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Crude Prices Under Pressure as U.S. Dollar Slumps

LONDON—Crude oil prices diverged on Friday, but remain under pressure as the dollar lost some ground against other major currencies. With several Asian markets closed for a holiday on Friday, trading resumed in the European session close to levels from Thursday’s close. For now, investors have set aside concerns about the Greek debt crisis and the possibility of more crude oil coming from Iran , and turned their attention to the U.S. dollar. The euro was marginally higher against the dollar at $1.089 by midmorning Friday. The British pound hit a fresh seven-year high against the euro after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney on Thursday suggested a rate hike may come sooner than markets expect. The Wall Street Journal’s dollar index was down 0.1% on Friday. A weaker dollar makes it cheaper for overseas buyers to purchase dollar-denominated oil. “The weak euro/dollar worked against crude oil yesterday and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Crude spreads remain firm in the face of ‘massive oversupply’: Kemp

A drop of diesel is seen at the tip of a nozzle after a fuel station customer fills her car’s tank in Sint Pieters Leeuw December 5, 2014. The oil market was massively oversupplied in the second quarter and remains so today, the International Energy Agency (IEA) wrote in its latest monthly oil market report. “The market’s ability to absorb that oversupply is unlikely to last. Onshore storage space is limited. So is the tanker fleet. New refineries do not get built every day. Something has to give,” the agency warned starkly. If so, someone forgot to tell the futures markets, where timespreads have remained firm and give no indication storage might be running out ( link.reuters.com/zyt25w ). Brent and WTI futures imply the market is willing to pay less than 45 cents per barrel per month to finance and store crude on average over the next half-year, down […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Natural Gas Rises on Warm Weather Forecasts

By Timothy Puko Natural-gas prices rose slightly Friday after weather forecasts suggested strong demand in the coming weeks, outweighing signs of continuing oversupply. The front-month August contract settled up 1.6 cents, or 0.6%, to $2.87 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, gas gained 3.6%. The small moves are a continuing sign of plummeting volatility in gas. It has settled within about a 23-cent range every day for more than a month, and settled within an eight-cent range every day this week. Traders, especially on Friday, have been caught between signs of strong demand in the power sector and continuing signs of oversupply from producers. "It’s probably fairly priced going into the weekend," said Frank Clements, co-owner of Meridian Energy Brokers Inc. outside New York. "I think people are going to wait for the hot weather to pan out." This week’s gains […]

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Islamic State claims suicide car bomb that kills more than 100 in Iraq

More than 100 people were killed in a suicide car bombing at a busy market in an Iraqi town on Friday, in one of the deadliest attacks carried out by Islamic State militants since they overran large parts of the country. The blast brought down several buildings in Khan Bani Saad, about 30 km (20 miles) northeast of Baghdad, crushing to death people who were celebrating the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, police and medics said. Islamic State, which controls large parts of northern and western Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack in the mixed eastern province of Diyala where Khan Bani Saad is located and said the target was "rejectionists", as the group refers to Shi’ite Muslims. Angry crowds went on the rampage after the explosion, smashing the windows of cars parked in the street in grief and anger. Body parts were flung onto the […]

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Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Says Nuclear Deal Won’t Change U.S. Ties

TEHRAN—Iran will uphold its anti-American policies and continue to support regional allies inimical to Western interests, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday, days after Tehran and six world powers struck a landmark nuclear deal that renewed hopes of improved ties between longtime adversaries. “Our policy regarding the arrogant U.S. government will not change,” Mr. Khamenei said in a televised address to mark Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim feast day at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. “We don’t have any negotiations or deal with the U.S. on different issues in the world or the region.” Mr. Khamenei said the country wouldn’t surrender to excessive demands, and vowed not to change Iran’s policy of supporting regional allies that the U.S. and Israel oppose. Iran provides vital support for the Syrian regime, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Shiite militias in Iraq, among other groups. “Whether [the deal is] ratified or […]

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Anti-Houthi forces advance in Yemen amid heavy Arab air strikes

Military vehicles of the Southern Resistance fighters move during clashes with Houthi fighters on a street in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden July 17, 2015. Local fighters and army forces in Yemen have wrested two military bases from Houthi forces overnight, residents and officials said, building on a week of gains against the country’s dominant faction. The advances come a day after Yemen’s government in exile declared the key southern city of Aden "liberated," in their biggest victory yet in a Saudi-led air campaign and civil war that has raged almost four months and killed more than 3,500 people. Saudi-backed Yemeni forces backed up by air strikes seized the Labuza army base in Lahj province north of the port city and the headquarters of the 117th armored division in eastern Shabwa province some 230km (145 miles) away. Officials in the anti-Houthi forces say the offensive was planned for […]

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Iran leader withholds verdict on nuclear deal, vows anti-U.S. policies

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran, August 30, 2012. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei withheld his verdict on Iran’s nuclear deal on Saturday but in a fiery address vowed enduring opposition to the United States and its Middle East policies, saying Washington sought Iran’s ‘surrender’. In an speech at a Tehran mosque punctuated by chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel", Khamenei said he wanted politicians to examine the agreement to ensure national interests were preserved, as Iran would not allow the disruption of its revolutionary principles or defensive abilities. An arch conservative with the last word on high matters of state, Khamenei repeatedly used the phrase "whether this text is approved or not", implying the accord has yet to win definitive backing from Iran’s factionalized political establishment. "Whether the deal is approved or disapproved, we […]

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No contact with Iran, European gas pipeline group says

Consortium overseeing natural gas pipeline for Europe says it hasn’t been in contact with Iran, where sanctions may be easing after a breakthrough nuclear deal. File Photo by Hamid Forotan/ISNA BAAR, Switzerland, July 17 (UPI) — A consortium managing a pipeline designed as a way to diversify the European natural gas sector said it hasn’t made any contacts with potential Iranian suppliers. Iran may receive staged sanctions relief as a result of the breakthrough nuclear agreement brokered with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany. Energy companies BP and Shell both confirmed in response to emailed questions they were reviewing potential work in an Iranian oil sector that could be opening up to investors. When reviewing the credentials of Bulgarian Ambassador to Tehran Christo Polendakov in May, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his government viewed Bulgaria as a means to tap into the European energy […]

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Saudi-Backed Forces Said to Wrest Aden, Yemen, From Houthis

CAIRO — The exiled prime minister of Yemen said early Friday that Saudi-backed forces in Aden had “completely liberated” the southern city from the Houthi rebels who have been fighting to control it for nearly four months. The prime minister, Khaled Bahah, writing on Facebook, called it a “historic moment” and said his government would turn its attention to repairing the devastation in Aden and driving the Houthis from other areas of Yemen. Security officials and witnesses in Aden said that clashes were continuing in several areas on Friday, and that the Houthis retained at least partial control of at least one district. The rapid advances by the Saudi-backed forces in the city over the past few days appeared hard to reverse, however, signaling the first significant defeat for the Houthis and their allies. Mr. Bahah’s government, led by President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, fled to Saudi Arabia in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple