Kirkuk oil facilities damaged in IS battle

A pipeline to the Baiji refinery was ablaze amidst a barrage of artillery fired by militants of the so-called Islamic State (IS) as they battled coalition forces in contested areas southwest of Kirkuk. IS militants launched their attacks late Tuesday and into Wednesday, battling Kurdish Peshmerga forces and facing air strikes by coalition planes. In […]

‘Big gaps’ remain in Iran nuclear talks

Top level diplomats of the US and Germany have said that there were still serious gaps in talks over Iran’s nuclear programme, despite signs of some progress two days before a deadline to reach a deal between Iran and major powers. Six major powers – the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia and China –  began […]

Building global oil power, China’s reserves far ahead of plan

China is estimated to be holding double the amount of crude in its strategic reserves than its official plan has revealed, as the world’s top energy consumer takes advantage of a dive in prices to strengthen its position in the global oil market. Based on data compiled by industry and consulting sources, China now has […]

Saudi, Russia Pre-OPEC Talks Yield No Oil Output Cut

Impromptu talks between Saudi Arabia, fellow OPEC member Venezuela and oil powers Russia and Mexico yielded no agreement on Tuesday on how to address a growing oil glut, ending without any plan to cut output despite a collapse in prices. In a day of shuttle diplomacy before OPEC’s output meeting in Vienna on Thursday, energy […]

OPEC may decide to give Iraq, Iran, and Libya immunity from oil supply cut

Should OPEC decide to cut production this week in an effort to boost oil prices, media reports suggest that Iraq, Iran, and Libya could be given an exemption from making supply reductions. The three counties may not have to cut production since they are not operating at full capacity, and are not likely to do […]

Russia losing $140 billion from sanctions and low oil prices

Russian President Vladimir Putin received a high-ranking black belt in karate Friday, but his master fighting skills haven’t been enough to fend off economic troubles. The country is losing up to $140 billion per year because of falling oil prices and sanctions with Western nations, according to estimates from Russia’s finance minister Anton Siluanov. This […]

Iran nuclear talks extended seven months after failing to meet deadline

Iran and six powers failed for a second time this year on Monday to resolve their 12-year dispute over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and gave themselves seven more months to overcome the deadlock that has prevented them from clinching an historic deal. Western officials said they were aiming to secure an agreement on the substance of […]

The Only Way to Stop the Empire

Dear friends, The final days of US empire are fast approaching. Perhaps its end will pass slowly and gradually, or perhaps the event will unfold rapidly and catastrophically. Maybe chaos will break loose, or maybe its demise will be organized well and proceed smoothly. This nobody knows, but the end of empire is coming as […]

Revolucíon

“Marx said the opium of the masses was religion. For the USA, it’s Netflix and Wal-Mart.“ We arrived to rural México in time for the 104th anniversary of Dia de la Revolución. The dirt streets of this small village whose central plaza we sit in to write this were lined with people waving flags and […]

Iran May Propose 1 Million-Barrel OPEC Cut in Saudi Talks

Iran may propose that OPEC cuts its output target by as much as 1 million barrels a day to prop up prices when the country’s oil minister meets his Saudi counterpart as the group gathers this week, Mehr News reported. Bijan Namdar Zanganeh and Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi will confer on the sidelines […]

Insurrecto-Riotosis

This week we bring you an exclusive report on the pandemic that’s infecting the globe. Insurrecto-Riotosis. The first wave of the pandemic was reported in the city of Nantes in France following the police murder of 21 year old eco-defender Rémi Fraisse. This contagion quickly spread to Belgium where 100,000 peeps hit the streets in […]

Israel reconsiders military action against Iran

Israeli official cites “sunset clause” in proposed comprehensive deal, which guarantees Iran a path into the nuclear club and may corner Israel into war. Historic negotiations with Iran will reach an inflection point on Monday, as world powers seek to clinch a comprehensive deal that will, to their satisfaction, end concerns over the nature of […]

The Red Army sell signal

THREE times in the last 35 years, Russian military forces have crossed international borders – in Afghanistan in 1979, Georgia in 2008 and the Crimea earlier this year. As Simon Derrick, the currency strategist at BNY Mellon points out, each occasion coincided with a peak in the oil price. And each incursion was followed by […]

Russia to Cooperate With Saudis on Oil

Russia said it’s willing to cooperate with Saudi Arabia on the oil market, while avoiding a commitment to limit output to reverse plunging prices. The two countries also sought to overcome differences on Syria during the first ever talks in Moscow between their foreign ministers, marking a thawing of ties between the world’s two biggest […]

China Opens Up on Oil Reserves

China is lifting some of the secrecy around its stockpiling of oil reserves, as it disclosed for the first time that the first phase of its strategic petroleum reserves contains about 91 million barrels. The disclosure on Thursday follows a pledge by President Xi Jinping to provide regular updates on the size of its emergency […]

Bomb hits Iraqi Kurdish capital

A vehicle detonated in downtown Erbil on Wednesday, killing at least four people and injuring at least 29 – the first such attack to hit Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region in more than a year.Eyewitnesses to Wednesday’s attack said a Mercedes Benz pulled up to a checkpoint in front of the Erbil governorate building, near the […]

Russia-China Gas Deals Could Kill America’s Dream Of Natural Gas Exports

Russia and China have signed two large natural gas deals in the last six months as Russia turns its attention to China, in reaction to sanctions and souring relations with Europe, currently Russia’s largest energy export market. But the move has implications beyond Europe. In the department of everything is connected, U.S. natural gas producers may be […]

Israel pitches ‘massive’ natural gas pipeline plan to Europe

Israel has proposed that EU countries invest in a multi-billion euro pipeline to carry its natural gas to the continent, noting that the supply from Israel would reduce Europe’s current dependence on natural gas from Russia. A proposal for the “massive” project was introduced by Israel’s Energy Minister Silvan Shalom to energy ministers from Euro-Mediterranean countries who met […]

The Drop in Oil Prices: Economic and Strategic Implications

If oil prices continue to spiral downward, what will be the economic and strategic results? Not too bad, says Gawdat Bahgat. Consumers will benefit at the expense of producers and, perhaps more controversially, the ‘oil for security’ bargain crafted between Western powers and Middle Eastern suppliers will remain intact. Shortly after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war […]

Saudi oil policy uncertainty unleashes the conspiracy theorists

* Market debates if Saudis will no longer defend oil prices * Private briefings, long Naimi silence puzzle OPEC experts * Conspiracy theories abound about what Riyadh is up to If Saudi Oil Minister Ali al Naimi wants to stop conspiracy theories spreading before a crucial OPEC meeting next week, it’s too late. Naimi’s intervention […]

Are the United States and Saudi Arabia Conspiring to Keep Oil Prices Down?

As my colleague Jordan Weissmann wrote Tuesday, there are a number of factors behind the continuing global slide in oil prices, including North American production, increased energy efficiency, Europe’s economic stagnation, and China’s slowing growth. But a big one is Saudi Arabia, which, to the dismay of fellow oil-producing nations, has resisted pressure to cut […]

Senate Rejects Keystone XL Pipeline

The Senate voted this evening to reject the Keystone XL pipeline that would have carried Alberta tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The measure failed by a vote of 41-59. Sixty votes are required to pass a bill out of the Senate. The project has been stalled for six years due […]

ISIS 7x Bigger Than West Believes

The Islamic State (Isis) has recruited an army hundreds of thousands strong, far larger than previous estimates by the CIA, according to a senior Kurdish leader. He said the ability of Isis to attack on many widely separated fronts in Iraq and Syria at the same time shows that the number of militant fighters is […]

The Arctic dimension of the Russia-China alliance

The Kremlin is quickly moving its priorities towards the east and is putting its bets on comprehensive partnerships with China. In that great geopolitical shift, the Arctic is playing a central role. Not only will oil and gas from Russia’s Arctic fields run through the new eastbound pipelines, but China is also securing stakes in a […]

Saudi Arabia, the G20 summit and oil

Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz arrived in the Australian city of Brisbane for the G20 summit on Thursday. His arrival was preceded by a wave of questions and analyses about the course of future oil prices. Is it a war against Iran and Russia? Or is it a war against U.S. oil production? Or […]

New China-Russia Gas Pact Is No Big Deal

The latest China-Russia gas deal, declared on the arrival of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing this week, got far more attention than it deserved.  Eager to add fuel to the narrative of an emerging strategic relationship between Beijing and Moscow, commentators pronounced the deal as a game-changer, a symbol of a new partnership between long-estranged countries.  Yet, […]

Iraq and Kurds Reach Deal on Oil Exports and Budget Payments

Iraq’s central government and the autonomous region of Kurdistan reached an interim agreement on Thursday over oil exports and budget payments, at least temporarily easing a bitter dispute that has threatened the government’s stability. The standoff began earlier this year when Kurdish officials angered Baghdad by exporting oil produced in their region directly to Turkey […]

Fracking Unbound

The Energy Department has once again lowered its prediction for the price of gas next year. For 2015, the price will remain in the range of $2.94, a full 44 cents lower than the department’s most recent prediction last month. This is one of those rare developments that has no downside – unless you’re an […]

Iraq Kurds Cabinet Approves Plan for Starting Oil Company

Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish government approved plans to create an oil exploration and production company separate from the central government and a sovereign wealth fund to take in all energy revenue. A bill to create the company for oil exploration and production, with shares to be sold to the public, was approved by the cabinet of […]

Worried about plunging oil prices? Ottawa isn’t

Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver will provide Canadians with a fresh look at Ottawa’s financial health on Wednesday afternoon in the government’s annual fall fiscal update. With a slew of measures preceding the address, don’t expect any major surprises, experts say. “With a host of tax cut/benefit measures already announced, this will indeed serve as just a fiscal update […]

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