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Houston-based LINN leaves Texas shale

Houston-based LINN Energy dumps remaining shares in Texas shale basin while securing capital support for future developments. Photo by Christopher Halloran/Shutterstock HOUSTON, July 7 (UPI) — Struggling LINN Energy said it was selling its stake in a Texas shale basin while simultaneously brokering capital investment deals to fund future developments. LINN said it signed a deal to sell its remaining 6,400 net acres in the Permian shale basin in Texas to an undisclosed buyer for $281 million. The company said the acreage yields an average 2,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from around 133 wells. Permian production increased 58 percent from 2007 to reach 1.35 million barrels per day last year, which represents 18 percent of total U.S. crude oil production. The low price of crude oil, still struggling to break through $60 per barrel, has forced many companies to cut staff levels and spending on production from […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Gas prices could go up, AAA says

Retail gasoline prices holding relatively stable, though a spike in summer demand could send prices higher though August, motor club AAA reports. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI WASHINGTON, July 7 (UPI) — Though retail gasoline prices are holding steady, motor club AAA said an increase in consumer demand could lead to further spikes through August. The national average retail price for Tuesday was $2.76 for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline, down a fraction of a percent from Monday and relatively unchanged from one month ago. Motor club AAA said that, though some regional refinery issues caused price spikes , notably in the Great Lakes region, many consumers saw gas prices drop in time for the long July 4 holiday weekend. Last July, AAA said gas prices declined in the United States for all but one day for a total drop of 16 cents per gallon. Gasoline prices on this […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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German Green Power Forces Neighbors to Bolster Blackout Defenses

Chart: German Wind Power Peaks Germany’s drive to harness wind and solar power is producing so much electricity that it’s spilling over into neighbors’ grids and increasing the threat of blackouts. Poland and the Czech Republic are spending $180 million on equipment to protect their systems from German power surges, while Austria is curbing some trading to prevent regional networks from collapsing. On a windy day, the overflow east can exceed the output from four atomic reactors. Germany’s fivefold increase in green energy in the past decade has outpaced investment in power lines to move it across the country. Electricity is looping through Poland and the Czech Republic to reach southern Germany, where supply is constrained as Chancellor Angela Merkel shuts nuclear plants after the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. The disruptions show the limits to the European Commission’s vision of a single power market. “A huge accumulation of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Greece debt crisis: Eurozone sets deadline for new plan

Greek banks remain shut, with controls on cash machine withdrawals The eurozone has given Greece until Thursday to present new proposals to secure a deal with creditors, and has called a full EU summit for Sunday. The moves came after an emergency eurozone leaders’ summit in Brussels. The eurozone had asked Greece to submit fresh plans after its voters rejected a draft bailout in a referendum. But Greece brought no written plans, suggesting instead a few changes to an earlier draft, which would respect "the mandate of the referendum". On Sunday a meeting of all 28 members of the European Union will be held. European Council President Donald Tusk said that this was perhaps the "most critical moment in the history of the eurozone". "The final deadline ends this week," he said. Mr Tusk said a Greek bankruptcy and the collapse of the Greek banking system would affect the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Greece Delays Offering New Plan on Debt

Photo Greeks caught up with the news in Athens on Tuesday, ahead of an emergency summit meeting of European leaders. Credit Aris Messinis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images BRUSSELS — Greece’s prospects for staying in Europe’s currency union darkened on Tuesday after the new Greek finance minister showed up for an emergency meeting in Brussels without a specific new proposal, leaving European finance ministers aghast and unable to judge whether a deal for another bailout package was possible. Greece’s failure to present a detailed plan turned what had been billed as a last-chance opportunity for Greece into yet another display of the substantive and stylistic gulf between the left-wing government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his country’s big creditors, starting with Germany. The new finance minister, Euclid Tsakalotos , signaled that Greece would put a plan forward as soon as Tuesday night, and a government official said later that […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil rallies after huge selloff, outlook weak

LONDON Oil prices rallied on Tuesday, after one of their biggest selloffs this year, but looked vulnerable to further falls after China’s stock market took another tumble and Greece moved closer to leaving the euro zone. Investors also kept a close eye on talks in Vienna over Tehran’s nuclear programme that could lead to increased exports of Iranian crude at a time of global oversupply. Brent crude for August LCOc1 was up 70 cents at $57.24 a barrel by 0810 GMT (4.10 a.m. EDT), following a more than 6 percent drop in the previous session. On Monday, Brent briefly touched $56.38, its lowest since April 10. U.S. crude CLc1 traded at $53.10 a barrel, up 57 cents from the settlement on Monday, when it reached levels last seen in mid-April. Despite the rally, most analysts were bearish. "Macroeconomic headwinds are rising — be it in the form of the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Crude Creeps Higher After Downturn

Crude oil prices rose in European trade on Tuesday, clawing back some ground after steep overnight declines , but the persistent glut in global markets is likely to keep prices under pressure. The overnight selloff in oil prices was much sharper than in other commodities, almost rivaling the price decline in the aftermath of OPEC’s decision to not intervene in oil markets last year. Nymex crude lost 7.7% on Monday, its largest one-day dollar and percentage decline since Feb. 4, while Brent crude lost 6.3%, its largest one-day dollar decline since Nov. 27, data showed. On Tuesday, light, sweet crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange for delivery in August traded at $52.92 a barrel at 0352 GMT, up $0.39 in the Globex electronic session. August Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange rose $0.52 to $57.06 a barrel. Worries over Greek debt and Iranian nuclear talks were […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China, Greece, Iran Upend Oil’s World

Fret not, oil bulls: Once again China is riding to the rescue. Or maybe fret even more because of that. PetroChina PTR -1.74 % saw its mainland-listed A-shares jump almost 10% Monday. What explained this stellar performance? Certainly not a jump in the price of the company’s main product: Brent crude dropped more than 3% to around $58 a barrel, its lowest level since April. Instead, investors can thank Beijing’s break-glass responses this weekend to slumping Chinese stocks, jamming funds into domestic shares, especially those of large-capitalization stocks like PetroChina. But while the Chinese authorities’ panic gave its oil champion’s shares a boost, it has the opposite effect on oil itself. China’s appetite for oil was the biggest factor keeping prices high over the past decade or so—and it is still forecast by the International Energy Agency to account for 29% of global demand growth this year. So any […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil Prices Tumble Nearly 8%

By Timothy Puko Oil prices on Monday skidded to their biggest single-day declines in more than three months, as gyrations in Chinese stocks and the prospect of more crude from the U.S. and Iran revived worries about the global supply glut. China’s stock markets have plunged in recent weeks, which sparked worries among investors about oil demand in the world’s second-largest consumer. Iranian officials also have signaled they want to export even more crude than traders had expected if diplomats can hammer out a final deal on Iran’s nuclear program in the coming days. These elements have taken on major importance as investors try to sort out whether the global oil market has rebalanced from a historic collapse. Prices fell nearly 60% after rapidly growing production from the U.S. shale boom overwhelmed the market. They rebounded by a third and stabilized throughout the spring as some investors bet that […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil falls on Greece vote, China stock market turmoil

LONDON Oil prices fell sharply on Monday after Greece rejected debt bailout terms and as China rolled out emergency measures to prevent a full-blown stock market crash, adding to worries about poor demand growth at a time of global oversupply. The result of Greece’s referendum has put in doubt its membership in the euro, pulling down the single currency EUR= against the dollar. A strong dollar tends to pressure commodities as it makes fuel more expensive for holders of other currencies. Commodities were also sucked into market turmoil that has seen Chinese shares .CSI300 fall as much as 30 percent since June due in part to an economy that is growing at its slowest pace in a generation. Chinese brokerages and fund managers have agreed to buy massive amounts of stocks to support markets, helped by China’s state-backed margin finance company, which in turn would be aided by a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple