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Deep-sea oil projects make up most of $200 billion deferrals: Wood Mac

A vessel delivers a cargo of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to the Arun regasification terminal in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh June 25, 2015 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Picture taken June 25, 2015. Oil and gas projects in deep basins account for most of deferred investments worth more than $200 billion made due to the oil price crash, analysts at consultancy Wood Mackenzie said in a report. Oil and gas majors have slashed capital expenditure budgets between 10-15 percent this year in response to oil prices halving over the past year. A large chunk of these cost savings have been made by deferring investment decisions in expensive projects, shelving more than $200 billion worth of investments, the analysts said. Estimates by rival consultancies have varied between $150-$200 billion. "By year-end we may be able to count the number of major upstream projects that made FID (final investment decision)during […]

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Iran Starts Negotiations to Export Natural Gas to Europe

Iran is in a good position to meet the growing gas needs of the European Union and has started its talks in this regard, the secretary general of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) said. “Iran and the European Union have already engaged in negotiation that involved several options for the export (of gas) to the European Union,” Sputnik News quoted Seyed Mohammad Hossein Adeli as telling reporters on Friday. Iran could partially meet the growing EU energy demands both through pipeline supplies and liquefied natural gas deliveries, he added. Adeli said the demand for natural gas in Europe is set to increase after 2020, with European gas imports to double by 2040. His remarks came one day after Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninia said international sanctions imposed on Iran’s oil and gas sector are expected to be lifted in October or November. According to BP’s Statistical […]

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Iraq’s Southern Oil Exports Hit a Record in July

Photographer: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP via Getty Images Iraqi’s oil exports from the south climbed to a record this month at the same time the self-ruled Kurds in the north are shipping crude independently, adding to a global supply glut as producers vie for market share. Southern oil exports, representing the central government’s shipments, rose to 3.064 million barrels a day in July and will remain at about the same level for the rest of the month, Thaer Yassin, spokesman of the state-owned South Oil Co., said by phone on Monday. Exports were 3.020 million barrels a day in June, he said. “We are increasing exports every month,” Yassin said. “The figure is a record.” Iraq, the second-largest OPEC member, is boosting shipments as a worldwide glut driven by a U.S. shale boom prompts producers to pursue strategies to defend market share. Brent crude has fallen about 50 percent from last […]

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Lack of Pause in Yemen War Delays Aid

OPEN Map Map: Saudi-Backed Forces Gain Momentum AMMAN, Jordan — A pledge by Saudi Arabia to halt its military operations in Yemen failed to stop ferocious fighting across the country on Monday as a humanitarian aid group warned that more than six million people were facing starvation because of the war. Saudi Arabia, which leads an Arab military coalition that has been fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels since March, said Saturday that it would pause its military operations for five days to allow for the delivery of humanitarian relief supplies. But there was no sign of a letup in the violence on Monday, dashing hopes that the Saudi declaration would lead even briefly to a broader truce. The Houthis and their allies fought to advance in several provinces, shelling the southern port city of Aden and firing rockets across the Saudi border, according to local military officials and Houthi media […]

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Kurdistan to receive $139m June budget payment

Workers unload a box of Iraqi dinars from a truck at Sather Air Base in Baghdad on Aug. 28, 2007. (MASTER SGT. PAUL D. BISHOP/United States Marine Corps) Iraq’s federal government is transferring the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) a budget payment of 166.8 billion Iraqi dinars ($139 million*) for the month of June – the lowest monthly allocation so far this year.The reduced payment comes in response to the KRG’s decision to start withholding the vast majority of northern oil exports from federal authorities and increase its independent sales.Ahmed Abdulrahman, the spokesperson of the KRG Finance Ministry, said the money has been al… This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Libya Crude Output Drops as Conflict Cuts Power at Oil Fields

Libya’s crude production dropped below 400,000 barrels a day as the conflict in the divided North African country cut electricity supply at oil fields, according to the state-run National Oil Corp. Output in Libya, holder of Africa’s largest crude reserves, has been hampered by a lack of security and maintenance as well as power outages, Mohamed Elharari, an NOC spokesman, said Monday by phone from Tripoli. Crude production was about 411,000 barrels a day in June, according to the most recent OPEC monthly report. “The situation is not very good,” Elharari said. “There is poor maintenance, and there are electricity cuts at the oil fields.” Libya produced about 1.6 million barrels a day before the 2011 rebellion that ended Muammar Qaddafi’s 42-year rule. The country is today the smallest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It has failed to restore output as militias fight for the control […]

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Nigeria: How Oil Thieves, Cabal Milk Nigeria Dry

Rampant stealing of petrol, mostly from along the pipes conveying it, costs Nigeria huge losses in financial terms and in impact on the environment Okon Mbom (not his real name) wakes up 4.00am every morning from his house in Ibuluya, Okrika local government area of Rivers State with one thing in mind: nothing and no one will come between him and his take-home package every sunset when he is relieved. Okon receives N10,000 every day from stern looking operatives of an oil pipeline in the deep forest. Okon of course had discovered with time that his paymasters were not government officials. Sometime last year when he was engaged, he was given strict instructions to shoot any stranger at sight. Okon had known that what he was protecting was crude oil, Nigeria’s cash cow, used to be pumped by the same pipes to various oil refineries before now but which, […]

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Chinese Markets Uneasy After Huge Sell-Off

Photo A brokerage house in Beijing on Tuesday as markets remained unsettled. Credit Wu Hong/European Pressphoto Agency HONG KONG — Instability continued to roil China’s stock markets on Tuesday in spite of new pledges of support from the government. Shanghai’s main share index fell as much as 5 percent as trading opened on Tuesday, adding to an 8.5 percent plunge on Monday that was the biggest one-day decline since 2007 and which brought an end to several weeks of relatively calm movements. Stocks seesawed throughout the day, rising at one point by as much as 1 percent, and ended Tuesday down 1.7 percent. The precarious display on China’s bourses has shaken global financial markets. Prices for metals like copper, of which China is a major buyer, fell to six-year lows during the past two days. Oil has also slumped, trading closer to the six-year lows it reached this spring. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple