Tag: gas

Categories
Business

Russia halts pure fuel flows to Germany once more.

Russia halts natural gas flows to Germany again.

Gazprom, Russia’s government-owned energy giant, shut off natural gas flows early Wednesday through Nord Stream 1, the critical pipeline that connects Russia to Germany, raising fresh worries about European energy supplies.

Gazprom said the cutoff was temporary and was necessary for maintenance, although the German government and energy executives consider it to be politically motivated. After three days, Gazprom said, the pipeline will restart “provided that no malfunctions are identified.” It said flows would resume at 20 percent of capacity, the same reduced level it has provided since late July.

Energy markets will be closely watched to see if supplies do resume as scheduled. In July, the pipeline was shut down for 10 days, again for maintenance.

Like other European countries, Germany is rushing to fill natural gas storage facilities before winter as insurance against cutoffs by Russia. The Russian government appears to be trying to obstruct that effort as well as create uncertainty over future gas deliveries.

So far, the results have been mixed. German gas storage facilities have reached more than 83 percent of capacity and appear likely to meet the government’s goal of 90 percent by Nov. 1.

On the other hand, the cutoffs of flows and worries about supplies in the coming months have driven natural gas prices in Europe to record levels in recent weeks, inflicting some of the economic damage that the efforts to store up gas are aimed at preventing.

Gazprom is not only aiming at Germany. On Tuesday, Engie, a large French utility, said that Gazprom had informed the company that it was cutting gas supplies over a contract dispute. “Russia is using gas as a weapon of war and we must prepare for the worst case scenario of a complete interruption of supplies,” France’s energy transition minister, Agnes Pannier-Runacher, told France Inter radio, Reuters reported.

On Monday, Uniper, a German utility that is one of Europe’s largest natural gas buyers and suppliers, said that it had already exhausted a 9 billion euro credit facility from the German government and was asking for €4 billion more.

Uniper said that with contracted supplies from Gazprom down 80 percent, it was having to buy gas on the market at significantly higher prices to supply customers, leading to losses that it said exceed €100 million a day.

Uniper agreed to a bailout in July that would include the government taking a stake in the company, but further steps including approval from the European Union are needed before it can be put fully in place.

The company’s chief executive, Klaus-Dieter Maubach, said in a statement that Uniper was working with the German government on “a permanent solution to this emergency.” Otherwise, he warned, the company would not be able to fulfill what he called its “system-critical function” as a supplier of natural gas to municipalities and factories.

Categories
Politics

Dr. Ouncessides with vitality trade after receiving oil, gasoline donations

Dr. Oz sides with energy industry after receiving oil, gas donations

dr Mehmet Oz has championed the oil and gas industry as he sees to win a coveted Senate seat in Pennsylvania.

The former TV personality’s vocal support for the energy business follows years of industry donations to his nonprofit and then his campaign, according to financial records reviewed by CNBC. Oz also has a personal stake in oil and gas through investments in two major energy companies, according to his financial disclosures.

Pennsylvania’s next senator will be a key vote for the energy industry, as it has a major presence in the Keystone State. Pennsylvania is the nation’s second-largest natural gas producer after Texas and the third-largest coal producer, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Oz backed the energy industry this year as Americans felt the strain from spiking gas prices. In a recent interview, he ripped President Joe Biden after he called on companies that run gas stations to bring down prices at the pump.

“Now, they’re blaming the energy companies for the gas prices. And I’m thinking, like most Americans, what are you talking about? I mean, you did things that make it, make it impossible for these companies to exist, ” Oz said in a July interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. He called Biden’s comments “class warfare.”

As Oz champions oil and gas in his bid to represent Pennsylvania in the Senate, both his campaign and personal coffers have benefited from the industry and its executives.

Oz, a veteran physician and television host, is running against Democrat John Fetterman for a Senate seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. Oz is trailing Fetterman by just under 8 percentage points in an average of recent polls, according to RealClearPolitics. Fetterman’s campaign has raised over $25 million, while Oz and his team have brought in just over $18 million, according to data from the nonpartisan OpenSecrets.

Oz and his wife, Lisa, have a financial stake in the industry he has championed, as they own shares of oil and gas giants ConocoPhillips and Pioneer Natural Resources, according to their financial disclosure report. The filing notes they own shares of ConocoPhillips valued between $15,001 and $50,000 and Pioneer stock valued between $1,001 and $15,000.

Oz’s connections to the industry formed before he pursued politics.

His nonprofit HealthCorps, which promotes itself as a group aiming to help teens with their health and wellness, has seen at least $210,000 in contributions from gas and oil producer Continental Resources since 2016, according to the group’s annual financial reports. Continental’s support has continued into Oz’s Senate bid: The company’s founder and chair, Harold Hamm, endorsed Oz for Senate in an April campaign video.

The backing from energy industry leaders has led to contributions to Oz’s campaign.

Hamm is among a group of over a dozen oil and gas industry leaders who have combined to contribute over $200,000 to Oz’s campaign since he announced his run for Senate late last year, according to a CNBC review of Federal Election Commission filings. Others with ties to the oil and gas business who have donated at least $2,900 to Oz’s campaign include Jimmy Haslam, an owner of the Cleveland Browns and chair of Pilot Company, a business that owns fueling stations across the country. His father and Pilot founder, James Haslam II, also donated to the Oz campaign.

Other top energy donors in recent months include Brad Cox, the chair of oil producer Cox Operating, and Janet Cafaro, the president of Silcor Oilfield Services, FEC records show.

Jimmy Haslam and his wife, Susan “Dee” Haslam, combined to give $50,000 to the per-Oz super PAC American Leadership Action.

Jimmy and Dee Haslam told CNBC in a statement that they have “tremendous respect for the long, successful career Dr. Oz has had in the private sector and appreciate that he now wants to serve his country by bringing his expertise and experience to the United States Senates.” The Haslam family, as of 2015, had a net worth of $6 billion, according to Forbes.

Representatives for Cox and Cafaro did not return requests for comment.

Hamm told CNBC in a statement that he considers Oz a “friend.” He said the two have known each other for almost a decade, with the goal of bringing HealthCorps’ services into Oklahoma schools.

Hamm explained that he believes Oz will be a key advocate for the energy sector, which has enriched the oil billionaire. He and his family have a net worth of at least $21 billion, according to Forbes.

“Dr. Oz will champion American energy in the US Senate much like he’s championed health his entire career,” Hamm said.

The nonprofit’s annual reports from 2016 through 2020 give a range of how much donors contributed to HealthCorps. Continental Resources regularly ranked among the Oz group’s top backers. The company is often listed as donating between $50,000 and $99,999 during those years. A HealthCorps filing says it received a range of $10,000 to just under $25,000 from Continental in 2018.

In its earlier filings before 2016, HealthCorps lists Continental as either a “national” or a “community” sponsor. The group’s website notes that its national sponsors contribute $1 million and its community donors write checks for $250,000. The disclosures pre-2016 do not say or show a range of how much the company gave those years.

Oz’s support from the massive energy industry coincides with an apparent shift in his opinion on fracking, which allows companies to drill deep into the earth for oil and gas resources. Critics say that fracking hurts the environment by harming water supplies and polluting the air.

Before Oz ran for Senate, he repeatedly wrote columns that took aim at fracking, noting its potential threat to public health, Vice reports.

“And in Pennsylvania, there are multiple reports of air and water contamination, possibly from hydraulic fracturing sites, causing folks breathing problems, rashes, headaches, nosebleeds, numbness, nausea and vomiting,” Oz said in a 2014 column critical of fracking.

Brittany Yanick, a spokeswoman for the Oz campaign, said the candidate has not changed his view on fracking and is a strong supporter of the drilling method. She also took aim at Fetterman’s position on the issue.

“As a scientist, Dr. Oz understands that, like with COVID, the Biden administration is ignoring the science and the benefits of natural gas in order to satisfy the radical Left, the same liberal Democrats that are supporting radical environmental measures and funding John Fetterman’s campaign,” Yanick said in an emailed statement. “John Fetterman has called fracking a ‘stain’ on Pennsylvania, he’s called for a moratorium on fracking, and he would be a rubber stamp for the failing Biden Agenda.”

Fetterman has a mixed history with where he stands on fracking. Inside Climate News reported that Fetterman dropped his support for a fracking moratorium after his failed 2016 primary run for Senate. His position evolved after the state moved toward stricter regulations on fracking.

Emilia Rowland, a spokeswoman for Fetterman’s campaign, told CNBC that “John does not support a ban on fracking in Pennsylvania and that includes a moratorium on new fracking sites.” She said he hasn’t taken any campaign money from the fossil fuel industry.

“John believes fully heartedly that we have to preserve the union way of life for the thousands of workers currently employed by the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania and the communities where they live. We can’t just abandon these people, and tell them to go learn how to code,” Rowland said in a statement. “It’s a totally false choice that we have to choose between jobs and a clean environment. That’s just not true. We can have both.”

Still, Oz appears more vocal than Fetterman in publicly supporting the oil and gas industry. In a recent op-ed, he said it’s “gross, and deeply unpatriotic” for oil companies to charge high gas prices while their businesses are making massive profits. Fetterman namechecked Chevron, Exxon and Shell in the op-ed.

Oz has rubbed elbows with industry officials during his campaign.

He was invited to a June “energy industry meet and greet” by longtime lobbyist Missy Edwards. The invite says the meeting was set to take place at Edwards’ offices in Washington. Her current clients include Southern Company and General Motors, OpenSecrets says.

A spokeswoman for General Motors said she was “not sure if GM had a representative in attendance.” Edwards and a representative for Southern Company did not return requests for comment.

Categories
Politics

North Dakota Sues the Biden Administration Over Oil and Gasoline Leases

North Dakota Sues the Biden Administration Over Oil and Gas Leases

The state of North Dakota has sued the Biden government for suspending new state and waterway oil and gas leases, claiming that doing so has cost the state nearly $ 5 billion in lost revenue and more than half a billion barrels of oil in the ground will hold.

President Biden ordered the suspension days after he took office as part of his climate change agenda – but the move was blocked in federal court in June so states can proceed with new leases.

North Dakota joins 14 other states with Republican attorneys general who have filed lawsuits over the moratorium on new leases.

The Interior Ministry, the federal agency that oversees oil and gas leases, declined to comment.

In the lawsuit filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the North Dakota County, the state called the moratorium illegal and said the Home Office had exceeded its powers to suspend the sale of leases.

It also alleged that the suspension of two North Dakota leases, originally scheduled for March and June, has already cost the state tens of millions in lost revenue.

North Dakota is the second largest producer of oil and gas in the United States, and more than half of the state government’s revenue comes from oil and gas taxes.

“This significant damage to North Dakota will increase rapidly,” the lawsuit said, as the “illegal federal government moratorium may continue”.

If the moratorium continues next year, the lawsuit said, leases on nearly 150,000 acres of North Dakota would be blocked, preventing the construction of more than 1,000 oil and gas wells and the production of 555 million barrels of oil. The estimated total loss of revenue is $ 4.77 billion.

“I took these steps to protect the North Dakota economy, the jobs of our hardworking citizens, and North Dakota’s right to control its own natural resources,” said Wayne Stenehjem, the North Dakota attorney general, in a Explanation.

Categories
Business

US anticipated to spend $4.7 billion on gasoline over Memorial Day weekend

US expected to spend $4.7 billion on gas over Memorial Day weekend

Americans are expected to spend roughly $4.7 billion on gas during the Friday through Monday of Memorial Day weekend, according to GasBuddy, an app and website focused on finding real-time fuel prices.

That breaks down to about $1.18 billion spent on gas each day, give or take $1 million, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, tells CNBC Make It. 

GasBuddy predicts the national average price of gasoline will be $2.98 per gallon during Memorial Day weekend, the highest price on record for the May holiday weekend since 2014 when gas hit $3.66 per gallon. (AAA is reporting slightly higher averages at $3.04 per gallon, as of Thursday.) 

“Gas prices have been increasing for months due to the continued rise in gasoline demand as a myriad of destinations reopen ahead of the summer driving season. The Colonial Pipeline shutdown only highlighted how much more reliant consumers have become on gasoline since the pandemic hit,” De Haan says. 

Gas prices should start to ease up after Memorial Day, but De Haan warns that a rebound may happen and gasoline prices could rise again around the middle of summer.

If you are planning a road trip this summer, here are a few tips to help you save at the pump. 

1. Compare prices

Whether it’s through GasBuddy or other driving apps that show local gas costs, such as the AAA Mobile app or Waze, it’s worth looking around for the best price. A small difference can add up.

The average summer road trip is 568 miles round trip, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Assuming you have a car with an average 12-gallon gas tank, you’d be saving over $20 if you shave off just 5 cents per fill-up. 

You should also be aware that fuel prices can fluctuate by location. AAA recommends getting gas before you arrive at your destination because many popular beach and vacation locations tend to have more expensive gas prices. 

2. Make sure your car maintenance is up-to-date

3. Drive calmly

Being a zen driver can not only reduce your stress, but it may also help you save on gas. That’s because driving aggressively with lots of lane-changing, braking and rapid acceleration can increase fuel consumption by 30% on the highway.

Driving over 50 miles per hour can also have an impact because it increases the vehicle’s wind resistance. For every five miles per hour you drive over 50, you’re likely paying an additional $0.21 for gas. 

4. Take advantage of loyalty programs

Categories
World News

Biden’s technique on the Russia-to-Germany gasoline pipeline complicated and wishes rationalization, says international coverage professional

Biden’s strategy on the Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline confusing and needs explanation, says foreign policy expert

Michael O’Hanlon, a Brookings Institution senior fellow, said he thinks the Biden administration’s decision to waive sanctions on a Russian company overseeing the construction of a controversial Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline was about improving relations with Germany.

“I believe they’re essentially deferring to Chancellor [Angela] Merkel to figure out some kind of a strategy that she thinks may work, and maybe get Russia to behave better over Ukraine and other places… But if that’s the strategy, I’d like to hear it explained and defended, not just sort of swept under the rug,” said O’Hanlon.

The Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline, known as Nord Stream 2, would bring natural gas from Russia to Germany and run under the Baltic Sea. Critics from both sides of the political aisle expressed concern that Russia could use the pipeline to gain leverage over European nations. 

Republican Senator Rob Portman slammed the decision and has said it was “contrary to our national interests, and at an especially volatile period, helps Russia while hurting Ukraine and our European Union allies.”

New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen said in a statement that “completion of this pipeline poses a threat to U.S. security interests and the stability of our partners in the region.”

The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

O’Hanlon told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that he agreed with the critics. 

“It’s confusing why you would give Russia more leeway, more leverage, and also the ability to bypass Ukraine in shipping gas into Europe,” said O’Hanlon. “It doesn’t smack me to be a good decision.”

Categories
Health

Lots of Reported Irregular Menstruation After Publicity to Tear Gasoline, Examine Finds

Hundreds Reported Abnormal Menstruation After Exposure to Tear Gas, Study Finds

At some point last summer there were just too many reports of protesters having abnormal menstrual cycles after exposure to tear gas for Britta Torgrimson-Ojerio, a nurse researcher at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, to dismiss them as a coincidence.

A preschool teacher told Oregon Public Broadasting that if she inhaled a significant amount of gasoline at night, she would get her period the next morning. Other Portland residents spoke of weeks of periods and unusual spots. Transgender men described sudden periods defying hormones that had kept menstruation in check for months or years.

Dr. Torgrimson-Ojerio decided that she would try to find out if these anecdotes were outliers or representatives of a more common phenomenon. She interviewed around 2,200 adults who said they had been exposed to tear gas in Portland last summer. In a study published this week in the journal BMC Public Health, she reported that 899 of them – more than 54 percent of those who may be menstruating – said they had experienced abnormal menstrual cycles.

“Even though we can’t say anything scientifically specific about these chemical agents and a causal relationship with menstrual disorders,” said Dr. Torgrimson-Ojerio, “We can definitely say that in our study, most people with menstrual cycles or a uterus reported menstrual irregularities.” after reporting exposure to tear gas. “

Downstream effects such as fertility effects are not known, but “this is our call to action to ask our scientific community to address this issue,” she said.

Dr. Torgrimson-Ojerio was also interested in whether people had other problems more than a few hours after exposure to tear gas. She found that 80 percent of respondents had difficulty breathing, which was one of the most common complaints.

Kira Taylor, a professor of epidemiology and population health in the University of Louisville’s School of Public Health and Information Sciences who is doing a similar study, said Dr. Torgrimson-Ojerio’s study provided “some of the first solid evidence” for tear gas to be associated with menstrual disorders. It is also “the first study to document the longer-term effects of tear gas exposure in a large population,” she said.

Sven-Eric Jordt, Professor of Anaesthesiology, Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke University Medical School, who was not involved in the study, welcomed the work.

Most of the research that police and government use to educate them about tear gas safety “are out of date, often 50 to 70 years old, and inconsistent with modern toxicological approaches,” he said. “Most of these studies were conducted on young healthy men at the time, either in the police or the military, rather than women or a general civilian population representing protesters.”

Dr. Torgrimson-Ojerio and her colleagues recruited respondents through social media and links on The Oregonian and Oregon Health Authority websites in July and August.

The researchers asked participants to explain exactly how their periods had affected after exposure to tear gas. Increased cramps, unusual spotting, and unusually intense or prolonged bleeding were the most common reactions. A number of people who normally don’t have periods because of hormone therapy or age have reported unexpected bleeding and blotches, said Dr. Torgrimson-Ojerio.

This study has limitations. It is not a random sample.

“It is possible that people who felt that their health was harmed by tear gas were more likely to react than people who were also exposed but did not have such harmful effects,” said Dr. Taylor. “This means that some of the numbers may be exaggerated.”

Because the subjects were allowed to participate anonymously, the researchers were unable to verify their accounts.

Nor can the study answer how or why tear gas may contribute to menstrual disorders, or the extent to which other factors are involved. The authors acknowledge that, for example, the high levels of stress and anxiety among protesters may also have contributed to the physical response.

“It is possible that pain, stress, dehydration, and exertion play a role,” said Dr. Jordt. Alternatively, tear gas can act as an “endocrine disruptor” and impair normal hormone function.

“The tear gas agent CS, which is sometimes used by the police, is a chlorinated chemical compound and creates additional chlorinated by-products when burned in the canisters used by the police,” he said. “Exposure to chlorinated chemicals can affect menstrual health.”

Alexander Samuel, a molecular biologist in France, has been researching similar issues since French protesters began reporting menstrual disorders.

He mentioned two additional areas for research: whether tear gas is metabolized to cyanide, which can lead to heavy menstrual bleeding, and what role a traumatic event can play in changing menstrual cycles.

Suspicions of tear gas and menstruation arose more than a decade ago during the Arab Spring protests, noted Dr. Jordt firmly.

In 2011, Chile also banned the use of tear gas after a study found that CS gas could cause miscarriages and harm young children. Three days later, Chilean police lifted the ban and insisted that the type of tear gas used was completely safe.

Categories
World News

Insurgency threatens Mozambique’s historic pure fuel funding increase

Insurgency threatens Mozambique’s historic natural gas investment boom

Pemba, Mozambique – Families wait in front of the port of Pemba for the boat of the evacuees from the coasts of Palma on April 1, 2021. More than a thousand people evacuated from the shores of the city of Palma arrived at the seaport of Pemba after insurgents attacked Palma on March 24, 2021.

Alfredo Zuniga / AFP via Getty Images

Mozambique had placed its economic hopes on the colossal natural gas reserves discovered a decade ago – but an escalating Islamist uprising threatens to tear the carpet out from a surge in private investment.

In late March, an armed Islamist group loosely connected to ISIS and known locally as Al-Shabab – not to be confused with the Somali militant group of the same name – attacked the gas-rich city of Palma in the country’s northern province of Cabo Delgado. inflict mass civilian casualties and displace tens of thousands.

The attack came within hours after French energy giant Total announced it was resuming its Mozambique Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project, a $ 20 billion facility located on the nearby Afungi peninsula Construction is.

According to Standard Bank, up to 120 billion US dollars are at stake nationwide for LNG projects.

The International Monetary Fund expects Mozambique’s GDP to grow by 2.1% in 2021, with inflation projected at 5.3%. However, Standard Bank recently highlighted in a statement that the escalation towards guerrilla warfare could undermine the benefits of the LNG projects.

“While long-term growth prospects, aided by LNG investments, remain broadly positive, armed conflict is limiting prospects for more inclusive growth,” it said.

Tax hit

Together with the humanitarian crisis triggered by the uprising – with the warning from the United Nations World Food Program on Tuesday that almost a million people in the north of the country are suffering from severe hunger – the attacks also pose an existential threat to public finances.

“The longer the conflict pushes back the completion of the planned LNG projects, the longer it will take for the indebted Mozambican government to generate income from gas exports,” said Gerrit van Rooyen, economist at NKC African Economics.

Total has now moved all staff from its Afungi location, but van Rooyen suggested that this could be a tactic to pressure the government to improve security around the Afungi complex and accept foreign aid instead of one accept permanent exit. Total declined to comment when contacted by CNBC.

President Filipe Nyusi’s government has relied primarily on private security companies to support defense efforts while restricting access to aid workers and journalists.

In addition to Total’s LNG project, both the US energy company ExxonMobil and the Italian energy supplier Eni are carrying out separate energy projects in the country, all of which are of crucial importance for the future of Mozambique’s taxation.

The delayed start of LNG exports is likely to reduce government revenues noticeably.

Mozambican soldiers leave the tarmac of the airport in Pemba on March 31, 2021. – Sporadic clashes broke out in Palma on Tuesday as thousands of residents hid in the besieged city in northern Mozambique to escape the area overrun by militant jihadists, agencies said.

AFP via Getty Images

The Mozambican Ministry of the Economy and Finance estimated in 2018 that a 20% cost overrun and 18 month delay in two key areas of LNG projects would reduce government revenues by around 6% – nearly USD 2.5 billion – over a 25-year period. could lower.

“The longer it takes for LNG projects to reap benefits, the longer the government will have to draw on other resources and international aid to finance the country’s economic development and service its external debt,” said van Rooyen.

NKC estimates that external debt was $ 11.8 billion, or nearly 87% of GDP, at the end of 2020, with the government spending more than 13% of total revenue on interest payments over the course of the year.

The LNG projects should push growth back to over 5% per year, said van Rooyen, which – if everything goes according to plan – should help steer the country’s mountain of debt to a more sustainable level.

“Safety vacuum”

Mozambican security forces as well as private military contractors and Total’s security team were blind from last month’s raid on Al-Shabab. The ensuing struggle lasted about 12 days and counterinsurgency operations continue.

The South African 16-nation development community held an emergency meeting last week condemning the violence and promising an “appropriate regional response”.

Risk advisory agency Pangea-Risk said in a research report last week that the attack was not triggered by Total’s announcement that it would resume operations. Instead, it was said that the move took place after months of preparatory planning by militants who have been increasingly active in the region since 2017.

Pangea risk first warned in October 2020 and again on March 12, two weeks before the attack, that insurgents were planning attacks in natural gas hub cities.

Pemba, MOZAMBIQUE – The OCSV Sapura Diamante (Offshore Construction Support Vessel), a pipe-layer ship used in offshore construction, is docked in the port of Pemba, where sailboats with people displaced from the coasts of Palma and Afungi are awaited attacked by armed groups on March 30, 2021.

Alfredo Zuniga / AFP via Getty Images

“There will be a security vacuum in Cabo Delgado next month, if not longer, exposing both Palma and other places in the province to further militant attacks,” said Robert Besseling, CEO of Pangea-Risk.

According to Besseling, local sources expect a raid on the resettlement village of Quitunda near the LNG site on the Afungi peninsula in the coming weeks.

“Such a raid would put pressure on the Afungi garrison to leave the security zone around the LNG site and to use it to protect vulnerable displaced persons in Quitunda, which may violate the Mozambican government’s security treaty with Total, ” he added.

Besseling suggested that the provincial capital Pemba and the Tanzanian port city and gas center in Mtwara in the Rovuma border region between the two countries will be “very ambitious targets” for the insurgents.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in Cabo Delgado is expected to worsen in the coming weeks as refugees continue to flee Palma for camps in nearby districts. The total number of displaced people is estimated at over 700,000 and is increasing.