Free Republic

The ongoing United Steelworkers strike hasn’t impacted the market for refined products much yet, but it could if the strike continues for much longer, according to a new report by Fitch Ratings. The credit ratings agency says the strike could have an especially pronounced effect on the U.S. gasoline market. So far, the implications of the strike — now in its second month and affecting 15 refineries and chemical plants — has been relatively limited, Fitch experts said. But that could be changing. The first quarter of the year typically has lower demand for refined products, Fitch said; meanwhile, adequate...

The largest U.S. refinery strike in 35 years entered its fourth week as workers at 12 refineries accounting for one-fifth of national production capacity were walking picket lines as of 12 a.m. CST on Sunday, according to union officials. A total of 6,550 members of the United Steelworkers union at 15 plants, including the 12 refineries, are involved in the work stoppage that began on Feb. 1 when talks for a new three-year contract between the USW and lead oil company negotiator Shell Oil Co stopped.... After the latest breakdown between the two sides, Steelworkers leaders targeted Shell, which is...

Four-year deal includes modest pay raises but addresses union concerns over contracted labor and worker fatigue. The United Steelworkers union and oil companies have reached a tentative deal to end the largest U.S. refinery strike in 35 years, the labor group and people familiar with the negotiations said on Thursday. The new agreement for about 30,000 workers would last four years, a year longer than previous agreements. The deal, which still needs to be ratified, may not end strikes right away at all refineries that have suffered walkouts as local union chapters could still need to work out pending issues....

Global oil prices tumbled on Friday and fell 9 percent on the week, hit by a renewed rally in the dollar and a warning by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that the oil glut is growing.

Arrogant oil refiners concerned more about profits than the safety and workplace concerns of thousands of USW-represented oil workers forced the union to call an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike.The industry, represented by Royal Dutch Shell, gave the USW no other option when it refused to bargain in good faith over a national contract even though the union was prepared to continue talking beyond the midnight deadline.“Shell refused to provide us with a counter-offer and left the bargaining table,” International President Leo W. Gerard said. “We had no choice but to give notice of a work stoppage.”The negotiations for a...

Royal Dutch/Shell will build the world's deepest offshore oil and gas facility, pushing the boundaries of industry technology to search three kilometres (1.9 miles) underwater in the Gulf of Mexico. The project go-ahead demonstrates Shell's confidence in pricey offshore projects despite a recent downturn in oil prices. Last month, BP decided to delay development of its biggest new Gulf of Mexico project, Mad Dog Phase 2, citing tough market conditions and fast-rising costs. Shell's 100 percent-owned Stones field was discovered in 2005 some 200 miles southwest of New Orleans and encompasses eight lease blocks in the Gulf of Mexico's Lower...

The portfolio of embattled United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice includes investments of hundreds of thousands of dollars in several energy companies known for doing business with Iran, according to financial disclosure forms. Rice, a possible nominee to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she steps down, has come under criticism for promulgating erroneous information about the September 11, 2012, attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans. Rice has the highest net worth of executive branch members, with a fortune estimated between $24 to $44 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. A Free Beacon analysis of Rice’s...

BEIRUT - Royal Dutch Shell said on Friday it would cease operations in Syria to heed new European Union sanctions against Damascus, deepening the international isolation of President Bashar al-Assad imposed over his violent crackdown on popular unrest. In the latest bloodshed, Syrian army defectors killed eight Air Force intelligence personnel in an attack on their base in the north of the country, according to an opposition group.

The oil industry and unionized workers are close to resolving a dispute that would have affected almost two-thirds of the nation's fuel production and put 1,500 Louisiana workers on strike. On Tuesday afternoon, the United Steelworkers reached a tentative agreement with Royal Dutch Shell Pls for a three-year contract. The union would not release the terms of the agreement on Tuesday, although Bloomberg News reported that the deal would give the steelworkers a 3 percent wage increase each year. To go into effect, the agreement must also be approved by the separate local unions that staff refineries owned by Shell...

IRAN AWARDS ENERGY BIDS TO WESTERN MAJORS NICOSIA [MENL] -- Iran has decided to award energy development contracts to Western majors. An Iranian state oil firm said the Oil Ministry would grant Total, Royal Dutch Shell and Repsol upstream development contracts in the South Pars gas field in the Gulf. The Pars Oil and Gas Co. said the three Western contractors would develop phases 11 and 13 of South Pars. France's Total was expected to be awarded the contract to develop Phase 11 of South Pars, regarded as the largest reservoir of natural gas in the world. Iran wants Total...

Chairman of the Shell companies in Iran, Yves Merer, said here Sunday the Anglo-Dutch oil giant would make an investment worth billions of dollars in the Islamic Republic's industry. Merer, who talked to Fars News Agency, added the demand for energy, including oil, would soar in the future but oil prices would keep fluctuating. He reiterated, The Shell will inject billions of dollars into Iran's industry if the country pays more heed to investment. The Shell Companies Group has allotted some 15 billion dollars for development of complicated oilfields across the world. The task is faced with two main problems...

Standing 60 feet above sea level on this oil platform 130 miles southeast of New Orleans, Rab Bruce pointed to where the huge wave slammed into a tangle of grated steel and multicolor pipes. The Petronius deep-water platform, which was hit by a 90-foot wave during Hurricane Ivan last September, is now back on line. "I was just in shock at the damage," said Mr. Bruce, a longtime field coordinator on Chevron's Petronius deepwater platform, which was hit by a 90-foot wave during Hurricane Ivan last September. "I had never seen anything like this. Everything was busted, dangling and messed...

NEW YORK - As a former Midland oilman, President George W. Bush must find it unnatural to root for a decline in the price of West Texas Intermediate crude. But a spike in oil prices could push the economy back into a double-dip recession, which is why today's weak earnings report from Exxon Mobil contained some good news for Bush--and for the rest of us. Exxon Mobil cited lower crude prices as one reason its second-quarter financial results fell short of the year-ago numbers. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is the U.S. benchmark, and it averaged a bit more than $26...