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Dismal Debt Outlook for Greece Raises Pressure on European Creditors

ATHENS—A bleak debt forecast for Greece is raising pressure on Europe to grant the country softer loan terms, exacerbating tensions among its creditors as they try to seal a new Greek rescue deal within days. The new forecast, prepared by European Union officials in a document seen by The Wall Street Journal, predicts sharply higher Greek debt than Europe had previously hoped and shows just how far Greece is from escaping its marathon crisis. The assessment, which calls for “debt-mitigating measures,” increases the likelihood that its creditors, led by Germany, will have to allow Athens significantly more time to repay its huge bailout debt, European policy makers say. That conclusion is politically painful for Berlin but now looks mathematically inescapable, these officials say. The worsening outlook stood in contrast to some rare good news from Athens: Government data showed the Greek economy grew in the second quarter, defying expectations […]

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London to fast-track shale permits

Baseline studies set for Lancashire, where industry pioneers are looking to begin British shale gas campaign. Photo courtesy of the British Geological Survey. LONDON, Aug. 13 (UPI) — The British government said Thursday it plans to fast-track the permit process for shale oil and gas exploration to ensure the industry can gain traction. Shale oil and gas exploration is in its infancy in a country looking to reduce its dependency on foreign reserves. The British Geological Survey estimated shale basins in the country may hold more than 1.3 quadrillion cubic feet of natural gas, a level the government said could help an economy with natural gas imports on pace to increase from 45 percent of demand in 2011 to 76 percent by 2030. The British government said Thursday it was calling on local councils to decide on shale permits within 16 weeks of an application. "To ensure we get […]

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Oil prices edge up after U.S. stock draw, but China outlook drags

A customer prepares to fill the tank of her car at a fuel station in Sint Pieters Leeuw December 5, 2014. Oil prices edged up on Thursday, supported by lower U.S. stockpiles and record Chinese diesel exports, but worries over Asia’s biggest economy continued to weigh. A 1.7-million barrel drop in U.S. stockpiles last week helped to at least temporarily halt a price slide that has seen WTI and Brent lose over a quarter of their value since May. A relatively bullish outlook by the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Wednesday also supported prices. U.S. crude CLc1 was trading at $43.50 per barrel at 0625 GMT, up 20 cents. Brent futures LCOc1 were 30 cents higher at $49.96 a barrel. "Although we are seeing support, we remain skeptical over how long this support could last. Bearish momentum is still extremely strong," Singapore-based brokerage Phillip Futures said on Thursday. The […]

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Emerging-Markets Veteran Sees Oil Falling to $30 by December

The sun sets beyond an oil pumping unit, also known as a "nodding donkey" or pumping jack, at a drilling site operated by Tatneft OAO near Almetyevsk, Russia. Robert Lloyd George, who at one time oversaw $17.7 billion in Asia emerging-markets assets, sees oil falling as much as another 30 percent this year and hitting $30 per barrel by December. Oil will stay down as last month’s deal curbing Iran’s nuclear program in return for easing sanctions could expand supplies by as much as two million barrels a day at a time demand from China is slowing, Lloyd George said in an interview in Hong Kong. West Texas Intermediate for September delivery traded at around $43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday. “It’s a different era now; you have to think differently,” Lloyd George said, calling the end of the growth cycle for metals and […]

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IEA: Long, circuitous rebalancing of oil market begins

In its August Oil Market Report the International Energy Agency’s forecast shows stronger-than-anticipated global oil demand and non-OPEC supply growth swinging into contraction next year. A rebalancing has clearly begun, IEA said. However, the process is likely to be prolonged as a supply overhang is expected to persist through 2016—suggesting global inventories will pile up further, the agency noted. Demand IEA forecasts global oil demand to grow 1.6 million b/d in 2015, 300,000 b/d above last month’s report and averaging 94.2 million b/d, as economic growth solidifies and consumers response to lower oil prices . “This represents the biggest growth spurt in 5 years and a dramatic uptick on a demand increase of just [700,000] b/d in 2014,” IEA said. IEA’s latest 2016 forecast also rises 400,000 b/d to 95.6 million b/d—an above-trend 1.4 million b/d gain—on higher baseline numbers and expectations of a more robust economy. The second-quarter […]

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IEA Sees Oil Glut Persisting Despite Soaring Demand

LONDON, Aug 12 (Reuters) – World oil demand is expanding at its fastest pace in five years thanks to rebounding economic growth and low prices, but global oversupply will last through 2016, the West’s energy watchdog said on Wednesday. The International Energy Agency said in a monthly report that it was steeply raising its demand growth outlook for this year and 2016, and expected non-OPEC supply growth to decline next year, with U.S. producers hardest hit. "While a rebalancing has clearly begun, the process is likely to be prolonged as a supply overhang is expected to persist through 2016 – suggesting global inventories will pile up further," the Paris-based IEA said. The view from the IEA chimes with that of the U.S. government, which on Tuesday lowered U.S. production forecasts, signalling that a 60 percent rout in benchmark prices since last summer may finally be weighing on shale output. […]

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Switzerland lifts sanctions against Iran

Neutral Switzerland will officially lift on Thursday sanctions against Iran that had been suspended since January 2014, the government announced on Wednesday, citing a deal last month between Tehran and six big powers to curb Iran’s nuclear program. "The Federal Council (government) wishes today’s steps to be seen as a sign of its support for the implementation of the nuclear agreement and its interest in deepening bilateral relations with Iran," a statement said. The deal that Iran struck with China, Russia, the United States, Germany, France and Britain aims to rein in Iran’s nuclear program in return for relief from U.N., EU and U.S. sanctions that were crippling the Islamic republic’s economy. The Swiss sanctions had banned trade in precious metals with Iranian state bodies and set requirements to report trade in Iranian petrochemical products and the transport of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products. Switzerland will also introduce […]

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Opinion: Saudi Oil Strategy: Brilliant Or Suicide?

« Leviton introduces 7.7 kW Evr-Green charging station | Main | Cal Energy Commission grants $2.4M for Class 8 fuel cell hybrid trucks at ports; $1.2M for PEV fleet and V2G software upgrade » by Dalan McEndree for Oilprice.com In the last quarter of 2014, in the face of possible oversupply, Saudi Arabia abandoned its traditional role as the global oil market’s swing producer and therefore it role as unofficial guarantor of existing ($100+ per barrel) prices. In October, Saudi sources first prepared the market with statements that the country would be comfortable with oil prices as low as $80 per barrel for “a year or two.” At the November OPEC meeting, the Saudi oil minister, Ali Al-Naimi, publicly announced Saudi Arabia would allow market forces to set prices. He argued that rapidly growing production outside OPEC made the existing status quo unviable, and that lower prices in the […]

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Iran Targets 45 Oil and Gas Projects in Plan to Boost Production

Crude Reserves Iran has selected 45 oil and gas projects to show international companies at a conference in London in December when new oil contract models will be discussed ahead of exploration auctions to double the country’s crude output. The projects, including oil and gas exploration, will be discussed along with details of a new oil contract model at the Dec. 14-16 conference, Mehdi Hosseini, chairman of Iran’s oil contracts restructuring committee, said in an interview in Tehran. Iran hopes to boost crude production to 5.7 million barrels a day, he said. The Persian Gulf nation’s output was 2.85 million barrels a day in July, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Oil producers such as BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc have expressed interest in developing Iran’s reserves, the world’s fourth-biggest, when sanctions are removed following last month’s nuclear agreement with world powers. “We will define projects in […]

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Truck bomb kills at least 60 in Baghdad’s Sadr City

Residents gather at the site of a truck bomb attack at a crowded market in Baghdad ,August 13,2015. At least 60 people were killed and 200 wounded in a blast on Thursday at a market in Baghdad’s Sadr City district, police and medical sources said, one of the largest attacks on the capital since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi took office a year ago. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing in the Shi’ite Muslim neighborhood, but Islamic State, Sunni militants who seized swathes of northern and western Iraq last year, regularly send bombers into the capital. "A refrigerator truck packed with explosives blew up inside Jamila market at around 6 a.m. (0300 GMT)," police officer Muhsin al-Saedi said. "Many people were killed and body parts were thrown on top of nearby buildings." The market in the northeastern suburb is one of the biggest in Baghdad selling […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple