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Iran sees crude oil price at $42-$50 in year to March 2017

Iran has projected average oil prices at $42 to $50 per barrel in a draft budget bill for the year to March 2017, a government spokesman was quoted as saying on Monday, expecting crude to stay in the current trading range. "In consultation with the Ministry of Petroleum, three price options of 42, 45, and 50 dollars were discussed which are expected to earn 68 trillion tomans (about $22.5 billion)," oil news agency Shana quoted Mohammad-Baqer Nobakht as saying. Benchmark Brent crude has traded between $42 and $55 in the last month, and was just below $48 on Monday morning. OPEC member Iran, which relies on crude sales to balance its budget, has called on other producers to rein in exports to support prices while it expects to boost output in 2016 when nuclear-related sanctions are expected to be lifted. As part of a nuclear deal reached in July […]

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Iraq Warns Oil Companies of Spending Cuts

Iraq’s oil ministry has issued a stark warning to the international oil companies running its energy sector that it will slash spending in 2016 as the country feels the full effect of low crude prices and the fight against Islamic State . A Sept. 6 letter from an oil ministry official is fresh evidence that Iraq is struggling to maintain a swift expansion of its energy sector that has made it the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’s second-largest producer with 4 million a barrels a day or more this summer. “Because of the drop in our oil-sales revenues, the Iraqi government has sharply reduced the funds available to the Ministry of Oil,” the official, Abdul Mahdy al-Ameedi, wrote. “This will…reduce the funds available for the reimbursement of petroleum costs to our contractors.” Mr. Ameedi also wrote that the oil ministry didn’t expect lower funding to “reduce production from […]

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Russian Flights Over Iraq and Iran Escalate Tension With U.S.

WASHINGTON — Russia is using an air corridor over Iraq and Iran to fly military equipment and personnel to a new air hub in Syria , openly defying American efforts to block the shipments and significantly increasing tensions with Washington. American officials disclosed Sunday that at least seven giant Russian Condor transport planes had taken off from a base in southern Russia during the past week to ferry equipment to Syria, all passing through Iranian and Iraqi airspace. Their destination was an airfield south of Latakia, Syria, which could become the most significant new Russian military foothold in the Middle East in decades, American officials said. The Obama administration initially hoped it had hampered the Russian effort to move military equipment and personnel into Syria when Bulgaria, a NATO member, announced it would close its airspace to the flights. But Russia quickly began channeling its flights over Iraq and […]

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U.S. and Iran Both Conflict and Converge

Photo An anti-American mural along a street in Tehran. The United States and Iran each face domestic pressures against closer relations, a nuclear deal notwithstanding. Credit Abedin Taherkenareh/European Pressphoto Agency BAGHDAD — American troops advising Iraqi security forces in restive Anbar Province are sharing a base with odd bedfellows: an Iranian-backed militia that once killed United States soldiers. Both are fighting the militants of the Islamic State. Here in the capital, though, Tehran and Washington still line up on opposite sides. The United States is urging the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government to do more to enlist members of the Sunni minority against the Islamic State. Shiite-led Iran and its proxies are thwarting that effort. The dichotomy illustrates the complexities of the relationship between the United States and Iran in places like Iraq , where the interests of the two rivals clash and converge. Now, after a deal to limit Iran’s […]

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Syria peak oil weakened government’s finances ahead of Arab Spring in 2011

While the attention of the world is on the refugee crisis we need to look at the causes of this mass exodus. Fig 1: Refugees walking on Hungarian motorway towards Austria in Sep 2015 In May 2013 the Guardian had an article “Peak oil, climate change and pipeline geopolitics driving Syrian conflict” http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2013/may/13/1 In March 2015, a group of researchers led by climatologist Colin Kelley (University of California) published a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences with the title “Climate change in the Fertile Crescent and implications of the recent Syrian drought” “Between 2006 and 2009, the people of Syria suffered during the most severe drought that country has experienced since the beginning of its instrumental record. As water became scarce, crops failed and cattle died on a huge scale. As many as 1.5 million Syrians, out of a population of just over 20 million, […]

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Saudi copes with oil drop by selling FX

Look out world—China’s not the only central bank in town selling its currency reserves to cope with a tumultuous global economy. With crude prices having shed more than half their value over the past year, oil producing economies are feeling the sting of cheaper oil. More importantly, Saudi Arabia—OPEC’s largest member and the world’s top oil producer—bears watching as oil stays below $50 and a global glut depresses oil prices, analysts say. Even before China surprised markets by announcing a record drawdown of its foreign currency denominated assets, Saudi Arabia had already begun selling its reserves to plug a hole in its budget and support its flagging currency, the riyal. In February and March, the world’s largest oil exporter saw net foreign assets drop by more than $30 billion, the biggest two- month drop on record. These asset sales are important because Saudi holds one of the world’s largest […]

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Egypt will take Cyprus gas

The recent discovery of giant natural gas deposits in Egypt’s Zohr plot does not negate the country’s export deal with Cyprus, newly-accredited ambassador Hussein Mubarak told the Cyprus Weekly. Although Nicosia is looking into different scenarios, Cairo’s offer to import the gas from the Aphrodite plot offshore Cyprus, liquefy it in Egypt and sell it to Europe is there. “The discovery of the new natural gas at plot Zohr will not change the policy of Egypt towards Cyprus, Egypt is a huge country with huge energy needs,” Mubarak said. “Egypt has offered to import Cyprus natural gas for domestic use and also for liquefication at the plant in Egypt and then sell it to Europe, everywhere. “I think, economically, to start a liquefication plant is very costly, we already have a plant to treat it and liquefy it and sell it to Europe,” he added. The ambassador also said […]

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Saudi Arabia Says It Has Taken In 2.5 Million Fleeing Syrians

After attracting severe criticism on social media and from members of the Muslim community around the world, Saudi Arabia has defended itself saying that the kingdom has accepted more than 2.5 million refugees since the Syrian conflict began. The oil-rich nation also claimed that it has given permanent residency to hundreds of thousands of Syrians ever since 2011. Rich Gulf nations have been condemned for not welcoming Syrian refugees , who are fleeing the civil war and the Islamic State (Isis) onslaught in the country and making perilous journeys to Europe via sea. While numerous countries apart from Europe are embracing thousands of migrants, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members Saudi Arabia, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar have been blamed for remaining silent on the issue. However, according to the Saudi Press Agency, an unnamed official of the Saudi foreign ministry has said that nearly 2.5 million […]

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China stocks slide as data raises fresh economy worries

An investor speaks in front of an electronic board showing stock information at a brokerage house in Fuyang, Anhui province, China, September 14, 2015. China’s stocks fell on Monday after data suggesting economic growth was running below the 2015 target level of about 7 percent heightened concerns about the health of the economy. The economic concerns offset the impact of plans announced at the weekend to reform the bloated state-owned enterprise sector and produce "decisive" results by 2020. Underscoring the fragility of China’s financial markets even after some respite last week, currency traders suspected the central bank intervened to prop up the yuan in onshore markets, which wobbled following a report that net capital outflows in the first quarter of the year were more than $100 billion. "China’s economy faces relatively big downward pressure, so investor sentiment remains weak," said Gu Yongtao, strategist at Cinda Securities. China’s stock markets […]

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China’s Higher Refinery Runs May Boost Diesel Exports to Record

China’s diesel exports may surge to a record in the coming months as refinery output increases while domestic demand growth for the fuel slows. The nation’s diesel shipments might have risen to a record last month, topping the previous high in June of 670,000 tons, and may climb to 1 million tons a month in the fourth quarter, according to ICIS China, a Shanghai-based commodity researcher. China is scheduled to release August diesel export data next week. Refiners processed 44.34 million metric tons of crude in August, up 6.5 percent from a year earlier, data from the Beijing-based National Bureau of Statistics showed Sunday. That’s about 10.48 million barrels a day and 1.8 percent higher than July as production increased to satisfy growing demand for gasoline. “Diesel exports will continue to rise amid a supply glut created by high oil processing to meet robust gasoline demand,” Lin Jiaxin, an […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple