Natural Gas ETF Plunges More Than Fuel Even as Shares Sell Out

The largest exchange traded fund for natural gas, so popular that it ran out of shares two weeks ago, has lost 43 percent this year and probably will keep falling until winter, trailing the fuel it’s supposed to track. The United States Natural Gas Fund will suffer from record high gas inventories and seasonal prices hitting the ETF harder than the fuel, said Teri Viswanath, the director of commodities research at Credit Suisse Securities USA in Houston. Investors piled into the fund this year, driving up its number of outstanding shares 11-fold.....Complete Story

Iraqi Parliament Declares it Can Halt Oil Contracts

Iraq's parliament has the authority to block a contentious oil deal with BP and China's CNPC, despite the oil ministry's insistence lawmakers can do nothing to derail the agreement, a top lawmaker said. "The government believes that such a subject is included in its authorities, according to existing law, but if parliament finds these contracts or this (bidding) round ... are not beneficial, parliament can prevent the government," parliament speaker Ayad al-Samarai said in an interview on Sunday.....Complete Story

U.S. LNG Surge May Have Been Overstated.

Earlier this year there were predictions for a large surge in LNG imports. While the shipments have started to come in, it's hasn't yet been the torrent some had expected.
U.S. daily LNG usage averaged 1.44 Bcf in Q2, according to Pritchard Capital Partners "well short of the earlier estimates that called for 3-5 Bcf a day." According to the Energy Information Administration the U.S. consumed 23.2 Tcf of natural gas in 2008, and is on track to consume around 22.5 Tcf in 2009. With reports of overseas liquefaction plants running..... Complete Story

Cuba Begins Expansion of JV Refinery with Venezuela

The Cuban authorities have begun the expansion of the storage capacity of a Cuban-Venezuelan refinery, local media reported Thursday. Cuban Basic Industry Minister Yadira Garcia hailed the advance of the work, including the installation of four tanks, each one with a capacity of 20,000 cubic meters, reports said. During a tour of these facilities Wednesday, Garcia said expanding the storage capacity of the refinery is "strategic" work.....Complete Story

Sabic Net Tumbles 76% on Plastics, Fertilizer Demand

Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the world’s largest petrochemical maker, said second-quarter profit fell 76 percent, missing analysts’ estimates, as the economic slump hurt prices and demand for plastics and fertilizers. Net income declined to 1.81 billion riyals ($483 million) from 7.55 billion riyals a year earlier, Riyadh based Sabic said today in a statement on the Saudi bourse Web site. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was 2 billion riyals.....Complete Story

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Survey Shows, Oil May Rise on Slumped Earnings

Crude oil may rise as better than expected second quarter earnings bolster the outlook for a recovery in demand, a survey of analysts showed. Seventeen of 37 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News, or 46 percent, said futures will climb through July 24. Ten respondents, or 27 percent, forecast that prices will be little changed, and 10 expected a decline. Last week, 46 percent of analysts said oil would fall. Futures will increase as second quarter earnings beat analyst expectations, said Bill O’Grady, the chief market strategist for Confluence Investment Management in St. Louis. Prices may also increase as equity markets rise.....Complete Story

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The Father Of Shale Gas, An Interview With George Mitchell

Drawn by impressive initial production rates, unconventional shale natural gas plays have been developed at a fever pitch in recent years by independent exploration and production companies like Devon Energy, Goodrich Petroleum and XTO Energy. But it's costly. First they drill down several thousand feet and bank the bit horizontally through the shale. Then they send a 2 million to 4 million gallon mixture of water, sand and chemicals down to break open the rock and release the gas. George Mitchell and his engineers developed the techniques to exploit shale in the Barnett Shale formation in North Texas.....Complete Interview

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The Energy Report Interviews Art Smith of Triple Double Advisors

This is a must read from The Market Oracle, as The Energy Report Interviews Art Smith of Triple Double Advisors on the Long Term Crude Oil Bull Market.

The outlook for oil seems to be brightening amid scant new reserve discoveries and declining reserves at the world's large oil fields. "We believe we're in a fundamentally positive market for oil in the 21st century," says Art Smith, president of Triple Double Advisors, who anticipates oil moving back into the three-digit price range within three to five years. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, the 35 year veteran of oil analysis shares his knowledge of energy markets and reveals some of his own investment strategies.....Complete Interview

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Petrobras Opens Cuba Office for oil Search

In a move to prepare for possible oil drilling in Cuba, Brazil's state controlled energy giant Petrobras opened an office in Cuba, the company announced Thursday. As part of its exploratory stage, Petrobras is currently analyzing results of seismic surveys carried out within the block it acquired last October in the communist ruled country's waters of the Gulf of Mexico. According to the terms of its contract with Cupet, Cuba's state owned oil company, Petrobras has until May 2010 to decide whether to begin drilling.....Complete Story

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Crude Oil Rises More Than $1 After U.S. Housing Starts Climb

Crude oil rose more than $1 a barrel as construction of single family dwellings jumped by the most since 2004, a sign the worst of the recession may have passed. Oil increased after the Commerce Department reported that construction of single family homes climbed 14 percent in June. The report also showed that total housing starts rose to the highest since November. Futures tumbled to $32.40 a barrel in December, a four year low, as the economic contraction curbed demand, allowing stockpiles to grow.....Complete Story

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