Protesters to be expelled
CANNON BALL: North Dakota’s governor ordered the expulsion of thousands of Native American and environmental activists camped on federal property near an oil pipeline project they are trying to halt, citing hazards posed by harsh weather as a blizzard bore down on the area. The "emergency evacuation" order from Governor Jack Dalrymple came days after the US Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the site, set a December 5 deadline for the demonstrators to vacate their encampment, about 45 miles (72 km) south of Bismarck, the state capital. The Army Corps has insisted, however, that it has no plans to forcibly remove protesters, many of them members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The agency instead urged a "peaceful and orderly transition to a safer location."
Goldman says oil prices to rise
NEW YORK: Goldman Sachs said in a research note dated it expected oil prices to rise to the low $50s per barrel in the event of producer group Opec reaching an agreement to cut production at a meeting in Vienna scheduled for November 30. Markets were on edge ahead of the meeting of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) as there remained disagreement among members over which producers should cut and by how much. At an assumed cut to 32.5 million barrels per day, Goldman Sachs told clients in the note the Brent market was pricing in a 30 per cent probability of a deal being reached, with a $6 per barrel move the implied volatility.
Idemitsu JV plans to expand LPG use
TOKYO: Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan said its joint venture with Mitsui Chemicals would conduct work to expand the processing of propane at Idemitsu’s naphtha cracker to take advantage of cheap liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices. The work will be carried out next autumn, Idemitsu said in a statement.
The upgrade will boost the cracker’s capacity to process propane as feedstock by three or four times, said Hideki Gotoh, deputy general manager of Idemitsu’s petrochemical business. He declined to give the current capacity. He added that Idemitsu would pay the costs for the upgrade, without giving a figure. The cracker will take advantage of its location next to the LPG import facility in Idemitsu’s Chiba refinery. It will mainly rely on LPG imports for feedstock rather than a small quantity of LPG produced at the plant, officials said.
