oil news stories on Newser

To Keep Eye on Its Oil, Iraq Buys US Drones

Matt Cantor — Mon, 21 May 2012 09:57:09 CDT

Iraq is looking to America to help it monitor its oil interests—sort of. The country is buying unarmed surveillance drones from the US that will scour Iraq's Persian Gulf waters, which Iran has spoken of blockading in the past and which the majority of Iraq's oil exports flow through,...

Iran Trying to Hide Its Massive Oil Tankers

Matt Cantor — Mon, 14 May 2012 07:32:47 CDT

Oil sanctions are posing a growing problem for Iran, prompting officials to resort to some odd—and illegal—tactics. Struggling to find buyers, the country has been storing oil on tankers whose satellite systems have been turned off since early last month, thus breaking maritime rules, the Washington Post reports....

Midwest Has Oil That Equals 'World's Proven Reserves'

Neal Colgrass — Sun, 13 May 2012 15:43:31 CDT

Maybe President Bush should have invaded the Midwest instead of Iraq: Turns out that a mostly vacant area of land across Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming has about as much recoverable oil as the world's reserves combined, according to a US official. A government agency "estimates that the Green River Formation...

Libya's Ex-Oil Minister Found Floating Down Danube River

Neal Colgrass — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 16:04:06 CDT

Libya's former oil minister, who defected during the height of his country's uprising, was found floating dead down the Danube river in Austria today. Shukri Ghanem's body showed no signs of violence, although "there would be no signs of violence if someone pushed him in," said a police spokesman. "But...

Obama Clears Way for Sanctions on Iran

Dustin Lushing — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:42:49 CDT

President Obama today greenlighted sanctions designed to choke Iran's oil industry and pressure Tehran into giving up its nuclear ambitions. The decision comes after the White House established that there's enough crude oil in world markets to keep American allies steady if they reduce imports from Iran, reports AP .

Move Over, Keystone: 2 More Pipelines Planned

Kevin Spak — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:39:45 CDT

The Keystone XL pipeline may be mired in politics, but take heart, pipeline lovers: With Canadian crude oil production soaring, Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners and Calgary-based Enbridge hope to build two new pipelines to pump it to US refineries, the Wall Street Journal reports. The companies intend to build a...

Iran Cuts Off Oil Exports to 6 EU Countries

Kate Schwartz — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:27:14 CST

Iran is having quite the day: In addition to trumpeting its recent nuclear achievements, it also thumbed its nose at EU sanctions "against Iran's energy and banking sectors" by cutting off oil exports to six European countries. The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Greece, and Portugal are the affected countries, reports...

Admiral: Iran Has Suicide Boats

Mark Russell — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:20:44 CST

Iran has significantly built up its naval arsenal, adding more fast attack boats and some ships that "have been outfitted with a large warhead that could be used as a suicide explosive device," US Vice Admiral Mark Fox told reporters yesterday, according to Reuters . Iran also now has 10 small...

EU Rolls Out Embargo on Iran Oil

Matt Cantor — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:49:36 CST

The European Union today rolled out its embargo of Iranian oil, adopting the measure as what Britain's foreign secretary called "an unprecedented set of sanctions" designed to crack down on the country's nascent nuclear program. Existing contracts for crude oil and petroleum will be honored until July, but all new...