Written by rjs, MarketWatch 666
This is part 3 of this week’s market and economic data review. Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here.
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Endocrine Activity of Air Pollutants from Marcellus Drilling & Fracking – In the last decade unconventional oil and gas (UOG) extraction has rapidly proliferated throughout the United States (US) and the world. This occurred largely because of the development of directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing which allows access to fossil fuels from geologic formations that were previously not cost effective to pursue. This process is known to use greater than 1,000 chemicals such as solvents, surfactants, detergents, and biocides. In addition, a complex mixture of chemicals, including heavy metals, naturally-occurring radioactive chemicals, and organic compounds are released from the formations and can enter air and water. Compounds associated with UOG activity have been linked to adverse reproductive and developmental outcomes in humans and laboratory animal models, which is possibly due to the presence of endocrine active chemicals. Using systematic methods, electronic searches of PubMed and Web of Science were conducted to identify studies that measured chemicals in air near sites of UOG activity. Records were screened by title and abstract, relevant articles then underwent full text review, and data were extracted from the studies. A list of chemicals detected near UOG sites was generated. Then, the potential endocrine activity of the most frequently detected chemicals was explored via searches of literature from PubMed. Evaluation of 48 studies that sampled air near sites of UOG activity identified 106 chemicals detected in two or more studies. Ethane, benzene and n-pentane were the top three most frequently detected. Twenty-one chemicals have been shown to have endocrine activity including estrogenic and androgenic activity and the ability to alter steroidogenesis. Literature also suggested that some of the air pollutants may affect reproduction, development, and neurophysiological function, all endpoints which can be modulated by hormones. These chemicals included aromatics (i.e., benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene), several polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and mercury.
Tree-Sitters Launch 9th Aerial Blockade of Mountain Valley Pipeline – Resistance is growing against the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) designed to carry fracked gas 300 miles from northwest West Virginia to southern Virginia. On Monday morning, a woman named Fern MacDougal strung up a platform 30 feet in the air that is suspended by ropes tied to surrounding trees in Virginia’s Jefferson National Forest. MacDougal is now the ninth person in the last 85 days to stage tree-sits across the pipeline route in order to block its construction, according to Appalachians Against Pipelines. Her “aerial blockade,” as the resistance group calls it, is located on Pocahontas Road, which Mountain Valley plans to use to reach a construction site. Opponents of the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline, whose route cuts through one of the country’s most iconic hiking trails , worry about its threat to the area’s water supply and to wildlife habitat, as well as its potential harm to recreational lands and the health of surrounding Appalachian communities. Environmental groups also warn that the project sets a terrible precedent of building energy infrastructure through national forests. “Cutting through delicate karst topography and 300 miles of contiguous forest and family farms seized by eminent domain, MVP threatens to damage the health and wellbeing of poor and oppressed communities along the pipeline route by threatening the air, soil and water,” said MacDougal in a statement. She added, “This pipeline will catalyze the growth and expansion of gas extraction across Appalachia, an industry which has already caused permanent harm to many communities. We are dedicated to resisting this reckless endangerment of the land and people as long as MVP continues to operate.” MacDougal was inspired to follow the activism of a fellow tree-sitter named “Nutty,” who has protested from her monopod a few miles up Pocahontas road since March 28, and by David Buckel , a civil rights lawyer who died last month after setting himself on fire to protest environmental destruction.
Pipeline protester known as ‘Nutty’ has come down from her pole in Giles County – On her 57th day perched atop a pole, a Mountain Valley Pipeline protester decided to come down Wednesday. Known publicly only as “Nutty,” the woman wrote in a Facebook post that she ran out of food several days ago and was forced to leave her position on a small platform suspended from a 50-foot pole blocking a construction access road in the Jefferson National Forest.Law enforcement officers with the U.S. Forest Service had prevented the woman’s supporters on the ground from providing her with food and water since early April. “We knew it couldn’t last forever,” Nutty wrote in a post to the Facebook page of Appalachians Against Pipelines. “That’s how this works.”When the blockade was erected March 28 in the middle of Pocahontas Road in Giles County, organizers said they hoped to prevent construction crews from using the road to reach the top of Peters Mountain, where plans call for the buried natural gas pipeline to pass under the Appalachian Trial. Even with Nutty gone, the road remains blocked.On Monday, a second aerial blockade went up. Fern MacDougal is camped out on a platform suspended about 30 feet high from ropes strung across the road, about a mile farther up the mountain from where the first roadblock stood.“If we rely on one location, one tactic, or one group of people to stop this pipeline, we will fail,” Nutty wrote. “But we’re not. I know that as this one facet of the struggle draws to conclusion, more people in other places are gaining momentum. The fire has already caught; we must not let it die.” According to Appalachians Against Pipelines, the woman came down under her own power, was taken to a hospital to be checked out, and was given a citation to appear in court on charges that include blocking a road that had been closed earlier by the Forest Service.
Mountain Valley Pipeline Construction is One Muddy Mess – State regulators have put a stop to construction of part of the Mountain Valley Pipeline swamped by a rainstorm, saying work cannot continue until proper erosion control measures are established.Crews were using heavy equipment to cut trees and clear land along the natural gas pipeline’s right of way in Franklin County when heavy rains Thursday night and Friday morning swept away much of the soil they had unearthed.Both lanes of nearby Cahas Mountain Road were covered by up to eight inches of mud. “It’s clearly unacceptable,” Ann Regn, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, said Sunday.According to both DEQ and Mountain Valley officials, none of the mudflow reached streams, where it could have done the most damage. Nonetheless, the agency is investigating how check dams and other erosion control measures failed to prevent the mess. Environmental regulators received several calls last week, before the rain started, from members of the public who were concerned that heavy equipment being used to remove trees and clear a 125-foot swath for pipeline construction was exposing the land to potential runoff problems. Although Mountain Valley crews had erosion control devices in place, “there were some things that completely disappeared” after the rains, including concrete barriers, Regn said. Opponents have predicted that building a 303-mile buried pipeline along steep mountain slopes will dislodge sediment, which can contaminate private wells and public water supplies if it is allowed to enter nearby streams and wetlands.
Army Corps of Engineers suspends parts of Mountain Valley Pipeline permit – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has indefinitely suspended parts of nationwide permit 12 for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) just a day after an environmental coalition sued them in federal court for a stay on the project.According to a news release from the Sierra Club, who is part of the coalition, the move also comes after a direct request was sent to the Corps on May 15.In its suit, the environmental coalition alleges that MVP construction across the Elk, Gauley, Greenbrier and Meadows rivers could not be completed in time restrictions implemented in the permit.While the permit from the Corps does not include a time limit, it requires state input and approval to move forward.In the permit granted to MVP, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection added the stipulation that construction across the waterways in the route of the pipeline must be completed in 72 continuous hours.With MVP’s permit now partially suspended, the Sierra Club’s release said that the belief is that the interests of MVP may have to seek out individual permits for each crossing.“The suspension means MVP may have to seek individual permits for those four crossings,” the release reads. “However, advocates for clean air and water say that the Corps’s action falls short of what they have asked a federal appeals court for because it lacks a commitment to wait for the federal court to rule and does not apply to all of the pipeline’s stream crossings.”According to the Sierra Club, the pipeline the 300-mile long pipeline crosses waterways in West Virginia and Virginia more than 1,000 times. “These four stream crossings signal one big problem – the Corps’ slipshod approach to overseeing this project. West Virginians deserve thoughtful permitting, not thoughtless rubber-stamped approvals,”
Tokyo Gas receives first LNG cargo from Cove Point – Japan’s largest city gas provider, Tokyo Gas, on Monday received the country’s first long-term delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from U.S. shale producers through its 20-year contract with Dominion Energy, Kallanish Energy reports. The 70,000-ton cargo left Cove Point last month, passed through the Panama Canal, and arrived at Tokyo Gas’ Negishi LNG terminal, at the Yokohama port, on board of the LNG Sakura early on May 21. The volume unloaded is equivalent to the annual gas supply of 220,000 households, Tokyo Gas said, in a statement. The recently completed Cove Point terminal is a “premier facility” in Maryland, giving customers direct access to the Marcellus and Utica shale plays – two of the most prolific natural gas basins in North America. Through the joint-venture, Cove Point, Tokyo Gas, Sumitomo and Gail, have each contracted for half of the marketed capacity. The JV has committed to purchasing 2.3 million tons per annum (MTPA) from Cove Point, of which 1.4 MTPA is to be delivered to Tokyo Gas.
Cheniere Moves Ahead With Corpus Christi LNG Expansion (Reuters) – Cheniere Energy Inc said on Tuesday it had approved the construction of a third liquefaction unit, known as a train, at its Corpus Christi export terminal in Texas, the first new liquefied natural gas project to go ahead in the United States since 2015.The Houston-based company said it will instruct its contractors to proceed with the full build, which started in a limited fashion in late 2017. The first two trains at Corpus Christi are expected to enter service next year. The positive investment decision comes just days after the White House and China said a U.S. trade team would travel to China to explore new energy deals, prompting company executives to note that China could increase LNG imports to reduce its trade surplus with United States.
Steps toward making Louisiana a crude-exporting powerhouse, part 2. – The sharp increase in U.S. crude oil exports over the past couple of years is tied primarily to Texas ports – mostly Corpus Christi and the Houston Ship Channel. Louisiana, a distant second in the crude-exports race, has a long list of positive attributes, including the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) – the only U.S. port currently capable of fully loading the Very Large Crude Carriers that many international shippers favor. It also has mammoth crude storage, blending and distribution hubs at Clovelly (near the coast, connected to LOOP) and St. James (up the Mississippi). In addition, St. James is the trading center for benchmark Light Louisiana Sweet, a desirable blend for refiners. The catch is that almost all of the existing pipelines at Clovelly flow inland – away from LOOP – many of them north to St. James. That means infrastructure development is needed to reverse these flows southbound from St. James before LOOP can really take off as an export center. Today, we continue a blog series on Louisiana’s changing focus toward the crude export market and the future of regional benchmark LLS.
How Enbridge Helped Write Minnesota Pipeline Laws, Aiding Its Line 3 Battle Today – The Minnesota section of Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline accounts for nearly 300 miles of the longest crude oil transport system in the world, and it is failing. The multi-billion-dollar transnational corporation has applied for a permit to replace it. Opposition from tribes in the region and environmental groups is slowing the project, but the process at times appears so tilted in Enbridge’s favor that, watching the court battles and utility commission meetings, it almost feels like Enbridge wrote the rules.At one point in its application to build the new Line 3, Enbridge listed all the federal and state laws that regulate the permitting and construction of pipelines . Nearly all the Minnesota laws originated in one 1987 Senate bill: S.F. 90 .This bill was accompanied by unprecedented pipeline industry lobbying – led in spending by Enbridge – and included subtle but major handouts to pipeline companies. One such provision imposes a sweeping limit on the public’s ability to oppose new pipelines, including the Line 3 replacement project. According to environmental lawyer Paul Blackburn, one of the largest barriers to pipeline regulation is actually the federal Pipeline Safety Act, which preempts most state regulations. He called the law “a beautiful example of how to appear to regulate something without actually regulating it at all.”Still, Blackburn said there are ways for states to regulate pipelines, with some of the most powerful being zoning, permitting, and routing laws. However, S.F. 90 includes industry-friendly language that undercuts these and other potential regulations. The bill allowed pipeline operators to classify their own data after a spill, making it inaccessible to the public.
Pipeline officials: Oklahoma City neighborhood safe after crude oil spill – Company officials say residents in a northwest Oklahoma City neighborhood do not need to be concerned after a crude oil spill earlier this month.On May 10, Oklahoma City firefighters and hazmat crews were called to the 16900 block of N. Pennsylvania Ave. following reports of a yellow liquid spewing from the ground near an oil well site. Authorities were able to determine that a pipeline had ruptured and was releasing raw crude oil into the air.TAC 4: This is what the raw crude oil looked like when firefighters arrived earlier in the 16900 block of N Pennsylvania. This is all taken care of now. Cleanup will begin soon. pic.twitter.com/g0ZYwiDd0L After the spill was contained, residents in the SilverHawk neighborhood began assessing the mess left behind.“You can see the pipe up here on the roof, you can see the film all over the windows and it’s kind of, it’s an oily substance,” Kevin Mashburn told News 4 as he wiped his hand across his window.Officials with the Oklahoma Corporation Commission say about 15 barrels of oil were sent into the air, and settled on more than 220 homes and lawns in the area.
Trump Administration proposes to sell protected land in Arizona for fracking – The Trump Administration has announced a proposal to sell 4,200 acres of public, protected land in northernArizona for oil and gas development. The area in question crosses the Little Colorado River and is located only three miles from Petrified Forest National Park. It also is close to the habitat for the Little Colorado spinedace, a threatened species of fish. Oil and gas industrial activity, such as fracking, could also threaten the groundwater in the Little Colorado River Basin, potentially affecting drinking water. In September, the Bureau of Land Management is planning to auction the land to the highest bidder, without sufficient environmental and public review. The Center for Biological Diversity is pushing back against the Trump Administration as it advances its pro-industry agenda. “This dangerous plan puts national parks, precious groundwater and wildlife in the crosshairs. We’ll do everything we can to stop it,” said Taylor McKinnon at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Fracking is a dirty, dangerous business that consumes enormous amounts of water and threatens wildlife and public health. Northern Arizonans won’t tolerate public lands being sacrificed as gifts from Trump to the fossil fuel industry.” Under guidelines issued in January 2018 by the Trump Administration, the Bureau of Land Management has made several assumptions in its approval process and has delayed any detailed analysis until the drilling permit stage. At that point, the site will already have been sold for oil and gas development. “Fracking or drilling development could be catastrophic for the region’s groundwater,” McKinnon said. “This is Trump’s energy dominance policy at work, where nothing matters except fossil-fuel interests.”
The United States is a net energy importer from Canada – EIA – Canada is the largest energy trading partner of the United States, based on the combined value of energy exports and imports. Although the value of bilateral energy trade with Canada has varied over the past decade, driven primarily by changes in the prices of oil and natural gas, the overall structure of bilateral energy trade flows has changed relatively little, with the value of U.S. energy imports from Canada consistently exceeding the value of U.S. energy exports to Canada by a large margin. Increasing energy commodity prices in 2017 led to growth in the value of both exports to and imports from Canada. Based on the latest annual data from the U.S. Census Bureau, energy accounted for $18 billion, or about 6%, of the value of all U.S. exports to Canada. Energy accounted for $73 billion, or about 24%, of the value of all U.S. imports from Canada in 2017, up from 19% in 2016. Canada is the main source of U.S. energy imports and the second-largest destination for U.S. energy exports behind only Mexico. Crude oil accounts for most U.S. energy imports from Canada, averaging 3.4 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2017. Canada is the largest source of U.S. crude oil imports, providing 43% of total U.S. crude oil imports in 2017. The value of U.S. crude oil imports depends on both volume and price. In 2017, the value of U.S. imports of Canadian crude oil increased, reaching $50 billion, as a result of both an increase in oil prices and an increase in volume. Canadian crude oil imported by the United States is largely produced in Alberta and consists mainly of heavy grades shipped primarily to the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions. Until the removal of restrictions on exporting U.S. crude oil in December 2015, virtually all U.S. crude oil exports went to Canada. Since the United States began exporting more crude oil to other countries, Canada’s share of U.S. crude oil exports has fallen, although Canada still remains the largest destination for U.S. crude oil exports.
For sale: stalled pipeline project, protesters included – Justin Trudeau’s pipeline nightmare may be only getting started. As Kinder Morgan Inc. drives a hard bargain in Canada’s attempt to save the Houston-based company’s embattled Trans Mountain project, the prime minister could end up fighting for an asset that hardly anybody wants. Pipeline giant Enbridge Inc., for one, signaled it doesn’t. Trudeau’s government upped the ante this week, with Finance Minister Bill Morneau pledging to indemnify the C$7.4 billion ($5.8 billion) project for politically motivated delays and backstop any company willing to take it on. Trudeau said “there are alternatives if Kinder Morgan” decides it wants out.Alberta’s oil sands are a crucial part of Canada’s economy and the expanded pipeline to British Columbia’s shore could help get better prices for the country’s crude in Asia. But finding an alternative investor in the face of fierce opposition in the coastal province would be easier said than done, according to Jihad Traya, manager of strategic energy advisory services for HSB Solomon Associates LLC in Calgary. “I’m a little perplexed,” Traya said, adding that any attempt to sell the project would be very cumbersome. “So, what part are they going to take over? The expansion? And then, that creates some very interesting intra-agency issues.” Kinder, which is set to decide by the end of the month whether to abandon the project because of the heated political battle over its construction, was lukewarm in its response to Morneau’s public comment as talks with the government continue. Chief Executive Officer Steve Kean said that “while the discussions are ongoing, we are not yet in alignment and will not negotiate in public.”
Government announces plan to accelerate fracking developments by fast-tracking private companies’ planning applications – New plans to accelerate fracking development have been released by the government, amid accusations that the move will harm the environment and local communities. Proposed changes to the planning process could put an area nearly the size of Wales at immediate risk of drilling.The measures are intended to speed up planning applications and make decisions “faster and fairer” for all those involved. Greg Clark, the business, energy and industrial strategy secretary, and James Brokenshire, the housing and communities secretary, issued a joint statement in which they reiterated the government’s position on the importance of “safe and sustainable exploration and development of our onshore shale gas”. The government said it will streamline and improve the regulation process for fracking planning applications so decisions are made faster, describing recent decisions as “disappointingly slow”. Other measures proposed include a £1.6m shale support fund for local authorities and a consultation on whether exploration wells could be drilled without seeking a planning application.Campaigners said the latter move would “pervert the planning process” and open nearly 18,000 square kilometres of England’s countryside up to “cowboy” operations.
Russia Tightens Grip on Europe’s Gas With Gazprom Deal — Russia’s natural gas export monopoly is set to expand its position as the dominant fuel supplier to Europe after a deal between the two resolved a seven-year-old anti-trust dispute. The agreement between Gazprom PJSC and the European Commission gives gas buyers more flexibility in handling imports and greater leverage to push for lower prices. That’s likely to make flows from Russia more attractive than alternatives such as expensive new links to fields at Europe’s southeast corner or tanker shipments of liquefied natural gas. Easing tensions with Russia will make it more difficult for countries from the Middle East and Americas to get a piece of Europe’s lucrative energy market, where gas is trading at roughly double the level prevailing in the U.S. Cheaper supplies on more flexible terms also makes it more difficult for Europe to broaden its sources of energy to reduce the risk of a cutoff from any one of them, an idea that President Donald Trump’s administration has been pressing.“Gazprom knows that Europe will always represent its key market, it knows that it’s very difficult to diversify away from Europe,” said Simone Tagliapietra, analyst at the Bruegel research group in Brussels. “If the Russian gas becomes cheaper, U.S. LNG will be less competitive if the U.S. is not able to cut down the price.” Europe relies on Russia for about a third of its gas, and Gazprom’s shipments to the continent reached a record a last year and are only expected to grow. In recent weeks, as the weather warms and demand for heating eases, the pipeline company is shipping in supplies of the fuel to replenish depleted storage sites at rates that are more typical for a hard winter.
Race on to boost gas supply to Australia’s east coast (Reuters) – A pipeline across Australia and gas imports from as far away as the United States are on the drawing board as the country races to plug a domestic supply gap that is driving up east coast gas prices and threatening jobs. Although Australia is the world’s No. 2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter, much of its east coast gas is tied up in long-term export contracts while mainstay supplies in the populated southeast are drying up more quickly than expected. Imports will be needed within four years, warn industry executives and experts, which means gas prices that have more than doubled in the past three years aren’t going to fall and could even rise another 50 percent to match global spot prices. “Some people still find the import of LNG to what is meant to be an energy superpower absurd, and they have a point, it does seem very weird,” said Tennant Reed, national public policy adviser at the Australian Industry Group. The government is under fire from angry household gas users and industry, particularly big gas users such as petrochemical and fertilizer manufacturers which have warned that high prices are making some businesses uncompetitive. Coal seam gas from Queensland, which now supplies around 30 percent of the east coast market, costs around A$6 ($4.50) a gigajoule (GJ) to produce, then has to be piped at a cost of around A$1.85-A$2.45 per GJ, which has driven up gas prices to well above A$8. Shortages will grow from 2022 due to a steep output decline in the main gas field that has supplied southern Australia for five decades, the Australian Energy Market Operator has warned. In the longer term, gas is expected to flow from developments around the country, including more coal seam gas from Queensland, new finds off the coast of Victoria, and shale gas from the Northern Territory, but these are years from development.
Train Carrying 250,000 Liters of Fuel Derails on Kenyan Coast – A cargo train carrying 250,000 liters (66,000 gallons) of super petroleum , or unleaded gasoline, derailed off its tracks after taking a sharp turn along Kenya’s eastern coast, forcing the closure of a major highway over the weekend, according to local reports.The accident occurred early Sunday in Kibarani in Mombasa County, and prompted authorities to completely close off Makupa Causeway, the main link between the mainland and Mombasa Island, fearing a fire would break out after spillage of the highly flammable liquid, The Star, Kenya reported.Thousands of commuters were left stranded until the highway was reopened Monday after experts determined the area was safe. No injuries were reported and the exact cause of the derailment is not yet determined.The 16-wagon Kenya Railways train was headed towards Nairobi and was carrying fuel for Vivo Energy.Maritime and Shipping Affairs Principal Secretary Nancy Karigithu said about 3,000 liters (790 gallons) leaked from the impacted wagons. Authorities have contained the fuel with foam and coolant, she said.”The leakage came from two wagons, one of them was profuse. Luckily enough, no oil was spilled into the ocean ,” Karigithu said, as quoted by The Star, Kenya. Karigithu added that experts are working to ensure the fuel does not enter the ocean and affect the marine system.
Iran Tensions Send Oil Spiking Again – Oil prices rose on Monday after the U.S. announced a bellicose list of demands on Iran, leaving little chance of a new accord. Oil prices were up “specifically because of Pompeo’s speech,” Thomas Pugh, commodities economist at Capital Economics, told the Wall street Journal. “It certainly looks like the U.S. is going to go as hard as possible on sanctions and try their best to make it hurt.”. On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a long list of extreme demands on Iran as prerequisites for a new deal, without offering any concessions or carrots. The demands include stopping all uranium enrichment activity and also stopping all support for militants in the Middle East. Unsurprisingly, Iran immediately rejected the demands. Pompeo’s speech was clearly not designed to reach an understanding between the two countries, and it puts the U.S. and Iran on track for more confrontation. America’s top diplomat also signaled that there would be little leeway granted to European companies seeking to do business with Iran. . Iran is leaning on the EU to make euro-denominated purchases of Iranian oil as a way to avoid U.S. sanctions. Iran says Europe’s effort to rescue the nuclear deal is so far insufficient. On Monday, the Trump administration barred the purchase and sale of Venezuelan government debt, including new debt issued by PDVSA and the central bank. The U.S. held off on sanctions on oil sales for now, but a State Department official said those measures were “under active review.” Venezuela might avoid being hit by those harsher measures because oil prices have climbed to three-year highs. “I really don’t think they will ban imports in this price environment,” David Goldwyn, president of Goldwyn Global Strategies and a former special envoy for international energy affairs under the Obama administration, told S&P Global Platts. OPEC is reportedly watching Venezuela’s plunging oil production, which could force the group to tweak its output limits at the upcoming meeting in Vienna. “Maybe, if the market is tight, there will be a need to make some adjustment,” one OPEC delegate told Reuters.
‘Plan B’: Tehran Gives European Powers One Week to Salvage Nuclear Deal – The Western European signatories to the Iran nuclear deal have until next Friday to provide Tehran with concrete proposals to offset the consequences of the US decision to pull out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a senior Iranian official said. “To be honest with you, we are not confident,” the official said, speaking to reporters before the start of Friday’s talks with representatives from Iran, Russia, China, the UK, France and Germany on how Tehran might mitigate the financial and economic impact of Washington’s withdrawal from the JCPOA.”We expect the (economic) package to be given to us by the end of May,” the official noted, according to Reuters. “I’m sorry to say that we haven’t seen Plan B yet. Plan B has just started to be figured out.” According to the official, European measures to encourage Tehran to remain committed to the nuclear deal would need to include guarantees concerning the continuation of Iranian oil exports, as well as guarantees about access to the SWIFT international bank payments system. Earlier Friday, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi confirmed that Tehran still had to make a decision on the JCPOA. “The European countries should tell us how they would be able to secure Iran’s interests in the JCPOA in the absence of the United States and with the return of the country’s sanctions,” he said. The JCPOA was signed in 2015 by Iran, the US, Russia, China, France, the UK, Germany and the European Union. President Trump’s decision to pull out of the deal was met with condemnation from the other signatories, which are concerned that the United States may be pushing the Middle East into a nuclear arms race.
OPEC Sends Oil Prices Crashing – Oil prices plunged in early trading on Friday on news that OPEC and its partners, including Russia, are considering a loosening of their production limits (more below). Both WTI and Brent fell by more than 3 percent Friday morning. Saudi Arabia and Russia are in discussions about raising their production limits, perhaps adding as much as 1 million barrels per day to the market. The group could announce a change in Vienna next month. The steep losses from Venezuela meant that OPEC’s compliance with the cuts surpassed 150 percent last month. The idea would be to bring compliance back down to 100 percent, which would mean allowing members to produce more to offset Venezuela’s declines. Nothing is finalized yet and the talks will continue for the next few weeks. Oil prices sank on the news. U.S. oil exports hit a new record at 2.6 million barrels per day two weeks ago, but have dipped since then. Most analysts see exports continuing to rise, particularly with WTI trading at a steep $8-per-barrel discount relative to Brent. However, there are concerns that U.S. port infrastructure won’t be able to handle much higher levels of exports. Export capacity data isn’t tracked and the exact capacity is not known, although it is thought to be around 3.5 mb/d. As of now, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) is the only Gulf Coast port that can handle very large crude carriers (VLCCs). “So far, export capacity is keeping pace, but we are walking a tightrope,” Bernadette Johnson, vice president at DrillingInfo, told Reuters. BP said it will slash 3 percent of its workforce in its upstream unit this year, eliminating more than 500 positions. The oil giant said the move was done in the name of efficiency and competitiveness. Industry veteran Mark Papa, CEO of Centennial Resource Development and former head of EOG Resources says that the growth projections for U.S. shale are overly optimistic. Papa says growth disappointed last year and would continue to undershoot expectations, largely because the best sites have already been drilled. In the Eagle Ford and the Bakken “my estimate is that about 70% of the good quality drilling locations have already been drilled,” Papa said, according to S&P Global Platts.
The Crown Prince of Riyadh vs. the Crown Prince of Jihad: Al-Qaeda Responds to Mohammed Bin Salman’s Reforms – Mohammed bin Salman, the 32-year-old crown prince of Saudi Arabia, recently wrapped up a highly touted and well-choreographed tour of the West, during which he appeared with prime-time television journalists, celebrities, business leaders, and presidents. Major media outlets seemed to unquestionably portray the royal descendant as a forward-looking reformer on a courageous crusade to “transform the Middle East.” There was dissent, of course. MBS, as he has come to be called, was met by pockets of protestors from Washington, D.C., to London, Paris, and Madrid. Human rights activists and organizations expressed concern over issues such as the prince’s role in the Yemen conflict, which has been dubbed the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” and his repression of dissidence. Yet a more dangerous reaction to Salman’s charm offensive has come from someone with a comparable pedigree. Al-Qaeda has been seeking to exploit domestic skepticism of the prince’s modernization efforts, which are aimed at changing the way the country engages with gender, culture, religion, and the economy. The jihadi organization hopes to foment a backlash that helps it to better position Hamza bin Laden, son of Osama, as heir to his father’s throne and to continue a longstanding feud between al-Qaeda and the House of Saud. These efforts, if successful, will pit the reformist ambitions of the crown prince of Riyadh against the revolutionary Salafi-jihadism promoted by the crown prince of jihad. This war of two princely visions may shape the future of the Middle East. Al-Qaeda is positioning itself to reclaim the mantle of jihad from ISIL and to reassert itself through a more population-focused and long-term strategy. If Salman’s reforms fall short or fail, al-Qaeda will seek to fill the void with a jihadist alternative that will have greater resonance, just as it did after the failure of the Arab Spring. The United States should not be fooled by the cosmetic reforms that MBS is promoting. The roots of extremism in Saudi Arabia run deeper, and HBL and his associates in al-Qaeda have been able to target these points of weakness through their own counter-propaganda offensive.
The Gaza Massacre. Western Governments Complicit in Crimes against Humanity — This week, 61 killed and over 770 wounded: Palestinian civilians were targeted by IDF snipers with live ammunition. Not a single Western country has sofar ordered the expulsion of Israeli diplomats in protest over the mass killings of Palestinian civilians by IDF snipers. A crime against humanity under international law is casually dismissed. Double standards is an understatement: Flashback to early March 2018. When the Skripal affair broke out in the U.K., the Kremlin was accused without evidence of poisoning double agent Peter Skripal and his daughter Yulia, with the deadly novichok nerve gas. Pressured by London and Washington, more than twenty Western countries ordered the expulsion of more than 100 Russian diplomats. In the meantime the Skripals have fully recovered. Nobody was killed. In contrast, following the Gaza massacre, not a single Israeli diplomat has been expelled from the member states of the European Union. “Israel has the right to defend itself”, says US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. No UN member “would act with more restraint than Israel has.” said US Ambassador to the UN Nicki Halley.The lie becomes the truth. These statements are tantamount to an endorsement of crimes against humanity by the self-proclaimed “international community”.And the corporate media applauds. Palestinians are tagged as terrorists. While the Skripal affair was the object of extensive (invariably biased) coverage largely with a view to upholding Theresa May’s baseless accusations against Russia, the reports pertaining to the Gaza killings largely uphold the notion that “Israel has the right to defend itself”. The broader issue of crimes against humanity under international law is barely mentioned. What we are facing is the political acceptance of the Gaza massacre which is tantamount to the criminalization of the Western governments which represent us.
Erdogan calls on Muslim countries to unite and confront Israel – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Muslim leaders to unite and confront Israel, days after scores of Palestinians were killed by Israeli snipers as they marked 70 years of Israeli occupation. Speaking at an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Friday, Erdogan said Israel should be held accountable over the killings which drew widespread international condemnation and triggered a wave of protests from Asia, through the Middle East, to North Africa.”To take action for Palestinians massacred by Israeli bandits is to show the whole world that humanity is not dead,” Erdogan told the group of Muslim leaders gathered in Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul. The Turkish president described Israel’s killing of Palestinians as “thuggery, atrocity and state terror,” and said the US’ recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would inevitably haunt it.
China Considers Ending Birth Limits as Soon as This Year– China is planning to scrap all limits on the number of children a family can have, according to people familiar with the matter, in what would be a historic end to a policy that spurred countless human-rights abuses and left the world’s second-largest economy short of workers.The State Council, China’s cabinet, has commissioned research on the repercussions of ending the country’s roughly four-decade-old policy and intends to enact the change nationwide, said the people, who asked not to be named while discussing government deliberations. The leadership wants to reduce the pace of aging in China’s population and remove a source of international criticism, one of the people said.Proposals under discussion would replace the population-control policy with one called “independent fertility,” allowing people to decide how many children to have, the person said. The decision could be made as soon as the fourth quarter, the second person said, adding that the announcement might also be pushed into 2019.”It’s late for China to remove birth limits even within this year but it’s better than never,” said Chen Jian, a former division chief at the National Family Planning Commission, who’s now a vice president of the China Society of Economic Reform. “Scrapping birth limits will have little effect on the tendency of China’s declining births.” The policy change would close the book on one of the largest social experiments in human history, which left the world’s most-populous country with a rapidly aging population and 30 million more men than women. The policies have forced generations of Chinese parents to pay fines, submit to abortions or raise children in the shadows. The U.S. and other Western nations have criticized the coercive measures required to enforce the birth limits, including steep fines, sterilization and forced abortions. The 2015 shift toward a two-child policy was part of a gradual effort to loosen the birth limits over the years as China’s working-age population began to wane.
China lands nuclear strike-capable bombers on South China Sea islands – China’s air force has landed bombers on islands and reefs in the South China Sea as part of a training exercise in the disputed region, it said in a statement. Several bombers of various types – including the long-range, nuclear strike-capable H-6K – carried out landing and take off drills at an unidentified island airfield after carrying out simulated strike training on targets at sea, the Chinese airforce said. “A division of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) recently organised multiple bombers such as the H-6K to conduct take-off and landing training on islands and reefs in the South China Sea in order to improve our ability to ‘reach all territory, conduct strikes at any time and strike in all directions’,” it said. The statement said the pilot of the H-6K bomber conducted assault training on a designated sea target and then carried out take-offs and landings at an airport in the area, describing the exercise as preparation for “the west Pacific and the battle for the South China Sea”. The notice, published on the PLAAF’s Weibo microblogging account, did not provide the precise location of the exercise. The US has dispatched warships to disputed areas of the South China Sea in a bid to challenge China’s extensive sovereignty claims in the territory, which is also subject to claims by Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia. The waters are vital global shipping routes and contain what are believed to be significant oil and natural gas deposits.
Taiwan sends aircraft to shadow Chinese bombers around island (Reuters) – Taiwan’s air force scrambled aircraft on Friday as Chinese bombers flew around the self-ruled island, just a few hours after Taiwan vowed not to be cowed having lost another diplomatic ally amid growing Chinese pressure.Taiwan is China’s most sensitive territorial issue and a potential dangerous military flashpoint. China claims the island as its sacred territory and has vowed not to allow any attempts at what it views as Taiwan separatism.Tension between democratic Taiwan and its big neighbour has increased in recent months, with China suspicious the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen wants to push for the island’s formal independence.Tsai, who took offer in 2016, says she wants to maintain the status quo, but will protect Taiwan’s security and not be bullied by Beijing.In the latest flight by Chinese aircraft around Taiwan, two H-6 bombers passed through the Bashi Channel which separates Taiwan from the Philippines in the early hours of Friday and then rounded Taiwan via Japan’s Miyako Strait, to Taiwan’s northeast, the island’s defence ministry said.Taiwan aircraft accompanied and monitored the Chinese bombers throughout, the ministry said, describing the Chinese aircraft as being on a long-range training mission.The people of Taiwan should not be alarmed as the air force was well able to monitor the Chinese aircraft as they approach and during their missions and can ensure Taiwan’s security, the ministry added.There was no immediate word from China. It has said these missions, which have become increasingly frequent, are to send a warning to Taiwan not to engage in separatist activity.
North Korea dismantles nuclear test site ahead of US summit — – North Korea said it had fully demolished its only known nuclear test site on Thursday (May 24) with a series of planned detonations that put the facility beyond further use, in a planned move portrayed by the isolated regime as a goodwill gesture ahead of a potential summit next month with the United States.“The Nuclear Weapons Institute of the DPRK held a ceremony for completely dismantling the northern nuclear test ground on May 24… to ensure transparency of the discontinuence of nuclear test,” the institute said in an English language statement carried on the state-run KCNA news agency.Pyongyang announced its plan to “completely” dismantle the Punggye-ri facility in the country’s northeast, inviting some foreign journalists to witness the destruction.“There was a huge explosion, you could feel it. Dust came at you, the heat came at you. It was extremely loud,” Mr Tom Cheshire, a journalist for Sky News who was among those invited to attend the ceremony, wrote on the British broadcaster’s website. Yonhap news agency, citing South Korean pool reporters at the scene, said multiple explosions were heard throughout the day, beginning at 11am (0300 GMT) until 4.17pm. Punggye-ri has been the staging ground for all six of the North’s nuclear tests, including its latest and by far most powerful one in September last year, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb. Experts are divided over whether the demolition will render the site useless. Sceptics say the facility has already outlived its usefulness with six successful nuclear tests in the bag and can be quickly rebuilt if needed.
Huge setback for Modi as BJP fails floor test in Karnataka | Asia Times: In a massive setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the interim government abandoned its three-day effort to raise a majority in India’s southern state of Karnataka. The Karnataka polls were seen by many as a key barometer for success in the 2019 general elections when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be seeking a re-election. Not only did the BJP fail to get a majority on its own, despite winning more seats than the ruling Congress, it also failed to attract allies to its cause. The latter will be a bigger worry for the BJP as it gears up for 2019. Most political observers agree that in the 2014 general elections, the BJP had peaked due to the “Modi wave.” That wave has dissipated and the party appears increasingly isolated. So in 2019, it may gain the most votes and yet still not have enough to form a government. As the results emerged on May 15, the BJP could get only 104 seats, well short of the 112 it needed for a simple majority. The Congress, with 78 seats, and the Janata Dal (Secular) (JD-S), with 38 had the numbers. They quickly forged an alliance and formally asked the state’s governor to invite the coalition to form a government.
100s Of White South African Farmers Apply To Australia For Humanitarian Rescue – Back in February, after literally years of scandal, abuse, and incompetence, South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma was finally forced to resign last week, and new President, Cyril Ramaphosa, was supposed to represent a positive, new chapter for South Africa. However, as Simon Black wrote at the time, Ramaphosa addressed the nation’s parliament in Cape Town and made clear that his priority is to heal the divisions and injustice of the past, going all the way back to the original European colonists in the 1600s taking land from the indigenous tribes.Ramaphosa called this “original sin”, and stated that he wants to see “the return of the land to the people from whom it was taken… to heal the divisions of the past.”How does he plan on doing that? Confiscation. Specifically – confiscation without compensation.“The expropriation of land without compensation is envisaged as one of the measures that we will use to accelerate redistribution of land to black South Africans.” And as we noted at the time, the problem is – a 2017 government audit found white people owned 72 per cent of farmland in South Africa. According to the 2011 census, there are about 4.6 million white people in South Africa, accounting for 8.9 per cent of the population. Ramaphosa minced no words: he’s talking about taking land from white farmers and giving it to black South Africans. And as Australia’s News.com reported, the racially charged issue of land rights and farm murders has been the subject of fierce debate in the country and internationally. According to civil rights group Afriforum, which represents around 200,000 white farmers largely from the Afrikaner minority, 82 people were killed in a record 423 attacks on farms last year. In 2018 so far, there have already been 109 attacks and more than 15 murders. “Our rural areas are trapped in a crime war,” Afriforum head of safety Ian Cameron said in a statement, adding that torture with irons, blowtorches, melted plastic and boiling water often continued for hours during the attacks. “Although the South African government denies that a violence crisis is staring rural areas in the face, the numbers prove that excessive violence plague these areas. Government cannot deny the facts – our people are being mowed down.”
EU turns toward Russia as transatlantic relations strain at seams – European countries are turning to Russia as an ally in their confrontation with Washington over Donald Trump’s tariff measures and sanctions spree against Moscow and Tehran. In this context German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit has marked a potential thaw in EU-Russia relations. Russia has apparently emerged as a potential EU strategic partner, as the bloc is seeking ways to resist US President Donald Trump’s trade policies and Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s May 18 meeting with President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi has come as a signal of a potential thaw in relations between Moscow and the EU following the bloc’s introduction of anti-Russia sanctions over Crimea’s reunification with the state in 2014.“We spoke about the difficult situation amid the US withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal. Germany, the United Kingdom, France and all our colleagues in the European Union are supporting this agreement and we are going to continue to abide by it in the future,” Merkel told a joint press conference.During the Sochi summit Merkel and Putin not only reiterated their commitment to the JCPOA, but also signaled their determination to further implement the Nord Stream 2 project and deepen business ties between the countries. Germany is one of the most important trade and economic partners of Russia, second only to China. Russia supplies a third of Germany’s natural gas and oil demands. In 2017 the trade turnover between the countries increased by almost 25 percent for the first time since 2014.Besides the introduction of additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in March by the US president, Trump’s anti-Russia sanctions spree hit European and Germany’s businesses. Washington’s April restrictions against some of Russian individuals and companies such as carmaker GAZ and aluminum group Rusal were specifically painful for the Germans, as they have been closely cooperating with the firms.
GDPR: US news sites unavailable to EU users under new rules – BBC News: Some high-profile US news websites are temporarily unavailable in Europe after new EU data protection rules came into effect. The Chicago Tribune and LA Times were among those saying they were currently unavailable in most European countries. Meanwhile complaints were filed against US tech giants within hours of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) taking effect. GDPR gives EU citizens more rights over how their information is used. It is an effort by EU lawmakers to limit tech firms’ powers. Under the rules, companies working in the EU – or any association or club in the bloc – must show they have a lawful basis for processing personal data, or face hefty fines. There are six legal bases for using personal data, including getting express consent from consumers. However, in most cases firms must also show that they need the personal data for a specific purpose.
Italy’s Populists Move Closer to Power, With Little-Known Pick for Prime Minister – NYT – In a significant step toward forming an anti-establishment government in the European Union’s fourth largest economy, the leaders of Italy’s populist parties asked the country’s president on Monday to accept a little-known law professor as their consensus candidate for prime minister. “The name we gave to the President of the Republic is the name of Giuseppe Conte,” Luigi Di Maio, the leader of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, told reporters after meeting with the president, who has the power to reject the nomination. Mr. Di Maio called Mr. Conte “a professional of the highest level,” intimately aware with the nation’s problems as a child of the peripheral south. Mr. Conte, he said, “is a self-made man and he’s a tough guy. ” He added, “You all will see.” A dapper 54-year-old civil law professor with a taste for cuff links and white pocket kerchiefs, Mr. Conte has a long résumé working for Roman law firms and associating with top-ranking Vatican cardinals. But with no political base or government experience, Mr. Conte’s main qualification may well be his willingness to carry out a government agenda agreed upon by the populist party leaders. That agenda, which calls for lifting of sanctions against Russia, the revisiting of the bloc’s budget rules and crackdowns on immigration, has already sent jitters through European markets and raised concerns that the erosion of the European Union may come from within its western European core. The nomination of Mr. Conte did not exactly assuage those concerns.
Italy: Most right-wing government since Mussolini — Italy faces the formation of the most right-wing government since Mussolini’s overthrow 73 years ago. On Sunday, the protest Five Star Movement (M5S) and the right-wing extremist Lega agreed on a joint government programme and a prime minister, the law professor Giuseppe Conte, who is close to Five Star. President Sergio Mattarella must now decide whether to grant the coalition the government mandate. The government programme bears the xenophobic imprimatur of the Lega. Hundreds of thousands of refugees are to be deported to their countries of origin in Africa and the Middle East, held in detention centres for up to 18 months to this end. Lega boss Matteo Salvini wants to personally take over the responsibility for these mass deportations as the new interior minister.Like other far-right parties with which it cooperates at the European level, the Lega employs anti-immigrant rhetoric and the persecution of refugees to incite a chauvinist hysteria, to justify increasing state powers and to attack the democratic and social rights of the entire working class.The European media and politicians of all stripes have made a fuss about the coalition’s intention to introduce a so-called basic income and the partial lifting of earlier pension reforms that drastically increased the retirement age. They see this as an attack on the stability criteria of the eurozone, which serve to justify ever more attacks on the working class.French Finance and Commerce Minister Bruno Le Maire warned that “if the new government runs the risk of failing to meet its obligations for public debt, deficit and bank restructuring, then the financial stability of the eurozone is in jeopardy.” EU Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis urged the parties to respect budgetary discipline. There is no doubt that in the conflict between the working class and capital, the Lega and M5S stand firmly on the side of the latter. They are merely pursuing a more aggressive nationalist course than previous Italian governments, which were always loyal to the European Union. Inspired by Donald Trump, the motto of the new government is “Italy first.”
Thought Brexit couldn’t get any more farcical? The story of the European patent court proves you wrong – This is the business end of Brexit, when all the contradictory promises and impossible dreams come face-to-face with legal reality. Usually we only notice this when it’s about trade, but the same is happening all over society, from security to rules around food recipes. This is the tawdry story of what the government did – and didn’t do – with patents, and why it is now stuck with a series of mutually incompatible promises which are about to collide headlong into one another. It starts with Theresa May saying one thing and then proceeding to do exactly the opposite. In October 2016, she told the Conservative Party conference that Britain would leave the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Then, the next month, the government confirmed that in fact it would do the opposite. The first statement was made in the full glare of media attention at a key event in the political calendar. The second was made away from journalists, in a quiet announcement on a departmental website noticed by just a handful of lawyers and nerds. It stated that it would ratify an agreement for a unified European patent court. Most people have no idea what the existing system is for patents or why the planned update to it would interfere with the government’s Brexit agenda. But for those who do, the decision was baffling. The new patent system is deeply embedded in the European Union’s architecture and would make any signatory dependent on rulings by the court May had just rejected. It is designed by EU states for EU states to rule on patents in EU states according to EU law as decided by the ECJ. When you peel back the patents situation it tells several key truths about Brexit and the government’s handling of it. It shows the benefits to countries – especially highly developed ones like the UK – when they standardise the way they do business. It shows how misjudged May’s promise to leave the ECJ was and why she has had to steadily walk it back since she made it. And it shows that British businesses which depend on legal certainty have been left adrift for months on end with no reassurance from ministers.
EU Shows Up UK Brexit Trade Fantasies by Opening Bi-Lateral Negotiations With Australia and New Zealand — Yves Smith – The EU managed to put paid to one pet Brexit fantasy today, and via a concrete action, rather than the usual route the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier and European leaders saying things the UK keeps refusing to hear. The Government has been doing the Oxbridge version of Trump’s patter that he’s going to be able to negotiate great trade deals once it is free from those nasty Brussels overlords. Given that the EU27 is a much bigger market than the UK is, why anyone should be champing at the bit to negotiate a trade pact with the UK is a bit of a mystery. But Brexiteers have rung the changes on this theme, arguing, for instance that the UK can become the new Singapore (forgetting that Singapore has all of 5.6 million highly educated people, clean government, and a strategically advantaged location) or that the Commonwealth can make up for diminished commerce with the EU. Today, the EU announced that ithad approved starting bilateral trade negotiations with Australia and New Zealand. The Guardian highlighted the implications:The EU has leapt ahead of the UK in the pursuit of free trade deals with Australia and New Zealand after member states gave the green light for talks to start within weeks.….the announcement from Brussels opens up the possibility that the EU could enjoy better terms with the two Commonwealth nations after Brexit than the UK will…The international trade secretary, Liam Fox, had recently spoken of “reinvigorating” the Commonwealth partnership with a host of trade deals after Brexit, labelled “empire 2.0″ by sceptical Whitehall officials.But the UK will not be able to start its negotiations over future trade with New Zealand and Australia until 30 March 2019. The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, has vowed to complete the EU’s talks with the two countries by 31 October of that year, when his time in office expires. Another proof of the EU’s relative advantages is that it expects to be able to protect key industries: The EU has made it clear before its negotiations with Australia and New Zealand that the size of its market offers bountiful opportunities, without the need for the bloc to expose its agricultural sector to cheap imports.
EU to UK: We won’t reimburse Galileo satellite funding – There is “no basis” for the U.K.’s request to be reimbursed the €1 billion it contributed to the EU’s Galileo satellite system if it is frozen out of the project post Brexit, according to a senior EU official, who added the bloc will not negotiate “under threat.” In what amounts to an initial response from Brussels to a concerted push by the British government to retain access to the system beyond the country’s exit, the official said the European Commission is open to negotiation, but the U.K.’s position is “quite a big ask.” Earlier Thursday, the U.K. published a “technical note” – first reported Wednesday by POLITICO – expressing its desire to continue participating in the program and stating that it could pursue the creation of its own rival system if it did not receive adequate access to Galileo. The EU will allow participation on a “third country” basis, but that would restrict access to certain security-sensitive data.Earlier this month, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier told the EU Institute for Security Studies conference: “Third countries [and their companies] cannot participate in the development of security-sensitive matters.”The EU position has united Remainers and Leavers in Theresa May’s often warring Cabinet on the question of future access to a system the U.K. regards as something it has part ownership of. The British government has set future access as a test case for the closeness of U.K.-EU security cooperation post Brexit.
Furious Customers Leave in Droves after Botched IT Revamp at UK Bank TSB as Nightmare Drags on for a Month – UK Bank TSB’s unending IT nightmare is beginning to take a toll on the bank’s financial health. Analysts say the chaos caused by the botched IT upgrade will cost tens of millions of pounds in fines and compensation. And that’s based on the rosy assumption that the problems the upgrade has caused will be remedied in the near future. For the moment there’s little sign of that happening. And this nightmare has been dragging on for a month now – April 24: “Day 5″, April 30: “Contagion Fears,” and May 6: “Internal Revolt.“Many TSB mortgage account holders are still unable to access their online accounts while business customers continue to have difficulty making online payments, The Guardian reported. Some credit card customers are still being wrongly informed that payment of £0.00 will be taken, while the bank’s internal secure messaging service remains unavailable. To compound matters, a growing number of the bank’s branch and other front-line workers, many of whom have had to bear the brunt of customer ire over the past four weeks, are close to the end of their tether.As if that wasn’t enough, fraudsters have now begun targeting the online accounts of TSB customers, some of whom have logged into their accounts to discover their savings have vanished in a series of payments they did not make. They are then left on hold for hours when they try to complain to the crisis-plagued bank. “When a [big IT] ‘change’ goes wrong and so publicly like TSB’s, it’s like cyber blood in the water,” Ian Thornton-Trump, chief technical officer of Octopi Managed Services, an IT company, told Wired. “Cyber criminals pay attention to companies rocked by internal scandals or public ‘ball drops’ and react accordingly.”
Bomus items:
- Some Preliminary Questions For MMT – Steve Keen, Econintersect
- Kids At Every Income Level Were Asked To Show Their Favorite Toys, And The Result Will Make You Think – (photos of kids with their toys)
