“It was largely a quiet week for the energy markets. NY oil hovered around $96 a barrel, London’s Brent around $104, natural gas futures just below $4 per million, and gasoline futures around $2.87 a gallon with little movement in any of the markets. Downward pressure on prices came from a weak yen which slid to a 4-year low against the dollar, increased OPEC production, and continuing growth in US petroleum stocks to the highest level since 1931…”
“After a three-day rebound in reaction to the selloff the week before last, oil prices fell again on Thursday and Friday on bad economic news from the US, the EU, and possibly China. This time prices fell faster in the US than in London, widening the WTI-Brent spread back to nearly $12 a barrel at the close. With demand weak in the US and EU, and few signs of improvement in the near future, oil prices may push below $90 in New York and $100 in London…”
“Oil prices underwent their biggest weekly drop in six months last week as US employment numbers came in far worse than analysts had expected, US crude inventories increased to a 22-year high, and the EU’s unemployment rate rose to a record. At week’s end Brent crude was down to $104.12, the lowest in eight months, after having traded close to $112 on Tuesday. NY crude closed at $92.70; the 4.7 percent loss for the week was the biggest weekly loss since last September. The Brent-WTI spread continues to narrow and is now below $12 a barrel. So far this year, Brent crude has fallen 6.3 percent while WTI has increased 1 percent…”
“In a short trading week, oil prices rose steadily last week closing at $97.23 in New York and $109.93 in London. NY crude is now only $3 a barrel below the highs seen in mid February, but Brent crude is still $7 below these highs reflecting the tightening of the Brent-WTO spread to the smallest margin since July. Most of the gain last week was attributed to the “settlement” of the financial crisis on Cyprus and the report that the US economy grew by 0.4 percent in the 4th quarter rather than the 0.1 percent than had been expected…”
QALYUBEYA, Egypt — A fuel shortage has helped send food prices soaring. Electricity is blacking out even before the summer. And gas-line gunfights have killed at least five people and wounded dozens over the past two weeks. The root of the crisis, economists say, is that Egypt is running out of the hard currency it needs for fuel imports. The shortage is raising questions about Egypt’s ability to keep importing wheat that is essential to subsidized bread supplies, stirring fears of an economic catastrophe at a time when the government is already struggling to quell violent protests by its [...]
View full article here: www.nytimes.com
The Post’s View FOR MORE than a decade, Mexico’s congress was mired in three-way gridlock, making passage of desperately needed fiscal, economic and social reforms almost impossible. Now, under new president Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexicans are proving that political grand bargains can happen — and that democracies can tackle their toughest problems. In a matter of months, their legislators have approved groundbreaking shake-ups of labor law and education, stripping unions of their corrupt control over teaching positions and making it easier for companies to hire and fire workers. Now they are moving toward passage of legislation that would break [...]
View full article here: feeds.washingtonpost.com
The US Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new standards to cut pollution from road fuel that have been strongly opposed by the oil industry but backed by carmakers. The new rules to reduce the sulphur content of petrol, known as Tier 3, are intended to cut cars’ emissions of pollutants that create smog and cause breathing problems. The American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry group, argues that they will add up to 9 cents to the cost of producing a gallon of petrol , pushing up prices at a time when fuel costs have already been rising, and are [...]
View full article here: www.ft.com
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is headed for another confrontation with farmers after the government announced hefty increases in tax on grain exporters. Published: March. 29, 2013 at 10:18 AM BUENOS AIRES, March 29 (UPI) — Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is headed for another confrontation with farmers after the government announced hefty increases in taxes on grain exporters. Leading grain exporters said they received demands for large tax payments with government warnings they wouldn’t receive rebates interest payment rates. The tax demands came amid agriculture industry estimates the total tax recovery amount could top $951 million. [...]
View full article here: www.upi.com
Published: March. 29, 2013 at 6:44 AM WASHINGTON, March 29 (UPI) — Iranian natural gas production may be a bright spot in an energy sector otherwise stymied by a lack of foreign investment, the U.S. Energy Department said. The department’s Energy Information Administration said the Iranian natural gas sector remains underdeveloped and most of those resources are used for domestic consumption. “In contrast to the decreasing oil production, natural gas development has been slowly expanding,” the assessment said. “Nonetheless, natural gas production has been lower than expected as a result of a lack of foreign investment and technology.” Iran [...]
View full article here: pheed.upi.com
West Texas Intermediate oil climbed for a fifth day, capping the longest rally this year, as the U.S. economy grew at a faster pace than previously estimated in the fourth quarter. Prices reached a six-week high as gross domestic product rose at a 0.4 percent annual rate, up from prior estimate of 0.1 percent, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington. Oil demand in the U.S., the biggest crude-consuming country, increased by the most since December in the seven days ended March 22, the Energy Information Administration said yesterday. WTI’s discount to Brent shrank to the smallest since July. [...]
View full article here: www.bloomberg.com
by Richard Vodra – “Peak Oil – the maximum sustainable rate of global oil production – happened in 2012. That’s one of the main conclusions of a new report, Fossil and Nuclear Fuels – The Supply Outlook, released in March 2013 by the Energy Watch Group (EWG). This event will have profound long-term implications for how advisors should manage clients’ portfolios, and how clients should plan their future expenses…”
An Interview with Steven Kopits
“In aggregate, upstream spend is still rising, but at a decreasing pace. If we look at the issue more broadly though, there are some things happening in the oil business that are beginning to validate views that we, and analysts like Chris Skrebowski, have held regarding economic peak oil.
Peak oil does not occur when we run out of oil. Peak oil occurs when the marginal consumer is no longer willing to pay the cost of extracting and processing the marginal barrel of oil. And we can actually calculate what the related numbers are…”
Reflections on the Conference on “Peak Oil: Challenges and Opportunities for the GCC Countries”
By Robert L. Hirsch – “I was fortunate to be among the few westerners invited to attend and speak at this first-of-its kind Peak Oil conference in a Middle East. The fact that a major Middle East oil exporter would hold such a conference on what has long been a verboten subject was quite remarkable and a dramatic change from decades of denial.
The going-in assumption was that “peak oil” will occur in the near future. The timing of the impending onset of world oil decline was not an issue at the conference, rather the main focus was what the GCC countries should do soon to ensure a prosperous, long-term future…”
Reasons Mexico’s Oil Production Has Stagnated
By Raúl González García: “Mexico´s crude production peaked at 3.455 Mbopd in 2004 and has already declined to 2.568 Mbopd, (Feb 28, 2013). I believe it will not be possible to return to former production levels, nor even to the present official forecast of 3 million barrels per day…”
