Category:

Revenue cut by pipeline attacks, Kurdish government says

Kurdish government of Iraq says salaries for forces combating terrorism may be curbed following attacks on a key oil pipeline running north to a Turkish sea port. UPI/Mohammed al Jumaily ERBIL, Iraq, Aug. 19 (UPI) — The Kurdish government said theft and sabotage targeting an oil pipeline running to the Turkish sea port of Ceyhan has cost it around half a billion dollars. A section of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline, running from northern Iraq to Turkish ports, was bombed in southern Sirnak province in Turkey in late July. The pipeline has a maximum capacity of around 400,000 barrels of oil per day and serves as a main artery for the export of oil from the Kurdish north of Iraq. The Kurdish Ministry of Natural Resources said attacks, as well as pilfering, on the pipeline are a threat to the welfare of its constituents . "The estimated revenue loss to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Saudi Oil Exports Rebound From Five-Month Low on Record Output

Saudi Arabia’s oil exports rebounded in June from a five-month low as the largest OPEC producer boosted output to a record. Exports climbed to 7.37 million barrels a day from 6.94 million barrels in May, according to data on the website of the Joint Organizations Data Initiative, or JODI. Output by the world’s biggest exporter rose to 10.564 million barrels daily from 10.3 million. Saudi Arabia told OPEC its June production was a record, exceeding a previous all-time high set in 1980. The 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has been boosting output for most of the past year to maintain market share amid higher production from the U.S. to Russia. That’s led to a glut in the market that’s pushed Brent crude prices down 15 percent this year. OPEC in June pumped 32.5 million barrels a day, a seven-year high, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Saudi Arabia […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Yemen conflict: Country on brink of famine, says UN official

More than 21 million people in Yemen are in need of help, according to the UN Months of conflict in Yemen has pushed the country to the brink of famine, according to a top United Nations official. Ertharin Cousin, head of the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), said markets in the country do not have enough food to feed the population. Aid agencies are also unable to reach areas of need because of the ongoing violence, she added. The WFP estimates that nearly 13 million people urgently require help. The conflict has involved Houthi rebel fighters clashing in many places with forces loyal to the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and its allies. ‘Perfect storm’ Ms Cousin, who was speaking in Cairo after a three-day trip to Yemen, said fighting around the major ports is stalling deliveries of aid. She said Yemen faced the "perfect storm" because those people most in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigeria Refineries Low on Petrol Production

Current data on refineries production in Nigeria indicate that more heavy or fuel oils (low and high fuel oil/black oil) are being produced from the four refineries than other high demand products like premium motor spirit, PMS, otherwise known as petrol. The revelation comes despite assurances by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, which said last week that two of its refineries were working between 60 and 80 percent of their installed capacities. NNPC had promised that the four refineries would be re-streamed by July end, when the turn around maintenance, TAM, of the hitherto almost comatose refineries would have been rounding up, thus, buoying high hopes for imminent relief from products scarcity in the country. Capacity utilisation However, status of the refineries operations as at July 31, 2015, exclusively obtained by Sweetcrude, indicate that the refineries cannot still meet the daily consumption requirement of between 40 and 42 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Islamic State claims Cairo courthouse bomb which wounded 29

A security official stands guard at the site of a bomb blast at a national security building in Shubra Al-Khaima, on the outskirts of Cairo, August 20, 2015. Islamic State’s Egypt affiliate said it was behind a car bombing that wounded 29 people near a state security building and courthouse in a Cairo suburb early on Thursday. A statement circulated on Twitter by supporters of the group, Sinai Province, said the bomb was a reprisal for the execution of six of its members convicted of carrying out an attack north of the Egyptian capital last year. "Let the apostates of the police and army, the followers of Jews, know we are a people who do not forget our revenge," the statement said. In May, Egypt executed six members of Sinai Province for attacking soldiers near Cairo in 2014. The men were convicted on charges which included carrying out an […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Kazakhstan floats tenge, currency tumbles

People wait in line outside a currency exchange office in Almaty, Kazakhstan, August 20, 2015. Kazakhstan’s under-pressure tenge lost more than a quarter of its value on Thursday after the oil producing central Asian nation, hit by a sharp fall in world crude prices, introduced a freely floating exchange rate for the currency. Acting against a backdrop of devaluation and depreciation in the currencies of some of its major trading partners and rivals, Kazakhstan’s government and central bank said the country’s economic policy would henceforth be based on inflation targeting. "This is not a devaluation, this is a transition to a freely floating rate when the market itself determines a balanced exchange rate on the basis of demand and offer," central bank Governor Kairat Kelimbetov told a news conference broadcast from the capital Astana. The official tenge rate tumbled by 26.2 percent to 255.26 per dollar on the Kazakhstan […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Low Oil Prices Could Break The “Fragile Five” Producing Nations

Persistently low oil prices have already inflicted economic pain on oil-producing countries. But with crude sticking near six-year lows, the risk of political turmoil is starting to rise. There are several countries in which the risks are the greatest – Algeria, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, and Venezuela – and RBC Capital Markets has labeled them the “Fragile Five.” Iraq, facing instability from the ongoing fight with ISIS, has seen its problems compounded by the fall in oil prices, causing its budget to shrink significantly. The government is moving to tap the bond markets for the first time in years, looking to issue $6 billion in new debt. Revenues have been bolstered somewhat by continued gains in production. Iraq’s oil output hit a record high in July at 4.18 million barrels per day, up sharply from an average of 3.42 million barrels per day in the first quarter of this year. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Mexico Hedges 2016 Oil Exports at $49 a Barrel

MEXICO CITY—Mexico hedged oil exports for 2016 at an average price of $49 a barrel, down 36% from the hedge for this year as oil prices tumble and domestic production declines. The hedging contracts covered 212 million barrels of crude oil, the Finance Ministry said late Wednesday. It cost the government about $1.1 billion, the highest sum since 2010. The 2016 oil hedge is well below the $76.40 a barrel at which the government hedged for this year. The Mexican crude-oil benchmark is trading near $38, some 60% lower than a year ago. Mexico, the world’s ninth-largest oil producer, uses the hedge to protect its public finances from unexpected oil shocks. The government buys options to guarantee a minimum price for its crude. But the oil hedge will provide only limited relief for a government accustomed in recent years to oil prices near $100 a barrel. About 18% of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Chinese Stocks Resume Rout on Economy, Capital Outflow Concerns

China’s stocks slumped to a two-week low as concern a slowing economy and weaker currency will spur capital outflows outweighed prospects for more state support. The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 3.4 percent to 3,664.29 at the close, the lowest level since Aug. 6. About 17 percent of mainland-listed shares remain halted. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index sank 2.3 percent to a 10-month low, while the Hang Seng Index closed within three points of entering a bear market. “The market will trade between 3,500 to 3,900 in the short term as market sentiment is still weak,” said Zhang Yanbing, a Shanghai-based analyst at Zheshang Securities Co. “Whether China’s stock market stabilizes will depend on future economic data and further easing policies.” Speculation about the degree of government intervention in stocks has increased since the securities regulator indicated Friday that the state will reduce buying and data showed the richest […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

China’s Building a Huge Canal in Nicaragua, But We Couldn’t Find It

A man points out the towns that will be affected where the canal, red line, will be built across Nicaragua. Deep on the southeastern side of Lake Nicaragua, along a bumpy dirt road that climbs gently through lush-green forest, sits the tiny town of El Tule. It is quintessential rural Central America: Chickens roam outside tin-roofed homes while pigs stand tied to trees, awaiting slaughter; the sound of drunk locals singing along to ranchera music greeted visitors on a recent rain-soaked afternoon. The village, if you listen to Nicaraguan officials, is a key point in what will be the biggest infrastructure project the region has ever seen, the construction of a $50 billion canal slated to run 170 miles from the country’s east to west coast. Awarded two years ago by President Daniel Ortega to an obscure Chinese businessman named Wang Jing, the concession calls for El Tule to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple