US rejects Keystone XL Canada oil sands pipeline

http://www.tankstoragemag.com/industry_news.php?item_id=4493

The US state department has formally recommended the rejection of a controversial crude oil pipeline.

The state department denied a permit for the 1,600-mile (2,700km) Keystone XL pipeline, saying it had insufficient time to review the plans.

The Canada-Texas project has been delayed amid objections by the state of Nebraska and environmental groups.

At the end of 2011, Republicans forced a final decision on the plan within 60 days during a legislative standoff.
US President Barack Obama said he was disappointed that the deadline set by Republicans in Congress had caused the state department to reject the project before a full study could be undertaken.

‘This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the state department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people.’

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed his ‘profound disappointment’ with the decision.

The crude oil pipeline would run from western Canada to oil refineries on the Texas coast.

Officials said that any new plan that was broadly similar to the rejected proposal could be processed more quickly, but it would take between 12 to 18 months to complete a full review.

Keystone XL has been approved by Canada and is supported by US Republicans who say it would create much-needed jobs and improve prospects for US energy independence.

The oil industry has estimated the project would create 20,000 jobs, although the state department and some independent studies suggest a lower figure of 6,000 jobs.
Environmental groups and the US state of Nebraska expressed concerns that the pipeline could contaminate a major aquifer on its route.

There are also concerns about carbon emissions from oil sands production in Alberta, a western Canadian province.

The pipeline would also pass through the US states of Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.

The White House had tried to postpone a final decision on the project until after the 2012 presidential election.

But during a congressional impasse on a payroll tax holiday in December, Republicans forced the Obama administration to agree to make a decision on the pipeline within two months.

The US state department, however, said this would not be enough time to carry out the legally required environmental studies needed to approve the project.

Tullow puts Ghana's oil production for 2012 at 70,000-90,000 barrels

Tullow Oil Plc, the lead company in Ghana's oil production, said on Wednesday that it expected production at the Jubilee oil field for 2012 to average between 70,000 and 90,000 barrels.

“Gross Jubilee production is currently over 70,000 barrels per say and following a number of remedial activities is expected to average 70,000 to 90,000 barrels in 2012,” it said in a statement.

It said Jubilee field production would ramp back up in 2012 towards the field plateau rate of 120,000 barrels as the Phase 1 remedial programme began to take effect from January 2012 and the new Phase 1A wells were brought on stream from the second quarter.

“The final outcome will be dependent on the well performance achieved, the downtime required to execute the recompletions and the scheduling of available rigs for other operations to ensure the Group’s exploration and appraisal commitments are also fulfilled,” it said.

Gross production from the field reached 88,000 barrels during 2011 before declining to approximately 70,000 at year-end, with an average production for the year of 66,000.

"The cause of this decline in well productivity has been identified as a technical issue related to the design of the well completions and is not expected to have any impact on field reserves and resources. Remedial work aimed at recovering lost well productivity has commenced with the successful sidetracking of the J-07 production well utilising a new completion design," the statement said.

Government of Ghana's approval for the next phase of development, Phase 1A, was received on January 9, 2012. This development will consist of eight new wells; five producers and three additional water injectors and the expansion of the subsea network

WAfrica Crude-Nigeria loadings dip, EG sells to Asia

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/markets-oil-westafrica-idUSL5E8CN44N20120123

LONDON, Jan 23 (Reuters)

- Differentials on Nigerian
light sweet crude were supported marginally by the dip in the
March loading programme, while dealing of March Angolan cargoes
slowed down slightly.
Traders said the output of Aseng crude from Equatorial
Guinea has increased and a partial cargo has sailed to Northeast
Asia.

EQUATORIAL GUINEA
* Glencore is marketing all the three cargos of Aseng crude
for March. The first two cargoes carry each 650,000 barrels and
the last carries 950,000 barrels.
* The volume is a rise from one cargo for February.
* The production of heavy-sweet Aseng crude stated in
November. The crude has been sold to a Japanese refiner and
U.S. companies.
* Due to the sulphur content of about 0.25 percent, Aseng
cannot be directly run in oil-fired power plants in Japan, which
burn oil with lower sulphur content.
* Three 1 million barrel cargoes of Zafiro are available for
March.

NIGERIA LOADING
* The preliminary loading schedule showed Nigeria would
export about 1.87 million barrels of crude oil per day in March,
a 3 percent drop from February. The figure does not include
condensate.
* The programme include two Pennington cargoes. Nigeria's
NNPC holds one of them, suggesting it may trade in the spot
market.
* The Akpo programme has not been released. But traders
expected 5 cargoes would be available for March.
* Nigeria has raised the official selling price of Qua Iboe
and Bonny Light crude oil by 30 cents a barrel to dated Brent
plus $2.80 in February from January.
* Trading of March Nigerian cargoes have been limited. Some
traders said BP might have bought Qua Ibo. But this was not
confirmed.
* Traders said Indian refineries have already covered their
March requirement after purchasing about 12 cargoes via tender.
* More than 5 cargoes of February cargoes are still
available to sell, traders said.

ANGOLA
* Trading of Angolan Pazflor crude was particularly slow,
with some of the cargoes seen going to home refining systems.
* China's Unipec has bought 14 Angolan cargoes via term and
spot and one Ceiba from Equatorial Guinea. Two of them have been
sold again.
* CNOOC bought two Dalia cargoes. Statoil's Dalia cargo for
Feb. 29-30 has not been sold, traders said.
* Roughly 15-17 cargoes of 52 cargoes for March loading have
not been sold.

DATABASE
For a database of oil supply and demand fundamentals
upstream and downstream, Reuters subscribers can click on:
here

(Reporting by Ikuko Kurahone)

Ghana Oil at Three-Day High as Marketing Spurs Revenue Outlook

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-20/ghana-oil-at-three-day-high-as-marketing-spurs-revenue-outlook.html

Ghana Oil Company Ltd. (GOIL), which runs the second-biggest network of gasoline stations in the West African nation, rose to the highest in three days as investors speculate revenue increased because of a new marketing plan.

The stock gained 1 pesewa, or 3.1 percent, to 33 pesewas, as of 2:39 p.m., in Accra, the capital, the highest since Jan. 17.

“We are looking for a turnover growth of about 30 percent for Ghana Oil for the full financial year 2011,” Hilary Lomotey, a stock trader at Renaissance Capital, said by phone from Accra. “The company has been marketing itself in a roll- out strategy that has made its gasoline stations more convenient for customers than before.”

The company’s results are expected by the first week in February, Lomotey said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Moses Mozart Dzawu in Accra at mdzawu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Emily Bowers at ebowers1@bloomberg.net

Nigerian unions call off national strike

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U.S. Spurns Iran’s Demand to Keep Aircraft Carrier Out of Gulf

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-03/u-s-spurns-iran-s-demand-to-keep-aircraft-carrier-out-of-gulf.html

By Viola Gienger and Heather Langan

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. rebuffed Iran’s demand not to return an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf, a “warning” from Tehran that helped send oil prices to the highest in almost eight months.

The U.S. said it will continue to protect freedom of navigation in the region. The Pentagon doesn’t announce future ship movements and declined to say when the U.S. may send a carrier back to the Gulf following the departure of the USS John C. Stennis last week.

“We usually don’t repeat our warning, and we warn only once,” the head of Iran’s army, Ataollah Salehi, was cited as saying yesterday by the state-run Fars news agency. “We recommend and emphasize to the American carrier not to return to the Persian Gulf.”

He didn’t say what action Iran might take if the U.S. ignores the warning. His statement follows threats from other Iranian officials in recent days to block oil shipping through the Strait of Hormuz in a conflict over new economic sanctions.

While Iran has the military capability to disrupt shipping at least temporarily, it would hurt itself by doing so because it is dependent on the waterway for its oil-export revenues, according to analysts such as Ali Nader of the RAND Corp. research institute. Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington last week called recent threats “an exercise in rhetoric.”

‘Not Seeking Confrontation’

The Stennis, which Iran said it spotted during naval exercises, passed eastward through the Strait of Hormuz on Dec. 27 on a routine voyage and was operating in the northern Arabian Sea, according to the U.S. 5th Fleet, which has a base in Bahrain.

“We are not seeking a confrontation,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said yesterday at a briefing in Washington. The U.S. military will continue to play a role in ensuring freedom of navigation, she said.

The U.S. Navy maintains a “constant state of high vigilance” to “ensure the continued, safe flow of maritime traffic in waterways critical to global commerce,” George Little, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

“These are regularly scheduled movements in accordance with our longstanding commitments to the security and stability of the region and in support of ongoing operations,” Little said. “The deployment of U.S. military assets in the Persian Gulf region will continue as it has for decades.”

‘Position of Weakness’

Nuland and White House spokesman Jay Carney asserted Iran is trying to distract Iranians from the nation’s domestic problems. They portrayed Iran as being in a “position of weakness.”

Salehi spoke yesterday at a ceremony to mark the completion of 10 days of maneuvers by the Iranian navy on the east side of the strait in the Gulf of Oman.

Iran doesn’t intend to disrupt shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, Deputy Navy Commander Rear Admiral Mahmoud Mousavi said Jan. 2, according to Press TV.

About 15.5 million barrels of oil a day, or a sixth of global consumption, passes through the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, according to the U.S. Energy Department.

Oil climbed to the highest since May 11 after manufacturing in the U.S. and Asia expanded in December and as concern persisted that further sanctions against Iran may disrupt shipments.

Oil Prices

Crude oil for February delivery rose $4.13, or 4.2 percent, to settle at $102.96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures climbed 8.2 percent in 2011, the third consecutive annual increase.

The U.S. Navy said Dec. 28 that it won’t tolerate a disruption to shipping in the strait. The Stennis transited the Strait of Hormuz after a port visit to Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates, Navy Commander William Speaks, a Pentagon spokesman, said in an e-mailed response to questions yesterday.

Iran, the world’s third-largest oil exporter, is facing new sanctions on its trade and finances aimed at halting what the U.S. and allies say is a plan to build nuclear weapons. Iran says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes.

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency are expected to visit Iran soon, the Fars news agency cited Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying in Tehran yesterday.

--With assistance from Mark Shenk and Peter S. Green in New York. Editors: Terry Atlas, Larry Liebert

To contact the reporters on this story: Viola Gienger in Washington at vgienger@bloomberg.net; Heather Langan in London at hlangan@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net