Tag: oil

A history of $100 crude oil

World oil prices on Thursday breached $100 for the first time in more than seven years, this time on supply fears after major producer Russia attacked Ukraine. European benchmark Brent North Sea crude surged more than eight percent to $105.79 per barrel — the highest level since 2014. US contract West Texas Intermediate reached $100.54 per barrel, also a peak last seen more than seven years ago. That capped a meteoric rise over almost two […]

Oil tops $100, havens rally, stocks drop as Russia invades Ukraine

Oil prices broke past $100 and safe havens surged while equities tumbled Thursday after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “military operation” in Ukraine, accelerating fears of a major war. Markets have been hammered this week after the Kremlin recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine and said it would provide “peacekeepers” to the regions, leading to warnings of a conflagration. The Russian president said in a surprise statement on television: “I have made the […]

Oil nears $100 as West prepares Russian sanctions

Oil prices surged close to $100 per barrel Tuesday as major crude producer Russia prepared to send troops into two breakaway regions of Ukraine, sparking Western nations to ready economic sanctions against Moscow. After heavy falls at the open, European stocks edged into positive territory as the Kremlin said it remained open to all diplomatic contact over Ukraine. “The old adage goes that the market hates uncertainty and while that has clearly been evident at […]

Price of WTI crude oil up 3% as Ukraine crisis intensifies

New York’s West Texas Intermediate crude contract rose more than three percent on Tuesday as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to deploy in separatist areas of Ukraine. WTI Crude rose 3.14 percent to $93.93 per barrel in early Asian trade, while Europe’s benchmark Brent North Sea crude was up 1.98 percent at $95.39 per barrel. kaf/ssy © Agence France-Presse

TotalEnergies finds new oil, gas reserves off Suriname

PARIS, France (AFP) – French giant TotalEnergies on Monday announced the discovery of significant reserves of oil and gas off the coast of Suriname and said it would begin exploration soon. The company has several exploration licences in the South American nation and made the announcement jointly with US firm APA. “TotalEnergies and APA Corporation have made a significant new oil and associated gas discovery at the Krabdagu-1 well, in the central area of Block […]

Oil pipeline blast in key rebel Ukraine city: reports

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — An international oil pipeline running through a key rebel-held city in eastern Ukraine blew up on Friday, Russian media said, with images showing a fireball lighting up the night sky. The blast rocked the Druzhba pipeline in the Russian-backed separatist city of Lugansk, Russia’s RIA Novosti state news agency said. The incident, the causes of which remain unclear, occurred during a sharp escalation in fighting that has redoubled fears that Russia […]

Agreement reached on transfer of oil from abandoned tanker off Yemen: UN

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) – An ‘agreement in principle’ has been reached to transfer the toxic cargo from a rusting oil tanker abandoned off the coast of war-torn Yemen to another ship, the UN said Tuesday. Experts warn of the risk of a major environmental disaster posed by the 45-year-old FSO Safer, moored since 2015 off Yemen’s western port of Hodeida. An oil spill could destroy ecosystems in the Red Sea, shut down the […]

Norway aims for first offshore wind power by 2030

OSLO, Norway (AFP) – Norway’s government on Wednesday presented a plan to build a large-scale offshore wind power farm in the North Sea, saying it hopes to have the first turbines up by 2030. The Scandinavian country — the largest oil producer in Western Europe — will launch a public tender aimed at building the first phase of a wind project in the southern waters of the North Sea. “This is about ensuring access to […]

Shaken by fracking quakes, Texas is forced to act

by François PICARD Agence France-Presse HOUSTON, United States (AFP) – “You get used to it. The walls shake,” says Sam, a resident of Midland, a town in west Texas where hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas — known as “fracking” — is causing more and more earthquakes. “Then another tremor comes a second later, like a truck passing nearby,” said the 44-year-old, who did not wish to disclose his last name. Echoing his words, three […]

Round-the-clock care for Peru’s oil-stained sea birds

by Carlos MANDUJANO Agence France-Presse LIMA, Peru (AFP) – Hand fed fish and given gentle yet rigorous baths, penguins and other sea birds are slowly regaining their strength at a Peruvian zoo after a major oil spill that claimed many of their friends. Of about 150 oil-stained birds rescued alive after the January 15 spill of some 12,000 barrels of oil, half later died. The survivors — penguins, cormorants and pelicans — are being nursed […]

Repsol says Peru oil spill will be cleaned up in March

CALLAO, Peru (AFP) – Spanish energy giant Repsol on Thursday vowed to finish by March cleaning up a devastating oil spill that has polluted beaches and killed wildlife. Almost 12,000 barrels of crude spilled into the sea off Peru on January 15 as a tanker unloaded oil at a Repsol owned refinery. “We expect that if the weather allows us then, in mid-March” the cleaning of beaches and islands off the coast will be completed, […]

Oil everywhere: Ecuador Amazonians seethe over new spill

by Paola LÓPEZ Agence France-Presse PUERTO MADEROS, Ecuador (AFP) – There is oil in the water, on the rocks and in the sand where children normally play on the banks of the Coca River in Ecuador. Residents of Puerto Maderos make no effort to hide their anger at the latest crude spill to hit the Ecuadoran Amazon. “This damage is not for a month, two months… it will be 20 years” before things return to […]