Showing posts with label Libya. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Libya. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Monday, December 21, 2015
Oil Prices Drop To Milestone Lows - when will this end?
Brent crude bottomed out at 36.05 in early trading Monday,its lowest level in 11 years,before recovering slightly.In the US,the energy sector is the worst performer in the S&P 500 Index,down more than 20% year to date.A perfect storm of ample supply,a mild autumn and mild early winter outlook,and the coming back to market of Iranian,Libyan and US oil exports is driving oil prices down to bedrock levels.In parts of the US,this has allowed the price of gasoline to slip to 1.53 a gallon in Owasso,Oklahoma.*
Mid-term,however,Lukoil CEO Vagit Aleperov told CNBC,prices may rise to 40-50 dollars a barrel in 2016 as exploration cutbacks during the downturn take hold and start to reduce supply.Near term,we would need OPEC to move in order to support prices.The US lifting its ban on oil exports will simply lead to US prices equalling Brent prices.
Lukoil stock rose 11.60 rubles,up 0.50% in Monday trading.*
LKOH:PJSC Lukoil (MICEX)
Mid-term,however,Lukoil CEO Vagit Aleperov told CNBC,prices may rise to 40-50 dollars a barrel in 2016 as exploration cutbacks during the downturn take hold and start to reduce supply.Near term,we would need OPEC to move in order to support prices.The US lifting its ban on oil exports will simply lead to US prices equalling Brent prices.
Lukoil stock rose 11.60 rubles,up 0.50% in Monday trading.*
LKOH:PJSC Lukoil (MICEX)
Monday, April 20, 2015
Middle East Threats Help Keep Oil Prices Up
Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour Turki said there was information about a possible act targeting a mall or Saudi Aramco installations.We passed this information to the security forces to be on alert.*
The threat was not specified,but it could be from Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen that Saudi Arabia has been in conflict with since 26 March,conducting numerous air strikes on the Iran-backed Houthis with Persian Gulf and other allies participating.It could also be a threat from al-Qaida in the Arabian Penninsula,which has carried out raids on Saudi territory before,or from ISIL,both of which groups are active in Yemen.
Frayed nerves were in evidence Saturday as guards at a shopping mall in central Riyadh barred single men from entering and searched female shoppers' bags,Reuters reported.AQAP militants had staged a car bomb attack on the Aramco refinery at Abqaiq in 2006,but were killed when security forces opened fire on them,causing one of the two car bombs to explode,which in turn damaged a pipeline.After the attack,a dedicated Facilities Protection Force was set up with 40,000 personnel.*
Meanwhile,a proposed pan-Arab security force to counter ISIL and other Islamist extremists is moving closer to reality.On Wednesday,Arab defence chiefs will confer in Cairo on specifics about the force such as how it will be constituted;what its role will be;and the details of financing it,according to the Arab League.The drive was spearheaded by Egypt in the wake of ISIL's February killing of 21 Coptic Orthodox Christians who were citizens of Egypt working in Libya.
On Sunday,there was more trouble when ISIL released a video showing at least 28 Ethiopian Orthodox Christians being executed in two different Libyan locations,on a beach and in the desert,some by shooting and some by beheading.ISIL referred to the victims as followers of the cross from the enemy Ethiopian Church.
The United States condemns in the strongest terms the brutal mass murder purportedly of Ethiopian Christians by ISIL-affiliated militants in Libya,National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said.This atrocity once again underscores the urgent need for a political resolution to the conflict in Libya to empower a unified Libyan rejection of terrorist groups.*
West Texas Intermediate crude closed up 0.64,or 1.15%,to 56.50 bbl;while Brent crude inched up .07,or 0.11%,to 63.52 bbl in Monday trading.Other factors in the increase included a smaller stockpile of WTI crude and a decline in the number of US oil rigs.
The threat was not specified,but it could be from Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen that Saudi Arabia has been in conflict with since 26 March,conducting numerous air strikes on the Iran-backed Houthis with Persian Gulf and other allies participating.It could also be a threat from al-Qaida in the Arabian Penninsula,which has carried out raids on Saudi territory before,or from ISIL,both of which groups are active in Yemen.
Frayed nerves were in evidence Saturday as guards at a shopping mall in central Riyadh barred single men from entering and searched female shoppers' bags,Reuters reported.AQAP militants had staged a car bomb attack on the Aramco refinery at Abqaiq in 2006,but were killed when security forces opened fire on them,causing one of the two car bombs to explode,which in turn damaged a pipeline.After the attack,a dedicated Facilities Protection Force was set up with 40,000 personnel.*
Meanwhile,a proposed pan-Arab security force to counter ISIL and other Islamist extremists is moving closer to reality.On Wednesday,Arab defence chiefs will confer in Cairo on specifics about the force such as how it will be constituted;what its role will be;and the details of financing it,according to the Arab League.The drive was spearheaded by Egypt in the wake of ISIL's February killing of 21 Coptic Orthodox Christians who were citizens of Egypt working in Libya.
On Sunday,there was more trouble when ISIL released a video showing at least 28 Ethiopian Orthodox Christians being executed in two different Libyan locations,on a beach and in the desert,some by shooting and some by beheading.ISIL referred to the victims as followers of the cross from the enemy Ethiopian Church.
The United States condemns in the strongest terms the brutal mass murder purportedly of Ethiopian Christians by ISIL-affiliated militants in Libya,National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said.This atrocity once again underscores the urgent need for a political resolution to the conflict in Libya to empower a unified Libyan rejection of terrorist groups.*
West Texas Intermediate crude closed up 0.64,or 1.15%,to 56.50 bbl;while Brent crude inched up .07,or 0.11%,to 63.52 bbl in Monday trading.Other factors in the increase included a smaller stockpile of WTI crude and a decline in the number of US oil rigs.
Monday, December 22, 2014
Santa Claus Rally Continues;Where Oil Is Headed
I want to wish all of you a Happy and Merry Christmas.Thank you for coming to the blog.It's a Christmas party day.
Wall Street was in a party mood,with tech stocks leading the way as investors gobbled up shares of Intel,Qualcomm,Apple and Facebook.The S&P 500 reached its 50th record high of 2014 today,closing at 2078.54,up 0.38%.The Dow Jones Industrial Average also broke its record,closing at 17959.44,up 0.87%;and the NASDAQ closed up for the day at 4781.42,up 0.34%.*
I think oil probably does stay down here-maybe just a tad lower,says Dennis Gartman of The Gartman Letter.I think the time for being overly bearish on crude oil has probably passed.I doubt that we're going to see a great good deal lower from here.Clearly we see demand has decreased a good bit,and supply has increased a good deal.Libya and Kurdish have come back on the market.This was very complicated.There were a lot of things happening.
The Keystone Pipeline would have an amazing response.It can only be beneficial to us and to our Canadian friends to the north.*
I'm really skeptical about China,said author and investment banker Chis Whalen.China is pulling in credit.I think we're pretty stable into next year.I think oil will stabilise in the mid-60s.There are two stories here:large cap oil got sold off;I think you'll see the majors recover.The small ones that have been in the loan markets are going to have to deal with this.
I think in a lot of ways,consumers have still been suffering,because the cost of living still goes up.While low oil prices are good for the US,they're not good for the rest of the world.What's the catalyst for growth in the emerging markets if commodity prices are flat?Mr.Whalen inquired.*
Apple Computer(AAPL),Intel(INTC),Qualcomm(QCOM),Facebook(FB)
Wall Street was in a party mood,with tech stocks leading the way as investors gobbled up shares of Intel,Qualcomm,Apple and Facebook.The S&P 500 reached its 50th record high of 2014 today,closing at 2078.54,up 0.38%.The Dow Jones Industrial Average also broke its record,closing at 17959.44,up 0.87%;and the NASDAQ closed up for the day at 4781.42,up 0.34%.*
I think oil probably does stay down here-maybe just a tad lower,says Dennis Gartman of The Gartman Letter.I think the time for being overly bearish on crude oil has probably passed.I doubt that we're going to see a great good deal lower from here.Clearly we see demand has decreased a good bit,and supply has increased a good deal.Libya and Kurdish have come back on the market.This was very complicated.There were a lot of things happening.
The Keystone Pipeline would have an amazing response.It can only be beneficial to us and to our Canadian friends to the north.*
I'm really skeptical about China,said author and investment banker Chis Whalen.China is pulling in credit.I think we're pretty stable into next year.I think oil will stabilise in the mid-60s.There are two stories here:large cap oil got sold off;I think you'll see the majors recover.The small ones that have been in the loan markets are going to have to deal with this.
I think in a lot of ways,consumers have still been suffering,because the cost of living still goes up.While low oil prices are good for the US,they're not good for the rest of the world.What's the catalyst for growth in the emerging markets if commodity prices are flat?Mr.Whalen inquired.*
Apple Computer(AAPL),Intel(INTC),Qualcomm(QCOM),Facebook(FB)
Friday, April 26, 2013
Intelligence Insider:North Korea,Libya and Iran
The Iranians will welcome our departure from Afghanistan,said Lieutenant General James R. Clapper,Jr.,US Air Force retired,Director of National Intelligence.Their interest is in maintaining their interests in Iraq and Afghanistan,although they have not been as successful in the latter.They are providing explosives to Western Afghanistan,General Clapper told the Senate Armed Forces Committee.
The Afghan National Security Forces need continuing military intelligence and counterintelligence advice and assistance.
We had a general idea of the situation in Eastern Libya,the lack of control over the militias by the central government.The April and June 2012 attacks on the Benghazi consulate before the deadly September 11 attack were reported by the Directorate of National Intelligence.One of the lessons of Benghazi was the need of providing tactical level intelligence to the facilities.
It was a three-phase attack on the Benghazi consulate which took the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens and two other Americans.Some of it was more vandalism and looting.The FBI has made some progress in id-ing the terrorists who made the attack.
I did not have any conversations with the Secretary of State or the President during the seven and a half hours of the 2012 Benghazi consulate attack.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is driven by his need to consolidate his power.The generals pretty much tell him what he wants to hear.The Chinese are certainly rethinking their relationship with North Korea.The Iranians are a little wary of North Korea.
North Korea has the basic ingredients for a nuclear armed missile.They've never launched their intercontinental missiles,so we don't know if they would work.The Defense Intelligence Agency has a higher level of confidence in North Korea's capability than the other agencies.
I agree that reduced intelligence for our leaders because of sequestration will threaten our national security.We had to cut four billion dollars in seven months,and it is substantial.We don't start to get better until 2022 or 2023,General Clapper,the senior US intelligence official,warned the Senate Armed Forces Committee.
Following his US Air Force career from 1963-95,General Clapper,72,was Director of the Defense Intelligence and National Geospatial-Intelligence agencies,and was also Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.
The Afghan National Security Forces need continuing military intelligence and counterintelligence advice and assistance.
We had a general idea of the situation in Eastern Libya,the lack of control over the militias by the central government.The April and June 2012 attacks on the Benghazi consulate before the deadly September 11 attack were reported by the Directorate of National Intelligence.One of the lessons of Benghazi was the need of providing tactical level intelligence to the facilities.
It was a three-phase attack on the Benghazi consulate which took the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens and two other Americans.Some of it was more vandalism and looting.The FBI has made some progress in id-ing the terrorists who made the attack.
I did not have any conversations with the Secretary of State or the President during the seven and a half hours of the 2012 Benghazi consulate attack.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is driven by his need to consolidate his power.The generals pretty much tell him what he wants to hear.The Chinese are certainly rethinking their relationship with North Korea.The Iranians are a little wary of North Korea.
North Korea has the basic ingredients for a nuclear armed missile.They've never launched their intercontinental missiles,so we don't know if they would work.The Defense Intelligence Agency has a higher level of confidence in North Korea's capability than the other agencies.
I agree that reduced intelligence for our leaders because of sequestration will threaten our national security.We had to cut four billion dollars in seven months,and it is substantial.We don't start to get better until 2022 or 2023,General Clapper,the senior US intelligence official,warned the Senate Armed Forces Committee.
Following his US Air Force career from 1963-95,General Clapper,72,was Director of the Defense Intelligence and National Geospatial-Intelligence agencies,and was also Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.
Friday, September 14, 2012
The US Embassy Crisis:Friday Prayers Regarded Warily
Today's Friday prayers in the Islamic world will not be routine.First,what the imams say at the prayers will be closely monitored.Inflammatory anti-US rhetoric could send enraged mobs into the streets outside US embassy compounds.Even if such messages are not spread by Muslim clergy,the period after Friday prayers is a traditional time for large protests in the Muslim world.US officials are gravely concerned about the safety of US citizens who may be doing business at US embassies on Friday.
As well,the controversy over an offensive anti-Islam video posted on YouTube will possibly encourage the rise of homegrown radical groups and plots,or bring an increased risk of terrorist attacks within the US by foreigners.
Senator John McCain,R-Arizona,said we are seeing an effort to stir up trouble against the US using this bogus film.Egypt is of vital importance.These are very difficult times.This virus is probably going to spread through the Arab world.
We have to be very careful and measured in our response.Egypt has gone from a staunch ally to a country seeking its own way.Its going through a significant transformation.It's in our interest to have a working relationship with them,given their importance in the Arab world.
Libya is a weak government,but the Libyan people want us and are grateful to us.They voted for moderates,not Islamists.They do have porous borders.They need technical assistance.
The political ticktock is not something I'm paying attention at at this time of the sacrifice of Ambassador Chris Stevens and the three other brave Americans,Senator McCain added.Chris Stevens' life was under threat every single hour of every day.
Besides Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens,killed in the Benghazi consulate rocket attack were US Air Force veteran and computer expert Sean Smith;former US Navy SEAL and security specialist Glen Doherty;and his security colleague Tyrone Woods,also a former SEAL.
Ansar al-Sharia,the Enforcers of Islamic Law,is one of the main militant groups suspected to be behind the attack,despite their denial of complicity in the incident.Ansar al-Sharia has links to al-Qaida.
Anti-American protests have occurred in 11 countries from Casablanca,Morocco to Kashmir,India.
As well,the controversy over an offensive anti-Islam video posted on YouTube will possibly encourage the rise of homegrown radical groups and plots,or bring an increased risk of terrorist attacks within the US by foreigners.
Senator John McCain,R-Arizona,said we are seeing an effort to stir up trouble against the US using this bogus film.Egypt is of vital importance.These are very difficult times.This virus is probably going to spread through the Arab world.
We have to be very careful and measured in our response.Egypt has gone from a staunch ally to a country seeking its own way.Its going through a significant transformation.It's in our interest to have a working relationship with them,given their importance in the Arab world.
Libya is a weak government,but the Libyan people want us and are grateful to us.They voted for moderates,not Islamists.They do have porous borders.They need technical assistance.
The political ticktock is not something I'm paying attention at at this time of the sacrifice of Ambassador Chris Stevens and the three other brave Americans,Senator McCain added.Chris Stevens' life was under threat every single hour of every day.
Besides Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens,killed in the Benghazi consulate rocket attack were US Air Force veteran and computer expert Sean Smith;former US Navy SEAL and security specialist Glen Doherty;and his security colleague Tyrone Woods,also a former SEAL.
Ansar al-Sharia,the Enforcers of Islamic Law,is one of the main militant groups suspected to be behind the attack,despite their denial of complicity in the incident.Ansar al-Sharia has links to al-Qaida.
Anti-American protests have occurred in 11 countries from Casablanca,Morocco to Kashmir,India.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Exxon Mobil's Shiny Quarter
Exxon Mobil(XOM),the largest western oil company,has reported brilliant results for the fourth quarter of 2007.The Irving,Texas firm has again justified its reputation for superb management.It's 11.7 billion dollar profit was the biggest in U.S. corporate history.Year over year,it posted a 40.6 billion profit.Its revenue was 116 billion.The money was made on higher oil and natural gas realizations,amounting to per share earnings that were 15 cents above estimate.Exxon even made money on downstream refinery operations at a time of rising costs.It bought back 88 million shares to stabilize prices,but also had to pay 30 billion in taxes.By some calculations,Exxon may no longer be the world's largest oil company.Petro China(PTR) is theoretically greater in terms of market capitalization,being worth an estimated one trillion dollars.China has dismissed such speculation,as it has no intention of relinquishing its control of PTR.The Chinese system is not equivalent to western capitalism,within which Exxon works.At any rate,the stupendously successful Exxon isn't concerned about such chatter.Among western oil companies,BP ranks second,while Royal Dutch Shell(RDSa) is third and Chevron(CVX) is fourth.Goldman Sachs(GS) says oil will be higher in 2008,with an average price of 95.00 U.S. a barrel.To ensure future production,Exxon is exploring several blocks off the coast of Libya for oil and gas deposits.Some of them are in deep water.At the same time,it is using Enhanced Oil Recovery technology at the mature Means Field in west Texas to greatly increase the field's output.As well,advanced 3-D seismic imagery of a Gulf of Mexico resivoir revealed new hydrocarbon deposits,which more than doubled production rates.In Colorado's Piceance Basin,advanced technology is allowing Exxon to unlock natural gas buried in rock up to 16,000 ft./4876.8 m deep.Shares of XOM were down in early European trading this morning.
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