Euro Coal-Prices dip $1, ignoring oil's rise
LONDON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Prompt South African physical coal prices dropped by around $1.00 a tonne on Thursday on weak buying in Europe and Asia and a loosening of the South African supply tightness see earlier this month. "Renewables are providing more power in countries where they can make a difference, apart from Spain and Italy where the burn has been good and everybody's sitting on stockpiles of coal," one European utility source said.
COMMODITIES-Oil dives on delayed Iran embargo news, grains sink
NEW YORK, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Commodities fell broadly on Thursday, with oil tumbling in a late sell-off on the latest report that Europe would phase in a ban on imports of Iranian crude, while grains slumped on disappointing U.S. supply and planting estimates. "The trade was coming in looking for some pretty bullish numbers for the corn market. We did not get that," said Terry Roggensack, analyst with The Hightower Report, referring to the crop estimates released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares gain as strong debt sales ease risk aversion
TOKYO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Asian shares rose to a one-month high and the euro clung near its strongest in a week on Friday as strong demand for Spanish and Italian debt sales tempered risk aversion ahead of another auction from Rome later in the day. "Market risk appetite continues to be stable despite the more mixed news that has emerged over the past 24 hours," largely owing to the ECB and the auctions, analysts at Barclays Capital said in a research note.
PA legislator questions Conoco's Mulva about refinery
Jan 12 (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania senator has asked oil giant ConocoPhillips to disclose its intentions for its idled Trainer, Pennsylvania, refinery, a facility that union members claim may be demolished if it is not sold.
"The company had stated that it would keep staff at the facility to maintain it until a buyer was found, but statements indicate that the company is considering demolishing the facility if no buyer is found before March 31," U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa) said in a letter to ConocoPhillips CEO James Mulva.
Inpex approves $34 bln Ichthys LNG project in Australia
TOKYO/PERTH, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Japan's Inpex Corp said on Friday it has made a final investment decision on Australia's Ichthys liquefied natural gas export project and that the development will cost $34 billion, paving the way for Australia to surpass Qatar as the world's top exporter of the fuel by 2017.
The 8.4 million tonne per annum (mtpa) project's price tag is 70 percent more than Inpex's original estimate of $20 billion.
White House: Keystone pipeline review needs time
WASHINGTON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The White House said on Thursday that finding an alternate route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas would take time and any effort to circumvent the approval process would be "counterproductive." President Barack Obama faces a Feb. 21 deadline set by Congress to either allow TransCanada's $7 billion pipeline to be built or determine the project is not in the national interest of the United States.
Conoco reports process upset, startup at Borger refinery
Jan 12 (Reuters) - ConocoPhillips' on Thursday reported that a process upset and startup caused emissions at its 146,000 barrel-per-day joint venture refinery in Borger, Texas, according to a filing with state pollution regulators.
The startup would take place from Jan. 12 to Jan. 15, the filing with Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said. It did not specify which units were starting up.
TPG's Petro Harvester buys oil fields for $155 mln
Jan 12 (Reuters) - Oil company Petro Harvester, which is backed by private equity firm TPG Capital [TPG.UL], has agreed to buy oil fields in Mississippi and Louisiana from Denbury Resources for $155 million.
Denbury said on Thursday that the assets hold proved reserves of 6.2 million barrels of oil equivalent at the end of 2010 and were 93 percent oil. It has 138 operating wells primarily in central and southern Mississippi and in southern Louisiana.
Striking workers block Argentina's largest oil field
BUENOS AIRES, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Striking maintenance workers on Thursday blocked Argentina's largest oil and natural gas field, operated by Pan American Energy (PAE), to press for wage demands, a union spokesman said.
Workers blocked access to Cerro Dragon to demand a salary hike and compensation pay for days they were out of the job on a previous strike. PAE is indirectly co-owned by Argentina's Bulgheroni family and China's CNOOC .
Petroplus shares surge on deal with creditors
ZURICH/PARIS, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Shares of troubled Swiss-based oil refiner Petroplus jumped as much as 49 percent on Thursday after the company reached a temporary agreement with creditors allowing it to keep some operations running and pay critical bills.
Petroplus was forced to cut production at plants in Switzerland, France, and Belgium, and halve output at plants in the United Kingdom and Germany, after its lenders cut credit lines in recent weeks, leaving investors to fear for the company's future.
Chevron finds partners for well off Newfoundland
CALGARY, Alberta, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Chevron Corp said on Thursday Repsol YPF SA and Statoil ASA agreed to fund part of the cost of drilling a third well at its property in the Orphan Basin off Newfoundland after its partners in two prior efforts pulled out.
Following the agreement, Chevron will keep a 65 percent stake in the exploration block located in Atlantic waters about 350 kilometers (220 miles) northeast of St John's, Newfoundland, off Canada's East Coast. Repsol will take 20 percent stake in the exploration block while Statoil will have the remainder in return for paying part of the costs for the new well to be drilled later this year.
BEYOND THE HEADLINES:
Nigeria strikes costing economy $617 mln a day- cbank
ABUJA, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Nigeria's nationwide strikes against the government's removal of fuel subsidies is costing Africa's second largest economy around 100 billion naira ($617 million) a day, the central bank governor told Reuters on Thursday.
Nigeria removed subsidies on petrol imports on Jan. 1, more than doubling the price of petrol to around 150 naira per litre and pushing up the cost of transport, food and other goods.
Iraq's Kurds see Exxon deal on track, no obstacles
ARBIL, Iraq, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp's deal with Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan government to develop six exploration blocks is on track and there are no obstacles to it proceeding, the region's Natural Resources Minister Ashti Hawrami said on Thursday.
The U.S. company became the first oil major to move into the northern Kurdish region in mid-October when it signed an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
No comments:
Post a Comment