Energy / Crude Oil

• Sudan's President Omer al Bashir’s New Best Friend - Russia?

  When Communism collapsed in the Soviet Union in December 1991, many Europeans naively thought that the new Russian government would fully embrace “Western” values. Two decades later, after a brutal war in Chechnya and a brief conflict with Georgia in 2009, few in Brussels or elsewhere hold that view. Russian foreign policy has remained defiantly nationalist and pragmatic, much to the distress of European and American diplomats. Russia’s cautions on Iran and threats to block UN Security Council proposals to pacify Syria are only the latest in a series of Western disappointments. But now Moscow is preparing a diplomatic initiative that will…

• India Drops the Dollar and Pays for Iranian Oil in Gold

  Media reports suggests that India has agreed to pay the price of crude oil it imports from Iran in gold, which makes it the first country to drop the US dollar for purchasing the Iranian oil. Citing an Israeli intelligence website, The Times of India has reported that India is opting for gold to repay crude oil supplies from Iran. The website, Debkafile, said the transaction will be routed through UCO Bank, the Kolkata-based public sector lender. However, the authenticity of the news could not be confirmed as the Indian government has neither confirmed nor rejected the option of paying…

• Cuba, Oil Diplomacy and the Southern Tip of Florida

  U.S. lawmakers spent most of this week lobbing insults at the Cuban government while assessing the risks of an offshore oil spill about 90 miles from the southern Florida coast. Spanish energy company Repsol is leading an exploratory drilling campaign in Cuban waters and, rightfully so, many wary U.S. lawmakers are still shell-shocked from the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Considering Florida relies on tourism for a substantial part of state revenue, it's no wonder Florida's Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll said Cuba can't be trusted with protecting regional waters from an oil spill. But if more than…

• An Abundant Supply of Cheap Oil is the Most Important Resource for Our Future

  Our economy runs on oil. Most of the tractors used for growing food run on oil. Nearly all of today’s cars and trucks run on oil. It is popular to talk about changing to some other fuel, but the practicalities are that any such change will be very slow. There is a huge cost associated with replacing cars and trucks with vehicles using other fuels, assuming we could figure out the technology to do this. Since 2005, world crude oil supply has bumped up against what seems to be a limit of 75 million barrels of oil a day. No…

• Sudan's Oil War: Deadlines Before Development

  Since gaining independence in July, Middle East and North African experts have expressed concerns that border conflicts and disputes over the sharing of oil revenue could threaten a very fragile peace deal between the two Sudanese governments. South Sudan last week said it wasn't going to produce any more oil because the government in the north was suspected of pilfering. Talks ended Friday without an agreement between two Sudanese governments that accuse one another of stoking ethnic conflict in the border regions. A comprehensive peace agreement reached in 2005 gave South Sudan the right to break away from the north,…

• The Global Hunt For Oil: Canadian Firm Drills First Exploration Well in Somalia

  Energy companies are renowned for taking risks as they scour the globe for new opportunities.That said however, Canada’s Vancouver, BC-based Horn Petroleum Corporation, a unit of Africa Oil Inc., is in a class by itself, having begun drilling operations in Somalia’s semi-autonomous northern Puntland state.Somalia?Which has not had an effective government since 1991?Land of “Black Hawk Down,” pirates, battling militias, al Shabaab militants and U.S. drone strikes against the extremist group?Yep.On 17 January the company said in a press release that it is "pleased to announce the spudding (drilling) of the Shabeel-1 well on the Dharoor Block in Puntland, Somalia...…

• Greece - Between Iran and a Hard Place

  Well, its official – on 23 January European Union foreign ministers agreed to ban the import of Iranian oil as part of sanctions designed to pressure Iran to end its alleged covert pursuit of nuclear weapons under the guise of its civilian nuclear uranium enrichment program. Measures approved by Brussels Eurocrats include an immediate ban on the signing of new supply contracts for Iranian crude oil and petroleum products for EU refineries, with existing contracts being scheduled for phasing out by 1 July. The EU currently buys around 20 percent of Iran's oil exports. The International Energy Agency estimate that…

• U.S. to Lose Out Yet Again on Developing Cuba's Offshore Oil?

  While the Gulf of Mexico is one of the world’s most heavily developed offshore oil production sites, one area has remained offline up to now – Cuba’s offshore waters.That is about to change later this year, however as according to Russian state-controlled oil company Zarubezhneft CEO Nikolai Brunich, the company in August, will start drilling in Cuba’s offshore waters.According to Brunich, the potential oil reserves of Zarubezhneft’s Cuban offshore concession total about 200 million tons, located in waters about 1,300 feet deep.Zarubezhneft Deputy General Director Iuri Smirnov said that the company has already done 3D seismic on its bloc L…

• Oil Majors Move Back to the Gulf of Mexico

  Over a year since America's worst oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, big oil finally gets back to business... with a vengeance. For the first time since BP's Deepwater Horizon explosion, leading to America's worst oil spill in history, the Gulf of Mexico has officially reopened its doors for business. In December's lease sale, the enormity of pent up demand since permits were halted over a year ago resulted in over $337 million in bids on 191 different tracts from 20 companies. Despite fierce opposition from environmental groups, the Obama administration remains true to the most critical energy strategies…

• Is Nigeria to become Africa's next failed nation-state?

  By any yardstick, Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, should be black Africa’s glittering success story. A member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, producing 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd), making it Africa’s largest oil exporter and the world’s 14th largest oil producer. With oil running at roughly $100 per barrel, that generates $250 million in income per day, or $19.25 billion annually, give or take a few naira, probably more, as Nigeria regularly evades its OPEC quotas. Such oil revenues should provide more than a modicum of prosperity for Nigeria’s 160 million citizens. The country’s oil sector provides 95 percent…