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Iraq’s Oil Exports Climb to Record With Output at All-Time High

Iraq’s oil exports climbed to a record in June as the drive for market share intensified with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries boosting output. Overseas shipments by OPEC’s second-biggest producer averaged 3.187 million barrels a day in June, based on monthly shipments of 95.612 million barrels, according to Asim Jihad, an Oil Ministry spokesman. Exports rose 1.3 percent from 3.145 million barrels a day in May. Iraq joined Saudi Arabia in pumping more oil as OPEC members defend market share against higher-cost producers. Brent crude has climbed 10 percent this year, spurring speculation that higher prices will lead to even more output and prolong a surplus. Oil Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said last month that Iraq was approaching 4 million barrels a day. It ended June with daily output at a record of 4.388 million barrels, according to a Bloomberg survey. Total output of OPEC’s 12 members rose […]

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Libya’s Thinni Says He Hopes to Sign Peace Deal at UN Talks

Libya’s prime minister said he’s hopeful that a peace deal can be signed during talks in Morocco on Thursday to end the civil conflict in the oil-rich nation. “There will be a lot of discussions tomorrow and there are people in favor and against,” Abdullah al-Thinni told reporters in Malta, where he stopped off en route to joining the United Nations-brokered negotiations. “We aspire to realise this agreement.” Al-Thinni heads a government that’s internationally recognized but only controls part of the country and has been pushed out of the capital, Tripoli, where a rival administration holds sway. Libya’s deepening divisions since the fall of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011 have slashed oil output and allowed Islamic State militants to establish a foothold. Al-Thinni said that once a unity government was set up, it would continue to fight against Islamic State. Bernardino Leon, the UN envoy who is mediating the talks, […]

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Oil Selloff Sinks Petrobras as Ibovespa Extends Weekly Decline

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the world’s most-indebted oil company, led losses in the Ibovespa as oil slumped on concern supplies are too high. Shares of Petrobras extended a three-day plunge as crude sank 4.2 percent to $56.96 a barrel after data showing U.S. stockpiles rose for the first time in nine weeks and OPEC production increased. The state-run company has said that investments in oil and gas offshore production are economically viable with the commodity above $45. “There are too many uncertainties regarding the profitability of Petrobras’s investments as crude falls,” Eduardo Velho, the chief economist at investment firm INVX Global Partners, said in a phone interview from Sao Paulo. The Ibovespa retreated 0.6 percent to 52,757.54 at the close of trading in Sao Paulo, bringing this week’s decline to 2.3 percent. The gauge had posted the best first half of any year since 2009. Brazilian shares swung between gains […]

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FARC Rebels See Upsurge in Colombian Violence as Talks Drag

Colombia Marxist rebels said they’ll step up attacks on security forces after suspending their cease-fire as peace talks to end Latin America’s longest-running insurgency drag on. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, will target the army more than oil installations, a guerrilla commander known as Matias Aldecoa said in an interview in Havana. Pipelines used by companies including Ecopetrol SA and Occidental Petroleum Corp. have been damaged in FARC bombing attacks in the past few weeks. “Soon people will see the war in this latest phase, and they’re going to see the number of police and soldiers who die,” Aldecoa said Saturday, in an interview in Havana. “For us, oil pipelines aren’t the No. 1 target.” The FARC suspended a unilateral cease-fire in May after the armed forces killed at least 26 guerrillas in an attack in south west Colombia. The resumption of attacks has increased casualties […]

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China stocks fall despite regulators’ bid to stop the slide

SHANGHAI China stocks closed down sharply on Thursday after another wild trading day as investors shrugged off regulators’ intensified efforts to put a floor under the sliding market. The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell 3.4 percent, to 4,107.99, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 3.5 percent, to 3,912.77 points. Among the most active stocks in Shanghai were Bank of China, up 5.3 percent to 5.00 yuan; ICBC, up 5.6 percent to 5.43 yuan and Agri Bank of China, up 1.1 percent to 3.63 yuan. In Shenzhen, BOE Technology, down 8.3 percent to 4.51 yuan; TCL Corp, up 4.6 percent to 5.48 yuan and Vanke, down 0.3 percent to 14.21 yuan were among the most actively traded. Total volume of A shares traded in Shanghai was 58.3 billion shares, while Shenzhen volume was 31.7 billion shares. (Reporting by the Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by […]

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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 […]

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Jihadist Attacks on Egypt Grow Fiercer

CAIRO — Two years after President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi led a military takeover promising to restore order and security in Egypt , he faces a rising jihadist insurgency that has shaken the stability of this most populous Arab state, a key ally of the United States. Just two days after militants assassinated Egypt ’s top prosecutor on a Cairo street, the military on Wednesday called in F-16 war planes and helicopters to beat back a coordinated assault in Northern Sinai by a jihadist group affiliated with the Islamic State. Egyptian soldiers were killed, police officers were trapped in their posts, ambulances were paralyzed by booby-trapped roads and residents were warned to stay indoors by jihadists roaming on motorcycles. The scale and complexity of the attack far exceeded any of the group’s previous strikes in Sinai, raising the possibility that it has begun to coordinate more closely with the Islamic […]

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Egypt military ‘back in control’ of Sinai after clashes

Egypt’s military spokesman has said the situation in North Sinai is "100 percent under control", following clashes that reportedly left more than 100 people dead. The spokesman, Mohamed Sanir, was speaking by phone to state television on Wednesday. A group pledging allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, the Province of Sinai, had claimed responsibility for attacks on more than 15 security sites. Egypt’s army said more than 100 fighters and 17 soldiers were killed after simultaneous assaults on military checkpoints in North Sinai, in the deadliest fighting in years in the province bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip. Some security sources put the death toll for army and police much higher. After a day of fighting, which involved F-16 jets and Apache helicopters, the army said it would not stop its operations until it had cleared the area of all "terrorist concentrations". Security […]

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Egypt’s Brotherhood urges revolt after members killed

A statement on the Brotherhood’s website said the group held President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi responsible for the killings [YouTube] The Muslim Brotherhood has warned of "serious repercussions" and has called on its supporters to "rise in revolt" after Egyptian police killed 13 of its members. Egyptian police raided an apartment in the Cairo suburb of 6th of October on Wednesday and killed 13 of the outlawed group’s leading members , including a former member of parliament, Nasser al-Hafy, security sources and a member of the group said. The Brotherhood members were reportedly meeting to discuss sponsoring the families of detainees when the police stormed the building. Egypt’s interior ministry, however, said the men were fugitive leaders who were plotting attacks – something the group denies – and said the group included two men who had previously been sentenced to death. Inside Story – Has Egypt’s Sisi failed on security? In […]

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Mexico Moving Forward With Major Natural Gas Pipeline

On June 22, Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) announced it would tender a new round of 24 energy infrastructure projects totaling $10 billion, including a $3 billion underwater pipeline bringing U.S. natural gas from Texas to Tuxpan, Veracruz. Amidst a grand national “gasification” strategy that has promoted Mexican imports of U.S. natural gas, this may be one of the most ambitious projects yet. Of course there are concerns around potential risks associated with the project – whether there is the local capacity to carry it out, and whether it’s really necessary – all of which must be resolved if the pipeline is to begin transporting the proposed 2.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day by 2018. As for financing and construction of the Texas–Tuxpan subsea pipeline there are several options. In the case of previous tenders, interest has come from well-established U.S. companies such as Sempra’s IEnova, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple