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Oil

Washington (Platts)--17May2012/148 pm EDT/1748 GMT
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission will issue soon proposed guidance on how its new derivatives rules will affect swap dealers working outside US borders, the head of the agency's division of swap dealer and intermediary oversight said Thursday.
London (Platts)--17May2012/811 am EDT/1211 GMT
The UK administrator of Petroplus's former Coryton refinery in southeast England remains in talks with two "serious" bidders for the plant and a final deal for the facility could be 10 days always, a Member of the European Parliament close to the refinery talks said Thursday.
London (Platts)--17May2012/659 am EDT/1059 GMT
A collapse in Kazakh CPC Blend values to two-year lows in light of poor naphtha cracks and rising Urals crude differentials in the Mediterranean, where refiners have been trying to plug the Iranian crude oil supply gap, on Wednesday pushed the sour/sweet spread to its widest since 2005.
Tokyo (Platts)--17May2012/657 am EDT/1057 GMT
Japanese refiner Idemitsu Kosan has renewed its crude import contract with the National Iranian Oil Company effective from April, a company official told Platts Thursday.
Tokyo (Platts)--17May2012/456 am EDT/856 GMT
Japanese refiners have maintained their loadings of crude from Iran as of Thursday, despite news that Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ bank has suspended all transactions with Iranian banks, industry sources told Platts.
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Natural Gas

Washington (Platts)--17May2012/233 pm EDT/1833 GMT
Southern LNG can install a 2,500 horsepower electric compressor at its liquefied natural gas import terminal in Georgia to deal with boil-off gas that is building up due to low import volumes, the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced Thursday.
Jerusalem (Platts)--17May2012/724 am EDT/1124 GMT
Delek Drilling and Avner Oil and Gas have called on a government appointed panel on Israel's export policy for natural gas to increase the amount of gas permitted for export, the company said in a position paper submitted to the panel.
Singapore (Platts)--17May2012/456 am EDT/856 GMT
China's Ministry of Land and Resources on Thursday invited tenders for its second shale gas bid round.
Washington (Platts)--16May2012/503 pm EDT/2103 GMT
The British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Mines has adopted a regulation to allow utilities in the province to spend millions of dollars on natural gas vehicles and infrastructure.
Knoxville, Tennessee (Platts)--16May2012/215 pm EDT/1815 GMT
A producer group-funded analysis of the US Environmental Protection Agency's draft report on drilling activities near Pavillion, Wyoming, disputes the EPA's claim of groundwater contamination, claiming the agency used flawed data, methodology and analysis.
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Electric Power

Washington (Platts)--17May2012/231 pm EDT/1831 GMT
US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff expects the Western Electricity Coordinating Council to lead information-sharing among transmission operators in hopes of preventing a repeat of the type of power outage that struck customers from Arizona to southern California in September, a FERC lawyer said Thursday.
London (Platts)--17May2012/723 am EDT/1123 GMT
The UK government may delay a second round of cuts to its solar PV feed-in tariff subsidy scheme, UK energy secretary Ed Davey said in a House of Commons meeting Thursday morning.
Madrid (Platts)--17May2012/700 am EDT/1100 GMT
Spain's energy market regulator is currently investigating activity surrounding the quarterly CESUR power auctions which are used to determine fixed tariffs including the last resort tariff, which is used by approximately 17 million domestic users, a spokesman for the regulator told Platts Thursday.
Washington (Platts)--16May2012/540 pm EDT/2140 GMT
US utilities generated 70,952 GWh in the week that ended Saturday, 0.9% below the 71,570 GWh generated in the corresponding week of 2011, the Edison Electric Institute said Wednesday.
Warsaw (Platts)--16May2012/822 am EDT/1222 GMT
Poland's largest power company, Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE), said Wednesday it will launch a tender by the end of June for the supply of technology for its plans to build two nuclear plants by 2030.
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Coal

Washington (Platts)--17May2012/148 pm EDT/1748 GMT
Senators from states with significant coal production said Thursday they were concerned that a pending bill instituting a so-called "clean energy standard" could ruin the industry.
London (Platts)--17May2012/944 am EDT/1344 GMT
Continental Coal has secured an exclusive option to potentially acquire a 50% joint venture interest in an operating Colombian hard coking coal mine for $15 million, the South African thermal coal production, development and exploration company said in a statement Thursday.
Singapore (Platts)--17May2012/632 am EDT/1032 GMT
AIM listed miner Beacon Hill Resources said Thursday that it would ship its first coking coal cargo from its upper chipanga pit in Mozambique in mid 2012, to its off-take partner Global Coke.
London (Platts)--16May2012/714 am EDT/1114 GMT
South Africa's Continental Coal achieved above budget run-of-mine coal production of 112,281 mt at its Vlakvarkfontein coal mine during April, up 6% from the monthly average in January-March, the third quarter of its July-June fiscal year, the company said in an operations update Wednesday.
Huaihua, Hunan (Platts)--16May2012/256 am EDT/656 GMT
China Coal Energy Co., the listed subsidiary of China National Coal Group, produced 9.06 million mt of coal in April, up 2.4% year on year, China Coal Energy said Wednesday.
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Shipping

Tokyo (Platts)--17May2012/649 am EDT/1049 GMT
The Japanese government is considering guaranteeing up to $7.6 billion of insurance cover per tanker for shipments of Iranian oil to make up for the potential loss of protection and indemnity cover when European Union sanctions come into effect in July, a government source told Platts Thursday.
Singapore (Platts)--17May2012/500 am EDT/900 GMT
The Indonesian government has halted shipments from the Asmin Koalindo Tuhup mine, owned by the country's largest coking coal miner Borneo Lumbung Energi & Metal, as the ministry of transport is seeking new licenses for the the company's river ports, a source close to the matter said Thursday.
London (Platts)--17May2012/604 am EDT/1004 GMT
Spot freight rates for long-range 1 (45,000-80,000 dwt) clean tankers traveling on trans-Atlantic routes have risen on the back of tight tonnage in the position list, according to Platts data and sources Thursday.
London (Platts)--16May2012/758 am EDT/1158 GMT
Freight rates for 30,000 mt fuel oil vessels in Northwest Europe and the Mediterranean have fallen sharply in the last week and rates are at a 2012 low, Platts data and shipping sources said Wednesday.
Singapore (Platts)--16May2012/709 am EDT/1109 GMT
Ship to ship transfers at Malaysia's Pasir Gudang lightering area are currently suspended after a fully laden VLCC carrying fuel oil ran aground last Thursday just outside the Singapore port limits, shipping sources said Wednesday.
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Petrochemicals

Houston (Platts)--17May2012/825 am EDT/1225 GMT
Asian benzene fell $3/mt or 0.3% day on day May 17 to $1,081/mt FOB Korea, tracking lower US benzene and crude prices.
London (Platts)--17May2012/817 am EDT/1217 GMT
Omani polyethylene terephthalate producer Octal will increase production capacity threefold to over 900,000 mt by the end of July, a company source confirmed Thursday.
Kuala Lumpur (Platts)--17May2012/733 am EDT/1133 GMT
The global trend lines for the petrochemical industry may be pointing toward some mergers and acquisitions between key regions and some exits from the business, a consultant from Nexant Asia told a key Asian industry gathering on Thursday.
Tokyo (Platts)--17May2012/458 am EDT/858 GMT
The Southeast Asia-Northeast Asia polyethylene terephthalate price spread is likely to narrow in coming weeks amid rising PET plant operations in SEA, market sources said late Wednesday.
Houston (Platts)--16May2012/808 am EDT/1208 GMT
Asian benzene fell $28.50/mt or 2.6% day on day May 16 to $1,084/mt FOB Korea, as crude oil prices plummeted.
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Metals

Washington (Platts)--17May2012/234 pm EDT/1834 GMT
COMEX gold futures soared nearly $40 in Globex electronic trading Thursday on news that the US Federal Reserve may consider a third round of quantitative easing to stimulate the flagging economy.
London (Platts)--17May2012/749 am EDT/1149 GMT
London-based Simpson Spence & Young has acquired boutique brokerage Red Ops for an undisclosed sum, Red Ops CEO Jos Evans said Thursday.
Phoenix (Platts)--17May2012/740 am EDT/1140 GMT
The deficit in copper concentrate market will move back into surplus next year as new supply from diverse sources and expansion projects enters the market, base metals analyst Catherine Virga of the New York-based research company CPM Group said Wednesday.
Singapore (Platts)--17May2012/501 am EDT/901 GMT
China's spot ferrosilicon prices were assessed unchanged week on week at $1,400-1,430/mt FOB on Thursday based on deals transacted and price indications from market participants.
London (Platts)--16May2012/854 am EDT/1254 GMT
New passenger car sales in major global markets in April rose 6.5% year-on-year to 4.37 million units, led by the ongoing recovery in Japan and strength in China, data from German automotive industry association VDA showed Wednesday.
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