’t want to add impetus to the currency’s decline before an interest-rate decision this week. While the ruble strengthened as much as 1.4 percent after the central bank said it was suspending a program of buying as much as $200 million daily, the exchange rate quickly gave up most of those gains as Brent crude slid toward a six-month low. The move by the Bank of Russia followed a five-day rout that almost ended this year’s appreciation and weakened the ruble beyond 60 to the dollar for the first time since March. “The ruble pushing above 60 was a tipping point,” Daniel Hewitt, an analyst at Barclays Capital Plc in London, said by e-mail. “Foreign-currency purchases were using up foreign exchange available on the market […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Vladimir Putin’s most effective weapon is gas – but not the poison kind

The logo of Gazprom is pictured at the 26th World Gas Conference in Paris, France, June 2, 2015. At face value, Russia’s $400 billion deal to supply natural gas to China National Petroleum Corporation, via the state-controlled energy behemoth Gazprom, sounds like a coup for Moscow. But according to recent analysis, the deal is strongly tilted in China’s favor. Gazprom will be lucky to break even on the contract and may even lose substantial amounts of money. While the deal may not make economic sense for Gazprom, it does fit with Vladimir Putin’s broader geopolitical “tilt to Asia” strategy, and represents “a desperate geopolitical gambit trumping all economic rationale,” according to analysis by the Chatham House, a UK policy institute. In fact, the CNPC deal is just one example of how Gazprom operates more as an instrument of Putin’s political ambitions and Russian state power than as a rational […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil Prices Dipped to Four-Month Low on China Stock Market Rout

LONDON—Oil prices fell on Tuesday touching a four-month low as a rout in Chinese stock markets added to the already bearish investor sentiment. China’s shares fell for a third straight day on Tuesday in a second wave of heavy selling this month. The selloff is seen as a symptom of a wider economic malaise which could depress demand from the world’s second biggest consumers of crude oil. “Supply excess and disappointing Chinese demand are the common denominators that have pulled the price rug from underneath oil prices,” said David Hufton of PVM brokerage. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell 1.4% to $52.73 a barrel in midmorning trading on London’s ICE Futures exchange, having touched $52.28 a barrel earlier in the session, its lowest level since mid-March. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate futures were trading down 0.9% at $46.98 a barrel. Oil prices rallied earlier […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil prices fall to near six-month lows, rattled by China

A customer prepares to fill the tank of her car at a fuel station in Sint Pieters Leeuw December 5, 2014. Oil prices fell for a fifth straight session on Tuesday to their lowest in almost six months, as a rout in Chinese equities cast further doubt over the outlook for crude demand in the world’s top commodities consumer. China’s already-volatile benchmark stock index, with a combined market capitalization of $4.6 trillion, has lost 10 percent in the last two days of trade. Most household debt is linked to real estate rather than the stock market, but with Chinese economic growth struggling to stick at 7 percent, analysts say demand for crude may not be enough to help mop up a global supply glut. "Typically, equity markets do have a high correlation to quarterly GDP growth," Deutsche Bank strategist Michael Lewis said. "Naturally, there is some risk that this […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil Prices Fall to Four-Month Low Amid Chinese Stocks Rout

Oil prices fell to a four-month low Monday on concerns about a selloff in Chinese stock markets and increased oil drilling in the U.S. U.S. oil prices have slumped 20% this month as the global glut of oil shows no signs of abating. Production remains near multidecade highs in the U.S., Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, and analysts say demand could decline in the second half of the year after the busy summer-driving season ends. Light, sweet crude for September delivery settled down 75 cents, or 1.6%, at $47.39 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest settlement since March 20. Brent, the global benchmark, fell $1.15, or 2.1%, to $53.47 a barrel, the lowest level since March 16. Brent prices have fallen 21% from a recent high reached in May, meeting the common definition of a bear market. Diesel futures lost 3.46 cents, or 2.1%, to $1.5956 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil prices fall on oversupply worries; investors await Fed meeting

A pump jack is seen at sunrise near Bakersfield, California October 14, 2014. Oil prices fell on Monday after closing the previous session at their lowest levels since March on renewed oversupply concerns from the United States and Iraq, although a weaker dollar helped to limit deeper losses. Investors are looking to the U.S. Federal Reserve for direction this week. The central bank starts a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday that could result in a September interest rate hike that would strengthen the greenback. "The markets are looking for price guidance from Janet & Co," said Ben Le Brun, market analyst at Sydney’s OptionsXpress, referring to Fed Chair Janet Yellen and the bank. "There is scope for the dollar bulls to be disappointed this week (which) might be a driver for oil prices and the commodities complex overall," Le Brun said. A weaker dollar makes dollar-denominated commodities, including oil, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Hedge funds are most bearish on U.S. oil since 2010: Kemp

A service truck drives past an oil well on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, November 1, 2014. Hedge funds are more bearish about the outlook for U.S. oil prices than at any time for almost five years, according to data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Hedge funds and other money managers had a net long position in WTI-linked futures and options equivalent to just 118 million barrels of oil on July 21, down from a recent high of 294 million barrels 11 weeks earlier ( link.reuters.com/pug35w ). The net position was the smallest since September 2010. Money managers interested in oil have a long bias (there has been no net short since the current time series began in 2006). So the small net long indicates an unusually high level of bearishness among hedge funds. Sentiment has turned bearish as a series of negative factors […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Deep-sea oil projects make up most of $200 billion deferrals: Wood Mac

A vessel delivers a cargo of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to the Arun regasification terminal in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh June 25, 2015 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Picture taken June 25, 2015. Oil and gas projects in deep basins account for most of deferred investments worth more than $200 billion made due to the oil price crash, analysts at consultancy Wood Mackenzie said in a report. Oil and gas majors have slashed capital expenditure budgets between 10-15 percent this year in response to oil prices halving over the past year. A large chunk of these cost savings have been made by deferring investment decisions in expensive projects, shelving more than $200 billion worth of investments, the analysts said. Estimates by rival consultancies have varied between $150-$200 billion. "By year-end we may be able to count the number of major upstream projects that made FID (final investment decision)during […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Iran Starts Negotiations to Export Natural Gas to Europe

Iran is in a good position to meet the growing gas needs of the European Union and has started its talks in this regard, the secretary general of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) said. “Iran and the European Union have already engaged in negotiation that involved several options for the export (of gas) to the European Union,” Sputnik News quoted Seyed Mohammad Hossein Adeli as telling reporters on Friday. Iran could partially meet the growing EU energy demands both through pipeline supplies and liquefied natural gas deliveries, he added. Adeli said the demand for natural gas in Europe is set to increase after 2020, with European gas imports to double by 2040. His remarks came one day after Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninia said international sanctions imposed on Iran’s oil and gas sector are expected to be lifted in October or November. According to BP’s Statistical […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Iraq’s Southern Oil Exports Hit a Record in July

Photographer: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP via Getty Images Iraqi’s oil exports from the south climbed to a record this month at the same time the self-ruled Kurds in the north are shipping crude independently, adding to a global supply glut as producers vie for market share. Southern oil exports, representing the central government’s shipments, rose to 3.064 million barrels a day in July and will remain at about the same level for the rest of the month, Thaer Yassin, spokesman of the state-owned South Oil Co., said by phone on Monday. Exports were 3.020 million barrels a day in June, he said. “We are increasing exports every month,” Yassin said. “The figure is a record.” Iraq, the second-largest OPEC member, is boosting shipments as a worldwide glut driven by a U.S. shale boom prompts producers to pursue strategies to defend market share. Brent crude has fallen about 50 percent from last […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Lack of Pause in Yemen War Delays Aid

OPEN Map Map: Saudi-Backed Forces Gain Momentum AMMAN, Jordan — A pledge by Saudi Arabia to halt its military operations in Yemen failed to stop ferocious fighting across the country on Monday as a humanitarian aid group warned that more than six million people were facing starvation because of the war. Saudi Arabia, which leads an Arab military coalition that has been fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels since March, said Saturday that it would pause its military operations for five days to allow for the delivery of humanitarian relief supplies. But there was no sign of a letup in the violence on Monday, dashing hopes that the Saudi declaration would lead even briefly to a broader truce. The Houthis and their allies fought to advance in several provinces, shelling the southern port city of Aden and firing rockets across the Saudi border, according to local military officials and Houthi media […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Kurdistan to receive $139m June budget payment

Workers unload a box of Iraqi dinars from a truck at Sather Air Base in Baghdad on Aug. 28, 2007. (MASTER SGT. PAUL D. BISHOP/United States Marine Corps) Iraq’s federal government is transferring the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) a budget payment of 166.8 billion Iraqi dinars ($139 million*) for the month of June – the lowest monthly allocation so far this year.The reduced payment comes in response to the KRG’s decision to start withholding the vast majority of northern oil exports from federal authorities and increase its independent sales.Ahmed Abdulrahman, the spokesperson of the KRG Finance Ministry, said the money has been al… 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
Category:

Libya Crude Output Drops as Conflict Cuts Power at Oil Fields

Libya’s crude production dropped below 400,000 barrels a day as the conflict in the divided North African country cut electricity supply at oil fields, according to the state-run National Oil Corp. Output in Libya, holder of Africa’s largest crude reserves, has been hampered by a lack of security and maintenance as well as power outages, Mohamed Elharari, an NOC spokesman, said Monday by phone from Tripoli. Crude production was about 411,000 barrels a day in June, according to the most recent OPEC monthly report. “The situation is not very good,” Elharari said. “There is poor maintenance, and there are electricity cuts at the oil fields.” Libya produced about 1.6 million barrels a day before the 2011 rebellion that ended Muammar Qaddafi’s 42-year rule. The country is today the smallest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It has failed to restore output as militias fight for the control […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigeria: How Oil Thieves, Cabal Milk Nigeria Dry

Rampant stealing of petrol, mostly from along the pipes conveying it, costs Nigeria huge losses in financial terms and in impact on the environment Okon Mbom (not his real name) wakes up 4.00am every morning from his house in Ibuluya, Okrika local government area of Rivers State with one thing in mind: nothing and no one will come between him and his take-home package every sunset when he is relieved. Okon receives N10,000 every day from stern looking operatives of an oil pipeline in the deep forest. Okon of course had discovered with time that his paymasters were not government officials. Sometime last year when he was engaged, he was given strict instructions to shoot any stranger at sight. Okon had known that what he was protecting was crude oil, Nigeria’s cash cow, used to be pumped by the same pipes to various oil refineries before now but which, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Chinese Markets Uneasy After Huge Sell-Off

Photo A brokerage house in Beijing on Tuesday as markets remained unsettled. Credit Wu Hong/European Pressphoto Agency HONG KONG — Instability continued to roil China’s stock markets on Tuesday in spite of new pledges of support from the government. Shanghai’s main share index fell as much as 5 percent as trading opened on Tuesday, adding to an 8.5 percent plunge on Monday that was the biggest one-day decline since 2007 and which brought an end to several weeks of relatively calm movements. Stocks seesawed throughout the day, rising at one point by as much as 1 percent, and ended Tuesday down 1.7 percent. The precarious display on China’s bourses has shaken global financial markets. Prices for metals like copper, of which China is a major buyer, fell to six-year lows during the past two days. Oil has also slumped, trading closer to the six-year lows it reached this spring. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Chinese steel juggernaut slows but not fast enough: Andy Home

An employee guides a crane as it transports a roll of steel sheet, at a factory in Handan, Hebei province August 13, 2014. Chinese steel output fell by 1.3 percent in the first half of the year. This is self-evidently not good news for the iron ore market, given China is the single biggest buyer of seaborne ore. A surge in supply on the back of expansions by the world’s largest producers was always going to pose hard questions of the iron ore price. The adjustment process gets a whole lot messier if demand from Chinese steel-mills is contracting exactly at the same time as new supply is looking to find a home. Which is why the iron ore price, as assessed by The Steel Index, is struggling to stay above the $50-per-tonne level, just shy of the all-time low of $44.10 registered at the start of this month. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Hillary Clinton Lays Out Climate Change Plan

Photo Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday toured a Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority station with Elizabeth Presutti, general manager, and Keith Welch, building superintendent. Credit Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press DES MOINES — Setting ambitious goals for producing energy from the sun, wind and other renewable sources, Hillary Rodham Clinton seized on an issue Monday that increasingly resonates with Democratic voters and sets up a stark contrast with the Republican presidential field. With many Republican candidates saying they do not believe that climate change is a threat or requires government intervention, Mrs. Clinton assailed their logic, saying, “The reality of climate change is unforgiving no matter what the deniers say.” She set a goal to produce 33 percent of the nation’s electricity from renewable sources by 2027, up from 7 percent today — a higher goal than the 20 percent that President Obama has called for by 2030. Mrs. Clinton’s […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Prefab Nuclear Plants Prove Just as Expensive

Building nuclear reactors out of factory-produced modules was supposed to make their construction swifter and cheaper, leading to a new boom in nuclear energy. But two U.S. sites where nuclear reactors are under construction have been hit with costly delays that have shaken faith in the new construction method and created problems concerning who will bear the added expense. “Modular construction has not worked out to be the solution that the utilities promised,” said Robert B. Baker, an energy lawyer at Freeman Mathis & Gary LLP in Atlanta and former member of the Georgia Public Service Commission, the state utility authority. The new building technique calls for fabricating big sections of plants in factories and then hauling them by rail to power-plant sites for final assembly. The method was supposed to prevent a repeat of the notorious delays and cost overruns that marred the last nuclear construction cycle in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Cnooc Oil-Sands Spill Worsens Outlook for Canada Pipeline Plans

Crews clean an oil spill at Nexen Energy’s Long Lake facility near Fort McMurray on July 22, 2015. Photographer: Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP It’s becoming increasingly difficult to get oil-sands pipeline projects off the ground, and Alberta’s worst spill since 1980 will probably make it tougher. A rupture in a line operated by Nexen, a unit of China’s Cnooc Ltd., spewed 31,500 barrels of bitumen, waste water and sand into the bog-like muskeg of the province’s north this month, igniting outrage from communities along pipeline routes. The crude in the slurry would be enough to make gasoline to fill up about 15,000 cars. The leak is bolstering opposition that has stalled every major crude export project from Canada in recent years and may lead to more stringent regulations. The delays to multibillion-dollar pipelines such as TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL are threatening output growth and have led producers […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Exxon Mobil donates $5 million to North Dakota housing fund

A Exxon Mobil gas station is seen in Encinitas, California October 28, 2014. A subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corp donated $5 million on Monday to a North Dakota government housing fund that subsidizes construction of low-cost apartments for teachers and emergency personnel in the state’s oil patch. XTO Energy will receive a 100 percent tax write-off for its donation to the North Dakota Housing Incentive Fund, which will be used to construct more than 75 apartment units in Kildeer, Watford City and Williston, towns at the center of the state’s oil hub. North Dakota has had a hard time attracting teachers, police officers and firefighters into such towns due to the high cost of housing. The fund seeks to help alleviate that. "These are the communities our employees live in and we want to respect those communities," Tim McIlwain, XTO’s head of operations, told a news conference. The donation […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

North Dakota crude breakeven prices as low as $24/b: state agency

US crude prices would still need to drop significantly before falling below breakeven prices in North Dakota’s four most prolific counties, according to data released by the state Department of Mineral Resources Monday. Breakeven prices for rigs in North Dakota’s Dunn, McKenzie, Mountrail and Williams counties range from $24/b in Dunn to $41/b in Mountrail, according to the data. Those four counties accounted for 63 of the state’s 68 oil rigs on Monday, according to the data. The breakeven prices ranged from $28/b to $42/b in the four counties when the DMR published its last such data in October 2014. At the same time, breakeven prices have fallen dramatically in counties with far less drilling activity, the data shows. The breakeven price is $62/b in Divide County, which has three working rigs. Previously, the breakeven price in Divide was seen to be $85/b, when the county had eight working […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Hillary Clinton Sidesteps Keystone in Climate Plan Rollout

DES MOINES – Hillary Clinton pledged to make combating climate change a central focus of the 2016 presidential campaign, saying Monday that she would not allow “deniers” to thwart progress or prevent the U.S. from leading on the issue. While Mrs. Clinton cast herself as a crusader for clean energy, she declined to weigh in on a key environmental debate, taking no position on whether to build the Keystone XL pipeline. At an event in Iowa touting her climate plan, Mrs. Clinton said that as secretary of state, she set in motion the review evaluating the pipeline and now would allow her successor, John Kerry , and President Barack Obama to make the final decision. “I will refrain from commenting because I had a leading role in getting that process started,” Mrs. Clinton said. “And I think that we have to let it run its course.” Many Republicans have […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Gain in U.S. Equipment Orders Points to Investment Rebound

American factories received more orders for capital goods such as machinery and fabricated metals in June, a sign business investment is poised to recover from an early-year malaise. Bookings for non-military equipment excluding planes climbed 0.9 percent, just the second gain this year, after decreasing 0.4 percent in May, data from the Commerce Department showed Monday in Washington. Orders for all durable goods — items meant to last at least three years — increased 3.4 percent, led by a rebound in commercial aircraft demand. The worst of the weakness for manufacturers may be over after the energy industry promptly adjusted to lower oil prices and other U.S. companies look to expand. Resilient consumer spending, particularly on automobiles, is helping make up for weaker overseas demand as a stronger dollar makes American-built goods more expensive. “We’re seeing domestic activity continue to push through, despite the headwinds of sluggish global growth […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Warming Planet May Double Odds of New York Flooding, Study Says

New York’s odds of being flooded by a one-two punch of extreme rain and surging seas have more than doubled in the past 80 years, a change scientists say may be linked to global warming. The number of so-called compound flooding events — combining heavy precipitation and a high storm surge — have “increased significantly” for much of the coastal U.S., affecting cities from New York and San Francisco to Boston and Galveston, Texas, researchers said in a paper published Monday by the journal Nature Climate Change. Researchers found an increased connection between storm surges and high precipitation, phenomena that forecasters and urban planners often treat as independent events when preparing for storms , said lead author Thomas Wahl. How much of the change is due to global warming or natural variation is unclear, but the data suggest policy makers should reconsider where they build infrastructure and how flood […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple