NYMEX-Natural gas ends down 2 pct, front hits 28-month low
NEW YORK, Jan 10 (Reuters) - U.S. natural gas futures ended sharply lower on Tuesday for a second day, with mild weather this week and record high supplies pressuring prices despite the colder outlook for later this week and next week that should boost heating demand. "... in the middle of January (normally the heart of the winter heating season) the direction of (gas) prices is primarily driven by the weather and the resultant inventory withdrawals," Energy Management Institute's Dominick Chirichella said in a report.
Euro Coal-Prices inch lower in slow trade
LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Prompt European physical coal prices inched lower by around 25 cents on Tuesday in light trade as the market looked for firmer direction. A rise oil prices helped cushion falls. "Coal seemingly has gone for a bit of disconnect today. Oil has provide a little bit of support, which has meant we are not off as much as we could have been," a European coal trader said.
COMMODITIES-Orange juice, cocoa sweep US market higher
NEW YORK, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Breakfast commodities swept the U.S. commodities market higher on Tuesday, with orange juice hitting record highs and cocoa jumping more than 7 percent on concerns about supplies from the markets' two largest suppliers. "It's like if you couldn't buy cocoa from the Ivory Coast. Imagine what it would do to the market," said James Cordier, president of Tampa, Florida-based Liberty Trading Group.
GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares rise but euro struggles on funding worries
TOKYO, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Asian shares hit a month-high on Wednesday, buoyed by optimism about the world's top two economies and relief France is not facing an imminent debt rating cut, but the euro struggled on concerns over euro zone sovereign funding ahead of key auctions. "With investors as anxious and defensively positioned as they seem still to be, we think that markets remain poised to respond positively to even modestly positive news, even if it merely confirms that the lacklustre base case remains more likely than the various risk cases that surround it," analysts at Barclays Capital said in research note.
Tesoro says plans to sell Hawaii refinery
HOUSTON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Tesoro Corp said on Tuesday that it intends to sell its Hawaii oil refinery, bringing to seven the number of U.S. refineries on the block.
Chief Executive Greg Goff said Tesoro had decided its 94,000 barrels-per-day Kapolei refinery as well as 32 retail gasoline stations and associated logistical assets do not mesh with the company's strategic focus on the U.S. Midwest and West Coast regions.
Enbridge says investigating leak in Gulf of Mexico
Jan 10 (Reuters) - Enbridge Inc said it is investigating a report of a natural gas leak in its West Cameron Block 275 in the Gulf of Mexico.
The company, best known as an operator of the main export pipelines for Canadian crude oil, said it spotted a three-foot diameter patch of bubbles on the surface of the water near the Stingray natural gas pipeline.
Nigerian fuel protests grow, 13 killed in attacks
LAGOS/KANO, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Religiously motivated attacks killed 13 people in Nigeria on Tuesday, as tens of thousands took to the streets in a second day of nationwide protests against the scrapping of a fuel subsidy that has nearly doubled petrol prices.
A mob killed five people in a mosque in Benin City in the south while in the north, Islamist militants shot dead eight people in a bar.
Marathon Petroleum sees quarterly loss
Jan 10 (Reuters) - U.S. refining company Marathon Petroleum Corp said on Tuesday it expects to report a small fourth-quarter loss as crude oil prices rose nearly $20 a barrel from a year ago, erasing profitability.
Marathon is the second refiner to warn of weak results. Last week, Tesoro Corp said it expects to post a fourth-quarter loss as margins in California weakened and U.S. crude oil prices moved closer to benchmark Brent.
Encana results show early promise for Tuscaloosa shale
NEW YORK, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Encana has been encouraged by early drilling results in Louisiana's undeveloped Tuscaloosa Marine shale deposit, a company official said, a promising sign for the area as companies race to find the next big U.S. shale play.
Geologists have compared Tuscaloosa to the prolific Eagle Ford shale deposit in Texas -- one of the shale plays that has helped reinvigorate the U.S. oil sector over the past two years -- as they share similar characteristics and age.
US crude stocks seen up for third week
Jan 10 (Reuters) - U.S. commercial crude oil stockpiles were expected to have risen last week, marking the third straight week of gains, on higher imports, an extended Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.
The poll of 10 analysts forecast an 800,000-barrel rise in domestic crude oil inventories in the week to Jan. 6, with all but two analysts expecting a build in stocks.
Canadian natives warn against pipeline to Pacific
KITIMAAT VILLAGE, British Columbia, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Aboriginal leaders opposed to a C$5.5 billion ($5.4 billion) oil sands pipeline backed by Canada's government warned on Tuesday that the project could devastate fishing and traditional life on the rugged Pacific Coast and called for it to be stopped.
As hearings into Enbridge Inc's proposed Northern Gateway pipeline opened with drumming and native singing, hereditary chiefs and elders of the Haisla First Nation told the regulatory panel their greatest fear was the potential impact of oil spills on their community of 1,500.
U.S. oil supply growth to slow in 2013-EIA
WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Despite the shale boom, U.S. oil production growth is seen slowing in 2013 after posting big gains over the past few years, the Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday.
U.S. oil output is expected to climb just 80,000 barrels per day to 5.82 million bpd in 2013, down from the 170,000 bpd increase estimated for this year, the EIA said in its monthly report.
BEYOND THE HEADLINES:
EU ministers plan Iran oil embargo, IAEA team to visit
TEHRAN/VIENNA, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Europe and Japan moved ahead on Tuesday in planning for punitive cuts in oil imports from Iran, where a senior official dismissed Western anger at news Tehran is enriching uranium deep underground as cover for ulterior motives.
A day after Iran confirmed the start of enrichment at a mountain bunker near the holy city of Qom - and sentenced an American to death for spying - the European Union brought forward a ministerial meeting that is likely to match new U.S. measures to hamper Iran's oil exports.
Israel to secure gas needs, then export -minister
JERUSALEM, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Israel will allow companies to export natural gas from newly discovered fields in the eastern Mediterranean but only after it secures enough to meet its own energy needs for at least a few decades, Energy Minister Uzi Landau said.
Gas production is set to soar in Israel following the discovery of some of the world's largest offshore reserves, but what to do with the gas has become a matter of debate. Exploration companies have been lobbying hard to be able to sell gas abroad.
India's HPCL to double Saudi crude imports-sources
NEW DELHI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - India's state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp will double the volume of Saudi crude it imports in an annual deal beginning in April, two industry sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday, in a move that could replace some of its Iranian supplies.
Indian refiners are looking for ways to gradually replace their imports of Iranian oil, given that global sanctions could shut a mechanism through Turkey's Halkbank that allows them to make payments to Tehran.
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