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China’s oil operations in Iraq unaffected, cuts some staff

PetroChina, thesingle biggest investor in Iraq’s oil sector, is pulling some ofits staff out of the Middle East nation, but production remainsunaffected as militant Islamists threaten the unity of OPEC’ssecond-largest producer. China is Iraq’s largest oil client, and its state energyfirms, which also include Sinopec Group and CNOOC Ltd,together hold more than a fifth of the country’s oil projectsafter securing some of its fields through auctions held in 2009. Some non-essential staff have been evacuated, said MaoZefeng, joint company secretary of PetroChina, China’s largestenergy firm, without saying how many or if they had been movedout of Iraq entirely or to safer zones in the country. A few oilfield service staff have been evacuated, a secondcompany official said. "We’ve got our contingency plan," said Mao. "But as ourfields are all in the south, they are not affected yet." Iraqi officials say the southern regions that […]

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Conflict in Iraq Adds New Angle to U.S.-Iran Nuclear Talks

The Iranian leadership had a message for Washington on Wednesday: If President Obama really wants some cooperation on stabilizing Iraq, he might first think about speeding forward with a permanent deal over Iran ’s nuclear capability. That statement by President Hassan Rouhani’s chief of staff, Mohammad Nahavandian, to reporters at an international relations forum in Oslo, hardly surprised the American and European negotiators. They are growing skeptical that a deal both Mr. Obama and Mr. Rouhani can embrace — and sell at home — is possible by a deadline agreed upon with the Iranians last year, now a little more than a month away. “The Iranians desperately needed leverage,” one European negotiator said Wednesday after weeks of arguments over how many centrifuges Iran would be permitted to keep spinning, and how fast the sanctions that have so crippled the economic lives of ordinary Iranians could be lifted. […]

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Turmoil in Iraq is pushing up US gasoline prices

Violence in Iraq is pushing U.S. gasoline prices higher, depriving drivers of the usual price break between Memorial Day and July Fourth. The national average price of $3.67 per gallon is the highest price for this time of year since 2008, the year gasoline hit its all-time high. The good news is that gasoline is not likely to spike above $4 as it did 6 years ago. Or even cross $3.90, as in 2011 and 2012. "You are going to pay a little more than we thought you were going to pay," says Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service and GasBuddy.com. "But you are not going to see any apocalyptic numbers." Gasoline prices typically fall in the weeks following Memorial Day, after supplies increase enough to fill up the cars of the nation’s vacationers as summer approaches. This year, drivers are paying more. The […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iraq Foretells Oil’s Dystopian Future

When things go down in the Middle East, oil prices go up. Even axioms have their nuances, though. Amid what may be the unraveling of Iraq, oil prices characteristically have risen, with Brent crude breaking back above $112 a barrel. Yet Iraq’s real significance for oil may have less to do with what transpires this summer and more over the rest of this decade. The direct threat to the country’s oil exports actually isn’t acute yet. For now, the insurgency is focused in central Iraq, away from the main oil-producing and exporting areas in the south and the largely Kurdish-controlled north . The bigger issue is what the sudden advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham means for Iraq’s oil-production growth prospects. In its latest medium-term forecast, released Tuesday, the International Energy Agency cut its supply-growth outlook for Iraq. It now expects Iraq to be […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iraq Foretells Oil's Dystopian Future

When things go down in the Middle East, oil prices go up. Even axioms have their nuances, though. Amid what may be the unraveling of Iraq, oil prices characteristically have risen, with Brent crude breaking back above $112 a barrel. Yet Iraq’s real significance for oil may have less to do with what transpires this summer and more over the rest of this decade. The direct threat to the country’s oil exports actually isn’t acute yet. For now, the insurgency is focused in central Iraq, away from the main oil-producing and exporting areas in the south and the largely Kurdish-controlled north . The bigger issue is what the sudden advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham means for Iraq’s oil-production growth prospects. In its latest medium-term forecast, released Tuesday, the International Energy Agency cut its supply-growth outlook for Iraq. It now expects Iraq to be […]

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Kurd Oil Supply Seen Growing as Region Grabs Territory

Iraq ’s Kurdish region may be able to gain more autonomy and increase crude exports after taking control of territory around the nation’s fourth-largest oil field, analysts from Saxo Bank A/S and JBC Energy GmbH said. Kurdish troops are protecting the Kirkuk oilfield and surrounding areas after an offensive by Islamist insurgents last week prompted Iraqi central-government forces to flee. The Kurdistan Regional Government plans to double its crude exports next month to as much as 250,000 barrels a day and has built a new pipeline that could ship Kirkuk oil to international markets, Ashti Hawrami , KRG’s natural resources minister, said at a conference in London today. “The current situation could lead to a better environment for exports if the Kurdish region gets more autonomy and can ship its oil, and the south of Iraq continues to grow,” David Wech , managing director at JBC Energy GmbH in […]

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Iraq Crude Oil Exports Surge in South While Violence Hits North

Iraq’s crude oil exports from its southern terminals in the Persian Gulf are poised to accelerate at a time when fighting has plunged the country’s north into chaos and Islamist militias are advancing toward Baghdad. Exports of Basrah Light crude , the country’s main grade, may reach about 2.8 million barrels a day next month, according to a preliminary loading plan obtained by Bloomberg News on June 16. That’s 11 percent more than this year’s average and would be close to matching a three-decade high reached in February. OPEC’s second-largest producer shipped 5.43 million barrels from Basrah on June 11, Iraqi Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi said in Vienna the following day. “The only infrastructure that is currently producing and supplying international markets is in the south and will remain untouched,” Kyle Stelma, managing director of Dubai-based Dunia Frontier Consultants, which researches Iraq for clients, said by phone yesterday. […]

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Ankara: More Kurdish oil set for exports

Ankara expects a third tanker loaded with oil from the Kurdish north of Iraq will leave port before the end of the month, the energy minister said. Two tankers loaded with oil from the Kurdish north, United Emblem and United Leadership , have left the Turkish port city of Ceyhan in recent weeks. Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Monday a third tanker should leave before the end of the month. "A third tanker is scheduled on June 22 to export the oil coming from northern Iraq," he said . Neither of the vessels loaded with Kurdish crude oil have made port calls outside of Ceyhan. Exports of Kurdish oil prompted the government in Baghdad to issue a complaint with international arbiters. The statement from Yildiz comes as Iraq struggles to control an insurgency from Islamist militants who took control over key northern Iraqi cities in recent weeks. Turkey’s […]

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Militants lay siege to Iraq’s largest oil refinery

Islamic militants laid siege to Iraq’s largest oil refinery Wednesday, threatening a facility key to the country’s domestic supplies as part of their ongoing lightning offensive, a top security official said. The attack comes militants have seized wide swaths of territory in Iraq – and as the specter of the sectarian warfare that nearly tore the country apart and the doubts that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion now haunt those trying decide how to respond. The official said fighters of the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant began their attack on the Beiji refinery, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, late Tuesday night. The attack continued into Wednesday morning, with fighters targeting it with mortar shells. A small fire started on the facility’s periphery, he said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Militants lay siege to Iraq's largest oil refinery

Islamic militants laid siege to Iraq’s largest oil refinery Wednesday, threatening a facility key to the country’s domestic supplies as part of their ongoing lightning offensive, a top security official said. The attack comes militants have seized wide swaths of territory in Iraq – and as the specter of the sectarian warfare that nearly tore the country apart and the doubts that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion now haunt those trying decide how to respond. The official said fighters of the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant began their attack on the Beiji refinery, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, late Tuesday night. The attack continued into Wednesday morning, with fighters targeting it with mortar shells. A small fire started on the facility’s periphery, he said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple