International
Iraq: Budget Debates Focus on Revenue Worries
Jan 8, 2015
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Patrick Osgood, Rawaz Tahir, and Ben Van Heuvelen, Iraq Oil Report
Iraq's 2015 draft budget received a second reading in Parliament Wednesday, although concerns over the falling price of oil threaten to delay legislative progress."The most…
Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq Allowed to Sue Kurds Over Texas Oil Tanker in U.S.
Jan 8, 2015
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Laurel Brubaker Calkins, Bloomberg Businessweek
Iraq’s oil ministry can sue the Kurdistan regional government for possession of 1 million barrels of crude that have waited in a tanker circling off…
Myanmar: Farmers Fleeing Myitsone Dam Face Economic Challenges
Jan 8, 2015
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Eleven Myanmar
Farmers who fled their lands to make way for the Myitsone Dam project are now struggling to earn livelihoods.According to the farmers, although homes, roads…
Iraq/Kurdistan: Dispute Over Tanker's Kurdish Oil Continues in Houston Court
Jan 8, 2015
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Collin Eaton, Houston Chronicle
Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government are still trying to resolve a dispute that for six months has kept a tanker full of Kurdish oil…
Resource Curse: The Twilight of the Resource Curse?
Jan 8, 2015
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The Economist
For decades commodity prices have shaped Africa’s economic growth. The continent is home to a third of the planet’s mineral reserves, a tenth of the…
Liberia: FDA Under Watchful Eyes, Ears of Advocacy Groups in 2014: Nation’s Forest at Glance
Jan 7, 2015
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Edwin M. Fayia III, Liberian Observer
Liberia’s prime custodian of the forest sector, the Forestry Development Authority (FDA), started 2014 under the watchful eyes and ears of local and international advocacy…
Iraq/Kurdistan: NOC Oil Heading to Market Via Kurdistan
Jan 7, 2015
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Kamaran al-Najar, Patrick Osgood, and Ben Lando, Iraq Oil Report
Iraq's federal North Oil Company (NOC) has begun exporting Kirkuk crude for the first time since militants led by the so-called Islamic State (IS) bombed…
Syria: Yarmouk Camp Victim of Water Wars in Syria
Jan 7, 2015
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Aya Chebbi, Al Jazeera
The Syrian regime is using water as a tool of war in the Yarmouk camp, according to a recent report issued by the Palestinian League for Human…
Africa: Oil Prices and African Economies
Jan 7, 2015
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Abayomi Azikiwe, Global Research
During 2014 many western-based financial publications declared that the Federal Republic of Nigeria had surpassed the Republic of South Africa as the largest economy on…
Myanmar: Two Dead, 30 Missing After Rockslide at Myanmar Jade Mine
Jan 7, 2015
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Aung Hla Tun, Reuters
At least two people were killed and around 30 were missing on Wednesday after a mountain of rubble collapsed at a jade mine in northern…
Myanmar: Daunting Myanmar Mining Risks Keeps Investors to a Brave Handful
Jan 7, 2015
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South China Morning Post, Reuters
With abundant mineral wealth from jade and rubies to copper and coal, Myanmar ought to be looking forward to a mining boom as it opens…
Nigeria: Shell Agrees to Pay $83.5 Million for Oil Spills
Jan 7, 2015
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New York Times
The oil giant Shell agreed early Wednesday to pay a Nigerian fishing community 55 million pounds, or about $83.5 million, ending a three-year legal battle…
Somalia: Somalia Expels Chinese Firm for 'Illegal Mining'
Jan 7, 2015
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World Bulletin
A Chinese mining company has been ordered out of Somalia for allegedly conducting illegal mining activity and causing "public turmoil," the Somali government announced on…
Iraq: Majnoon Protesters Demand Jobs
Jan 6, 2015
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Ali Abu Iraq and Ben Lando, Iraq Oil Report
Demonstrators blocked roads near the Majnoon oil field over the past week, claiming that Royal Dutch Shell has reneged on promises to provide jobs."We went…
Myanmar: Myanmar Arrests More Than 100 foreigners for Illegal Logging
Jan 6, 2015
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Associated Press
The Myanmar army has arrested more than 100 foreigners and 20 Myanmar nationals for illegal logging near the Chinese border, the defense ministry said Tuesday.It…
Iraq: Iraq Exports Record High 2.94 Mil b/d Crude in Dec, Up 430,000 b/d from Nov
Jan 6, 2015
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Faleh al-Khayat and Adal Mirza, Platts
Iraq's crude oil exports reached 2.94 million b/d in December, a new record high, taking the country's 2014 monthly average to 2.517 million b/d, as…
Myanmar: Govt Targets Kachin Rebels in Timber Takedown
Jan 6, 2015
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Nyein Nyein, The Irrawaddy
The Burmese government took a hard line on the timber trade in Kachin State on Tuesday, as state-run media publicly denounced rebels for facilitating illicit…
South Sudan: New Fighting Rocks South Sudan Oil States
Jan 5, 2015
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Michael Atit, Lucy Poni, and Waakhe Simon Wudu, Voice of America
JUBA—The South Sudanese army and rebel forces loyal to former vice president Riek Machar are blaming each other for the latest outbreaks of fighting in…
China/Vietnam/South China Sea: Vietnam Leery as China’s Infamous Oil Rig Heads for Indian Ocean
Jan 5, 2015
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An Dien, Thanh Nien News
Vietnamese agencies have kept a close eye on the path of a giant mobile oil rig since China Central Television announced it was setting off…
South Sudan/Sudan: Sudan to Receive $884 Million from Juba in Oil Transit Fees in 2014
Jan 4, 2015
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Sudan Vision
Khartoum – South Sudan’s Oil Minister, Stephen Dhieu Dau, said on Saturday that Sudan’s share from transit fees of South Sudan’s oil amounted to US$884…
Climate Change: Weather & Climate Summit Returns to Breckenridge with Sessions on Sea Ice and Climate Security
Jan 4, 2015
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Bob Berwyn, Summit County Citizens Voice
FRISCO — This year’s Glen Gerberg Weather and Climate Summit in Breckenridge once again features some notable climate scientists, including James Balog, who has documented…
Iraq: Iraq's Oil Revenues Hit Despite Record Exports
Jan 4, 2015
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Gulf Daily News
BAGHDAD: Iraq's oil exports reached their highest level in decades in December, the oil ministry's spokesman said yesterday, but vital revenues were being hit by…
Iraq: Iraq Oil Exports Soar but Low Prices Hit Revenue
Jan 3, 2015
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Al Arabiya
Iraq's oil exports reached their highest level in decades in December, the oil ministry's spokesman said on Saturday, but vital revenues were being hit by…
South Sudan: South Sudan Oil Revenue at $3.38 Bln, Hit by Conflict and Price Falls
Jan 3, 2015
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Reuters
South Sudan's oil revenue last year was hit by reduced output because of conflict in the African republic and the rapid decline in oil prices,…
Myanmar: Myanmar Returns to What Sells: Heroin
Jan 3, 2015
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Thomas Fuller, New York Times
BANG LAEM, Myanmar — A decade ago, Myanmar seemed on course to wipe out the opium fields and heroin jungle labs along its eastern border,…
Myanmar: Protests Against Letpadaung Mine Staged in Burma’s Biggest Cities
Jan 2, 2015
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The Irrawaddy
RANGOON — Activists in Burma’s two largest cities took to the streets on Thursday to show their solidarity with farmers affected by the Letpadaung copper…
South Sudan: ‘Silent Emergency’ in South Sudan as Protracted Conflict Displaces Millions of Cattle – UN
Dec 31, 2014
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United Nations
As South Sudan’s livestock owners flee the country’s conflict, a “silent emergency” has emerged threatening the very fabric of society and further undermining social stability,…
Liberia: Plan to Resell Oil Block 16 Contract Exposed
Dec 31, 2014
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Heritage
It can be recalled that recently, the 53rd Legislature ratified the controversial Production Sharing Contract (PSC) of Liberia offshore Oil Block 16 between the Government…
South Sudan: South Sudan Claims Oil Still Flows, Experts Disagree
Dec 30, 2014
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John Tanza, Voice of America
South Sudan Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said Tuesday that oil production, the backbone of the country's economy, has not been affected by the year-old…
Liberia: For Ratification of Block 16 Oil Contract: Lawmakers Bribed Over US$3M?
Dec 30, 2014
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Heritage
Recently, the Legislature ratified the Block 16 Oil Contract few days after the Executive Branch of the Government of Liberia(GOL) headed by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf…