- “The global oil market has loosened since our previous report.
- World oil inventories are estimated to have grown by an average 1.0 million barrels per day (bbl/d) during May and June, a marked contrast to the year-ago period when global inventories were being drawn down following the disruption in supplies from Libya. In addition, the latest available estimates for March and April show significantly higher production and lower consumption, and therefore, much larger inventory additions than had previously been estimated.
- Oil prices and backwardation of the futures curve have declined significantly over the last month, both indicators of a looser market. The average price for Brent in June decreased by $14 per barrel compared with its May average, and it is the lowest price since December 2010. The Brent market has moved into contango for the first time in almost a year with the average 1st 12th month spread for the five days ending June 22 at -$0.77 per barrel. This marks a significant change from March 1 when the Brent market was backwardated and the five-day average for 1st 12th month spread peaked at about $8 per barrel.
- Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) production has increased over the past year, especially in Iraq and Libya. Saudi Arabia, which acts as a balancing force in the global oil market, continues to produce at high levels.
- The overall growth in non-OPEC production is led by North America, particularly in the tight oil plays of the United States. While unplanned production outages in non-OPEC countries remain higher than normal, they have declined from the elevated levels of earlier this year.”
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Daily Archives: July 2, 2012
Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team Report
“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Control Systems Security Program manages and operates the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) to provide focused operational capabilities for defense of control system environments against emerging cyber threats…This report provides a summary of cyber incidents, onsite deployments, and associated findings from the time ICS-CERT was established… Continue Reading
New NOAA website offers tips to prepare for coastal flooding
News release: “NOAAs Office of Coast Survey has announced a new website www.stormsurge.noaa.gov designed to provide vital information to help protect communities, people and property from the devastation of coastal flooding. Coastal flooding is often the greatest threat to life and property during and after storms. Floods damage roads and bridges, destroy homes… Continue Reading
George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum Launches New Website
News release: “The National Archives George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum has launched its newly designed website. The website is hosted by Southern Methodist University (SMU), the site of the Librarys future facility and an important partner for the institution. While the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum is still under construction on… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Nonpoint Source Water Pollution, Rural Housing Service
Nonpoint Source Water Pollution – Greater Oversight and Additional Data Needed for Key EPA Water Program, GAO-12-335, May 31, 2012 Nonpoint Source Water Pollution – Greater Oversight and Additional Data Needed for Key EPA Water Program, Survey of Section 319 Project Managers (GAO-12-377SP, May 2012), an E-supplement to GAO-12-335 GAO-12-377SP, May 31, 2012 Rural Housing… Continue Reading
Monitoring indicators for intraday liquidity management – consultative document
Monitoring indicators for intraday liquidity management – consultative document, July 2012 “Intraday liquidity can be defined as funds that are accessible during the business day, usually to enable financial institutions to make payments in real time. The Basel Committee’s proposed Monitoring indicators for intraday liquidity management are intended to allow banking supervisors to monitor a… Continue Reading
A framework for dealing with domestic systemically important banks – consultative document June 2012
A framework for dealing with domestic systemically important banks – consultative document, June 2012 “The consultative document sets out a framework of principles covering the assessment methodology and the higher loss absorbency requirement for domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs). The D-SIB framework takes a complementary perspective of the global systemically important bank (G-SIB) framework published… Continue Reading
Managing Discovery of Electronic Information: A Pocket Guide for Judges
Managing Discovery of Electronic Information: A Pocket Guide for Judges, Second Edition. Barbara J. Rothstein, Ronald J. Hedges, and Elizabeth C. Wiggins. Federal Judicial Center, 2012 “ESI currently includes e-mail messages, word processing files, web pages, and databases created and stored on computers, magnetic disks (such as computer hard drives), optical disks (such as DVDs… Continue Reading
Federal Reseve Board – CEO Pay and the Market for CEOs
CEO Pay and the Market for CEOs, Antonio Falato, Dan Li, and Todd Milbourn, June 26, 2012 “Competitive sorting models of the CEO labor market (e.g., Edmans, Gabaix and Landier (2009)) predict that differences in CEO productive abilities, or “talent”, should be an important determinant of CEO pay. However, measuring CEO talent empirically represents a… Continue Reading
BLS – Three-quarters of businesses used at least one green technology or practice in August 2011
“About three-quarters of business establishments reported the use of at least one green technology or practice during August 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Green technologies and practices (GTP) are those that lessen the environmental impact of an establishments operations. About 854,700 jobs, representing approximately 0.7 percent of total U.S. employment, were… Continue Reading
Recapturing NASA's Aeronautics Flight Research Capabilities
“In the five decades since NASA was created, the agency has sustained its legacy from the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) in playing a major role in U.S. aeronautics research and has contributed substantially to United States preeminence in civil and military aviation. This preeminence has contributed significantly to the overall economy and balance… Continue Reading
Do Creditor Rights Increase Employment Risk? Evidence from Debt Covenants
Do Creditor Rights Increase Employment Risk? Evidence from Debt Covenants, Antonio Falato and Nellie Liang – Federal Reserve Board, June 28, 2012 “This paper studies whether financial contracts exacerbate or mitigate agency conflicts among stakeholders. We consider a specific contractual provision, debt covenants, and examine how, by allocating control rights between shareholders and debt holders,… Continue Reading
