Crude oil futures fell below $80 a barrel after Chinese banking rules raise fears the country might slam the brakes on growth.
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Crude oil futures neared $75 a barrel ahead of an expected decline in U.S. oil inventories, Bloomberg reports. China makes another move to ensure energy supplies, signing a deal with Venezuela to help develop offshore oil fields, in the WSJ Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez confirmed Monday he will be attending the Copenhagen climate talks, despite indicating a few days ago that the talks could be a “waste of time.” Associated Press Cuba’s President Raul Castro, left, speaks with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas summit meeting. A statement from the Venezuelan government’s press office said Chavez and Bolivia President Evo Morales would go to the talks together this week, representing the regional trade group Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA Everybody wants to get a word in edgewise in Copenhagen—even the politicians who can’t make the trip. California Sen So the G-20 has a draft agreement to start phasing out fossil-fuel subsidies sometime over the medium term. What’s the rationale, and what would that do? The main argument for getting rid of subsidies to old energy production and consumption in both rich and poor countries is environmental, as the G-20 stresses in its draft. Crude oil futures hovered around $72 a barrel after yesterday’s mixed inventory data, Bloomberg reports . Natural gas, on the other hand, just keeps climing, with another double-digit gain on expectations of a demand recovery, in the WSJ . Another oil play for China: A $16 billion deal to help develop Venezuelan heavy crude, which would diversify China’s supply and Venezuela’s exports, in Bloomberg Brazil announced today new rules to protect the country’s expected oil windfall. The big question is whether the long-awaited shift really strengthens Brazil and state-owned Petrobras, or whether it backfires by scaring off investment by international oil companies. Thats the ticket (AP) The new rules, in the works for a year, change the terms for Brazil’s massive offshore oil fields to production-sharing agreements, rather than outright concessions Environmentalists are already hoping that the Senate tackles both energy and climate change this fall, rather than simply dealing with the clean energy bits (which are popular) and punting on the climate-change stuff (which isn’t so popular). Here’s another reason greens will want to make sure they go together. Canada’s oil sands are getting an environmental facelift. |
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