talkpolitics | Entries tagged with oil

Exxon Mobil : Block 10 gas find is a game-changer

We're now at a point where the initial euphoria from this discovery in the Cypriot exclusive economic zone is giving way to more pragmatic assessments. About a fortnight after ExxonMobil and the Cyprus government announced the birth of the country's third largest oil field so far, as well as the most significant one for the last few years, more questions are mounting than answers.

The discovery raises the question how the carbon deposits in the East Mediterranean will be dealt with. It's directly related to the delicate balance of powers between Cyprus, Turkey, Israel, and Egypt. We've talked about this at great length before. It will make it even more difficult for Cyprus and its neighbors to decide between themselves how they'll be exploiting the gas deposits, and how they'll be exporting them to the international markets. All potential delivery routes are part of the complicated knot in that region, one that's shaping up to become a key alternative source of energy for Europe.

( Read more... )

luzribeiro

Now it makes a little more sense why Saudi’s little bitch will be "meh" about the murder of a journalist...

"(W) The plot thickens. This article is from 2 years ago. It's important to realize that Khashoggi was banned from Saudi Arabia *not* for criticizing the Saudi government ... but for criticizing Donald Trump, who was at that time President-elect. This information puts Trump's response to his murder, his support of the Saudi government, in a very harsh light."

Saudi Arabia bans journalist for criticising Donald Trump

Hey, the Saudis are our friends. They ran all those commercials telling us they are our friends after 911 so it must be true. Then later the Bush administration redacted and classified evidence that members of the Saudi Royal Family financed at least two of the 911 hijackers... with friends like that who needs foes?

kiaa

Reuters has reported that oil markets were severely shaken on Monday after hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc along the US Gulf coast over the weekend, crippling Houston and its port, and knocking out numerous refineries as well as some crude production. Gasoline prices hit two-year highs as massive floods caused by the storm forced refineries across the Gulf coast to shut down.

Harvey is the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years, killing at least two people, causing large-scale flooding, and forcing the closure of the Houston port as well as several refineries. The US National Hurricane Center said on Monday that Harvey was moving away from the coast but was expected to linger close to the shore through - and it's now expected to make a second landfall, now in Louisiana.

As Harvey has hit the heart of the Texas energy industry, it transpired that president Trump had reversed regulations that were meant to protect infrastructure against flooding - ironically, just a few days before Harvey made its first landfall.

Earlier this year, Trump chose to dismiss an advisory panel whose job was to assess the effects of climate change, and come up with ways to respond to it. There are also indications that he's going to outright dismiss, if not at least attempt to suppress a blunt report by a panel of scientists who've worked hard to assess the causes and effects of climate change.

I think we can all connect the dots here...

God is punishing Texas and its oil industry for what they've been doing to mother nature! Trump is the Antichrist! Impeach!

But seriously... How much more thumping and bashing from nature do these guys need to realize they're the frog that's boiling at the bottom of that frying pot?

luvdovz.livejournal.com

Last time this was mentioned more than 3 years ago. And now it's becoming even more topical. I'm talking about the new gas (and possibly also oil) discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean, which could explain a lot about the ongoing geopolitical shifts in that region.

There can be no coincidence. Two important events took place just within hours apart from each other on March 17. First the Cyprus government decided to grant drilling licenses for gas and oil to several multinational energy giants: Exxon Mobil, Qatar Petroleum, Total and ENI. On that very day, Turkey announced they'd be starting a navy exercise with live rounds just a few days later in Cypriot territorial waters, just 30 nautical miles off the SW coast of the Island of Aphrodite. Turkey said their patience was running out. Much in line with a visit a month earlier by their foreign minister Cavusoglu to the Turkish part of the island, where he warned the Greek Cypriots against any unilateral actions on the oil/gas issue.

Whoever was hoping that the gas off the Cyprus shores could serve as a platform for unification and cooperation between the two communities there, was being naive. Oil and gas are much more likely to stir up conflict, and the latest events are yet another evidence of that. The tension started to escalate instantaneously after the Cypriot move on the gas. The Greek/Turkish negotiations were halted, and the leaders of the two communities started hurling accusations at each other for this failure. Turkey used the opportunity to sharpen the tone and start issuing ultimatums and threats (they've been rather active in that regard lately).

( Read more... )

abomvubuso.livejournal.com

The Stone Age didn't come to an end for a lack of stones, the same way the oil epoch won't end because oil would run out, sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, the Saudi minister of oil warned back in the 70s. Now his words are being regurgitated by people like Herman Gref, a prominent Russian banker who recently said the time of carbon fuels is almost over - maybe there'll be some final 10 years before it dies completely. Russia is one of the biggest losers in that respect, by the way, because it has failed to adapt its economy to the new realities.

( Read more... )

abomvubuso.livejournal.com

"Oil prices have dropped to $90 a barrel - Crimea is ours! Now it's down to 80 - we'll build a super-bridge to the peninsula! It's down to 70 now - fine, let's make it just an ordinary bridge. $60 - it'll rather be a ferry. 50 - cabin lift, then? What, $40 a barrel? We could always use the shallows... Oh my, $30... Fine, then, Crimea is yours. What the... $20!? Take it! Take it! We'll give you our Krasnodar region as well if you would just take Crimea!"

This anecdote is from earlier this year, and it illustrates how Putin's plans, and those of a number of world leaders, whose countries are highly dependent on the exports of energy resources, have suddenly found themselves in the middle of a flood of excessive oil that no one on the market really needs.

( Examples abound )

underlankers.livejournal.com

So, worthy of note is that at this point Daesh and its semi-ally semi-thrall Boko Haram are conducting a fairly large-scale war on two continents. The latter, of course, is now the official deadliest terrorist organization.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/boko-haram-overtakes-isis-as-worlds-deadliest-terror-organisation-a6737761.html

Boko Haram, equally curiously, is conducting this full-scale conflict in a very oil-rich country with a conspicuous absence of the usual suspects who, if oil is indeed the sole and only motivation of their actions should be clustering over this like ants on a picnic. If oil indeed is the prime mover of imperial politics, whither the West in Nigeria? Why is African oil less of a focus than that in Syria and Iraq? Given the sheer size of Nigeria, profits for weapons would reap an even bigger profit there given the greater number of people involved and the ability, of course, to finance both sides. So where are the economic hitmen?

Daesh, meanwhile, in its quest to collect all the nuclear powers as adversaries, has now as well declared war on Hamas:

http://yournewswire.com/isis-declares-war-on-palestine-yet-remains-quiet-on-israel/

Given that Hamas, too, is yet another of those Iranian proxies out there waging war on Israel and Daesh's ongoing conflict with Hezbollah, this was of course predictable. But it renders more glaring the absence of the most predictable target of all these fanatical movements and that unlike literally every other movement of its kind out there bar Boko Haram, this movement has yet to engage in major hostilities with the Israelis. Well, as it turns out.....

http://www.globes.co.il/en/article.aspx?did=1001084873

^Likud is reaping a pretty profit from smuggled oil. I presume all the people who were champing at the bit to punish Turkey will equally be champing at the bit to punish the Israelis, no? Not so? To be sure, this makes explicitly clear *why* Daesh isn't biting the hands that feed it, but I don't expect people will either remember this or make anywhere near an equivalent fuss over the reality that the Israelis are exploiting this war for profit in a fashion that shows the Irgun hasn't really changed its stripes since the 40s and 80s.

On the plus side for the Israelis, with the war stretching on seemingly into infinity, business will literally be booming.

abomvubuso.livejournal.com

Remember a year ago when the Brent Crude used to be 110 dollars a barrel? Well, now it's half of that, 55 dollars. And the WTI recently even reached 50. Way earlier than Iran had exported even one extra barrel of the black gold.

There'll be a lot of time before Iran starts exporting noticeable quantities of crude oil. First the drilling facilities and pipelines that've been shut down due to the embargo will have to be reopened. The experts estimate that Iran will be able to produce up to half a million barrels of crude daily by the end of 2016. To put this into perspective, OPEC produces 30 million. So don't count on Iran tiling the game any time soon.

( Read more... )

abomvubuso.livejournal.com

"Iran is a wonderful country with a fantastic resource base", the Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said last month at the Vienna negotiations. "As soon as there is legitimate opportunity, we will be looking at Iran". Another oil CEO, Patrick Pouyanne of Total was even shorter: "We love Iran".

And how wouldn't they? Iran's oil reserves are estimated at 158 bn barrels of crude, or 1/10 of the world's total reserves. The normalisation that Van Beurden speaks of is an agreement between Iran and the six global powers about Tehran's nuclear program. It's bound to act like a turn-on not just to the top oil management but also to businessfolk from all around the world. Because it'll lead to the gradual lifting of a full array of sanctions that the US, EU and UN imposed 30 years ago. This would open the road to one of the last remaining inaccessible markets that's consistently been ranked in the top 20 in the world, and which many are describing in terms of a 1001 Nights tale: frightening and enticing at the same time.

( Read more... )

telemann.livejournal.com

Stephen Harper's scream

If the NDP wins the Alberta election, it will simply be more proof of climate change. Because Hell will have officially frozen over.
— Allan Pero (@AllanPero) May 6, 2015

There has been precious little coverage about a massive shift to the left in Canada's most conservative region. If Canada has an equivalent to Texas, that would likely be Alberta, notoriously, dependability and consistently conservative. The recent election has ended a 44 year overwhelming conservative run in the provincial parliament. Alberta is the home province for Stephen Harper and many conservative leaders in the Canadian federal government. One political commentator wistfully noted commented on the election results: "Pigs do fly!" And the election has led to several to retire completely out of politics, including Alberta's Premier Jim Prentice, a former member of Tory Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet. Rachel Notley, candidate for New Democratic Party (NDP), will be the new premier. I believe the policies of the NDP are pretty similar to what you find in moderately left parties.

Alberta's new premier, Rachel Notley

The election results are very important to some Americans, because Alberta is an economic force, driven largely by Canada's oil sand deposits, which in turn with a conservative leadership at the local and federal level, led to Canada's decision to abandon the Kyoto protocols, and the country had taken a right turn on climate change.

PC = Progressive conservative in blue, NDP in orange

What will change from this election? Details on the NDP's energy resources were pretty light during the elections, but expect the royalties system to be revamped, to insure transparency, and more equitable return to the citizens of Alberta (in other words, businesses were not paying enough royalties, which were kept low by the conservatives to foster development). Albertans need to have confidence that we are getting a proper return, and that confidence does not exist today because of the lack of accountability and transparency in recent years—people have been kept in the dark.

NDP has said regarding green policies “will take leadership on the issue of climate change and make sure Alberta is part of crafting solutions with stakeholders, other provinces and the federal government.” But NDP is not much different than the conservatives they have replaced. Alberta's previous conservative premier Jim Prentice favored phasing out coal fired electrical power plants. NDP does support a

revolving loan fund for home and small-business energy retrofits, a commitment for broad energy-efficiency policies and for a renewable-energy strategy,” as well as re-allocating funds not spent as part of Ed Stelmach’s carbon capture and storage programs to public transit. While an accelerated phase-out of coal-fired electricity likely offers the most potential for low-cost emissions reductions in Alberta, the elephant in the room remains emissions from Alberta’s oil and gas sector and, in particular, the oil sands. As for what the NDP would do in this area, we’re left with a commitment to serious dialogue and a pledge to do better. There’s a lot left to the imagination here, not the least of which is the question of how NDP commitments to reduce emissions square with a pledge to add incremental refining and other industrial sectors in the province.

Rachel Notley stated during the election she would quit using Alberta's resource to lobby Washington over Keystone, but several observers don't think that's such a big deal. Very few provincial resources were used for for lobbying, and if Obama turns down the project, it's going to be because of the terrible climate costs of allowing the project to proceed. And it's very important to note, Ms. Notley isn't anti-pipeline per se, since she supports several projects in Canada such as the Energy East pipeline to the Atlantic, which would be bigger than Keystone XL and bolster the oil-sands industry. The one pipeline she's soured on, the Gateway project to British Columbia, has little chance of being completed anyway, thanks to fierce opposition from First Nations tribes. So it's not clear if the NDP's pipeline stance will have a big practical impact.

As Brad Plumer noted in his article for Vox

Add it all up, and Tuesday's election could have a big impact on Canada's oil industry, especially if there's some huge change to Alberta's royalty policy. But it's also possible to envision a scenario where surprisingly little changes, at least where oil's concerned.

ADDENDUM: Speaking of oil, The New York Times just published a news alert, President Obama has approved Arctic Ocean oil drilling. :( It looks like President Obama wants the United States to keep it's number one position as the world's largest producer for oil and natural gas. Not good for climate change.

Mood: hungry
Music: Fasch: 01- Ouverture in D major FWV K_D3 - 1. Ouverture

abomvubuso.livejournal.com

Here's a joke I recently heard. It's about the way the political rhetoric coming from the Kremlin is going to "evolve"...

Oil: $145 a barrel: "The world order needs an overhaul!"
Oil: $130 a barrel: "Moscow should become the world's financial center!"
Oil: $120 a barrel: "We're gonna launch the Eurasian Union!"
Oil: $110 a barrel: "Crimea is Russian!"
Oil: $100 a barrel: "East Ukraine is Russian!"
Oil: $90 a barrel: "We do not fear a new Cold War, we are not afraid of your sanctions!"
Oil: $80 a barrel: "No, there are no Russian troops in Ukraine!"
Oil: $75 a barrel: "Why is the whole world against us!?"
Oil: $70 a barrel: "We have a nuclear suitcase, our finger is on the red button!"
Oil: $65 a barrel: "We are prepared for peaceful negotiations with Ukraine..."
Oil: $60 a barrel: "We support Ukraine's NATO membership..."
Oil: $55 a barrel: "Putin has fled, Moscow is free!"
Oil: $50 a barrel: "Long live King Soros!"

( It's the oil, stupid! )

ricomsmith77.livejournal.com

Originally posted by

ricomsmith77 at "The Obama Keystone Pipe Dream: Why Building It Will Be A Nightmare"

Earlier today, the U.S. House of "so-called" Representatives passed legislation for building the controversial Keystone Pipeline....an oil pipeline system that carries dirty crude oil sands from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

cp-keystone-pipeline

( Read more... )

abomvubuso.livejournal.com

Jihadists fighting fierce battles just a few kilometers from Baghdad and shelling the city with missiles. Nigeria being hit by the ebola epidemic, and crumbling under the pressure of Islamist extremists. Libya and Syria in chaos. Russia entangled in a civil war in Ukraine. Despite all these crises in countries that are major oil producers, the oil prices, which are usually so sensitive to any turbulence (or even to hints thereof), have not skyrocketed just yet as one might've expected. Just on the contrary, they've dropped by almost a quarter since their June peak when they were nearing 115 dollars per barrel. Now the oil prices are at a four-year record low. So what gives?

Although there are all sorts of conspiracy theories floating around about how the US and the Saudis have secretly made a pact for collapsing the oil prices in order to bring Russia and Iran to their knees, the more probable explanation is much more trivial and is hidden in the classic principle of supply and demand. The thing is, right now there's an excess of geopolitical risk, but an even greater excess of oil supply. If we add the lagging European, Chinese and Japanese economies and the respective consumption shrinking, the plunging oil prices suddenly cease being so mysterious and shocking, after all.

( So what follows from all that? )

luvdovz.livejournal.com

Been hearing from some die-hard Mises.org reciters over here and elsewhere quite a recurring adage over the years. You see, we shouldn't be presenting the Scandinavian societies as an example of a good model, because, you know, theirs is a social and economic system that's unsustainable in the long run. Well, maybe less unsustainable than some others, but doomed to failure nevertheless. It may all be looking like birds and flowers right now, but you just wait! That overly generous scheme is doomed to eventually crumble down like the house of cards that it is, and prove Ayn Rand and all those Freedmanites right. Because that's what it's all about: being right, you know! Even when reality tends to repeatedly fail to live up to your expectations, and provide that damned piece of evidence you've been so desperately counting on.

Aaanyway; to cut the long story short, here it is, one example of the unsustainable Scandinavian model that, of course, as we all know, is doomed to fail sometime in the near/medium/distant/whatever future, at some point between tomorrow tea-time and the moment when the rate of expansion of the universe will have accelerated so much that it would render all elementary particles unstable, thus causing the Big Rip. (Which is the point where all our quibbles and shenanigans become ultimately immaterial - both figuratively and quite literally).

All Norwegians become millionaires as oil fund balloons

"Everyone in Norway became a theoretical krone millionaire on Wednesday in a milestone for the world's biggest sovereign wealth fund that has ballooned thanks to high oil and gas prices. Set up in 1990, the fund owns around 1 percent of the world's stocks, as well as bonds and real estate from London to Boston, making the Nordic nation an exception when others are struggling under a mountain of debts."

( Like in any real-world situation, there are caveats of course )

ddstory.livejournal.com

As you can see, fracking has become the new Bonanza. And if we're to trust some US media who are heralding economic growth due to the so called "shale gas revolution", the US should expect to be literally drowned in shale gas and oil very soon. In its Energy Technology Perspectives 2012 report, the International Energy Agency claims that in 2017 the US would replace Saudi Arabia at the leading position in the world in terms of the extracting of energy resources, and thus achieve the much coveted "energy independence". According to the IEA, the planned increase of carbon source production (which was 84 billion barrels per day in 2011), to 97 billion barrels in 2035, would be almost entirely thanks to the liquid gas and "non-conventional sources" (i.e., mostly shale gas and oil), while the production of "traditional energy sources" would begin steadily declining in 2013.

By using the so called "hydraulic fracturing" (or hydrofracking) of the oil and gas deposits (by injecting a mixture of water, sand and chemicals under pressure in order to decompose the various sorts of rock and release the trapped gas as shown above), and thanks to the modern technologies of horizontal, or "directional drilling" (which allows more time for processing the earth layers), a system has been devised where, as it turns out now, these resources could be used only at the cost of some severe environmental pollution.

( Some examples, if you don't mind )

dwer.livejournal.com

Mitt Romney, March 18, 2012: “He gets full credit or blame for what’s happened in this economy, and what’s happened to gasoline prices under his watch, and what’s happened to our schools, and what’s happened to our military forces. All these things are his responsibility while he’s president.”

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), April 6, 2012: “The president holds the key to addressing the pain Ohioans are feeling at the gas pump and moving our nation away from its reliance on foreign energy. My question for the president is: what are you waiting for?”

Boehner, April 6, 2012: “The president’s own policies to date have made matters worse and driven up gas prices.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Feb. 28 2012: “This President will go to any length to drive up gas prices and pave the way for his ideological agenda.”

Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), March 13, 2012: Obama is “fully responsible for what the American public is paying for gasoline.”

Aaaaaand... Experts predict average gas prices may fall below $3 this fall after dropping 14 cents in two weeks.

-------

Of course, the people above are not coming out announcing that the DROP in prices is to President Obama's credit. Personally, I recognize that the president probably doesn't have that much power over gasoline prices, but what drives people to obfuscate in this manner? LET'S TALK ABOUT TALKING!

allhatnocattle.livejournal.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/06/08/alberta-oil-spill-red-deer-river_n_1581008.html?ir=Canada&ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

This pipeline oil spill is currently going on in Alberta, about a two hour drive from my house. The company was completely unaware and only found out when residents kilometers away began complaining about a rotten egg smell, meanwhile hundreds of thousands of litres have spilled. Average recovery rates? 5%

-- and the oil and gas industry wants more pipelines. One down to the refineries in Texas and another to Kitimat BC, gateway to the orient.

Now there's a simple solution of closer monitoring of pressure along these pipelines. They could also take a cue from the shipping industry and double hull (or triple hull) these pipes along their proposed routes.

Are you for or against oil from Canada? How do you propose transporting it? Is ethical oil a valid concern?

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Talk politics.

A place to discuss politics without egomaniacal mods.

Entries tagged with oil

Gas on the water

It's not just about their oil

Like frogs in a pot

The scramble for the Mediterranean (revisited)

Self-drowning in oil

For whom the barrel tolls

Curiouser and curiouser:

Iran, oil, and the game of the big players

The second Iranian revolution

It's like if Texas turned blue overnight: Alberta's elections toss out 44 years of conservative rule

Oil predators and prey

"The Obama Keystone Pipe Dream: Why Building It Will Be A Nightmare"

In the ninth circle of oil

Examples: Norway, that socialist hellhole! Oh wait...

The big fracking bubble

So, he should take full credit?

(no subject)

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May 2025

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