Rogue Trader Shocks Oil Market

More going out than coming in for first time since 1949

(NEWSER) - This is going to be the first year since 1949 in which America exports more fuel than it imports, thanks to sagging demand at home and booming economies elsewhere. The US still imports around 9 million barrels of crude oil every day, but soaring exports of refined petroleum products are converting it into a net exporter, the Wall Street Journal reports. In the first nine months of this year, the US imported 689.4 million barrels and sent 753.4 million barrels of petroleum products abroad to countries including Mexico, Brazil, and the Netherlands. More»

Qatar is first reported buyer

(NEWSER) - Now that they’ve taken control of some critical oil fields and terminals, eastern Libya’s rebels are getting into the oil business. Qatar is rumored to be the first buyer, with a deal in place to buy the oil and ship it in leased tankers, the New York Times reports. Though there are sanctions on Libya, the US says it won’t block rebel oil sales, provided none of the money goes to the Libyan government. More»

Middle East unrest sends prices soaring

(NEWSER) - Oil futures are bubbling upward thanks to the unrest in the Middle East, sending crude’s 20-day volatility rating skyrocketing to 29.4—more than double the all-time-low of 12.6 it set at the end of December, Bloomberg reports. In London, Brent crude sold for more than $105 a barrel today, setting a two-year high. More»

Vessel nabbed en route from Bahrain to race in Dubai

(AP) - Iran is holding five British sailors after stopping their racing yacht in the Persian Gulf, the British government said today. The yacht, owned by Sail Bahrain, was stopped on its way from the tiny island country to Dubai on Wednesday when it "may have strayed inadvertently into Iranian waters," according to the Foreign Office. The seizure may be related to recent international pressure on Iran to drop its nuclear program, the AP reports. More»

Doc tells of disastrous effects of oil extraction

(NEWSER) - Crude is a hard-hitting documentary about the ravages of the oil industry—Chevron is the villain here—on indigenous people in Ecuador. Critics are wowed:

• “Here’s a powerhouse of a documentary that makes you feel mad as hell and unwilling to take it anymore,” writes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone.