Oil Rises Back Over $48
Oil prices rose above $48 a barrel on Thursday, propelled by technical buying and as investors re-evaluated U.S. data that showed falling stockpiles of fuel as well as higher crude inventories. Brent for December delivery rose 51 cents to $48.36 a barrel by 1056 GMT. The global crude benchmark finished down 86 cents, or 1.8 percent, on Wednesday, after hitting $47.50, its lowest since early October. U.S. crude for December delivery climbed 55 cents to $45.75 a barrel, having settled down $1.09, or 2.4 percent, in the previous session. It hit a three-week low of $44.86 on Wednesday. Oil prices came under renewed pressure this week from worries about a global glut, after U.S. crude inventories rose more than twice the figure analysts had expected. U.S.
Iraq Returns as World's Fastest-Growing Oil Exporter
Iraq is reclaiming its rank as the world's fastest-growing oil exporter, cushioning consumers from Libyan supply outages for now and, perhaps, reviving OPEC market share rivalries down the road. Despite worsening violence due to spillover from the war in Syria, Iraq - already OPEC's second-largest producer - is likely to post one of the biggest annual output jumps in its history as BP, Exxon Mobil and other companies tap its southern fields, which are untouched by the unrest. With many export bottlenecks now cleared at the southern Basra terminals - from which almost all of Iraq's crude is shipped - Baghdad is expected to keep up, or even exceed, the rapid pace of oil sales reached in February - at 2.8 million barrels per day (bpd), a 500,000 bpd rise on the previous month.
Offshore Gas Leak in North Sea – Texans on the Way
A team of Texan troubleshooters head for Scotland to prevent a major gas blast in the North Sea, according to a report in the 'Daily Record' newspaper. The giant oil installation was completely sealed off and abandoned after being evacuated following the leak. The shutdown and evacuation is unprecedented in the history of oil and gas exploration off Scotland. The firm running the operation have drafted in a team of Texan “Hellfighters” in a bid to prevent a disaster akin to the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the US. Nineteen oil workers who stayed on the Total-owned Elgin platform were airlifted off yesterday. A two-mile air and sea exclusion zone was imposed around the Elgin and the connected Rowan Viking drilling rig 150 miles off Aberdeen.
