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India's PFC inks pact with Exim Bank
Published: May 16, 2008 at 12:31 PM
NEW DELHI, May 16 (UPI) -- India's Power Finance Corp. has signed an agreement with U.S. Exim Bank to receive an $800 million loan. -
India Oil to shelve refinery proposal
Published: May 16, 2008 at 12:09 PM
NEW DELHI, May 16 (UPI) -- State-run Indian Oil Corp. is contemplating shelving its 15 million-ton greenfield refinery in southern Tamil Nadu state. -
India won't cut duty on oil imports
Published: May 15, 2008 at 9:40 PM
NEW DELHI, May 15 (UPI) -- Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said there will be no reduction in the duty charged on imported oil, despite soaring energy prices.
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Fall River fights five-year battle against LNG facility
Published: May 16, 2008 at 10:18 AM
By JOHN C.K. DALY
UPI International Correspondent
WASHINGTON, May 16 (UPI) -- A five-year struggle continues between Fall River, Mass., residents and Weaver's Cove Energy LLC over a proposed LNG facility. While the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the project, the Coast Guard opposes it as an unacceptable safety risk. -
UPI Energy Watch
Published: May 15, 2008 at 12:19 PM
OPEC cuts estimate of growth in world oil demand for 2008; The United Arab Emirates' crude oil output increased last month; Philippine government may cut taxes on oil and gas -
Nigerian militants attack oil vessel
Published: May 15, 2008 at 11:10 AM
By CARMEN GENTILE
UPI Energy Correspondent
Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama have called for a resolution to the conflict between rebels intent on crippling Nigeria's petroleum industry and government officials. -
Mongolia, coal and inflation
Published: May 14, 2008 at 7:56 PM
By JOHN C.K. DALY
UPI International Correspondent
WASHINGTON, May 14 (UPI) -- Rising fuel and food costs are hitting Mongolia hard, with foreign investors exploiting the situation to pressure the country to open up its economy. Given the country's political isolation, sandwiched between China and Russia, its two major trading partners, Ulaanbaatar is being held over the proverbial barrel in negotiations with its giant neighbors, leaving its population of 2.9 million nervously awaiting further aftershocks from rising inflation. -
Congress blocks administration from stockpiling oil
Published: May 14, 2008 at 7:28 PM
By ROSALIE WESTENSKOW
UPI Correspondent
WASHINGTON, May 14 (UPI) -- Faced with growing pressure to decrease gas prices, U.S. senators voted to stop stockpiling oil in the national reserve yesterday, but they rejected a plan to increase domestic production. -
UPI Energy Watch
Published: May 14, 2008 at 3:47 PM
IEA: Developing nations cause high oil prices; New oil, gas fields will add to Indonesia supply; Australia says oil, gas tax breaks to go
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Analysis: Yar'Adua eyes emerging Nigeria
Published: Jan. 24, 2008 at 10:28 AM
By CARMEN GENTILE
UPI Energy Correspondent
Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua is hoping to transform his energy-rich country into a leading world player on the energy market and beyond during the next decade by improving the country's oil and gas production as well as its infrastructure.
In a recent meeting with officials from General Electric -- led by GE Vice Chairman John Rice -- Yar'Adua said his administration recognized the need to focus on developing infrastructure with the help of multinational companies if it hoped to improve oil and gas production in years to come.
"We urgently need this partnership in our effort to develop Nigeria and transform it to be among 20 top nations in the world by 2020," he said earlier this month while expressing his hope Africa's No. 1 oil producer would one day be considered among the world's leading developing nations and one of its largest economies.
Reaching such goals won't be easy, however, considering the country's current state and the continuing unrest in the resource-rich Niger Delta, where armed militant groups have been blamed for a 20-percent decrease in oil production alone over the last few years to 2 million barrels per day.
Yar'Adua's efforts to negotiate a viable peace settlement with the militants have produced mixed-to-poor results in recent months with a tenuous cease-fire declared by one militant group going unrecognized by another.
A recent increase in violence in the delta forced Royal Dutch Shell to shut down operations. Its terminal had already been shut down once before because of violence and reopened in October 2007 after more than a year of halted production. Since its reopening, the facility, which can produce some 450,000 bpd, had been operating at a fraction of its capacity.
Militant groups like the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta have in recent weeks made good on promises to increase attacks on petroleum installations, raising fears that already-hampered production would be stymied further.
The attacks came amid efforts by Yar'Adua to negotiate a peace settlement with the militants. For months, it appeared Yar'Adua's efforts would pay off as MEND said it would honor a cease-fire brokered while the president attempted to make good on promises to improve the lives of the residents of the impoverished delta.
Despite generating more than $300 billion worth of crude from the southern delta states over the last three decades, poverty and high unemployment persist. Environmental degradation due to oil and gas extraction, and a lack of basic resources such as fresh water and electricity, have angered some of the region's youth and incited them to take up arms.
Yar'Adua said that in 2008 the delta's security would be chief among his concerns, adding the government would allot one-third of the country's $20 billion budget for the military and development projects in the region. Those promises, however, haven't dissuaded one militant leader, Ateke Tom, and his Niger Delta Vigilante Movement from waging numerous attacks in recent weeks.
Tom said recent attacks were in retaliation for the "unprovoked destruction and invasion" of homes at his base in Rivers state by Nigeria's Joint Task Force.
Analysts say the recent round of violence won't last much longer, as Tom and his militant group recently accepted a cease-fire.
"The recent spate of violence is unlikely to last for more than another several weeks into early February at the most, since already political pressure has led Tom to declare an unverified unilateral cease-fire," said Eurasia Group Africa analyst Sebastian Spio-Garbrah.
Despite the violence hampering production, analysts are predicting an improved security situation for the delta in months ahead and have forecast that Nigeria would exceed its production goals for 2008, set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, as new offshore facilities are expected to come online.
Those predictions, it appears, have in part fueled Yar'Adua's hope that Nigeria is poised for a turnaround, which some say is far from near.
"It would take a tremendous effort to do that," said Mark Schroeder, a Sub-Saharan Africa analyst for Stratfor Strategic Forecasting Inc. "They would first have to demonstrate that they could stabilize their own sector, curtail militant violence and expand out.
"That's not something that's going to happen overnight."
UPI Energy Correspondent
Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua is hoping to transform his energy-rich country into a leading world player on the energy market and beyond during the next decade by improving the country's oil and gas production as well as its infrastructure.
In a recent meeting with officials from General Electric -- led by GE Vice Chairman John Rice -- Yar'Adua said his administration recognized the need to focus on developing infrastructure with the help of multinational companies if it hoped to improve oil and gas production in years to come.
"We urgently need this partnership in our effort to develop Nigeria and transform it to be among 20 top nations in the world by 2020," he said earlier this month while expressing his hope Africa's No. 1 oil producer would one day be considered among the world's leading developing nations and one of its largest economies.
Reaching such goals won't be easy, however, considering the country's current state and the continuing unrest in the resource-rich Niger Delta, where armed militant groups have been blamed for a 20-percent decrease in oil production alone over the last few years to 2 million barrels per day.
Yar'Adua's efforts to negotiate a viable peace settlement with the militants have produced mixed-to-poor results in recent months with a tenuous cease-fire declared by one militant group going unrecognized by another.
A recent increase in violence in the delta forced Royal Dutch Shell to shut down operations. Its terminal had already been shut down once before because of violence and reopened in October 2007 after more than a year of halted production. Since its reopening, the facility, which can produce some 450,000 bpd, had been operating at a fraction of its capacity.
Militant groups like the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta have in recent weeks made good on promises to increase attacks on petroleum installations, raising fears that already-hampered production would be stymied further.
The attacks came amid efforts by Yar'Adua to negotiate a peace settlement with the militants. For months, it appeared Yar'Adua's efforts would pay off as MEND said it would honor a cease-fire brokered while the president attempted to make good on promises to improve the lives of the residents of the impoverished delta.
Despite generating more than $300 billion worth of crude from the southern delta states over the last three decades, poverty and high unemployment persist. Environmental degradation due to oil and gas extraction, and a lack of basic resources such as fresh water and electricity, have angered some of the region's youth and incited them to take up arms.
Yar'Adua said that in 2008 the delta's security would be chief among his concerns, adding the government would allot one-third of the country's $20 billion budget for the military and development projects in the region. Those promises, however, haven't dissuaded one militant leader, Ateke Tom, and his Niger Delta Vigilante Movement from waging numerous attacks in recent weeks.
Tom said recent attacks were in retaliation for the "unprovoked destruction and invasion" of homes at his base in Rivers state by Nigeria's Joint Task Force.
Analysts say the recent round of violence won't last much longer, as Tom and his militant group recently accepted a cease-fire.
"The recent spate of violence is unlikely to last for more than another several weeks into early February at the most, since already political pressure has led Tom to declare an unverified unilateral cease-fire," said Eurasia Group Africa analyst Sebastian Spio-Garbrah.
Despite the violence hampering production, analysts are predicting an improved security situation for the delta in months ahead and have forecast that Nigeria would exceed its production goals for 2008, set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, as new offshore facilities are expected to come online.
Those predictions, it appears, have in part fueled Yar'Adua's hope that Nigeria is poised for a turnaround, which some say is far from near.
"It would take a tremendous effort to do that," said Mark Schroeder, a Sub-Saharan Africa analyst for Stratfor Strategic Forecasting Inc. "They would first have to demonstrate that they could stabilize their own sector, curtail militant violence and expand out.
"That's not something that's going to happen overnight."
© 2008 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
