Crude oil prices

Saudi Arabia has rejected a plea by US president Joe Biden for a major increase in oil production to help ease the cost of living crisis . Prices of the fuel edged higher after the Opec+ alliance, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, announced it had agreed to increase supply by just 100,000 barrels per day from September. Analysts said the move, equivalent to about 86 seconds of daily global oil demand, would do little to ease pressures on the market amid Russia’s war on Ukraine. Raad Alkadiri, managing director for energy, climate, and sustainability at Eurasia Group, told Reuters:  “That is so little as to be meaningless. From a physical standpoint it is a marginal blip. As a political gesture it is almost insulting.” Paul Horsnell, head of commodities research at Standard Chartered, told Bloomberg: “A bit mystified as to the point of doing 100,000 barrels a day rather than zero, for practical and measurement purposes it is zero." Brent Crude has climbed 1.2pc today to … [Read more...] about Saudi Arabia spurns Biden’s plea to produce more oil

FOR MORE THAN 350 years, men have been going to Georges Bank, 150 miles out on the continental shelf east of Cape Cod, to fish for cod, haddock, yellowtail flounder, scallops, lobsters. They have decimated stocks more than once, but the fisheries are still there. Back in the early seventies, when catches were unsustainably high, the harvest was, acre-foracre, the largest in the world. Now other men are heading out to Georges to hunt—through holes inches wide and miles deep-for oil and gas. There won't be many men at first, perhaps a few hundred aboard a handful of exploratory rigs. But that is enough to signal the fact that along the great submerged thumb stretching from Nantucket Shoals toward Nova Scotia, competition for resources has begun in earnest. The conflict involves two resources in one place, both of importance to the modern world. Oil from Georges would reduce our dependence on foreign supplies, if only slightly. Fish—a resource capable of providing half our minimum … [Read more...] about Oil, Fish, and Georges Bank

FOR MORE THAN 350 years, men have been going to Georges Bank, 150 miles out on the continental shelf east of Cape Cod, to fish for cod, haddock, yellowtail flounder, scallops, lobsters. They have decimated stocks more than once, but the fisheries are still there. Back in the early seventies, when catches were unsustainably high, the harvest was, acre-for-acre, the largest in the world. Now other men are heading out to Georges to hunt—through holes inches wide and miles deep—for oil and gas. There won’t be many men at first, perhaps a few hundred aboard a handful of exploratory rigs. But that is enough to signal the fact that along the great submerged thumb stretching from Nantucket Shoals toward Nova Scotia, competition for resources has begun in earnest. The conflict involves two resources in one place, both of importance to the modern world. Oil from Georges would reduce our dependence on foreign supplies, if only slightly. Fish—a resource capable of providing half our minimum … [Read more...] about Resources: Oil, Fish, and Georges Bank

A pipeline leak of about two barrels of oil forced Shell to temporarily halt crude oil production at three of its drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, the company said Friday. The leak happened Thursday after a flange broke along the Shell pipelines at a pipeline booster station in Fourchon near Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, a company spokesperson said. The booster station maintains pressure and flow in the pipelines. The flange leak, which was contained as of Friday morning, affected the company’s Mars and Amberjack pipelines, which connect crude oil from Shell’s offshore platforms to refiners in Texas and Louisiana. Amberjack has since been turned back online, but Mars remained shuttered as of Friday morning. Shell expects the Mars pipeline to come back on later Friday. Three Shell platforms were shut down because of the leak: Mars, Ursa and Olympus. The platforms are located about 130 miles from New Orleans. Shell crews are working on a permanent fix to the pipelines that … [Read more...] about Shell shuts down oil production at three Gulf of Mexico platforms after pipeline leak

N orway has drawn up plans to ration electricity exports in a move that has heightened fears of energy shortages in the UK and Europe this winter. The government in Oslo on Monday announced new rules limiting the sale of power to foreign countries as heatwaves threaten Norway’s hydroelectric power generation. Experts said the restrictions threatened the UK’s plan to draw power from Norway this winter via the North Sea Link - leaving electricity supplies more stretched and risking even higher bills for consumers. The National Grid has already revealed that the UK is set to be more dependent than ever on the Continent for power, with interconnectors expected to provide up to 5.7 gigawatts of electricity at peak times. About one quarter of that total – or 1.4 gigawatts – is set to come from Norway. Kathryn Porter, an energy consultant at Watt-Logic, said the proposed restrictions “put at risk the ability of Britain to import from Norway this winter”. “National Grid ESO needs to … [Read more...] about Norway threatens to ration electricity in fresh blow for UK and European energy supplies

Welcome to the last news digest of this week. Read the news for August 12, 2022 in less than five minutes. Spectacular Slovakia newsletter. Exquisite Koch Garden in Bratislava’s Old Town opens its gates to the public after years of neglect The Koch Garden is open to the public after years of neglect. (Source: Courtesy of Bratislava city council) The unique Koch Garden in Bratislava’s Old Town district finally became the property of the city in mid June. Prior to an extensive revitalisation planned for 2023 and 2024, the city is opening its gates to the general public on Thursday . The Koch Garden used to be one of highlights of the popular annual Weekend of Parks and Gardens event organised by the National Trust, for which people queued for hours to take a peek into this green gem of Bratislava, Katarína Vitteková of the National Trust said. Skryť Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryť Remove … [Read more...] about News digest: The Interior Ministry reports some unusual requests

Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are preparing for a Tory leadership hustings hosted by The Telegraph from 7pm. You can watch live here – and read on for details of how you can get involved. But first, the headlines... Evening briefing: Today's essential headlines Tinderbox Britain | A regional drought in southern England is expected to be announced tomorrow, The Telegraph understands. The official status means the Environment Agency will more closely monitor water companies' plans to protect supply and add to pressure for hosepipe bans. It came after warnings of an "exceptional" wildfires risk amid an amber heat warning . With highs of 36C forecast this weekend, these are six ways high temperatures can affect your health – and this is what Britons can learn from their continental cousins about keeping cool . Twickenham | Trans activists crash England Women's training Isle of Skye | Father killed 'trying to save others from gunman' Travel | … [Read more...] about Thursday evening news briefing: Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to square off at Telegraph hustings

Kudos to Gordon Brown. The former Labour Prime Minister and Chancellor is at least coming up with bold ideas to tackle soaring energy bills . Unfortunately these ideas are not new, and they are not good ones either. Brown’s starting point is that the energy price cap should be "suspended" before the results of the latest review are announced on 26 August, which presumably means that the cap would be frozen at the current level. Ed Davey, speaking for the Liberal Democrats, has also called for the rise in the cap to be scrapped. This would obviously be popular, but it would still be poor economics. Global energy prices have jumped because supply and demand are out of balance. Market signals need to be allowed to work properly, increasing the incentives for producers to raise output and for consumers to economise, where they can. Of course, many households are already struggling to pay their bills and the pressure on their budgets will only increase. Nonetheless, … [Read more...] about Don’t listen to Gordon Brown — nationalised energy companies would be a disaster

Energy bills rise is a 'world crisis' says Knight SUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info EDF customers in the UK are paying nearly two-and-a-half times as much as for their energy bills a s their counterparts in France. This came after French President Emmanual Macron imposed strict caps on price rises, forcing the state-owned energy company to sell its power at prices below the market rates. Related articles Russian oil starts flowing through Ukraine as Putin rocked by strike Brexit Britain set for huge win as 17 new factories Since April this year, energy regulator Ofgem has set the household price cap at £1,971, while French families on regulated tariffs now face bills of around €950 (£803). … [Read more...] about Energy bill shock: Brits pay TWICE more than French..as UK sends RECORD supplies to France

There was precious little to take comfort from in last week’s dire set of economic forecasts from the Bank of England, pointing to both prolonged recession and 13pc plus inflation. But there was at least one point of reassurance – that inflation will be back to 2pc in two years’ time, before falling to well below target the year after. Believe it if you will. The Bank of England has hopelessly underestimated inflation for more than a year now; the record has been abysmal, making it hard to put much faith in the latest predictions, even taking account of the depressing effect on demand and therefore prices of the now forecast recession. And here’s the point. The Bank reasonably blames Vladimir Putin’s murderous invasion of Ukraine, together with the accompanying energy price shock, for much of today’s spike in inflation. Assuming Russia doesn’t cut off gas supplies to Europe entirely, this effect should abate in time. Yet fast coming up in the wings is the now growing likelihood … [Read more...] about The West’s growing rift with China heralds the death of globalisation