Category Archives: Oil

Russia and Saudi Arabia agree to extend deal with Opec to curb oil output

Posted on by

Vladimir Putin says deal due to expire on Sunday will be extended by six to nine months

Russia has agreed with Saudi Arabia to extend by six to nine months a deal with Opec on reducing oil output, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said, as oil prices come under renewed pressure from rising US supplies and a slowing global economy.

The Saudi energy minister, Khalid al-Falih, said on Sunday that the deal would most likely be extended by nine months and no deeper reductions were needed.

Continue reading...

Opec weighs up the risks if Russia goes it alone on prices

Posted on by

Vladimir Putin may relish his place at the table in Vienna but he will be tempted to cash in on rising prices

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) will meet this week in Vienna under a familiar pretext: to act as stewards of oil market stability. In practice, oil ministers from the world’s most powerful oil-producing nations will thrash out a deal to limit the amount of oil flowing into the global market and avoid an oil price collapse.

The latest pact is expected to extend a milestone deal first struck between Opec and a Russian-led alliance of nations outside the cartel in the wake of the oil price crash.

Continue reading...

Trudeau approves contentious Trans Mountain pipeline expansion

Posted on by

Construction to start this year, Canadian prime minister says, despite opposition from environmental and Indigenous groups

Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau has once again approved a hotly contested proposal to expand the crude oil pipeline it bought last year, providing hope for a depressed energy industry but angering environmental and Indigenous groups which have fiercely opposed the project.

Construction on the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline is planned to start this year, Trudeau told a news conference on Tuesday. A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said earlier that Ottawa expected legal challenges to the approval.

Continue reading...

Russia is not alone in exploiting Africa | Letters

Posted on by
Tracey Lindner says the scramble for Africa is largely about securing resources that are crucial for military and civilian digital technology. Terry McGinn shines a spotlight on the US

Foreign involvement in Africa is far from unique to Russia (Leaked documents reveal Russia’s efforts to exert influence in Africa, 12 June). The new scramble for Africa involves more powers than the first round over a century ago. This time it’s in part about securing resources such as oil, gas and rare earth metals crucial for military and civilian digital technology, and denying these resources to rival powers.

The United States Africa Command (Africom) now has 7,500 American troops active in all but one African country, up from 6,000 in 2017. Apart from its huge base in Djibouti, controlling the narrow strait between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a vital chokepoint through which all shipping using the Suez Canal has to pass – most importantly (for the Americans) Chinese shipping – the US has constructed small “lily pad” bases, whose presence gives the US a strong military capability.

Continue reading...

Oil tanker attacks will inflame conflict between the US, its allies and Iran

Posted on by

The explosions, on a vital passageway for the world’s oil supply, may prove Trump’s policy of coercion has backfired

The explosions were bigger and the damage more extensive. But the message and its means of delivery have some similarities.

Thursday’s attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman caused jitters in global markets and unease across a region that has been bracing for conflict throughout much of the year. As with the earlier attacks on 12 May, news of the latest strikes was again broken by media outlets aligned to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran, who broadcast images of the attacks within minutes of them taking place.

Continue reading...

Oil price jumps after Gulf of Oman tanker ‘attacks’ – business live

Posted on by

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as tanker fires send crude prices soaring

Iran hasn’t said who it thinks is responsible for today’s attacks off its coastline.

But on Twitter, foreign minister Javad Zarif has described the attacks as beyond suspicious:

Reported attacks on Japan-related tankers occurred while PM @AbeShinzo was meeting with Ayatollah @khamenei_ir for extensive and friendly talks.

Suspicious doesn't begin to describe what likely transpired this morning.

Iran's proposed Regional Dialogue Forum is imperative.

Here’s the key line from president Rouhani’s speech on Iranian TV:

“Security is of high importance to Iran in the sensitive region of the Persian Gulf, in the Middle East, in Asia and in the whole world. We have always tried to secure peace and stability in the region.”

Continue reading...

Revealed: Mobil sought to fight environmental regulation, documents show

Posted on by

Oil giant looked to make tax-exempt donations to universities and civic groups in the early 1990s to promote the company’s interests

Oil giant Mobil sought to make tax-exempt donations to leading universities, civic groups and arts programmes to promote the company’s interests and undermine environmental regulation, according to internal documents from the early 1990s obtained by the Guardian.

Related: How Mobil pushed its oil agenda through 'charitable giving'

Continue reading...

Energy industry’s carbon emissions rise at fastest rate in nearly a decade

Posted on by

BP report reveals that swings in global temperatures are increasing the use of fossil fuels

Carbon emissions from the global energy industry rose by the fastest rate in almost a decade in 2018 after surprise swings in global temperatures stoked extra demand for fossil fuels.

BP’s annual global energy report revealed for the first time that fluctuating temperatures are increasing the world’s use of fossil fuels in spite of efforts to tackle the climate crisis.

Continue reading...

US imposes sanctions on Iran’s largest petrochemical group

Posted on by

PGPIC hit with economic penalties because of its ties to Revolutionary Guards, US treasury says

The United States has hit Iran’s Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (PGPIC) with economic sanctions due to its ties with the country’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), the Treasury department has said.

The move aims to choke off financing to the country’s largest and most profitable petrochemical group and extends to its 39 subsidiaries and “foreign-based sales agents,” Treasury said in a statement.

Continue reading...

Saudi king warns attacks on oil stations threaten global supply

Posted on by

King Salman accuses Iran-backed groups of drone strikes on oil tankers at third and final summit of Gulf and Arab leaders

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has said that attacks on Saudi oil assets last month are a threat to global oil supplies and regional security, while again accusing Iran-backed groups of carrying them out.

“The drone attacks on Saudi oil pumping stations carried out by groups supported by Iran not only threaten the security of the kingdom and the Gulf, but also threaten maritime safety and global oil supplies,” Salman said at an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit in the Saudi city of Mecca on Saturday.

Continue reading...

Turkey insists on right to drill for energy reserves off Cyprus

Posted on by

Dispute likely to escalate after Nicosia said it would seek to arrest anyone caught drilling

Tensions over energy resources in the eastern Mediterranean have risen sharply after Turkey said it would “exercise its sovereign rights” to drill off Cyprus in flagrant defiance of warnings from western allies.

As the dispute over potential gas reserves intensified, Ankara insisted its state-of-the-art drilling ship, the Fatih, and its support vessels would begin operations in waters viewed by the EU as being within the island’s exclusive economic zone.

Continue reading...

Soaring oil prices cast shadow on US ahead of Opec meeting

Posted on by

Risk to oil market of three simultaneous disruptions becomes lobbying point for Iran and Libya

In November 2018, Donald Trump tweeted: “Oil prices getting lower … a tax cut for America and the world! Enjoy! $54 … Thank you to Saudi Arabia.”

Five months on, with oil prices more than $70, Trump will be in a less celebratory mood as Opec’s oil ministers and their allies gather in Jeddah on Friday, without Iran. The main agenda item will be the implications for oil of three interconnected American foreign policy crises – in Venezuela, Iran, and Libya. Together these crises, being played out simultaneously, have the potential to scrub as much as 3.5m barrels of oil per day from the markets.

Continue reading...

The astonishing disappearing act of Beto O’Rourke

Posted on by

#Betomania became #Betofatigue in six short months – can the Texas Democrat rise again and show voters what type of president he’d be?

When Beto O’Rourke travelled to Yosemite in California to unveil his $5tn plan on climate change, a ripple of surprise crossed America. How did the tall white guy with the funny first name known for his punk past, Beatnik road trips and fondness for campaigning atop counters get to be the first Democratic candidate to proclaim on the crisis of our age?

This wasn’t the O’Rourke that the country had grown used to during his battle with Ted Cruz last November for a US Senate seat. Then, the Texas Democrat had propelled himself to within three percentage points of victory, and with it national stardom, by making viral speeches about NFL players taking a knee and by instilling hope through a feel-good but rather wishy-washy call to unity.

Continue reading...

Dutch court will hear widows’ case against Shell over deaths of Ogoni Nine

Posted on by

Judges order oil firm to release confidential documents as wives of late Nigerian activists get go-ahead to pursue claim

A Dutch court has ruled that it has jurisdiction to determine whether Royal Dutch Shell was complicit in the Nigerian government’s execution of the Ogoni Nine, environmental protesters who fought against widespread pollution in the Niger Delta.

In a 50-page ruling hailed by campaigners as an “important precedent” for global human rights cases, judges at The Hague’s district court said on Wednesday that they would allow the case to go forward, also indicating that the claimants – widows of four of the activists – would be able to bring further evidence to prove their case.

Continue reading...

Trump halts plans to expand offshore drilling after legal setback

Posted on by

Court decision blocking fossil fuel activity in swaths of the Arctic complicated administration plans to ramp up fossil fuel extraction

The Trump administration has shelved plans to vastly expand offshore oil and gas drilling in the wake of a recent court decision that blocked fossil fuel activity in swaths of the Arctic.

The administration had opened up almost all US waters to companies seeking to drill oil or gas deposits but this expansion has been halted due to a legal setback, according to David Bernhardt, the interior secretary.

Continue reading...

Ending the Iranian sanctions waiver could be own goal for Trump

Posted on by

Preventing Iran’s oil from reaching the market will raise oil prices and US business costs

The past two and a bit years have shown that it is naive to expect Donald Trump’s strategic and economic policies to demonstrate coherence. Even so, the lack of joined-up thinking in the decision to end the waiver against sanctions from nations that buy oil from Iran takes some beating.

Related: US toughens stance on Iran, ending exemptions from oil sanctions

Continue reading...

US toughens stance on Iran, ending exemptions from oil sanctions

Posted on by

Mike Pompeo says any nation interacting with Iran should do its diligence and err on the side of caution

The US has announced it will no longer exempt countries from sanctions that aim to impose a complete oil embargo on Iran.

Officials said the Trump administration would not renew any of the sanctions waivers granted to a handful of countries, including China, India, Turkey, Japan and South Korea, when those waivers expire on 2 May.

Continue reading...

‘Historic breakthrough’: Norway’s giant oil fund dives into renewables

Posted on by

Experts say even nations that got rich on fossil fuels are seeing the future is green

Norway’s $1tn oil fund, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, is to plunge billions of dollars into wind and solar power projects. The decision follows Saudi Arabia’s oil fund selling off its last oil and gas assets.

Other national funds built up from oil profits are also thought to be ramping up their investments in renewables. The moves show that countries that got rich on fossil fuels are diversifying their investments and seeking future profits in the clean energy needed to combat climate change. Analysts say the investments are likely to power faster growth of green energy.

Continue reading...

Saudi oil company named world’s most profitable business

Posted on by

State-owned Saudi Aramco makes profits of £84.7bn last year, beating Apple and Exxon

Saudi Arabia’s state oil company has emerged as the most profitable business in the world, racking up profits of $111.1bn (£84.7bn) in 2018 to overtake Apple.

According to a rare glimpse into its finances contained in a bond-offering document, Saudi Aramco made the profit on revenues of $355.9bn last year, as it produced 10.3m barrels per day of crude oil.

Continue reading...

Double standards on oil spills in Nigeria must end | Letters

Posted on by
Oil companies must respect human lives and clean up the damage their industry does wherever they operate, say Dr John Sentamu, Baroness Amos, Prof Michael Watts, Njeri Kabeberi and James Thornton

The devastating impact of oil spills is widely recognised. The past decade has witnessed the destruction caused to human life and the environment from spills including the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and the Montara spill in Australia in 2009.

On each occasion the global community has reacted with horror, demanding the oil industry clean up local ecosystems and communities. Yet in Nigeria, and particularly in Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta, these calls are ignored.

Continue reading...