Brent To Rise Monday -- Commerzbank -- March 1, 2015; WTI-Brent Spread Widest In More Than A Year; Numbers To Watch: 410; 110

 Updates

Later, 10:44 p.m. CT:  Saudi oil imports of crude oil into the US (most recent data reported by EIA is for December, 2014):

The EIA also reported a summary of crude oil imports at this site: Canada, #1; Saudi Arabia, #2; Mexico, #3; Venezuela, #4; and, Iraq, #5.

Later, 10:36 p.m. CT: Bloomberg Business is reporting:

Oil fell after posting the first monthly gain since June as Saudi Arabia stepped up production, lifting OPEC’s output beyond its collective quota for a ninth month.

Futures decreased as much as 1.1 percent in New York. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 30.6 million barrels a day in February, according to a Bloomberg survey. Oil sank almost 50 percent in 2014 as Saudi Arabia led the group’s decision in November to maintain output target at 30 million a day, exacerbating a global glut.

West Texas Intermediate’s discount to European prices settled at the widest in more than a year on February 27 as U.S. crude stockpiles expanded to the highest level in weekly data that started August 1982. The oversupply has driven U.S. drillers to cut the number of rigs in service for a 12th week to the fewest since June 2011, Baker Hughes Inc. data showed.

Original Post

Bloomberg is reporting:

Commodities including iron ore, oil and copper are set to extend gains on Monday as China’s interest-rate reduction spurs demand from the construction to energy industries.

China’s second cut to benchmark rates in three months will fuel gains as investors anticipate that cheaper credit will stimulate demand, Eugen Weinberg, head of commodity research at Commerzbank AG, said by e-mail on Sunday.

A Chinese factory gauge reported on Sunday signaled contraction in February. 

The big question is whether Brent and WTI will continue to diverge or whether Brent will pull WTI along in its wake.

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Sea Levels To Rise In 2015

The seas should rise in 2015, all things being equal, simply from all the Boston snow that melts and flows into the harbor. It is being reported that a new round of snowfall should set all-time record for Boston.

After cold and snow that set February records, southern New England is entering March with another round that could push Boston over its 20-year-old snowfall record.

With 102 inches, Boston needs 5.7 more to break the 1995-1996 record of 107.6. Snowfall of 4 to 6 inches was expected by early Monday across the area, with up to 8 inches in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Less is expected in northern Massachusetts and New York state, and on Cape Cod.

410: ppm of atmospheric CO2 in 2015
110: inches of snow in Boston winter of 2014-2015

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Turns Out I Was Wrong

Quite some time ago, I opined that the White House had the resources to force Prime Minister Netanyahu from coming to America to give his speech. Not only was I way wrong, but there are now indications that the White House is trying to make nice (posted earlier). It looks like the seats boycotted by some House members are "oversubscribed"; looks like it will be an over-sold, standing-room only event. Everything points to this speech being the Washington event of the month (March) -- the attendees will be all "A-List." This might be the Speaker's salvation.

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Dead Turbines

The Boston Globe is reporting:

Cape Wind, whose plans to build the nation’s first offshore wind farm were thrown into upheaval in January when two utilities terminated contracts to buy the project’s power, is not throwing in the towel, the company’s chief executive said Saturday.

In his first extensive comments to the media since the contracts were canceled, Cape Wind president Jim Gordon vowed to press ahead with the $2.5 billion project slated for Nantucket Sound and restore its agreements with National Grid and Eversource Energy, formerly known as Northeast Utilities.

The $2.5 million project would install 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound. 

“We will be contacting them soon to talk with them and see if we can amicably resolve the situation so that this important clean energy project that has been under development for the last 14 years can be built,” Gordon said in an interview.

He spoke at a rally on Boston Common attended by a couple of hundred people and organized by Better Future Project in Cambridge, which advocates for clean energy. Craig S. Altemose, the organization’s executive director, said more than 95,000 people have signed a petition asking Marcy Reed, president of National Grid in Massachusetts, to reconsider its agreement with Cape Wind.

“We are not giving up,” Gordon told the crowd, drawing cheers. “We have just begun to fight.”

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From Dead Turbines To Dead Flowers

Dead Flowers, performed by Townes Van Zandt, written by Keith Richards/Mick Jagger