Friday 3 March 2017

Gazprom close to revealing financing for $11bn pipeline

Gazprom close to revealing financing for $11bn pipeline:

"Gazprom will reveal a financing package for the $11bn gas pipeline to Germany by the end of this month as the Russian energy company seeks to draw a line under the cost of a series of political battles with European regulators. The group was forced in August to abandon plans to split the cost of the 1,200km Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea with the project’s European partners Engie, OMV, Wintershall, Shell and Uniper after Polish competition regulators objected. Alexander Medvedev, Gazprom’s deputy chairman, said a new financing model would be announced this month and that the European companies were still preparing to find a way to contribute to the pipeline’s construction."



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Kurdish protest disrupts northern Iraqi oil flows

Kurdish protest disrupts northern Iraqi oil flows:

"Crude oil flows from the Kirkuk fields in northern Iraq were briefly disrupted on Thursday after a Kurdish faction seized a pumping facility in protest at the policies of Baghdad and Erbil, adding a new threat to Iraq’s attempts to comply with Opec’s agreed cuts.

Officials from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the oldest political parties within the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), said its forces had stormed the Baghdad-controlled facility and would shut down operations again unless they were given greater control over Kirkuk oil sales.

The protest highlights growing tensions as Baghdad tries to find ways to curtail the amount of oil flowing into the market under an agreement with the Opec cartel and major producers such as Russia to restrain production and increase prices."



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Saudi Arabia Still Bears Brunt of Oil Cuts as OPEC Output Drops - Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia Still Bears Brunt of Oil Cuts as OPEC Output Drops - Bloomberg:

"Saudi Arabia continued to lead OPEC’s efforts to cut production, helping the organization get closer to a goal set out in a historic accord last year. Riyadh lowered oil supply by 90,000 barrels a day from a month earlier to 9.78 million in February, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts, oil companies and ship-tracking data. It was the second month in a row that the world’s biggest crude exporter pumped below its own target of 10.06 million barrels a day."



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A Fit U.S. Shale Industry Challenges OPEC Once Again - Bloomberg

A Fit U.S. Shale Industry Challenges OPEC Once Again - Bloomberg:

"When the who’s who of the oil industry met a year ago in Houston, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister had harsh words for U.S. shale drillers struggling with the worst price crash in a generation. "Lower costs, borrow cash or liquidate," said Ali Naimi, who managed the world’s largest oil-exporting business for more than two decades. In the year since, the drillers have largely taken Naimi’s advice. While more than 100 have gone bankrupt since the start of 2015, the companies that survived have reshaped themselves into fitter, leaner and faster versions that can thrive with oil at $50 a barrel. Now, it’s OPEC that’s seeking solutions, desperate to drive prices up even further in a push to repair the economies of the countries it serves."



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What exactly is in those Bible-based ETFs, anyway? | FT Alphaville

What exactly is in those Bible-based ETFs, anyway? | FT Alphaville:

"Lent is upon us, and with it a flurry of news stories about “Biblically responsible ETFs.” They followed a well-timed press release about two new ETFs that claim to exclude companies with “any degree of participation” in activities that don’t conform to Bible Belt “biblical values”. That includes “the LGBT lifestyle,” which they apparently consider to be worse than multi-level marketing, oil drilling and the military-industrial complex.* As Dealbook helpfully reminds us, excluding LGBT-friendly companies is tough, since most big companies have policies against discrimination based on a person’s L, G, B or T status."



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