U.S.: Global Oil Capacity Will Make Up for Iran Cutbacks
The United States aims to reduce Tehran's oil revenue to zero in an effort to force the Iranian leadership to change its regional. A senior U.S. State Department policy adviser said they believe there is enough spare global oil capacity to make up for a lower supply from Iran. Brian Hook, the State Department's director of policy planning, told a news conference that the U.S. goal was to get as many countries as possible down to zero Iranian oil imports. The United States would work with allies on a case-by-case basis but Washington did not plan to offer exemptions from sanctions, Hook added.
EPA Chief to Withdraw USA from Clean Power Plan
The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday he would sign a proposed rule on Tuesday withdrawing from the Clean Power Plan, former President Barack Obama's centerpiece regulation to fight climate change. "That rule really was about picking winners and losers," EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said, telling a crowd in Hazard, Kentucky, the previous administration had used regulators to tip the scales in the competition to generate electricity in the United States. "Regulatory power should not be used by any regulatory body to pick winners and losers," he said.
Plume from Flooded Arkema Chemical Plant 'incredibly dangerous'
U.S. emergency officials said on Thursday the plume caused by two explosions at the flood-hit Arkema SA chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, was "incredibly dangerous," noting officials were still trying to evaluate the hazards. "Right now, the question is whether or not we can actually get in and assess the full scale of the impact from an environmental standpoint to an infrastructure stand point," Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Brock Long said at a news briefing. "By all means, yes, the plume is incredibly dangerous." Reporting by Susan Heavey and David Alexander
Enbridge, Spectra Energy to Settle Charges Merger Would Harm Competition
Energy infrastructure firms Enbridge Inc and Spectra Energy Corp have agreed to settle charges their merger would hurt competition in the market for gas pipeline transportation in three areas off the Louisiana coast, the Federal Trade Commission said on Thursday. The FTC said the firms agreed to resolve the charges by adopting a consent decree that would require Enbridge to notify the panel before acquiring an ownership interest in any natural gas pipeline operating in the Grand Canyon, Walker Ridge and Keathley Canyon areas off Louisiana.
Trump, Trudeau to Discuss Trade on Monday
President Donald Trump will host Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, the White House said on Thursday, a meeting in which trade and a major crude oil pipeline are likely to be on the agenda. The meeting will be the first for the two men since Trump won last November's election. "President Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau look forward to a constructive conversation on strengthening the relationship between our two nations," the White House said in a statement. Canada sends 75 percent of its exports to the United States and is keen to avoid becoming the target of protectionist measures.
Chemoil to Pay $27 Mln to Resolve US Complaint
A Singapore-based global fuel supplier has agreed to pay a $27 million penalty and retire renewable fuel credits worth another $71 million to resolve charges it violated the renewable fuel standard program, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday. The Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency alleged that Chemoil Corp exported at least 48.5 million gallons of biodiesel from the United States from 2011 to 2013 but failed to retire the associated renewable identification numbers generated for the exported fuel. (Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Tom Brown)
US-led Air Strikes Hit Islamic State Oil Production in Syria
The U.S.-led coalition carried out 26 air strikes against Islamic State militants on Thursday, targeting oil production in Syria and supporting the Iraqi effort to retake the city of Ramadi, the military said in a statement on Friday. Coalition aircraft carried out two strikes against an oil field well head near Abu Kamal, Syria, and six strikes against an oil and gas separation plant near Dayr az Zawr, Syria, the statement by the coalition said. They also carried out a dozen air…
U.S. Rejects Russian Charge that Turkey Involved in Islamic State Oil Smuggling
The United States on Wednesday flatly rejected Russian allegations that the Turkish government was in league with Islamic State militants to smuggle oil from Syria. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a news briefing that U.S. information was that Islamic State was selling oil at the wellheads to middlemen who in turn were involved in smuggling the oil across the frontier into Turkey. "We reject outright the premise that the Turkish government is in league with ISIL to smuggle oil across its borders," Toner said, using an acronym for the militant group.
US Denies TransCanada Request to Pause Keystone Review
The United States has formally denied in writing a TransCanada Corp request to pause the U.S. review of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, a State Department spokesman said on Wednesday. State Department spokesman John Kirby told a briefing there was no legal requirement to pause the Keystone review based on the applicant's request. TransCanada's request for a delay was seen by many as an attempt to avert a rejection from an increasingly environmentally focused President Barack Obama and postpone the decision until after the November 2016 presidential election. The White House declined to comment.
U.S.: Stronger Response in South China Sea Needed
By releasing video of Beijing's island reclamation work and considering more assertive maritime actions, the United States is signaling a tougher stance over the South China Sea and trying to spur Asian partners to more action. The release last week of the surveillance plane footage - showing dredgers and other ships busily turning remote outcrops into islands with runways and harbors - helps ensure the issue will dominate an Asian security forum starting on Friday attended by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter as well as senior Chinese military officials.
US Will Work to Ensure Bab-el-Mandeb Strait Remains Open
The U.S. military will work with Gulf and European partners to ensure the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the tip of the Red Sea remains open to commerce despite fighting and instability in Yemen, the head of U.S. forces in the region said on Thursday. "We would work in conjunction with our GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) partners to ensure that those straits remain open," U.S. Army General Lloyd Austin told a Senate hearing. "It is one of our core interests to ensure that we have free flow of commerce through both straits," he added, referring to Bab el-Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz.
Lockheed Testing Nanotech Filters for U.S. Oil Industry Wastewater
Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp is developing filters using nanotechnology to help solve a problem facing the booming U.S. oil and gas industry: 18 billion gallons of wastewater each year. Lockheed's patented Perforene is a one-atom thick membrane of graphene, made of pure carbon. The sheets can be produced with precisely sized holes as small as 1 nanometer, or a billionth of a meter, and the company's goal is to eventually use it for desalination. In the meantime, Lockheed is looking at other commercial applications…
China Army Chief: Disputed Rig Operating in Chinese Waters
Chinese military chief General Fang Fenghui said on Thursday the drilling rig that has provoked riots in Vietnam is operating in China's territorial waters and will continue conducting its operations despite the violence. Fang, speaking at a Pentagon news conference with top U.S. military officer General Martin Dempsey, said other countries in the region were provoking conflict in the South China Sea. He urged Washington to take an "objective view" about the situation, which he said was fueled by the U.S. military pivot to Asia. (Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Eric Beech)
U.S. to Cut Nuclear Launchers under Russia Treaty
The United States will scale back its nuclear bombers, submarine launchers and ballistic missiles in the first cuts to its leftover cold war nuclear arsenal since ratifying a landmark treaty with Russia in 2011, officials said on Tuesday. Under the treaty, known as New Start, the U.S. military will disable four missile launch tubes on each of the 14 U.S. nuclear submarines, convert 30 B-52 nuclear bombers to conventional use and empty 50 intercontinental ballistic missile silos, senior administration officials said.
