Brent Nudges Up Towards $103



Brent crude nudged up towards $103 per barrel on Tuesday but overnight gains may prove fragile in the face of persistent supply pressure and weak economic data in major consumer countries.

The global oil benchmark is set for a second monthly decline in August as slow growth in China and Europe has curbed oil demand and led to a supply glut in the Atlantic Basin.
That ample supply has negated the effects on crude of geopolitical tensions.

October Brent crude rose $0.13 to $102.78 per barrel as of Tuesday morning after closing up $0.36.
US crude for October delivery gained $0.17 to $93.52 per barrel after settling down for the third straight session on Monday.

Technical charts showed that oil futures, especially West Texas Intermediate, were in oversold territory, Phillip Futures senior commodities manager Avtar Sandu told Reuters.

“There’s not much room for prices to move lower,” he said. “The market needs a new driver.”
Investors have unwound a geopolitical risk premium in Brent, discounting the possibility of supply disruption despite conflict in Iraq, Libya and Ukraine.

Iraqi Kurdistan has managed to export a few cargoes despite the Islamist insurgency in the north.
“The Kurds are getting their house in order and starting to export oil,” Sandu said. “There is ample oil.”

Still, political instability reigns in Iraq and Libya as opposing factions fight to gain control of the countries. Libya’s ambassador to Egypt, Mohamed Jibril, called on Monday for foreign assistance to protect its institutions, airports and natural resources, especially the oilfields.

The US is preparing military options to put pressure on the Islamic State in Syria, although no decision has been made to expand US action beyond the limited air strikes under way in Iraq.
In Europe, Ukraine accused Russia of sending troops across their border, which could deal a blow to already slim hopes of progress at Tuesday’s talks between the countries’ presidents.

Investors will scour weekly US oil inventory data due on Tuesday and Wednesday that could shed more light on supply and demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.

US commercial crude oil inventories are forecast to have increased in the week to 22 August, while refined product stockpiles fell, a preliminary Reuters survey of four analysts showed on Monday.
The analysts estimated, on average, that crude oil stocks rose 1.8 million barrels last week.

Inventories for distillates and gasoline were expected to fall 800,000 barrels and 1.6 million barrels respectively.

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Nigeria Records 34,042 Cases Of Pipeline Vandalism In 14 yrs



From the first recorded case of pipeline vandalism and rupture in 1999 within Nigeria, there have been 34,041 other cases in five major states in the country since then, according to the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC.

From inception case date to 2013.

‎The five major areas where vandals carry out their nefarious operations, often referred to as ‘hot spots’, include Gombe, Kaduna, Mosimi in Ogun State, Port Harcourt (Rivers State) and Warri in Delta states.

According to facts and figures released by PPMC, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, 2010 saw the highest recorded cases of 5,518 vandalism. 2011, 2012 and 2013 followed with 4,468, 3,708 and 3,571 cases respectively.

Managing Director of PPMC, Mr. Haruna Momoh, who stated this at the 2014 annual conference of the National Association of Energy Correspondents in Lagos, said activities of pipeline vandals in the country have led to the loss of 712, 776 cubic meters, M3, of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol in the last four years.

Within the same period, he said the country lost 1,310,139 cubic meters of crude oil, 9,548M3 of Dual Purpose Kerosene‎, DPK, and 37,054M3 of Automated Gas Oil, AGO, also known as diesel.
The PPMC boss, who was represented at the event by Mr. Frank Amego, also stated that these activities ‎of economic saboteurs led to disruption of crude oil supply from Escravos to Warri and Port Harcourt refineries.

‎Momoh further explained that due to this problem the Federal Government had been forced to use marine vessels for crude oil deliveries to the refineries.
Other negative effect caused by‎ pipeline vandals, according to the PPMC, is the deterioration of refinery system as a result of idle time, loss of revenue to the government and the whole nation, product supply challenges due to refinery shutdowns, scarcity, and loss of lives and material resources from pipeline fire.

Environmentally, the PPMC boss stated that there has been damage to water aquifer, loss of arable lands through pollution, pollution of streams and rivers and the reduction of pipeline life span, all as a result of pipeline vandalism.

‎He noted that efforts have been made to manage and curtail the activities of pipeline vandals.
Those efforts, according to him, include the manning of pipeline network with community guards, vigilante groups, Nigeria Police, Nigeria army, JTF and special task forces which have yielded positive results.

Others includes involvement of agencies in the security of the pipelines such as Civil Defence Corps, AIG task force, DPO team, SSS, military, services of Operation Pulo Shield in the Niger Delta and the use o‎f Messer Sappers Engr. Ltd to grade the pipelines right of ways.

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Oshiomhole Urges Action Against Oil Thieves



Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State wants the federal government to take drastic action against pipeline vandals and oil thieves to serve as deterrence to others.

The governor who spoke during a courtesy visit by the Joint Task Force on Protection of Oil & Gas Pipelines led by the Commandant-General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Dr. Ade Abolurin at the Government House said: “We are very worried about the scale, not only of oil theft but the seeming ease with which pipelines are vandalised by all kinds of criminals leading to huge losses.

“What they steal is nothing compared to the net losses arising from those activities. Many communities and many villages have been ruined, including my village. I am told that a lot of the vessels that are seized in the course of tracking these characters whether at sea or around the riverine areas or in the creek, they try to preserve the exhibit for legal purposes. In the cause of these, one thing leads to another. Either they are able to manipulate the system and you have interventions from some quarters and you are asked to let the people go or that they succeed in turning round to again recover what is taken from them.

“My argument then and it still my argument today that rather than put a man in prison for 10 years, I will rather sink his ship that is worth millions of dollars because at the end of the day, the judicial process can be quite difficult in dealing with this kind of criminals especially when huge sums of money is involved. So the exhibit should be completely destroyed as soon as it is taken before they start manipulating their way and trying to find a way to get round the system”, he said.
Earlier, the Commandant, NSCDC, Mr. Ade Abolurin, said the federal government set up a committee on oil theft for the protection of national infrastructures, including gas.

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