industryterm:oil producers

  • CIA Intercepts Underpin Assessment Saudi Crown Prince Targeted Khashoggi - WSJ
    Conclusion that Mohammad ‘probably ordered’ killing relies in part on 11 messages he sent to adviser who oversaw hit squad around time it killed journalist

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/cia-intercepts-underpin-assessment-saudi-crown-prince-targeted-khashoggi-154364

    WASHINGTON—Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent at least 11 messages to his closest adviser, who oversaw the team that killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in the hours before and after the journalist’s death in October, according to a highly classified CIA assessment.

    The Saudi leader also in August 2017 had told associates that if his efforts to persuade Mr. Khashoggi to return to Saudi Arabia weren’t successful, “we could possibly lure him outside Saudi Arabia and make arrangements,” according to the assessment, a communication that it states “seems to foreshadow the Saudi operation launched against Khashoggi.”

    Mr. Khashoggi, a critic of the kingdom’s leadership who lived in Virginia and wrote columns for the Washington Post, was killed by Saudi operatives on Oct. 2 shortly after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he sought papers needed to marry his Turkish fiancée.

    Excerpts of the Central Intelligence Agency’s assessment, which cites electronic intercepts and other clandestine information, were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

    The CIA last month concluded that Prince Mohammed had likely ordered Mr. Khashoggi’s killing, and President Trump and leaders in Congress were briefed on intelligence gathered by the spy agency. Mr. Trump afterward questioned the CIA’s conclusion about the prince, saying “maybe he did; and maybe he didn’t.”

    The previously unreported excerpts reviewed by the Journal state that the CIA has “medium-to-high confidence” that Prince Mohammed “personally targeted” Khashoggi and “probably ordered his death.” It added: “To be clear, we lack direct reporting of the Crown Prince issuing a kill order.”

    The electronic messages sent by Prince Mohammed were to Saud al-Qahtani, according to the CIA. Mr. Qahtani supervised the 15-man team that killed Mr. Khashoggi and, during the same period, was also in direct communication with the team’s leader in Istanbul, the assessment says. The content of the messages between Prince Mohammed and Mr. Qahtani isn’t known, the document says. It doesn’t say in what form the messages were sent.

    It is unclear from the excerpts whether the 2017 comments regarding luring Mr. Khashoggi to a third country cited in the assessment are from Prince Mohammed directly, or from someone else describing his remarks.

    Saudi Arabia has acknowledged Mr. Khashoggi was murdered in the consulate. But it has denied Prince Mohammed had any role and blamed the operation on rogue operatives. The Saudi Public Prosecutor’s office last month announced charges against 11 Saudis in connection with Mr. Khashoggi’s death, saying it would seek the death penalty in five cases. The office didn’t release their names.

    The U.S. Treasury Department in mid-November slapped sanctions on 17 Saudis whom it linked to the killing. But Mr. Trump, in a statement days later, said he intended to maintain strong relations with the crown prince because of Saudi Arabia’s opposition to Iran, its investments in the U.S. and its role in the oil market.

    The Trump administration’s posture has angered many in Congress, and the intercepts and intelligence gathered by the CIA may complicate Mr. Trump’s efforts to maintain relations with Prince Mohammed, the de facto leader one of the world’s biggest oil producers. The two are among the world’s leaders meeting this weekend in Buenos Aires for a summit of Group of 20 nations.

    Earlier this week, the Senate voted to begin consideration of a resolution to withdraw U.S. support for a Saudi-led military coalition fighting against Houthi rebels in Yemen, with senators venting their frustration over Mr. Trump’s reluctance to hold Prince Mohammed responsible for Mr. Khashoggi’s death.

  • #Transport_maritime : une #mondialisation conteneurisée qui rime encore avec #pollution

    La pollution des océans et de notre air est aussi interrogée par le développement du trafic maritime et de géants des mers. Cette semaine, la France a inauguré un #porte-conteneur de 400 mètres de long, alors que le secteur a tardé jusqu’au printemps dernier pour signer un accord en faveur du climat.


    https://www.franceculture.fr/ecologie-et-environnement/transport-maritime-une-mondialisation-conteneurisee-qui-rime-encore-av
    #containeurs #containers

    ping @simplicissimus @reka

    • L’OMI avait fixé des limites pour le taux de soufre des carburants en 2008 avec entrée en vigueur en 2020. Il semble que les armateurs n’ont pas vraiment eu le temps de s’y adapter…

      Shipping’s 2020 Low Sulphur Fuel Rules Explained – gCaptain
      https://gcaptain.com/shippings-2020-low-sulphur-fuel-rules-explained
      article de mai 2018

      New rules coming into force from 2020 to curb pollution produced by the world’s ships are worrying everyone from OPEC oil producers to bunker fuel sellers and shipping companies.

      The regulations will slash emissions of sulphur, which is blamed for causing respiratory diseases and is a component of acid rain that damages vegetation and wildlife.

      But the energy and shipping industries are ill-prepared, say analysts, with refiners likely to struggle to meet higher demand for cleaner fuel and few ships fitted with equipment to reduce sulphur emissions.

      This raises the risk of a chaotic shift when the new rules are implemented, alongside more volatility in the oil market.

      The reality is that the industry has already passed the date beyond the smooth transition,” Neil Atkinson, head of the oil industry and market division at the International Energy Agency (IEA), said in April.

      Toujours pour les produits sulfurés, l’équipement en scrubbers (absorbeurs-épurateurs) autre exigence de l’OMI progresse tout doucement ; le marché commencerait à se réveiller.

      IMO 2020 : How Many Ships Have Scrubbers ? - Ship & Bunker
      https://shipandbunker.com/news/world/811942-imo-2020-how-many-ships-have-scrubbers


      Image Credit : EGCSA

      After months of downbeat assessment for the scrubber market, in recent weeks orders are reported to have surged and the corresponding positive headlines have been difficult to miss.

      So how many vessels actually have scrubbers? According to a recent survey of its membership by the Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems Association (EGCSA), as of May 31, 2018 there were 983 vessels with scrubber systems installed or on order, translating into 1,561 individual scrubber towers.

      This is notably higher than the 817 vessels reported by DNV GL last month, but still a far cry from the 3,800 predicted in official estimates by IMO’s fuel availability study.

      Enfin, à côté, on annonce ponctuellement l’arrivée de navires propulsés au GNL, censé être moins polluant.

      http://www.golng.eu/files/Main/20180417/2.%20Ole%20Vidar%20Nilsen%20-%20DNV%20GL.pdf

      There are currently [Updated 1 April 2018] 247 confirmed LNG fuelled ships, and 110 additional LNG ready ships
      […]
      (Scrubber retrofit is the “main competitor” to LNG)

  • New U.S.-Russia-Saudi oil alliance could also have implications for Israel and Iran

    A reported deal between Putin and the Saudi crown prince means they will have members of OPEC over a barrel when they meet in Vienna this weekend – but Jerusalem will be an interested spectator as well

    Anshel PfefferSendSend me email alerts
    Jun 20, 2018

    https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-u-s-russia-saudi-oil-alliance-could-affect-israel-iran-too-1.61968

    Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman didn’t look like someone whose national team was losing 5-0 to Russia last Thursday. The broad smiles as he sat beside Russian President Vladimir Putin in the VIP box at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium indicated the opening match of the World Cup was just an excuse for their meeting.
    According to briefings by Russian officials after the crown prince had left Moscow, he and Putin had agreed on a joint policy worth more than any sports trophy.
    The two governments – also two of the world’s major energy producers – had reportedly agreed to “institutionalize” the relationship between Russia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Does this include all the OPEC members who are meeting in Vienna on Friday? Almost certainly not.
    OPEC exists in theory to ensure its members’ market share of the global energy market and to try and boost oil prices, ensuring their major source of income remains lucrative. But it depends on consensus and coordination between the members. And geopolitics can intrude – in this case, the deepening enmity between two of the major oil producers: the Saudis and Iran.
    In 2016, following a prolonged dip in oil prices (which saw the price of a barrel of crude drop to below $30), OPEC’s 14 members – along with OPEC Plus, a second group of associated nations, including Russia – agreed to cut back production. Along with the rise in global financial activity, this has gradually pushed oil prices back to over $70 a barrel.
    Now, though, some nations – led by the Saudis and Russia – are calling for an increase in production. They are losing market share to U.S. shale oil producers and argue that, since demand is currently high, putting more oil on the market will not dramatically affect prices. They calculate that any dip in prices will be offset by the increase in production.
    But not all OPEC members are capable of boosting production.
    Iran, about to come under stiff new sanctions from the Trump administration, is already losing orders worth hundreds of thousands of barrels. In Venezuela, production is already plummeting due to political turmoil and the economic meltdown under the Maduro government, which also faces U.S. sanctions. For both countries, lower oil prices will only compound their financial woes.

  • New Release - #Energy #Transitions in the #Gulf: Key Questions on #Nuclear Power - Book Edited by Ali Ahmad
    http://aub.bmetrack.com/c/v?e=C42219&c=33CE3&t=0&l=1181D762&email=SPojvuYjb%2FC2RIrz0o8eBqgp9yWU

    Despite being among the world’s top oil producers, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Gulf’s largest economies, have ambitious plans to invest in nuclear power. As the interest in nuclear energy in the region grows, the need to better understand the underlying economic and security issues becomes a necessity.

    In our new edited volume, “Energy Transitions in the Gulf: Key Questions on Nuclear Power” we examine the challenges and opportunities of nuclear power deployment in the Gulf and the wider Middle East region. The book is a result of a workshop held as part of the 2016 Gulf Research Meeting at the University of Cambridge, UK, under the auspices of the Gulf Research Center.

    Content:
    Introduction by Ali Ahmad
    Download Introduction

    Chapter 1: Economic Determinants of Nuclear Power in the Gulf by Omer Akkaya
    Download Chapter 1

    Chapter 2: Economics of Nuclear and Solar Desalination for the Middle East by Rami W. Bitar and Ali Ahmad
    Download Chapter 2

    Chapter 3: Requirements for High Solar Penetration in Electricity Production in Saudi Arabia by Philippe Chite and Ali Ahmad
    Download Chapter 3

    Chapter 4: Nuclear Energy for the Middle East: Technology Choices and Considerations by Abdalla Abou Jaoude and Anna Erickson
    Download Chapter 4

    Chapter 5: Iran, Uranium, and Future Proliferation Dynamics in the Middle East by Ryan Snyder
    Download Chapter 5

    Chapter 6: Confidence Today, Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone in the Middle East Tomorrow by Marianne Nari Fisher
    Download Chapter 6
    Download Entire Book http://aub.bmetrack.com/c/l?u=785E5A1&e=C42219&c=33CE3&t=0&l=1181D762&email=SPojvuYjb%2FC2RIrz0o

  • Saudi currency devaluation would carry major political risk
    http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2016/Feb-05/335754-saudi-currency-devaluation-would-carry-major-political-risk.ash

    Currency traders have been betting against the Saudi peg, and those of other regional oil producers, in the wake of oil’s price collapse. Societe Generale said Thursday it saw at least a 25 percent chance of a near-term devaluation or 40 percent if oil prices stay at current levels throughout 2016.

    But in Saudi Arabia’s largely dollar-denominated economy breaking the peg would immediately raise the price of goods, hitting living standards.

    Combined with other pending painful economic reforms, this could lead to unrest in a country where the unwritten social contract swaps citizens’ obedience and allegiance to the king for good government services and a share in oil wealth.

    “Devaluation of the currency or depegging would self-inflict destructive economic pain. It would be catastrophic,” said John Sfakianakis, a Riyadh-based economist.

  • #Iran is world’s biggest emerging market since collapse of Soviet Union, says Lord Lamont
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iran-is-worlds-biggest-emerging-market-since-collapse-of-soviet-union

    The former Chancellor, Lord Lamont, the newly appointed trade envoy to Iran, is full of optimism about the money UK firms could make if they seize the opportunities opened up by the lifting of sanctions.

    “Iran has the fourth-biggest oil reserves in the world, and the second-biggest gas reserves. Put the two together, and it is the most energy-rich country in the world,” he told The Independent. “And unlike some other oil producers, Iran has other aspects to its economy.

  • Saudi Arabia will not stop pumping to boost oil prices - Financial Times

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b639a458-8600-11e5-9f8c-a8d619fa707c.html#ixzz3qzE9lYg9

    Saudi Arabia is determined to stick to its policy of pumping enough oil to protect its global market share, despite the financial pain inflicted on the kingdom’s economy.
    Officials have told the Financial Times that the world’s largest exporter will produce enough oil to meet customer demand, indicating that the kingdom is in no mood to change tack ahead of the December 4 meeting in Vienna of the producers’ cartel Opec.

    “The only thing to do now is to let the market do its job,” said Khalid al-Falih, chairman of the state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco). “There have been no conversations here that say we should cut production now that we’ve seen the pain.”
    Saudi Arabia rocked oil markets last November when Opec decided against production cuts, making clear that the kingdom was abandoning its policy of reducing supplies to stabilise the price.
    Since then, the oil price has collapsed from a high of $115 a barrel last year to $50 a barrel.
    Global oil companies, which have put hundreds of billions of dollars of investment on hold as a result of low prices, will be disappointed by the Kingdom’s stance.
    The effect on business sentiment has sparked domestic criticism of the market share policy engineered by Ali al-Naimi, the oil minister, and agreed by both the late King Abdullah and the current King Salman, who was crown prince last year and ascended the throne in January.
    Officials in Riyadh say their policy will be vindicated in one to two years when revived demand swallows the global oil glut and prices begin to recover.
    They argue that in the past, Opec output cuts raised prices to levels where more expensive production, such as shale and deep-sea oil, could flourish. Moving ahead, Opec — led by Saudi Arabia — plans to pump as much as it can towards meeting global oil demand, leaving higher-cost producers to make up the remainder.
    $100 oil was perceived as a guarantee of no risk for investment. Now, the insurance policy that’s been provided free of charge by Saudi Arabia does not exist any more
    – Khalid al-Falih, chairman of Saudi Aramco
    For higher-cost producers, “$100 oil was perceived as a guarantee of no risk for investment”, said Mr Falih. “Now, the insurance policy that’s been provided free of charge by Saudi Arabia does not exist any more.”
    Mr Falih, who is also health minister, forecast the market would come into balance in the new year, and then demand would start to suck up inventories and storage on oil tankers. “Hopefully, however, there will be enough investment to meet the needs beyond 2017.”
    Other officials also estimated that it would probably take one to two years for the market to clear up the oil market glut, allowing prices to recover towards $70-$80 a barrel.
    The fall in government revenues has pushed Saudi Arabia’s oil-dependent economy into a fiscal crunch. To fund this year’s budget deficit of 20 per cent of gross domestic product, the government is dipping into its massive financial reserves.
    Officials are also working on a more sustainable strategy to curtail spending, which has ballooned in recent years.
    Delaying infrastructure projects, such as the Riyadh underground, and enforcing a spending squeeze across government departments has brought a slowdown in the private sector.
    Senior officials dismiss the domestic criticism of the oil policy, saying other producers would have quickly replaced any Saudi production cuts with new output.

    Officials, however, acknowledge that the extent of the oil price slump has been deeper than initially envisaged.
    “We knew that it was going to be painful but the extent of the pain went beyond our expectations,” said Mr Falih. “The market has overreacted as it typically does in such down-cycles.”
    But oil producers are now cancelling projects outright, rather than just deferring them, raising concerns of a future jump in price if demand outpaces supply.
    “Now everyone is running to the exit and projects are being cancelled,” said Mr Falih. “That’s necessary, but what will happen five to 10 years from now? Investment is needed.”

  • North Dakota promises to turn down the lights | Climate News Network

    http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/2014/02/north-dakota-promises-to-turn-down-the-lights

    The US state of North Dakota is in the midst of a shale oil and gas boom. Critics say the industry has been allowed to grow without proper regulation, but oil producers are now promising to be more mindful of the environment.

    LONDON, 8 FEbruary – The light from thousands of gas flares in North Dakota is so intense that it can be seen from space. The flares come from oil production units in the Bakken oil fields in the northwest of the state – the site of one of the biggest concentrations of the hydraulic fracturing or fracking industry in the US.

    A report last year by Ceres, a US organization which promotes more sustainable business practices, said that gas worth approximately $1bn literally went up in flames and smoke in 2012 from Bakken.

    #gaz_de_schistes #états-unis #dakota_du_nord #climat