Tag: Oil

QUETTA - Gunmen in Balochistan opened fire on a tanker carrying oil for NATO forces in Afghanistan on Thursday, killing its driver and setting the vehicle ablaze, officials said. The attack took place near the town of Wadh in Khuzdar district, local police official Jumma Khan told AFP.
Unidentified gunmen flagged the vehicle to stop and opened fire when the driver ignored them, Khan said, adding that the driver was killed and his helper was wounded.

LONDON - World oil prices rose sharply Thursday as trader sentiment was jarred by simmering geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly in Libya and Syria.
In London midday trade, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in May added $1.07 to $116.20 a barrel.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for May, won 99 cents to $105.26.
"Crude oil prices rebounded strongly amid ongoing political unrest across Middle East that continue to raise

BRUSSELS - Pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenades on Monday hijacked a Kuwaiti oil tanker carrying 29 sailors including 17 Pakistanis southeast of Oman, the European Union's naval forces said.
The Zirku crude oil tanker was seized some 250 nautical miles southeast of the Omani port of Salalah at around 0900 GMT, the EU Navfor anti-piracy mission said in a statement.

LAHORE - Prices of edible oil and milk have surged due to expensive cottonseed oil and a further rise is likely if cotton prices are not controlled, Pakistan Today learnt on Monday. Banola oil and cattle feed are produced from cottonseed (banola), price of which has increased 160 percent in the last one year. It was sold for Rs 50 per kg in March, 2010, however, prices have now jumped to Rs 130 per kg, triggering fears that prices of edible oil would rise. Banola oil is extracted from

KARACHI - Attock Oil Refinery has again increased prices of lube base oil by Rs 11 per litre, triggering a sharp rise in all lubricating oils.
The All Pakistan Lubricants Manufacturers Association (APLMA) Chairman Mian Zahid Husain, while condemning this arbitrary act by the refinery, warned the government for a significant increase of Rs 15 per litre in each lubricating oil brand. Mian Zahid stated that Attock Refinery has so far increased Rs 30 per litre in the last four

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan may import up to 150,000 tonnes of palm oil in April because of less carry over stock, but buying will slow down during the peak summer months of May and June, a top industry official said.
Pakistan, the world's fourth-largest buyer of vegetable oil, bought less in February because of heavy imports in the preceding months, but buying picked up in March, with 110,400 tonnes purchased from Malaysia between March 1-25.
"Pakistan's palm oil imports may

KARACHI - The regulatory situation after the eighteenth amendment and increased security issues have emerged as key hurdles in drilling during 2011/12 (only 24 percent target delivery) and pose risks to exploration and field development projects. But the earnings upside of two to five percent from lower exploration write-offs in 2011 and a relative dry patch in exploration news flow will lessen the impact of the issues mentioned in the case of Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL),

LONDON - Oil prices rose by over $2 a barrel on Monday as a wave of U.N.-mandated airstrikes on Libya and proliferating unrest in the Middle East fanned concerns about oil supply from the region. Brent crude for May was up $1.80 to $115.73 a barrel by 1234 GMT after earlier trading over $116, while U.S. crude for April gained $1.81 at $102.88 a barrel.
"With the nature of the external military involvement becoming clearer, there is a further escalation of the situation, and the

LONDON - Oil rose above $116 a barrel on Friday after the United Nations authorised Western-led attacks in OPEC member Libya and tension stayed high across the oil-producing Middle East. Efforts to subdue inflation in China, the world's second biggest oil user after the United States, only briefly wiped out gains. Brent was up $1.19 at $116.09 a barrel by 1202 GMT, after earlier climbing above $117. U.S. crude for April gained $1.67 to $103.09.
Oil markets reached their highest

JUBA - Militia fighters attacked the capital of Sudan's oil-producing Upper Nile state on Saturday, the southern army said, leaving 23 dead. The attack on Malakal, one of the south's three main settlements, marked an escalation in clashes between the south's army and militias which has aroused fears over the stability of the region in the countdown to its secession, due on July 9.
"Militia have penetrated the town. They raided at night," said southern army spokesman Philip Aguer

PARIS - Unrest in Libya has almost wiped out production in its key oil sector, slashing output by 1.4 million barrels a day to under 300,000, the head of French oil giant Total indicated. "Oil production in Libya must have fallen to between 200,000 and 300,000 barrels a day maximum," the chief executive of Total, Christophe de Margerie, told reporters in Paris. "There are about 1.4 million barrels a day less" than normal, since the start of an uprising against Libyan ruler Moamer

KARACHI - Local refineries are still taking advantage of higher oil prices primarily due to a 7.5 percent deemed duty on High Speed Diesel (HSD). The deemed duty is fixed in percentage terms, however, it varies in absolute terms on fluctuating international oil prices. The deemed duty on diesel (HSD) has hit a 30-month high, reaching $9.0 per barrel. This could inflate further incase oil prices remain firm. If this happens, National Refinery Limited (NRL) and Attock Refinery Limited

LONDON - Oil prices dropped on Tuesday, with North Sea Brent crude dipping briefly below $113 per barrel, after Kuwait's oil minister said OPEC was considering boosting production for the first time in more than two years. An official increase in OPEC output would signal the group's determination to put a cap on prices after uprisings and unrest across North Africa and the Middle East sent oil to its highest in more than two and a half years.
Fighting in Libya has idled as much

KARACHI - Pakistan's annual consumer price inflation was likely at 14.10 percent in February, as food prices remained low and the government was absorbing most of the impact of higher world oil prices, a Reuters poll shows. A higher base effect from last year also likely helped a marginally slower rise in the consumer price index (CPI) in February, after it rose 14.19 percent in January from a year earlier.
"It seems that the government's and the central bank's patience with the

FAISALABAD - All Pakistan Oil Tankers Owners Association (APOTOA) divisional chairman Ali Abbas Awan has clarified that their association will not support any call of strike to press for the demand for increase in the cargo transportation rates. "We condemn any such demand for increase in shipping charges," he said. He was speaking at a meeting chaired by APOTOA Central Chairman Haji Akram Khan Durrani in Faisalabad. The meeting was held to discuss the current issues. "We have no plan

NEW YORK - World crude oil prices slipped Thursday as investors digested Venezuela's proposal for averting civil war in Libya. Benchmark WTI light, sweet crude oil for April delivery dipped 32 cents to close at $101.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April, shed $1.56 to settle at $114.79 a barrel.

JAKARTA - A senior Indonesian government official said about $10 billion is needed to halve the country's oil use, replacing it with gas, local media reported here on Thursday. The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) energy and natural resources chief Monti Giriana said that the money would be used to build basic infrastructure such as pipelines, gas stations and gas receiving terminals.
"We estimate that gas consumption in Java, the island with the highest fuel