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Iran frustrated with gas line for Pakistan

TEHRAN, Nov. 5 (UPI) — Pakistan needs to live up to its end of the bargain for a cross-border natural gas pipeline planned from Iran, Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Ali Majedi said. Majedi was quoted by Iran’s semiofficial Fars News Agency as saying the Iranian government wasn’t going to help cover the cost of building the pipeline in Pakistani territory. “We did not make such a commitment to help Pakistan with $2 billion for the construction of the pipeline,” he said Monday. Iran has expressed concern about the project, in the planning stages for decades, because of economic uncertainty from its Pakistani counterparts. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh was quoted by Fars as saying last week the nullification of the contract “for supplying gas to Pakistan is likely.” Iran’s Western adversaries oppose the pipeline because of the economic benefits it would bring Tehran. Washington, in particular, favors a […]

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Ending a war – but not the bloodshed

US troops patrol Fallujah, Iraq, in 2003 By Tara McKelvey BBC News, Washington 6 November 2013 Last updated at 00:12 “We invaded Iraq to change the way the greater Middle East works,” says Andrew Bacevich. “From that point of view the war is a catastrophic disaster.” Above, US troops patrol Fallujah during a sandstorm in 2005 In September President Barack Obama said, “I was elected to end wars, not start them.” Yet ending wars, as he has discovered, can be as hard as waging them. The former US ambassador to Iraq, James Jeffrey, left Baghdad on a hot day in June 2012. He flew away in a special forces helicopter, as he recalls, and looked down at villas and swimming pools. “It was quiet and peaceful,” he says. He describes his departure as an “emotional” moment – and says that at the time he felt pleased with the outcome […]

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Natural-Gas Futures Slip on Forecasts for Warmer-Than-Usual Weather

–Natural-gas futures fall for sixth straight day –Futures settle down 6.8 cents, lowest settlement price since Aug. 20 –Warmer-than-average weather forecasts weigh on prices By Nicole Friedman NEW YORK–Natural-gas futures declined to their lowest settlement price since August as weather forecasts for unusually warm temperatures lowered expectations for gas-powered heating demand. Natural gas for December delivery settled down 6.8 cents, or 1.94%, at $3.445 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, sinking to their lowest price since Aug. 20. Natural-gas prices have fallen for three straight weeks as traders digest the bearish weather outlooks. About half of U.S. households use the fuel as their primary heating source, according to the Energy Information Administration. MDA Weather Services, a Gaithersburg, Md., weather forecaster, said earlier Monday that temperatures will be warm in the eastern and central U.S. through mid-November. “Over the weekend, a few different weather models […]

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British Columbia’s LNG industry to face stiff competition for Asian gas markets

Houston (Platts)–4Nov2013/541 pm EST/2241 GMT Developers of proposed liquefied natural gas terminals on the west coast of Canada’s British Columbia province will have to move quickly to secure supply contracts if they want to beat the competition to ship gas to Asian markets, the co-author of a study on the subject said Monday. “That means they need to act aggressively, they need to compete effectively and they need to be in the market to lock down the contracts that will underpin their projects,” said Len Coad, director of the Calgary-based Center for Natural Resource Policy. The province’s developing LNG industry “must move nimbly and quickly to beat out the competition and capture market share in Asia,” according to the 21-page study, released last week by the Canada West Foundation. Article continues below… Request a free trial of: LNG Daily LNG Daily LNG Daily is essential reading as LNG supply […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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British Columbia's LNG industry to face stiff competition for Asian gas markets

Houston (Platts)–4Nov2013/541 pm EST/2241 GMT Developers of proposed liquefied natural gas terminals on the west coast of Canada’s British Columbia province will have to move quickly to secure supply contracts if they want to beat the competition to ship gas to Asian markets, the co-author of a study on the subject said Monday. “That means they need to act aggressively, they need to compete effectively and they need to be in the market to lock down the contracts that will underpin their projects,” said Len Coad, director of the Calgary-based Center for Natural Resource Policy. The province’s developing LNG industry “must move nimbly and quickly to beat out the competition and capture market share in Asia,” according to the 21-page study, released last week by the Canada West Foundation. Article continues below… Request a free trial of: LNG Daily LNG Daily LNG Daily is essential reading as LNG supply […]

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US Shale Boom Will Boost LPG Exports and Bring Down Prices

More US Shale Boom Will Boost LPG Exports and Bring Down Prices LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) – A U.S. energy drilling boom is revolutionizing the niche market for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), bringing down global prices and challenging established exporters in the Middle East. The changes are the latest sign of the global impact of a drilling renaissance in the United States that has already hit oil and natural gas. And like oil and gas, it is U.S. producers of LPG who are set to gain most while established exporters may struggle with new competition in a suddenly altered landscape. Unconventional oil and gas drilling, including shale gas extraction from fracking, is controversial because it requires large amounts of water and chemicals to be pumped at high pressure into the earth, and some countries such as France and Bulgaria have banned the technology. In the United States, however, shale […]

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Iran Burning Gas Worth Billions Set to Lead Exporters Group

Iran will lead a club of the world’s biggest natural gas exporters as its own shipments abroad are hampered by U.S. and European Union sanctions that force the country to burn off billions of dollars worth of the fuel. Mohammad Hossein Adeli , the country’s former deputy foreign minister, was elected secretary-general of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum , whose 13 member countries hold 60 percent of the world’s reserves, the group said yesterday in a statement. Adeli, who will replace Leonid Bokhanovsky of Russia next year, vowed to turn the Persian nation into a “major player among the gas exporting countries,” he told reporters after a group meeting in Tehran. U.S. and EU trade sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program have cut the Persian nation’s crude exports, its largest revenue source, by half since 2011 and are stifling projects to export some of its gas reserves, the world’s largest. […]

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Iranian official says Iran doing its part on gas pipeline to Pakistan

TEHRAN, Nov. 4 (UPI) — Iran has done most of the work needed to get a troubled gas pipeline developed for the Pakistani market, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said. “Iran has done a major part of the work [necessary] for the implementation of the project and now Iran’s gas has reached near the border with Pakistan with a high capacity,” Zanganeh was quoted as saying in a Press TV report Sunday. Zanganeh questioned the prospects for the pipeline last week, saying Pakistan was having trouble financing construction of the pipeline in its territory. Iran’s Fars News Agency quoted Pakistani lawmaker Ijaz Hussain Jakhrani as saying the pipeline “must be completed.” Pakistan’s aging infrastructure and energy sector mismanagement have left most the country without a reliable source of electricity, observers say. The U.S. government warned Pakistan earlier this year the pipeline would violate sanctions targeting Iran’s energy sector. U.S. […]

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