Hope everyone had a nice 4th of July! Here’s what’s happening in energy news.
West Texas Intermediate crude is trading near a 14-month high, spurred by unrest in Egypt and a sunny outlook for US economic growth. [Bloomberg]
And Brent hit a three-month high today after Egypt’s army declared a state of emergency in areas bordering the Suez Canal. Egypt’s “state of readiness had been raised to its highest level in the South Sinai and Suez provinces after Islamist gunmen attacked an airport in the Northern city of Arish”. [WSJ]
But some Opec members’ crude prices – namely those of Algeria and Nigeria – have fallen over the past year. “Exports from Nigeria and Algeria to the U.S. almost halved between April 2011 and April 2012, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.” [WSJ]
Gazprombank – the banking arm of Russia’s giant, state-controlled gas producer – will provide $1 bln in funding for a joint venture project with Venezuela’s PdVSA, Petrozamora, in Venezuela. PdVSA says it’s going to use the $1 bln to develop a business plan for two oil fields. That’s a pricey business plan. [Reuters]
A judge’s finding that mandatory public disclosure of oil and mining company payments to foreign governments would put US companies at a disadvantage relative to state-owned companies that are not required to do so “countervails a global trend affecting the resource business.” [Quartz]
Alberta’s new energy regulator has said he will subject pipeline company Plains Midstream Canada, which has been responsible for some of the province’s largest spills, to additional regulatory scrutiny. “This action seriously restricts the ability of Plains Midstream Canada to obtain further approvals for operations in Alberta.” [Calgary Herald]
A local government in northern Spain has banned fracking, forcing Repsol to delay the country’s first shale gas project. “In April, the Cantabrian government enacted Spain’s first ban on the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, blaming risks of polluting drinking water.” [Bloomberg]
The President of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaite, has a black belt in some unspecified martial art. She also wants to anchor a a floating gas storage and regasification unit off a tiny island in the Klaipeda seaport to provide the country with a gas supply source other than Gazprom. “Lithuania would need to import L.N.G. at prices 5 to 10 percent less than Gazprom charges for its gas to ensure the project breaks even.” [New York Times]
Chesapeake’s $1 bln sale of Haynesville and Eagle Ford assets to Exco brings company’s asset sales this year to $3.6 bln, putting it in a position to fund is capital spending budget this year. [Reuters]
Fun slideshow of an offshore wind farm! [Calgary Herald]
