Energy & Oil
Energy & OilJapan posts huge January trade deficit: weak Yen, energy bill and dispute with China blamed
Japan’s trade deficit soared to a record 17.4 billion dollars on energy imports, a weaker Yen and the territorial dispute with China, the country’s main trade partner. Exports climbed 6.4% in January from a year earlier, the first rise in eight months while imports increased 7.3%, the Finance Ministry said in Tokyo.
Floater options under consideration for Darwin offshore Falklands development
Oil and gas exploration company Borders & Southern, B&S, expects to start work this month on two projects concerning its licenses in the offshore South Falkland basin, reports from London ‘Offshore’.
Nationalized YPF in 2012 cut oil production decline and showed modest increase
Argentina’s nationalized oil and gas corporation YPF said oil output rose 2.5% last year, compared with an 8% decline in 2011 while natural gas output fell 2.3% on the year, versus an 11% decline in 2011. According to the statement YPF aims to boost oil production by 4% and gas output by 1.8% in 2013.
Beijing's pollution alarms neighbours
The good news for the Chinese leadership is that their fiscal policies have paid off, producing both the world's second largest economy and the globe's leading creditor nation in less than a generation.
Obama challenges Congress to ‘take a vote’ on a package of progressive reforms
President Barack Obama pledged in his annual State of the Union speech to revive the sluggish US economy by creating “good, middle-class jobs”. The Democratic president promised “smarter” rather than bigger government for “the many, and not just the few” and called on Congress 'to take a vote' on a package of progressive reforms..
FAO January food price index shows oil and fats up, cereals down, dairy and beef unchanged
FAO Food Price Index held steady at 210 points in January 2013 after three straight months of decline. Increases in oil and fats prices offset lower cereals and sugar quotations while dairy and meat values remained substantially unchanged. The pause in the Index's decline tallies with a significant upward revision in FAO latest forecast for 2012 world cereal production. This is now estimated at 2.302 million tonnes - 20 million tonnes up on December's forecast.
Aubrey McClendon and the Destruction of the Natural Gas Market
Aubrey McClendon is gone – or at least he's on his way out from Chesapeake energy (CHK). But the destruction of the natural gas market, where he was the ringleader in the shale gas land grab and cratering well price, is his real legacy, and not likely to be recovered from anytime soon. While Aubrey will now go into a very wealthy retirement, he leaves behind a decimated market and a long road to making natural gas a true transition fuel to energy independence and a renewable future.
Argentina says Falklands’ issue “smells too much like petroleum
Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman said on Thursday that the British government’s position on the Falklands/Malvinas Islands issue “smells too much like petroleum”, revealing that UK’s biggest interest in keeping the invaded archipelago is due to the potential oil findings.
US fund sues YPF and underwriters for a misleading and untrue 2011 prospect
Argentina’s oil and gas corporation YPF, seized by the government last year, was sued by an investor who accused the company of making false statements prior to its March 2011 public offering.
Colombia reaches sustained production of over a million barrels of oil per day
Colombia announced that it produced an average of 1.01 million barrels of oil per day in January, marking the first time that average crude output for a month surpassed the one million-barrel mark that the government had set as a target for the country's oil industry.
