Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani has said that crude oil began to flow from the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk to a Turkish export terminal last week. Al-Shahristani said Iraq is “pumping between 300,000 and 400,000 barrels a day of Kirkuk crude to the Turkish export terminal of Ceyhan.” The pipeline has been mostly closed … Read More
A key US Congressional committee has voted overwhelmingly to pass a wide-ranging bill that would toughen U.S. sanctions on Iran and on companies that invest in the country. Although the bill, if passed into law, would sanction any investment in Iran, it particularly targets oil and banking. It requires the president’s administration to enforce the … Read More
The increasingly tense standoff between Iran and the UK over the fate of 15 British sailors and marines captured by Iran has helped drive crude oil prices to a six-month high. Traders sent the price of crude oil up by 3 percent, to $66.03 a barrel in New York yesterday, after Iran put off a … Read More
Saudi Arabia’s growing fear of Iranian influence in the Middle East may driving the world’s largest crude oil exporter to prepare a more aggressive long-term political oil strategy that would counter the Iranian ascendancy. According to Dow Jones, “under a new, accelerated production program, the kingdom could increase its spare oil drilling capacity to at … Read More
Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian President, has criticized Russia over it recent gas price increases, calling them “shameless.” In retaliation, he is threatening to charge Moscow for transiting oil across his country. “If those in Russia, choking on this influx of petrodollars and other sources of hard currency, are still willing to make a scapegoat of … Read More
Originally posted at http://www.markfloegel.org If you’re a long time reader of these commentaries, you may have noticed the recurrence of a limited repertoire of subjects – the Iraq war, global warming, the evisceration of civil liberties in the U.S. and peak oil. As detrimental as I believe the administration of George W. Bush has been … Read More
Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia said today Opec was striving for a “fair and stable” oil price, of around US$60 for US crude. Wary of supposed high fuel stockpiles in the world’s biggest fuel consumer the United States, some Opec ministers have raised the possibility of cutting output again in December, deepening a 1.2 million … Read More
The populist Russian newspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda, ran the headline yesterday: “Russia takes first place in oil output rankings”. The story was based on OPEC figures showing that Russia is now extracting more oil than Saudi Arabia. The figures reflect a trend stretching back as far as 2002, but are being hailed by Russia as evidence … Read More
Every link in the chain of oil production, from exploration through consumption, generates profound damage to the local environment and communities. As the industry moves towards increasingly risky forms of fossil fuel production, the impacts become more pronounced. A notable Harvard Medical School study identifies impacts from many aspects of oil production. Exploration for new … Read More
Drilling into Debt is the first study to rigorously examine the relationship in between oil and debt.
