CBLOG: Inside Oil - Americas Edition - Tuesday January 3 2012

TUESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2012

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MARKET NEWS:

Crude oil above $109 on Iran tension, Chinese data
LONDON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Crude oil rose above $109 a barrel as tension between Iran and the United States stirred worries over a possible disruption to oil supplies and as Chinese data showed economic activity increasing.
"The risk premium is supporting oil prices, and Chinese manufacturing data is also a strong factor," Fritsch said.

FOREX-Euro rises with risk sentiment but still seen fragile
LONDON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - The euro edged higher as better-than-expected Chinese data boosted riskier assets but it looked set to remain under pressure in 2012 on worries over high sovereign debt levels and a low growth profile for the euro zone economy.
"There'a little bit of optimism in the markets after upside surprises on the Chinese data front and also German manufacturing PMI was slightly better than expected yesterday," said Manuel Oliveri, currency strategist at UBS in Zurich.

GLOBAL MARKETS-European stocks, euro firm on economy hopes
LONDON, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Better-than-expected data from China's giant manufacturing sector boosted global stocks and the euro and pushed safe-haven bets like German bonds lower.
"The overall bias remains for more euro weakness...given the growth and debt dynamics," said Callum Henderson, global head of FX research with Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore.

TOP NEWS:

BP sues Halliburton over $42bln oil spill bill
Jan 2 (Reuters) - BP has called on contractor Halliburton to pay all costs and expenses it incurred to clean up the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which the oil major previously put at around $42 billion.
Halliburton cemented the failed well that caused the United State's biggest offshore oil spill.

Ohio suspends well operations after series of quakes
CLEVELAND , Jan 2 (Reuters) - Ohio has suspended operations at five deep wells used to dispose of fracking-related fluids after nearly a dozen earthquakes in the town of Youngstown over the past year, the latest sign of local unease over the booming shale gas industry.
One day after a 4.0 quake, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said on Sunday it was halting operations at five Mahoning County wells owned by Northstar Disposal Services LLC as a precaution, citing concerns of a possible link between well activity and the quakes.

Petrobras confirms oil, gas find at offshore well
BRASILIA Jan 2 (Reuters) - Brazil's state-controlled energy company Petrobras on Monday announced discovery of light oil and gas at a well off the country's coast.
The discovery took place at a well known as Tambuata with the identification number 4-GLF-31-ESS, 74 km (46.3 miles) from the coastline and 7 km from the Cidade de Vitoria floating production and storage platform.

Venezuela shrinks nationalization payment to Exxon
CARACAS, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Venezuela's PDVSA said on Monday it will pay Exxon Mobil Corp $255 million in compensation for

nationalized assets - less than a third of what the U.S. oil giant said it was awarded by an arbitration panel.
The South American OPEC member's state oil company issued a defiant statement saying it was deducting debts owed by Exxon,

including PDVSA's repurchase of bonds linked to the nationalized project.

Two of Mexico's three main oil exporting ports shut
MEXICO CITY , Jan 2 (Reuters) - Two of Mexico's three main oil exporting ports were shut on Monday morning due to bad weather off the Gulf of Mexico, the transport ministry said.
The Dos Bocas and Coatzacoalcos terminals were closed but the largest port of Cayo Arcas remained open, the ministry said in a statement.

Afren oil explorer says output ahead of target
BRUSSELS, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Energy exploration firm Afren said production at its Ebok field, offshore Nigeria, had reached around 40,000 barrels per day (bpd), taking its end-2011 net output to some 55,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), ahead of target.

An output rate above the year-end goal of 50,000 boepd has been sustained since Dec. 19, it said, as a result of operations in Ivory Coast as well as Ebok and Okoro in Nigeria.

Russia 2011 oil output at new post-Soviet record high
MOSCOW, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Oil output in Russia edged up 1.2 percent to reach a new post-Soviet high of 10.27 million barrels per day (bpd) last year, as the world's top crude producer eased tax burden and launched pipeline flows to China, the Energy Ministry said on Monday.
That is a bit more than the 10.26 million bpd, expected by an analyst poll compiled a year ago, though the increase in 2011 has slackened from a 2.2 percent rise in 2010 when the country produced 10.145 mln bpd, up from 9.93 million bpd in 2009 and 9.78 million bpd in 2008.

REFINERY NEWS:

Taiwan's Formosa shuts desulphurizer on leakage
SINGAPORE, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical Corp has temporarily shut a desulphurizer unit at its 540,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery in Mailiao after a leakage, with the downtime period expected to last between five and seven days, traders said on Tuesday.
They added that the shutdown had so far not affected runs at the refinery, which has shut one of its three crude distillation units (CDUs) since the end of November for maintenance.

Conoco reports planned work at Sweeny, TX, refinery
Jan 3 (Reuters) - ConocoPhillips reported planned maintenance at its 247,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Sweeny, Texas, according to a filing with the U.S. National Response Center.
The filing, made on Tuesday, said release of benzene from aeration tank 69 was related to ongoing maintenance at the refinery.

Conoco reports flaring at Carson, Calif, refinery
Jan 2 (Reuters) - ConocoPhillips reported planned flaring due to unknown causes on Monday at the Carson plant of its 139,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Los Angeles, California, according to a filing with state regulators.
Conoco's Los Angeles refinery is composed of two linked facilities located roughly five miles apart in Carson and Wilmington.

Tesoro says planned work complete at Wilmington
Dec 29 (Reuters) - Tesoro Corp said on Thursday planned maintenance was complete on an unspecified unit at its 96,860-barrel-per-day Wilmington, California, refinery.
The company had earlier reported a unit startup at the refinery, according to a filing with state pollution regulators.

BEYOND THE HEADLINES:

Natgas price plunge puts heat on producers
Dec 30 (Reuters) - A steep drop in natural gas prices is squeezing the profits of producers such as Southwestern Gas Corp, EXCO Resources and Quicksilver Resources , which may need to shut wells, raise cash, cut staff or seek merger partners in the coming year.
Spot natural gas futures dipped below $3.00 per million British Thermal units on Friday, the lowest level in more than two years, as a glut of gas from shale fields across the United States pushed inventory levels to historic highs.

Fortune Oil says will not accept $2.2 bln Sinopec/ENN bid
HONG KONG, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Fortune Oil Plc , a key shareholder in takeover target China Gas Holdings Ltd , will not accept the unsolicited $2.2 billion bid from Sinopec and ENN Energy Holdings Ltd , a top executive at Fortune told Reuters on Friday.
"We will not sell the stock," Fortune Oil Chief Financial Officer Bill Mok said when asked whether Fortune would consider accepting the HK$3.50 per share bid from China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) and ENN.