Category:

Iran Minister Urges Nuclear Accord and Turn to ‘Common Threat’ of Extremism

VIENNA—Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said Friday Iran and six major powers are closing in on a final nuclear agreement and urged his negotiating partners to complete the agreement and turn their attention to the “common threat” of violent extremism. “At this 11th hour, despite some differences that remain, we have never been closer to a lasting outcome,” Mr. Zarif said in a video message released Friday evening, days from the July 7 deadline for the talks. “But there is no guarantee,” he said. “They have opted for the negotiating table,” he said of the six-power group, “but they still need to make a critical and historic choice: agreement or coercion.” Western officials have said the nuclear talks are making progress but have also said a number of differences remain in reaching deal that would block Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon in exchange for lifting sanctions. They have […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Iran Seeks Faster Sanctions Relief as Zarif Makes Video Appeal

Iran is pushing to accelerate U.S. and European sanctions relief with just four days left to resolve nuclear talks in Vienna, as Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said a lasting accord has “never been closer.” Negotiators haven’t yet agreed on the scale and speed of sanctions relief, nor have they settled all the steps Iran must take, according to four diplomats from countries participating in the negotiations. They asked not to be named in line with rules. One of the diplomats said Iran may get substantial sanctions relief by December, while others said sanctions are unlikely to be eased before 2016. “At this 11th hour, despite some differences that remain, we have never been closer to a lasting outcome,” Zarif said in a video released Friday and filmed on a terrace at the Palais Coburg in Vienna, where the talks are being held. The foreign minister earlier told Al […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Iraq, Kurdistan Oil Deal Close to Collapse

By Matt Bradley BAGHDAD–An oil-sales deal between Iraq and the semiautonomous Kurdistan Regional Government is close to collapse about six months after it was signed, undermining the country’s unity as it struggles to fight Islamic State and contain an escalating financial crisis. Months of acrimony between Baghdad and Erbil, the KRG’s capital, came to a head in June, when the Kurdish side reduced the amount of oil it sold through Iraq’s state-owned Oil Marketing Company, known as SOMO, and began ramping up its independent sales of oil through the Turkish port at Ceyhan. The sales undercut an agreement struck in December that gave Iraq’s central government access to revenue from Kurdish oil, which accounts for about 15% of the 3.8 million barrels the country pumps each day on average. In exchange, the Kurds were to get 17% of federal expenditure–an amount KRG officials say hasn’t materialized. "The oil deal […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Iraq displaced “could reach 10 million by end 2015″

The UN children’s agency says 3,000 people a week are fleeing western Anbar province. Photo: UNHCR Overwhelming numbers of displaced families fleeing violence in Iraq and a lack of funding have left the UN potentially unable to bring in supplies for August, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF warned Tuesday. In the year since terrorist fighters swept through Iraq’s central provinces, some eight million people have been affected. UNICEF says that number could rise to 10 million by the end of the year. Daniel Johnson has more. According to UNICEF’s country representative Colin McInness, many basic services have collapsed, a year since extremists from the ISIL group launched their offensive in central Iraq. And he said nearly 3,000 people a week are fleeing western Anbar province. "These people require water, they require hygiene, they require basic shelter, they require basic food items. The funding situation is desperate; without adequate funding […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

As Saudis Keep Pumping, Thirst for Domestic Oil Swells

RIYADH—Saudi Arabia is poised to break records for oil production this summer, analysts said, as domestic-energy needs soar during its scorching summer and the holy month of Ramadan and threaten its ability to ramp up exports. Saudi Arabia has said it produced a near-record 10.3 million barrels a day in May, a mark that industry observers said could increase to 11 million barrels this summer as air-conditioning use increases with temperatures reaching 110 degrees Fahrenheit. The country has the ability to produce 12.3 million barrels a day for 90 days, but it has never pumped this much. Saudi output averaged 9.22 million barrels a day from 2006 to 2014, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Most of its oil is exported. For the past three years, Saudi domestic energy demand has been rising by about 8% due to an expanding population and new construction and large-scale projects. More […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Syrian army and Hezbollah launch major assault on border city: TV station

AMMAN The Syrian army and its allied militia have launched a major assault on the rebel-held Syrian city of Zabadani, the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah’s television station said on Saturday. It said heavy artillery and aerial bombardment were being deployed to capture the city, located north-west of the Syrian capital near the frontier with Lebanon. The Syrian army has long sought to wrest control of Zabadani from Sunni militants. The city is close to the Beirut-Damascus highway that links the two countries and capturing it would be a major strategic gain for President Bashar al Assad’s government. Hezbollah, which is fighting alongside the Syrian army in Syria against the militants, has in recent months stepped up its assault on rebel outposts along the Qalamoun mountain region straddling the Lebanese Syrian border. An announcement of the start of a major military campaign by the Syrian army and the Lebanese group […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

China brokerages pledge to buy at least $19.3 billion in shares to stabilize market

BEIJING China’s top 21 securities brokerages said on Saturday that they would collectively invest at least 120 billion yuan ($19.3 billion to help stabilize the country’s stock markets after a slump of nearly 30 percent since mid-June. A flurry of official policy moves over the past week, including an interest rate cut and a relaxation of margin lending rules, has failed to arrest the sell-off. The rout in China’s highly leveraged stock market has become a major worry for global investors, who fear a meltdown could destabilize the world’s second-largest economy at a time when growth is already slowing. The brokerages met on Saturday in Beijing to discuss the market situation and expressed "full confidence" in the development of China’s capital markets, a statement on the website of the Securities Association of China said. "Twenty-one securities brokerages will jointly invest 15 percent of net assets as of the end […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Rapid Expansion of Utility-Scale Solar in China

Solar is taking over the Gobi Desert in China’s Gansu province. China is a difficult solar market to track from the outside. Government subsidies are opaque and bureaucratic, interconnection problems run rampant, and non-Chinese businesses often have a hard time getting into the country. There’s no doubt that the Chinese PV market is growing at unprecedented speed. But determining its overall health is more of an art than a science. So perhaps the scientists can help. NASA recently published a fresh batch of satellite images of China’s utility-scale solar boom in Gansu province. While they don’t tell us much about market conditions on the ground, they do illustrate the boom underway in the country. With ample sunshine and a wide-open desert, Gansu is ideal for PV project development. Last year, more than 5 gigawatts of projects were installed in the province, making it a leader. Below are two satellite […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Shell Arctic oil drilling to commence within weeks

Arctic oil rig Oil and gas giant Shell is expected to begin drilling for oil in the Arctic within the next two weeks. Thirty ships left Dutch Harbor in Alaska on Thursday for the Arctic to support two initial exploratory wells. The company has already committed about $7bn (£4.5bn) to the controversial project, and is confident it will find huge quantities of oil in the region. But if the initial wells do not find oil, Shell will contemplate walking away from the region entirely. The US Department of the Interior gave the green light to Shell to commence Arctic oil exploration in May this year, and the Anglo-Dutch group clearly believes it will get the remaining necessary permits in the next week or two. The initial two wells will be in relatively shallow water of about 40 to 50m deep, off the coast of Alaska, and they will use […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

There will be blood

WALL STREET loves a good scrap almost as much as the wildcatters who drill for oil do. No wonder that the fight over the finances of America’s shale-oil industry has turned nasty. In one corner are shortsellers, including David Einhorn, a hedge-fund manager whose scalps include Lehman Brothers. They argue that “fracking”—the business of blasting oil out of rocks using water, sand and chemicals—is a bottomless pit into which too much cash has been thrown. In the other corner are America’s oil pioneers, who say that shale can thrive even though the benchmark American oil price has dropped from over $100 a barrel last year to $57 today. The oilmen are backed by plenty of other investors who are still pumping money into shale firms: some $35 billion of equity and bonds has been raised since December. Related topics Both sides have a point. It makes sense to be […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple