Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts

G7 to discuss Russian oil price cap as Ukraine fight grinds on

Fast News

UN inspectors visit Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia to prevent a nuclear accident at a Russian-occupied power plant where recent shelling has prompted fears of disaster, as fighting rages on day 190 of conflict.

Key oil consumers China and US partner India have stepped up imports of discounted Russian barrels to record levels.
Key oil consumers China and US partner India have stepped up imports of discounted Russian barrels to record levels. (Reuters Archive)
Thursday, September 1, 2022 G7 finance chiefs to discuss Russian oil price cap on Friday Finance ministers from the Group of Seven club of wealthy nations will discuss the US Biden administration's proposed price cap on Russian oil when they meet on Friday, the White House has said. "This is the most effective way, we believe, to hit hard at Putin's revenue and doing so will result in not only a drop in Putin's oil revenue, but also global energy prices as well," said White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre. Despite Russia's oil exports hitting their lowest levels since last August, its export revenue in June increased by $700 million month on month due to higher prices, 40 percent above last year's average, the International Energy Agency said last month. Key oil consumers China and America's partner India have stepped up imports of discounted Russian barrels to record levels. For live updates from Wednesday (August 31), click here Source: TRTWorld and agencies

#discuss #Russian #oil #price #cap #Ukraine #fight #grinds https://www.globalcourant.com/g7-to-discuss-russian-oil-price-cap-as-ukraine-fight-grinds-on/?feed_id=18485&_unique_id=630ff316437f6

Oil prices climb on OPEC supply cut prospect, rise in demand

OPEC is considering cutting output to offset any increase from Iran if the nuclear deal is reinstated.

The rise in natural gas prices is causing industrial users in Europe to switch to diesel and fuel oil, increasing the demand for oil.
The rise in natural gas prices is causing industrial users in Europe to switch to diesel and fuel oil, increasing the demand for oil. (Dado Ruvic / File / Reuters)
Oil prices rose 1 percent on Monday, as expectations OPEC will cut output if needed to support prices, conflict in Libya, and rising demand amid soaring natural gas prices in Europe helped offset a dire outlook for growth in the United States. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures jumped $1.09, or 1.2 percent, to $94.15 a barrel at 0241 GMT, adding to a 2.5 percent gain last week. Brent crude futures rose 89 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $101.88 a barrel, extending a 4.4 percent gain last week. "Oil prices were stronger amidst the ongoing pressure on fuel demand from Europe’s energy crisis, and supply constraints," National Australia Bank commodities analysts said in a note. Heavy clashes in Libya's capital which killed 32 people on the weekend sparked concern that the country could slide into a full-blown conflict, which could again disrupt crude supply from the OPEC nation, they said. READ MORE: Saudi Aramco unveils record $48.39B profit in Q2, beats expectations Hints from OPEC Both benchmark contracts had traded lower earlier in the day as the dollar climbed after Friday's blunt comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that the United States faced a prolonged period of slow growth amid further rate hikes. "While a strong dollar restrains broad commodity prices, the undersupply issue in the oil markets will probably continue to support the upside bias," said CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng. Oil prices have been buoyed by hints from Saudi Arabia and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, together called OPEC+, that they could cut output in order to balance the market.
The United Arab Emirates is aligned with Saudi Arabia thinking on output policy, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Friday, while the Omani oil ministry also said it supports OPEC+ efforts to maintain market stability. Sources last week said OPEC would consider cutting output to offset any increase from Iran should oil sanctions be lifted if the parties revive the nuclear deal. "Iran's production will not compensate for the short fall in supply anytime soon," Teng said. On the demand side, higher natural gas prices in Europe are spurring power generators and industrial users to switch to diesel and fuel oil, further supporting crude prices, ANZ Research analysts said in a note. READ MORE: Shaky calm returns as death toll from Libya clashes mounts Source: TRTWorld and agencies

#Oil #prices #climb #OPEC #supply #cut #prospect #rise #demand https://www.globalcourant.com/oil-prices-climb-on-opec-supply-cut-prospect-rise-in-demand/?feed_id=17260&_unique_id=630c5d9360eb0

Sputnik: The militant Arab nomads took back an oil field in eastern Syria from the Americans


According to IRNA's report on Friday from Sputnik news agency, citing local sources, these Arab nomads attacked one of the oil fields near Koniko Square in Al-Azia area in the northern suburbs of Deir Ezzor, after hours of fighting with the armed elements of the group known as "Syrian Democratic Forces". (QSD), were able to regain control of this oil field. According to these sources, this attack is due to depriving the people of the region of the resources of the oil fields and the looting of these oil resources by the American forces and armed people affiliated with them. According to Sputnik, a large armed group affiliated with the SDF militia, with the support of American fighters, is besieging the area and oil wells in the north of Deir Ezzor to take back the said oil field from the nomads. With the defeat of the terrorist group "ISIS" as the military arm of the United States in Syria in December 2016, the American forces directly replaced this group and from that time they began extracting and stealing Syrian oil instead of ISIS and continue killing the people of this country. . During the recent years, America in the West Asian region, especially in Syria, has become a scourge of people's lives and stolen their oil resources, an action that was carried out by the ISIS terrorist group before this. The areas under the occupation of the American forces and the "QSD" militias supported by them in al-Hasakah and other northern areas of Syria have always witnessed the protests of Syrian citizens against the presence of terrorist actions by the occupiers and militias against the residents of these areas.

#Sputnik #militant #Arab #nomads #oil #field #eastern #Syria #Americans https://www.globalcourant.com/sputnik-the-militant-arab-nomads-took-back-an-oil-field-in-eastern-syria-from-the-americans/?feed_id=16000&_unique_id=63086a6c48270

Oil prices fall as recession fears, Iran production weigh on demand outlook

Oil prices extended losses on Tuesday after weak US and Chinese data reinforced recession expectations with signs that Iran is moving towards a nuclear deal adding to the downward pressure.

Abadan oil refinery in southwest Iran pictured from Iraqi side of Shatt al Arab south of Basra on September 21, 2019.
Abadan oil refinery in southwest Iran pictured from Iraqi side of Shatt al Arab south of Basra on September 21, 2019. (Essam Al-Sudani / Reuters)

Oil prices have extended losses after weak US and Chinese data spurred fresh concerns about a potential global recession that could hit energy demand.

Brent crude futures fell 90 cents, or 1 percent, to $94.20 a barrel by 00:03 GMT. WTI crude futures fell 81 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $88.60 a barrel.

Oil futures fell about 3 percent during the previous session as demand expectations are lowered in light of a string of soft economic indicators in major economies.

Signs that Iran is moving towards a nuclear deal added to the downward pressure on prices, with an agreement seen allowing the country to restart sales into the world market.

Analysts said Tehran could provide 2.5 million barrels a day, giving a much-needed shot in the arm to supplies, which have been hammered by sanctions on Russia in response to its attacks on Ukraine.

Libya has also boosted production, helping prices drop to six-month lows and wiping out the gains seen after the Ukraine conflict started.

But analysts warned that there might still be some way to go on an Iran agreement owing to upcoming US elections.

"A deal with Iran would likely not be popular with US voters and so is hard to envisage before the November mid-terms," said National Australia Bank's Ray Attrill.

"Markets are currently prone to optimism, though, and hopes for a deal... have added to downward pressure on oil prices."

Iran responded to the European Union's "final" draft text to save a 2015 nuclear deal on Monday, an EU official said, but provided no details on Iran's response to the text. The Iranian foreign minister called on the United States to show flexibility to resolve three remaining issues.

READ MORE: Libya 'confirms' its oil production is back to pre-blockade levels

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJaU9xmPpsc[/embed]

Disappointing China data

China's central bank cut lending rates to revive demand as data showed the economy slowing unexpectedly in July, with factory and retail activity squeezed by Beijing's zero-Covid policy and a property crisis.

China's fuel product exports will rebound in August to near the highest for the year so far after Beijing issued more quotas in June and July, although broader curbs are set to cap shipments at seven-year lows for 2022, analysts and traders said.

In the United States, total output in the major US shale oil basins will rise to 9.049 million bpd in September, the highest since March 2020, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its productivity report on Monday.

Market participants awaited industry data on US crude stockpiles due later on Tuesday. Oil and gasoline stockpiles likely fell last week, while distillate inventories rose, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6ZOrzJ-j8E[/embed]

Hopes of cooling inflation

With surging oil prices a key driver of inflation to multi-decade highs around the world, the drop has fanned hopes that the headline figure could begin to come down.

That has led to speculation that central bank chiefs could lift rates at a slower pace, and then think about pivoting monetary policy to cuts as early as next year.

The prospect of a less painful hiking campaign has sparked a rally in equities from their June lows.

And on Tuesday, Asia built on Wall Street's upbeat performance.

Hong Kong and Shanghai rose after Beijing cut rates on Monday as the world's number two economy struggles to recover from a plunge in activity caused by extended Covid lockdowns.

Sydney, Seoul, Taipei, Manila, Jakarta and Wellington were also up, though Tokyo was flat and Singapore dipped.

Still, analysts warned that while equities are enjoying a bounce, the economic outlook could keep them subdued or even fall back again.

"The risk of the markets going below the June lows is quite high," Shane Oliver, at AMP Services, told Bloomberg Television. The weak data presage "weaker earnings growth ahead in the US", he added.

READ MORE: UN chief blasts oil firms profiting from energy crisis

Source: Reuters


Source https://www.globalcourant.com/oil-prices-fall-as-recession-fears-iran-production-weigh-on-demand-outlook/?feed_id=11469&_unique_id=62fb152e4eceb

Russia’s Oil Output Falters After Summer Rebound

Russian oil production fell in the first weeks of August, ending several months of recovery from Western sanctions imposed over Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Kommersant business daily reported Monday. 

Average daily production so far this month has fallen by 3% compared to July, totaling 1.428 million tons, the publication said, citing unnamed sources familiar with the data. 

Small oil companies, as well as state-owned major producer Gazprom Neft, accounted for 90% of the decrease.

The rest of Russia’s major oil producers have kept output levels stable. They are expected to boost output under the latest OPEC+ agreement raising the oil cartel’s production goal by 100,000 barrels per day. 

Experts cited by Kommersant say larger oil companies are displacing their smaller competitors and causing them to lose their place in the market. 

Russia’s oil production has been on a path to recovery since falling sharply in April, though it is yet to reach pre-sanctions levels. 

The International Energy Agency raised its forecast for Russian crude production into 2023, saying last week that sanctions have had a limited impact due to increased demand from mostly Asian buyers. 

An EU embargo on Russian crude oil and petroleum products is expected to further decrease Moscow's exports to Europe when it takes effect in February 2023.


Source https://www.globalcourant.com/russias-oil-output-falters-after-summer-rebound/?feed_id=11091&_unique_id=62fa04e80be0c

Saudi Aramco ready to boost crude output, oil prices drop

Aramco can boost its crude oil output to its maximum capacity of 12 million barrels per day if the Saudi government requests.

Oil prices rebounded more than 3 percent last week after a damaged oil pipeline component disrupted output at several offshore Gulf of Mexico platforms.
Oil prices rebounded more than 3 percent last week after a damaged oil pipeline component disrupted output at several offshore Gulf of Mexico platforms. (AP)

Oil prices dropped on Monday for a second session after the head of the world's top exporter, Saudi Aramco, said it is ready to ramp up output while production at several offshore US Gulf of Mexico platforms is resuming after a brief outage last week.

Brent crude futures fell 27 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $97.88 a barrel by 0034 GMT after settling 1.5 percent lower on Friday. 

US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $91.87 a barrel, down 22 cents, or 0.2 percent, following a 2.4 percent drop in the previous session.

Saudi Aramco stands ready to raise crude oil output to its maximum capacity of 12 million barrels per day (bpd) if requested to do so by the Saudi Arabian government, Chief Executive Amin Nasser told reporters on Sunday.

"We are confident of our ability to ramp up to 12 million bpd any time there is a need or a call from the government or from the ministry of energy to increase our production," Nasser said. 

He added that China's easing of Covid-19 restrictions and a pickup in the aviation industry could add to demand.

READ MORE: Oil prices drop as traders watch developments in Iran nuclear talks

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mMNpLEiISc[/embed]

Tight supplies

Investors are looking ahead to China's economic data later on Monday for demand cues at the world's top crude oil importer.

Oil prices rebounded more than 3 percent last week after a damaged oil pipeline component disrupted output at several offshore Gulf of Mexico platforms.

Producers had moved to reactivate some of the halted production after repairs were completed late Friday, a Louisiana official said.

Energy services firm Baker Hughes Co reported on Friday that the US oil rig count rose by 3 to 601 last week. 

The rig count, an early indicator of future output, has been slow to grow with oil production only seen recovering from pandemic-related cuts next year.

Global oil markets remained supported by tight supplies in the run-up to EU sanctions on Russian crude oil and refined product supplies this winter.

READ MORE: UN chief blasts oil firms profiting from energy crisis

Source: Reuters


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In the Amazon, a U.N. Agency Partners With Oil Companies

RESGUARDO BUENAVISTA, Colombia — At the edge of the Colombian Amazon, in an Indigenous village surrounded by oil rigs, the Siona people faced a dilemma.

The United Nations Development Program, or U.N.D.P., had just announced a $1.9 million regional aid package. In a village with no running water, intermittent electricity and persistent poverty, any money would mean food and opportunity.

But the aid program was part of a partnership between the United Nations agency and GeoPark, the multinational petroleum company. The company holds contracts to drill near the Siona reservation, including one with the government that would expand operations onto what the Siona consider their ancestral land. To the Siona people on the Buenavista reservation, oil drilling is an assault, akin to draining blood from the earth.

This collaboration is one example of how one of the world’s largest sustainable development organizations partners with polluters, even those that at times work against the interests of the communities the agency is supposed to help.

From Mexico to Kazakhstan, these partnerships are part of a strategy that treats oil companies not as environmental villains but as major employers who can bring electricity to far-flung areas and economic growth to poor and middle-income nations. The development agency has used oil money to provide clean water and job training to areas that might otherwise be neglected.

But internal documents and dozens of interviews with current and former officials show that when the United Nations has partnered with oil companies, the agency has also tamped down local opposition to drilling, conducted business analyses for the industry and worked to make it easier for companies to keep operating in sensitive areas.

The agency’s Colombia office, in particular, is a revolving door of officials moving in and out of oil companies and government energy ministries. The United Nations development agency has also worked with the government and the oil industry to compile dossiers on drilling opponents. There is no evidence that those dossiers were used to target anyone, but in a country where environmental activists are killed at a rate higher than anywhere else in the world, activists and community members said they felt their lives had been put at risk.

Even as the United Nations sounds the alarm on climate change and calls for a dramatic reduction in fossil fuel consumption, its development arm at times serves as a cheerleader for the oil and gas industry.

“The oil and gas sector is one of the industrial sectors worldwide capable of generating the greatest positive impacts on people’s development conditions,” the United Nations Development Program wrote in 2018.

The development agency said it supports a clean energy transition and does not encourage drilling. But Achim Steiner, the agency’s head, said its mission is to bring people out of poverty, and that that often means working in countries that are built on coal, oil and gas. “We have to start where economies are today,” Mr. Steiner said in an interview. “I don’t see a contradiction, but there is a tension.”

Adding to that tension, current and former officials say, is a relentless fund-raising pressure. The agency takes a cut — from about 3 to 10 percent — of donations. Officials, backed by the agency’s own audits, say that puts pressure on development officers to find partners in their assigned countries, even when the donors work against their agency’s interests.

Internal emails show that senior officials have bristled at having to put a glossy sheen on the world’s dirtiest companies — a process critics call blue washing, after the organization’s signature color.

In 2017, for example, two years after world leaders adopted the Paris climate agreement, the agency published a report on the positive role the oil and gas industry could play for the world. It listed an Exxon Mobil recycling initiative and Chevron’s promotion of engineering in classrooms.

“I really think this publication is problematic, as it aims to portray the oil and gas industry in a favorable light,” one agency employee wrote in a group email. The report “was undermining our message on sustainable energy,” read another email.

As a share of the agency’s $8 billion budget, money from the energy industry is a pittance: about $6 million a year, according to data provided by U.N.D.P. But locally that money can have outsize effects.

Nowhere are those effects felt more than in Colombia, where oil companies, the government, armed groups and environmentalists are fighting over the future of the Amazon. Deforestation has reached record levels, threatening a rainforest that serves as a crucial buffer against climate change.

Until last year, the Siona people living on the banks of the muddy Putumayo River in southern Colombia saw the United Nations development agency as an ally in that fight. The community had benefited from a previous grant from the agency.

Then came the GeoPark partnership.

Mario Erazo Yaiguaje, a soft-spoken community leader and former governor of the Buenavista reservation, suspected that the U.N.D.P. aid program was a stealth attempt by the oil company to push his village into accepting its presence in the region.

The Siona of Buenavista live in wooden homes on a small territory cut into the Amazon on the border with Ecuador. Community life revolves around the chagra, a traditional farm plot, and yagé, a substance that the outside world labels a hallucinogen, but the Siona consider a medicine that, when taken under the instruction of an elder, allows them to receive wisdom and guidance.

This region has been the scene of conflict for generations, and the Siona of Buenavista see oil companies as the source of their problems, drawing in both leftist rebels, who have attacked the oil pipelines in the area, and the government soldiers who are sent to guard company infrastructure. The oil industry and the cocaine trade have together contributed to so much violence that one of the country’s highest courts has designated the Siona at “risk of extermination.”

The United Nations announced its GeoPark partnership at a moment of controversy. The company was already defending a lawsuit over an oil spill in the region. Then, a local advocacy organization publicly accused GeoPark of hiring an armed group to threaten drilling opponents. The company fiercely denied the allegation, but activists in the region said they feared for their lives.

Mr. Erazo saw the GeoPark deal as a tactic. “Clearing their name,” he called it. “When we saw that GeoPark was giving money to U.N.D.P., we realized that they’d made the deal of the year.”

GeoPark says it has no interest in drilling on the Siona reservation and has taken steps to give up its lease on the disputed territory. It said its partnership with the development agency was intended to help communities that had suffered economically during the Covid-19 pandemic. The money was never intended for the Siona, the company said.

“We have always had a relationship based on dialogue, respect and building trust with our neighbors,” the company said in a statement.

The Siona of Buenavista saw things differently and began preparing for a difficult decision. Sitting in the front row of a community meeting last year, wearing the traditional white tunic reserved for special occasions, Mr. Erazo listened as the community’s lawyer, Lina María Espinosa, laid out their choice:

“You are going to receive a sum that will provide for any family need,” she said. “But the money comes from, or will come from, the oil company.”

She asked: “Will you accept it?”

Mr. Erazo understood why GeoPark might want to partner with the United Nations. But why would a sustainable development agency partner with an oil company?

The origins of these deals are murky. Unlike the broader United Nations, the agency receives no dues from member nations. Its donations mostly come from governments and large international funds. Groups like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and private companies make up the rest.

Former officials say today’s relationship with major energy companies can be traced in part to a fight with one of the agency’s biggest benefactors, a nonprofit fund called the Global Environmental Facility, which pools money from governments to address major planetary challenges.

In 2011, Monique Barbut, the fund’s top executive at the time, became convinced that U.N.D.P. was too focused on raising money, with too little to show for it. “These people were accountable to no one,” Ms. Barbut said in an interview. She began cutting funding.

Those cuts coincided with the lingering effects of the global financial crisis and increased demand for development aid. So the agency doubled down on its fund-raising. Energy companies were among the targets.

“In an environment of declining aid, revenue from extractive sectors can serve as an additional source of financing,” U.N.D.P. wrote in 2012 as part of a strategy dedicated to oil, gas and mining.

That year, the agency announced a partnership with Shell Oil that helped train Iraqis to work in the oil and gas industry. A project with the energy company Pemex helped expand oil production in Mexico.

Development officials, who operate with broad authority in their assigned countries, recall constant pressure to find money.

“It’s a system centered on feeding the beast,” said Benoit Lebot, who worked on environmental projects during that period. Mr. Lebot said he erupted at his supervisors “I am not a number on a spreadsheet!” and ultimately quit.

Even today, staff members say — and performance appraisal forms reiterate — that supervisors prioritize raising money and starting projects. “How many projects did you get? How much money did you bring in?” said Dominic Rassool, who in 2018 quit his job as a technical adviser. Whether or not projects succeed, he said, matters less.

Mr. Steiner, the agency’s top executive, makes no apologies for the fund-raising focus.

“For those who say that that pressure is there, I can only say, ‘Well, welcome to reality,’” he said.

He firmly rejected, however, the notion that he prioritizes raising money over running successful programs. He said that independent evaluators review and rate every project.

But current and former evaluators say that when they do find problems, United Nations and local government officials often pressure them to soften their conclusions.

“Most of the time, it’s done in a tasteful way,” said Roland Wong, who evaluated projects for the agency for over a decade. Other times, the changes are more egregious. “Evaluations can suffer from gross embellishment to the point where it’s almost untrue.”

A common technique, current and former officials say, is to recast failures as “lessons learned.”

Mr. Steiner talks about meeting economies where they are, and Colombia’s economy relies heavily on oil. It is the nation’s most important export. Anyone looking to raise money for development here would naturally find their way to fossil fuel companies.

Though Mr. Steiner says the agency does not support drilling projects, records show it does work to make it easier to drill. For years, Colombia’s national oil and gas agency and the country’s largest company, Ecopetrol, have contracted with U.N.D.P. to analyze risks and give advice on how to run the business more smoothly.

That business risk might mean a leaky pipeline, where the agency’s analysis could help prevent or mitigate an environmental problem. Other times, the business risk might be an angry community that opposes drilling.

In those situations, records show that development officials step in to smooth things over — with the goal of ensuring that operations continue as planned. As part of several U.N.D.P. projects, the agency worked with Ecopetrol and the Colombian fossil fuels ministry to compile dossiers on people in oil drilling areas.

One report, in the department of Meta, in the central part of the country, was inadvertently posted on a government website in 2015. The dossier, prepared for the interior ministry, identified town counselors and farmers who held “aggressive discourse” against the oil industry. A church was identified where the priest gave “speeches against the industry” at the end of mass.

Environmental activists are killed in Colombia at a rate of more than one a week, according to Global Witness, a human rights organization with offices in London, Washington and Brussels, making Colombia the world’s deadliest place to defend the earth. When activists saw themselves in the report, they felt the development agency had put them at risk. There is no evidence that this document or other dossiers led to violence.

In a statement, Ecopetrol said it works with the development agency because of its reputation for impartiality and to ensure that underserved communities get the attention they deserve.

“The company has long recognized the importance of social leaders and their contribution to society,” Ecopetrol said, using a local term for environmental and community activists. The company said it rejects threats or any other tactics that impede “free, safe and legitimate exercise of their work.”

Mr. Steiner said this is an essential process known as “stakeholder mapping.” If governments are to consult people on all sides of an issue, the key players must be identified.

The published report, however, focused in particular on opponents of the oil industry. Among the report’s action items: organize a forum of community members and environmentalists and “dismiss their speech.”

The U.N.D.P. said that, while the report was written by an agency contractor, was hosted on the agency’s server and included the agency’s logo, it was actually written at the behest of the Colombian government. Thus an agency spokesman would not comment on the report’s content.

One environmental activist, Edgar Humberto Cruz, who is listed in the report under the category “problematic,” said U.N.D.P. organized meetings to highlight the benefits that Ecopetrol and other companies brought to the region. “They told us that it was not convenient to oppose the industry,” Mr. Cruz said.

An agency spokesman said that such conversations are not part of the agency’s policy.

Today in Meta, suspicions run deep.

“The only reason it has come here, to our region, is to try to soften up the communities so that Ecopetrol can come in to do its oil work,” said Gustavo Carrión, a leader in Castilla La Nueva, a town in northwest Meta.

The agency’s own employees acknowledge as much. Fabian Espejo, who worked for the development agency in Colombia for five years, wrote in his 2020 doctoral thesis that the agency had good intentions but also took its cue from the oil, gas and mining ministries “to keep the production running smoothly.”

Mr. Steiner said his agency works under difficult conditions to bring money and opportunities to people who need it most. He does not set Colombia’s energy policies and cannot order the government to stop drilling in certain areas. What he can do, he said, is look for ways to minimize harm to communities and the environment.

“But also to maximize the benefits of an industry — extractive industries writ large — that is very significant, and a very significant revenue source for many developing countries,” he said.

A development official made a similar argument last year in a tense call with Mr. Erazo and others about the GeoPark deal. The United Nations did not invite the oil companies into the area, the official, Jessica Faieta, said. But “now that they’re already in the region, we can in some way guarantee that they comply with human rights.”

The Siona of Buenavista were livid. The United Nations seemed to be vouching for oil companies, Mr. Erazo said.

That conversation torpedoed any hope of winning them over. The Siona filed a formal complaint with the agency, returned their earlier grant and swore off ever again accepting help from the development program.

“People applaud every time a U.N.D.P. representative arrives because he’s arrived with something. ‘God bless!’” Mr. Erazo said. But, he went on, “This is a trick.”

The partnership with GeoPark, he said, was “the death of that organization for us.”

Today, along the banks of the Putumayo, Mr. Erazo sees trouble ahead. Inflation has sent food costs soaring. Gasoline prices have made even simple transport difficult.

A relationship with the United Nations Development Program would certainly have its benefits.

But he has no regrets.

The development agency canceled the GeoPark partnership and is now investigating why it ever got involved with the company when the Siona’s grievances were already so well known.

“I think that is a legitimate critique,” Mr. Steiner said, adding, “You know, we have learned lessons.”

Sofía Villamil and Genevieve Glatsky contributed reporting from Bogotá.


Source https://www.globalcourant.com/in-the-amazon-a-u-n-agency-partners-with-oil-companies/?feed_id=9810&_unique_id=62f5ea3f8b440

Oil down over estimated US crude inventory rise

ANKARA 

Oil prices declined on Wednesday over unexpected rise in US crude oil inventories and despite supply disruptions after Ukraine’s pipeline operator halted oil flow due to payment issues.

International benchmark Brent crude traded at $95.46 per barrel at 09.40 a.m. local time (0640 GMT) for a 0.88% decrease from the closing price of $96.31 a barrel in the previous trading session.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $89.50 per barrel at the same time for a 1.1% drop after the previous session closed at $90.50 a barrel.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) announced its estimate of a rise of over 2.15 million barrels in crude oil inventories in the world’s largest oil-consuming country, the US, late Tuesday, relative to the market expectation of a 73,000-barrel rise.

The more than expected increase in stockpiles signals a drop in crude demand, weighing prices down.

However, Ukraine’s main oil pipeline system operator, Ukrtransnafta, suspended oil transportation through the Ukrainian pipeline network on Aug. 4, curtailing downward price pressure.

The move came after Russia's pipeline monopoly Transneft failed to make payment to Ukraine's Ukrtransnafta.

The pipeline is the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline that transports Russian oil to refineries in Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia.

The Druzhba pipeline passes through Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia and Lithuania. Ukrtransnafta owns the Ukrainian section, the transit of which is paid by Russia.

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Source https://www.globalcourant.com/oil-down-over-estimated-us-crude-inventory-rise/?feed_id=8963&_unique_id=62f36bdf00aa4

The need for knowledge-based people to enter the tannery/export industry is that a leather jacket is worth 4 times more than a barrel of crude oil.

According to the reporter Science and Education Department of IRNAalong with the formation of knowledge-based companies in scientific and academic centers, some other companies under the title Creative companies They have been formed with the aim of providing new business models in the field of innovation ecosystem, and the growth and development of products and services of these companies, unlike knowledge-based companies, does not require complex and advanced technology.

In fact, creative companies are companies whose main purpose is based on creativity and innovation and completion of the chain from idea to product, and their scope of activity is in the field of cultural creative industries, handicrafts, and tourism.

Weakness in conversion industries and neglect of technology is the most important problem of leather industry

The leather industry is considered as one of the most important and profitable industries in the world, and yet, unfortunately, our country is currently one of the largest raw material sales countries, even though it has a long history in the tanning industry. Light leather known in the world. An industry that can definitely attract more attention and investment in converting industries to earn good currency for our country. A very important issue that Hossein Kazemi One of the entrepreneurs and the CEO of the creative company Cherem Partoafken also emphasizes it a lot in a conversation with IRNA.

Emphasizing that the leather industry is considered to be a very job-creating and currency-generating industry in the world, this activist in the field of creative industries has pledged to prevent the sale of high-quality Iranian leather or salambor, which has become a common practice in the past due to the negligence of the authorities, as much as possible. Technologists and knowledge-based experts in this area.

He stated that Italy is currently known as one of the leading countries in the leather industry, adding that Turkey also ranks second. Unfortunately, even though Iran is one of the three countries that produce leather and export semi-finished products, Iran's leather is the third in terms of quantity and quality, but about 80% of Iran's leather exports are raw and in the form of salambour.

The need for knowledge-based people to enter the tannery/export industry is that a leather jacket is worth 4 times more than a barrel of crude oil.

Kazemi says: Our country's economy, like the export of crude oil, suffers from the lack of necessary infrastructure for the processing and production of leather products. This is while some countries, including Turkey, seriously prevent the export of raw leather and salambor, because they bring huge incomes to their country by creating added value and currency exchange, while providing a good job creation environment. .

He continued: Due to Iran being located in a hot and dry region, we have the best cow and sheep leather, but due to the weakness of the leather processing industries, this valuable product is available in raw form to the processing industries of other countries, including Italy and Turkey, and this The field itself has created employment for the workers of these countries and earned currency for them.

Free training and entrepreneurship for imprisoned women and clients of the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee (RA)

This activist in the field of creative industries, who has been working in the production of hand-embroidered natural leather products for about a decade in Golestan province, has recently succeeded in exporting his products to countries such as Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, Turkey and Azerbaijan, and this August participate in an exhibition in Russia and has succeeded in negotiating with Russian businessmen to export their leather products to this country.

He says: Currently, 160 housewives are working with this creative company to produce hand-stitched leather products, including men's and women's bags, belts, bracelets and sheaths, and recently to produce some clothes.

The need for knowledge-based people to enter the tannery/export industry is that a leather jacket is worth 4 times more than a barrel of crude oil.

Women, some of whom are members of the relief committee and some of whom are even in prison, according to this active entrepreneur, after training and learning sewing, they are paid according to their work. That is, they can earn about 300 to 400 thousand tomans a day by only having a needle and the tools provided to them.

This creative industries entrepreneur stated that he has succeeded in setting up three workshops for the production of handmade natural leather products and added: I am currently trying to set up a fourth workshop.

Kazemi stated: "If the relevant institutions provide us with support and land, we can set up a handmade shoe workshop with the employment of at least 500 people and the daily production of at least 300 handmade shoes and even export."

The export of a leather jacket is four times more valuable than a barrel of crude oil

This activist in the field of creative industries also said: Our manufactured products are the same price as Chinese synthetic products, while the quality of our work is at least three times higher and we have to sell our natural leather products at a price that consumers are willing to buy. Do not have an artificial type.

Kazemi stated that the products of this company active in the field of creative industries are produced according to the standards and the global market, and added: The models that are produced are suitable for the global market and this has made us successful in the field of export.

Kazemi added: The reason why our quality products are cheap compared to imported artificial products is that we currently only calculate the costs of cutting, sewing, fittings and leather in the sale of our products, and our profit is only in cutting, sewing and sewing.

Regarding his expectations from government agencies, he emphasized that he has no requests for loans and facilities, and stated: My job is sewing and one of our requests is insurance for the people who work in these workshops. . In this way, there is an encouragement for them to continue working.

This entrepreneur said: Our other expectation from the authorities is that they will help us in the field of selling and exporting manufactured products to other countries, because our products are of good quality and have a competitive price, and the export markets will certainly welcome them. will do Of course, there is another problem; Unfortunately, the customs of the country sometimes create obstacles by increasing the costs, and with these customs costs and of course taxes, which will lead to an increase in the final price of the manufactured products, we cannot have good exports.

He added: This is in the situation that we do not import, but produce, and by creating employment for 160 people, we should be exempted from paying taxes.

Kazemi further mentioned one of his plans, in case of necessary support from the government, to produce leather jackets and export them and said: The export of a leather jacket will earn at least four times of a barrel of oil for the country.

According to this activist in the field of leather products Even if the country's oil exports are prevented, with the introduction of modern technologies in this area and the removal of export and tax barriers, we can witness a good foreign exchange for the country.


Source https://www.globalcourant.com/the-need-for-knowledge-based-people-to-enter-the-tannery-export-industry-is-that-a-leather-jacket-is-worth-4-times-more-than-a-barrel-of-crude-oil/?feed_id=8088&_unique_id=62f0ab372d9d5

Firefighters missing, dozens hurt as fire rages in Cuban oil tank farm

Cuban authorities say lightning struck a crude oil storage tank at the Matanzas Supertanker Base, causing a fire that led to four explosions which left dozens missing and injured.

The accident comes as Cuba struggles with fuel shortages.
The accident comes as Cuba struggles with fuel shortages. (AP)

A fire set off by a lightning strike at an oil storage facility has raged uncontrolled in the Cuban city of Matanzas, where four explosions and flames injured nearly 80 people and left 17 firefighters missing.

Firefighters and other specialists were still trying to quell the blaze at the Matanzas Supertanker Base on Saturday, where the fire began during a thunderstorm on Friday night, the Ministry of Energy and Mines tweeted.

The government said later that it had asked for help from international experts in “friendly countries” with experience in the oil sector.

The official Cuban News Agency said lightning hit one tank, starting a fire, and the blaze later spread to a second tank.

As military helicopters flew overhead dropping water on the blaze, dense column of black smoke billowed from the facility and spread westward more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) toward Havana.

The Facebook page of the provincial government of Matanzas said the number of injured had reached 77, while 17 people were missing.

The Presidency of the Republic said the 17 were “firefighters who were in the nearest area trying to prevent the spread.”

'Smell of sulphur'

The accident comes as Cuba struggles with fuel shortages.

There was no immediate word on how much oil had burned or was in danger at the storage facility, which has eight giant tanks that hold oil used to fuel electricity generating plants.

“I was in the gym when I felt the first explosion. A column of smoke and terrible fire rose through the skies,” resident Adiel Gonzalez said. “The city has a strong smell of sulphur.”

Authorities said the Dubrocq neighbourhood closest to the fire was evacuated, while Gonzalez added that some people decided to leave the Versailles district, which is a little farther from the tank farm.

Many ambulances, police and fire engines were seen in the streets of Matanzas, a city with about 140,000 inhabitants that is on Matnzas Bay.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel traveled to the area of the fire early on Saturday, officials said.

Local meteorologist Elier Pila showed satellite images of the area with a dense plume of black smoke moving from the point of the fire westward and reaching east to Havana.

“That plume can be close to 150 kilometres long,” Pila wrote on his Twitter account. 

READ MORE: Death toll of Havana hotel explosion rises as rescue operations continue

Source: AP


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UN Secretary General urges governments to tax 'immoral' oil profits

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during the 2022 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations in New York City on August 1, 2022.

Ed Jones | AFP | Getty Images

WASHINGTON — United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged governments on Wednesday to tax excessive oil and gas profits as the world grapples with an energy crisis triggered in part, by Russia's war in Ukraine.

"It is immoral for oil and gas companies to be making record profits from this energy crisis on the backs of the poorest people and communities," Guterres said in a speech before the international forum.

He added that the funds, which equate to $100 billion in the first quarter of this year should instead be used to support vulnerable communities.

"This grotesque greed is punishing the poorest and most vulnerable people while destroying our only home," Guterres said, calling for governments to also address the mounting climate crisis.

He also urged governments to ramp up and diversify supply chains for raw materials and renewable energy technologies while eliminating bureaucratic red tape around the energy transition.

"Every country is part of this energy crisis," Guterres said.

He also said that the consequences of the Kremlin's war have extended beyond a budding energy crisis and have also exacerbated global food insecurity and crippling debt around the world, but specifically in developing nations.

"Many developing countries drowning in debt, without access to finance and struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic could go over the brink, Guterres warned. "We are already seeing the warning signs of a wave of economic, social and political upheaval that would leave no country untouched," he added.

The U.N. chief announced the establishment of the Global Crisis Response Group aimed at coordinating global solutions to the triple crisis of food, energy and finance.

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Guterres' comments come as the first vessel carrying Ukrainian agricultural goods departs from the Black Sea, a significant step in addressing the mounting food crisis provoked by Russia's naval blockade of Ukrainian ports sprinkled along the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

In July, representatives from the U.N., Turkey, Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement to reopen three Ukrainian ports, an apparent breakthrough as the Kremlin's war on its ex-Soviet neighbor marched into its fifth month.

Less than 24 hours after the deal was signed though, Russian missiles rained down on Odesa, Ukraine's largest port. World leaders swiftly condemned the Kremlin's missile strike on Odesa, another anxious turn in fruitless efforts to mitigate a mounting global food crisis.

Ukraine's infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, told NBC News on Monday that the vessel is expected to reach Tripoli, Lebanon in two days.

Kubrakov also said that 16 ships are ready to go, but that only three vessels will leave the port each day for the next two weeks. He added that in the next two months, Ukraine hopes to export up to 3 million tons of grain and other agricultural goods by sea per month.

Before Russia's invasion, Ukraine exported 5 million to 7 million tons per month.


Source https://www.globalcourant.com/un-secretary-general-urges-governments-to-tax-immoral-oil-profits/?feed_id=6175&_unique_id=62eabc5faf262