UPDATE 10-Oil up on Bernanke leaving stimulus door open

* Bernanke offers few clues on likelihood of QE3
* China seen boosting crude imports from Iran-report
* U.S. crude stocks drop, distillates up-API
* Coming up: EIA oil data 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday (Recasts, adds API data in paragraphs 16-21)

Oil Advances in New York, Reversing Earlier 1.2% Decline

Oil rose to a seven-week high on speculation that inventories fell and as a report showed U.S. industrial production increased in June.
Prices advanced as supplies probably dropped 1.3 million barrels last week, a Bloomberg survey of analysts showed. Industrial output rose 0.4 percent. Prices fell earlier as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke refrained from pledging new stimulus policies, then rebounded with equities as Bernanke said the central bank is ready to act to boost growth if labor markets don’t improve.

Oil hovers above $88 on stimulus hopes

Oil hovered above $88 a barrel Tuesday amid hopes China and the U.S. will take new steps to bolster their economies.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude was up 15 cents at $88.58 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.33 to end at $88.43 in New York on Monday.
In London, Brent crude was up $1.10 at $104.03 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Oil was underpinned by expectations that U.S. and China will do more to prop up slowing economic growth. The two countries are the world's biggest and second-biggest crude consumers. As consumers spend more and the economy strengthens, demand for oil is likely to rise.

Oil up on Bernanke leaving stimulus door open

 

By Robert Gibbons

NEW YORK | Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:31pm EDT

(Reuters) - Oil prices rose a fifth straight session on Tuesday, after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke left the door open for more monetary stimulus but gave no signal on whether the Fed was closer to such a move.

2 years later, fish sick near BP oil spill site

ARATARIA BAY, La. (AP) — Open sores. Parasitic infections. Chewed-up-looking fins. Gashes. Mysterious black streaks. Two years after the drilling-rig explosion that touched off the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, scientists are beginning to suspect that fish in the Gulf of Mexico are suffering the effects of the petroleum.

The evidence is nowhere near conclusive. But if those susp

icions prove correct, it could mean that the environmental damage to the Gulf from the BP disaster is still unfolding and the picture isn't as rosy as it might have seemed just a year ago.
And the damage may extend well beyond fish. In the past year, research has emerged showing deep-water coral, seaweed beds, dolphins, mangroves and other species of plants and animals are suffering.
"There is lots of circumstantial evidence that something is still awry," said Christopher D'Elia, dean of Louisiana State University's School of the Coast and Environment. "On the whole, it is not as much environmental damage as originally projected. Doesn't mean there is none."
Reports of strange things with fish began emerging when fishermen returned to the Gulf weeks after BP's gushing oil well was capped during the summer of 2010. They started catching grouper and red snapper with large open sores and strange black streaks, lesions they said they had never seen. They promptly blamed the spill.

Oil Declines as U.S. Jobless Claims, Home Sales Miss Esti

Oil declined in New York as more Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits and sales of previously owned homes fell, adding to concern that the U.S. recovery is stalling.

Futures dropped 0.4 percent after the Labor Department said jobless claims decreased by 2,000 to 386,000 last week. The median forecast of 47 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 370,000. Purchases fell 2.6 percent to a 4.48 million annual rate from 4.6 million in February, the National Association of Realtors reported in Washington.
“The jobless claims combined with the housing numbers are evidence that the economy is still struggling a bit,” said Phil Flynn, vice president of research at futures brokerage PFGBest in Chicago. “The economy is growing but it’s very uneven.”
Crude oil for May delivery declined 40 cents to $102.27 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest settlement since April 10. Prices are down 5.4 percent from a year ago.
Brent oil for June settlement increased 3 cents to end the session at $118 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.
The European benchmark contract’s front-month premium to New York-traded West Texas Intermediate for June delivery widened for a second day, reaching $15.28. The spread narrowed to $14.14 on April 17 based on settlement prices, the lowest level since Feb. 1.

Iran oil minister warns of new sale cuts to Europe Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/04/19/iran-oil-minister-warns-new-sale-cuts-to-europe/#ixzz1sbHQbrp1

TEHRAN, Iran –  Iran's oil minister on Thursday raised the prospect of more cutoffs in oil sales to the European Union if the bloc failed to show some flexibility toward Iran ahead of a second round of nuclear talks next month.
Oil Minister Rostam Ghasemi said that while Iran has cut sales to Britain and France, it continues selling crude to "other countries" in the world. The remarks were likely to stir up confusion since they appeared to contradict earlier government statements that Tehran had also cut exports to Greece and Spain.

Texas oil and gas boom may help ease state budget crunch

The combined forces of high oil prices and improved drilling technology have produced a gush of unexpected tax dollars from oil and gas wells across Texas.
Six months into the state's budget year, taxes paid on natural gas production are up 73 percent over the same period last year, while revenue from the oil production tax is up 49 percent.
Together, oil and gas taxes so far have brought in a total of $1.8 billion. That amounts to $684 million more than in the first half of last year, which was a blockbuster year in itself with $2.6 billion in oil and gas tax revenues.

Texas oil and gas boom may help ease state budget crunch

The combined forces of high oil prices and improved drilling technology have produced a gush of unexpected tax dollars from oil and gas wells across Texas.
Six months into the state's budget year, taxes paid on natural gas production are up 73 percent over the same period last year, while revenue from the oil production tax is up 49 percent.
Together, oil and gas taxes so far have brought in a total of $1.8 billion. That amounts to $684 million more than in the first half of last year, which was a blockbuster year in itself with $2.6 billion in oil and gas tax revenues.

The big picture: Oil tax reform justified by information at hand Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - The big picture Oil tax reform justified by information at hand

The Alaska Legislature does not need a better microscope to see what’s wrong with the state’s oil tax system. The problem is best seen with the numerous wide-angle lenses already available.

During recent debates in Juneau, some legislators noted that the state Department of Revenue has not completed highly detailed, final audits of oil company tax payments from the past few years. Without that information, they assert, the state should not lower oil taxes in an effort to attract more reinvestment in Alaska’s oil patch.