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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 )

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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 […]

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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)

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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