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507,601 | sottnet--2019-11-01--Economic uncertainty leaves oil markets paralyzed | 2019-11-01T00:00:00 | sottnet | Economic uncertainty leaves oil markets paralyzed | The Federal Reserve cut interest rates again this week, but signaled that it may be done cutting for the time being.It was the third interest rate cut this year, which marked an about-face after successive increases over the previous few years. The central bank was forced into monetary easing after the global economy showed signs of slowing down, made worse by the U.S.-China trade war.However, despite the browbeating from President Trump, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that the latest cut of 25 basis points might be the end of the line, unless things deteriorate further. "The current stance of [interest-rate] policy is likely to remain appropriate" if the economy continues on its current growth rate, Powell said.The result was something of a mixed bag for both stocks and for crude oil. The cut was widely expected for some time, so there was little suspense in the announcement.The rate reduction also comes at a time when the data on the economy is becoming more mixed, which is arguably slightly better than the more obviously negative trajectory the economy had seemed to be on only recently. U.S. GDP growth slowed in the third quarter to just 1.9 percent, down substantially from 2.9 percent a year earlier, but also a better result than some had feared.But a recent round of corporate earnings reports were better than expected , even though profits have contracted compared to a year ago. Some economists are breathing a sigh of relief, saying that the results greatly diminish the odds of a recession.Still, there are plenty of pitfalls ahead. Consumer spending has been strong, but has also begun to slow, expanding at a 2.9 percent rate in the third quarter, down from 4.6 percent in the second. "We're still in an expanding economy, but one that is expanding at a slower clip," Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, told the Wall Street Journal And with manufacturing actually contracting, there is still plenty of risk to the broader economy. "The danger is that businesses begin to pull back not only on capital spending but also on payrolls, which would take much of the steam out of growth in consumer spending," Richard Moody, chief economist at Regions Financial Corp., wrote in a note.That does not necessarily prevent the first phase from moving forward, which could include China purchasing American farm goods in exchange for a delay in tariffs. But it's not clear that such a modest agreement really moves the needle on global growth, which has been hindered by trade protections. Tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of trade would presumably remain even if "phase one" goes forward."There was a lot of complacency building in around trade over the last several weeks and China is reasserting a posture saying we're not anywhere close to done," Michael Purves, CEO of Tallbacken Capital Advisors LLC, told Bloomberg on Wednesday. "That's why the market is off today and Treasuries are rallying.Oil prices slid mid-week, and fell again on Thursday on news that OPEC increased production in October, which actually shouldn't be a surprise because of the return of the Abqaiq facility after the outage in September.Still, even oil analysts say that the trade deal is one of the most important near-term variables to watch. "We have to keep an eye on the trade deal," Ashley Petersen, oil market analyst at Stratas Advisors in New York, told Bloomberg . "This is going to be a problem from the rest of the year so there's going to be more inter-week volatility to come." | null | https://www.sott.net/article/423073-Economic-uncertainty-leaves-oil-markets-paralyzed | Fri, 01 Nov 2019 19:37:22 +0000 | 1,572,651,442 | 1,572,647,603 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
508,550 | sottnet--2019-11-20--Forget OPEC: China now moves the oil markets | 2019-11-20T00:00:00 | sottnet | Forget OPEC: China now moves the oil markets | Not so long ago, oil prices would surge or plummet on just a whisper from OPEC, who at the time held all the supply cards.When the cartel announced on November 30, 2016 , that it would cut production for the first time in eight years amid a major oil-price crisis, the market cheered. Before any cuts even happened, the sentiment alone boosted prices from a $50.74 close on that day to $54.94 at the close on December 5th, 2016.From that point on, at least up until recently, OPEC could drop the vaguest hint about production, or even think about production, and it would move the market--no fundamentals necessary.This phenomenon was still going strong in the last quarter of 2018. On December 7, 2018 , OPEC and its allies announced that they would do what they do best: rally together and withhold oil production from the market. OPEC promised to take 1.2 million barrels of oil daily off the market, sending oil prices up from $57.83 at the close on December 6th to $61.71 at the close on December 7th.By July 1, 2019 , when OPEC and allies agreed to extend production cuts for another nine months, the bling in cartel announcements had already been dulled. Not only did oil prices fail to jump, they moved in the opposite direction--not because of the OPEC cuts; rather, because the market was no longer that interested. From a closing price of $67.52 on June 28th, Brent dropped to $65.01 on July 1st, and then plummeted to $62.72 the following day.Since then, it's managed to move the needle only slightly, one way or another.... and it's not Iran, or even U.S. shale.The residual effect of the U.S. shale boom changed all that. In the aftermath of the oil-price crisis that was largely caused by massive new output in U.S. shale plays, the market began to be moved more by weekly crude inventory data estimates from the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the "official" data on the same that would follow the next day from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).Now, all those acronyms have been overshadowed in the market by the ongoing trade war, global economic data, and demand signals coming out of China.The biggest surge in oil prices this year was prompted by September 14 attack on Saudi Aramco's oil facilities, but that 15-percent surge could not be sustained as dramatic as the attacks were, and despite the fact that they took 5% of the world's oil off the market instantly.Within a day, it was clear to traders that the Saudis would get things up and running quickly, and that there would be no significant supply crisis.Attention immediately refocused on China.On September 4th , oil prices jumped over 4 percent just on Chinese economic data alone. Immediately prior to that, the market was seething with fears about a weakening global economy.It still is, but with each release of new data and indicators, it either remembers or forgets those fears all over again.On October 10th, oil hit a two-week high on sentiments that a trade war deal was within reach in the form of a 'partial' deal . The market viewed talks as the biggest breakthrough in the 18-month trade war.As it turns out, it wasn't, and oil pared its gains--again.Each time the trade war talks, the oil market listens much more closely that it listens to Iran's shooting down of a U.S. drone, or even Iraq's disintegrating into potential civil war.Certainly more than it's listening to OPEC these days. It's even listening to Trump's Twitter account more than it is the oil cartel.OPEC has lost the supply battle.No matter how long it continues with its cuts, it's not putting a dent in oversupply. And that's even with a Libyan civil war part II, crippling sanctions on Venezuela and Iran , and the most brazen attack on the world's biggest producer that one could imagine.So now, while U.S. crude inventory data can move the oil-price needle every week, more than any statements coming out of OPEC can, if you're playing oil's volatility, it's all about the trade war. | null | https://www.sott.net/article/424287-Forget-OPEC-China-now-moves-the-oil-markets | Wed, 20 Nov 2019 16:50:02 +0000 | 1,574,286,602 | 1,574,296,448 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
520,667 | sputnik--2019-01-09--Maduro Says Discussed Oil Market Challenges With OPEC Secretary General | 2019-01-09T00:00:00 | sputnik | Maduro Says Discussed Oil Market Challenges With OPEC Secretary General | "I held an enjoyable and pleasant meeting with the OPEC Secretary General, Mohammed Barkindo. We talked about the challenges of the oil market for 2019," Maduro said on Twitter. Venezuelan Petroleum Minister Manuel Quevedo said that the purpose of the meeting between Maduro and Barkindo is to discuss the work of Venezuela during the country's presidency at the OPEC conference in 2019. It was Quevedo who replaced UAE Energy Minister Suhail Mohamed Faraj Mazrouei as president of the OPEC conference from January 1. | null | https://sputniknews.com/latam/201901091071317644-venezuela-oil-market-opec/ | 2019-01-09 04:21:32+00:00 | 1,547,025,692 | 1,567,553,343 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
523,205 | sputnik--2019-01-28--Venezuelan Crisis Has Zero Impact on Oil Market So Far - Saudi Energy Minister | 2019-01-28T00:00:00 | sputnik | Venezuelan Crisis Has Zero Impact on Oil Market So Far - Saudi Energy Minister | "It’s premature, we hope for the best for Venezuelan people. The impact on the oil market so far is zero. The oil market is very steady. No action is needed to take right now," Falih said. READ MORE: Moscow Not Planning to Have Any Contacts With Venezuela's Guaido — Kremlin The minister added that the escalation of the crisis had not been discussed within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). "No, we have not discussed [the situation in Venezuela]," Falih said. According to OPEC statistics, Venezuela, one of the organization’s founding members, held 302.8 billion barrels in proven crude oil reserves, as of 2017, the most of any OPEC country. Khalid Falih added that he was hoping for the oil output cuts agreed most recently by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-cartel producers to be implemented by more than 100 percent. "The cuts that we have discussed are in place, we have to implement them hopefully by more than 100%. We will see what happens in March or April, so let’s give it time," Falih said. Riyadh is looking forward to a 2019 visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin and expects it to create a lot of cooperation opportunities, Khalid Falih stressed. "In the future, there will be a lot of collaboration opportunities coming out of the discussions that lasted two years between the leaders. We are looking forward to President Putin coming and visiting the Kingdom in 2019. As we know, King Salman had a great state visit to Russia and that created a lot of opportunities. The same will happen when President Putin comes here," Falih said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed in early December that Putin's visit to Saudi Arabia would take place in 2019, adding that the date had yet to be agreed. Riyadh is glad to see Russia's interest in investments in Saudi oil and gas projects and technology sectors of the economy, Falih stressed. "We are very happy with the Russian interest in Saudi investments. We have seen a delegation come from Russia a few weeks ago and they were quite interested in investing not only in oil and gas facilities, but also in some advanced industries," Falih said. He also expressed satisfaction that "a lot of Saudi investments" similarly go to Russia, voicing optimism about the two countries' economic cooperation. "And, of course, there are a lot of Saudi investments outbound from the Kingdom going to Russia… The future for the Kingdom is bright, the future for Russia with all of your economic transformation and energy resources is also very good," the minister added. Russia and Saudi Arabia have been steadily developing economic cooperation over recent years, with bilateral trade increasing almost twofold in 2017 to $915 million, and a number of investment opportunities under discussion. In December, Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) CEO Kirill Dmitriev said that around $2 billion worth of funds from a Russian-Saudi foundation would be invested in Russia in 2019. According to Dmitriev, RDIF is considering investing in the Arctic LNG 2 project together with Saudi Aramco oil giant. Several months earlier, Falih told Rossiya 24 television channel that Saudi Aramco and Sabic, a diversified chemicals producer, were considering investing in the construction of a petrochemical plant in Russia. Falih expressed hope that the cooperation between Saudi Aramco and Russia's Sibur petrochemical company would help do this. | null | https://sputniknews.com/world/201901281071889875-venezuela-oil-market-saudi-arabia/ | 2019-01-28 13:52:00+00:00 | 1,548,701,520 | 1,567,550,587 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
524,868 | sputnik--2019-02-10--IMF Global Oil Market Still Unstable After 2014 Crash | 2019-02-10T00:00:00 | sputnik | IMF: Global Oil Market Still Unstable After 2014 Crash | Kristian Rouz — Managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde has said that the world's major oil exporters are yet to recover from the fiscal shock dealt by the massive drop in crude prices back in 2014. Speaking at a conference in Dubai, UAE, Lagarde said the future of the international oil market does not appear to be unequivocally bright due to a combination of upside and downside factors. Lagarde warned oil-reliant economies against ramping up budget spending, saying their oil revenue might plunge again. The IMF chief also said that over the past few years fiscal revenue in oil-exporting countries has improved, sparking an urge to increase budget spending among several national governments. Lagarde suggested such plans should be put on hold due to the lack of clarity of whither oil prices go in the near-to-medium-term. "Fiscal deficits are only slowly declining, despite significant reforms on both the spending and revenue sides, including the introduction of VAT and excise taxes," Lagarde said. "This has led to a sharp increase in public debt, from 13 per cent of GDP in 2013 to 33 per cent in 2018." Lagarde's remarks come in the wake of ambitious announcements from the governments of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which both recently unveiled massive infrastructure and modernisation projects to ease their reliance on oil. However, IMF experts believe it's not the right time just yet, suggesting fiscal consolidation could be a better option. In the UAE, growth in the non-oil sector is expected to accelerate to 3.9 per cent this year, and to 4.2 per cent in 2020, according to the IMF. Meanwhile, experts also pointed out that a recent rebound in oil prices has supported Emirati economic growth. However, another possible crash in oil prices could deal some damage to the UAE, where many companies are now exposed to a higher level of debt than they were prior to the 2014 bust. "Given Dubai's large public-sector debt, staff encouraged the authorities to be prudent when implementing recent revenue-reducing measures while containing current expenditure growth and executing the planned investment efficiently," the IMF said in its report. Moreover, the IMF chief said that the Middle East's public sector debt-to-GDP ratio increased from 64 per cent in 2008 to 85 per cent last year. Lagarde also pointed out that in many oil-exporting countries public debt exceeds 90 per cent of GDP, with very little progress on the path of easing their reliance on crude. IMF experts also said that rising oil output in North America and the ongoing improvements in oil infrastructure, including pipelines and seaports, in the US and Canada, could suppress international crude prices in the medium-to-long-term. Lagarde also said an expected slowdown in global economic growth could reduce the demand for oil, which could reflect negatively on fiscal revenues across the Middle East. According to the IMF, the world economy will grow 3.5 per cent this year, a downward revision by 0.2 per cent from the body's October forecast. "Unsurprisingly, a weaker global environment has knock-on effects on the region through a variety of channels — trade, remittances, capital flows, commodity prices, and financing conditions," Lagarde said. In this light, the IMF chief believes that oil-reliant economies should prioritise structural reforms, financed with a greater degree of transparency, cautiousness, and accountability. Lagarde also suggested oil-producing nations could use the experience of Norway and Chile, which managed to protect their fiscal spending from volatility in energy prices through prioritised investment. IMF experts also warned that the majority of export-reliant countries — not limited to oil producers — could face negative developments on the fiscal side due to the elevated tensions in global trade, and the ongoing realignment of international supply chains. | null | https://sputniknews.com/business/201902101072286864-imf-oil-market/ | 2019-02-10 10:34:00+00:00 | 1,549,812,840 | 1,567,549,043 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
526,776 | sputnik--2019-02-26--BP Chief Calls US Market Without Brain for Renewing Record Oil Output | 2019-02-26T00:00:00 | sputnik | BP Chief Calls US ‘Market Without Brain’ for Renewing Record Oil Output | "The United States is probably the only country in the world that completely responds to market signals. It’s like a market without a brain. Nobody says this is what we will do, it just responds to price signals," Dudley said at the International Petroleum Week conference in London, when asked about US beating its record in oil production yet again and complaining of high oil prices. READ MORE: Oil Market to Lose Almost Third of Venezuelan Crude due to US Sanctions — Report When asked about US President Donald Trump’s recent tweet complaining of oil prices being "too high" at around $67 per barrel, Dudley argued that it could be a signal for extension of US sanctions against Iran. "It’s amazing. I don’t tweet but I saw that. It struck me as the sort of a signal to extend Iran sanctions, but I have no idea about the insight of this," he said. However, given the nature of shale oil, the high rate of US oil production may not continue for long, the BP chief said. "The big question — longer-term for five, 10 years — is whether shale will continue going up, up, up or level up because of the nature of these fields that decline fast, it makes huge difference for the overall balance," he added. India Ignores US Warning, Says It Will Continue Buying Venezuelan Oil UK oil and gas multinational BP forecasts oil prices to stand between $50 and $65 per barrel over the next 3-4 years, company CEO said. "We plan BP's [activity based on] the price of $50-$65. That’s the planning of the company, but it could go up and down. As long as we keep our discipline, that’s how we see the future for the next 3-4 years," Dudley said at the International Petroleum Week conference in London. For all global oil producers, prices between $50 and $70 per barrel are most convenient, according to Dudley. "The world works well in the fairway of $50-$70 per barrel, the world can work with production in the state of balance," the group chief executive said. On Friday, oil prices fell just below $67 per barrel after the United States hit another record in oil production by pumping 12 million barrels per day, undermining efforts of other major oil producers, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, at limiting their production to stabilize the market. Increased US output comes just as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) revised down its assessment of the oil demand growth in 2019. According to OPEC's February report, oil demand growth is expected to reach about 1.24 million barrels per day, due to adjusted economic forecasts. Sanctions against Venezuela and Iran can spur quick oil price changes and cause supply deficit, Bob Dudley said. "If we talk about supply gap, today Venezuela is declining rapidly due to the gravity [of the crisis]. Are there, are there not sanctions on Iran? These things are more likely to move the [oil] price quite quickly and cause supply gap," Dudley said at the International Petroleum Week conference in London. Earlier in February, the International Energy Agency (IEA) remarked that US sanctions against Venezuela were complicating exports for Caracas. Iranian oil production fell by 520,000 barrels daily in December, compared to October, amid renewed US sanctions, the IEA said last month. In February, the IEA increased its 2019 supply growth estimates for producers that are not part of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The organization cited higher US production as the reason for revision. | null | https://sputniknews.com/business/201902261072756117-bp-oil-output/ | 2019-02-26 12:33:00+00:00 | 1,551,202,380 | 1,567,547,311 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
527,296 | sputnik--2019-03-01--Venezuelan Crisis Could Severely Affect Oil Market - Equatorial Guinea Minister | 2019-03-01T00:00:00 | sputnik | Venezuelan Crisis Could Severely Affect Oil Market - Equatorial Guinea Minister | Sputnik: OPEC and US shale producers are scheduled to meet during the CERAWeek conference in March in Houston, Texas. Will you be there? What is the agenda of the talks? Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima: I will be there. What we are telling them is the US is the biggest producer in the world, people cannot continue thinking that we are controlling the price- they are the biggest producers. It is for their own benefit to have a stable price, so they can’t just sit and allow, especially their boss in Washington [US President Donald Trump], to do all these things. So it’s very important that the US is collaborating with OPEC because clearly it’s not a no-program production. For us it’s really important that the US is recognizing its role, so that’s the [topic of] discussion- cooperation, exchange of information, and make them understand that it’s for their own benefit to have a stable production and stable pricing. Sputnik: There’s been talk about the potential NOPEC legislation, as you are well aware. Is there a chance that you can discuss it as well? Oil Market to Lose Almost Third of Venezuelan Crude due to US Sanctions - Report Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima: Our view is like an American saying ‘you don’t stop the party until the fat lady sings’, it’s something like that. When they pass it, then we will talk about it. In the meantime, it’s just chat- chat. Once they pass the law, then we will have to evaluate. We do have a lot of the US investment, so it will affect us. In the meantime, I’m not going to say that we are worried. Sputnik: Just on Monday, Trump criticized OPEC once again for making oil prices “too high” and at the same time the US pumped record amount of oil. Do you think it is reasonable that Trump is controlling the oil market by saying “this is too high”, “this is too low”? Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima: Who is the No. 1 producer in the world right now? The United States. So at this moment, he has to watch his own companies in the US. They are the ones who have to produce even more. OPEC and the rest of the producers, we don’t control internal problems. We don’t control the issue with Iran, we don’t control Venezuela, or Libya. We don’t even control The slowdown of China’s economy. So to blame everything on OPEC- it’s not fair. Sputnik: Speaking of Venezuela, do you think the ongoing crisis will have a large impact on the global oil market? Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima: It will, of course. Clearly, we want a dialogue, it is a friendly country that we do believe is very important. We don’t want violence, or any problems, because it will damage the development of the country for many years. But honestly speaking, it will have a major impact in the future for a long time. US Wants to Crack Down on China’s Oil Interests Through Venezuela - Prof Sputnik: Still, OPEC says there’s no discussion needed between its members and non-members. Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima: No, we have a scheduled April meeting and that’s what we are doing. Maybe we will discuss it. Sputnik: So you will discuss the Venezuelan crisis after all? Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima: I have not received the agenda yet, so I don’t know for sure. OPEC will discuss matters of oil and gas, nothing political. Sputnik: Recently, it was revealed that OPEC-non-OPEC reached only 83 percent compliance rate with targeted production cuts of 1.2 million barrels per day in January. I know that Equatorial Guinea had perfect compliance, you even outdid it, but there are some countries, your neighbor Nigeria, that were not so good. How do you assess the overall compliance with cuts so far? Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima: First of all, we are taking care of the situation, our compliance is mainly the result of some fields that we have being in decline. We are doing the investment to keep up the production again, so that’s the main reason we are extremely over compliant. Now about the neighbors, clearly the elections [in Nigeria] are finished. They are the ones who have to make a decision [to cut]. We all make sacrifices and I think it’s right for everyone to make the same sacrifice. You can’t just get one that does something and the other ones to keep producing or having exceptions. So, that [low compliance rate of Nigeria] is something that will definitely be discussed in April [between OPEC and non-OPEC]. Sputnik: On Wednesday, His Excellency Saudi Energy Minister] Khalid al-Falih said there was likelihood of an extension of the oil production cut deal beyond June. But depending on fundamentals, you could also all agree to ease production limits. Do you agree with him? Venezuelan Opposition to Get Money From US Fund Filled With Oil Money - Report Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima: I do agree, because there is a limit to how much we can be doing this. There is a major factor such as the US production. So if we have to leave the market to be flowing, the ones who’s going to suffer more is not just us, but also the US industry, because they create a lot of jobs. I don’t think that it’s sustainable. I do agree with him [al-Falih], that we’ll have to discuss seriously maybe ending this agreement. Sputnik: At the upcoming meeting, will new member countries be accepted to the deal or to the organization? Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima: No, at this moment OPEC organization is being fretted everywhere, so I don’t think anyone is keen to enter. In November there could be another look at it and [there] may be some interest, but in April- I don’t think so. Sputnik: Can you share the details of an upcoming auction in April of Equatorial Guinea’s blocks? Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima: There will be 22 exploration blocks and there will be 4 blocks that have discoveries. One is going to be Block R, Block B, Block Z and Block EG-23. We are very encouraged by different interest that we have. I have a very good scoop that there is a major Russian company that is 90 percent confirmed that before the end of this year will be in Equatorial Guinea. It’s almost done. We are receiving a lot of interest, a lot of encouragement, that’s what they are saying. Personally they are interested in the blocks that have discoveries. So it’s not going to be just exploration blocks, they will be able to send both an exploration plan and a discovery plan. Sputnik: You were previously scheduled to visit Moscow with Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Is this visit going to take place? Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima: I do have a plan to visit Moscow and take a state invitation to [President Putin] for the GECF [Gas Exporting Countries Forum] the Heads of State Summit in November. Then we will have a state visit in October with the President to Moscow. And in November there is the summit in Equatorial Guinea. Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik. | null | https://sputniknews.com/interviews/201903011072856701-usa-opec-oil-prices-crude-market-criticism/ | 2019-03-01 04:56:00+00:00 | 1,551,434,160 | 1,567,546,929 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
528,306 | sputnik--2019-03-17--Top Iranian Official Blames US For Oil Market Volatility | 2019-03-17T00:00:00 | sputnik | Top Iranian Official Blames US For Oil Market Volatility | Kristian Rouz — Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh says public comments from US officials have contributed to the recent swings in international oil prices, thus rendering the energy market a more unpredictable environment. READ MORE: India Continues Talks With US on Waiver From Iran Oil Sanctions — Official Although the minister didn't mention any names, his comments are believed to come in response to US President Donald Trump's use of Twitter to express his sentiment regarding the state of affairs in the global energy market. "Americans talk a lot and I advise them to talk less. They have caused tensions in the oil market for over a year now and they are responsible for it, and if this trend continues, the market will be more tense," Zanganeh said, according to the SHANA report, as quoted by Reuters. Trump has repeatedly called on OPEC to not let oil prices dramatically increase, as rising prices push up energy costs in the US. Although the US is currently producing roughly 12 mln bpd, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), its imports stand at 20 mln bpd — meaning the international oil cartel still has some impact on the North American energy market. Trump has tweeted about oil prices twice in the past several months — in February and back in December, just ahead of OPEC's policy meeting in Vienna, where the oil cartel coordinated deeper output cuts to support prices. Meanwhile, other US officials have recently made remarks that stirred the anticipation of higher oil prices among investors. For example, State Department Representative for Iran Brian Hook said last week that the global oil supply would exceed demand by 400,000 bpd this year — likely weighing on prices. In this light, Hook said, there is room for the US to revoke its waivers for buyers of Iranian oil — with an aim to bring the Islamic Republic's oil exports under 1 mln bpd. "Last year, when we did our waivers, it was a tight and fragile market, but we were able to successfully balance our interests," Hook said. "There are projections that supply will exceed demand, but those are projections. But we will continue to balance our national security and our economic interests." While oil prices remain fairly high — at $67.94/bbl of Brent benchmark in London — current macroeconomic conditions would suggest that prices should be much lower. Aside from the aforementioned oversupply projections, global economic growth is slowing, suggesting weaker demand for energy down the road. However, US plans to levy sanctions against Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA and Iran have been supportive of elevated fuel costs. So far, analysts believe oil prices could go even higher. In a recent report, experts from US investment bank Goldman Sachs said Brent oil could go above $70/bbl in the coming weeks — due to a combination of political risks and macroeconomic concerns. "We continue to believe that ongoing macro and oil demand concerns are overdone," Goldman experts wrote. "Any further meaningful rally in oil prices will likely lead to further US pressure to ease. So far, however, the ongoing OPEC ‘shock and awe' strategy has shown no signs of wavering after the latest US presidential oil tweet. " Zanganeh, for his part, also weighed in on the upcoming review of US waivers for Iran's oil buyers. The cabinet minister said Iran is still pursuing plans to update its oil tanker fleet, and expand oil production. "We do not know whether US waivers would be extended or not, we will do our job, but they say something new every single day," Zanganeh said. His remarks come amid rising US exports of crude oil, a significant portion of which, some experts believe, could go to China — if Washington and Beijing strike a trade accord over the coming weeks. China is one of the biggest importers of Iranian oil, but its state-run energy giant, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), recently suspended investment into oil exploration and extraction in Iran, allegedly out of concerns regarding secondary US sanctions. Zanganeh, howevr, said Tehran is still trying to convince China to continue bilateral energy cooperation. "Negotiations are ongoing. A senior delegation from China is due to come to Iran for talks. They have promised to come to Iran soon," Zanganeh said. If the US waiver for China-Iran oil trade is not extended in May, and Washington and Beijing reach a trade agreement before that date, market participants expect China to become one of the largest export markets for American energy. | null | https://sputniknews.com/business/201903171073314122-us-iran-oil-market/ | 2019-03-17 09:56:49+00:00 | 1,552,831,009 | 1,567,545,942 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
532,186 | sputnik--2019-04-22--Saudi Arabia Pledges to Stabilise Market as US Ends Iran Oil Waivers - Minister | 2019-04-22T00:00:00 | sputnik | Saudi Arabia Pledges to Stabilise Market as US Ends Iran Oil Waivers - Minister | Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Monday that Riyadh would work closely with other oil producers to guarantee an adequate crude supply and a balanced market in wake of the US decision to no longer provide waivers granted to buyers of Iranian oil. "Saudi Arabia will coordinate with fellow oil producers to ensure adequate supplies are available to consumers while ensuring the global oil market does not go out of balance", he said in a statement. The Trump White House announced earlier in the day that in May, it will end all waivers granted to eight economies that have allowed them to bypass US sanctions and purchase Iranian oil. "President Donald J. Trump has decided not to reissue Significant Reduction Exceptions (SREs) when they expire in early May. This decision is intended to bring Iran's oil exports to zero, denying the regime its principal source of revenue", the statement said. In addition, Washington announced that the US, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would ensure that the global oil market would remain "adequately supplied". The three nations "have agreed to take timely action to assure that global demand is met as all Iranian oil is removed from the market", the White House said in a statement, which was later reiterated by US President Donald Trump, who confirmed that Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members would "make up" for oil supply once the waivers are terminated. In light of Washington's decision, oil prices have surged, reaching their highest in 2019: Internatonal benchmark Brent increased 2.6 percent to $73.87 a barrel, the highest since early November, while US crude futures rose 2.4 percent to $65.52. Having decided to reinstate all sanctions and impose a new set of restrictions on Iran's energy, shipping, financial, and other sectors, Trump pledged to cut the country's oil exports to zero. He also pledged to introduce secondary sanctions on foreign companies doing business with Iran, which drew much criticism from other signatories to the so-called Iran nuclear deal. Washington provided waivers to eight economies, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Taiwan, who agreed to reduce their purchases of Iranian oil, allowing them to continue buying it without facing sanctions for six more months. | null | https://sputniknews.com/business/201904221074352244-saudi-arabia-oil-market-iran-sanctions-waivers/ | 2019-04-22 13:36:00+00:00 | 1,555,954,560 | 1,567,542,189 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
532,745 | sputnik--2019-04-30--EXCLUSIVE Saudi Oil Minister Vows to Substitute Iranian Crude Exports on Market | 2019-04-30T00:00:00 | sputnik | EXCLUSIVE Saudi Oil Minister Vows to Substitute Iranian Crude Exports on Market | Sputnik: We know you will be in Moscow to co-chair an intergovernmental commission. Will you also participate in the St. Petersburg Economic Forum later in June? Khalid Falih: Yes, my intent is to do both. I've been to the last two St. Petersburg Economic Forums, and I have found them to be quite useful, engaging, and well organised. It's always an opportunity, to not only meet with our Russian partners but to see people from around the world that are of interest to us. It's become an important global event, not just a Russian event. I intend to be there and following that we will have our intergovernmental commission on 10-11 June. Sputnik: What documents do you plan to sign there, or are there any preparations for contracts? Saudi Arabia Pledges to Stabilise Market as US Ends Iran Oil Waivers - Minister Khalid Falih: What we plan to do is follow up on the implementation of many existing MOUs and agreements and expedite the progress on the existing frameworks. Some of them are quite broad, and there are many sub-agreements and sub-investments under them. I think the area that of course always offers the biggest opportunities between the world's two largest energy countries will be investments in energy and chemicals. So we will be advancing these discussions and follow up on their progress. In addition to energy collaboration, science and technology, aerospace would be one area that we'd like to explore. We hope that we will advance collaboration in agriculture, especially purchases of some products from Russia for the long-term supply of Saudi food needs. Wheat hopefully is one of them. We are still waiting for some tests to be done by some regulatory agencies, but if everything is what we expect, there will be long-term procurement actions in place. Also, another area that is very important for us is culture, cultural exchanges. We had a number of exchanges of cultural visits between our two countries. We hope that will grow, especially, as you have observed, Saudi Arabia is establishing a lot of activities in the areas of tourism and culture, and Russia has an advancement there. We'd like to see more, and a lot of diversity, in Russia as well. There's a large Muslim population, but there are also different ethnic groups in Russia that we'd like them to come and visit the kingdom and show off the heritage, arts and performances from different Russian regions. At the same time, we'd like to see more Saudi participation. I understand that there will be an artificial intelligence exhibit, and I understand there will be a strong Saudi delegation participating in that event. We hope that Saudi Arabia will be showcased in St. Petersburg in the month of June. Sputnik: Talking about the situation on the world oil market, Donald Trump said he had persuaded Saudi Arabia to increase the flow. Did he or someone from Washington call your side to discuss this matter? Will the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia increase oil output? Khalid Falih: We have issued a statement after the American statement was issued regarding sanctions. We have made it clear about two things. First of all, we will meet the demands of our customers including those customers who are substituting Iranian barrels for Saudi barrels. I'm reiterating our commitment to meet all those demands. But we will do it while also staying clearly within the OPEC Plus agreement. We are quite comfortable that we can meet our commitments to both our customers as well to fellow producers. At the same time, we're quite comfortable that our markets are well supplied today; that there are healthy inventories and the markets are not right to be concerned. Khalid Falih: I am in discussions with energy ministers from producers to consumers multiple times a week, including from different countries, so I cannot tell you about that specific country and the specific day, but I can confirm that our relationship with the United States is very strong. We coordinate our energy policies, we collaborate on technology, we collaborate on efficiency, we collaborate on carbon management, we collaborate on addressing climate change, we collaborate on our views on the energy markets and the energy security. And we share our views. Sometimes we agree, occasionally we disagree. But all in all, I think what's good for global energy markets is good for Saudi Arabia, is good for the United States, is good for Russia. Despite some political problems that may exist between countries, like between Russia and the US, the matter is what countries are pillars of the global energy markets. It is advantageous that we have consistent policies that seek to advance global market stability and energy security for the rest of the world. And we and the kingdom have healthy relationships with both countries from an energy perspective, and we try to bring everybody together in different ways to achieve that common objective. READ MORE: Turkey Persists In Seeking US Waiver on Iranian Oil Sputnik: On 3 May, a waiver for Iranian oil exports to some countries will come to an end, and in this regard, may OPEC+ consider a revision of the deal? Khalid Falih: I think any revision will happen after July, and this is what President Putin said yesterday or the day before in China. And we will meet in May in Saudi Arabia, and we will meet in June in Vienna. And during those two meetings, we will look at the market fundamentals. The market fundamentals are impacted by many factors — the global economy, supply increases from some countries, and supply disruptions from others. It could be the same as we have today, it could be slightly different, up or down, we don't know. I think my preference will be to try to calibrate the markets so that we have balance. And we will make that decision in June when we meet. Sputnik: But overall, how do you estimate the impact of the Iran situation on the world oil market? Khalid Falih: I have no idea. I think Iran's exports are always not very visible. There is a lot of speculation. What is the real number of exports today and what will be the real number after sanctions are withdrawn? The only indicator I have is how much customers are asking for Saudi oil. That's the number I see. And so far, it's moderate but healthy. So there is nothing to be concerned on the high, nothing to be concerned on the low. We are not seeing a shortage in the market. I think we will focus on inventories and try to bring it down in terms of what we look at the global production and we try to adjust by having this OPEC+ agreement from July to end of the year possibly. Sputnik: I see. You discussed several deals with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), including buying shares in Novomet and Eurasia Drilling. How do you estimate cooperation with RDIF, and when these two deals may be closed? Khalid Falih: Well, first of all, we really enjoy and appreciate our relations with RDIF. It's a first-class organisation, run very professionally by world standards, and, from all the information I have seen, all of the investment proposals they have made to us and to others have been high-quality. But at the end of the day, transactions take time, so we have been negotiating to enter Eurasia Drilling, and I understand that there are some government constraints within Russia because this is considered strategic for Russia, so we are waiting for those regulatory clearances. Novomet is a small investment, and, as I understand, we are waiting for some technical aspects to be approved. So, hopefully, soon. And we will discuss it when we come to St. Petersburg in June. Sputnik: Have you heard about the new Russian luxury car Aurus, which was recently presented? It was designed for President Putin, and Russia is going to make the new Russian luxury car Aurus a long-term project. Khalid Falih: No, I am not aware of it, but I would like to. If you can arrange for me to see one in St. Petersburg, I would love to. (laughs) Sputnik: Probably, you will see it because President Putin travels in this car sometimes. Khalid Falih: Okay. I am interested to see it. I know that Russia has great industrial powers. Of course, aviation and airspace is very strong. The industrial complex during the Soviet Union was very powerful. So I have full confidence that Russia has capabilities that are underutilised today. And I am sure that if you want to make any product, you can make it. I am willing to buy one of these cars if I can afford them. Do you know how much they cost? (laughs). Sputnik: The model, the features. And one more question about the OPEC+ situation. President Putin recently said in Beijing that there were no indications that somebody is going to withdraw from the deal. But this topic is being discussed among analysts. Have you heard from someone or do you have any information that this could be done by someone? Khalid Falih: No. I think that I have heard many discussions from ministers, and the majority of them want to extend. Almost all of them want to extend. But it has to be an extension based on facts and analysis that addresses the second half of the year. Like I said, our guiding principle is to manage global inventories. Not to go too high. And we will know more in two months when we meet in June. | null | https://sputniknews.com/interviews/201904301074571139-saudi-arabia-opec/ | 2019-04-30 06:58:00+00:00 | 1,556,621,880 | 1,567,541,676 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
533,374 | sputnik--2019-05-05--Iran Switching Its Oil Sales to Grey Market in Bid to Defy US Sanctions | 2019-05-05T00:00:00 | sputnik | Iran Switching Its Oil Sales to 'Grey Market' in Bid to Defy US Sanctions | Iran has started directing its efforts at organising the sale of its oil via alternative routes to circumvent the effectiveness of US sanctions against the country's energy sector, Deputy Oil Minister Amir Hossein Zamaninia told IRNA news agency without specifying any details. "We have mobilised all of the country's resources and are selling oil in the 'grey market'", he said. At the same time, the deputy minister admitted that the volumes from daily sales won't be able to reach the export levels seen prior to the US exit from the Iran nuclear deal, which lifted international sanctions from Tehran. Zamaninia didn't provide any estimates about the volumes of oil sales on the "grey market", but noted that the government will have to "make serious decisions about [Iran's] financial and economic management". Speaking about the "grey market" scheme of selling Iranian oil the deputy minister stressed that it in no way can be viewed as "smuggling" as it's merely a measure to counter sanctions that are neither "just" nor "legitimate". The US earlier ended waivers given to several states, importing Iranian crude. The waivers prevented these countries from falling under American sanctions as long as they abided by the allowed daily import limits. The decision to end these waivers has caused "regret and concern" in the EU, Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini said. The waivers were given to Greece, Italy, Taiwan, China, India, Turkey, Japan, and South Korea on the same day the US imposed harsh sanctions against Iran's energy, banking and shipping sectors, 5 November 2018. The imposition of the sanctions was preceded by Washington's unilateral withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal on 8 May 2018. Washington's move was met with criticism from other signatories to the deal, who decided to continue adhering to its provisions and to ignore the White House's sanctions. | null | https://sputniknews.com/business/201905051074723863-iran-grey-market-oil/ | 2019-05-05 11:50:00+00:00 | 1,557,071,400 | 1,567,541,140 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
534,385 | sputnik--2019-05-21--Irans Black Gold a Delicacy for the Global Oil Market | 2019-05-21T00:00:00 | sputnik | Iran's 'Black Gold', a Delicacy for the Global Oil Market? | The International Energy Agency claims that in April of this year, Iran's production fell by 130,000 bpd to 2.61 million bpd. However, Manouchehr Takin, a London-based independent expert on energy security and former OPEC senior officer said that such a forecast cannot be 100% trusted: "This problem arose during the time of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (President of Iran from 2005 to 2013 — ed. note Sputnik) when the US announced that they would apply sanctions against Iran and that any country that buys oil from Iran will be subject to fines", Takin said. According to him, today, while the United States declares that its embargo has reduced Iranian oil production to 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd), a number of structures monitoring oil tankers using satellite images and other sources, state a different figure for Iran's oil production, namely, 1.9 million bpd. "On the other hand, no one knows how seriously the buyers of Iranian oil perceive the American threat. For example, China said it would continue to buy oil from Iran. The Indian government took a similar stance. China is conducting talks with the United States, whilst the conflict between the two countries has sharply escalated as a result of the trade war," Takin said adding that "during these negotiations, the two countries may even come to such a result that China, for instance, will refuse to buy Iranian oil and will demand in exchange a reduction of import tariffs on its soybeans to the United States". The expert also noted that the IEA could only make such a forecast based on Trump's statements regarding oil purchases. Takin is convinced that, contrary to expectations and a possible decline in Iran's activity in the oil market, the price of "black gold" will not surge, and Iranian strategic energy resources might be taken "hostage" by Saudi Arabia, together with the United States: "In contrast to Iran's expectations, this effect [of a slowdown in Iranian oil production — ed. note Sputnik] will not be very strong, because Saudi Arabia has production capacity for oil output, and the United States itself extracts shale oil. As a result of a decline in Iranian oil prices, global oil prices will rise in any case, but it must be borne in mind that Saudi Arabia can increase its output from 1.5 to 2 million bpd. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has good relationships with the USA. However, we do not know how this will affect future decisions of the KSA, an OPEC member. It may, in cooperation with OPEC, refuse to increase oil production. Or it can tacitly increase its output, while even stating a decline in production. Or, maybe even officially increase oil production". "This indicates the key role of KSA in world oil production. Then, in terms of shale oil production, it is followed by the United States. Within one year they increased the annual oil production by 1 million bpd. For the same increase in the production of oil extracted out of the ground or from the bottom of the sea, they would need 3 to 5 years", Takin concluded. READ MORE: US-Iran Tensions: Is a US Attack Through Iraq Possible? The views and opinions expressed by the speaker do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik. | null | https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201905211075172231-iran-black-gold-oil-market/ | 2019-05-21 09:17:00+00:00 | 1,558,444,620 | 1,567,540,342 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
536,975 | sputnik--2019-06-29--Prolongation of OPEC Deal Will Help Balance Global Oil Market - Saudi Energy Minister | 2019-06-29T00:00:00 | sputnik | Prolongation of OPEC+ Deal Will Help Balance Global Oil Market - Saudi Energy Minister | Earlier on Saturday, Putin said after meeting the Saudi crown prince that the two countries had agreed on a common position on the future OPEC+ deal and would support its extension with the already agreed limits on oil production for a period of six or nine months. "During the bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed with His Highness [Saudi] Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to extend the current agreement of OPEC+ countries on reducing the production from the beginning of July, which will pave the way for the reduction of world reserves, thus helping to balance markets, restore investment to ensure future energy supplies," Falih said on Twitter. In December 2018, OPEC and several non-cartel producers clinched an oil output cut deal, agreeing to reduce overall production by 1.2 million barrels per day starting from 2019. OPEC pledged to reduce production by 800,000 barrels per day, while non-OPEC countries agreed to reduce it by 400,000 barrels per day. The further fate of the OPEC+ agreement, including the possibility of its extension into the second half of 2019, will be determined at meetings on Monday and Tuesday in Vienna. | null | https://sputniknews.com/business/201906291076101320-prolongation-of-opec-deal-will-help-balance-global-oil-market-saudi-energy-minister/ | 2019-06-29 20:12:43+00:00 | 1,561,853,563 | 1,567,537,619 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
540,314 | sputnik--2019-08-07--Bank of America Warns Chinas Purchases of Iranian Crude Could Trigger Oil Market Crash | 2019-08-07T00:00:00 | sputnik | Bank of America Warns China's Purchases of Iranian Crude Could Trigger Oil Market Crash | The unrestrained Trump-China trade war has already affected global supply chains and stock markets, but it could send oil prices falling below $30 a barrel if China decides to buy Iranian oil, warns Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “While we retain our $60 a barrel Brent forecast for next year, we admit that a Chinese decision to reinitiate Iran crude purchases could send oil prices into a tailspin,” the Bank of America’s multinational investment division reported on Friday, according to CNBC. The report added that the move would “undermine US foreign policy” and “cushion the negative terms-of-trade effects on the Chinese economy of rising US tariffs.” The United States has adopted a “maximum pressure” policy against Iran, accusing the country of violating the 2015 nuclear deal and sponsoring terrorism. After quitting the landmark agreement last May, the Trump administration reimposed crippling economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic, including against its vital energy exports. The aim was to bring Iran’s oil exports to zero, but the embattled nation says US efforts fell flat. “The Americans have not achieved any success against Iran. They wanted to bring oil sales down to zero, but they did not succeed,” Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani told lawmakers Tuesday. According to S&P Global Platts estimates, Iranian oil exports have, in fact, not fallen to zero but still have taken a significant hit. The country is said to have shipped below 550,000 barrels per day in June 2019, as against nearly 875,000 bd in May and some 2.5 million bd last April, before Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is reportedly tracking the movement of China-linked tankers, which are suspected to be transporting Iranian crude to China in circumvention of US sanctions. Data from ship-tracking services allegedly shows that Iranian tankers have been transporting oil to China, and to the Eastern Mediterranean, possibly to Syria and Turkey. Last month, the US treasury sanctioned Zhuhai Zhenrong Limited, a Chinese oil trader, for importing Iranian crude. Beijing sharply criticised the move, calling it “illegal” and insisting that the company had not violated international law. The two superpowers are locked in a year-long trade war, initially prompted by Donald Trump’s attempts to fix the yawning trade gap with Beijing, which stood at $419 billion in goods trade in 2018. The US and China have exchanged several rounds of multi-billion tit-for-tat tariffs, and Trump last week announced an additional 10 per cent tariff on $300 billion in Chinese imports. Beijing vowed to retaliate, just like it previously did, and asked state-owned enterprises to suspend agricultural imports from the United States. China this week also lowered the value of its currency, the yuan, below its 7 to 1 peg against the greenback – its lowest level since 2008 – which makes Chinese goods cheaper in terms of US dollars and, therefore, more attractive to consumers. The US Treasury accused China of ‘currency manipulation’ and pledged to complain about the move to the International Monetary Fund, but China’s central bank flatly rejected the accusations. After the move caused stocks and crude oil to slump, China took steps to stabilise the yuan’s slide. | null | https://sputniknews.com/world/201908071076488209-bank-of-america-warns-chinas-purchases-of-iranian-crude-could-trigger-oil-market-crash/ | 2019-08-07 05:39:20+00:00 | 1,565,170,760 | 1,567,534,687 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
544,003 | sputnik--2019-09-16--US Confident Oil Market to Respond Positively to Attack on Saudi Plants - Energy Chief | 2019-09-16T00:00:00 | sputnik | US Confident Oil Market to Respond ‘Positively’ to Attack on Saudi Plants - Energy Chief | "We are very confident that the market is resilient and will respond positively," Perry said in a tweet. Oil prices soared after drones attacked Saudi oil processing facilities at Abqaiq and the Khurais over the weekend. The strikes knocked out 5.7 million barrels of daily crude production, representing 50 per cent of Saudi Arabia’s oil output and about 5 per cent of global supply. On Saturday, an Energy Department spokesperson said the United States stood ready to deploy resources from the Strategic Petroleum Oil Reserves (SPRO) to offset any potential oil market disruptions. The official also said that Perry directed the department to work with the International Energy Agency on options for collective global action. The SRO holds 630 million barrels maintained for exactly this purpose, an Energy Department official said over the weekend. US President Donald Trump on Sunday said that he authorized the release of oil from the SPRO if required. Trump also said he informed appropriate US government agencies to expedite approvals of the oil pipelines currently in the permitting process in Texas and various other US states. US officials told media that the attack was most likely launched from Iran or Iraq. However, Baghdad said Iraqi territory was not involved in the strikes. Iranian officials also denied US allegations. | null | https://sputniknews.com/business/201909161076818332-us-confident-oil-market-to-respond-positively-to-attack-on-saudi-plants---energy-chief/ | 2019-09-16 18:02:05+00:00 | 1,568,671,325 | 1,569,330,241 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
561,491 | tass--2019-02-14--Russias Energy Ministry sees risks for oil market due to uncertainty in Venezuela | 2019-02-14T00:00:00 | tass | Russia's Energy Ministry sees risks for oil market due to uncertainty in Venezuela | SOCHI, February 14. /TASS/. Russia’s Energy Ministry sees risks for the oil market due to uncertainty in Venezuela, Minister Alexander Novak said on the sidelines of the Russian investment forum on Thursday. "That uncertainty has an impact on the market, of course. The market responds to that," he said. According to Novak, the next meeting with the country’s oil minister may be held in Baku in March as part of the OPEC+ ministerial monitoring committee. Crude production in Venezuela has been falling due to economic turmoil over the last several years, plunging to the lowest level in 73 years in 2018. In early 2015, oil output in the country totaled roughly 2.5 mln barrels per day with over 60 operating wells, whereas by the beginning of this year production dropped by 1 mln barrels, and the number of operating wells decreased to 50, according to the data provided by IHS. The consultancy expects crude output in Venezuela to lose another 0.4 mln barrels per day by the end of this year. Venezuela has the world’s biggest oil reserves, while its oil sector provides 96% of the country’s revenues. However, since early 2000s, production has been experiencing a decline, which accelerated over the past several years amid falling oil prices. In 2014, when the crude price exceeded $100 per barrel, production in Venezuela totaled 2.3 mln barrels per day. In other media | null | http://tass.com/economy/1044603 | 2019-02-14 10:19:49+00:00 | 1,550,157,589 | 1,567,548,517 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
562,287 | tass--2019-02-27--Venezuelan oil company calls on US to cooperate with other states for oil market stability | 2019-02-27T00:00:00 | tass | Venezuelan oil company calls on US to cooperate with other states for oil market stability | CARACAS, February 27. /TASS/. Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA (Petroleos de Venezuela) urged the U.S. to join the efforts of a number of countries to achieve stability in the global oil market. "The United States government must join and work together in order to achieve world oil stability," president of PDVSA and People’s Minister of Petroleum Manuel Quevedo said as quoted by a statement the company released on Wednesday. Quevedo was speaking in Ryadh, capital of Saudi Arabia, where he is to participate in the 9th symposium on Energy Outlook sponsored by OPEC and the International Energy Agency. Venezuela chairs OPEC this year. "To attack OPEC, to try to divide its members, to pretend to give instructions by means of social networks, is very far away from future energy perspectives," he said. Quevedo also stressed that the actions of the White House in relation to the US-registered subsidiary of PDVSA - Citgo Petroleum "negatively affect the global hydrocarbon market". On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Citgo had decided to cancel the status of PDVSA subsidiary. This was done not to fall under the sanctions imposed by the U.S. against Venezuela. Citgo previously announced a change in the line-up of its board of directors, following the decision of the opposition-controlled Venezuelan parliament. Washington is not shy about the fact that it is trying to bring the maximum possible pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro so that he would agree to hold early presidential elections. On January 28, the administration of the head of the White House, Donald Trump, imposed sanctions against PDVSA. ## Situation in Venezuela On January 23, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition Juan Guaido, whose appointment as parliamentary speaker had been annulled by the Supreme Court two days before that, declared himself as acting president. On the same day, the United States recognized him as acting head of state. So did the Lima Group countries except for Mexico, the Organization of American States, and a number of other countries. On January 28, Washington imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil company PDVSA and put some of Venezuela’s assets in US banks under Guaido’s control. Some European countries, including Britain, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and France on January 26 said they would recognize Guaido as interim president, if Maduro refused to call an early election within eight days. Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Turkey came out in Maduro’s support. | null | http://tass.com/economy/1046722 | 2019-02-27 16:36:27+00:00 | 1,551,303,387 | 1,567,547,114 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
565,620 | tass--2019-05-19--Russias energy ministry does not rule out oil shortages on global market if demand grows | 2019-05-19T00:00:00 | tass | Russia’s energy ministry does not rule out oil shortages on global market if demand grows | JEDDAH, May 19. /TASS/. Russia’s energy ministry does not rule out possible oil shortages on the global market this summer if demand grows, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Sunday after a meeting of the Joint OPEC/Non- OPEC Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC). "Oil shortages are possible in the summer is demand (for oil - TASS) grows like in previous years. Typically, it goes up on the winter period by two million barrels a day. So, it will be necessary to keep a close eye on the situation and react quickly in order to prevent shortages," he said. Novak noted that global oil reserves within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are currently by 13 million barrels higher than the five-year average. In his words, this situation stems from several factors, including a demand lower than forecasted. However he found it difficult to say when the market balance could be reached. "It will largely depend on the demand in the second half of the year. You know, demand typically grows in summer and drops in winter. So, let us wait and see the situation from the point of view of the summertime demand," he added. In other media | null | http://tass.com/economy/1058990 | 2019-05-19 17:43:31+00:00 | 1,558,302,211 | 1,567,540,486 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
567,138 | tass--2019-06-29--OPEC deal extension to ensure oil market balance - Saudi Minister | 2019-06-29T00:00:00 | tass | OPEC+ deal extension to ensure oil market balance - Saudi Minister | TASS, June 29. Extending the OPEC+ oil production capping deal will balance out the situation on the energy market because it will lead to lower global carbon reserves, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih wrote on his official Twitter page on Saturday. "At the bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the [G20] summit [in Osaka], Russian President Vladimir Putin and His Highness [Saudi] Crown Prince [Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud] agreed to extend the current OPEC+ states oil production capping deal in July 2019. This will result in reduced global reserves and, therefore, will balance the markets and restore the level of investments to ensure future energy supplies," he wrote. As the Minister pointed out, "this agreement confirms that the Saudi-Russian partnership paves the wat to ensuring interests of producers and consumers and supporting the growth of the world economy." Vladimir Putin earlier told the G20 summit press conference that Russia and Saudi Arabia had agreed to support the extension of the OPEC+ oil production capping deal for the period of 6 or 9 months. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Saturday that Russia’s and Saudi Arabia’s willingness to extend the reduced production in the framework of OPEC+ is a key factor of stability on the oil market amid global unpredictability. The OPEC+ countries have been discussing the oil production policy since April this year. However, unpredictability and geopolitical factors saw the failure to reach an oil production capping agreement. The deal on reduction of oil production by 1.2 mln barrels daily, with Russia’s share of 228,000 barrels a day, was concluded in December 2018 and expires on June 30. | null | https://tass.com/economy/1066369 | 2019-06-29 23:06:22+00:00 | 1,561,863,982 | 1,567,537,563 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
568,552 | tass--2019-08-03--Market watchers warn about risks of oil price plunge in 2020 | 2019-08-03T00:00:00 | tass | Market watchers warn about risks of oil price plunge in 2020 | MOSCOW, August 3. /TASS/. Russia's oil market may face the supply glut in 2020 despite the OPEC+ deal participants’ efforts to constrain the supply growth, the International Energy Agency warned in July. That may push the oil price down, consequently, curtailing revenues of the budgets of oil-producing countries, including Russia. Experts interviewed by TASS share those apprehensions as the market remains volatile with persisting risks of the oil price drop next year, though the crude oil futures remaining within the range of $60-$70 per barrel is still the most probable scenario so far. The global oil market currently looks unstable and uncertain, with the US shale production on the rise, while the demand lagging behind the supply even considering the outperforming rates of the OPEC+ deal implementation, Head of the Investment Department at BCS Broker Narek Avakyan said. Yekaterina Grushevenko, an expert at the Skolkovo Energy Center shares the opinion. "The situation with the oil supply glut will persist this year and next year. According to various estimates, it may total from 1 mln to 1.4 mln barrels per day despite the extension of the OPEC+ deal," she told TASS, adding that the US supply would rise due to increasing Permian production, as well as the continuing output growth in Brazil and a slight rise in Europe. On the other hand, the geopolitical factor is keeping the market on tenterhooks, with any escalation in oil-producing states resulting in prices upsurge, Grushevenko explained. US-China trade wars will also affect the price volatility and supply growth in 2020, as they exacerbate negative market expectations regarding economic growth rates, she added. The expert expects the Persian Gulf tensions to persist within a year and a half, which will contribute to a geopolitical premium for the crude price. However, a notable rise is unlikely, as the European demand will continue stagnating, same as the demand in Asian developed countries, which will not increase in the next two years, she said. Finam Analyst Sergei Drozdov believes that the two main factors laying the groundwork for both upsurge and decrease in oil futures are tensions around Iran and the risks of global economic slowdown. Drozdov warns about the risks of the oil price plunge in 2020 to $50 per barrel, though the prices most probably will hovering between $60 and $71 per barrel. "A confluence of those factors (events evolving Iran and the world economic slowdown - TASS) will spur volatility on the oil market in the short run, with prices most likely staying within a short range of $60-71 per barrel by the end of 2019, though possibly falling to the $50-55 per barrel corridor in case of worsened sentiment across the global markets," he said. Avakyan points to the threat of a potential mass-scale suspension of production or supplies of crude from the Middle East, which makes it hardly possible to project the situation on the global oil market. "Considering the current environment, the compromise Brent price range both for consumers and producers is $60-65 per barrel so far. The recent oil leaps in both directions demonstrated that if the price dives deeper into that range producers come across profitability risks. Whereas if the price approaches $70 and above consumers get peeved, the US in the first place," he said. Meanwhile, Grushevenko considers the $65-70 per barrel range the most realistic oil price outlook for 2020. "Barring force majeure, the oil price fluctuations may be affected by failure to comply with the OPEC+ deal or tightening of quotas, the Persian Gulf escalation, and the talks dynamics between US and China," she suggested. | null | https://tass.com/economy/1071770 | 2019-08-03 12:17:39+00:00 | 1,564,849,059 | 1,567,534,936 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
568,774 | tass--2019-08-07--Washington and Riyadh agree to counter Irans attempts to destabilize global oil market | 2019-08-07T00:00:00 | tass | Washington and Riyadh agree to counter Iran's attempts to "destabilize" global oil market | WASHINGTON, August 7. /TASS/. US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and Saudi Arabia's Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih held talks in Washington and agreed to counter Iran's attempts to "destabilize" the global oil market, the US Department of Energy said in a statement released on Tuesday. "Secretary Perry and Minister Al-Falih reaffirmed that as two of the world's top suppliers of oil, the United States and Saudi Arabia will continue to work together to ensure that world oil markets remain well supplied to offest disruptions, especially in light of Iran's aggressive efforts to destabilize them," the document said. Washington reimposed sanctions on Iran's oil in November 2018 after US President Donald Trump announced the decision to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal. The US allowed China, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey to continue importing Iranian oil until 2 May 2019. | null | https://tass.com/world/1072249 | 2019-08-07 02:53:14+00:00 | 1,565,160,794 | 1,567,534,651 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
569,262 | tass--2019-08-19--Tatneft Board to discuss market strategy in oil and gas chemical industry on August 26 | 2019-08-19T00:00:00 | tass | Tatneft Board to discuss market strategy in oil and gas chemical industry on August 26 | KAZAN, August 19. /TASS/. The Board of Directors of Tatneft will discuss the new market strategy of refining and gas processing with consideration of the growing volume and quantity of new products as a result of Taneco Refinery expansion on August 26. Information about it was posted on the data disclosure website. Tatneft plans to roll out the first stage of an oil and gas chemical complex (OGCC) construction, with Russia’s first maleic anhydride plant to be built within its framework in 2021, the oil producer told TASS earlier. Planned production capacity of maleic anhydride will be 50,000 tonnes per year plus 25,000 tonnes per year of its derivatives. Such products are not produced in Russia so far. Maleic anhydride and its derivatives are used in making glass plastics and in the construction industry. The first stage of the complex development also provides for the production of polypropylene with the annual output of 247,000 tonnes per year, acrylonitrile with the output of 55,000 tonnes per year, and carbon fiber with the output of 10,000 tonnes per year. The second stage provides for the construction of an ethylene plant and development of polyethylene, plastics and polystyrene clusters. | null | https://tass.com/economy/1073998 | 2019-08-19 10:15:24+00:00 | 1,566,224,124 | 1,567,534,014 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
571,608 | tass--2019-10-02--Black swans affect oil market more than fundamental factors Russian energy minister | 2019-10-02T00:00:00 | tass | 'Black swans’ affect oil market more than fundamental factors — Russian energy minister | MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. The situation on the oil market is almost stable, though the pressure of geopolitical factors is becoming increasingly strong, which makes forecasting more difficult, Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak told a session of the Russian Energy Week on Wednesday. "Despite the fact that we witness a certain stable price movement around $60 (per barrel), we still witness no stability on the market. We feel that ‘black swans’ are floating around," he said. "As of today ‘black swans’ are playing a fundamental role, and we should think how to offset the influence of those factors," Novak added. The impact trade wars between countries have on oil consumption has risen over the past two years, the minister said. "That [decrease in consumption — TASS] surely offers little room for optimism about the current state and forecasts," he noted. Oil demand is expected to rise by 1.4 mln barrels per day in 2020 compared with 2019, Novak said in an article in The Energy Policy magazine published on Wednesday. This year the demand was under the pressure of trade wars, with daily increase only equaling 1 mln barrels, he pointed out, adding that the growth in oil demand will recover next year. | null | https://tass.com/economy/1080934 | 2019-10-02 08:50:30+00:00 | 1,570,020,630 | 1,570,221,764 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
571,687 | tass--2019-10-02--Use of all oil market balancing mechanisms is important says Putin | 2019-10-02T00:00:00 | tass | Use of all oil market balancing mechanisms is important, says Putin | MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. It is important to apply all the mechanisms for oil market balancing with participation of all countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday at the Russian Energy Week Forum. "It is extremely important to employ all the mechanisms for market balancing subject to interests of all countries, find mutually acceptable trade-offs. The OPEC+ deal, the history’s first successful interaction of OPEC member-states and non-OPEC countries, has become a bright example of such dialog," Putin said. Oil prices have returned to their earlier level after the spike caused by the drone attack against oil facilities of Saudi Arabia because there are no fundamental preconditions at the moment for the oil price increase, Putin said at the meeting with OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo. "The recent large-scale attack against oil infrastructural facilities in Saudi Arabia certainly provoked the oil price hike," the Russian President said. "Nevertheless, I was confident everything would return to current figures because there are no fundamental grounds for dramatic fluctuations on the market," Putin said. | null | https://tass.com/economy/1081021 | 2019-10-02 11:57:39+00:00 | 1,570,031,859 | 1,570,221,764 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
573,679 | tass--2019-11-15--Putin supports continuing cooperation with OPEC on stabilizing oil market | 2019-11-15T00:00:00 | tass | Putin supports continuing cooperation with OPEC on stabilizing oil market | BRASILIA, November 14. /TASS/. Russia will continue working together with OPEC to stabilize the oil market not only through output regulation but also in other spheres as well, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters after the BRICS summit in Brazil on Thursday. "A constructive dialogue has been established with OPEC. We understand where this tough position [on cutting output] comes from, including the position of our friends in Saudi Arabia on Saudi Aramco IPO," Putin said. "They have their own interests, and we should respect that, which is what we are doing. When it comes to prospects for cooperation, it will not be limited to regulating output," he added. "The system of relations between Russia, OPEC and non-OPEC countries represents an effective instrument of maintaining the balance on the global energy market that is important for everyone, both consumers and producers," he stressed. | null | https://tass.com/economy/1089139 | Fri, 15 Nov 2019 03:09:51 +0300 | 1,573,805,391 | 1,573,777,541 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
573,957 | tass--2019-11-20--Russia will continue to work with OPEC+ to stabilize oil market, says Putin | 2019-11-20T00:00:00 | tass | Russia will continue to work with OPEC+ to stabilize oil market, says Putin | MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/. Russia intends to continue cooperation with OPEC countries under the agreement to stabilize the global oil market, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a plenary meeting of "Russia Calling!" investment forum. "Russia influences the global energy market, it has a serious impact, but we achieve the greatest effect when we work together with other producers. Only coordinated steps bring the optimal effect for global energy markets. In this sense, we will continue to work with Saudi Arabia, with countries of the Persian Gulf, with the OPEC countries within the framework of the system that has been created in recent years, - OPEC+," he said. According to Putin, Russia and OPEC+ have a common goal, despite "disputes over some minor elements". "The goal is to ensure that the market is balanced, acceptable for both producers and consumers, and, most importantly, that it is predictable," he concluded. | null | https://tass.com/economy/1091065 | Wed, 20 Nov 2019 16:48:17 +0300 | 1,574,286,497 | 1,574,295,721 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
602,865 | thedailycaller--2019-05-04--Unrest In Venezuela Used To Roil Oil Markets Heres Why This Time Its Different | 2019-05-04T00:00:00 | thedailycaller | Unrest In Venezuela Used To Roil Oil Markets. Here’s Why This Time It’s Different | When Juan Guaido launched his coup attempt, oil markets didn’t do what they typically do in the face of supply threats. Instead, markets largely shrugged off Venezuelan unrest instead of sending prices soaring. That’s because of two factors: mismanagement by Venezuela’s socialist government and the U.S. energy boom. At the turn of the century, Venezuela’s daily oil production was around 3 million barrels per day, but output dramatically declined during the reign of former President Hugo Chavez, a former military officer who took control in 1999. Venezuela sits atop the world’s largest proven oil reserves. “Venezuela’s oil production has collapsed in recent years,” Juan Carlos Hidalgo, a policy analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute who specializes in Latin America, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Years of mismanagement, corruption and underinvestment are taking a toll,” Hidalgo said. “Oil has long been a terribly distorting factor in Venezuela’s political system.” Chavez, who essentially ruled as a socialist dictator, took several actions early on that crippled Venezuela’s long-term oil prospects, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, including firing thousands of experiences oil workers and subsidizing oil shipments to Cuba and other countries. Venezuela was also burdened by high inflation, corruption and rampant crime. Things went into freefall in 2014 when global oil prices collapsed amid booming U.S. shale production and the refusal of Saudi Arabia to cut output. President Nicolas Maduro came to power in 2013, but mismanagement of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), the state-owned oil company, did not stop. Venezuela’s oil output continued to decline, and that’s something experts don’t see stopping anytime soon. (RELATED: A ‘War’ On Warming? Britain Is In The Grip Of A Climate Change Panic) “Production will continue to decline while Maduro remains in power,” Jorge Salazar-Carrillo, an economist at Florida International University, told TheDCNF. That’s also because of sanctions the Trump administration placed on Venezuelan oil in January. Since then, Venezuela’s oil exports have fallen 40 percent and petroleum imports have been cut as well. U.S. President Donald Trump’s goal is to force Maduro from power and usher in opposition leader Guiado, who the U.S. and its allies consider to be the country’s rightful leader. Maduro, however, refused to step down, precipitating a coup attempt by Guaido and supporters on Tuesday. So far, Guaido has failed to oust Maduro, but the coup attempt has also failed to have a major impact on global oil prices. That’s where American energy comes into the picture. Combined with sanctions against Iran, Venezuelan unrest would have sent prices soaring, but prices oil fell “amid signs of a sharp increase in U.S. crude inventories,” Bloomberg reported. U.S. oil output hit a record high of 12.3 million per day, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration weekly production data. Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling has unleashed U.S. oil and natural gas production over the last decade. The Trump administration made “energy dominance” a major part of its foreign policy, and in this case, it’s thus far proven effective. Venezuela’s oil economy is in shambles without having much impact on gas pump prices. U.S. oil and gas production is expected to rise throughout the year while Venezuela’s production is set to dwindle even further — some analysts believe production could be driven down to zero because of sanctions. But even if Guaido is able to oust Maduro, the problems plaguing Venezuela’s will not disappear without serious reforms, Cato’s Hidalgo said. “Reversing this situation will take years and requires an institutional framework that guarantees property rights over oil concessions and welcomes foreign investment,” Hidalgo said. “As long as oil remains in the hands of politicians, the temptation is for corruption, cronyism and patronage.” Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected]. | Michael Bastasch | https://dailycaller.com/2019/05/04/venezuela-oil-market/ | 2019-05-04 12:10:56+00:00 | 1,556,986,256 | 1,567,541,229 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
668,370 | theduran--2019-09-18--Oil at 100 per barrel Attack on Saudi refineries could shake oil market further | 2019-09-18T00:00:00 | theduran | Oil at $100 per barrel? Attack on Saudi refineries could shake oil market further | The drone strike on key Saudi oil facilities could stoke already-flaring tensions in the Middle East, driving crude prices higher amid growing fears of supply shortages, market and industry experts believe. The devastating attack on major Saudi oil refineries at Abqaiq and Khurais slashed the kingdom’s output by 50 percent and knocked out more than five percent of global daily production. The consequences of the strikes led to uncertainty in the oil market as it’s unclear when the oil giant can restore operations to normal. Analysts warn that it will take longer than had initially been thought to reopen the refineries, which were shut down after the strikes triggered massive fires there. Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, believes several months will pass before the entire plants are back to normal, but production may actually be resumed earlier than that. While Saudi Aramco facilities are offline, concerns of supply shortages are only rising. Crude prices are poised to soar, but by how much has experts divided. “I’m anticipating that oil prices in the near term are going to rise an additional $3 to $5 a barrel, due to the increased amount of geopolitical tensions that we’ve seen since this attack occurred,” Lipow told RT. However, not everyone agrees that squeezed output can push crude prices to $100. Market analyst David Madden of CMC markets argues that such a surge “is highly unlikely,” but still expects oil futures to trade higher. “Maybe for Brent crude oil back up towards $72 or $75 [per barrel], perhaps, or West Texas Intermediate (WTI) up to between $63-65 [per barrel] in the next few weeks is likely,” Madden said in a phone interview. Saudi Arabia is the de-facto leader of OPEC, and other members of the oil cartel can offset the kingdom’s shortages if they come to an agreement on it with allied states, according to the analysts. Kuwait, the UAE and non-member Russia can use their spare capacities for it. However, entities relying on Saudi imports can start seeking alternative supply sources, Abdessamad al-Azani, associate professor at the business and economics department of Qatar University, told Ria Novosti. In this way the US may become the main beneficiary of Saudi oil troubles. “The US can become such an alternative, [US President Donald] Trump made it clear when he wrote that the shipments of oil from the Middle East are not necessary,” al-Azani said. | RT | https://theduran.com/oil-at-100-per-barrel-attack-on-saudi-refineries-could-shake-oil-market-further/ | 2019-09-18 10:35:16+00:00 | 1,568,817,316 | 1,569,329,993 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
813,328 | thenewyorktimes--2019-04-15--US Risks Roiling Oil Markets in Trying to Tighten Sanctions | 2019-04-15T00:00:00 | thenewyorktimes | U.S. Risks Roiling Oil Markets in Trying to Tighten Sanctions | WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has reached a critical juncture in its efforts to tighten United States oil sanctions against Iran and Venezuela. By pressuring China and India to end or sharply reduce oil purchases from Iran and Venezuela, American officials are seeking to cut off a key economic lifeline for what the administration considers to be two rogue nations that threaten the stability of the Middle East and Latin America. But they must do that without roiling global markets, further straining relations with China and India or raising gasoline prices in the United States. The dilemma has led to a fierce debate within the Trump administration, which is set to decide by May 2 whether to extend waivers allowing China, India and three other nations to buy Iranian oil. A halt of oil shipments would constrict global oil supplies and increase costs at a time when much of the world economy is slowing. | EDWARD WONG and CLIFFORD KRAUSS | https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/15/world/middleeast/us-china-india-venezuela-iran-oil.html?partner=rss&emc=rss | 2019-04-15 22:02:37+00:00 | 1,555,380,157 | 1,567,542,953 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
813,352 | thenewyorktimes--2019-04-16--US Risks Roiling Oil Markets in Trying to Tighten Sanctions | 2019-04-16T00:00:00 | thenewyorktimes | U.S. Risks Roiling Oil Markets in Trying to Tighten Sanctions | WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has reached a critical juncture in its efforts to tighten United States oil sanctions against Iran and Venezuela. By pressuring China and India to end or sharply reduce oil purchases from Iran and Venezuela, American officials are seeking to cut off a key economic lifeline for what the administration considers to be two rogue nations that threaten the stability of the Middle East and Latin America. But they must do that without roiling global markets, further straining relations with China and India or raising gasoline prices in the United States. The dilemma has led to a fierce debate within the Trump administration, which is set to decide by May 2 whether to extend waivers allowing China, India and three other nations to buy Iranian oil. A halt of oil shipments would constrict global oil supplies and increase costs at a time when much of the world economy is slowing. | EDWARD WONG and CLIFFORD KRAUSS | https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/15/world/middleeast/us-china-india-venezuela-iran-oil.html?partner=rss&emc=rss | 2019-04-16 03:55:39+00:00 | 1,555,401,339 | 1,567,542,839 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
815,781 | thenewyorktimes--2019-09-16--After Saudi Attack Oil Market Is on Edge What if the Other Shoe Drops | 2019-09-16T00:00:00 | thenewyorktimes | After Saudi Attack, Oil Market Is on Edge: ‘What if the Other Shoe Drops?’ | HOUSTON — Fixing the damage done by the drone attack on the Saudi oil processing plant may be the easy part. The hard part will be calming energy markets, where oil prices have jumped faster than at any time in over a decade. The attack on a Saudi Arabian plant that accounts for 5 percent of global oil supplies and a nearby facility took 5.7 million barrels a day of production off line for at least a few days. It also revealed the significant danger that drones pose to the Persian Gulf’s sprawling processing plants, pipelines and refineries. “The psyche has been altered,” said Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis for Oil Price Information Service. “Now you have the thought, `What if the other shoe drops and we have a wider conflict?’” For years, American and Saudi security analysts have worried about the Abqaiq processing facility, which removes sulfur impurities and makes crude oil less volatile so it can be safely exported on tankers. Without the plant, much of the oil that Saudi Arabia produces at its giant Ghawar and Shaybah oil fields would have nowhere to go. | Clifford Krauss | https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/16/business/oil-prices-markets.html?emc=rss&partner=rss | 2019-09-16 21:26:21+00:00 | 1,568,683,581 | 1,569,330,215 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
1,059,188 | unian--2019-01-03--Reuters Oil prices fall on demand fears market volatility | 2019-01-03T00:00:00 | unian | Reuters: Oil prices fall on demand fears, market volatility | U.S. crude production stood at a record 11.7 million barrels per day (bpd) in late 2018, making America the world's biggest oil producer. Oil prices fell by 1 to 2 percent on Thursday amid volatile currency and stock markets, and on concerns that an economic slowdown in 2019 will cut into fuel demand just as crude supplies are surging. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures dropped by 2.2 percent, or $1.01, from their last settlement to $45.53 by 0550 GMT, Reuters said. International Brent crude futures were down 1.4 percent, or 76 cents, at $54.15 a barrel. Read alsoReuters: Oil opens 2019 with losses on surging supply, signs of economic slowdown In physical oil markets, top exporter Saudi Arabia is expected to cut February prices for heavier crude grades sold to Asia by up to 50 cents a barrel due to weaker fuel oil margins, respondents to a Reuters survey said on Thursday. More fundamentally, oil markets have come under pressure from a surge in supply just as demand growth is expected to slow amid the market turmoil. U.S. crude production stood at a record 11.7 million barrels per day (bpd) in late 2018, making America the world's biggest oil producer. Others are not sitting idle, with Russian output reaching a record of more than 11 million bpd in 2018. Supply from Iraq, the number two producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is also up, with December exports at 3.73 million bpd, up from 3.37 million bpd in November. | null | https://economics.unian.info/10397880-reuters-oil-prices-fall-on-demand-fears-market-volatility.html | 2019-01-03 06:55:00+00:00 | 1,546,516,500 | 1,567,554,178 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
1,061,437 | unian--2019-04-09--Reuters Oil prices hover near five-month highs as global markets tighten | 2019-04-09T00:00:00 | unian | Reuters: Oil prices hover near five-month highs as global markets tighten | Brent and WTI futures have risen by 40 percent and 30 percent respectively since the start of the year. Oil prices rose to fresh 5-month highs on Tuesday as markets tightened amid OPEC-led supply cuts, U.S. sanctions against Iran and Venezuela, and escalating violence in Libya. International benchmark Brent futures hit their strongest level since last November at $71.34 per barrel, before easing to $71.18 per barrel by 0452 GMT, still 8 cents, or 0.1 percent, above their last close, as reported by Reuters. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures also hit a November 2018 high, at $64.77 per barrel, before easing to $64.53, up 13 cents, or 0.2 percent. Oil markets have tightened this year as the United States imposed sanctions on oil exporters Iran and Venezuela while the producer club of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has been withholding supply to prop up prices. Brent and WTI futures have risen by 40 percent and 30 percent respectively since the start of the year. Goldman Sachs said an oil supply deficit had opened up early this year. "We expect the drivers of this deficit to persist through 2Q19" due to a "shock and awe implementation of the OPEC cuts ... further tightening of U.S. oil sanctions and an only moderate increase in shale production for now," the U.S. bank said in a note. Goldman said it expected Brent to average $72.50 per barrel during the second quarter, up from a previous forecast of $65 per barrel. Prices have been further lifted this week by escalating violence in Libya, a significant supplier of oil to Europe, which produced around 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in March. Eastern forces on Monday were advancing on the Libyan capital Tripoli in the latest of a cycle of warfare since Muammar Gaddafi's fall in 2011, with a warplane attacking the city's only functioning airport. Yet despite generally bullish oil markets, concerns that an economic slowdown this year will hit fuel consumption have been preventing crude prices from rising even higher, traders said. And while fears of a global recession ebbed following strong U.S. jobs figures and improved Chinese manufacturing data late last week, Bank of America Merrill Lynch said there was still a "significant slowing in growth globally" in 2019. The bank said it expected Brent and WTI to average $70 per barrel and $59 per barrel respectively in 2019, and $65 per barrel and $60 per barrel in 2020. Goldman Sachs also said oil prices "will decline gradually from this summer as shale and OPEC production increases." Russia, not an OPEC-member but a reluctant participant in the supply cuts, signaled on Monday it wanted to raise output when it meets with OPEC in June because of falling stockpiles. In the United States, crude oil production has risen by more than 2 million bpd since early 2018, to a record 12.2 million bpd, with many analysts expecting output to exceed 13 million bpd soon. | null | https://www.unian.info/economics/10509441-reuters-oil-prices-hover-near-five-month-highs-as-global-markets-tighten.html | 2019-04-09 06:00:00+00:00 | 1,554,804,000 | 1,567,543,515 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
1,062,089 | unian--2019-05-07--Reuters Oil mixed as US-China trade dispute weighs but sanctions keep market tense | 2019-05-07T00:00:00 | unian | Reuters: Oil mixed as U.S.-China trade dispute weighs, but sanctions keep market tense | Traders said prices weighed by stalling trade talks between the United States and China would weigh on global economic growth and dent fuel consumption. Oil prices were mixed on Tuesday, pressured by concerns the escalating Sino-U.S. trade dispute could slow the global economy, while U.S. sanctions on crude exporters Iran and Venezuela helped keep the market on edge. Brent crude oil futures were at $71.28 per barrel at 0443 GMT, 4 cents above their last close, Reuters said. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $62.44 per barrel, 18 cents, or 0.3 percent above their last settlement. Traders said prices weighed by stalling trade talks between the United States and China would weigh on global economic growth and dent fuel consumption. Read alsoReuters: Oil tumbles after Trump threatens new tariffs on Chinese goods Talks between the world's two biggest economies hit a wall over the weekend, when U.S. President Donald Trump announced a raft of new import tariffs on Chinese goods. Tanker brokerage Eastport said in a note that "worsening trade friction between Washington and Beijing poses a downside risk to our forecasts" for petroleum products. On the supply-side, oil markets remain tense as the United States tightens sanctions on Iranian oil exports, saying on Monday it was boosting its military presence in the Middle East. Iran has threatened "reciprocal actions" against U.S. sanctions, which could mean restarting some of its nuclear program. The U.S. sanctions have already halved Iranian crude oil exports over the past year to below 1 million barrels per day (bpd), and shipments to customers are expected to drop to as low as 500,000 bpd in May as sanctions tighten. Beyond Iran, Washington has also placed sanctions on the Venezuelan government under President Nicolas Maduro, disrupting supplies from the country, a founding member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). | null | https://www.unian.info/economics/10540866-reuters-oil-mixed-as-u-s-china-trade-dispute-weighs-but-sanctions-keep-market-tense.html | 2019-05-07 06:00:00+00:00 | 1,557,223,200 | 1,567,541,003 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
1,064,065 | unian--2019-08-27--Reuters Oil rises as US-China trade comments calm markets | 2019-08-27T00:00:00 | unian | Reuters: Oil rises as U.S.-China trade comments calm markets | Oil prices have fallen around 20% from a 2019 high reached in April, in part because of worries that the U.S.-China trade conflict is hurting the global economy, which could dent demand for oil. Oil prices rose on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump predicted a trade deal with China after positive comments by Beijing, calming nerves after a round of tit-for-tat tariff hikes had sent markets reeling. Brent crude LCOc1 was up by 25 cents, or 0.4%, at $58.95 a barrel by 0214 GMT, after falling 1% in the previous session, dropping for a third day in a row, as reported by Reuters. U.S. crude CLc1 was up by 30 cents or 0.6% at $53.94 a barrel, having also dropped 1% on Monday for a fourth day of declines. Trump on Monday said he believed China was sincere about wanting to reach a deal, while Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said China was willing to resolve the dispute through "calm" negotiations, settling global markets. "For now, the street is in thrall to the President's comments, with financial markets doing abrupt changes of direction on his words that wouldn't look out of place in Fast and the Furious film," said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA. Oil prices have fallen around 20% from a 2019 high reached in April, in part because of worries that the U.S.-China trade conflict is hurting the global economy, which could dent demand for oil. China's Commerce Ministry said last week it would impose additional tariffs of 5% or 10% on a total of 5,078 products originating from the United States, including crude oil, agricultural products and small aircraft. In retaliation, Trump said he was ordering U.S. companies to look at ways to close operations in China and make products in the United States. "Unless you believe a trade deal will happen the slowdown in the global economy continues... and earnings all over the globe will be under pressure," said Greg McKenna, strategist at McKenna Macro. The measures are prompting reactions from Chinese companies, with Sinopec seeking a tariff exemption for importing U.S. oil in the coming months, sources told Reuters. Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories likely fell last week, while distillate stockpiles rose, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday. Five analysts polled by Reuters estimated, on average, that crude inventories fell 2.1 million barrels in the week to Aug. 23. | null | https://www.unian.info/economics/10663344-reuters-oil-rises-as-u-s-china-trade-comments-calm-markets.html | 2019-08-27 06:00:00+00:00 | 1,566,900,000 | 1,567,543,680 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
1,066,291 | unian--2019-12-06--Reuters: Oil drops as market awaits ratification of OPEC+ supply cut | 2019-12-06T00:00:00 | unian | Reuters: Oil drops as market awaits ratification of OPEC+ supply cut | A panel of ministers representing OPEC and non-OPEC producers led by Russia recommended the cuts. Oil slipped in early Asian trade on Friday, with U.S. crude moving further away from a two-month high after OPEC agreed to increase output curbs in early 2020 but failed to promise further steps after March. Brent futures LCOc1 were down 21 cents, or 0.3%, at $63.18 by 0258 GMT, Reuters said. West Texas Intermediate oil futures CLc1 fell 14 cents, or 0.2%, to $58.29 a barrel. They hit $59.12 a barrel on Thursday, the highest since the end of September. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia - a grouping known as OPEC+ - agreed to more output cuts to avert oversupply early next year as economic growth stagnates amid the U.S.-China trade war. The agreement, which needs to be formally adopted later on Friday, will cut an extra 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) of production, through tighter compliance and some adjustments. The group has been withholding 1.2 million bpd and the increased amount represents about 1.7% of global oil output. The "decision seems to be more of a housekeeping move that will narrow the gap between their current target and the over-compliance we have seen from the alliance," said Edward Moya senior market analyst at OANDA. A panel of ministers representing OPEC and non-OPEC producers led by Russia recommended the cuts, according to Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak on Thursday. Details need to be hammered out at an OPEC+ meeting that starts later on Friday in Vienna. Any price gains from the OPEC+ output cut are likely to benefit American producers not party to any supply curbing agreement. American drillers have been breaking production records even as they cut the number of oil rigs in operation, filling gaps in global supplies. | null | https://www.unian.info/economics/10782851-reuters-oil-drops-as-market-awaits-ratification-of-opec-supply-cut.html | Fri, 06 Dec 2019 09:00:00 +0200 | 1,575,640,800 | 1,575,635,535 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
1,088,144 | veteranstoday--2019-04-04--Duff on Press TV Oil Sanctions Iran Waivers and Market Manipulation | 2019-04-04T00:00:00 | veteranstoday | Duff on Press TV: Oil Sanctions, Iran Waivers and Market Manipulation | The US special representative for Iran says Washington is not looking to grant any further waivers to countries importing Iranian oil. Brian Hook says three of the eight countries that had been granted exemptions have already cut their imports to zero. Hook did not specify the countries in question. He stressed that oil market conditions are now prepared for the U-S to ramp up pressure on Iran’s oil sector. The threats come as the International Atomic Energy Agency once again reaffirms Iran’s compliance with the country’s 20-15 nuclear deal, known as the J-C-P-O-A. The agency says its inspectors have full access to all the sites they need to visit in Iran. Last May, United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, re-imposing sanctions that had been lifted following the accord. | Gordon Duff, Senior Editor | https://www.veteranstoday.com/2019/04/03/oil-sanctions-iran-waivers-and-market-manipulation-duff-on-press-tv/ | 2019-04-04 03:40:23+00:00 | 1,554,363,623 | 1,567,543,986 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
1,116,121 | zerohedge--2019-11-26--Two Factors To Upend Oil Markets In 2020 | 2019-11-26T00:00:00 | zerohedge | Two Factors To Upend Oil Markets In 2020 | The major forecasters see an oil supply surplus next year, but those bearish outlooks largely depend on the health of U.S. shale growth in 2020, an assumption that is looking increasingly fanciful. Financial struggles are well-known, but the dominoes continue to fall. As Bloomberg reported, some drillers have recently seen their credit lines reduced, limiting their access to fresh capital. Twice a year in the spring and fall, banks reassess their credit lines to shale drillers, and decide how much they will authorize companies to borrow. This time around is expected to be the first time in roughly three years that lenders tighten up lending capacities. The curtailment in lending comes at a time when scrutiny on shale finances is increasing. Share prices have fallen sharply this year as investors lose interest. The industry continues to burn cash, and lenders and investors shunning the industry. Of course, if drillers cannot borrow to cover their financing gaps, they may be forced into bankruptcy. The cutting of the borrowing base “can be a good precursor to potential bankruptcy because as capital markets stay closed off for these companies, the borrowing base serves as the only source of liquidity,” Billy Bailey, Saltstone Capital Management LLC portfolio manager, told Bloomberg. Not every company is entirely cut off from capital markets. As Liam Denning points out, Diamondback Energy was able to issue $3 billion in new bonds at low interest rates, which highlights the case of “haves and have nots” within the industry. But the financial stress helps explain the slowdown in U.S. oil production this year. The U.S. added about 2 million barrels per day (mb/d) between January 2018 and the end of last year; but output is only up a few hundred thousand barrels per day in 2019 from January through August. Confusingly, the IEA still forecasts a substantial increase in U.S. oil production in 2020 at 1.2 mb/d, but not everyone agrees with that optimistic outlook. The credit crunch and financial stress in the shale sector could lead to a disappointment in 2020. It is against this bewildering backdrop that OPEC+ must decide its next move. The IEA says that OPEC+ is in for some trouble as a supply glut looms – in large part because of shale growth. Others agree, to be sure. Commerzbank said that OPEC’s efforts to focus on laggards such as Iraq and Nigeria will be insufficient. “It is a mystery why OPEC should believe that it can avoid this oversupply by making just a few cosmetic adjustments,” the investment bank said. “By early next year at the latest OPEC thus risks being rudely awakened.” However, at the same time, the physical market is showing some slightly bullish signs. In the oil futures market, front-month contracts for Brent are trading at a premium to longer-dated ones. The six-month premium rose to $3.50 per barrel recently, up from $1.90 last month, Reuters reports. A large premium is typically associated with a tighter market. Moreover, there is a chance of a thaw in the U.S.-China trade war, which could provide some tailwinds to the global economy. It’s become impossible to trust the daily rumors coming from Washington and Beijing, but the two sides have shown some desire to at least call a truce and not step up the tariffs. Still, the economy has slowed. The OECD warned that global GDP will decelerate to just 2.9 percent this year, and remain within a 2.9-3.0 percent range through 2021. This is the weakest rate of growth in a decade, and is down sharply from the 3.8 percent seen last year. “Two years of escalating conflict over tariffs, principally between the US and China, has hit trade, is undermining business investment and is putting jobs at risk,” the OECD said. The U.S. and China, then, have a great deal of influence over the near-term prospects for oil. As mentioned, there is still a wide range of opinions on the magnitude of the oil supply surplus in 2020, but a breakthrough in the trade war would immediately shift growth projections, oil demand trajectories, and, importantly, sentiment. Even the mere expectation of an economic rebound would send oil prices rising, at least for a little while. On the other hand, the thaw in the trade war is far from inevitable. The two sides have shown little evidence, if any, that they are actually making progress on some of the structural issues at hand. There is still the possibility that the talks fall apart and the trade war marches on, or even grows worse. Because it is generally assumed that the oil market has already factored in some degree of optimism around tariff reduction, which has likely added a few dollars to the barrel of oil, a reassessment to the downside would surely send oil prices tumbling. | Tyler Durden | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/Ii7t7TmV8Is/two-factors-upend-oil-markets-2020 | Tue, 26 Nov 2019 00:05:00 +0000 | 1,574,744,700 | 1,574,729,514 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
499,352 | sottnet--2019-03-30--Washington demands foreign firms cut oil trade with Venezuela | 2019-03-30T00:00:00 | sottnet | Washington demands foreign firms cut oil trade with Venezuela | Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with the core belief. | null | https://www.sott.net/article/410120-Washington-demands-foreign-firms-cut-oil-trade-with-Venezuela | 2019-03-30 12:14:10+00:00 | 1,553,962,450 | 1,567,544,721 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
502,221 | sottnet--2019-06-03--Chinas oil industry prepares for worst-case trade war scenario in response to US sanctions | 2019-06-03T00:00:00 | sottnet | China's oil industry prepares for worst-case trade war scenario in response to US sanctions | "It only happens when both countries are going into war. Cutting off oil supplies to China to some extent is equal to a declaration of war," As the U.S.-China trade war continues to escalate , Beijing and its energy giants appear to be bracing for a worst-case scenario where the spat would drag on for years and possibly result in Chinese foreign oil supply stifled.The idea that the world's top oil importer could see some of its overseas crude supply blocked has always been an unthinkable notion, but now some analysts and Chinese industry executives suggest that China should prepare for the very worst of the worst, such as its oil supply impacted by a lengthy trade dispute.Laban Yu, an analyst with Jefferies Group LLC in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg Yu added.Chinese oil industry executives said this past week that China's oil industry must have a contingency plan in case the trade war takes another turn for the worse.According to Bloomberg, Wang Yilin, chairman of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), told employees to prepare for a "protracted" trade conflict, while Fu Chengyu, former chairman at Sinopec, said that China should be ready for the extreme and far-fetched case that its oil supply could be blocked in the short term.Industry executives also stressed the need that China should work to achieve 'energy self-sufficiency', which, according to Fu, has become an "urgent reality."Over the past year, China's biggest energy producers have started to tap more tight oil and gas wells, aiming to increase domestic oil and natural gas production at the world's largest crude oil importer.A PetroChina test oil well at a shale field in western China could finally mean a strong commercial potential for shale oil for the first time in the world's top crude importer, Morgan Stanley said earlier this year. The shale boom in China, however, would be just a fraction of the U.S. shale revolution - Morgan Stanley expects Chinese shale oil production could reach between 100,000 bpd and 200,000 bpd by 2025, which is nothing compared to the millions of barrels of oil pumped in the United States every day.According to analysts at S&P Global Platts Analytics and Wood Mackenzie, China is set to miss its 2020 shale gas production targets, due to complex geology, low well productivity, marginal economics, and infrastructure constraints.'Energy independence' is still a far-fetched idea in China's case.Equally far-fetched is the idea that the fallout from the trade war could result in stifling Chinese oil imports, according to Neil Beveridge, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co in Hong Kong.Beveridge told Bloomberg.China, however, appears to be filling in its strategic petroleum reserves in recent months, as it has been boosting oil imports by 10 percent while refining output has been growing at 5 percent, according to the analyst.Due to the trade spat, over the past few months China has also only sporadically bought crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States - a sharp reversal from the booming Chinese imports of American energy at this time last year. There were even some months where China purchased no U.S. crude oil at all, according to EIA data . It has also drastically reduced LNG imports from the U.S. as China has a 10 - percent import tariff on American LNG - a tariff set to rise to 25 percent on June 1. Even those Chinese buyers that have continued to purchase U.S. LNG are now looking to swap American cargoes for cargoes from nations not subject to tariffs, traders with knowledge of the plans told Bloomberg earlier in May., Jefferies Group's Yu told Bloomberg. | null | https://www.sott.net/article/414246-Chinas-oil-industry-prepares-for-worst-case-trade-war-scenario-in-response-to-US-sanctions | 2019-06-03 15:42:34+00:00 | 1,559,590,954 | 1,567,539,312 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
537,411 | sputnik--2019-07-03--India Says It Wont Stop Trading With Iran Despite Modis Announcement of Reduced Oil Imports | 2019-07-03T00:00:00 | sputnik | India Says It Won't Stop Trading With Iran Despite Modi's Announcement of Reduced Oil Imports | India's Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muralidharan said India's relations with Iran remain unchanged and are "not influenced by relations with a third country". Last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pointed out that "although Iran supplies 11% of our energy; India had reduced oil imports from Iran." The cabinet minister said there is no specific government-to-government agreement on the import of crude from Iran. "Such imports are based on commercial contracts between companies," the minister added. During his bilateral meet with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of G-20 in Japan, Modi had said India had reduced the import of crude from Iran and that despite "the effect it had on the Indian economy we had been able to sustain this position". Earlier on Tuesday, Iranian Ambassador to India Ali Chegeni asserted that his country can provide "affordability, accessibility and security" in the energy sector to India. "We expect from a friend...that we understand each other, follow our national interest, and Iran is ready to be the protector of the energy security of India," the ambassdor said while adding that oil imports may have been stopped but Iran had not got any "negative signal" from India that they would do so in future. Amabassador Chegeni spoke to the media on the sidelines of an Iran-India cultural event in New Delhi. "India is a friend forever. We understand that India will act according to its national interest. As we understand from Jaishankar's statement that India will follow its national interest. That is acceptable for everybody," he added. India had initially opted to bow to the US sanctions after the Trump administration decided to end the waivers on 2 May that it granted to eight of Iran’s top oil customers — China, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Greece and Turkey, which had been issued last November. | null | https://sputniknews.com/business/201907031076136597-india-says-it-wont-stop-trading-with-iran-despite-modis-announcement-of-reduced-oil-imports/ | 2019-07-03 15:22:38+00:00 | 1,562,181,758 | 1,567,537,113 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
1,059,211 | unian--2019-01-04--Reuters Oil edges higher on upcoming China-US trade talks OPEC cuts | 2019-01-04T00:00:00 | unian | Reuters: Oil edges higher on upcoming China-U.S. trade talks, OPEC cuts | Despite the global market turmoil, traders said oil prices are expected to receive some support. Oil prices edged up on Friday, shaking off previous losses after China said it would hold talks with the U.S. government on January 7-8 to look for solutions to the trade disputes between the world's two biggest economies. International Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $56.12 per barrel at 0542 GMT, up 17 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last close, Reuters said. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures CLc1 were at $47.25 per barrel, up 16 cents, or 0.3 percent. Both crude benchmarks were down earlier in the session on concerns that the Sino-American trade war would lead to a global economic slowdown. Traders said the firmer prices came after China's commerce ministry said on Friday that it would hold vice ministerial level trade talks with U.S. counterparts in Beijing on January 7-8, as the two sides look to end a dispute that is inflicting increasing pain on both economies and roiling global financial markets. The two nations have been locked in a trade war for much of the past year, disrupting the flow of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods and stoking fears of a global economic slowdown. Data for December from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) on Thursday showed the broadest U.S. slowdown in growth for more than a decade, as the trade conflict with China, falling equity prices and increasing uncertainty started to take a toll on the world's biggest economy. Leading economies in Asia and Europe have already reported a fall in manufacturing activity. Despite the global market turmoil, traders said oil prices are expected to receive some support as supply cuts announced late last year by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) start to kick in. OPEC oil supply fell by 460,000 barrels per day (bpd) between November and December, to 32.68 million bpd, a Reuters survey found on Thursday, as top exporter Saudi Arabia made an early start to a supply-limiting accord, while Iran and Libya posted involuntary declines. | null | https://economics.unian.info/10398765-reuters-oil-edges-higher-on-upcoming-china-u-s-trade-talks-opec-cuts.html | 2019-01-04 06:55:00+00:00 | 1,546,602,900 | 1,567,554,022 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
1,060,188 | unian--2019-02-11--Reuters Oil prices fall as US rig count rise trade concerns | 2019-02-11T00:00:00 | unian | Reuters: Oil prices fall as U.S. rig count rise, trade concerns | OPEC and its allies will meet in Vienna on April 17 and April 18 to review the pact. Oil prices fell by around 1 percent on Monday as drilling activity in the United States, the world's largest oil producer, picked up and financial markets were pulled down by trade concerns. A refinery fire in the U.S. state of Illinois, which resulted in the shutdown of a large crude distillation unit, that could cause crude demand to fall also weighed on prices, traders said, Reuters reported. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $52.09 per barrel at 0347 GMT, down 63 cents, or 1.2 percent, from their last settlement. International Brent crude oil futures were down 49 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $61.61 a barrel. In the United States, energy firms last week increased the number of oil rigs operating for the second time in three weeks, a weekly report by Baker Hughes said on Friday. Companies added seven oil rigs in the week to February 8, bringing the total count to 854, pointing to a further rise in U.S. crude production, which already stands at a record 11.9 million bpd. WTI prices were also weighed down by the closure of a 120,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) crude distillation unit (CDU) at Phillips 66's Wood River, Illinois, refinery following a fire on Sunday. Elsewhere, the head of Russian oil giant Rosneft, Igor Sechin, has written to the Russian President Vladimir Putin saying Moscow's deal with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to withhold output is a strategic threat and plays into the hands of the United States. The so-called OPEC+ deal has been in place since 2017, aimed at reining in a global supply overhang. It has been extended several times and, under the latest deal, participants are cutting output by 1.2 million bpd until the end of June. OPEC and its allies will meet in Vienna on April 17 and April 18 to review the pact. | null | https://economics.unian.info/10441197-reuters-oil-prices-fall-as-u-s-rig-count-rise-trade-concerns.html | 2019-02-11 07:00:00+00:00 | 1,549,886,400 | 1,567,548,971 | economy, business and finance | market and exchange |
1,065,774 | unian--2019-11-15--Russia-occupied Crimea may face irreversible environmental damage over lack of fresh water | 2019-11-15T00:00:00 | unian | Russia-occupied Crimea may face irreversible environmental damage over lack of fresh water | It is impossible to solve the water problem by extracting groundwater. Russia-occupied Crimea may face irreversible environmental damage over the lack of fresh water, since large rivers of the peninsula have dried up. Water reserves in the Chornorichensk water reservoir have decreased to 30 million cubic meters, which is less than half of its volume, RFE/RL's media project Krym/Realii reports. Read alsoUkraine probing into illegal pollution of Black Sea with toxic waste in occupied Crimea (Photo) It is noted the main water reserve in Crimea consists of reservoirs of natural runoff, with a total volume of 188 million cubic meters of water. However, due to the dry autumn, today the reservoirs are filled with about 70-75 million cubic meters of water. The worst situation is with the Ayan reservoir, which partially supplies water to Simferopol, since it is filled with less than half a million cubic meters of water. The upper reaches of the Alma River, which fills the Partisan water reservoir that supplies water to Simferopol, are almost completely dry. The Chornaya River whose waters flow into the Chornorichensk water reservoir used by Sevastopol also has little water. In addition, the small rivers of the towns of Alushta, Sudak and Feodosia dried up. The remaining water in the Balanovo water reservoir was redirected by a water pipeline to the village of Perevalne where Russian military units are stationed. It is impossible to solve the water problem by extracting groundwater, since groundwater resources get depleted day by day. In addition, uncontrolled pumping of water from underground horizons has affected the peninsula's hydrobalance and led to the high mineralization of fresh water. As a result, the excess share of salts has been already recorded in the central part of Crimea. | null | https://www.unian.info/society/10756167-russia-occupied-crimea-may-face-irreversible-environmental-damage-over-lack-of-fresh-water.html | Fri, 15 Nov 2019 11:18:00 +0200 | 1,573,834,680 | 1,573,821,033 | environment | natural resources |
334,151 | naturalnews--2019-01-17--Fracking gas wells linked to migraines fatigue and chronic nasal problems are people being mass | 2019-01-17T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Fracking gas wells linked to migraines, fatigue and chronic nasal problems... are people being mass poisoned by airborne chemicals? | (Natural News) Hydraulic fracturing – more commonly known as fracking – causes much more damage than just the unwanted noise it creates; it may pose a real threat to public safety, a study revealed. Living in areas where fracking activities take place may increase the risk of migraines, severe fatigue and chronic nasal and sinus conditions, according to a study published in Environmental Health Perspectives. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health surveyed 7,785 adult patients of the Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania and found that 23 percent of respondents reported suffering migraines, while 25 percent reported experiencing severe fatigue and 24 percent reported having chronic rhinosinusitis. Researchers also found that respondents who met the criteria for two or more health concerns were twice as likely to live in areas that were nearer to a higher number or larger wells. Researchers said exposure to allergens, secondhand smoke and toxic chemicals can trigger nasal and sinus conditions, while noise pollution, bad smells and stress may contribute to migraine attacks. Sleep deprivation and psychosocial stressors play key roles in the development of severe fatigue, researchers added. “These three health conditions can have debilitating impacts on people’s lives. In addition, they cost the health care system a lot of money. Our data suggest these symptoms are associated with proximity to the fracking industry,” said study author Aaron W. Tustin, who is a resident doctor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Bloomberg School at Johns Hopkins. 100% organic essential oil sets now available for your home and personal care, including Rosemary, Oregano, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, Clary Sage and more, all 100% organic and laboratory tested for safety. A multitude of uses, from stress reduction to topical first aid. See the complete listing here, and help support this news site. Senior author Brian Schwartz added that currently researchers “…don’t know specifically why people in close proximity to these larger wells are more likely to be sick. We need to find a way to better understand the correlation and, hopefully, do something to protect the health of these people.” Pennsylvania’s hydraulic fracturing industry is teeming, with more than 9,000 fracking wells already in place. Fracking has also become a prominent industry in other states including Wyoming and West Virginia. New York, on the other hand, has banned the activity, while Maryland placed a moratorium to delay fracking. Another study found that unconventional oil and gas operations and fracking negatively impacts air quality, and thus pose a health risk to infants and young children. The analysis revealed that at least five chemicals used in unconventional fracking activities – including silica dust, formaldehyde, particulate matter, tropospheric ozone and benzene – were associated with lung inflammation, reduced lung and pulmonary function and reduced resistance to infection. These chemicals were also linked to chest discomfort, breathing difficulties and other serious conditions among infants and young children. These chemicals were also recognized as air pollutants by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, the CDC and Environmental Protection Agency, as well as Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the National Institutes of Health. Researchers said the highly industrial activities that occur during the fracking process sends air pollutants and chemicals in the air, which then results in adverse health effects in younger patients. Infants and children are particularly vulnerable to these pollutants and chemicals as their respiratory systems are still developing. Study authors recommend measures to cut methane emission and calls for more stringent policies on disclosure and transparency of chemical use during fracking. These findings were published in the journal Reviews on Environmental Health. An animal study carried out by researchers at the University of Missouri in Columbia further elaborated the adverse effects of chemicals used in fracking. Study data revealed that female mice exposed to unconventional fracking chemicals showed increased body weight, increased heart weight, collagen deposition and other adverse conditions. Male mice exposed to the same chemicals showed reduced sperm count, researchers said. Lead author Susan C. Nagel said the results suggest that exposure to fracking chemicals may pose developmental and reproductive risks to humans and animals. Visit FrackingWatch.com to know more about the setbacks of fracking. | Earl Garcia | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-01-17-fracking-gas-wells-linked-to-migraines-fatigue-and-chronic-nasal-problems.html | 2019-01-17 10:24:25+00:00 | 1,547,738,665 | 1,567,552,044 | environment | natural resources |
574,932 | tass--2019-12-10--Kremlin says Russia, Ukraine have not yet reached solution of gas transit problem | 2019-12-10T00:00:00 | tass | Kremlin says Russia, Ukraine have not yet reached solution of gas transit problem | MOSCOW, December 10. /TASS/. Russia and Ukraine have not yet managed to find a solution for the problem of gas transit agreement extension and settlement of claims in the Stockholm Arbitration, press secretary to the Russian President Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday. "The gas topic was indeed on the agenda of summit talks - talks between [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and [President of Ukraine Vladimir] Zelensky [in Paris on December 9]. [Gazprom CEO Alexei] Miller and his Ukrainian counterpart attended the meeting; approaches of the parties were presented indeed," Peskov said. "Final agreements have not yet been managed to be reached," he noted. "Positions of the parties were put together; they are well known and consistent, as regards the position of the Russian side," the press secretary said. "It was agreed that chief executives of gas companies and relevant ministers will continue their communication," Peskov said. "Short-term communication at the expert level took place even late at night yesterday," he said. "At the same time, it cannot be said that the solution for the problem of the transit agreement renewal and settlement of the issue of claims in the Stockholm Arbitration was managed to be reached," the Kremlin’s spokesperson said. | null | https://tass.com/economy/1097775 | Tue, 10 Dec 2019 15:33:38 +0300 | 1,576,010,018 | 1,576,023,624 | environment | natural resources |
933,697 | thesun--2019-02-01--Can gas pipes freeze What to do if your area has gas supply problems and the British Gas breakdown | 2019-02-01T00:00:00 | thesun | Can gas pipes freeze? What to do if your area has gas supply problems and the British Gas breakdown contact number | MANY of us are familiar with the headache of a frozen water pipe, but can it happen to your gas supply too? Luckily it's a very rare occurrence. Here are the possible causes - and how you can take action. The simple answer is no, it is highly unlikely that your gas pipes can freeze over. This is because gas is delivered to homes highly pressurised and very dry meaning even the coldest of temperatures will not affect it. The only way a gas pipe could freeze is if it was installed or repaired incorrectly. If water managed to get in during work on the pipes then this could potentially freeze in cold weather and cause disruption to your supply. But even then, this scenario is incredibly rare. What may occur is waste pipes coming from your boiler can freeze, like the white condensate pipe that takes waste water from the system. A simple trick is to heat up some water and pour it on the pipe. How to get a boiler for free REPLACING or repairing a boiler can be expensive. But there is help out there which can help you cut the cost. The Government's Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme will replace old, inefficent boilers for low-income families either completely free of charge or with a big discount. The rules to qualify for the scheme are quite complicated. Your boiler must be at least five years old and receive Pension Credit or Child Tax Credits and have an income of below £16,010. You might also be eligible if you receive benefits like Job Seekers Allowance and Income Support AND at least one other benefit such as Disability Living Allowance or have children under 16 or under 20 if there not in higher education. It isn't available to those in council owned properties - and if you are a private tenant you must have permission from the landlord. Contact the Energy Saving Advice Service on 0300 123 1234 to see if you qualify. If you are not getting the right supply of gas you may have a leak. You should all the gas emergency number on 0800 111 999 immediately if you smell gas or suspect a leak. Open all windows in your home, do not touch electrical equipment and turn off your gas meter. If you do not smell gas and do not suspect a leak, there may be a more general problem with your supply or your boiler. Signs that your boiler is faulty include finding soot around it, a weak yellow flame instead of a blue flame, and the pilot light blowing out easily. In such cases you should contact your gas supplier. If you live in a rented property, contact your landlord. Even if you are not a British Gas customer, the company can carry out home boiler repairs. For a repair and ongoing cover, British Gas charges £99 plus 12 monthly payments of £23. The company also does one-off repairs at: The difference in price rates is dependant on where you live. Contact British Gas on 0333 202 9818 for a one-off repair or visit the website to set up an ongoing cover arrangement. We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours. | Neal Baker | https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/5708014/gas-pipes-what-to-do-gas-supply-problems-british-gas-breakdown-number/ | 2019-02-01 10:19:12+00:00 | 1,549,034,352 | 1,567,549,980 | environment | natural resources |
54,490 | birminghammail--2019-01-16--This is how Solihull plans to reduce air pollution | 2019-01-16T00:00:00 | birminghammail | This is how Solihull plans to reduce air pollution | Pressure to do something about air pollution is growing at both a national and local level. Solihull Council's draft clean air strategy, to be discussed later this week, describes high levels of harmful substances in the air we breathe as "a significant public health issue". The five-year action plan acknowledges that poor air quality can increase the risk of life-threatening conditions including cancer and heart disease and aggravate asthma and related respiratory disorders. A summary which accompanies the dossier said: "It disproportionately affects those who live in more deprived and congested areas, and those who are more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution such as children, older people, and those with existing medical conditions." The draft strategy outlines plans and policies to reduce levels of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter - two pollutants which cause particular concern. The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) looks at some of the steps already being taken and measures which are set to be introduced. Traffic clogging up roads during the school run has been a headache for residents for many years. But there are increasing concerns that the number of vehicles pumping out exhaust fumes is harmful to pupils, who are more susceptible to the effects of air pollution. Solihull last week agreed to look at options for expanding its School Streets scheme, which bans traffic from certain roads at the busier times of the day. Plans are also being drawn up to build on the work being done to educate children about air quality in the classroom. There has already been a concerted effort to support the move towards electric vehicles, which are considered better for the environment than those powered by petrol or diesel. Charging points have been installed in the council's main town centre car parks and the local authority has introduced its own electric vehicle scheme. Residents can expect activity to increase in the coming years, with an emphasis on electric taxis and buses in future. Work will also be done to support the combined authority's bike hire scheme, promote cycle routes and encourage more businesses to introduce initiatives such as car-sharing. Thinking about the air pollution implications during the planning process can reduce the need for more costly mitigation measures in future. The council wants to ensure that new housing developments do not leave residents heavily reliant on cars. This follows concerns that Dickens Heath, which has seen rapid expansion in recent years, has a very limited bus service. Planners will also be urged to avoid allowing the likes of schools or care homes to be built in areas where there are air quality risks. The council is aware that the HS2 rail link - a massive civil engineering project - will bring huge numbers of construction vehicles onto Solihull's roads. The draft strategy stresses the importance of haul routes to keep the traffic away from local residents. Planting trees near air pollution "hotspots" - such as key junctions or traffic lights, where engines are often idling - could help draw harmful fumes out of the atmosphere. Creating more hedges and "green walls" can also clean up the environment, with scientific studies suggesting that the leaves trap air pollution particles. One of the most high-profile initiatives currently underway in Solihull is the proposal to create an underground heat network to serve the town centre. A trial bore dole is being dug in Tudor Grange Park this month, to assess the scheme's viability. Public health officer Sangeeta Leahy had told councillors last year that a dramatic increase in press coverage had pushed air pollution up the agenda. But the council wants to continue to raise public awareness throughout the year, extending beyond the annual publicity drive on Clean Air Day. Campaigns could promote the council's work generally and also focus in on specific issues. For example, encouraging people to leave the car at home on certain days or think about the impact of wood burning devices during the winter months. The draft strategy will be discussed at the economic development and managed growth scrutiny board this Thursday. The document is then set to go to cabinet, to be finalised, next month. | David Irwin | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/how-solihull-plans-reduce-air-15681940 | 2019-01-16 13:12:47+00:00 | 1,547,662,367 | 1,567,552,144 | environment | natural resources |
3,100 | abcnews--2019-12-11--Nearly $226M to restore open Gulf after 2010 BP oil spill | 2019-12-11T00:00:00 | abcnews | Nearly $226M to restore open Gulf after 2010 BP oil spill | NEW ORLEANS -- Federal agencies have approved nearly $226 million for 18 projects to restore open ocean and marine habitats that were decimated in the Gulf of Mexico by the 2010 BP oil spill. The projects range from $52.6 million to study deep-sea habitats to $290,000 to find ways to keep sea turtles from swallowing or getting snagged on hooks or tangled in lines set out for miles along reefs. They are described in a 490-page report released Tuesday. The nonprofit Ocean Conservancy said it's “the world’s first plan to restore the open ocean and deep-sea environment from a major oil disaster.” “Ocean Conservancy welcomes this major conservation milestone for the Gulf of Mexico,” CEO Janis Searles Jones said in a news release. The explosion April 20, 2010, on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig killed 11 workers. The well spewed 210 million gallons (795 million liters) of oil before it was capped 87 days later. The open ocean recovery plan was drawn up by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with help from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The money is from BP's $8.8 billion settlement for natural resources damage, said NOAA Deepwater Horizon program manager Rachel Sweeney. The projects, expected to run two to 15 years, were chosen from about 1,600 submitted by the public, non-governmental organizations, as well as local, state and federal agencies. The plan includes $126.2 million to study habitats in deep water and water between 100 feet (30 meters) and more than 490 feet (150 meters) deep. That includes $35.9 million for high-resolution mapping and analysis and $52.6 million to analyze damaged and undamaged habitats at those depths, learning more about the corals. Another $20.7 million would manage and protect corals and $16.9 million would develop techniques to grow and transplant them. The longest-running program would spend $5.7 million to create a sea turtle atlas indicating where and when species found in the Gulf would most likely be found, and how they use various habitats. It's among six programs, totaling $18.9 million, for sea turtles. All five species found in the Gulf are threatened or endangered. About $22.9 million is dedicated to four programs to protect whales and dolphins. “We will develop and implement tools and techniques to reduce risks to marine mammals from vessel collisions, ocean noise, and human-caused and natural disasters,” Laurie Rounds, of NOAA's Office of Habitat Conservation said during a news teleconference Tuesday. Another $57.7 million would protect fish, including $30 million for a program to distribute and promote devices that let deep-sea fish released by anglers be returned gradually to the depths where they live. When deepwater fish are brought rapidly to the surface, gases in their organs and tissues expand. That also makes it hard for them to swim back down, making them easy prey, the report said. “Supplying fishermen with the tools and knowledge to minimize barotrauma-related mortality would result in increased survival of fish released during recreational fishing activities,” it said. | null | https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/226m-restore-open-gulf-2010-bp-oil-spill-67666256 | Wed, 11 Dec 2019 18:19:14 -0500 | 1,576,106,354 | 1,576,109,229 | environment | natural resources |
66,519 | birminghammail--2019-09-18--Driver moves 600 yards in 90 minutes amid M5 oil spill chaos | 2019-09-18T00:00:00 | birminghammail | Driver moves 600 yards in 90 minutes amid M5 oil spill chaos | Drivers faced long delays on the M5 after an oil spill caused travel chaos. There were major delays around junction four, at Bromsgrove, after the incident earlier on Wednesday afternoon, September 18. Two lanes were closed at the junction roundabout, causing delays of least 30 minutes. Highways England tweeted: "Two lanes, of four, remain closed on the roundabout. This is causing very long delays on ALL approaches to the roundabout, including A491 south (Sandy Lane), A38 south (Birmingham Road) and A38 north (Halesowen Road). It earlier tweeted: "Please be aware there are long delay s of at least 30 mins with slow traffic on M5 north from J4a and south from J3. "Please allow plenty of extra time and consider alternative routes (if possible). Also long delays on the A491 and A38 approaches to #LydiateAsh roundabout. The agency had earlier posted a tweet saying it was working to 'clear up' the liquid. But as the delays grew, patience began to wear thin. Lee Parker tweeted Highways England to ask: "How does it take five hours to clear a spillage? I’ve been stuck on A38 for an hour and a half leading up to junction I’ve moved 600 yards." | [email protected] (Cathrina Hulse-BM) | https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/driver-moves-600-yards-90-16942374 | 2019-09-18 18:02:00+00:00 | 1,568,844,120 | 1,569,329,904 | environment | natural resources |
77,630 | breitbart--2019-12-17--Lawyer Accused of Defrauding BP Oil Spill Settlement Hosts Biden Fundraiser | 2019-12-17T00:00:00 | breitbart | Lawyer Accused of Defrauding BP Oil Spill Settlement Hosts Biden Fundraiser | Joe Biden attended a fundraiser hosted by a high-profile trial lawyer, once accused of defrauding the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill recovery effort, during a recent campaign swing through Texas. The former vice president traveled to the Lone Star State on Friday for a series of events meant to bolster his standing ahead of Super Tuesday. Among the scheduled rallies and town halls was a little noticed fundraiser in San Antonio, Texas, with Democrat power brokers. The event, attended by a bevy of special interests, was hosted by Mikal Watts, a well connected trial lawyer. Watts, who unsuccessfully sought the Democrat nomination for U.S. Senate in 2008 on a pro-life and anti-gay marriage platform, is a prolific campaign donor. Since 1992, Watts has steered more than a million to Democrat candidates and causes. Included on the list of elected officials he has backed are President Barack Obama, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Warren, in particular, benefited from a $25,000 donation the trial lawyer gave to a federal PAC supporting her reelection campaign in 2018. Apart from being known as top-dollar political donor, Watts is also one of the country’s most sought after trial lawyers. Watts has fought and won numerous multi-million-dollar settlements against the giants of corporate America, like Ford Motor Company and TransUnion. One of those cases, however, nearly ended with the trial lawyer, himself, behind bars. In September 2015, Watts was indicted by federal prosecutors on 66 charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, and identity theft. Along with his brother and several associates, Watts was accused of “fabricating” thousands of clients when filing a damages suit against BP in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The allegations stemmed back to 2013 when the oil company accused Watts in federal court of fraudulently conspiring to drive up settlement costs related to the spill. The New York Times reported on BP’s claims when they were first made 2013: BP’s initial lawsuit led to the Secret Service raiding Watts’ law office in San Antonio in search of proof of widespread fraud. The raid and further investigation led to Watts’ indictment in 2016. When announcing their case, prosecutors alleged a significant portion of the 41,000 fisherman Watts claimed to represent along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas were either made up or had their identities stolen for the suit. When the indictment was first released, it drew public notice because one of the clients Watts purportedly represented, a fisherman named “Lucy Lu,” was in actuality a dog. In making their case, prosecutors cited that fact and emails Watts’ brother sent him in 2010 indicating there were irregularities in the personal information provided by their clients. Prosecutors argued Watts ignored such troubling signs because he was motivated by greed, especially the desire to receive an appointment to the steering committee of lawyers that would represent all the oil spill victims in court. Securing the post would make Watts eligible to receive a cut of the final settlement. Regardless if he knew his client list was inflated, Watts was appointed to the steering committee, partially because he represented a sizable chunk of the overall plaintiffs. In 2012, the steering committee negotiated a settlement worth $2.3 billion with BP. It is uncertain how much Watts netted from the suit, although the cut of each lawyer on the steering committee is estimated to have been upwards of $40 million. Despite the appearance of wrongdoing, Watts and his associates were acquitted by a jury in August 2016. The jury’s decision came after Watts argued the government was unable to prove he had knowingly submitted false client names. Watts further claimed his firm had outsourced finding clients for the BP suit to a group from Mississippi, which he claimed had misspent resources. After being acquitted, Watts returned to his law practice and his life as a top political donor. Before supporting Biden, the trial lawyer was a strong backer of Beto O’Rourke’s failed presidential candidacy. It is unclear if Biden knew about Watts’ history before allowing him to host a fundraiser on his behalf. As vice president, Biden was a key player in the cleanup efforts surrounding the BP oil spill. | Haris Alic | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/PKBKLq0rlNk/ | Tue, 17 Dec 2019 02:09:33 +0000 | 1,576,566,573 | 1,576,584,509 | environment | natural resources |
153,172 | drudgereport--2019-11-01--Keystone pipeline shut after spilling 9,000 barrels of oil in NDakota... | 2019-11-01T00:00:00 | drudgereport | Keystone pipeline shut after spilling 9,000 barrels of oil in NDakota... | Oct 31 (Reuters) - An estimated 9,120 barrels of oil have spilled from TC Energy Corp's Keystone crude pipeline in North Dakota, state authorities said on Thursday, a major leak at a time of increased regulatory scrutiny of oil pipeline expansions. The initial estimate makes it one of the biggest onshore crude spills in the past decade and the largest for Keystone, according to U.S. Pipeline Hazardous Materials and Safety Administration (PHMSA) data back to 2010. The cause of the rupture has not been disclosed. Pipeline operator TC Energy is seeking to expand its pipelines linking Western Canadian oil fields to U.S. refineries with its proposed Keystone XL project. The $6 billion project has faced regulatory and environmental hurdles despite backing by U.S. President Donald Trump. A nearly 10-year legal fight between TC Energy, formerly called TransCanada, and environmental activists has delayed development of the line that would run from Alberta, Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast. A Nebraska court in August affirmed an alternative route through the state, raising hopes the project might proceed and provide badly needed transport for Alberta's crude. Western Canada Select heavy oil traded on Thursday at $20 per barrel less than U.S. benchmark WTI, the biggest discount in 11 months, according to Net Energy Exchange. On Wednesday, TC Energy said its 590,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Keystone pipeline system to the United States was shut after a drop in pressure was detected. It said there were no injuries and it was investigating the cause of the breach near Edinburg, North Dakota. The company has not said when pipeline operations would restart, but told shippers that service to U.S. Midwest refiners would remain shut during the outage. The line could remain shut for at least a week, according to market sources on Thursday. TC Energy has begun using backhoes and vacuum trucks to recover the spilled oil, said Brent Nelson, an emergency response manager for Walsh County who visited the site. "At this time I would estimate 50 – 75 persons on site working between two shifts ... they are focusing on oil recovery at this time and will then move to making repairs," he said. The exact amount of oil released will not be available until recovery has been completed, TC Energy said in a statement on Thursday. In 2017, a Keystone crude pipeline leak in rural South Dakota spilled nearly 6,600 barrels, the PHMSA data showed. Earlier this year, Keystone was partially shut after leaking 43 barrels of crude in Missouri. The latest release also affected a wetland area, a statement from the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality said. "They've had a few spills ... more than you would hope to have on a line that's still fairly new," said Carl Weimer, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust in Bellingham, Washington, a nonprofit promoting pipeline safety. Keystone has leaked substantially more oil, and more often, in the United States than the company indicated to regulators in risk assessments before operations began in 2010, according to a Reuters review in 2017. The Keystone outage also disrupted flows on the Marketlink pipeline out of the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub, roiling oil prices at the delivery point for U.S. crude futures. (Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York, Additional reporting by Eileen Soreng and Sathya Narayanan in Bengaluru, Laila Kearney and Scott DiSavino in New York, Rod Nickel in Winnipeg; Editing by Diane Craft and Stephen Coates) | null | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DrudgeReportFeed/~3/PoUnjMAA3Do/20191031180757-6lurs | Fri, 01 Nov 2019 12:13:37 GMT | 1,572,624,817 | 1,572,610,706 | environment | natural resources |
192,448 | eveningstandard--2019-12-11--The business stories of the decade, including the BP oil spill, the Libor scandal and Cambridge Anal | 2019-12-11T00:00:00 | eveningstandard | The business stories of the decade, including the BP oil spill, the Libor scandal and Cambridge Analytica | What happened? The largest marine oil spill in history caused by an explosion on BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11 workers. The well took nearly three months to cap. Impact? Tony Hayward, then chief executive of BP, became US public enemy number one after a series of PR gaffes. The fallout cost him his job, frayed relations between the UK and the Obama administration and threatened the future of the 101-year-old company. BP has paid more than $65 billion in compensation. What happened? Founded in 2003 to create effective electric cars and sell them to the masses. Elon Musk arrived a year later and gave much of the initial capital support to run it before its float in 2010. Impact? It has changed the landscape of the car industry and influenced what kinds of cars its rivals make, what they look like and their tech features. But there have been problems, and Tesla has never had a profitable year. What happened? It started quietly, but by the end at least 10 regulators across the globe were investigating if Libor was fixed. The London Interbank Offered Rate was a nominal fee banks charged each other to lend money for short periods. As the financial crisis bit, banks panicked. Libor jumped. It was alleged bank chiefs and some central banks conspired to make Libor look lower than it really was. Impact? The British Bankers’ Association handed oversight of Libor to more formal watchdogs. Litigation continues. What happened? Pfizer’s £69.4 billion aggressive pursuit of AstraZeneca triggered huge fees for bankers, a mud-slinging battle from investors, union condemnation, sparring from US and UK politicians — but ultimately, no deal. Arguments that Pfizer’s hunger for Astra was inspired by corporate tax manoeuvring, rather than innovation, and fears over British jobs and the UK science base led to a strong campaign to keep AstraZeneca independent. Impact? It was all about money. Had Pfizer’s final offer of £55 per share hit £60, it would likely have had its appetite satisfied. As it is, today Astra’s shares stand considerably higher at £72. Boss Pascal Soriot can fairly claim vindication; he’s successfully resuscitated Astra’s once-dwindling R&D, and last year presided over the drugmaker’s return to growth for the first time since 2014. What happened? In one of the largest corporate scandals of all time Volkswagen was found by the US Environmental Protection Agency to have installed software in cars that lowered harmful emissions of nitrogen compounds under test conditions. Volkswagen admitted to manipulating 11 million vehicles worldwide to fool tests. Impact? The scandal led to a slump in car sales across Europe. It deeply hurt the German economy and led to mistrust in its executives. Chief executive Herbert Diess, chairman Hans Dieter Pötsch and former chief exec Martin Winterkorn have all been charged with stock market manipulation for their alleged failure to reveal the scandal. What happened? High Street retailer BHS sensationally collapsed into administration with a huge pensions deficit in April 2016, costing around 9,000 jobs. That came 13 months after tycoon Sir Philip Green sold BHS for £1 to a firm led by serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell. Impact? All the chain’s 164 shops closed. A lengthy probe by MPs followed and concluded Green had chosen to rush a sale of the chain to a buyer who was “manifestly unsuitable”. Green faced calls to be stripped of his knighthood and had a dust-up with Sky News while on holiday in Greece. However, pressure on him seemingly softened when he made a voluntary contribution of up to £363 million to rescue the BHS pension scheme. Chappell was last month banned from being a director for 10 years. Green has since faced allegations of sexual harassment, which he denies. What happened? The sale of Rupert Murdoch’s satellite TV empire to US cable company Comcast for £30 billion was the near end of an empire. He no longer bestrides UK media as he had done for decades. Murdoch originally planned to sell Sky to Disney, until Comcast arrived. A bidding war took the price from £20 billion to £30 billion. Impact? Hard to gauge yet. Sky remains the key broadcaster of movies and sport in the UK. But it is likely to face intense future competition from Netflix, Amazon and perhaps Facebook. What happened? In 2018, revelations of Facebook’s involvement with data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica shed light on the darker side of people-snooping. It emerged Cambridge Analytica, hired by Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, had gained access to private data on more than 50 million Facebook users, as well as making tools to help firms target users with personalised political ads. Impact? The scandal soon widened — especially when it emerged that Facebook had known about the data breach since 2015, but only suspended the firm from its site three years later. Allegations arose about Vote Leave, Facebook and a linked Cambridge Analytica firm too. “We’re sorry!” claimed ads put out by Facebook; it also vowed to investigate other apps’ data use. But a #DeleteFacebook campaign saw billions of dollars knocked off Facebook’s stock market valuation. What happened? Construction giant Carillion went into liquidation in January 2018. The government contractor had been on a knife-edge since a profit warning six months prior shocked the City with huge write-offs on major contracts. Despite talks with lenders and government, no rescue deal could be agreed and Carillion crumbled under debts of £1.5 billion. It employed around 20,000 people in the UK. Impact? Almost 12,000 subcontractors worked directly for Carillion when it went under, and scores of firms faced the prospect of going unpaid. There has been increased scrutiny on government outsourcing and auditor work since. What happened? Star fund manager Neil Woodford, recipient of billions through platforms like Hargreaves Lansdown, was forced to block people from withdrawing cash from his flagship equity fund. Regulators revealed Woodford breached requirements on unlisted stocks, provoking a public backlash. Woodford wound up the fund after failing to reopen. Impact? The scandal shook public trust in fund management and raised questions over platforms like Hargreaves and fund administrator Link. Woodford had been promoted by Hargreaves despite offering armchair savers an ill-suited risky, illiquid fund. Link was also under fire for failing to clamp down on Woodford’s excesses listing shares on illiquid markets. This month M&G was also forced to gate its illiquid property fund. | null | https://www.standard.co.uk/business/the-business-stories-of-the-decade-including-the-bp-oil-spill-the-libor-scandal-and-cambridge-a4311021.html | Wed, 11 Dec 2019 14:56:00 GMT | 1,576,094,160 | 1,576,110,781 | environment | natural resources |
214,817 | france24--2019-03-16--France begins clean-up operation after cargo ship oil spill | 2019-03-16T00:00:00 | france24 | France begins clean-up operation after cargo ship oil spill | Handout | MARINE NATIONALE | AFP Ongoing clean-up operations from a ship fitted with anti-pollution gear, after the Italian cargo ship Grande America burned and sank in the Gascogne Gulf, off the western French coast, on March 15, 2019. French authorities began a clean-up operation on Friday after the Italian container ship “Grande America” sank off the French Atlantic Coast while carrying 2,200 tonnes of heavy fuel. Despite poor weather conditions, four ships began a clean-up operation on Friday afternoon. The 214-metre-long vessel sank on Tuesday, 300 kilometres west of the French town of La Rochelle, carrying 2,200 tonnes of heavy fuel. “Their efficiency totally depends on the weather,” said French maritime authorities. While two oil slicks had already been spotted on Wednesday and Thursday, a new one was spotted on Friday during a surveillance flight. The new slick was observed near the area where the vessel sank and "seems to confirm that there is still a release of heavy fuel oil from the wreck", which lies at a depth of 4,600 metres, French maritime authorities added. Forecasts show fragments of the slick reaching parts of the Atlantic coast by Sunday or Monday. The ship was sailing from Hamburg, Germany, to Casablanca, Morocco, when a fire broke out on Sunday. In addition to 2,200 tonnes of heavy fuel the "Grande America" had on board, it was also transporting 2,000 cars and 365 shipping containers, 45 of which held dangerous materials, including a hundred tonnes of hydrochloric acid and 70 tonnes of sulphuric acid. All 27 people on board were safely evacuated before the vessel sank. "[This shipwreck] is problematic," said Christian Buchet, director of the Centre of Ocean Studies at the Catholic Institute of Paris, in an interview with RTL. "Everything that burned -- the containers, the drums of hydrochloric and sulphuric acid -- that doesn't disappear. It goes up into the atmosphere." The cause of the fire is unknown, but it is believed to have broken out on the car deck before spreading to a container, according to Jean-Louis Lozier, head of the regional maritime authority. "Dilution in the ocean would not have serious consequences for the environment," Lozier said. He added that the pollution risk posed by the chemicals "would be very localised". But not everyone agrees. "The major threat for the ocean is acidification," explained Buchet. "The ocean absorbs our pollution and it is dying because of it." The French environmental campaign group Robin des Bois (Robin Hood) said it intended to file a criminal complaint over the environmental damage. "Two thousand vehicles -- it's a car crash at the bottom of the sea, representing hundreds of tonnes of toxic materials in an area very rich in fish, plankton and marine animals," said the NGO's spokesman Jacky Bonnemains, adding he also feared coastal pollution. But Yannick Jadot, a French member of the European Parliament and environmental activist, believes that not enough has been done to prevent such disasters. "It's tragic, the laxity that often exists regarding maritime transport," Jadot said, adding that the oil slick would be "tragic for the French coast". The last spill off the French coast occurred in December 2011, when the cargo ship TK Bremen ran aground in northwest France, losing an estimated 70 tonnes of fuel. | FRANCE 24 | https://www.france24.com/en/20190316-grande-america-starts-clean-prevent-oil-spill-damage-after-cargo-shipwreck | 2019-03-16 15:07:22+00:00 | 1,552,763,242 | 1,567,546,045 | environment | natural resources |
217,567 | france24--2019-11-19--Local residents left to clean up beaches after Brazil's worst oil spill | 2019-11-19T00:00:00 | france24 | Local residents left to clean up beaches after Brazil's worst oil spill | Local residents left to clean up beaches after Brazil's worst oil spill Brazil is in the midst of the worst oil spill in its history. Since the end of August, oil has covered coasts across the northeast, a poor region that depends on tourism and fishing. Despite the scale of the disaster, authorities have been slow to respond, leaving locals scraping off the oil in a bid to keep the beaches attractive to holidaymakers. Our correspondents report from Porto Sauipe. | Pierre LE DUFF | https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20191118-local-residents-left-to-clean-up-beaches-after-brazil-s-worst-oil-spill | Tue, 19 Nov 2019 14:20:12 GMT | 1,574,191,212 | 1,574,210,178 | environment | natural resources |
219,340 | freedombunker--2019-01-28--50 Years after the Santa Barbara Oil Spill Leviathan Is Slick as Ever | 2019-01-28T00:00:00 | freedombunker | 50 Years after the Santa Barbara Oil Spill, Leviathan Is Slick as Ever | Fifty years ago, on January 28, 1969, an oil blowout off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, spilled an estimated three million gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean. The oil slick, 35 miles long, killed thousands of birds, fish and sea mammals. Reporters called it the spill that launched the green revolution, and the response is still worthy of note. An environmentalist named Peter Douglas took note of the spill and co-wrote Proposition 20, a 1972 ballot measure to create a temporary state commission to deal with the coast. That done, Douglas authored the Coastal Act of 1976, which made the Commission permanent. The next year, Douglas became deputy director and in 1985 executive director of the commission he conceived. With this regulatory zealot at the helm, the unelected Commission trumped the elected city and county governments on the coast and rode roughshod over the property rights of coastal residents who were not responsible for the oil spill. No trace of the spill remains, but fifty years later the Coastal Commission is extending its power, levying fines directly, and still overriding elected governments. It was a classic example of leviathan expanding through crisis, and a temporary agency becoming permanent. Oil continues to seep naturally from the ocean floor, but the Commission is powerless to stop it. Meanwhile, a blast of arctic air has temperatures plunging across the Midwest. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, the wind chill may approach -50 degrees, and across the Great Lakes, according to forecasters, “numerous temperature records will be threatened.” This happens almost every winter, but climate alarmists are not eager to harmonize the record low temperatures with global warming theory. | K. Lloyd Billingsley | http://freedombunker.com/2019/01/28/50-years-after-the-santa-barbara-oil-spill-leviathan-is-slick-as-ever/ | 2019-01-28 19:50:25+00:00 | 1,548,723,025 | 1,567,550,474 | environment | natural resources |
231,545 | globalresearch--2019-11-01--Keystone Pipeline Does as Experts Predicted, Spills 383,000 Gallons of Oil in North Dakota | 2019-11-01T00:00:00 | globalresearch | Keystone Pipeline Does as Experts Predicted, Spills 383,000 Gallons of Oil in North Dakota | Yesterday, the Keystone pipeline leaked an estimated 383,000 gallons (9,120 barrels) of oil into wetlands in North Dakota. The leak is already the eighth-largest pipeline oil spill of the last decade. The tar sands oil transported through the Keystone pipeline is particularly hard to clean up because, unlike crude oil, it sinks in water. Keystone operator TC Energy’s (formerly TransCanada) alarming spill and safety record has come under scrutiny as it attempts to build the controversial and much larger Keystone XL pipeline through the midwestern United States and Indigenous treaty lands. “I wish I could say I was shocked, but a major spill from the Keystone pipeline is exactly what multiple experts predicted would happen. In fact, this is the fourth significant spill from the Keystone pipeline in less than ten years of operation. History has shown us time and again that there is no safe way to transport fossil fuels, and pipelines are no exception. In the last ten years, US pipeline spills have led to 20 fatalities, 35 injuries, $2.6 billion in costs, and more than 34 million gallons spilled. New pipelines are locking us into carbon emissions that will push our climate past safe limits. That is not the future I want for my children. “In the past decade, every proposed tar sands pipeline — including the Keystone XL pipeline — has been stopped or delayed by a powerful movement fighting for Indigenous rights, a clean energy economy, and our environment. It is past time to leave fossil fuels in the ground and begin a just transition to a Green New Deal and 100 percent renewable energy.” Greenpeace analysis from 2017 estimates that, if completed, the Keystone XL pipeline could expect 59 significant spills over a 50-year lifetime. With this latest spill, TC Energy has seen a total of 20 spills from its US pipeline network since 2010, which have released 696,276 gallons (16,578 barrels) of oil and hazardous liquids into the environment. While Donald Trump moved to “fast-track” the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines in his first month in office, multiple Democratic frontrunners have already come out against the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure. Note to readers: please click the share buttons above or below. Forward this article to your email lists. Crosspost on your blog site, internet forums. etc. Ryan Schleeter is a senior communications specialist with Greenpeace USA covering climate and energy. His writing has appeared in National Geographic, Grist, GreenBiz, EcoWatch, and more. Find him on Twitter @ryschlee. | Ryan Schleeter | https://www.globalresearch.ca/keystone-pipeline-spills-383000-gallons-oil-north-dakota/5693732 | Fri, 01 Nov 2019 12:58:19 +0000 | 1,572,627,499 | 1,572,645,925 | environment | natural resources |
278,477 | jerusalempost--2019-12-30--Northeast beach in Brazil hit by second oil spill | 2019-12-30T00:00:00 | jerusalempost | Northeast beach in Brazil hit by second oil spill | By subscribing I accept the terms of use | By REUTERS | https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Northeast-beach-in-Brazil-hit-by-second-oil-spill-612599 | Mon, 30 Dec 2019 22:44:33 GMT | 1,577,763,873 | 1,577,755,648 | environment | natural resources |
282,479 | latimes--2019-07-17--A major Kern County oil spill in environmentally conscious California | 2019-07-17T00:00:00 | latimes | A major Kern County oil spill in environmentally conscious California | Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Wednesday, July 17, and I’m writing from Los Angeles. California as a paragon of environmentalism is a loud narrative — one that has shaped headlines and stereotypes and even attitudes, especially in the big cities. The state has been a pioneer on vehicle emissions standards, air pollution legislation and efficiency standards, to name just a few areas of national leadership. But oil has also played an integral role in the California narrative for nearly a century and a half, since the state’s first real oil well struck “black gold” in 1876. That black gold shaped early 20th-century Southern California, powering the growth of Los Angeles and making fortunes for many of the families whose names still adorn streets and buildings around the state. And that importance is far from confined to history books. State oil production has been steadily arcing downward since the mid-1980s, but California remains one of the nation’s top petroleum-producing — and gasoline-consuming — states. Until recently, we still produced more oil than any other state but Texas and North Dakota (the Golden State has since slipped to sixth place). Oil and gas companies are also potent political forces that wield major influence in the state Capitol. [See also: The Center for Investigative Reporting’s 2017 look at “Big Oil’s grip on California”] The duality of the “two Californias” is a shopworn cliché, but, like many clichés, it prevails for a reason. There is the California of electric cars, kitchen compost bins and vocal opposition to President Trump’s climate policies. Then there is the California of Kern County, where oil and gas production remain a pillar of the local economy and more than 70% of California’s oil and natural gas is produced. The reach of that latter California extends far beyond the southern tip of the San Joaquin Valley — in the first quarter of 2019, the top two spenders on lobbying at the statehouse were Chevron and the broader trade group that represents oil companies. The constant push-and-pull between California environmentalism and its oil fields came to a public head late last week. On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom fired the state’s top oil regulator after learning that fracking permits had doubled without his knowledge since he became governor, and some of the supervisors tasked with regulating the industry owned shares in major oil companies. On Friday, news broke that a Chevron oil well in Kern County had leaked nearly 800,000 gallons of crude petroleum and water into a dry creek bed about 35 miles west of Bakersfield over the past two months. The mixture was about one-third oil and two-thirds water, and the flow has since ceased, according to the state Department of Conservation. The seep occurred in an oil field where Chevron uses a process called steam injection to extract underground crude oil. Ted Goldberg, an editor at KQED News who often reports on Bay Area refineries, uncovered the spill while searching a government database for updates on an entirely separate incident at Chevron’s Richmond refinery in Northern California. “In May, Chevron officials began noticing that oil and water started coming up from the ground when it shouldn’t,” Goldberg explained. “It lasted for a little while and then it stopped. And then on two other occasions since then, it started [again]. The agency that’s responsible for regulating this stuff has been criticized, basically, for doing not an aggressive job in general.” [Read “Chevron Well at Center of Major Oil Spill in Kern County Oil Field” by Ted Goldberg in KQED] “Chevron and the state agency that regulates oil and gas and the state water regulators have all emphasized that there’s no drinking water supplies in the area, that there’s no harm to wildlife,” Goldberg said. “And as you can probably expect, environmentalists disagree with that.” Hollin Kretzmann, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit environmental group, said the damage potentially caused by the spill “still remains to be seen.” Kretzmann characterized the spill as a larger failure of government regulation, calling it “the end result of regulations that are completely inadequate to prevent these accidents from happening and protect the public and the environment.” “We can’t be a leader in climate change and protecting the environment if we’re one of the biggest oil and gas producers in the country,” Kretzmann said, touching on the two competing visions of California at play. The long-term future of oil and gas production in the state remains to be seen. Many environmental groups have been hopeful that Newsom may move to curtail it. The state budget that the new governor signed last month did include a $1.5-million item to study ways to reduce petroleum supply and demand, which certainly seems promising to their cause. But nothing — especially in California — is ever black and white, and an environmentalist victory would also probably deliver deep economic blows to the oil towns of Kern. And now, here’s what’s happening across California: How many students cheated to get into USC? The university has launched its own investigation to find out. Shortly after federal authorities took down a in March, officials at USC sent emails to dozens of students. The school wanted to know whether the 33 students — all of whom were linked to William “Rick” Singer, the confessed leader of the admissions con — had lied on their applications. USC officials told students that decisions would come within weeks, according to lawyers representing several of the students. But the probe has turned into a protracted, fraught push by USC to clear its ranks of any students who were complicit. Los Angeles Times A coal plant in rural Utah has been L.A.’s single-largest power source for three decades, supplying between one-fifth and one-third of the city’s electricity in recent years. It’s scheduled to shut down in 2025, ending California’s reliance on the dirtiest fossil fuel. But Los Angeles is preparing to build a natural gas-fired power plant at the Utah site, even as the city works to shut down three gas plants in its own backyard . Los Angeles Times Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has died at 99. Though he joined the court as a centrist Republican, he emerged in his later years as the leading voice of its liberal bloc. Los Angeles Times Women at an L.A. County jail endured group strip searches. Now, the county must pay $53 million to settle a lawsuit on the matter. Los Angeles Times Plus: The Times Editorial Board weighs in on the matter: “The same toxic culture that led to brutality against inmates of both sexes persists. The same ignorance of women and their particular needs continues.” Los Angeles Times Metro’s proposal to run a rapid bus line down Colorado Boulevard drew hundreds of Eagle Rock residents to a tense public meeting. LAist HBO dominated the 2019 Emmy nominations, thanks to the final season of long-running hit “Game of Thrones” and second-year comedy “Barry.” The network snagged 137 nominations, the most of any network and topping streaming rival Netflix. Los Angeles Times “The earth’s crust played the ultimate heckler” for this L.A. comedian, who was mid-set when the 7.1 Ridgecrest earthquake struck earlier this month. And yes, it was captured on video. Los Angeles Magazine Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most. Subscribe to the Los Angeles Times. A deported Marine Corps veteran was denied entry to the U.S. for a scheduled citizenship interview. San Diego Union-Tribune The U.S. House voted to condemn President Trump’s tweets as racist. The House was briefly thrown into chaos before the vote when Republicans objected to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-San Francisco) use of the word “racist” to describe Trump’s words, which violates the chamber’s rules of decorum. Democrats voted to restore Pelosi’s right to speak in the chamber again before proceeding to the measure condemning Trump. Los Angeles Times L.A. County’s child welfare chief faced sharp questioning over why a 4-year-old Palmdale boy, under what authorities call suspicious circumstances, wasn’t removed from his parents’ home amid abuse claims — despite a recent court order. Los Angeles Times Alleged MS-13 gang members from L.A. have been charged in a string of grisly killings. Los Angeles Times A pair of earthquakes shook the East Bay on Tuesday afternoon. San Francisco Chronicle A new study shows that heat waves are likely to become longer and more intense — even in the Bay Area. San Francisco’s famously cool summers (as immortalized in a certain oft-referenced and possibly apocryphal Mark Twain quip) could soon come to resemble the warmer East Bay as temperatures rise. San Francisco Chronicle The Central Valley could also see more dangerously hot days due to climate change, according to the same report. Sacramento Bee Nuclear fuel transfer from wet to dry storage will resume this week at the closed San Onofre nuclear power plant in Orange County. The process was halted for nearly a year after an incident last summer. Orange County Register Santa Cruz County has the second-highest child poverty rate in the state, as the high cost of living and lower wages put many families in a bind. Mercury News BART will be adding new bike straps to all trains. San Francisco Chronicle Flint’s — a legendary name in Oakland barbecue — is being resurrected as a pop-up helmed by the founder’s granddaughter. Mercury News Here are 20 “non-touristy” spots to see Sonoma County like a local. Santa Rosa Press Democrat Four of the seven Google employees who organized an international walkout in November have since resigned from the company, including two women who alleged that Google retaliated against them for their organizing. Wired A mystery submarine spotted in Monterey Bay belongs to the former child actor who played the youngest son on “Home Improvement.” KSBW Los Angeles: partly sunny, 81. San Diego: partly sunny, 71. San Francisco: partly sunny, 71. San Jose: partly sunny, 83. Sacramento: sunny, 95. More weather is here. If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. (Please keep your story to 100 words.) Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints, ideas and unrelated book recommendations to Julia Wick. Follow her on Twitter @Sherlyholmes. | Julia Wick | https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-07-16/kern-county-oil-spill-california | 2019-07-17 10:30:55+00:00 | 1,563,373,855 | 1,567,536,487 | environment | natural resources |
282,535 | latimes--2019-07-19--After 800000-gallon spill Chevron site is still leaking oil | 2019-07-19T00:00:00 | latimes | After 800,000-gallon spill, Chevron site is still leaking oil | On the same day Sen. Dianne Feinstein chastised Chevron Corp. for keeping an 800,000-gallon spill outside Bakersfield “under wraps,” California officials confirmed Thursday that the site was once again seeping a hazardous mix of oil and water. The new leakage occurred in a surface expression vent in the Cymric oil field, near the Kern County town of McKittrick, according to the state Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources. The vent is one of the locations where three previous leaks released about 800,000 gallons of oil and water. Field inspectors from the agency identified the latest seepage at 3 p.m. Wednesday and released information about the latest spill Thursday. The agency is working to address what they are describing as a large oil release. The leak potentially resulted from a high-intensity steam injection intended to release oil. According to the agency, the first leak occurred on May 10 and was stopped that day. New seepage occurred on June 8 and continued to flow intermittently for a span of five days. The persistent seepage was again recorded June 23 and Wednesday, the agency said. On Thursday, Feinstein (D-Calif.) issued a news release accusing Chevron of failing to inform the public about the leak. “This is something the public should have been alerted to earlier,” she said. “Proper oversight can’t occur if incidents like these are kept under wraps.” Feinstein said that although the company said it had recovered most of the oil, “the full toll to the area is not yet known.” She said it was fortunate that the leak did not occur “during a rainy period or the effects on our environment and wildlife would have been even more tragic.” A Chevron representative could not be reached for comment Thursday. According to Michelle Corson, public relations officer for the Kern County Public Health Services Department, Chevron is required to report incidents to local jurisdictions, and it reported the leak to the county two months ago. “We are absolutely aware of the situation,” Corson said. The Kern County Environmental Health Services Department reports that the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources is the lead agency addressing the spill. Kern County Public Health is not legally permitted to enter the site until it is deemed safe. After that time, the county will work alongside appropriate agencies to begin the cleanup. “I’m not aware of residents contacting the department,” said Corson, who noted that the majority of calls have been from news outlets. Corson said that the site is cordoned off and not accessible to the public, and that sound devices to deter wildlife from the area have been installed around the site. “This is not the time for Chevron to keep details about this destructive oil spill from the public,” said Damon Nagami, the council’s senior attorney. “Time and time again, we’ve seen the devastating effects of oil spills on our wildlife, water and communities. Multiple notices of violation signal that is a serious problem, and we expect DOGGR to hold Chevron fully accountable.” According to the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, the agency’s acting supervisor, Jason Marshall, issued a formal order to Chevron on July 12 demanding it take a series of actions to address the spill. The agency said Tuesday that preparations to remove contaminated soil from the site were underway and that vacuum trucks were on-site to remove accumulated oil and water. The spill mixture was about one-third oil and two-thirds water, the agency said. | Piper McDaniel | https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2019-07-18/chevron-oil-spill-california-diane-feinstein | 2019-07-19 03:36:24+00:00 | 1,563,521,784 | 1,567,536,423 | environment | natural resources |
282,660 | latimes--2019-07-25--Touring oil spill site Newsom calls for greater oversight of California petroleum industry | 2019-07-25T00:00:00 | latimes | Touring oil spill site, Newsom calls for greater oversight of California petroleum industry | Gov. Gavin Newsom, in the Central Valley on Wednesday for a firsthand look at one of the largest oil spills in California history, vowed to go beyond the state’s already aggressive efforts to curtail the use of fossil fuels and seek a long-term strategy to reduce oil production. Newsom also signaled a sharp break with that past by criticizing existing oversight of the oil industry as too permissive. He promised to begin by retooling the state’s top oil regulatory agency, state Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources. The Democratic governor made the comments after arriving in the Kern County town of McKittrick on a 100-plus-degree afternoon, just a few miles from the Chevron oil well field where roughly a million gallons spilled into a dry creek bed. Chevron officials blamed the spill — with was about two-thirds water and one-third oil — on an old well that the company recently recapped. Although Newsom called for greater oversight of oil production, he was careful not to cast himself as an industry opponent. He made note of the local jobs sustained by petroleum production, and he praised both Chevron and state agencies for working to stem and contain the seeping liquid. He added that there was no indication that the spill threatened wildlife or aquifers that supply drinking water for local communities. Still, he said, another major seepage is always possible. Newsom, who took office in January, said the spill had refocused attention on California’s billion-dollar oil industry and its place in a state striving to end its dependence on fossil fuels and convert to 100% renewable energy. “I want to focus not just on demand but supply, and that, I think, is a new approach in this state with this new administration,” the governor told The Times. Environmental groups have been lobbying Newsom to ban new wells and curtail oil production. The leadership of the governor’s own political party has called for the immediate end of the controversial fracking method of oil extraction, a process that uses drilling and large volumes of high-pressure water to pump oil and gas from the ground. Newsom has rebuffed those efforts, saying any action the state takes must be thoughtful, realistic and account for thousands of Californians who depend on the oil industry to make a living. The governor, who began his visit Wednesday at McKittrick Elementary School, noted that historical pictures of oil derricks lined the school’s hallways — evidence of how engrained the petroleum industry is in the local economy. “With respect, drive around. There are not a lot of alternative strategies for economic growth here,” Newsom said. “Before we turn off the tap, what’s the plan to take care of the folks here? What’s the plan to take care of the workers? If you can’t look people in the eye and say you have an answer to that, then I think you’re doing a disservice to people in the community, and I can’t do that.” Newsom emphasized that $1.5 million has been set aside in the state budget, approved by the Legislature and signed by him in June, to study ways to reduce petroleum demand and production in the state, taking into consideration the effects on the economy, jobs and Californians. Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity said the study is a good first step but added that California cannot afford to wait to take action. Siegel and other environmental leaders want Newsom to impose a moratorium on fracking and all new oil wells. “When you’re in a hole, the first step is to stop digging,” Siegel said. “There should be no more expansion of oil production. There’s no way to keep California safe from this industry other than phasing it out.” Newsom said state law prohibits him from doing that by executive fiat and that legislative action would be required. The effort to sway Newsom follows an unsuccessful campaign by environmental activists, community groups and labor unions that tried to persuade then-Gov. Jerry Brown to freeze all new oil and gas drilling during his final year in office. While praised for helping California become a world leader in combating climate change, Brown has come under attack for not reining in the state’s oil industry. “There’s been a cozy relationship that the Brown administration and California have had with the oil industry, and I think those days are gone,” said state Sen. Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont). Wieckowski wrote legislation that would charge a 10% tax on every barrel of oil pumped from the ground in California to bring in some $900 million annually, part of which can be used to increase regulatory oversight of oil production, he said. Earlier this month, Newsom fired California’s top oil industry regulator for issuing too many permits for hydraulic fracturing, as fracking is formally known. He said he intends to reshape leadership of the agency to increase regulatory oversight of the oil industry. California is one of the nation’s top petroleum-producing — and gasoline-consuming — states, pitting an essential ingredient of the California economy and everyday lifestyles against overwhelming public sentiment for curtailing the use of fossil fuels. In 2018, Brown and the Legislature adopted an ambitious goal to covert California to a 100%, zero-carbon electrical supply by 2045. A 2016 poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found that most likely voters in the state opposed fracking and increased oil drilling off the coast. A vast majority also favored stricter emission limits on power plants in an effort to address climate change. Still, California is home to 26 million vehicles with internal-combustion engines, and the oil industry helps support close to 368,000 blue-collar jobs in the state, according to the Western States Petroleum Assn. California is home to 72,000 oil-producing wells that last year produced 165.3 million barrels of oil from onshore and offshore facilities, according to the California Department of Conservation. California also consumes more gasoline than any other state — 366 million barrels in 2017, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. According to the state Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, known as DOGGR, more than 120,000 wells in the state have been plugged, the legacy of more than a century of oil drilling. The Chevron-owned well where the spill occurred last drew oil in 2003 and was sealed with cement some time after, according to state data. It sits alongside more than 3,600 other plugged wells in the Cymric oil field in Kern County, most of which are Chevron’s. An additional 400 wells in the field sit inactive, not producing oil and waiting to be sealed. Nearly all of the wells in the Cymric field are operated by some of the state’s biggest producers: Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and Sentinel Peak. Wade Crowfoot, California secretary for natural resources, said the state is still trying to determine the cause of the spill and whether the oil company’s use of steam injection in the area was a contributing factor. State officials already have demanded all the data collected by Chevron about the spill to help with the state’s independent review of the incident. | Phil Willon | https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-07-24/assignment-newsom-tours-bakersfield-oil-spill | 2019-07-25 04:26:16+00:00 | 1,564,043,176 | 1,567,535,867 | environment | natural resources |
282,690 | latimes--2019-07-28--Californias biggest oil spill in decades brings more defiance than anger from locals | 2019-07-28T00:00:00 | latimes | California's biggest oil spill in decades brings more defiance than anger from locals | Near the jagged western edge of Kern County, where the Temblor Range gives way to a landscape of steam pipes, fuel lines and bobbing pumpjacks, there’s a definite mood in this dusty little oil town: Defiance. Hardly a day goes by without reports of the growing oil leak in nearby Cymric oil field. So far, more than 900,000 gallons of oil and brine have oozed from a Chevron Corp. well, and filled a dry creek, creating a hazardous black lagoon. The residents of McKittrick, population 145, understand why people are upset by the images. Also, there’s no avoiding the worry that prolonged exposure to crude oil might one day trigger health issues. But judging from the rowdy talk over cold beers and a blaring jukebox at Mike and Annie’s Penny Bar — a watering hole for thirsty oil field hands that has over a million pennies glued to the bar, floors, walls, television and entrance — the locals see a different story playing out. “Environmentalists have it all wrong,” argued Troy Smith, 46, an oil field worker who grew up in the area. “Compared with the catastrophic Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska and BP’s deep-sea spill in the Gulf of Mexico, our little outbreak is nothing. Yet, they’re using it as an excuse to shut down California’s oil industry and wipe us out.” “What more do they want?” he asked no one in particular. “We already work under the strictest standards imaginable, and adhere to them tooth and nail.” Smith, like many others in McKittrick, was more worried about how the largest California spill in nearly three decades would affect election campaigns and new oil industry legislation in Congress and the state Legislature. When Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has taken a more anti-oil stance than his predecessor, former Gov. Jerry Brown, ventured to the spill site for a firsthand look on Wednesday, the sarcastic response heard across town was, “There goes the neighborhood.” But the future of California’s billion-dollar oil industry was already being shaped by shifting political winds, building concerns about toxic emissions from oil and natural production, development of alternative energy facilities and a recent overhaul of the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, or DOGGR, the state’s primary oil regulatory agency. “California can put a stop to the inevitability of oil spills by intentionally transitioning away from oil extraction,” said Kathryn Phillips, director of Sierra Club California. “The state must prioritize our public health and our environment over corporate polluters’ profits.” That kind of talk raises the hackles in the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, where oil is an economic and cultural force crucial to the lives of thousands of people. When retiree Raul Rubio, 67, wants to relax, he leans back in a folding chair in his backyard facing an oil field that is miles long and miles wide. The scenery is perfect for sifting through memories of the 40 years he worked as an oil field operator. An odd sort of duality permeates his feelings about the ongoing oil spill roughly 3½ miles from his modest wood-framed home. On one hand, he can recall many industrial accidents over the years that could have had potentially devastating consequence. But he also appreciates the simpler, old-fashioned, slower pace of life. About 12 years ago, a Cymric well blasted a mixture of oil and water so high that it traveled for miles in the wind. Gooey spots covered the town straddling a lonely stretch of State Highway 33 like leopard spots. “Chevron immediately took responsibility and fixed that well,” he recalled with a smile. “They also paid to clean our cars and property.” Around the same time, while making the rounds of another local oil field, he said, “I discovered an oil spill that spilled into a ravine and then flowed for miles. That problem also got fixed right away.” So, he wasn’t all that worried about the ongoing leak at Cymric field. “I know that Chevron is out there cleaning things up,” he said. “They know what they’re doing. If it was a danger to the people living here, they would have notified us.” Skepticism runs deep here when it comes to environmentalists’ warnings about the dangers posed by oil production and an array of unconventional oil and natural gas extraction techniques and their hazardous byproducts on wildlife, air quality, drinking water in underground aquifers and global climate change. Don’t believe it. Not a chance. Life is as safe and peaceful as it always has been, locals like to say. But anti-oil forces aren’t waiting before some of the potential long-lasting impacts from oil wells become evident. In a state where 5.5 million people live within a mile of an oil well, the Legislature is currently weighing the merits of Assembly Bill 345, which would create 2,500-foot health and safety buffer zones between new oil and gas wells and sensitive land uses including schools, homes and hospitals. The bill, written by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi (D-Rolling Hills Estates ), was inspired, in part, by a Kern County Superior Court ruling in May that the city of Arvin had illegally approved four new wells adjacent to homes and farms already coping with 10 active gas and oil wells, some of them in agricultural fields. “This case sends a really strong signal that the oil industry cannot just do whatever it wants — it must follow California’s environmental laws,” said Chelsea Tu, senior attorney at the Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment. Separately, Newsom in June signed a state budget that earmarked $1.5 million for an unprecedented study to find ways to reduce California’s petroleum production and demand. A few days later, he fired DOGGR Supervisor Ken Harris for issuing too many permits for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and allegations that several of his regulators own stock in major oil companies. On his first day on the job, Jason Marshall, who was appointed acting supervisor at DOGGR, ordered Chevron to “take all measures” to stop the seepage at Cymric field that has continued intermittently for more than two months. He’s been frustrated by an inability to get clear answers to some basic questions: Why hasn’t the leak been stopped? Why did Chevron and state regulators wait two months to formally alert the public about the problem that began on May 10? In an interview, Richard Hinkley, general manager in Chevron’s asset development business, said he believes that the seepage started after crews used cement to fortify a dormant well that in 2004 had been taken out of commission and permanently sealed. Built-up pressure from an oil reservoir under the well, he said, forced liquid — which was about two-thirds water and one-third oil — to the surface through “paths of least resistance,” including cracks and fissures in the concrete and steel well bore during the cement job. So far, he said, crews have vacuumed up about 90% of the fluid that had pooled in the dry creek bed that cuts across the 485-acre oil field. Chevron initially said the seepage stopped several hours after it was discovered on May 10. However, it reactivated on June 8 after crews conducted tests to determine its cause — and then continued intermittently in the vicinity of the well head. Two new seepages emerged on July 21, officials said, shortly after Chevron crews completed the cementing operation. Adjacent wells have been shut down and idled wells activated to ease pressure beneath the ground and reduce surface flows. Air cannons were installed to keep wildlife away. Oil work has been halted within 1,200 feet of the site. So far, there are no reported injuries or threats to drinking water aquifers in the region, officials said. As for Chevron’s decision not to formally alert the public, Sean Comey, a spokesman for the giant oil corporation, said, “If there had been any risk to human health we would have responded differently.” As crews work day and night to plug the leaks, Dave Noerr, mayor of the nearby city of Taft, has been reminding outsiders about the benefits of oil and gas production for jobs and their personal lives. California is home to 72,000 oil-producing wells that last year produced 165 million barrels of oil from onshore and offshore facilities, according to the California Department of Conservation. California also consumed 366 million barrels of gas in 2017 — more than any other state, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. “There was a time when Kern County was the largest oil and gas producing county in the United States outside of Alaska,” said Noerr. “But oil production has been in decline for some time now, which is too bad because of the employment and sales taxes it generates to support essentials like hospitals and schools.” Noerr has a personal oil connection: In 1981, he worked as a roustabout in the Kern oil fields. “Man, that was a hot and nasty job in mid-July,” he said. Linda L. Hillan, 63, a heavy equipment operator who shares a wood-framed house in McKittrick with a huge cat named “Big Mama,” wouldn’t argue with any of that. Staring at the darkening clouds of an approaching monsoon that would wash layers of smog and the smell of crankcase oil from the skies on a recent 100-plus-degree afternoon, she grumbled, “Outsiders need to worry about their own backyards — and leave us alone.” Like most towns, after all, McKittrick is imbued with its own peculiarities. “There’ve been a million oil spills out here over the years,” she said. “Hell, man, I’ve seen wells catch fire and burn for weeks on end. I’ve seen leaking oil pouring over a hill behind my house like a waterfall.” | Louis Sahagun | https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-07-26/california-oil-country-defiance | 2019-07-28 14:00:17+00:00 | 1,564,336,817 | 1,567,535,560 | environment | natural resources |
334,558 | naturalnews--2019-02-07--Deepwater Horizon oil spills effects are still being seen Atlantic stingrays found to have signifi | 2019-02-07T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Deepwater Horizon oil spill's effects are still being seen: Atlantic stingrays found to have significantly impaired olfactory functions | (Natural News) The Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster continues to cast a long shadow across the Atlantic Ocean. Close to a decade after the ecological disaster, a Florida-based study found that crude oil from the spill has crippled the sense of smell of Atlantic stingrays. Marine animals use their senses to find food and mates, as well as to avoid predators. An animal will become much more vulnerable to harm if one of its senses are not working properly. This goes double for the sense of smell, which fish use a lot. A research team from the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) studied the physiological effects of crude oil on the olfactory sense of the Atlantic stingray (Hypanus sabinus). They simulated the levels of oil pollution found in coastal waters during the Deepwater Horizon crisis and exposed animals to the toxic pollutant for different lengths of time. Based on the results of their experiment, it only took 48 hours of exposure to the oil before the stingray’s sense of smell suffered severe degradation. The researchers concluded that crude oil harmed the health of stingrays, which would in turn affect the marine ecosystem that it is a part of. (Related: Sunlight triggers chemical reactions that make the Deepwater Horizon oil spill unlikely to degrade.) FAU researcher Dr. Stephen M. Kajiura oversaw the study on the sense of smell of stingrays. He and his research team tested the olfactory reactions of the animals to both clean water and crude oil-tainted water. Get CLEAN FOOD and help support our mission to keep you informed: The Health Ranger Store lab verifies everything we sell with accredited testing for heavy metals, microbiology and food safety. Certified organic facility, ISO-accredited on-site laboratory, no GMOs or synthetic ingredients. The world's #1 source of lab-verified clean foods and superfoods for nutritional healing. 600+ products available. Explore now. Electro-physiological assays showed that stingrays exposed to oil reacted much more weakly to important scents like food and predators. The affected animals took much longer to detect a smell, recognize it, and take the appropriate response. “Unlike other sensory systems in which the receptor cells are not in immediate contact with the environment such as the eye, inner ear, lateral line, and electroreceptors, the chemo-sensory cells of the olfactory organ are directly exposed, through the mucus, to the seawater,” explained Kajiura. Th exposed receptor cells of the olfactory system can be directly injured by crude oil and other water pollutants that come into contact with it. This could lead to stingrays suffering earlier deaths and reduced population levels. H. sabinus lives in the shallow waters of coastal areas. However, its deep-water cousins are potentially more vulnerable to crude oil due to several factors. Benthic or deep-sea fish have much slower metabolic rates due to the cold temperature of their home waters. Their slower-working bodies could take much longer to purge crude oil from their tissues. That gives the toxic chemical much more time to accumulate in the body and harm important cells and organs. Furthermore, skates and other oviparous species of elasmobranchs (sharks, rays, etc.) reproduce by laying fertilized egg cases on the seafloor. The embryos in these eggs take a long time to grow before hatching. The immature embryos are highly sensitive to environmental conditions. So if the sediment around them contains a lot of crude oil, the toxic chemical will affect their growth and development. Of the numerous chemical compounds in crude oil, the heavy metals are perhaps the most dangerous. Aluminum, cobalt, copper, manganese, mercury, and zinc can disrupt the ion channels that link together the parts of the olfactory system. There are also fractions of crude oil that can dissolve in water. These water-soluble compounds are known to injure olfactory epithelium cells. FAU researcher Kajiura warned that crude oil exposure does not have to kill an animal outright to be considered dangerous. Its crippling effects on the sense of smell of marine animals should be considered a long-term threat to the ecosystem. | Edsel Cook | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-02-07-oil-spill-atlantic-stingrays-have-significantly-impaired-olfactory-functions.html | 2019-02-07 22:22:08+00:00 | 1,549,596,128 | 1,567,549,324 | environment | natural resources |
383,526 | npr--2019-01-28--How Californias Worst Oil Spill Turned Beaches Black And The Nation Green | 2019-01-28T00:00:00 | npr | How California's Worst Oil Spill Turned Beaches Black And The Nation Green | A duck covered in a thick coating of crude oil, picked up when it lighted on waters off Carpinteria State Beach in Santa Barbara County, Calif., after the oil spill in January 1969. **Bettmann/Getty Images** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** Bettmann/Getty Images A duck covered in a thick coating of crude oil, picked up when it lighted on waters off Carpinteria State Beach in Santa Barbara County, Calif., after the oil spill in January 1969. Bettmann/Getty Images On January 28, 1969, an oil well off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif., experienced a blowout. The result was an oil spill that at the time ranked as the largest in U.S. waters. The disaster, which made headlines across the nation, helped create the modern environmental movement. It also led to restrictions on offshore drilling — restrictions the Trump Administration is trying to loosen. The events that led to the spill began one morning on Platform A, a rig located about six miles from the coast and operated at the time by Union Oil. Workers had already drilled four wells from the platform and were drilling a fifth when they ran into a problem. "You punch into some of these oil reservoirs and you get a lot of back pressure," says [Douglas McCauley](https://www.eemb.ucsb.edu/people/faculty/mccauley), a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. McCauley has brought me out to Platform A on a boat, which circles the rig as he talks. He tells me that in this case, the back pressure overwhelmed the well's safety systems. This allowed crude oil and natural gas trapped thousands of feet down to rocket toward the surface. "So they're taking these big drilling pipes and shoving them back down the hole and these gigantic steel blocks on top of that to seal off this blowout," McCauley says. It worked, but only for a few minutes. "They had capped off the blowout successfully," McCauley says. "But they created so much pressure at the bottom of this well that it actually broke open the seabed." "They had capped off the blowout successfully," says Douglas McCauley, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "But they created so much pressure at the bottom of this well that it actually broke open the seabed." **Jon Hamilton/NPR** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** Jon Hamilton/NPR "They had capped off the blowout successfully," says Douglas McCauley, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "But they created so much pressure at the bottom of this well that it actually broke open the seabed." Jon Hamilton/NPR Better reinforcement of the well might have prevented the spill. But Union Oil had received a waiver from the government that allowed the company to drill without installing steel casing pipe to the depth usually required by federal regulations. Unimpeded, oil and gas under tremendous pressure opened five separate gashes in the soft sandstone seabed. So much gas bubbled to the surface near Platform A that the water appeared to boiling. And oil from the underwater fissures began to form a slick that would eventually cover an area nearly the size of Chicago. The effect on marine life was profound. "Right where we're sitting right now you transformed from this ecosystem of amazing richness, amazing biodiversity, amazing biological activity into a sort of Armageddon of blackness," McCauley says. It took a few days for the oil to reach Santa Barbara's famous beaches. "I smelled it long before I saw it; it really stank around here," says [Marc McGinnes](http://www.es.ucsb.edu/people/j-marc-mcginnes), a lawyer who came down from San Francisco. "And when I looked at the oil on the beach, I cried." McGinnes left his job at a big law firm to help launch a legal response to the spill. He would go on to become a key figure in the environmental efforts that grew out the event as well as a faculty member at UCSB. President Richard Nixon talked with workers cleaning up the oily beach at Santa Barbara in March 1969. **AP** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** AP President Richard Nixon talked with workers cleaning up the oily beach at Santa Barbara in March 1969. AP The spill received enough media attention that President Richard Nixon made a trip to survey the damage in a helicopter. He also visited an oil-soaked beach near Santa Barbara Harbor. Nixon spent his time on the beach "walking around gingerly" to avoid stepping on the sticky blobs of oil, McGinnes says. The oil killed thousands of birds and an unknown number of sea mammals. Hundreds of oiled birds that were still alive were taken to the Santa Barbara Zoo, which is just a few steps from the beach. "At the time there was really no place or process to care for the oiled wildlife that was showing up on the beaches," says Nancy McToldridge, the zoo's director. "So the zoo closed its doors and concentrated its time and energy into taking in these oiled birds, treating them and then rehabbing them back out into the wild." The suffering and deaths of so many animals helped get the public's attention and spur lawmakers to action. And 1969 marked a turning point for environmental activism. Cleanup workers rake oil-soaked hay along a Santa Barbara beach in 1969, after an oil spill that was then the largest in U.S. history. **Bettmann/Getty Images** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** Bettmann/Getty Images Cleanup workers rake oil-soaked hay along a Santa Barbara beach in 1969, after an oil spill that was then the largest in U.S. history. Bettmann/Getty Images "The Santa Barbara oil spill really helped to take an issue that was growing and really convert it into legislative action and a whole body of environmental law at the federal level and also at the state level that we still have with us today," says [Peter Alagona](http://www.es.ucsb.edu/people /peter-alagona), a historian at UCSB. The first [Earth Day](https://www.earthday.org/) took place just over a year later in April of 1970. The Environmental Protection Agency was created in December of that year. Environmental laws passed or strengthened during this period included the Clean Air, [Clean Water](https://www.epa.gov/laws- regulations/history-clean-water-act) and Endangered Species Acts. One reason the 1969 oil spill had such an impact was that Santa Barbara was home to a lot of wealthy Republicans who had helped elect Nixon, Alagona says. Nixon himself was no environmentalist, Alagona says, "but he realized during a time when there were many other extremely controversial, divisive issues like the Vietnam War for instance, that as American public concern grew about damage to the environment that this could potentially be a winning issue for him." So Nixon signed the environmental legislation, even though many in his own party opposed it. The oil slick visible around Platform A in the Santa Barbara Channel emanated from fissures in the seabed. **USGS** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** USGS The oil slick visible around Platform A in the Santa Barbara Channel emanated from fissures in the seabed. USGS Today, Santa Barbara is much better prepared for an oil spill than it was in 1969. There's a 46-foot fast-response vessel in the harbor. And animals exposed to oil are cared for by a statewide group called the [Oiled Wildlife Care Network](https://owcn.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/). The response system got a test in 2015, when an oil pipeline burst a few miles up the coast. Workers deployed thousands of feet of floating boom to help contain the spill and skimmer boats began removing the oil from the water's surface. Meanwhile, members of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network sprang into action, rescuing and caring for oiled animals. And those animals were more likely to survive than the ones oiled in 1969. "Many more animals survive now than they would have back in the '60s or '70s or even the '80s," says Julie Barnes, a veterinarian and vice president for animal health and care at the Santa Barbara Zoo. That's partly because of what animal care experts learned from the Santa Barbara spill, Barnes says. But they've learned even more from the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989 and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. "It's got to the point that there's so many spills that for animals there's a highly organized system in place," Barnes says. These days, the greatest environmental danger from oil probably isn't another spill, McCauley says. It's the climate change caused by burning all that oil. Santa Barbara got a preview of what that might mean a year ago, he says. It came in the form of a mudslide that careened through the community of Montecito. "There were boulders and trees traveling at like 22 miles per hour down the street," McCauley says. "It destroyed 100 houses and killed 21 people. It's difficult to peg any one incident to climate change. But the mudslide followed the sort of extreme weather thought to accompany global warming. "I think of that as being the most insidious, the worst thing the oil industry has done to our community," McCauley says. An end to offshore drilling would help reduce the effects of climate change by reducing the supply of oil, he says. But the Trump Administration seems headed in the other direction. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is [preparing a five-year plan](https://www.boem.gov/National-OCS-Program/) expected to greatly increase offshore drilling in federally controlled waters, including those off the coast of Santa Barbara. | Jon Hamilton | https://www.npr.org/2019/01/28/688219307/how-californias-worst-oil-spill-turned-beaches-black-and-the-nation-green?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news | 2019-01-28 10:29:00+00:00 | 1,548,689,340 | 1,567,550,581 | environment | natural resources |
503,178 | sottnet--2019-07-03--Chinese scientists develop new material for cleaning up oil spills | 2019-07-03T00:00:00 | sottnet | Chinese scientists develop new material for cleaning up oil spills | The search for ever-better materials to soak up oil from water has recently added a new member to this highly specialized and highly sough-after family: Chinese scientists have invented a honeycomb-style polypropylene material that can soak up oil from water more cheaply and efficiently than some popular established methods, and do it in an environmentally friendly way.The material according to a press release , is essentially foam with a rough surface and a tubular structure modeled on honeycombs. This structure allows water to flow freely through the tubes while oil gets caught and absorbed in seconds, the researchers from Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology said.While we don't see many oil spills of Deepwater Horizon proportions on a regular basis, luckily, the problem of oil-contaminated water is a serious one simply because, as the Chinese scientists note in their research, oil and oil derivatives are used in so many industrial activities that also involve water at some point. The result is oily water that cannot be cleaned by setting it on fire (a common method for waterborne oil cleanup if not very environmentally friendly) or filtering it in another way.The news from the Chinese institute come soon after another invention in this field: a sorbent material that can absorb oil without also absorbing a lot of water. Called a plasma-polymerized carbonaceous nanosponge and developed by Argentine scientists, the material is a powder that "can be used to selectively and efficiently adsorb hydrocarbons from water, with negligible water uptake." The material can work on its own or be used as coating for textiles or metal meshes as a barrier between oil and water.Oil water separation research certainly looks like an exciting field. Some more news in it came from Texas earlier this month. Two young entrepreneurs there developed what they've called Towelie: a cheap fabric that can hold up to 15 times its weight in oil. The towel-like unwoven material is cheap and it floats without leaving any microplastic residue in the water. What's more, it's made from natural cotton fibers. Things don't get any eco-friendlier than this.Of course, for all their benefits, these different materials certainly have drawbacks since they were made in an imperfect world.The Chinese invention, for example, is made from polypropylene, which is an oil — or gas — derivative. This probably contributes significantly to its affordability but does not, strictly speaking, make it completely environmentally friendly in terms of production. Also, plastic-based sorbents leave microplastic residue in the water.The nanosponge invented by the Argentine scientists can absorb oil for half an hour under UV radiation but then it begins to soak up water as well, which compromises its effectiveness.The cotton-based Towelie is already used in the Permian for minor leaks at wellheads and as a replacement for synthetic towels widely used in the oil production industry. Yet it doesn't seem like the best idea for a major offshore spill: a major spill would require thousands of Towelies that would then have to be collected and the oil disposed of.All in all, however, it's good to know there is an ongoing effort to make potential oil spills and leaks less devastating and clean them up more quickly with less water getting wasted in the process. | null | https://www.sott.net/article/416135-Chinese-scientists-develop-new-material-for-cleaning-up-oil-spills | 2019-07-03 19:09:02+00:00 | 1,562,195,342 | 1,567,537,144 | environment | natural resources |
525,804 | sputnik--2019-02-17--Train Derailment Causes Crude Oil Spill in Central Canada Reports | 2019-02-17T00:00:00 | sputnik | Train Derailment Causes Crude Oil Spill in Central Canada – Reports | CN Rail spokesman Jonathan Abecassis said that the exact volume of spilt crude oil remained unknown, but the spill had not contaminated the nearby Assiniboine River. "There is no risk of contamination to the Assiniboine River … A number of provincial agencies are involved in the response to this incident, but CN Rail is leading the cleanup", a spokesperson for Manitoba’s Sustainable Development department said. There are no reports about any people killed or injured in the incident. Causes of the derailment remain unknown. | null | https://sputniknews.com/world/201902171072500302-canada-train-derailment-oil/ | 2019-02-17 06:44:00+00:00 | 1,550,403,840 | 1,567,548,267 | environment | natural resources |
532,123 | sputnik--2019-04-22--Brazils Petrobras Reports Oil Spill From Albacora Field Offshore Pipeline | 2019-04-22T00:00:00 | sputnik | Brazil's Petrobras Reports Oil Spill From Albacora Field Offshore Pipeline | According to the company's statement, the leak has been identified around dawn Monday. Oil production at platform P-25, located some in the Campos Basin some 110 km away from the coast, has been halted shortly after the discovery of the leak, the company's statement says. "The company has promptly sent ships to the location, tasked with removal of the oil spill," Petrobras said in the statement, adding that the regulatory bodies have been notified of the incident. | null | https://sputniknews.com/latam/201904221074363951-brazil-petrobras-albacora-oil-spill/ | 2019-04-22 20:56:00+00:00 | 1,555,980,960 | 1,567,542,190 | environment | natural resources |
543,571 | sputnik--2019-09-08--Video Hurricane Dorian Causes Large Oil Spill in Bahamas | 2019-09-08T00:00:00 | sputnik | Video: Hurricane Dorian Causes Large Oil Spill in Bahamas | Hurricane Dorian that struck the Bahamas as a Category 5 storm last Sunday damaged the Equinor South Riding Point oil storage facility in High Rock, causing a large spill. The Norwegian energy company that owns the facility issued a press release on 5 September, saying there were no observations of any oil spill at sea. However, photos and videos have since emerged online, proving that the spillage did in fact take place. Coral Vita, a coral conservation group, were among the first people to assess the scale of the damage at the site. As the information about the oil spill has been spreading online, some users have suggested that the issue deserves wider media coverage. The hurricane struck the Bahamas as a Category 5 storm last Sunday and remained over Abaco and Grand Bahama for the following two days bringing 185mph winds and torrential rains. The death toll from the storm has grown to 43, and the figure is expected to rise. Up to 70,000 people in the Bahamas are said to be in need of 'life-saving assistance.' Earlier this week, the US National Hurricane Center said that Dorian had weakened to a Category 1 storm with sustained winds of 90 mph. | null | https://sputniknews.com/environment/201909081076751466-video-hurricane-dorian-causes-large-oil-spill-in-bahamas/ | 2019-09-08 10:19:02+00:00 | 1,567,952,342 | 1,569,330,829 | environment | natural resources |
551,703 | sputnik--2019-12-04--Scientists Come Up With Eco-Sorbent That Will Save the Environment from Oil Spills | 2019-12-04T00:00:00 | sputnik | Scientists Come Up With Eco-Sorbent That Will Save the Environment from Oil Spills | According to experts, the material for collecting oil and oil products is an innovation, which is on a par with global competitors in terms of performance. Its advantage is controlled biodegradability within 1-2 months after use in the sorbate environment (a soluble substance, in this case oil). The scientists noted that this was possible due to the material’s composition and the method of its creation. The sorbent is a non-woven fibrous material based on natural biopolymers obtained using advanced electroforming technology, which makes the material ultra-thin. The researchers explained that the sorbent biodegrades quite quickly due to special microorganisms, which are contained in naturally-sorbed oil and can easily recover the natural biopolymer. This eliminates the sorbent extraction stage in order to separate oil. Only sorbate filtration from polymer particles and dirt is needed. As a result, oil refining becomes more technologically advanced and economically viable. According to experts, the materials obtained can be used to collect and remove oil and oil products from water and soil surfaces. As a material, it can be used for filter loading of treatment plants while treating oily wastewater and industrial effluents, as well as in filters for oil vapours recovery. Currently, the PRUE team, together with the Laboratory of Diffusion Phenomena in Polymer Systems at the Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, is producing enough material to conduct complex semi-industrial tests in order to improve the technology and structural elements. | null | https://sputniknews.com/science/201912041077481455-scientists-come-up-with-eco-sorbent-that-will-save-the-environment-from-oil-spills/ | Wed, 04 Dec 2019 13:48:29 +0300 | 1,575,485,309 | 1,575,463,623 | environment | natural resources |
569,079 | tass--2019-08-14--Emergency declared in Serbian municipality due to oil spill in Moravica River | 2019-08-14T00:00:00 | tass | Emergency declared in Serbian municipality due to oil spill in Moravica River | BELGRADE, August 14. /TASS/. State of emergency has been declared on Wednesday in Serbia’s Ivanjica (Western Serbia) after 70 tonnes of waste oil spilled into the Moravica River, the national RTS TV channel reported. "Waste oil spilled into the Moravica River. Ecological and communal inspectors reacted immediately. For now, I cannot name the cause or who is to blame. It is vital for us to stop the spillage of oil into the Moravica, as this river flows into the Rivers Arilje, Pozega and Chachaka, which can result in an ecological catastrophe in the whole of Western Serbia," an official said. According to the TV channel, it was the oil stored for winter in one of the enterprises that spilled into the river. Rescue teams are at the scene, trying to collect the oil products from the water surface. | null | https://tass.com/world/1073334 | 2019-08-14 08:19:22+00:00 | 1,565,785,162 | 1,567,534,205 | environment | natural resources |
576,304 | telesurtv--2019-06-27--Gulf of Mexico 2004 Oil Spill Thousand Times Worse than Stated | 2019-06-27T00:00:00 | telesurtv | Gulf of Mexico 2004 Oil Spill: Thousand Times Worse than Stated | A wrecked platform has been leaking as much as 4,500 gallons per day of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico since 2004, not three or four gallons the rig proprietor has claimed in the past, according to a U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) study released this month. > _**RELATED:**_ > > [_**Kenyan Environmentalists Celebrate As Court Blocks Huge Plant**_](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Kenyan-Environmentalists- Celebrate-As-Court-Blocks-Huge-Plant-20190626-0023.html) The platform owned by Taylor Energy collapsed and sank in September 2004 during the widespread damage caused by Hurricane Ivan in the Caribbean and the United States (U.S.) and, 15 years later, oil keeps leaking into the sea in a major spill much bigger than anticipated. As much as 4,500 gallons per day could be leaking out from the site according to the study that has been conducted in collaboration with researchers from Florida State University and Florida International University. Satellite imagery has shown slicks on the surface of the water, sometimes ranging up to 30 km in length. In the meantime, Taylor Energy says that slicks on the surface of the water only indicate that two to four gallons are seeping out. "The results of this study contradict these conclusions," scientists wrote in the report. Various studies had already come to contradict the numbers presented by the company over the past years. Last year, for instance, an independent study refuted the energy company’s figures showing that even more oil (70,000 gallons a day) could be pouring out of the site, while other reports have said it could be between 9,000 and 25,000, according to Associated Press. The new report also recalls that the rig's structure came to rest on the ocean floor and the collector bundle containing the original 28 pipes were buried by deposited sediment after breaking off. Taylor Energy has sealed some of the leaks, but said that the buried rest couldn’t be displaced without risk of environmental harm. The leakage was discovered by scientists in 2010 and no coastal environmental damage nor dying wildlife were witnessed from the seepage at that time, driving some scientists to call it a "hidden oil spill." “This is an unresolved, ongoing leak 14 years later,” Daniel Jacobs, author of a book following BP's oil spill and professor at Loyola Marymount University stated, adding that “this is one more indication that we’re not able to increase offshore drilling.” The NOAA team measured output at the Taylor platform leaks for a six-day period last September, and it said that their results should serve to measure the total amount leaked from the platform over the past 14 years. They said the numbers will be used along with further studies and that they will continue to investigate the leak. The continuing release of oil is happening where the waters of the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico mix. These large slicks can have detrimental repercussion on rich marine resources including plankton, fish and invertebrates (especially the sensitive early life stages), sargassum, birds, mammals and turtles. Some 330,000 gallons of oil make their way into the Gulf of Mexico every year, according to a state agency that monitors spills. | teleSUR / ao - MP - mrs | https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/15-Year-Old-Gulf-of-Mexico-Oil-Spill-Thousand-Times-Worse-than-Reported-20190626-0029.html | 2019-06-27 03:34:47+00:00 | 1,561,620,887 | 1,567,537,919 | environment | natural resources |
600,187 | thedailycaller--2019-03-12--Ocasio-Cortez Blames Pipeline That Hasnt Been Built Yet For An Oil Spill | 2019-03-12T00:00:00 | thedailycaller | Ocasio-Cortez Blames Pipeline That Hasn’t Been Built Yet For An Oil Spill | Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blamed the Keystone XL pipeline for leaking about 5,000 barrels of oil in rural South Dakota about two years ago. There’s just one problem: The Keystone XL pipeline has not been built yet. During a House hearing Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez claimed that “Keystone XL, in particular, had one leak that leaked 210,000 gallons across South Dakota” while she questioned Wells Fargo president and CEO Timothy Sloan. Ocasio-Cortez probably confused the Keystone XL pipeline with the Keystone pipeline, which has been operating since 2010. Keystone XL is still under construction, but would also bring oil sands from Canada to Nebraska where it would connect to existing pipeline. Environmentalists spent years opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, filing court challenges and successfully lobbying former President Barack Obama to personally reject the project in late 2015. President Donald Trump reversed that decision in early 2017, but Keystone XL’s progress has since been delayed by activist lawsuits. The existing Keystone pipeline, however, was responsible for leaking up to 9,700 barrels in South Dakota in 2017. The initial estimate for the spill was about 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons of oil. Both Keystone and the planned XL line are operated by Canadian pipeline giant TransCanada. TransCanada said it repaired the pipeline and cleaned-up the spill, Reuters reported in 2018, though the event has been used by environmental activists to gin up opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline. Ocasio-Cortez, who recently introduced the Green New Deal resolution, also took aim at Wells Fargo’s financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which sparked violent protests along the project’s planned route throughout 2016. (RELATED: Greenpeace Tries To Erase Inconvenient Co-Founder From History) Like Keystone XL, the Trump administration reversed the Obama administration’s blocking of the project. Dakota Access went into service in 2017. TransCanada had plans to begin building the Keystone XL pipeline later this year, but a February federal court ruling could delay construction until 2020. Ocasio-Cortez also grilled Wells Fargo’s Sloan over their financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline, asking the bank CEO if his company should be responsible for cleaning up any oil spills. The freshman Democrat also claimed the Dakota Access pipeline has leaked five times since it began operating two years ago. “So, hypothetically, if there was a leak from the Dakota Access Pipeline, why shouldn’t Wells Fargo pay for the cleanup of it, since it paid for the construction of the pipeline itself?” Ocasio-Cortez asked in Tuesday’s hearing. “We don’t operate the pipeline, we provide financing to the company that’s operating the pipeline,” Sloan said, also noting Wells Fargo had an environmental oversight group. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected]. | Michael Bastasch | https://dailycaller.com/2019/03/12/ocasio-cortez-keystone-pipeline-oil-spill/ | 2019-03-12 21:48:26+00:00 | 1,552,441,706 | 1,567,546,652 | environment | natural resources |
705,074 | theguardianuk--2019-07-05--Solomon Islands bay hit by oil spill suffers second contamination crisis | 2019-07-05T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Solomon Islands: bay hit by oil spill suffers second contamination crisis | A second major spill has hit the pristine Solomon Islands bay where a bulk carrier ran aground on a coral reef and leaked oil earlier this year. On Monday, an estimated 5,000 tonnes of bauxite, the ore used in aluminium smelting, slipped into the water at Kangava Bay, Rennell Island, while it was being loaded on to a barge. “The water is red. It’s like a scene from the Exodus,” a source on the island told the Guardian. It is the second major environmental disaster for the area this year. MV Solomon Trader ran aground on a reef in February, spilling about 80 tonnes of heavy fuel oil. The vessel was there to load bauxite from the island’s mining operations, which lies on the doorstep of a world heritage site in the island’s east. The Guardian understands the Solomon Islands government is expected to sign off on the four-month oil spill clean up on 17 July, following the completion of the environmental assessment. While local villagers have been told not to eat fish, it is understood many still are, in the absence of other food sources on the remote island. Test results are yet to come back to determine whether fish stocks have been contaminated with hydrocarbons. “The impact of the oil is not nearly as bad as you would expect. The oil isn’t likely to cause any long-term damage,” a seperate person on the ground told the Guardian. “The bauxite is the overwhelming issue by a long shot and that is causing substantial long term changes to the marine ecosystem.” Ongoing mismanagement of bauxite loading has resulted in the whole bottom of the bay, down to several hundred metres, being covered in the mineral, the source said. “It’s just totally out of control,” he said. University of Technology Sydney water and ecology expert Martina Doblin warned the bauxite powder was likely to smother and bury what is on the ocean floor and will be spread around in tidal currents. “It could limit the amount of light, so the water is cloudy and that means less light penetration for coral and sea grasses … it would have a harmful effect,” Doblin said. OceansWatch Solomon Islands spokesman Lawrence Nodua said the contamination would cause problems for fish breeding. “Normally fish come to where the coral are, so if the coral dies, they won’t be there, and [will lose the reef protection],” he said. He claimed there were reports that children swimming in the bay were experiencing skin irritation from the poor water quality. A Bintan Mining Solomon Islands company spokesman told the Guardian on Thursday that loading operations were suspended following the incident on Monday. The company would not comment further. Sources on the ground said the company had moved loading operations to other parts of the island. During the height of the oil spill disaster, Bintan Mining Solomon Islands faced criticism for continuing with its bauxite loading operations. While currents pushed slick away from the world heritage site, the Guardian has been told small amounts have washed up in the area. “Nothing significant, literally the size of a 50c piece here or there,” another source said. Since 2013 the site has been on a Unesco danger list because of logging and overfishing. The bulk carrier’s insurer, KP&I, said negotiations over clean-up operation costs would kick off soon but warned compensation claims would take time. Although matters of liability are yet to be determined, the insurer and ship owner have previously “expressed deep remorse” and characterised the situation as “totally unacceptable”. Comment has been sought from the Solomon Islands Maritime Authority, National Disaster Management Office and mining ministry. | Lisa Martin | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/05/solomon-islands-bay-hit-by-oil-spill-suffers-second-contamination-crisis | 2019-07-05 04:42:31+00:00 | 1,562,316,151 | 1,567,536,800 | environment | natural resources |
706,406 | theguardianuk--2019-07-28--Chile oil spill 40000 litres of diesel spilled into sea off Patagonia | 2019-07-28T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Chile oil spill: 40,000 litres of diesel spilled into sea off Patagonia | Forty thousand litres of diesel oil has been spilled into the sea in a remote and pristine area of Patagonia, Chile’s navy confirmed on Sunday. The spillage occurred in the Chilean section of Patagonia – a region that encompasses the southern tip of South America and spans both Chile and Argentina. A statement from the Chilean navy said it received a call from the mining company CAP on Saturday reporting the spill at the terminal of Guarello island, about 1,740 miles (2,800km) south of Santiago, Chile’s capital. The area is one of the planet’s most untouched with important biodiversity. The navy said it had deployed ships to the area to control damage from the spill and an investigation had been launched. “The marine pollution control centre was activated,” Ronald Baasch, commander of the navy’s Third Naval Zone, told local media. CAP released a statement saying the incident had already been contained. The spill affected a bay and the company said it installed a container sleeve in the area on Saturday and began removing oil from the environment immediately. | Associated Press | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/29/chile-oil-spill-40000-litres-of-diesel-spilled-into-sea-off-patagonia | 2019-07-28 23:49:24+00:00 | 1,564,372,164 | 1,567,535,557 | environment | natural resources |
713,645 | theguardianuk--2019-11-07--Oil spill threatens vast areas of mangroves and coral reefs in Brazil | 2019-11-07T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Oil spill threatens vast areas of mangroves and coral reefs in Brazil | Hundreds of kilometres of mangroves and coral reefs, as well as humpback whale breeding grounds, are under threat from an oil spill that has polluted more than 2,400km of Brazil’s north-eastern coast in the last two months. The Brazilian Navy, which has deployed 8,500 personnel, 30 ships and 17 aircraft in the cleanup operation, said this week that 4,200 tonnes of oil have been removed from beaches, amid fears by scientists that some has already entered the food chain. “There are still many indirect impacts that have not yet been properly shown,” said Guilherme Dutra, director of Conservation International’s marine programme in Brazil. “The risk of contamination of the food chain is very high, especially in areas directly affected.” The government of President Jair Bolsonaro initially struggled to react to the spill, leaving volunteers to clean up. On Wednesday it staged Brazil’s biggest-ever oil auction for ultra-deep-water rights, which raised $17bn (£13bn) – a disappointing shortfall on the $26bn the government had hoped for. Mangroves and coral reefs are particularly vulnerable to damage, scientists said, and removing oil from them is a delicate, specialised and lengthy process. Detergents used to clean oil can damage coral reefs, and mangrove roots need to be cleaned manually. Brazil’s government environment agency, Ibama, has counted 126 marine creatures affected – including 24 seabirds and 88 turtles – of which 95 had died, it said on Tuesday. Another 3,900 baby turtles had been captured by government agencies and universities and moved to safety. The Brazilian navy says the oil has reached the Abrolhos Marine national park off the coast of Bahia state – a reserve that includes an archipelago, extensive coral reefs, humpback whale breeding grounds and the South Atlantic’s biggest concentration of marine biodiversity. Reef fish such as Scarus trispinosus – a vivid blue parrotfish known as Budião-azul in Portuguese – as well as Mussismilia corals could be endangered, said Dutra, a biologist who has worked extensively in Abrolhos. Flavio Lima, a professor of biology at the State University of Rio Grande do Norte in the north-east, said the oil could even prove fatal to the coral reefs. “The coral is not an organism, it is a colony and it is very sensitive to alterations in the composition of nutrients,” he said. “Oil contamination could cause widespread death of coral colonies.” Brazil’s coastal mangrove forests are important reproduction centres for many species of fish, Lima said. “These mangrove areas are nurseries. We have the prolonged effects of the oil, that go from contamination of food sources like algae and invertebrates until [it reaches] the food chain … [The spill] also represents a risk for local populations who depend on crustaceans, like crabs and shrimp, and molluscs like oysters and clams, for survival.” Brazil’s state oil company, Petrobras, said the oil came from three Venezuelan fields. Last Friday Federal Police and the Brazilian navy said an oil tanker flying a Greek flag and carrying crude oil from Venezuela was the main suspect after satellite images showed it was the only ship near an oil slick spotted 700km off Brazil’s north-east coast on 28-29 July, en route to South Africa. Delta Tankers, owners of the Bouboulina tanker since identified by Reuters as the ship concerned, has denied responsibility. The ship “sailed from Venezuela in laden condition on July 19 2019 heading directly, with no stops at other ports, for Melaka, Malaysia, where she discharged her entire cargo without any shortage”, the company said in a statement. In a Facebook Live event last Friday alongside Bolsonaro, the fishing and agriculture secretary, Jorge Seif Júnior, said there was no risk of contamination. “The fish is an intelligent animal. When it sees a blanket of oil, it flees,” he said. Maurício Cardim, 42, who rents boats to tourists and researchers in Bahia, said the evidence on the ground proved otherwise. “I have seen dead fish, I have seen jellyfish… I have seen an enormous quantity of seaweed we don’t see at this time of year, coloured with oil,” said Cardim, who is part of the Coast Guardians group of volunteers who are cleaning up the coast of Bahia state. “We want a solution. For now we are cleaning our beaches, because we live from the sea.” | Dom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/07/oil-spill-threatens-vast-areas-of-mangroves-and-coral-reefs-in-brazil | Thu, 07 Nov 2019 07:00:59 GMT | 1,573,128,059 | 1,573,133,099 | environment | natural resources |
723,399 | thehill--2019-10-31--Keystone pipeline spills more than 350,000 gallons of oil in North Dakota | 2019-10-31T00:00:00 | thehill | Keystone pipeline spills more than 350,000 gallons of oil in North Dakota | The Keystone pipeline has spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil into North Dakota this week, The New York Times reports. The pipeline has leaked roughly 383,000 gallons of crude oil, impacting an estimated half-acre of wetland, according to state environmental regulators. The leak has been contained, according to Karl Rockeman, the director of the state Department of Environmental Quality's division of water quality. "It is one of the larger spills in the state,” he told the Times. He added that there are no homes near the site of the spill and the wetland that was impacted is not a source of drinking water. Pipeline owner TC Energy shut down the pipeline after the leak was detected. Rockeman did not indicate whether cleanup of the spill had begun yet. In a statement to the Times, TC Energy said it did not know the cause of the leak and that an internal investigation is underway. “We are establishing air quality, water and wildlife monitoring and will continue monitoring throughout the response,” the statement reads. The Hill has reached out to TC Energy for comment. An addition to the pipeline, which carries crude oil from Canada through seven states, was at the center of prolonged environmental protests. The incident occurred along a part of the existing Keystone pipeline system, not the 1,179-mile addition known as the Keystone XL pipeline, Rockeman noted. President Trump Donald John TrumpTrump congratulates Washington Nationals on World Series win Trump hints that dog injured in al-Baghdadi raid will visit White House Vindman says White House lawyer moved Ukraine call to classified server: report MORE, just days into his term, opened the door for TC Energy to continue its construction of the pipeline extension after former President Obama denied it a permit in 2015. This is not the first oil spill along the Keystone pipeline system; an incident in 2017 caused more than 407,000 gallons of crude oil to cover agricultural land in South Dakota in a rural area near the North Dakota border. | Owen Daugherty | https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/468353-keystone-pipeline-spills-over-350000-gallons-of-oil-in-north-dakota | Thu, 31 Oct 2019 17:51:37 +0000 | 1,572,558,697 | 1,572,559,905 | environment | natural resources |
766,516 | theindependent--2019-07-23--aposTicking time bombapos Threat of oil tanker explosion could cause one of historyaposs larg | 2019-07-23T00:00:00 | theindependent | 'Ticking time bomb': Threat of oil tanker explosion could cause one of history's largest spills | A dilapidated tanker holding over 1 million barrels of crude oil could explode off the coast of Yemen, sparking one of the world’s largest oil spills, experts have warned. The United Nations said this week that Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who control the nearby Red Sea port, have once again refused a technical team access to the decaying Safer tanker. The Yemen-owned vessel is moored off Ras Isa and was once an offshore platform for vessels landing crude oil from a nearby pipeline to the central province of Marib. Experts described the vessel as a ticking time bomb, saying it is at risk of exploding due to a dangerous build-up of volatile gases released from the oil it carries and a lack of maintenance of the ship. The vessel is also disintegrating due to saltwater corrosion. Russell Geekie, a spokesman at the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told The Independent on Tuesday that the UN remained “deeply concerned by the environmental threat” posed by the decaying tanker. “The permits are still pending and discussions continue to secure them. The UN stands ready to deploy a technical team as soon as the necessary permits are issued,” he added. Mark Lowcock, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator and under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, had said on Thursday that despite the Houthis requesting help from the UN and promising to facilitate the work, they continue to delay access. He added that the vessel is “at risk of spilling up to 1.1 million barrels of into the Red Sea”. “The UN assessment team had planned to deploy to the tanker next week, but the necessary permits remain pending with the (Houthi) authorities”, he told an 18 July security council meeting. “Discussions continue to resolve this as quickly as possible,” he added. The UN and experts say that an urgent assessment is needed on the vessel, which is supposed to be constantly tended to. Inert gasses must be injected into the air space in the oil chambers of the ship to stop the build up of volatile gasses and prevent catastrophe. Dr Ian Ralby, a maritime and security expert who heads up I R Consilium that researched the tanker, said that according to his sources in Yemen the last time inert gasses were inserted into the chambers of the vessel was in June 2017. He said in April chunks of the vessel started to come off due to corrosion, meaning the vessel could be vulnerable to splitting in two. Calling it a “massive floating incendiary” he warned that if it did explode, it would create an environmental catastrophe that would stretch past Yemen’s shores, to Saudi Arabia and as far as Eritrea, Sudan and even Egypt. He added the tanker itself was connected to the Ras Isa-Marib pipeline which he said contained an additional 1 million barrels of crude which could also potentially spill into the sea. “You’re talking about one of the largest oil spills in history,” he told The Independent. “A 2 million barrel oil spill would potentially kill off all the coral in the Red Sea,” he added. Doug Weir, of the Conflict and Environment Observatory that first raised the issue of the tanker last year, said at the heart of the issues is an estimated $80m (£64.3m) of crude oil aboard the vessel. The cash-strapped Houthis want guarantees they will have access to the revenues of the oil, explaining their reluctance to allow access to the tanker, or for it to be towed away. The tanker was also meant to be part of a withdrawal agreement in key Red Sea ports outlined in a peace agreement signed by both the Houthis and the Saudi-backed recognised government in Stockholm last year. Last week the recognised Yemen government sounded the alarm in a video they posted to Twitter. “The tanker should lie on a point of cooperation, but it is still heavily contested. If the UN can’t get the technical assessment done then it does leave much hope of resolving the crisis,” Mr Weir added. He said the notorious Exxon Valdez disaster off the coast of Alaska involved 260,000 barrels, just a fraction of what the Safer tanker is believed to contain. Ras Isa is close to one of Yemen’s few marine protected areas. “It could destroy turtle nesting beaches, mangroves which are essential to supporting the local fisheries, coral reefs and the local fishing industry,” Mr Weir added. Mr Ralby said even if the oil spill did not stretch across the entire Red Sea, the damage to marine biodiversity and life “would be horrendous” and Red Sea tourism would be “decimated”. In addition, he warned that a tricky clean-up operation would see the Houthis, the Yemen authorities and the Saudis, who are locked in a war, forced to work together. This would slow down maritime traffic coming through the Bab al-Mandeb strait to the Suez Canal, some of the world’s busiest waterways. “It would be a tragedy for the global economy,” Mr Ralby added. The Iran-backed Houthi rebels are locked in a ruinous war with the Gulf-backed recognised government after they swept control of the country in 2015. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies launched a bombing campaign a few months later to reinstate the authorities. | Bel Trew | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/oil-tanker-yemen-spill-red-sea-houthi-tanker-a9017586.html | 2019-07-23 15:39:00+00:00 | 1,563,910,740 | 1,567,536,046 | environment | natural resources |
773,109 | theindependent--2019-10-09--Mysterious oil spill marks fresh environmental crisis for Brazil, affecting more than 100 beaches | 2019-10-09T00:00:00 | theindependent | Mysterious oil spill marks fresh environmental crisis for Brazil, affecting more than 100 beaches | A mysterious oil spill that has polluted shores along a vast area of Brazil’s northeast may have resulted from unspecified criminal activity, and a foreign country could be responsible, president Jair Bolsonaro said Tuesday. An estimated 100 tons of crude has drifted towards land since early September, polluting some of the country’s most pristine beaches and forcing Brazilian officials to grapple with yet another environmental crisis. The government has already come under close scrutiny and heavy criticism after an unusually intense season of forest fires in the Amazon. Now, oil has been spotted on at least 132 beaches affecting 61 municipalities in nine states, the country’s Environment Ministry said. Officials have said the state oil company, Petrobras, is not responsible for the spill and that the crude is neither produced in nor exported to Brazil. Mr Bolsonaro told reporters Tuesday that the government had a theory of what led to the spill, adding that a country is on “the radar.” He declined to elaborate, saying: “I can’t accuse a country. If it turns out it’s not that country, I don’t want to create problems with other countries.” Ricardo Salles, the minister of the environment, flew over part of the affected area Sunday and said the government was taking “urgent measures to address pollution.” The spill prompted the state of Sergipe to declare an emergency last week, and officials there have warned residents to stop going to certain beaches. The crude has also set off concern about wildlife. Biologists have treated several turtles that have washed ashore covered in crude, but some have died. The spill comes as Mr Bolsonaro’s government has come under withering criticism from abroad for weakening environmental policies and agencies while taking steps to open up protected lands in the Amazon to industries. | Ernesto Londoño | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/brazil-oil-spill-environment-petrobras-bolsonaro-amazon-wildfires-a9148606.html | Wed, 09 Oct 2019 10:30:19 GMT | 1,570,631,419 | 1,570,626,205 | environment | natural resources |
780,662 | theindependent--2019-12-23--Galapagos Islands: Officials fight to contain spill as barge carrying 600 gallons of oil capsizes | 2019-12-23T00:00:00 | theindependent | Galapagos Islands: Officials fight to contain spill as barge carrying 600 gallons of oil capsizes | A diesel spill off the coast of the Galapagos Islands has triggered a mass response effort to ensure the safety of the islands' delicate ecosystem. Ecuadorean officials said more than 600 gallons of fuel were on board a barge that capsized meters off the coast of San Cristobal Island after a crane fell onto the vessel as it loaded it with cargo. It is unclear how much of the fuel went on to spill from its container on the coast of the UNESCO world heritage site, where Charles Darwin solidified his theory of evolution thanks to the region's finches. However, images from the scene show the normally cerulean coast of the northernmost island having turned dark as Ecuadorean officials worked to clear the spillage. Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno declared a state of emergency for the territory, but stressed that the matter was under control. Meanwhile, the nation’s minister for the environment, Raúl Ledesma Huert, said contingency measures were immediately implemented to limit any risk to the island’s delicate biosphere. Among the measures put in place were absorbent cloths, deployed to soak up as much oil from the waters as possible. Of the creatures that live on the islands, roughly 80 per cent of birds, 97 per cent of reptiles more than 30 per cent of plants can be found nowhere else on the planet. More than 20 per cent of the marine life that lives on the coast are also unique to the region, with the waters also used by the world’s only marine iguana and the only penguin species to be found in the northern hemisphere. The islands have survived oil spills before. In 2001, a spill of 243,000 gallons of oil was described as one of the worst disasters in Galapagos’ history. The pollution led to the deaths of around 62 per cent decline of the Iguana population on Santa Fe Island. | Vincent Wood | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/galapagos-islands-fuel-leak-barge-capsized-environment-biodiversity-a9258801.html | Mon, 23 Dec 2019 22:53:00 GMT | 1,577,159,580 | 1,577,147,813 | environment | natural resources |
824,293 | thepoliticalinsider--2019-03-13--Ocasio-Cortez Blames Pipeline That Hasnt Been Built Yet For An Oil Spill | 2019-03-13T00:00:00 | thepoliticalinsider | Ocasio-Cortez Blames Pipeline That Hasn’t Been Built Yet For An Oil Spill | Michael Bastasch on March 12, 2019 Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blamed the Keystone XL pipeline for leaking about 5,000 barrels of oil in rural South Dakota about two years ago. There’s just one problem: The Keystone XL pipeline has not been built yet. ### More from The Political Insider During a House hearing Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez claimed that “Keystone XL, in particular, had one leak that leaked 210,000 gallons across South Dakota” while she questioned Wells Fargo president and CEO Timothy Sloan. Ocasio-Cortez probably confused the Keystone XL pipeline with the Keystone pipeline, which has been operating since 2010. Keystone XL is still under construction, but would also bring oil sands from Canada to Nebraska where it would connect to existing pipeline. Environmentalists spent years opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, filing court challenges and successfully lobbying former President Barack Obama to [personally reject the project](https://dailycaller.com/2015/11/06/obama- rejects-keystone-xl-to-appease-the-uns-global-warming-alarmism/) in late 2015. President Donald Trump reversed that decision in early 2017, but [Keystone XL’s progress has since been delayed](https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/24 /keystone-xl-pipeline-not-built/) by activist lawsuits. The existing Keystone pipeline, however, was responsible for leaking up to 9,700 barrels in South Dakota in 2017. The initial estimate for the spill was about 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons of oil. Both Keystone and the planned XL line are operated by Canadian pipeline giant TransCanada. TransCanada said it repaired the pipeline and cleaned-up the spill, Reuters [reported](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-transcanada-pipeline-leak /keystone-pipeline-leak-in-south-dakota-about-double-previous-estimate-paper- idUSKBN1HE0T7) in 2018, though the event has been used by environmental activists to gin up opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline. Ocasio-Cortez, who recently introduced the Green New Deal resolution, also took aim at Wells Fargo’s financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which sparked violent protests along the project’s planned route throughout 2016. Like Keystone XL, the Trump administration [reversed the Obama administration’s blocking of the project](https://dailycaller.com/2017/01/25 /heres-the-actual-text-of-trumps-executive-orders-on-keystone-xl-dakota- pipelines/). Dakota Access went into service in 2017. TransCanada had plans to begin building the Keystone XL pipeline later this year, but a February federal court [ruling](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/16/keystone-xl-suffers- another-setback-judge-blocks-work-on-pipeline.html) could delay construction until 2020. Ocasio-Cortez also grilled Wells Fargo’s Sloan over their financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline, asking the bank CEO if his company should be responsible for cleaning up any oil spills. The freshman Democrat also claimed the Dakota Access pipeline has leaked five times since it began operating two years ago. “So, hypothetically, if there was a leak from the Dakota Access Pipeline, why shouldn’t Wells Fargo pay for the cleanup of it, since it paid for the construction of the pipeline itself?” Ocasio-Cortez asked in Tuesday’s hearing. “We don’t operate the pipeline, we provide financing to the company that’s operating the pipeline,” Sloan said, also noting Wells Fargo had an environmental oversight group. _[Follow Michael on Twitter](https://twitter.com/MikeBastasch)_ | Daily Caller | https://thepoliticalinsider.com/ocasio-cortez-blames-pipeline-hasnt-been-built-oil-spill/ | 2019-03-13 17:25:14+00:00 | 1,552,512,314 | 1,567,546,498 | environment | natural resources |
1,023,898 | thetelegraph--2019-12-23--Galapagos oil spill: 600 gallons of oil leak into ocean around islands after cargo boat capsizes | 2019-12-23T00:00:00 | thetelegraph | Galapagos oil spill: 600 gallons of oil leak into ocean around islands after cargo boat capsizes | Emergency teams are fighting to protect some of the world’s most unique and fragile ecosystems after 600 gallons of oil spilled into the waters around the Galapagos Islands when a cargo vessel overturned. The barge sank on Sunday after a crane at the La Predial dock of San Cristobal - the easternmost island of the Galapagos archipelago - fell while unloading cargo. The crane was taking off a container holding an electricity generator when it fell into the vessel, causing it to sink. Raul Ledesma, Ecuador's environment minister, said the sunken generator was the source of the oil seen in the water. The attorney general's office said that one person was injured in the incident. Video appears to show the crane losing control of the container and then falling on the ship. All three then tip over into the sea, forcing the crew to jump off the ship as it began to capsize. Mr Ledesma said on Monday that the situation is under control but added that authorities are "very concerned" about recovery of the vessel, which was carrying the fuel for its own operations. | Telegraph Reporters | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/23/galapagos-oil-spill-600-gallons-oil-leak-ocean-around-islands/ | Mon, 23 Dec 2019 23:37:10 GMT | 1,577,162,230 | 1,577,147,866 | environment | natural resources |
1,027,569 | thetorontostar--2019-07-20--Work on old oil well may have caused California spill | 2019-07-20T00:00:00 | thetorontostar | Work on old oil well may have caused California spill | BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Chevron says an 800,000-gallon oil spill in Central California may have started when crews tried to recap an abandoned well. KQED News says the company held a briefing Friday about the seepage that began in May in a Kern County oil field west of Bakersfield. Chevron says it believes the spill stemmed from efforts to remove aging cement plugs from its non-producing wells and replace them. The company says that the initial flows came from a previously damaged well that was being re-entered. Chevron says more oil spilled in June when crews did pressure tests and later tried to complete the job of replacing cement in the well. Chevron says the oil has only fouled about an acre of land and 90 per cent of the spilled material has been recaptured. | The Associated Press | https://www.thestar.com/news/world/us/2019/07/19/work-on-old-oil-well-may-have-caused-california-spill.html | 2019-07-20 02:06:27+00:00 | 1,563,602,787 | 1,567,536,348 | environment | natural resources |
1,027,824 | thetorontostar--2019-07-28--Chiles navy confirms diesel oil spill in pristine Patagonia | 2019-07-28T00:00:00 | thetorontostar | Chile’s navy confirms diesel oil spill in pristine Patagonia | SANTIAGO, Chile - Chile’s navy on Sunday confirmed the spillage of 40,000 litres of diesel oil into the sea in a remote and pristine area of the South American country’s Patagonia and said it is working to mitigate the effects. A navy statement said it received a call from the mining company CAP on Saturday reporting the spill at the terminal of Guarello island, about 1,740 miles (2,800 kilometres) south from Santiago, Chile’s capital. The area is one of the planet’s most untouched with important biodiversity. The navy said it had deployed ships to the area to control damage from the spill and an investigation had been launched. “The marine pollution control centre was activated,” Ronald Baasch, commander of the navy’s Third Naval Zone, told local media. CAP released a statement saying the incident had already been contained. The spill affected a bay and the company said it installed a container sleeve in the area on Saturday and began removing oil from the environment immediately. Get more of the Star in your inbox Never miss the latest news from the Star. Sign up for our newsletters to get today's top stories, your favourite columnists and lots more in your inbox Sign Up Now | The Associated Press | https://www.thestar.com/news/world/americas/2019/07/28/chiles-navy-confirms-diesel-oil-spill-in-pristine-patagonia.html | 2019-07-28 23:14:27+00:00 | 1,564,370,067 | 1,567,535,571 | environment | natural resources |
1,029,873 | thetorontostar--2019-11-04--Brazil reckons with new oil spill mystery: When will it end? | 2019-11-04T00:00:00 | thetorontostar | Brazil reckons with new oil spill mystery: When will it end? | RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazilian authorities said on Monday that they have no way of knowing how much more oil will wash ashore the country’s northeastern coast, despite President Jair Bolsonaro’s ominous warning during a Sunday night TV interview that “the worst is yet to come.” In the interview, Bolsonaro also stuck to the government’s assertion that a Greek freighter caused the oil spill scattered across beaches along 1,300 miles (2,100 kilometres) of coastline even after the shipowner’s denial of any leakage from its vessel. “All signs point to this Greek cargo ship. All of them,” he told Record TV, adding that the leak, “by all accounts looks like it was criminal.” Brazil’s government has been striving to investigate the cause of the spill that has hit 321 beaches along the northeast coast since early September, hurting fishing and tourism. Authorities have described the spill as one of the country’s worst environmental disasters. The crude’s density renders it invisible from above, making it hard to track its origin or to have a clear picture of the amount of oil yet to reach Brazil’s coast. Some 4,000 tons of oil has been collected from northeastern beaches thus far, according to a statement Sunday from the Navy, Brazil’s environmental regulator, and the national petroleum agency. “To say how much oil there still is very difficult to say,” Commander Leonardo Puntel of the Brazilian Navy said at a press conference on Monday. “Since the oil is underwater, we don’t know if there’s still a lot or a little. There is effectively no correct and accurate way to monitor these oil spots,” he said, adding that they have seen a decrease in oil arriving onto beaches in recent days. “There is no case in the world of a large-scale oil spill where the origins are totally unknown. This case has no parallel, we don’t know who polluter is,” Puntel said. Brazil’s defence minister, Gen. Fernando Azevedo e Silva, also stressed how challenging it is to calculate the spill’s scope. “It is not detectable by satellite. ... It is imperceptible. We do not know how much will still come,” he said. David Zee, an oceanographer at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, said that the 4,000 tons of collected oil is “just the tip of the iceberg,” both because the cleanup effort is mostly limited to sandy beaches in populated areas and also because a large portion of spilled oil is likely spread deep beneath the ocean’s surface. Furthermore, when currents bring oil to sandy shores, it is relatively easy to collect, while is nearly impossible to remove from corals and mangrove forests, which make up part of the affected area, Zee said. Brazilian prosecutors have named Greek shipping company Delta Tankers Ltd as a suspect of the leak’s origins. The company issued a statement earlier saying it found no evidence of leakage after reviewing the ship’s cameras and sensors. “This material will be willingly shared with Brazilian authorities, should they contact the company regarding this investigation. So far, no such contact has been made,” the statement said. Federal Police officer Franco Perazzoni said at Monday’s press conference that the company will be officially notified via Interpol. Brazilian prosecutors said previously that Delta’s oil tanker, named Bouboulina, was navigating through Brazilian waters at the time and location of the spill. The ship was carrying oil from Venezuela to Malaysia. In a search order seen Friday by The Associated Press, Brazilian prosecutors said “there is no indication of another boat” that could have discharged the Venezuelan crude into the sea. Brazilian armed forces along with environmental protection agencies and petroleum authorities are leading an operation to clean, monitor and investigate the oil spill. Several public universities are conducting research about the spill’s origins and impact. Television footage has also shown volunteers flocking to beaches to help with the cleanup, often without government supervision. Of particular concern at the moment is the Abrolhos national marine park, home to Brazil’s largest coral reefs. Authorities said Sunday night that they had removed the fragments of oil that had appeared in the park and so far no new traces had been found. “A very small amount of oil arrived on November 2, on November 3 only a few fragments remained, today there’s none,” Puntel said in the Monday press conference. “Will more oil fragments come? Maybe.” | Anna Jean Kaiser And Marcelo Silva De Sousa - The Associated Press | https://www.thestar.com/news/world/americas/2019/11/04/brazil-reckons-with-new-oil-spill-mystery-when-will-it-end.html | Mon, 4 Nov 2019 15:36:36 EST | 1,572,908,522 | 1,572,908,522 | environment | natural resources |
1,030,008 | thetorontostar--2019-11-07--Officials responding to oil spill from cargo ship in Hawaii | 2019-11-07T00:00:00 | thetorontostar | Officials responding to oil spill from cargo ship in Hawaii | HONOLULU - The U.S. Coast Guard says a cargo ship has spilled oil into Honolulu Harbor. Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class James Connor says local and federal officials are working on cleanup Thursday after a 433-foot (132-meter) container ship spilled oil a day earlier during a fueling operation. It is not immediately clear how much oil spilled or how much fuel the vessel holds. It’s owned by the U.S. shipping company Matson Inc. Absorbent material was placed around the ship and about 120 gallons of oil has been recovered so far. A Coast Guard flight confirmed oil has leaked outside a containment area and is washing ashore across the harbour on Sand Island. Officials say there are no reports of wildlife being injured. Get more of the Star in your inbox Never miss the latest news from the Star. Sign up for our newsletters to get today's top stories, your favourite columnists and lots more in your inbox Sign Up Now | The Associated Press | https://www.thestar.com/news/world/us/2019/11/07/officials-responding-to-oil-spill-from-cargo-ship-in-hawaii.html | Thu, 7 Nov 2019 20:58:09 EST | 1,573,178,289 | 1,573,181,086 | environment | natural resources |
1,048,869 | truepundit--2019-03-13--Ocasio-Cortez Blames Pipeline That Hasnt Been Built Yet For An Oil Spill | 2019-03-13T00:00:00 | truepundit | Ocasio-Cortez Blames Pipeline That Hasn’t Been Built Yet For An Oil Spill | Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blamed the Keystone XL pipeline for leaking about 5,000 barrels of oil in rural South Dakota about two years ago. There’s just one problem: The Keystone XL pipeline has not been built yet. During a House hearing Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez claimed that “Keystone XL, in particular, had one leak that leaked 210,000 gallons across South Dakota” while she questioned Wells Fargo president and CEO Timothy Sloan. Ocasio-Cortez probably confused the Keystone XL pipeline with the Keystone pipeline, which has been operating since 2010. Keystone XL is still under construction, but would also bring oil sands from Canada to Nebraska where it would connect to existing pipeline. Environmentalists spent years opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, filing court challenges and successfully lobbying former President Barack Obama to personally reject the project in late 2015. President Donald Trump reversed that decision in early 2017, but Keystone XL’s progress has since been delayed by activist lawsuits. The existing Keystone pipeline, however, was responsible for leaking up to 9,700 barrels in South Dakota in 2017. The initial estimate for the spill was about 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons of oil. Both Keystone and the planned XL line are operated by Canadian pipeline giant TransCanada. TransCanada said it repaired the pipeline and cleaned-up the spill, Reuters reported in 2018, though the event has been used by environmental activists to gin up opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline. Ocasio-Cortez, who recently introduced the Green New Deal resolution, also took aim at Wells Fargo’s financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which sparked violent protests along the project’s planned route throughout 2016. Like Keystone XL, the Trump administration reversed the Obama administration’s blocking of the project. Dakota Access went into service in 2017. TransCanada had plans to begin building the Keystone XL pipeline later this year, but a February federal court ruling could delay construction until 2020. Ocasio-Cortez also grilled Wells Fargo’s Sloan over their financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline, asking the bank CEO if his company should be responsible for cleaning up any oil spills. The freshman Democrat also claimed the Dakota Access pipeline has leaked five times since it began operating two years ago. “So, hypothetically, if there was a leak from the Dakota Access Pipeline, why shouldn’t Wells Fargo pay for the cleanup of it, since it paid for the construction of the pipeline itself?” Ocasio-Cortez asked in Tuesday’s hearing. “We don’t operate the pipeline, we provide financing to the company that’s operating the pipeline,” Sloan said, also noting Wells Fargo had an environmental oversight group. Follow Michael on TwitterClick here for reuse options! Copyright 2019 Daily Caller News Foundation Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected] | admin | https://truepundit.com/ocasio-cortez-blames-pipeline-that-hasnt-been-built-yet-for-an-oil-spill/ | 2019-03-13 20:44:36+00:00 | 1,552,524,276 | 1,567,546,479 | environment | natural resources |
1,093,435 | wakingtimes--2019-11-23--Latest Keystone Pipeline Oil Spill is Nearly 10 Times Worse Than Initially Thought | 2019-11-23T00:00:00 | wakingtimes | Latest Keystone Pipeline Oil Spill is Nearly 10 Times Worse Than Initially Thought | A crude oil spill from the Keystone Pipeline in North Dakota nearly a month ago was roughly 10 times larger than first reported, officials now say. On October 29, the Calgary, Alberta-based TC Energy—corporation previously known as TransCanada—shut down operations of the pipeline after the major multinational corporation discovered that it was leaking large amounts of oil into the surrounding wetlands. Initial reports from the company and North Dakota’s Department of Environmental Quality suggested that the leak, which spilled roughly 383,000 gallons of oil into the region, impacted about 2,500 square yards of land. However, state environmental scientist Bill Suess now says that the leak impacted 23,232 square yards of land, or 4.8 acres—nearly 10 times the original estimate, reports CNN. The new estimate takes into account both the surface and subsurface impacts of the leak. The original estimate had only been based on visual observations of the spill. Following approval from the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the pipeline was returned to service on November 9. However, the cause of the spill has yet to be determined. At the time of the leak, Indigenous Environmental Network frontline community organizer Joye Braun told CNN: In a statement at the time, Greenpeace USA senior research specialist Tim Donaghy also noted that the spill confirmed precisely what environmentalists had been warning authorities about. “I wish I could say I was shocked, but a major spill from the Keystone pipeline is exactly what multiple experts predicted would happen. In fact, this is the fourth significant spill from the Keystone pipeline in less than ten years of operation. History has shown us time and again that there is no safe way to transport fossil fuels, and pipelines are no exception.” The Department of Environmental Quality claims that an estimated 8,037 barrels of oil has been recovered from the 9,120 spilled. The October 29 leak was the third crude oil spill from the Keystone pipeline in only three years. The Keystone Pipeline system extends 2,600 miles from the Keystone Hardisty terminal in Alberta, Canada east into Manitoba, through the Dakotas before continuing to either the Patoka Oil Terminal Hub in Illinois (Phase 1) and or south to Texas (Phase 2 & 3). Throughout its multiple phases of construction and extension, the pipeline has faced numerous protests and legal challenges from environmental groups and indigenous land defenders as well as delays during the time of the Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). However, President Trump has energetically backed the acceleration and approval of the fourth phase of construction, known as Keystone XL. During his first month in office, Trump signed an executive order permitting the Keystone XL project to move forward. Since then, opponents of the pipeline have accused the federal government of ignoring environmental findings and protecting the profits of oil companies rather than prioritizing clean water and wildlife. On Monday, four top House Democrats requested in a letter that the U.S. Government Accountability Office investigate TC Energy as well as the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) which regulates it. “The public has a legitimate expectation that the Keystone Pipeline System managed by TC Energy operate safely and without repeated incidents that damage the environment and threaten the public’s health and security. Yet we are faced with the third occurrence of a significant pipeline leak that has devastating impacts to both the environment and nearby communities. The frequency and severity of these incidents on the Keystone Pipeline System raises serious questions about both the integrity management program of TC Energy and whether adequate oversight and operating conditions have been put in place by PHMSA to ensure the safe operation of this high-pressure system. This is particularly concerning as TC Energy continues to pursue additional build-out of the Keystone Pipeline System with the Keystone XL Pipeline.” | WTStaff | https://www.wakingtimes.com/2019/11/22/latest-keystone-pipeline-oil-spill-is-nearly-10-times-worse-than-initially-thought/ | Sat, 23 Nov 2019 00:20:44 +0000 | 1,574,486,444 | 1,574,511,445 | environment | natural resources |
1,115,233 | zerohedge--2019-11-01--Why The Latest Keystone Spill Is Disastrous For Canadian Oil | 2019-11-01T00:00:00 | zerohedge | Why The Latest Keystone Spill Is Disastrous For Canadian Oil | The Keystone Pipeline was shut down this week after it ruptured and spilled in North Dakota. TC Energy – formerly known as TransCanada – said on Wednesday that it shut down the 590,000-bpd line after it detected a drop in pressure. “TC Energy immediately began the process to shut down the pipeline, activated its emergency response procedures and dispatched ground technicians to assess the situation,” the company said. The company did not specify whether the entire pipeline was shut down or just a portion. “At this time there is no indication that it has impacted anybody’s drinking water,” said Karl Rockeman, director of the division of water quality for North Dakota's health department, according to local press reports. “It appears to (be) contained within the area.” The repair and cleanup could take as long as two to three months, according to Reuters. The pipeline runs from Alberta to refineries in the Midwest and is a crucial conduit for Canada’s oil industry. The prospect of an outage helped depress prices for Western Canada Select (WCS), which fell relative to WTI ever-so-slightly on Wednesday. WCS is trading below $38 per barrel, or about $17 per barrel below WTI. This is not the first time that the Keystone Pipeline has spilled. In November 2017, the pipeline ruptured and spilled more than 200,000 gallons in South Dakota. The pipeline was offline for weeks. The latest spill is yet another reminder that while the industry trumpets pipelines as the safest way to move oil, spills are not exactly a rarity. “We don’t yet know the extent of the damage from this latest tar sands spill, but what we do know is that this is not the first time this pipeline has spilled toxic tar sands, and it won’t be the last,” Catherine Collentine of the Sierra Club said in a statement. “We’ve always said it’s not a question of whether a pipeline will spill, but when, and once again TC Energy has made our case for us.” There are hundreds of significant incidents with pipelines each year, a term that encompasses injuries, fatalities, highly volatile liquid releases or monetary damages. For instance, there were 636 such incidences in the U.S. in 2018, and 647 the year before, according to data from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). Another high-profile spill is grist for the mill for environmental groups and landowners opposing the Keystone XL. After all, the same company presiding over spills from the older Keystone pipeline is the one that has spent years trying to convince communities that the Keystone XL Pipeline won’t spill. Multiple incidents from the older pipeline does not inspire confidence. For Canada’s oil industry, any lengthy interruptions to midstream capacity would be another blow. In 2017, the last time the Keystone Pipeline went offline due to a spill, WTI prices jumped and Canada’s WCS fell sharply. A few weeks after the outage, WCS prices descended to about $30 per barrel as some Canadian oil struggled to find an exit from the country. The sector has been struggling with years of inadequate takeaway capacity, which have periodically depressed WCS prices to low levels. At the start of this year, Alberta implemented mandatory production cuts in order to relieve the localized glut and boost prices. The policy has largely worked, with WCS prices rising significantly. The cuts have been lifted gradually over the course of the year. On Thursday, Alberta announced another increased allowance for oil producers who are shipping crude by rail. “The special allowance program will protect the value of our oil by ensuring that operators are only producing what they are able to move to market,” Alberta’s energy minister Sonya Savage said in a statement. “Pipeline delays ultimately have constrained market access and dampened investment in our oil sector.” In yet another sign of trouble for the industry, Encana Corp announced on Thursday that it would rebrand itself and move to the United States, the latest example of a multi-year exodus and capital flight out of Canada. | Tyler Durden | http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/zerohedge/feed/~3/yT2-cqDB3j4/why-latest-keystone-spill-disastrous-canadian-oil | Fri, 01 Nov 2019 16:30:00 +0000 | 1,572,640,200 | 1,572,648,626 | environment | natural resources |
554,131 | sputnik--2019-12-23--Over 2 Tonnes of Diesel Spills in Ocean Near Galapagos Islands as Result of Barge Accident - Video | 2019-12-23T00:00:00 | sputnik | Over 2 Tonnes of Diesel Spills in Ocean Near Galapagos Islands as Result of Barge Accident - Video | According to the Comercio newspaper, the accident occurred in a San Cristobal island port on 22 December as a crane collapsed on the barge during loading. Local authorities have activated an emergency plan to contain the fuel spill and reduce the risks for the environment of the Galapagos archipelago, a UNESCO World Heritage site that is home to some of the most unique and scientifically significant ecosystems on Earth. The Galapagos Islands are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean 972 kilometres (600 miles) west of Ecuador with a population of some 30,000. The unique ecosystem of the Galapagos, which includes 19 islands in the Pacific, is called "a living museum and a showcase of evolution". | null | https://sputniknews.com/latam/201912231077737343-over-2-tonnes-of-diesel-spills-in-ocean-near-galapagos-islands/ | Mon, 23 Dec 2019 14:12:05 +0300 | 1,577,128,325 | 1,577,104,485 | environment | natural resources |
104,523 | cnn--2019-05-02--Trump administration loosens protections created after BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster | 2019-05-02T00:00:00 | cnn | Trump administration loosens protections created after BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster | (CNN) The Trump administration is eliminating parts of a rule meant to protect the environment and worker safety that was passed in the wake of the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. That spill was one of the worst in US history, killing 11 people and dumping millions of gallons of oil into the ocean, polluting over 1,300 miles of shoreline, killing wildlife and hurting human health. In the lawsuit that followed, a federal judge said the companies involved in the spill were "grossly negligent" in the runup to the disaster. The changes to the Well Control Rule were announced Thursday at Port Fourchon , Louisiana, in the heart of offshore oil drilling country. "Today's final rule puts safety first, both public and environmental safety, in a common-sense way," said Interior Secretary David Bernhardt , a former oil lobbyist. "Incorporating the best available science, best practices and technological innovations of the past decade, the rule eliminates unnecessary regulatory burdens while maintaining safety and environmental protection offshore. Under President Trump's leadership, America is a leader on energy, resulting in greater security and economic prosperity." The Department of the Interior said that the move leaves 80% of the rule unchanged but that the changes are meant to give the industry more flexibility about how it can meet safety standards spelled out in the rule. The American Petroleum Institute , a trade association for the oil and gas industry, said in August that it liked the proposed change, calling it a "forward" step on safety that would "better protect workers and the environment." Critics say the administration is doing the industry's bidding instead of protecting the environment. "Gutting the far too few offshore drilling safeguards that were established in the wake of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster is reckless and wrong," said Diane Hoskins , campaign director of Oceana. The nonpartisan nonprofit released a report in April that said that even with the Obama-era rules in place, there were still "alarming unaddressed deficiencies" in US offshore oil drilling. "Today's announcement is a major step backward in offshore drilling safety. Our government shouldn't be catering to the demands of the oil industry at the expense of our public and environmental safety," Hoskins said Thursday. "More drilling and less safety is a recipe for disaster." "The well control rule (under the Obama administration) was one of the most important actions we took, as a nation, in response to the BP-style disaster at sea. The rule draws directly from lessons learned from that debacle," Bob Deans, the council's director of strategic engagement, said in a statement. Deans said the rollback "will put our workers, waters and wildlife at needless risk. That's irresponsible, reckless and wrong." The United States is the world's largest exporter of refined petroleum products, but the rule changes fit with the administration's big push for more, to achieve "American energy dominance." Trump has also advocated for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge , on public lands and in waters off the East Coast, and approved the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines | Jen Christensen | http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_allpolitics/~3/7p-p-CAvhX0/index.html | 2019-05-02 20:06:57+00:00 | 1,556,842,017 | 1,567,541,425 | environment | natural resources |
199,783 | fortruss--2019-10-11--Oil Leak From Iranian Tanker Under Control Despite Missile Strike | 2019-10-11T00:00:00 | fortruss | Oil Leak From Iranian Tanker Under Control Despite Missile Strike | TEHRAN – An oil leak from the Iranian oil tanker SABITI that was targeted by two missiles in the Red Sea on Friday is under control, media reports said. Based on the latest reports, the oil spill has reached the least level and no fire was reported, as “all crew on board are safe and the situation is under control”. There was no fire on the ship, as it is currently in a stable condition. The oil tanker named SABITI belonging to the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) sustained damage to the body when it was hit by two missiles 60 miles from the Saudi port city of Jeddah. A statement by NITC said the SABITI tanker was hit by two separate explosions at 5:00 and 5:20 am Friday, probably after being struck by missiles, Iran’s Persian-language media reported. The incident took place some 60 miles from Jeddah early Friday. The explosions have reportedly hit the vessel’s hull, causing heavy damages to the vessel’s two main tanks, which has resulted in an oil spill in the Red Sea. The spill has currently stopped, according to officials. It said the crew members are currently safe and none of them has been harmed in the explosions. The tanker is currently in a stable condition, the statement added. The NITC later dismissed the reports that the vessel has caught fire, according to the Iranian oil ministry. The explosions came a few months after Iranian oil tanker Happiness-1 faced “engine failure” and lost its control with 26 on board off the Red Sea port of Jeddah, and was later transferred to the port city for maintenance. According to Iranian officials, the incident had occurred on April 30 while Happiness I was on its way to the Suez Canal, and that water had leaked into the tanker’s engine room. The Saudis refused to let the vessel leave and demanded that Iran pay $200,000 a day for maintaining the vessel in the port, some $10 million in total. It was finally released on July 20 and returned home. Also in June, two large tankers were hit by explosions in the Sea of Oman. The Marshal Islands-flagged Front Altair and the Panama-flagged Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous were hit in suspected attacks in the Gulf of Oman. At that time, Iranian rescue workers rushed to the assistance of two tankers hit by the unspecified accidents in the Sea of Oman, transferring all of their 44 crew members to its southern shores. The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker was, according to reports, heading from Qatar to Taiwan when a fire broke out on the tanker approximately 25 miles from Iran’s Jask port city. The Panama-flagged ship was also en route from a port in Saudi Arabia towards Singapore when a fire broke out approximately 28 miles from Jask. | Drago Bosnic | https://www.fort-russ.com/2019/10/oil-leak-from-iranian-tanker-under-control-despite-missile-strike/ | Fri, 11 Oct 2019 18:36:38 +0000 | 1,570,833,398 | 1,570,831,687 | environment | natural resources |
334,425 | naturalnews--2019-01-31--Researchers create wood sponges that can absorb oil from water | 2019-01-31T00:00:00 | naturalnews | Researchers create wood sponges that can absorb oil from water | (Natural News) Oil and water don’t mix, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to clean up an oil spill. Despite many technological advances that make life easier in this day and age, experts are still trying to develop efficient and eco-friendly ways to clean up bodies of water contaminated with industrial discharge. A team of researchers from the Department of Wood Modification, Research Institute of Wood Industry at the Chinese Academy of Forestry has discovered a way to make “wood sponge” that can soak oil from water. It can be difficult to clean up oil spills and industrial discharge, especially since this kind of pollution will contaminate water with greasy substances that can harm living organisms. In the past few years, researchers have developed several techniques that can be used to clean up oily water. These techniques include bioremediation, burning, and gravity separation. However, most of these methods come with limitations, such as high cost, low efficiency, or even secondary pollution. (Related: Breakthrough: Researchers use nanoparticles to separate oil from water.) Recent developments in the same field include the exploration of 3D porous materials like aerogels or sponges. These 3D porous materials were based on different building blocks such as cellulose nanofibers, silica, or synthetic polymers. But these options are usually burdensome. Some of them are difficult to create while some lack mechanical robustness. Others are made from nondegradable and non-renewable materials, which can be counterproductive if they’re used to address pollution. Support our mission and protect your health: Organic Seeds of Life combines Red Raspberry Seed Power, Black Cumin Seed Power and Red Grape Seed Powder into the most potent nutrient-rich supplemental superfood powder you've ever experienced. Loaded with flavonoids, antioxidants, anthocyanins, OPCs, ALA and a vast array of vital nutrients. Learn more here. In their study, which was published in the journal ACS Nano, the researchers were able to successfully create wooden sponges that can selectively absorb oil. Like regular sponges, these wooden sponges can be squeezed dry and reused. Xiaoqing Wang et al. were inspired to develop the unique sponges because they wanted a sponge made from a renewable resource, like balsa (Ochroma pyramidale) wood, that can absorb oil and be squeezed repeatedly without structural failure. Balsa, also known as balsa tree, is a fast-growing tropical tree that belongs to the mallow family (Malvaceae). Balsa wood is extremely lightweight and light-colored. The tree is a common plant throughout much of its range. Balsa seed fiber is used as stuffing for mattresses and cushions. This tree produces wood that is commonly used in various commercial applications like flotation devices, insulation, model-building, and packing. The researchers made the wood sponge by treating natural balsa wood with chemicals that removed lignin and hemicellulose. This process left behind a cellulose skeleton. They proceeded to add a hydrophobic coating to this highly porous structure which attracted the oil from the water. To test the wooden sponge, the researchers placed it in a mixture of water and silicone oil. The scientists incorporated the wood sponge into an oil-collecting device in their lab that repeatedly separated oils from the water surface. The wood sponge removed all of the red-dyed oil while leaving clean water behind. Additionally, the sponge could withstand at least 10 cycles of absorption and squeezing. The researchers observed that depending on the oil tested, the sponge could absorb at least 16 to 41 times its own weight. This is comparable to other reported absorbents. With continued research, this revolutionary discovery can be used to develop eco-friendly methods of effectively cleaning up oil spills before they can cause further harm to the environment. | Zoey Sky | http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-01-31-researchers-create-wood-sponges-that-can-absorb-oil-from-water.html | 2019-01-31 16:50:50+00:00 | 1,548,971,450 | 1,567,550,114 | environment | natural resources |
567,239 | tass--2019-07-01--Scientists to study how Arctics oil-polluted soil reacts to climate change | 2019-07-01T00:00:00 | tass | Scientists to study how Arctic’s oil-polluted soil reacts to climate change | ARKHANGELSK, July 1. /TASS/. Scientists will analyze how the climate changes influence oil-contaminated soils on the Franz Josef Land Archipelago. The studies will be conducted on the islands, where oil spills occurred in the past at military and polar stations, the Russian Arctic National Park’s Director Alexander Kirilov told TASS. "We shall have studies to see how oil products have spread into the soil on Franz Josef Land," he said. "This work will be done by the park and the Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Geography." "We want to understand whether and how the climate changes influence the pollution, how the oil products migrate at the levels to which the permafrost thaws," the director said. "Those contaminated areas formed when the islands hosted military and polar stations." Cleaning continues on Franz Josef Land since 2012 - more than 45,000 tonnes of waste have been removed from the islands, and soil has been revegetated in the areas of oil products’ spills. "The revegetation has been done well, but we want to improve what has been done," the director said. In summer, as the permafrost thaws, remaining oil products may go deeper into the soil. "We want to study this problem, which is going to be typical for the entire Arctic." "We are trying to see how those processes develop," he added. Cleaning has been completed on Franz Josef Land’s Alexandra Land, Hooker, Heiss and Graham-Bell Islands. Cleaning is due on the Rudolf and Hofmann Islands. The Russian Arctic National Park is Russia’s northernmost and biggest nature reserve, which takes the area of 8.8 million hectares. It was organized on June 15, 2009. The Park includes a northern part of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago’s Severny Island and the entire Franz Josef Land Archipelago. | null | https://tass.com/science/1066525 | 2019-07-01 12:10:23+00:00 | 1,561,997,423 | 1,567,537,335 | environment | natural resources |
628,746 | thedailymirror--2019-03-22--Remembering the Exxon Valdez oil disaster - the day hell broke loose in paradise | 2019-03-22T00:00:00 | thedailymirror | Remembering the Exxon Valdez oil disaster - the day hell broke loose in paradise | Thirty years ago today, Mike Webber went to bed early ready for a 4am start. The third-generation fisherman wanted to be up ahead of the rest of the fleet to harvest spring herring in Prince William Sound, one of earth’s most pristine ecosystems. But it was only when he woke that his nightmare — and that of the whole of Cordova, Alaska — began to unfold. For 45 miles away the giant oil tanker Exxon Valdez had run aground on the well-marked Bligh Reef. Her captain, Joseph Hazelwood, not on the bridge at the time, alerted coast guards just after midnight and said the ship was “evidently leaking some oil”. His alleged slurred words could not have been further from the truth. For as he tried to free the ship, his actions led to more than 11 million gallons of crude oil leaking into the sound’s frigid waters, blackening 1,500 miles of coastline and setting off one of history’s worst man-made disasters. Now, on the 30th anniversary of the spill, Mike and the local community find themselves still piecing together their lives... lives blighted not only by the oil but also by greedy oil barons’ lack of proper redress. The sound and the once-abundant herring, though, have not been so lucky. Nor have the killer whales that once thrived in these waters. And despite a multi-million dollar clean-up, Exxon Valdez’s shameful legacy still haunts the area. The herring have never returned and the pods of killer whales, which once numbered 25, continue to die. Only seven remain — so shocked by the disaster they have not given birth since. Marine expert Katrina Hoffman says they face “extinction by attrition”. The director of the Oil Spill Recovery Institute and head of Prince William Sound Science Centre tells the Mirror: “This one pod is going to experience extinction by attrition, natural mortality and lack of live birth. “It’s most likely because of toxicity from the spill. Some bird species, too, have not recovered. Pigeon guillemots are one of them.” Today Prince William Sound looks a stunning landscape of mountainous fjords, blue-green waters and thickly forested islands. However, pick up a stone on a rocky beach or dig a little deeper and it is possible to find pockets of oil. In March 1989 the 2,200 souls in isolated Cordova were highly dependent on commercial fishing. Since a 1964 earthquake destroyed the road, the only way in was by air or a six-hour summer ferry trip. So bad was the impact of the spill, the town became known throughout the world as the “ground zero” of the disaster. When the ship with its faulty radar and sleepy crew hit the reef, it wasn’t just wildlife that was decimated... the heart was torn out of the town as well. Drug and alcohol abuse went up, as did domestic violence and depression. The ex-mayor, along with many fishermen, killed himself. The town also descended into civil war as the ship’s owners Exxon paid some fishermen to mop up the spill. They were jealously labelled “spillionaires” as they made a fortune while others received nothing. Mike says: “This once close-knit community changed. People couldn’t look to their neighbours to help. “You didn’t trust your neighbour. You didn’t trust your family. It was very, very sad.” Mike, 58, should know. The spill cost him his first marriage to his childhood sweetheart while six of his friends took their own lives. “It was brutal,” he says. “The community itself suffered because people left town they got so depressed. A decade later, 20% had gone. “Schools got smaller. It was a ghost town. We didn’t get compensated for one year of commercial fishing that we missed out of the 18 years it took for the settlement to come through. “In the end, we got maybe what we might’ve made in one season.” Because the oil company and government agencies were ill-prepared, oil from the Exxon Valdez stretched for 11,000 square miles, killing fish birds whales, seals and otters. Deer were affected, too, as they ate oil-covered vegetation. Environmentalist Dave Janka, of Auklet Charters, says: “You could smell the oil before you even saw it. “From an area once teeming with life you could sit by the water and hear nothing. Everybody called it the dead zone.” Dave is still takes samples from the beaches showing how much oil is still present. He says: “If you had a leaking fuel tank in your yard, you’d be forced to the point of bankruptcy to clean that up. “Yet one of the most profitable corporations in the universe gets to walk away from this.” Asked why Exxon never cleared up all the beaches, he adds: “Nobody forced them to do it and clearly they haven’t felt it was right.” Today there is still a great anger towards the firm. It paid £2 billion for the clean-up and £229 million to 11,000 fishermen and others affected. But some claim they hardly saw a cent. A joint lawsuit against Exxon wasn’t resolved until 2008 when the Supreme Court slashed an initial award of £3.8 billion to £388 million. Exxon — unavailable after we contacted them for comment — fund ongoing research into why the herring have never returned. The fisherman, who continue to catch salmon, are now trained to use the latest technology within hours of any new spill. However, they know only too well the area is never far from disaster. Right now the Exxon Valdez’s remaining oil lies motionless in the icy water. But the area’s susceptibility to earthquakes means it can be stirred at any moment. “We are at the mercy of Mother Nature,” says Mike. “It was she the Exxon Valdez damaged. She is the one who lost the most.” | Christopher Bucktin | https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/remembering-exxon-valdez-oil-disaster-14174087 | 2019-03-22 21:05:03+00:00 | 1,553,303,103 | 1,567,545,249 | environment | natural resources |
705,841 | theguardianuk--2019-07-23--Experts fear deserted oil tanker off Yemen could explode | 2019-07-23T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Experts fear deserted oil tanker off Yemen could explode | A deserted oil tanker described as a “floating bomb” that is currently anchored off the coast of war-torn Yemen has the potential to create an environmental disaster, according to experts. A byproduct of the battle between the Saudi-backed UN Yemen government and the Houthis, the tanker, containing over 1m barrels of oil, is said to be eroding fast, but UN officials’ plans to visit the ship this week to assess the scale of the damage have been blocked. There are fears that gases have built up in the storage tanks, which means the ship could explode. Mark Lowcock, the UN humanitarian coordinator, told the UN security council last week an inspection team had again been refused permissions by Houthis to visit the ship moored several kilometres outside the Red Sea port of Ras Isa, north of Hodeidah. The two sides in the conflict in conversation with the UN blame each other for failing to reach a solution about what to do about the ship, and its valuable cargo. The Houthis want guarantees that they will be able to control the revenues from the oil on the ship valued at $80m (£64m), a move that might require a new oil export mechanism. The UN-recognised Yemen government has warned in a letter to the UN of a “bad and deteriorating situation” that threatens an “imminent environmental and humanitarian catastrophe in the Red Sea”. It has also produced a video warning of an environmental disaster that could dwarf any previous oil spillage. Doug Weir, director of the Conflict and Environment Observatory, said the cause for concern was genuine. He told the Guardian: “Until a UN technical inspection takes place it is difficult to determine the precise risk that the vessel poses, however the potential for a serious environmental emergency is clear. An explosion leading to a spill would have a severe effect on the Red Sea marine environment, and on both biodiversity and livelihoods, an emergency made worse because the ongoing conflict would hamper efforts to control and respond to the pollution it would cause.” The ship itself, known as the Safer floating storage and offloading terminal, is a testament to a time when the Yemen economy was functioning. Owned by the Yemen oil company, Safer allows vessels to moor offshore and transfer oil extracted and processed from operations in the Marib oil field in central Yemen. The tanker contains 34 crude oil tanks of different sizes and volumes, amounting to a total capacity of around 3m barrels. In effect, a mini-oil export terminal, the ship has not been operational since March 2015 when the region fell under the control of the Houthi rebels. Built in Japan involving a single hull, experts say is likely to be at particular risk from corrosion and in spite of the production interruptions caused by the conflict, it is thought that it may still contain around 1.14m barrels of crude. The Yemen government points out this is four times the amount of oil released in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, generally seen as as one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in history. An increasingly frustrated Lowcock told the UN security council last month “If the tanker ruptures or explodes, we could see the coastline polluted all along the Red Sea. Depending on the time of year and water currents, the spill could reach from Bab-el-Mandeb to the Suez Canal, and potentially as far as the strait of Hormuz,” he added. The unavailability of diesel fuel has meant that Safer FSO’s engines have not been started for several years, and the structure has been exposed to humidity and corrosion with little maintenance. With restricted water circulation, and delicate marine ecosystems, the Red Sea, home of corals and 600 species of fish and invertebrates, is seen as particularly vulnerable to oil pollution. | Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/23/yemen-deserted-tanker-holding-over-1m-oil-barrels-explode | 2019-07-23 04:00:42+00:00 | 1,563,868,842 | 1,567,536,075 | environment | natural resources |
711,698 | theguardianuk--2019-10-09--Oil contaminating Brazil's beaches 'very likely from Venezuela', minister says | 2019-10-09T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | Oil contaminating Brazil's beaches 'very likely from Venezuela', minister says | Thick crude oil that has stained hundreds of miles of pristine Brazilian beach in recent weeks probably originated in Venezuela, the Brazilian government has said, in an accusation likely to further strain relations between the two countries. Brazilian authorities have been investigating the growing disaster for more than a month, as the oil has spread to more than 130 beaches across nine states. On Wednesday, the country’s environment minister, Ricardo Salles, told a congressional hearing that a study by the state oil company Petrobras had concluded that the oil “is very likely from Venezuela”. He said that a foreign ship near Brazil’s coastline appeared to have caused the spill “accidentally or not”. Salles said that more than 100 tonnes of oil had already been collected from the coastline since 2 September, but said that the disaster was proving “enormously difficult to contain”. There was no immediate response from Venezuela, but the Brazilian assertion is likely to further escalate tensions between the two countries. Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s far-right president, is a longstanding critic of Venezuela’s embattled leader, Nicolás Maduro, and has close relations with rightwing Venezuelan groups seeking his overthrow. Earlier this week, Bolsonaro dismissed speculation that the spill had been released by a sinking ship. “If it was a shipwreck, oil would still be coming up. It is more probable that something was dumped there criminally,” he told reporters. Bolsonaro said he did not want to blame another country without proof, but hinted darkly: “We have a country on our radar screen that could be the origin of the oil.” Petrobras’s chief executive, Roberto Castello, said on Tuesday that the amount of oil spilled so far – approximately 500 barrels – was far too much to have been from the result of a routine tank cleaning. Social media users have shared shocking images of the spill, showing kilometers of white sand stained with oil blotches and dead, oil-covered turtles and dolphins. One video shows thick black oil lapping up against a rocky jetty. The oil’s appearance came shortly after Brazil became the focus of international criticism over record wildfires and deforestation in the Amazon rainforest – both of which have surged since Bolsonaro came to office. Environmentalists and indigenous leaders say that Bolsonaro’s stripping back of environmental legislation and protections has stoked a fresh assault on the country’s ecosystems. “The oil spill that’s reached over 132 beaches in the north-east is criminal. Removing the residue from the ocean can take 10 to 20 years,” said the former environment minister Marina Silva in a tweet. “This is a warning that we need to strengthen and not suffocate the environmental monitoring institutions in the country.” | Anna Jean Kaiser in Rio de Janeiro and agencies | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/09/brazil-beach-oil-slick-venezuela-government | Wed, 09 Oct 2019 21:01:24 GMT | 1,570,669,284 | 1,570,663,488 | environment | natural resources |
716,710 | theguardianuk--2019-12-06--'This place used to be green': the brutal impact of oil in the Niger Delta | 2019-12-06T00:00:00 | theguardianuk | 'This place used to be green': the brutal impact of oil in the Niger Delta | Almost every day, Udengs Eradiri is informed of another oil spill in Bayelsa state, in the Niger Delta. Most of the time, little or nothing is done to clean up the mess, says Eradiri, the state’s commissioner for the environment. “You just need to take a tour to understand the magnitude of the environmental abuse,” he adds. “[Bayelsa] used to be green, you could go to farm or fish. We used to have very impressive harvests. You would spend just an hour in the water and you have a lot of fish.” Today, he added, you can spend the whole day without catching anything. Oil was first pumped in Bayelsa in 1956 by Shell. Since then, several international oil companies have extracted oil from across the Niger Delta. In Bayelsa and elsewhere, communities have faced an environmental catastrophe. About 40 million litres of oil are spilled every year across the Niger Delta, according to the Rise for Bayelsa campaign. Air, land and water have all been contaminated, with studies reporting devastating effects on residents’ health and livelihoods. Vast areas of the state’s waterways and mangrove swamps – one of the most diverse ecosystems in Africa – have been destroyed or put at risk. Farmland has been cloaked in oil, contaminating crops and exposing people to high levels of heavy metals such as chromium, lead and mercury. • None Rather than processing gas, oil companies resort to the cheaper option of burning it as a waste product Meanwhile, gas flares – where natural gas associated with petroleum extraction is burned off in the atmosphere – have filled the air with pollutants, and created acid rain. “It’s really telling on the people,” says Eradiri. Of Bayelsa’s estimated population of 2 million people, three-quarters rely on fishing or farming to support themselves. “Those communities are getting involved in other ways of surviving. And that’s why there’s been a lot of upsurge in criminal activities as well as artisan refining, all to survive.” Shell, one of the international oil companies operating in Bayelsa, says that oil spills due to crude oil theft, illegal refining and sabotage cause the most environmental damage in the Niger Delta. “Our aim is to run a responsible business, which means operating safely without harm to people and protecting the local environment. In Nigeria, we operate to the same standards as other Shell-operated ventures globally. No spill is acceptable, and we work hard to prevent them,” Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria said in a statement. “We work closely with the regulators, local communities and other stakeholders to address this challenging issue and, irrespective of cause, we clean up and remediate areas affected by spills from our facilities or pipeline network,” the statement added. It said that in the case of operational spills, compensation is paid to people and communities impacted. The company says its efforts to clean up areas have at times been hampered by instability, as its employees are unable to safely access affected areas. “If you want to resolve the issues in the Niger Delta, if you want to totally eradicate the compromise on infrastructure, you must involve communities in the contractual agreement,” says Eradiri. “That means it is not just owned by other people with other interests.” The effect of the oil industry on people’s health in Bayelsa is still emerging. “Life expectancy is cut short – as low as 45. We used to have a very old population but, right now, that’s not as visible as it used to be,” says Eradiri. “You see premature babies, you see all kinds of funny illnesses, cancer, that [are] not normal for young people.” • None ‘All we see is oil in the forest. No more periwinkles to pick. No more crabs at the river. What is happening to our creeks?’: Pelepre Newton, fisher and farmer A recent study estimated that, in 2012 alone, 16,000 babies died within the first month of life because of oil pollution in the Niger Delta. • None ‘When we complain, they attach negative labels to us like militants and vandals, to reduce the validity of our complaint’: Nyinama Amos, youth leader Separate research, cited by the interim report of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission, has found that pollution is placing communities at heightened risk of kidney damage, as well as diseases such as cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Campaigners report increased cases of diarrhoea and child malnutrition. The commission’s interim report concluded that communities suffered life-changing health consequences as a result of oil pollution. The report added that they have also found it almost impossible to secure fair redress. The Rise for Bayelsa campaign, launched in March, is calling on international oil companies to clean up spills immediately, provide swift compensation to all communities affected, and develop long-term solutions to avoid spills. The campaign is also calling for oil companies to invest in sustainable projects in all communities in which oil companies operate. “There is no concerted effort by [international oil companies] to ensure that a proper cleanup is done,” added Eradiri. “The law is not being adhered to.” | Rebecca Ratcliffe | https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/dec/06/this-place-used-to-be-green-the-brutal-impact-of-oil-in-the-niger-delta | Fri, 06 Dec 2019 10:20:04 GMT | 1,575,645,604 | 1,575,635,090 | environment | natural resources |
767,511 | theindependent--2019-07-30--Millions will go without drinking water if decaying oil tanker explodes | 2019-07-30T00:00:00 | theindependent | Millions will go without drinking water if decaying oil tanker explodes | Tens of millions of people could lose access to clean drinking water if a decaying oil tanker moored off the coast of Yemen is left to collapse or explode, experts have said. The Yemeni state-owned vessel Safer, which holds over one million barrels of crude oil, is stationed permanently around five nautical miles off the rebel-held port of Ras Isa. Since the late 1980s, it has served as an offshore oil storage platform, and is directly connected to a nearby pipeline in the central Yemeni province of Marib. But since war erupted in Yemen in 2014, few maintenance crews have been given access to the 43-year-old ship. Last week, the United Nations said the Houthis had once again barred experts from assessing the vessel. Experts now fear that the buildup of volatile gasses released by the oil could cause a huge explosion, or the corrosion to the vessel could see it completely disintegrate – both leading to one of the world’s largest oil spills. Yemen’s recognised authorities told The Independent they had submitted multiple urgent appeals to the UN to pile pressure on the Iran-backed rebels. In a new evaluation of the impact of such a disaster, experts at IR Consilium – a consultancy focusing on maritime law and security – warned that any such incident would force multiple desalination plants across the surrounding Red Sea area to shut, depriving millions of access to drinking water. The oil spill would destroy marine ecosystems and potentially strangle traffic on one of the world’s busiest waterways – the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. It could also shutter Hodeidah port, the gateway for 90 per cent of Yemen’s food, medical and aid supplies. “Such an incident could have a far-reaching and highly destructive range of effects: desalinisation plants contaminated, depriving tens of millions of people, some already on the brink of famine, of access to clean drinking water; the loss of marine ecosystems… millions of desperate Yemenis literally starved for international aid because port facilities are unusable,” the group said in a report published by the Atlantic Council think tank this week. That could see a tangible impact on the world economy as well as “armed conflict over basic necessities; and a downward spiral in an already fragile region”, the report added. The Atlantic Council lists the UAE embassy in the US and the British Foreign Office among its major donors. Mohammed al-Hadhrami, vice minister of foreign affairs for the recognised Yemen government, said the authorities were making urgent appeals to the UN and other international bodies. “If something happens to the tanker it would be a problem for the whole region – even the world,” ambassador al-Hadhrami told The Independent, calling it “an ethical obligation for the UN” to act. “We don’t want to see it get that far. No one knows the full potential of the spill, if it happens it would set a precedent in the region. This goes well beyond Yemen,” he added. The Houthis could not be immediately reached for comment. Before the conflict, the tanker had acted as a storage facility for the main Marib-Ras Isa pipeline in Yemen, which has no onshore facilities in the area. The ship now lies along a part of coast controlled by the Iran-backed Houthis, who want guarantees that they will have access to the revenues of the oil, thought to be worth $80m (£65m). The cash-strapped rebels swept control of the country in late 2014, forcing the recognised Yemeni president Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies launched a bombing campaign in the spring of 2015 to reinstate their ally Mr Hadi. Four years on there is little hope of an end to the fighting. The tanker is so contentious that it was named in a peace agreement signed by both the Houthis and the Saudi-backed recognised government in Stockholm last year, involving withdrawals from key Red Sea ports. But so far peace talks have stalled and the last time a maintenance crew was given access to the tanker was two years ago. IR Consilium said that earlier this year the vessel was so corroded that a piece of it fell off – fortunately missing the submarine pipeline that feeds it. The pipeline may contain another one million barrels of oil, which could also be dumped into the Red Sea if the vessel collapses, doubling the size of the oil spill. At least in terms of numbers of barrels, it is akin to when Saddam Hussein dumped millions of barrels in the Persian Gulf in 1991. “There is no more critical infrastructure than these [desalination] facilities. After all, safe drinking water is second only to oxygen as a necessity for human life,” Dr David Soud, head of research at IR Consilium and a co-author of the Atlantic Council report told The Independent. “There are quite a few [plants] and having one or more shut down due to contamination from an oil spill could have dire consequences for the region’s people, millions of whom are already on the brink,” he added. He compared the devastation to a recent diesel spill off the coast of Patagonia which made international headlines despite only involving 250 barrels of fuel. “If the Safer were to leak all its oil, the spill would be over four and a half thousand times larger – and that’s the Safer alone, not the submarine pipeline that connects with it,” he said. Dr Ian Ralby who also worked on the report said that despite the alarming potential consequences of the spill, the crisis “has not inspired sufficient action”. He warned of the violence that would likely ensue from lack of access to drinking water, as well as the effect of the spill “global marine biodiversity, the loss of livelihoods and food sources from the degraded marine environment, and the threat to coastal tourism”. | Bel Trew | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/yemen-oil-tanker-explosion-pipeline-marib-houthis-iran-drinking-water-a9027386.html | 2019-07-30 12:52:00+00:00 | 1,564,505,520 | 1,567,535,326 | environment | natural resources |
773,426 | theindependent--2019-10-11--Iran oil tanker on fire after 'being hit by rockets in terrorist attack' off Saudi coast | 2019-10-11T00:00:00 | theindependent | Iran oil tanker on fire after 'being hit by rockets in terrorist attack' off Saudi coast | Two rockets have struck an Iranian oil tanker in the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia, causing a major explosion, according to officials in Tehran. “Two missiles hit the Iran-owned ship near the Jeddah port city of Saudi Arabia,” state television reported. “The oil tanker ... sustained damages to the body when it was hit by missiles 96km from the Saudi port city of Jeddah.” The foreign ministry said the tanker had sustained damage from the explosion. “Experts believe it was a terrorist attack,” the agency reported, adding that oil spilled out into the sea after the blast. The leak was later stopped. “Those behind the attack are responsible for the consequences of this dangerous adventure, including the dangerous environmental pollution caused,” a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry said. The vessel was on fire in the Red Sea following the blast, which occurred early on Friday morning. The Nour news agency reported that all crew members were safe. “None of the crew members were injured at the explosion... the situation is under control,” the news agency, which is close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported. A spokesperson for the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, which oversees the region, said authorities there were “aware of reports of this [latest] incident,” but declined to comment further. State news agencies, quoting the country’s national tanker company, identified the vessel as the Sabity. “We are watching the news closely but are relieved that early reports indicate that the crew are safe and there are no injuries,” said Guy Platten, secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping. “The safety of seafarers is of paramount importance,” Mr Platten added. Tensions in the gulf are particularly high after Iran allegedly carried out a series of attacks on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz. On 14 September drones also attacked Saudi Arabia’s Aramco oil facilities, devastating two production sites and halving the kingdom’s output. The US believes Iran is responsible for the attack but Tehran denies any involvement. Yemen’s Houthi rebels have claimed the Aramco attack, though analysts say the missiles used could not have crossed the distance from Yemen to Saudi Arabia. Russia’s foreign ministry said it was too early to assign blame for the explosion. Officials from Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Iran said the tanker was in the Red Sea but that officials had planned to change its route as it travelled to the port of Larak, off the Iranian coast. | Zamira Rahim | https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iran-oil-tanker-explosion-latest-terror-attack-fire-saudi-arabia-a9151481.html | Fri, 11 Oct 2019 06:05:00 GMT | 1,570,788,300 | 1,570,803,053 | environment | natural resources |
973,850 | thesun--2019-07-24--Deserted oil tanker in Red Sea could EXPLODE and dump one million barrels of oil into ocean experts | 2019-07-24T00:00:00 | thesun | Deserted oil tanker in Red Sea could EXPLODE and dump one million barrels of oil into ocean, experts warn | A DESERTED oil tanker described as a "floating bomb" could explode and dump one million barrels of oil into the ocean, experts have warned. The vessel, named FSO Safer, has been abandoned in the Red Sea off the western coast of Yemen since March 2015 when Houthi rebels took over the region. Yemen has been crippled by a fractious civil war following the Iran-backed Houthi uprising that swept the pro-Western government into exile in 2015. A standoff over the Safer and its £64million-worth of oil has meant it has been left to decay - leading to fears it is on the verge of blowing up. Explosive gasses are thought to have built up in the decrepit tanker's storage tanks that could rupture any minute, experts said. The blast would create an "environmental and humanitarian catastrophe" as it sends oil pumping into the sea, according to the UN-recognised Yemeni government. In a letter to the UN, the government warned that the disaster is "imminent" unless the Houthi allow inspectors on to the ship. But the Houthi have blocked access to the Safer - demanding they receive assurances that any revenue from the oil goes to them. Doug Weir, director of the Conflict and Environment Observatory, told The Guardian: "Until a UN technical inspection takes place it is difficult to determine the precise risk that the vessel poses, however the potential for a serious environmental emergency is clear. "An explosion leading to a spill would have a severe effect on the Red Sea marine environment, and on both biodiversity and livelihoods, an emergency made worse because the ongoing conflict would hamper efforts to control and respond to the pollution it would cause.” Proxy conflict: What is the civil war in Yemen? IN January 2015, Houthi rebels - Shiite Muslims backed by Iran - seized control of the much of the country including the capital Sana'a. But he managed to escape to safety in Saudi Arabia before returning to recaptured Aden - which he declared the new capital. His government is still internationally recognised. A coalition led by Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-majority nations are supporting government forces in the bloody civil war. Tribal groups seeking autonomy have also become embroiled in the conflict. And US forces are reported to be in Yemen targeting Al-Qaeda fighters. Saudi Arabia has been fiercely criticised for launching air strikes which have killed or maimed thousands of civilians. In August 2018 around 40 schoolboys aged six to 11 were killed when a laser-guided bomb hit their bus in the Houthi-controlled north. Yemen is the Gulf's poorest nation and supplies of basic goods and humanitarian aid have been badly affected by the fighting. Violence has forced farmers to abandon their crops, and hospitals have been overwhelmed by sick, wounded and malnourished children. In January 2017, a leading UN official said the civilian death toll in the conflict had exceeded 10,000 - with another 40,000 wounded. It was almost certainly an underestimate, experts warned at the time. The Yemen government released a chilling video in which it warns the Safer - moored near the port of Ras Isa - is thought to have 1.14m barrels of crude in its tanks. That is four times the amount of oil released in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill - widely seen as one of the worst man-made natural disasters in history. A report for the Atlantic Council think-tank said: "Though a photograph reveals only a ship, known as the Safer, its explosive potential renders it a floating bomb - permanently moored in the Red Sea off Ras Isa." Mark Lowcock, the UN humanitarian coordinator, told the UN security council last week: "If the tanker ruptures or explodes, we could see the coastline polluted all along the Red Sea. "Depending on the time of year and water currents, the spill could reach from Bab-el-Mandeb to the Suez Canal, and potentially as far as the Strait of Hormuz." He added: "I leave it to you to imagine the effect of such a disaster on the environment, shipping lanes and the global economy." The Red Sea has a delicate ecosystem that is home to corals and around 600 species of fish - making it vulnerable to pollution. The Yemen conflict - seen as a proxy war between Iran through the Houthi and Saudi Arabia through the exiled government - has sparked a humanitarian crisis. Over 14m Yemenis depend on international aid - more than half the country's 24m population. We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours. | Neal Baker | https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9570644/yemen-oil-tanker-explosion-red-sea/ | 2019-07-24 02:29:24+00:00 | 1,563,949,764 | 1,567,535,965 | environment | natural resources |
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