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Libya’s Internationally Backed Government May Block Exports by Some Oil Companies

MALTA—Libya’s internationally recognized government may block exports via oil companies that won’t deal with its new state oil company, an official said Tuesday. The government has been trying to consolidate power since the United Nations recognized it as Libya’s rightful ruling body in the wake of a civil war that split the country last year. Based in the war-torn North African nation’s eastern city of Baida, the government has formed its own national oil company, among other institutions. But the existing Libya National Oil Co. is based in Tripoli , where a group of militias known as Libya Dawn holds power. International oil companies and traders have maintained their longtime contacts with the established National Oil Co. and shunned the new one in the east, which is also called National Oil Co. Speaking to reporters Tuesday ahead of a meeting with oil companies the next day, the chief of […]

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Crude Below $50 Throws East Africa’s Oil Projects Into Doubt

Kenya and Uganda ended months of debate in August to sign an agreement on an oil pipeline costing almost $4 billion. Finding the money to build it and companies to start pumping crude may be a harder task. The 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) pipeline is key for exporting the region’s crude when production finally begins — 2018 in Uganda’s case. With oil prices languishing below $50 a barrel, there’s little incentive for companies such as Tullow Oil Plc, Africa Oil Corp., China’s CNOOC Ltd. and France’s Total SA to keep investing. “The lower oil price has created a great deal more of uncertainty around future oil production, given that additional capital expenditure will be required to make oil production a reality,” Razia Khan, head of Africa economic research at Standard Chartered Plc in London, said in an e-mailed response to questions. Just before prices collapsed, oil held great promise for both […]

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Venezuelan leader says to travel to push for OPEC, non-OPEC meeting

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday he would travel shortly to seek support for his push for a summit between OPEC and non-OPEC producers on lower oil prices. Maduro has lobbied for months for an emergency meeting and coordination with non-OPEC nations, but OPEC’s Middle East producers have pledged to maintain high output in a fight to defend market share against rising competition. This week Maduro reiterated calls for action within OPEC and beyond OPEC, mentioning controls on output and price bands. "Probably in coming days I will travel to reinforce work to achieve this historic summit between OPEC producers and non-OPEC producers," Maduro said after a four-hour televised broadcast. His calls for action come as Venezuelan oil prices, which averaged $41.08 last week, exacerbate a dire economic crisis that has goods ranging from cancer medication to car batteries in short supply, while raging inflation slams purchasing power […]

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U.S., China Build on Plan to Cut Emissions

Next week, President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping will add to earlier pledges to cut greenhouse-gas emissions with specific guidance on what the two countries will do at home to keep climate change at bay, officials said. The United States and China announced Tuesday that cities, states and provinces in both countries would commit to taking parallel steps to address climate change. The participating Chinese cities and provinces, which represent about 25% of total urban emissions in that country, will offer plans to have their emissions peak sooner than the national target of 2030. Beijing and Guangzhou, two of China’s largest cities, will aim for their peak emissions to come as early as 2020. Climate officials and leaders from both countries are meeting in Los Angeles this week to lay out the steps the regions will take and to set the groundwork for next week’s summit between […]

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« The Party is Over For Tight Oil but Raymond James Says, “Party On, Dude!”

The party is over for tight oil. Despite brash statements by U.S. producers and misleading analysis by Raymond James, low oil prices are killing tight oil companies. Reports this week from IEA and EIA paint a bleak picture for oil prices as the world production surplus continues. EIA said that U.S. production will fall by 1 million barrels per day over the next year and that, “expected crude oil production declines from May 2015 through mid-2016 are largely attributable to unattractive economic returns .” IEA made the point more strongly. “..the latest price rout could stop US growth in its tracks .” In other words, outside of the very best areas of the Eagle Ford, Bakken and Permian, the tight oil party is over because companies will lose money at forecasted oil prices for the next year. Global Supply and Demand Fundamentals Continue to Worsen IEA data shows that […]

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Obama Opposes Bill to Lift Oil Export Ban Set for House Vote

President Barack Obama opposes a measure poised to advance in the House of Representatives this week that would end the four-decade U.S. ban on oil exports. “We wouldn’t support legislation like the one that’s been put forward by Republicans,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday at a briefing. While House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is pushing for a vote this month, Earnest criticized him for trying to “cozy up to oil interests” by making his announcement to an industry group in Houston. Instead of pushing oil exports, Earnest said McCarthy should advocate ending tax breaks for oil drillers and use the cash to invest in solar and wind energy. Oil companies including Continental Resources Inc. and ConocoPhillips have spent much of the past two years urging Congress to change the export policy. They have relied on a series of economic analyses concluding that ending the restrictions won’t mean […]

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Republicans oppose new safety rules on offshore drilling

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Republican lawmakers on Tuesday criticized an Obama administration move to toughen standards for offshore drilling, saying the new rules would be costly for drillers and threaten to shut down oil and gas exploration off the nation’s coasts. The Interior Department is preparing to issue standards to close what it says are gaps in blowout preventer rules. A blowout preventer is a piece of equipment designed to shut an out-of-control well. Such a device failed catastrophically when a BP well blew out in 2010, causing a massive oil spill. But the Republicans blasted the new rules at a field hearing of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources in New Orleans. No Democratic members showed up. The Republicans complained the rules are too government-driven and costly to industry. The Republicans also questioned whether the new rules would make drilling safer. They also argued that drillers have […]

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Upton: U.S. oil policies should match shale era

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., said U.S. crude oil export policies should match what some describe as the era of abundance. File photo by Brian Kersey/UPI WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 (UPI) — As the full House Energy and Commerce Committee considers lifting a ban on U.S. crude oil exports, a congressman said it’s time policies match the shale era. By a voice vote last week , the Republican-led House Subcommittee on Energy and Power advanced legislation that would lift the ban on crude oil exports. The full House Energy and Commerce Committee considers the measure late Wednesday afternoon. "It is time for our energy policies to catch up to our new era of abundance," Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said in a statement. Upton and Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield , R-Ky., issued a joint statement last week, saying the "benefits of lifting the ban are many," from domestic economic stimulus to […]

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North Dakota oil sector under pressure

North Dakota Industrial Commission expects slump in crude oil prices to last into next year. Photo by David Gaylor/Shutterstock BISMARCK, N.D., Sept. 15 (UPI) — A weak crude oil market that’s expected to last into 2016 should contribute to downward pressure on oil activity in North Dakota, a state regulator said. The state reported 68 rigs actively exploring for or producing oil or natural gas as of Tuesday, one less than the previous day and down 65 percent from this date in 2014. That North Dakota Industrial Commission in its latest update said oil production in July, the last full month for which data are available, was 1.2 million barrels per day, a decline of about three quarters of a percent from the previous month. More than 95 percent of the oil produced in the state comes from the Bakken and Three Forks shale region in the Williston basin […]

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House Plans Vote on Bill to Lift Ban on Oil Exports

WASHINGTON—House Republicans plan to vote on a bill in the coming weeks to lift the nation’s four-decade ban on oil exports, setting up a clash with the Obama administration later this year over what to do with oil from a boom in domestic production in the past decade. The vote would please more than a dozen oil companies lobbying Congress, and if successful, it could rattle global oil markets facing volatility and lower prices. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) announced the vote, which is being scheduled for the last week of September, at a Tuesday speech before the Houston-area Chamber of Commerce. While the legislation is likely to pass the GOP-controlled House, its prospects in the Senate are less clear, and the White House said it opposes it. “If there was ever a time to lift the oil export ban, it’s now,” Mr. McCarthy said in Houston. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple