Oil prices increased to their highest in nearly two months on Monday, following concerns over escalating conflict with Islamic State militants in Libya and threats to withhold exports from Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. “Egypt bombed Islamic State targets inside Libya on Monday and Cairo renewed calls for a U.S.-led coalition to confront militants there a day after the group released a video appearing to show the beheading of 21 Egyptians.
In Iraq, a deal aimed at resolving a dispute between Baghdad and Kurdish authorities over oil export revenues looked fragile after Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani cautioned Baghdad against breaking its side of the bargain. The December pact allowed for shipping some 550,000 barrels per day of oil.
“The geopolitical risk is not something to write off,” said Olivier Jakob, oil analyst at Petromatrix in Zug, Switzerland.
Benchmark Brent futures rose 28 cents to $61.80 a barrel by 12 p.m. EST (1700 GMT) after reaching an intra-day peak of $62.57 a barrel, the highest since Dec. 22.” [Reuters]
The European Union imposed a new set of asset freezes and travel bans on 19 people and nine organizations involved in the conflict in Ukraine on Monday. “EU foreign ministers decided last week to go ahead with the sanctions move, which was a result in the surge of violence in late January in eastern Ukraine. However the names of the new sanctions targets were only announced on Monday as the sanctions took effect.
The EU sanctions were mainly targeted at separatist officials and organizations but several Russians were also on the list.
They included Russia’s First Deputy Minister for Defense Arkady Bakhin and Deputy Minister of Defense Anatoly Antonov, who the EU accuse of being involved in “supporting the deployment of Russian troops in Ukraine.” Also targeted was Andrei Kartapolov, the deputy chief of Russia’s General Staff.” [WSJ]
The leading US state in rooftop solar per capita is facing financial and technical hurdles that could hinder in its drive to generate 40% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030. “Today, Hawaii leads the US in rooftop solar per capita: About 10 % of residential customers, more than 50,000 households, have panels on their roofs, according to the Solar Electric Power Association. That compares with about 0.5 % nationally.
But in 2013, the boom nearly went bust. Because rooftop solar penetration has moved so rapidly, Hawaii’s utilities are now grappling with both technical and economic challenges that mainland utilities have yet to fully face. How Hawaii surmounts these hurdles could help other utilities sidestep barriers as they ramp up capacity.” [The Guardian]
