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A Final Hurdle in Iran Talks Deals With Conventional, Not Nuclear, Arms

VIENNA — One of the last major obstacles to concluding a historic nuclear deal with Iran is a dispute over a set of United Nations sanctions that appeared to be resolved months ago and only peripherally has to do with nuclear weapons . The sanctions, passed in a series of resolutions by the United Nations Security Council beginning nine years ago, ban the shipment of conventional arms into and out of Iran . For those worried about Iran’s continued muscle-flexing in the Middle East — supporting the forces of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Hezbollah forces in Lebanon, Palestinian terror groups and Shiite militias in Iraq — keeping the ban in place is critical for containing Tehran, even after a deal is reached. President Obama’s secretary of defense, Ashton B. Carter, even told Congress this week that part of the ban, on technology for ballistic missiles, was critical to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Bombing and heavy fighting rock Yemen despite truce

Saudi-led air strikes and heavy shelling between warring factions shook several cities in Yemen on Saturday, residents said, violating a United Nations humanitarian truce which took effect just before midnight. The U.N.-brokered pause in the fighting was meant to last a week to allow aid deliveries to the country’s 21 million people who have endured over three months of bombing and civil war. A coalition of Arab states has been bombing the Iranian-allied Houthi rebel movement – Yemen’s dominant force – since late March in a bid to restore to power President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has fled to Riyadh. Air raids pounded Houthi and Yemeni army units in the capital Sanaa and in the embattled southern cities of Taiz and Aden, where residents also reported intense artillery exchanges between the fighters and local militiamen. In Aden, one of the country’s most deprived and war-torn areas, witnesses said Houthi […]

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Sudan builds trenches around oil fields: minister

Sudan oil and gas minister Mohamed Awad Zayid has revealed that Sudanese security forces have dug trenches around oil fields on the border with South Sudan to fend off acts of sabotage. "The trenches will protect the oil fields from sabotage," Zayid was quoted as saying by the state-owned Sudan Vision daily Friday. Zayid did not mention the oil fields nor the group or country that Sudan suspects of sabotaging the vital facilities. But the nearest oil fields, located on the Sudan-South Sudan border, is Heglig, which produces more than half of Sudan’s current total of 133,000 b/d of crude oil. 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 and products and more than 200 end-of-day assessments. Heglig, whose ownership is being disputed by both Sudan and South Sudan, is […]

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Nigeria: Is Nigeria’s Other Insurgency Making a Comeback?

Blog Even as Nigeria struggles to fight against Boko Haram insurgents in its northeast, a dangerous but forgotten conflict on the other side of the country is resurfacing. Before the rise of Boko Haram, the conflict in the southern Niger Delta region had long been considered the most potent threat to Nigeria’s security. Over the years, it has displaced thousands and cost the government a hundred billion dollars in lost oil revenue. Violence in the south has been at a low ebb since 2009, when Nigeria’s former President Goodluck Jonathan bought off rebel leaders with a generous package of stipends. But those amnesty payments are set to expire in December, and new President Muhammadu Buhari will have a harder time dealing with the region than his predecessor: unlike Jonathan, Buhari does not come from the Delta, and global declines in oil prices mean that he has far less cash […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. Oil-Rig Count Rises for Second Straight Week

The number of U.S. oil-drilling rigs, which is a proxy for activity in the oil industry, had fallen sharply since oil prices headed south last year. Oil prices fell nearly 60% from June 2014 to a six-year low in March, as soaring production from the U.S. and other countries overwhelmed global demand. There are still about 59% fewer rigs working since a peak of 1,609 in October, though the pace of declines has slowed considerably recently. In late May, several U.S. shale-oil companies said they were ready to bring rigs back into service , setting up the first big test of their ability to quickly react to rising crude prices. According to Baker Hughes, gas rigs were down by two to 217 this week. The U.S. offshore rig count grew by two to 31 in the latest week, though it is still off 25 from a year earlier. For […]

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Eni Oil-Pipeline Explosion in Nigeria Kills 12, Injures 3

Twelve people died and three were injured in an explosion during repair work at an Eni SpA crude oil pipeline in Nigeria. The victims worked on a maintenance team for a local service company, Rome-based Eni said in a statement Friday. The Tebidaba-Clough Creek pipeline in the Niger delta was previously “damaged by acts of sabotage.” The company said it is still investigating the cause of Thursday’s blast. Accidents are common in Nigeria, where pipelines are often breached in attempts to pilfer crude. The incidents interrupt oil and gas flows, affecting Nigeria’s energy exports and revenue for companies including Eni, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp. Thursday’s incident was the worst since January 2012, when an explosion at Chevron’s Funiwa gas field killed two workers, according to a spokesman for a local environmental group. “The dead were unidentifiable,” said Alagoa Morris of Environmental Rights Action, the Nigerian affiliate […]

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U.S. Oil Drillers Add Rigs for Second Straight Week

Drillers put rigs in U.S. oil fields back to work for a second straight week, suggesting the end of an unprecedented retreat from the country’s prolific shale formations. Rigs targeting oil in the U.S. increased by five to 645, Baker Hughes Inc. said on its website Friday. They rose by 12 last week. Natural gas rigs fell by two to 217 and miscellaneous rigs dropped by two to one, bringing the total count up one to 863. The biggest regional growth came in the Permian Basin of West Texas, where eight oil rigs were added to 239. The Eagle Ford shale in South Texas saw a drop of five rigs to 81. “There are operators in the Permian Basin who are identifying properties that are economic even at these prices,” Matt Marietta, an analyst at Stephens Inc. in Houston, said in a phone interview. “We’ll continue to get this […]

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EIA’s estimates for state crude oil production account for incomplete, lagged data

graphs of Texas crude oil and lease condensate production, as explained in the article text Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Petroleum Supply Monthly , and the Texas Railroad Commission Note: June 2015 reports include estimates through April 2015. Market analysts have a keen interest in understanding how crude oil production in key states has been affected by recent changes in crude oil prices and drilling activity. EIA develops state-level production estimates for selected states that are based in part on state-level data. However, data published by state agencies are often incomplete when first published because of a combination of late reporting and processing delays, mainly due to the filing of production reports that do not contain all required information. Because EIA’s methodology for state-level production estimates aims to anticipate and account for expected revisions to data collected by the states, state-level production data published by EIA and state agencies […]

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Hedge funds cut bullish exposure to U.S. oil by most since 2012

Rigging equipment is pictured in a field outside of Sweetwater, Texas June 4, 2015. Hedge funds and other speculators have made their sharpest cut in more than two and a half years to their bullish exposure toward U.S. crude oil, trade data showed Friday, a further sign that investor confidence in the oil market recovery may be ebbing. U.S. crude prices sunk to three-month lows on Tuesday as Greece’s debt woes and China’s stock market plunge escalated, while Iran continued with efforts to remove Western sanctions on its exports so it could more ship more oil into an already flooded market. Corresponding with the oil price tumble, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed money managers’ net long position in U.S. crude futures and options fell by nearly 20 percent in the week to Tuesday, the biggest weekly decline since December 2012. Benchmark U.S. West Texas Intermediate […]

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Energy Storage and the Cost of Going Off-Grid

New energy storage offerings from Tesla and other manufacturers are widely expected to enhance the attractiveness of rooftop solar power and other renewables . However, recent analysis from the Brattle Group shows that even with rapid cost reductions, grid-independence will remain beyond the reach of most consumers . Last month’s Annual Energy Conference of the US Energy Information Administration included speakers and panels on topics such as crude-by-rail, potential US oil exports, and the role of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, all of which should be familiar to my readers here. However, the topic that really caught my interest this year was energy storage. Storage has been in the news lately, particularly since the launch of Tesla’s new home and commercial energy storage products . In fact, Tesla’s Chief Technology Officer spoke on the first morning of the conference. Much of his talk (very large file) focused on Tesla’s expectations […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple