America's LargestCurrently browsing:Middle East Politics
Iraqi Unions Slow Progress of Oil Industry Development
The Iraqi government gets more than ninety percent of its revenue from energy exports, primarily oil, which also generate over 70 percent of the nation’s total economic activity. For a nation with rampant unemployment and a low standard of living, widespread sectarian strife and frequent out-and-out conflict, as well as an infrastructure that is still [...]
Read More »As US Troops Leave Iraqi Cities, International Oil Cos. Poised to Enter
International oil companies are preparing to move into Iraq, bidding for contracts to run oilfields such as Al-Sheiba (above) near Basra on the Gulf coast. (AFP photo via independent.co.uk)
The U.K.-based Independent reported on Sunday that Iraq will begin awarding lucrative contracts to international oil companies on June 29th. The next day is the deadline for [...]
Read More »Iran Protests and Political Turmoil do not Bode Well for Oil Industry
A bad economy often fuels political unrest and leads to a change in government—sometimes peaceful, as in our 2008 elections, sometimes not.
But the causation can work the other way, too—political strife and the uncertainty it brings can hurt the economy, by shuttering shops, chasing off tourists, and scaring away needed investment and strategic partnerships. That [...]
Oil Prices Plunge on Grim Economic Outlook
The price of crude fell 3.8 percent to close at $66.93 a barrel and the price of heating oil lost 3.3 percent.
HEAT USA Price Report
Evening projection (for Tuesday’s average retail heating oil price per gallon): DOWN $0.06
Oil prices fell sharply today, bringing crude to its lowest closing price in two weeks. The optimism that had [...]
Gasoline Sell-Off Pulls Down Oil Prices
The price for a barrel of crude fell 2.3 percent to close at $69.71 and the price of heating oil dropped by 2.4 percent.
HEAT USA Price Report
Evening projection (for Monday’s average retail heating oil price per gallon): DOWN $0.04
Gasoline futures prices fell by almost seven percent today, as traders unloaded gas contracts following a major [...]
Iran’s Political Unrest and Oil Prices
Reuters reported this week that the election protests in Iran, the world’s fifth biggest oil exporter, have so far had little impact on global supply or prices. Markets would likely react, however, said the report, if unrest escalated and spread to the oilfields or export terminals in the country’s south, where most of the oil [...]
Read More »Strong Dollar, Economic Concerns Hold Down Oil Prices
The price of crude lost 2 percent today to close at $70.62 a barrel and the price of heating oil fell by 1.2 percent.
HEAT USA Price Report
Evening projection (for Tuesday’s average retail heating oil price per gallon): DOWN $0.02
A rising dollar and concerns that oil prices might be overinflated to the point of hindering economic [...]
Kurdistan Begins Exporting Oil, but Conflict is on the Horizon
Updating our Heat Zone post of March 12th, a new player has entered the crude oil export game—Kurdistan, the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq. On June first, oil began flowing from two Kurdish oil fields to neighboring Turkey, from where it enters the global oil market.
How much oil? To begin, 90,000 to 100,000 barrels a [...]
Despite Progress in Kurdistan, Iraqi Oil Plan Far From Complete
With the second highest amount of known oil reserves in the world, Iraq is sitting on a black gold mine. The only problem is how to get the oil out of the ground.
With over 112 million barrels of oil underneath its land, Iraq has the potential to become one of the most important players in [...]
Iraqi Goverment OKs Kurdish Oil Exports
A new major oil producer may soon take the stage.
In June, crude oil will begin flowing from Kurdistan, the semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq, to Ceyhan, a major oil port on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. It’s expected that 60,000 barrels per day worth of crude oil will be pumped from Kurdish oil sites. And, if all [...]
Oil Analysts are Closely Watching OPEC
Since their meeting on March 15, OPEC has been receiving a lot of watchful attention from the EIA and other oil market analysts. These forecasters are monitoring the organization in an effort to learn how OPEC is going to adapt to a lower global demand for oil as well as how they are going to [...]
Read More »Low Oil Prices Hit Iraqi Reconstruction Hard
Many oil-producing countries have felt the sting of plummeting oil prices, but none more so than Iraq. A front-page article in today’s New York Times describes how the timing of the oil price slump has slashed government revenues and hindered crucial reconstruction projects in the troubled nation.
Many Iraqi citizens are still without basic necessities such [...]
Iraq Seeks to Boost Oil Output With Help from Western Companies
The U.S. invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq has decimated that country’s oil production capacity. According the an article on the investment site The Motley Fool, new developments could reinvigorate Iraq’s production in the coming years.
The Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said last weekend that OPEC (of which Iraq is a member) will most likely [...]
20 Asian and Middle Eastern Nations to Discuss Drop in Oil Investment
Oil and trade representatives for 20 oil-producing and oil-consuming nations in Asia and the Middle East will meet in Tokyo this April to discuss declining investment in oil projects brought about by the global recession and low crude prices. The summit, co-chaired by the Japanese Trade Minister Toshihiro Nikai and Qatari Oil Minister Abdullah bin [...]
Read More »
