Free Republic

Ukraine’s growing gas debt may lead to the failure of the country’s transit obligations and the reduction of gas supplies to south-eastern Europe, said the Russian Energy Ministry. Officials from Russia, including Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, and officials from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Moldova held talks in Moscow on Saturday. The meeting, also attended by officials from the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and the Finance Ministry, was held in the form of consultations on the security of gas transit through Ukraine. All sides expressed deep concern about Ukraine’s growing debt, Novak told journalists. “Currently Ukraine’s...

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A major supplier to the oil and gas industry says it will begin disclosing 100 percent of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluid, with no exemptions for trade secrets. The move by Baker Hughes of Houston is a shift for a major firm; it's unclear if others will follow suit. The oil and gas industry has said the chemicals used are disclosed at tens of thousands of wells, but environmental and health groups and government regulators say a loophole that allows companies to hide chemical "trade secrets" has been a major problem. A statement on the...

Drivers in the U.S. are facing rising gasoline prices ahead of summer-vacation season, just as refiners here are shipping more gas to other countries. A new pipeline, built to release a glut of crude oil that was stuck in the middle of the country, is now feeding oil to refineries on the Gulf Coast that churn out gasoline and diesel. While these fuels still make their way to the Southeast and the East Coast, growing amounts are being sold to Mexico, the Netherlands, Brazil and other countries. The push into these markets has been spurred by the U.S. oil boom....

At $3.67, US Regular gasoline prices are their highest since March 2013 having risen over 12% (40c) in the last 2 months. This must be great news, right? It must mean world demand is picking up and driving up prices of crude oil as global trade soars (amid a collapsing Baltic Dry and decelerating Chinese growth). This can't be related to "war premia" right? - as we noted here - because stocks (which always know best) have discounted all this tomfoolery. However, as the following chart shows, each time gas prices have surged up toards the Maginot Line of $3.80,...

Royal Dutch Shell’s new CEO Ben Van Beurden met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, signaling Ukraine tension has not affected investment in Russia, and that energy contracts won't be derailed by international politics. Chief executive Van Beurden met with the president at his residence outside of Moscow and reaffirmed the company’s commitment to develop Russia’s only liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant with Gazprom. "We also know that this is going to be a project that will need strong support to succeed. So one of my purposes of meeting with you, Mr. President, is to also secure support for...

Russia's parliament has agreed to write off about $10 billion of North Korea's Soviet-era debt, in a deal expected to facilitate the building of a gas pipeline to South Korea across the reclusive state. The State Duma lower house in Moscow on Friday ratified a 2012 agreement to excuse the bulk of North Korea's debt. It said the total debt stood at $10.96 billion as of September 17, 2012. The rest of the debt - $1.09 billion - would be redeemed during the next 20 years, to be paid in equal instalments every six months. The outstanding debt owed by...

The average price for a kilowatthour (KWH) of electricity hit a March record of 13.5 cents, according data released yesterday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was up about 5.5 percent from 12.8 cents per KWH in March 2013. ... The BLS’s seasonally adjusted electricity price index rose to 209.341 this March, the highest it has ever been, up 10.537 points—or 5.3 percent--from 198.804 in March 2013. ... per capita electricity production peaked in the United States in 2007.

There are reports of a possible chemical weapons attack in at least one area of Syria, but possibly more. Below we will be analyzing the information as it comes in. 2034 GMT: A potentially very important video. This claims to have been taken this evening in Kafr Zita, and it is uploaded by a channel that has posted videos nearly exclusively from Kafr Zita. It claims to show a helicopter dropping a barrel bomb filled with the chemical weapons. SNIP- Just today, the Local Coordination Committees reported that five people were killed in Harasta and several more were injured in...

The Wisconsin congressional district represented by Rep. Tom Petri (R) stands to lose nearly 2,000 jobs because of the Obama Administration’s “War on Coal,” but Petri has twice voted to let some of those more controversial – and burdensome – regulations stand. A nationwide analysis by the Heritage Foundation concludes that Wisconsin will lose an estimated 11,702 jobs thanks to Obama environmental regulations. The sixth district alone will lose more jobs than any other congressional district in the country the study concludes. ... Petri was the only Republican from Wisconsin to vote against suspending the rule. Voting with Petri was...

Curious what the fate of the petrodollar is? Look no farther than this Interfax update blasted moments ago by Bloomberg: "Gazprom Considers 'Symbolic' Yuan Bond Issue, Interfax Says." Bloomberg adds that the gas giant is considering proposals from potential organizers to market bonds in yuan, Interfax reports, citing people with knowledge of the matter. -Gazprom unlikely be able to gain more than $300m due to mkt volume, newswire reports -No mandates, deal timeline yet -Issue may add new investors, become a “topical” public relations act amid tensions with U.S., EU Well, yes. It's called "symbolic" for a reason. More importantly,...

(AGI) Kiev, April 5 - Ukraine has declared that they will not pay the price of almost 500 dollars per cubic metre for Russian gas, announced recently by the Russian gas consortium Gazprom. Kiev has also accused Moscow of conducting 'economic' aggression'. "Political presure will prove useless, we are not accepting the price of 500 dollars", Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenuk said during a cabinet meeting. He added: "Russia has not succeeded in conquering Ukraine with military aggression, so now they are opting for an economic aggression."

The White House objected to Russia's increase in natural gas prices for Ukraine on Thursday and said markets should determine prices. White House Spokesman Jay Carney spoke after Russian natural gas producer Gazprom announced it would virtually double the gas price for Ukraine to $485 per 1,000 cubic meters this month, which Ukraine said was politically motivated. “That kind of action taken coercively against Ukraine is something we oppose,” Carney told reporters. “We believe that markets should determine energy prices.”

Russia is tightening its economic screws on Ukraine, ordering Thursday a further increase in the price of gas it sells to the country and asking that past bills — which are growing by the day — be paid. Ukraine, whose economy is on the brink of collapse as it awaits international aid, relies on Russia for almost all its energy. Russia had been giving it discounts on gas as long as the government was willing to have close ties with Moscow. Now that the new government has signed a partnership with the European Union instead, those favors are being pulled...

* White House criticises Gazprom's move MOSCOW/KIEV, April 3 (Reuters) - Russia raised the gas price for Ukraine on Thursday for the second time this week, almost doubling it in three days and piling pressure on a neighbour on the brink of bankruptcy in the crisis over Crimea. The increase, announced in Moscow by Russian natural gas producer Gazprom, means Ukraine will pay 80 percent more for its gas than before the initial increase on Monday.

Link only due to Bloomberg content

Financial problems of operators in US shale gas and tight oil plays might hold production growth below current expectations, according to the author of a March comment published by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES). But a reorientation of the industry toward “the most commercially sustainable areas” of unconventional-resource plays might extend the period of growth, writes the analyst, Ivan Sandrea, an OIES research associate and senior partner of Ernst & Young London. The producing industry has demonstrated it can create opportunities, innovate operationally, and address environmental issues despite evolving government policies and questions of public acceptance, Sandrea writes....

Passing gas: Everybody does it – and no one wants to admit it. This embarrassing habit may seem foul, but breaking wind is simply an unavoidable byproduct of our daily digestion. In fact, the average individual can pass gas anywhere from 13 to 21 times a day. But your gaseous patterns can actually speak volumes about your health, especially in regards to your eating habits, and they may even serve as an indication of larger digestive health issues. “People who produce excessive amounts of gas and particularly foul smelling gas – if you’re eating a super high fiber diet, that...

I was just thinking about Enron and all those guys we put in jail… So, the Ukraine buys almost all its energy (natural gas) from Russia. Revenues from natural gas sales are a primary source of income for Russia. Because of the recent disagreement between Ukraine and Russia, Russia is raising the price of natural gas it sells to Ukraine. Ukraine is almost broke and can't afford the increase in the natural gas price because it would be forced into bankruptcy. Obama just announced the United States is giving Ukraine $1 billion to assist in paying for the higher priced...

The boom in American natural-gas production during the past several years, and the consequent crash of domestic natural-gas prices, has caused many to call for the liberation of U.S. natural-gas exports. The ongoing Russian invasion of the Crimea and threat to the rest of Ukraine has added still greater urgency to these calls, as the need take action to weaken Russian President Vladimir Putin’s natural-gas stranglehold over Europe has become vital. Despite these economic and national security imperatives, there are still those who maintain that allowing American natural-gas producers to export their product would damage the national interest. According to...