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Saudi Oil Minister Says World Can’t Abandon Fossil Fuels

ENLARGE Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, left, speaks with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius during the Business Climate Summit in Paris, France. Photo: Bloomberg News Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Thursday that he sees a great future for solar power but that the world can’t abandon fossil fuels in the short term Mr. Naimi, speaking on a panel in Paris, addressed questions about whether the world’s oil-and-gas companies should move on to other forms of energy in the face of climate change linked to human carbon emissions. He said it wouldn’t make economic sense to make a dramatic move now. “You say decarbonize. Are you willing to have me go back home and shut all the oil wells? Can you afford that today?” Mr. Naimi said at the Business and Climate Summit in Paris, broadcast by Bloomberg. “What will happen to the [oil] price if […]

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Saudi Arabia’s crude export record could be near-term peak

Saudi Arabia’s recent push to maintain international oil market share saw its oil exports surging in March, but the kingdom may find itself unable to maintain much upward momentum in the coming months. The latest official data from the Riyadh-headquartered Joint Organizations Data Initiative or JODI, published Monday, May 18 showed that Saudi crude exports rose by 548,000 b/d in March to 7.898 million — their highest level in over a decade. However, March is the last month of the Arabian Peninsula’s cooler season, with maximum daytime temperatures in Riyadh still averaging below 30 degrees Celsius. Temperatures start to rise rapidly thereafter, with the daytime maximum typically averaging 45 degrees Celsius by July, the hottest month of the year. As the mercury rises and demand for air conditioning soars, so does Saudi Arabia’s domestic oil consumption, as the kingdom burns significant volumes of fuel oil and crude for power […]

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Saudi Arabia, partners turn down Chinese requests for extra oil

BEIJING/SINGAPORE Saudi Arabia and its main Middle East OPEC partners are turning down Chinese requests for extra oil as they hold back fuel for their own refineries just as demand from the world’s biggest crude importer hits new records. While the Saudi and other refusals for additional crude supplies may not be part of a new pricing strategy, the rejections to their biggest client help explain a 40 percent rise in oil prices this year as Chinese importers have had to seek more oil from other suppliers in what analysts say is still an oversupplied market. Senior Chinese oil traders told Reuters the Saudis have turned down requests from Chinaoil and Unipec – the respective trading arms of PetroChina and Sinopec – for extra cargoes of crude for May and June loadings, forcing them to seek supplies from producers in West Africa, Oman and Russia. Saudi Arabia "used to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Saudi Arabia, OPEC partners turn down Chinese requests for extra oil

Saudi Arabia and its main Middle East OPEC partners are turning down Chinese requests for extra oil as they hold back fuel for their own refineries just as demand from the world’s biggest crude importer hits new records. While the Saudi and other refusals for additional crude supplies may not be part of a new pricing strategy, the rejections to their biggest client help explain a 40 percent rise in oil prices this year as Chinese importers have had to seek more oil from other suppliers in what analysts say is still an oversupplied market. Senior Chinese oil traders told Reuters the Saudis have turned down requests from Chinaoil and Unipec – the respective trading arms of PetroChina and Sinopec – for extra cargoes of crude for May and June loadings, forcing them to seek supplies from producers in West Africa, Oman and Russia. Saudi Arabia "used to provide […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Saudi Arabia Promises to Match Iran in Nuclear Capability

Continue reading the main story Video Play Video|1:09 Obama Hosts Saudi Princes Obama Hosts Saudi Princes President Obama hosted Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, a day before the Gulf Cooperation Council summit. By Associated Press on Publish Date May 13, 2015. Photo by Doug Mills/The New York Times. WASHINGTON — When President Obama began making the case for a deal with Iran that would delay its ability to assemble an atomic weapon, his first argument was that a nuclear-armed Iran would set off a “free-for-all” of proliferation in the Arab world. “It is almost certain that other players in the region would feel it necessary to get their own nuclear weapons ,” he said in 2012. Now, as he gathered Arab leaders over dinner at the White House on Wednesday  and prepared to meet with them at Camp […]

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Saudi Arabia’s April crude output hits record high

DUBAI Top global oil exporter Saudi Arabia raised its crude production in April to a record high, feeding its flourishing Asian market share and its own power plants and refineries. The world’s top oil exporter pumped 10.308 million barrels of oil per day in April, a Gulf industry source told Reuters on Tuesday, compared to 10.29 million bpd in March. "This is an indication of strong demand, especially from Asia, as well as increasing domestic consumption during summer," the source said. The increase underlined Saudi Arabia’s determination not to cede market share to higher-cost producers, such as U.S. shale drillers. The kingdom and others in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had resisted cutting production to shore up oil prices. It also highlights the strength of global demand, which has helped lift refinery profit margins to their highest in years. Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi has said the kingdom’s […]

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Saudis Boosted Oil Output in April as U.S. Idled Rigs

Here’s Why the Oil Rally Might Not Last Saudi Arabia boosted crude oil production for a second month to the highest level in at least three decades, helping to raise OPEC output as U.S. supply growth showed signs of slowing. The Middle Eastern country increased crude output by 13,700 barrels a day in April to 10.308 million, according to data the country communicated to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ secretariat in Vienna. Prices collapsed by almost half last year as Saudi Arabia led OPEC in maintaining production rather than cede market share to booming U.S. supply. The group has become more unified about keeping its output target because prices are now rising, according to Kuwait’s oil minister. Crude in New York has surged more than 40 percent from its March low as U.S. drillers pulled a record number of rigs from fields. “The Saudis must be content that […]

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Saudi, Kuwait to shut joint oilfield for two weeks: Kuwaiti source

DUBAI A jointly operated onshore oilfield between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will shut for two weeks of maintenance, a Kuwaiti industry source said on Monday, a move apparently aimed at giving the Gulf OPEC allies more time to solve a long-standing dispute. The scheduled closure of the Wafra onshore oilfield, operated by a Saudi Arabian division of U.S. oil major Chevron, will start on Monday night or Tuesday, the source told Reuters. The source declined to be named because of the commercial sensitivity of the matter. "It is planned maintenance starting from tonight or tomorrow," the source said, adding that production from the onshore fields in the Neutral Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait was about 190,000 barrels per day. Last month, Saudi Chevron told its partner, Kuwait Gulf Oil Company, that it planned to shut down Wafra after failing to resolve various disputes with Kuwait, mainly related to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple