It could take years to refill oil reserve, says US Energy Secretary

It could take years for the United States to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the energy secretary told lawmakers, after sales directed by President Joe Biden last year pushed the stockpile to its lowest level since 1983.

"This year, it will be difficult for us to take advantage of this low price," Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told US representatives in a congressional hearing. "But we will continue to look for that low price into the future because we intend to be able to save the taxpayer dollars."

Biden administration officials have said they want to refill the reserve, after last year's historic sale of 180 million barrels, when the oil price consistently is around US$70 a barrel. Oil from that sale sold at about US$94 per barrel.

The price for benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude futures has fallen to around US$70 per barrel this week on worries about the economy amid crises at several banks. Granholm said at the hearing the administration wants to buy oil back at under US$72 a barrel.

The Department of Energy said last month it was implementing a three-part strategy to refill the reserve in the long term, including repurchases with about US$4.5 billion in revenues from previous sales, returns of more than 25 million barrels of oil from previous exchanges, and working with Congress to avoid "unnecessary sales unrelated to supply disruptions."

The department succeeded last year in persuading Congress to cancel sales it had mandated of about 140 million barrels that had been set to take place from fiscal year 2024 to fiscal year 2027.

Still, the DOE is moving forward with a sale of 26 million barrels from the SPR that was mandated by Congress in earlier years to help fund the federal budget. The oil will be delivered from April 01 to June 20.

Granholm said that sale and maintenance at two of the reserve's four sites will make it difficult to buy back oil this year.

Bryan Mound in Texas and Bayou Choctaw in Louisiana were both undergoing planned life extension work, the department said later.

The SPR currently holds about 372 million barrels, the lowest since 1983, in hollowed-out salt caverns along the Gulf Coast. Steel pumps and other equipment are constantly exposed to moist salty air.

US strikes Iran backed facilities in Syria

The US military carried out multiple air strikes in Syria on Thursday night against Iran-aligned groups whom it blamed for a drone attack that killed an American contractor, wounded another and also hurt five US troops, the Pentagon said.

Both the attack on US personnel and the retaliation were disclosed by the Pentagon at the same time late on Thursday.

The attack against US personnel took place at a coalition base near Hasakah in northeast Syria at approximately 1038 GMT on Thursday, it said.

The US intelligence community assessed that the one-way attack drone was Iranian in origin, the military said, a conclusion that could further aggravate already strained relations between Washington and Tehran.

Although US forces stationed in Syria have been targeted by drones before, fatalities are extremely rare.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the retaliatory strikes were carried out at the direction of President Joe Biden and targeted facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

"The air strikes were conducted in response to today's attack as well as a series of recent attacks against Coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the IRGC," Austin said in a statement.

"No group will strike our troops with impunity."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group that monitors the war in Syria, said the US strikes had left eight pro-Iranian fighters dead in Syria.

 

Chad nationalizes assets owned by Exxon Mobil

Chad has nationalized all the assets and rights including hydrocarbon permits and exploration and production authorizations that belonged to a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil, the Central African nation's energy and hydrocarbons ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Exxon Mobil said in December 2022 that it had closed the sale of its operations Chad and Cameroon to London-listed Savannah Energy in a US$407 million deal, but the Chadian government contested the agreement, saying the final terms were different from what Exxon Mobil had presented.

It warned that it may ask courts to block Savannah's purchase of Exxon's assets in the country and take further steps to protect its interests.

Exxon's assets included a 40% stake in Chad's Doba oil project, which comprises seven producing oilfields with combined output of 28,000 barrels per day (bpd).

It also included Exxon's interest in the more than 1,000 kilometre (621 mile) Chad/Cameroon pipeline from the landlocked nation to the Atlantic Gulf of Guinea coast through which its crude is exported.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Foundation stone laid for Mall of Srinagar

In a big thrust for the development of Jammu & Kashmir, the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha laid the foundation stone for the Mall of Srinagar, being developed by Dubai based EMAAR. Middle East retail major Lulu Hypermarket will be the anchor tenant of this ambitious project.

An MoU to this effect was signed by Rejith Radhakrishnan, Chief Operation Officer of Lulu India and Amit Jain, Group CEO of EMAAR on the side lines of groundbreaking ceremony of Mall of Srinagar at Sempora in Srinagar. The Indian rupee 250 crore project will be built on 1 million square feet of area and be ready by 2026.

As per the MOU, LuLu Group will be setting up its first hypermarket in J&K at the Mall of Srinagar with an approx. size of 100,000 sq. feet and will employ about 1,500 youth from the state directly for its operations after necessary training and development.

The occasion was also graced by Aman Puri, Consul General of India in Dubai, Maj. Gen. Sharafuddin Sharaf, Chairman of UAE India Business Council and Vice Chairman of Sharaf Group, Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary, J&K Government and other dignitaries.

“We are excited to enter J&K retail sector with this most modern hypermarket in this unique mall, which is being developed by Emaar Properties” said Yusuffali MA, Chairman of Lulu Group. “I am sure this project will not only boost the economic and tourism activities in the state but also give considerable employment opportunities to the local youth and support the farming sector immensely”, he added.

During the UAE visit by Lt. Gov Sinha last year Lulu Group had signed an MoU with J&K government to set up a “food processing and logistics hub” as part of their investments plans for Jammu & Kashmir to the tune of Indian rupee 200 crore in the first phase.

“Currently, the LuLu Group is exporting apples, saffron and dry fruits from the state to Lulu Hypermarkets in the Middle East, Egypt and Far East”, said Rejith Radhakrishnan

Abu Dhabi based Lulu Group currently runs 248 Hypermarkets and Supermarkets across GCC countries, Egypt, Far East and India employing more than 65,000 people from various countries.

Courtesy: Saudi Gazette

Saudi Arabia follows Iran in reestablishing ties with Syria

Saudi Arabia and Syria have agreed to reopen their embassies after cutting diplomatic ties more than a decade ago, three sources with knowledge of the matter said, a step that would mark a leap forward in Damascus's return to the Arab fold.

Contacts between Riyadh and Damascus had gathered momentum following a landmark agreement to re-establish ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, a key ally of President Bashar al-Assad.

The re-establishment of ties between Riyadh and Damascus would mark the most significant development yet in moves by Arab states to normalize ties with Assad, who was shunned by many Western and Arab states after Syria's civil war began in 2011.

The two governments were "preparing to reopen embassies after Eid al-Fitr", in the second half of April.

The decision was the result of talks in Saudi Arabia with a senior Syrian intelligence official, according to one of the regional sources and a diplomat in the Gulf.

The apparently sudden breakthrough could indicate how the deal between Tehran and Riyadh may play into other crises in the region, where their rivalry has fuelled conflicts including the war in Syria.

The United States and several of its regional allies, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, had backed some of the Syrian rebels. Assad was able to defeat the insurgency across most of Syria thanks largely to Iran and Russia.

The United States, an ally of Saudi Arabia, has opposed moves by regional countries to normalize ties with Assad, citing his government's brutality during the conflict and the need to see progress towards a political solution.

The United Arab Emirates, another strategic US partner, has led the way in normalizing contacts with Assad, recently receiving him in Abu Dhabi with his wife.

The Gulf diplomat said the high-ranking Syrian intelligence official "stayed for days" in Riyadh and an agreement was struck to reopen embassies "very soon".

Syria was suspended from the Arab League in 2011 in response to Assad's brutal crackdown on protests.

Saudi's foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud earlier this month said engagement with Assad could lead to Syria's return to the Arab League, but it was currently too early to discuss such a step.

The diplomat said the Syrian-Saudi talks could pave the way for a vote to lift Syria's suspension during the next Arab summit, expected to be held in Saudi Arabia in April.

The United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Damascus in 2018, arguing Arab countries needed more of a presence in resolving the Syrian conflict.

While Assad has basked in renewed contacts with Arab states that once shunned him, US sanctions remain a major complicating factor for countries seeking to expand commercial ties.

Netanyahu causing cumulative damage to US-Israel ties

In a rare move, the US State Department called Israeli envoy Mike Herzog in to voice its displeasure at the Knesset vote the night before repealing the 2005 Disengagement Law in northern Samaria.

According to a brief readout of that meeting, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman conveyed Washington’s concern over the move, including the prohibition on establishing settlements in the northern West Bank. They also discussed the importance of all parties refraining from actions or rhetoric that could further inflame tensions leading into the Ramadan, Passover and Easter holidays.

There was no word regarding how Herzog responded, and neither the Foreign Ministry nor the Prime Minister’s Office statement. What Herzog could have reminded Sherman, but probably did not, is that this was a decision made by the democratically elected government of Israel and passed democratically by its parliament.

Why stress that point? Because the Americans over the last several weeks have expressed concern about the judicial overhaul proposal and the democratic direction of the country. Herzog could have said, “You want democracy? Well, this is democracy.”

Yet, not every decision made democratically is wise, nor the timing particularly opportune. And this is one of those cases.

Not for nothing did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu block this type of bill from passing the Knesset in the past.

In March 2019, before the first of a cycle of five elections, then-justice minister Ayelet Shaked said that Netanyahu had blocked the cancellation of the Disengagement Law for political reasons, and that her New Right Party would work for the law’s repeal in the next coalition. The prime minister reportedly kept the bill from progressing on numerous occasions from 2015–2019 because he understood its sensitivity, including the impact in could have on his relations with Washington.

It’s a shame that Netanyahu, circa 2023, did not listen to Netanyahu, circa 2015-2019.

Had he done so, it could have spared Israel a reprimand from the US State Department which characterized the law as “provocative and counterproductive,” saying that it contradicted prior commitments given to America 20 years ago by then-prime minister Ariel Sharon, and just a few days ago by the current government.

While Israel can withstand US disapproval of one policy or another, when the disagreements come in quick succession there is a concern about accumulative impact.

The Knesset Disengagement Law comes hot on the heels of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s utterance that there is “no such thing as a Palestinian people.” And that followed his comment that Huwara should be erased. Both remarks were condemned by the US.

This is in addition to America’s stated concern about the judicial reform bill. President Joe Biden, who has pointedly not yet invited Netanyahu to the White House for a meeting, spoke with the prime minister by phone this week and, according to a US readout of that conversation, “underscore[d] his belief that democratic values have always been, and must remain, a hallmark of the US-Israel relationship, that democratic societies are strengthened by genuine checks and balances, and that fundamental changes should be pursued with the broadest possible base of popular support.”

The aggregate of all this is negative, and is coming at a time when Iran continues moving closer to the nuclear finish line and Israel will need US assistance – diplomatic or otherwise – to prevent it from crossing that line and gaining nuclear capabilities.

It is also coming as some in the Democratic Party, and not only the usual suspects of far-Left progressives, are speaking of the need to curtail aid to Israel.

For instance, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said on Sunday that Washington should condition its aid to Israel. “I think the United States needs to draw a harder line with this government,” he said in a CNN interview.

“If we’re going to continue to be in the business of supporting the Israeli government, they have to be in the continued business of a future Palestinian state.”

Even if the prime minister disagrees with these sentiments, the Netanyahu of past governments would have been attuned to them and adjusted policy accordingly.

The current Netanyahu, however, is not similarly attuned, and the result – as the summons of Herzog to the State Department attests – is bad for Israel-US ties.

Courtesy: The Jerusalem Post

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saudi-Iranian foreign ministers to meet soon

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, have agreed to meet soon and pave the way for the re-opening of embassies under a deal to re-establish ties, Saudi state news agency SPA said on Thursday.

Earlier this month, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to revive relations after years of hostility that had threatened stability and security in the Gulf and helped fuel conflicts in the Middle East from Yemen to Syria.

The ministers spoke by phone to mark the occasion of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, SPA said.

Amirabdollahian emphasized during the call Iran's readiness to strengthen relations with Saudi Arabia, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported.

The foreign ministers of the two countries agreed to meet each other as soon as possible and start preparations for the reopening of embassies and consulates, IRNA added.

The deal between the regional powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran, brokered by China, was announced after previously undisclosed talks in Beijing between top security officials from the two countries.

Analysts say both sides stand to benefit from de-escalation, as Iran seeks to undercut US efforts to isolate it in the region and Saudi Arabia tries to focus on economic development.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran in 2016 after its embassy in Tehran was stormed during a dispute between the two countries over Riyadh's execution of a Shi'ite Muslim cleric.

The kingdom also has blamed Iran for missile and drone attacks on its oil facilities in 2019 as well as attacks on tankers in Gulf waters. Iran denied those allegations.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement has also carried out cross-border missile and drone attacks into Saudi Arabia, which leads a coalition fighting the Houthis, and in 2022 extended the strikes to the United Arab Emirates.