20121120 1111 Global Markets & Energy Related News.

GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares rise on hopes for US fiscal deal
TOKYO, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Asian shares rose on hopes of a compromise in the U.S. fiscal crisis, while the euro fell after Moody's Investors Service scrapped France's top-notch credit rating, reminding investors of the protracted euro zone debt crisis.
"Moody's news is certainly not positive but market reaction seems contained," said Hiroshi Maeba, head of FX trading Japan for UBS in Tokyo, adding that trading was getting lighter ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

FOREX-Euro nears 2-week high on Greece, U.S. budget optimism
NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The euro rose to a near two-week high against the U.S. dollar on Monday, buoyed by appetite for risk on optimism that Greece will receive more funding and signs of progress on resolving a looming U.S. fiscal crisis.
"For the euro/dollar to see an extended run ... a serious improvement in risk appetite is needed, with a Spanish bailout or an exceptionally quick compromise to the U.S. fiscal slope necessary as the proper catalyst," said Christopher Vecchio, currency analyst at DailyFX in New York.

OIL - Oil rises 2.5 pct on Mideast tensions, US optimism
NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Oil rose 2.5 percent on Monday to its highest price since mid-October, fueled by supply concerns as violence in the Middle East escalated and as investors grew more hopeful that a U.S. budget crisis will be averted.
"There's no oil being lost, obviously. But it's just the follow-on effect. No one likes confrontation anywhere near the Gulf region," said Rob Montefusco, oil broker at Sucden Financial in London.

Total sells $2.5 bln Nigeria oil field stake to Sinopec
PARIS, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Total  is selling a 20 percent stake in a Nigerian offshore oil field to China's Sinopec  in a $2.5 billion deal which will help the French oil group fund its ambitious exploration plans.
Total said on Monday it had signed a deal to sell the stake in the OML 138 block, which currently produces 130,000 barrels per day of oil equivalent and contains the Usan field, which started production in February.

Predicted US oil glut a boon to those who move it
Nov 18 (Reuters) - Railroads, pipeline companies and refiners stand to do especially well from a U.S. drilling bonanza that is upending the energy trade balance for the world's largest economy.
An anticipated surge in U.S. oil output to the highest levels in the world would give a boost to those who move crude to where it can be turned into finished products and even shipped abroad.

POLL-US crude, gasoline inventories seen higher, distillates off
Nov 19 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories were forecast to have risen last week while distillate stockpiles were seen falling, a preliminary Reuters poll of four analysts showed on Monday.
Inventory changes were seen more broadly in line with seasonal trends, after Hurricane Sandy caused massive disruptions to the East Coast fuel distribution network earlier this month, causing product inventories in the region to be drawn down to help meet demand.

IEA says world oil markets remain well supplied
CANBERRA/SYDNEY, Nov 19 (Reuters) - World oil markets are well supplied despite the loss of nearly 1 million barrels a day of crude from Iran following sanctions by the United States and European Union, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) told Reuters on Monday.
Brent crude has stayed above $100 a barrel for most of this year due to concerns over supply disruptions after the United States and Europe slapped sanctions on Iran in a bid to force  Tehran to abandon its controversial nuclear programme.

Sudan denies delaying south's oil exports
KHARTOUM/JUBA, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Sudan and South Sudan have not yet agreed on how to demilitarise their border - a condition for resuming oil flows, Khartoum said on Monday, but denied it was deliberately delaying the economically vital trade.
Newspaper reports about a possible oil export delay knocked the Sudanese pound to a historic low against the dollar, illustrating the importance for both countries of getting oil from landlocked South Sudan's fields via the north for export.

Nigeria Exxon spill spreads for miles along coast
IBENO, Nigeria, Nov 17 (Reuters) - An oil spill at an ExxonMobil  facility offshore from the Niger Delta has spread at least 20 miles from its source, coating waters used by fishermen in a film of sludge.
A Reuters reporter visiting several parts of Akwa Ibom state saw a rainbow-tinted oil slick stretching for 20 miles (32 km) from a pipeline that Exxon had shut down because of a leak a week ago. Locals scooped it into jerry cans.

Saudi summer oil burning hits record high in 2012 -JODI
DUBAI, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia burned record volumes of crude oil over the summer, official government figures show, contrary to its aim of using  more gas for power generatation to reduce wastage of crude that it could export.
During the peak period from early June through September, Saudi Arabia burned an average of 763,250 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, compared to an average of 701,250 bpd last year and 747,750 bpd in the previous record summer of 2010, official government data issued on Sunday under the Joint Oil Data Initiative (JODI) shows.

Chevron delaying Richmond, Calif., refinery pipe repair
HOUSTON, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Chevron Corp  is delaying replacing fire-damaged pipe on the shut central crude distillation unit at its refinery in Richmond, California, until questions raised by investigators and regulators about the metallurgy of the replacement pipe are resolved, a refinery official said on Monday.
An Aug. 6 fire at the crude unit began with a leaking pipe thought to have suffered corrosion from sulfur under the high temperatures required to refine crude oil. The fire forced a shutdown of the crude unit and halved motor fuel production at the 245,000 barrel-per-day refinery in the San Francisco Bay area.