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Investors grumble as China leaders stay mum on stocks rout

An investor takes notes as he watches a board showing stock prices at a brokerage office in Beijing, China, in this July 6, 2015 file photo. China’s wild stock market rout is a challenge not a crisis, say people close to the country’s leadership. But at the sharp end, among the millions of often retired, small retail investors who account for around 85 percent of market trading, the mood is less sanguine. "China is not about to become the next Greece. You are too pessimistic," one individual close to the leadership in Beijing told Reuters, referring to foreign media and detractors. "We still have many policy tools we can use." As the CSI300 index .CSI300 of the largest listed stocks in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell 6.8 percent on Wednesday – it has lost close to a third of its value in less than a month after more than doubling […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China Peak Oil: 2015 Is the Year

Image Credit: REUTERS/Stringer Domestic production looks set to peak, with some profound implications for the world market. Intense focus on the North American shale boom, Saudi Arabia, and ISIS obscures an important emerging energy trend: China’s oil production is peaking. This has profound implications for the world oil market, because China is not just a massive importer of crude; it is also among the world’s five largest oil producers , trailing only the U.S., Russia, and Saudi Arabia, and virtually neck-in-neck with Canada. China’s oil industry has delivered impressive oil and gas production growth over the past decade. Yet a range of data and historical analogies increasingly suggest that, at global oil prices between $50-to-$100 per barrel, China’s oil supply capability is plateauing and may peak as soon as this year. Lower or higher prices would accelerate or extend this timing. China’s crude oil output has stagnated for the […]

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Shell suffers early arctic setback

Icebreaker contracted by Shell to carry a piece of safety equipment to Alaskan waters suffers minor hull breach. UPI/Kathryn Hansen/NASA JUNEAU, Alaska, July 8 (UPI) — Royal Dutch Shell confirmed an icebreaker carrying a piece of safety equipment to a drilling site in arctic Alaskan waters suffered a minor hull breach. A Shell spokesman confirmed in a statement emailed to Alaska Public Media a "small breach" was discovered in the hull of MV Fennica, chartered to carry a capping stack to drilling sites in the Chuckchi Sea. Shell is proposing as many as six wells in a region known as the Burger prospect, located in shallow waters off the coast of Alaska, using the Noble Discoverer and Polar Pioneer rigs. Shell would need the capping stack positioned near drilling sites under the terms of federal permits. Industry group American Petroleum Institute in July 2014 outlined recommended practices for the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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North Dakota Fights Fracking Rule

North Dakota Fights Ruling Two days after North Dakota filed an injunction to delay new federal fracking rules, a district court grants a temporary reprieve. Related: New Fracking Rules for Public Lands U.S. District Court Judge Scott W. Skavdahl delayed the new ruling, which was to go into effect this week, saying that permitting of oil and gas wells on federal land will proceed under current regulations until July 22nd. The case before Judge Skavdahl combined a challenge from North Dakoa, Wyoming and Colorado with one from industry groups who believed the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) did not follow federal rule-making law and exceeded their authority. Jessica Kershaw, a BLM spokeswoman said “While the matter is being resolved, the BLM will follow the court’s order and will continue to process applications for permit to drill and inspect well sites under its pre-existing regulations.” In March, the BLM passed […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil Prices: Where Did Summer Go?

Few things unnerve drivers more than some inexplicable knocking sound that portends engine trouble. The latest weekly inventory figures from the Energy Information Administration, released Wednesday, amount to much the same thing for an oil market already driving defensively. We are in the middle of U.S. driving season, when gasoline demand peaks. On that front, the latest data show at least one trend that should, all else equal, rev up oil bets: average gasoline demand over the four weeks ended July 3 was up 5.3%, year over year. And yet, and yet…there is no escaping the sound of gears grinding. Despite relatively healthy gasoline demand, 1.2 million barrels of the stuff flowed into storage tanks last week, keeping gasoline inventories in the upper half of their seasonal average range. What is more, inventories of crude oil increased by 400,000 barrels. That isn’t a huge amount; the U.S. consumes that […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Net petroleum product exports continue to increase

graph of U.S. net petroleum product exports, as explained in the article text Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Petroleum Supply Monthly Over the past decade, domestic refinery output of petroleum products has grown significantly while consumption has declined, resulting in a major increase in product exports. Petroleum product exports averaged 4.1 million barrels per day (b/d) in the first four months of the year, an increase of 0.5 million b/d over exports the same time last year. Product imports are also higher than last year, but to a lesser extent, leading to an increase in net petroleum product exports. Import and export patterns vary by region, with most exports leaving from the Gulf Coast (Petroleum Administration for Defense District 3), and imports coming to the East Coast (PADD 1). Record-high refinery runs and increased global demand for petroleum products from the United States continue to push exports higher . […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Canadian imports of US crude hit fresh highs in May: Statistics Canada

Canada imported a record 573,400 b/d of US crude in May, Statistics Canada data showed. As US crude exports are heavily restricted, the lion’s share of US exports often go to Canada as much of the refined product produced eventually feeds into US Northeast demand. Canada has four refineries on its East Coast: Irving Oil’s 300,000 b/d Saint John facility in New Brunswick; Harvest Operations’ 115,000 b/d Come By Chance refinery in Newfoundland and Labrador; and Valero’s 265,000 b/d Jean Gaulin refinery and Suncor’s 137,000 b/d Montreal refinery, both in Quebec. While these refineries traditionally take Atlantic Basin crudes — including offshore Canadian production — they have recently been sourcing more and more barrels from Texas, and increasingly North Dakota and Wyoming as well, Statistics Canada data shows. Article continues below… Crude Oil Marketwire delivers vital intelligence to help you make critical decisions. Delivered daily direct to your desktop, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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California Farms Are Using Fracking Wastewater to Grow Crops

OriginClear’s equipment purifies wastewater by zapping it with electric pulses. Source: OriginClear via Bloomberg California’s epic drought is pushing Big Oil to solve a problem it’s struggled with for decades: what to do with the billions of gallons of wastewater that gush out of wells every year. Golden State drillers have pumped much of that liquid back underground into disposal wells. Now, amid a four-year dry spell, more companies are looking to recycle their water or sell it to parched farms as the industry tries to get ahead of environmental lawsuits and new regulations. The trend could have implications for oil patches across the country. With fracking boosting the industry’s thirst for water, companies have run into conflicts from Texas to Colorado to Pennsylvania. California could be an incubator for conservation efforts that have so far failed to gain traction elsewhere in the U.S. CHART: Big Oil’s Other Gusher […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Ukraine reviews domestic gas options

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk calls for domestic natural gas reserves to dominate the nation’s energy sector within the next 10 years. File photo by John Angelillo/UPI KIEV, Ukraine, July 8 (UPI) — Ukraine’s prime minister said the country must wean itself off foreign natural gas within 10 years, offering tax breaks as an incentive to private companies. "Ukraine has to provide itself with domestic gas production within 10 years by reducing the consumption and increasing the domestic production," Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said. Trilateral talks between European, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators collapsed last week in Vienna. The energy relationship between Ukraine and Russia has been strained at least since 2006, when Ukrainian debt issues prompted Russian energy company Gazprom to cut gas supplies through the country. The Kremlin during last week’s debate opted to keep prices for Ukraine unchanged from the second quarter, which included a $40 […]

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Euro zone gives Greece until Sunday for debt deal

BRUSSELS Euro zone members have given Greece until the end of the week to come up with a proposal for sweeping reforms in return for loans that will keep the country from crashing out of Europe’s currency bloc and into economic ruin. "The stark reality is that we have only five days left … Until now I have avoided talking about deadlines, but tonight I have to say loud and clear that the final deadline ends this week," European Council President Donald Tusk told a news conference. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has until Friday to present the proposal, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she hoped to have convincing reform commitments from Tsipras on Thursday so she could ask the German parliament to authorize negotiations on a new aid program. Merkel said she was "not exaggeratedly optimistic" for a solution. At an emergency summit in Brussels on Tuesday, representatives […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple