Showing posts with label Crude Oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crude Oil. Show all posts

Friday, September 15, 2023

Syria Warns the US: "Stop the Oil and Gas Robbery! Get Out Immediately!"

The United States tries to overthrow Syrian governments through different proxies like Israel and the Muslim Brotherhood since the 1970ies, and since 2011 through al-Qaeda, Jabhat al-Nusra, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, more radical Jihadi terrorists and militias as well as through substantial US military forces inside of Syria. As a consequence more than half of Syria's population of 23 million is displaced from their homes, 5.5 million fled the country, and estimates of the total number of deaths, in what is framed as 'the Syrian civil war' by the West, vary between 603,064 and about 620,000 as of August 2023. 
 
On September 10, 2023 the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres and the President of the Security Council Ferit Hoxha, demanding that they put an end to aggressive practices and violations of the principles of international law and the provisions of the UN Charter, which are being committed by the United States of America and its military forces that are illegally present on one third of the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic - on more than sixty thousand square kilometers - in the northeast and in the Al-Tanf region in the southeast of the country (yellowish and light green on the map below)
 
The Ministry pointed out that the United States of America and its tools continue to violate sovereignty and plunder the country’s wealth and strategic resources, with the aim of exacerbating the effects of illegal unilateral coercive measures and depriving Syrians of the capabilities of their homeland and increasing their suffering. The Ministry added that the value of the damage caused to the Syrian oil and mineral wealth sector as a result of acts of aggression, looting and sabotage committed by the US forces and their terrorist tools amounted to a total of $ 115.2 billion during the period from 2011 until the end of the first half of the year 2023. The Ministry stated that the latest statistics and estimates of the losses of the oil sector in Syria show that the value of direct losses amounted to $ 27.5 billion, resulting from the following: The theft, waste and burning of extracted oil quantities estimated at 341 million barrels. The rate of theft was around 100-130 thousand barrels per day and recently reached 150 thousand barrels per day in addition to 59.9 million cubic meters of natural gas and 413 thousand tons of domestic gas. The value is $21.4 billion. Vandalism and theft of facilities, resulting in damages amounting to $ 3.2 billion. 
 
Dana Stroul, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, US-Department of Defense, October 2019:
"The US now owns one third of Syria, all of the hidrocarbons, and the country's food basket. The rest is rubble."

The so-called ‘international coalition’ bombed oil and gas facilities in Syria, with the amount of damage amounting to $2.9 billion. The Ministry continued that the indirect losses amount to $87.7 billion, which represents the value of the lost benefits (from crude oil, natural gas, and domestic gas) as a result of a decrease in production below the planned rates under normal working conditions. Syria demanded that American officials be held accountable for these thefts and that the American administration be forced to compensate for them, end the illegal presence of American forces, and return the lands it occupies, oil and gas fields and other natural resources to the Syrian state to ensure improving the humanitarian and living conditions of the Syrians.

Thursday, September 14, 2023

Crude Oil Near Weekly Reversal


After 3 weeks of rise out of the Aug 24 (Thu) low, Crude Oil is nearing a weekly high.

This week may complete another full 3 x ATR advance out of the Sep 08 (Fri) low to 91.68 by Sep 15 (Fri). 
Then the minimum retracement target should be 50% down to around 84.75. Pump and Dump.

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

On the Price of Russian Oil | Igor Sechin

The EU will no longer set prices for Russia’s flagship Urals oil blend, now that Asia is the largest consumer of western-sanctioned Russian crude, the head of the country’s oil major Rosneft, Igor Sechin, said on Monday.

An EU embargo on seaborne exports of crude accompanied by price caps on oil and petroleum products originating from Russia has triggered a reshuffle in global oil supply. In a matter of months, Moscow rerouted most of its oil flows that used to go to Europe, to Asian markets. The country has ramped up its seaborne oil shipments to China, India and Türkiye at the expense of Western nations.
 

Oil exports to India alone jumped 33 times in December, with Russia now the country’s largest supplier, replacing Iraq. About 70% of Urals cargoes loaded last month went to New Delhi, according to Reuters calculations.

If Russian oil does not enter the European market, then there is no reference price. Reference prices will be formed where oil volumes actually go,” Sechin pointed out, speaking at the India Energy Week forum.

The Russian government is now discussing how to calculate Russia's taxable oil price following the import ban and price caps set by the EU and G7 countries. Currently, for tax purposes, the average price for Urals on the world market is used, in particular in the ports of Augusta (Italy) and Rotterdam (Netherlands). But due to sanctions, Russian oil is practically not supplied there. Sechin also suggested that “futures contracts, futures settlements” should be abandoned at the first stage in order to regulate market indicators. To stress his point, the head of Russia’s oil giant even quoted from the Bible. “As it is written in Ecclesiastes, "What is crooked cannot be made straight. And what is lacking cannot be counted.

Meanwhile, Asian buyers have ramped up imports of a wide variety of Russian crude oil, including lesser-known Arctic grades. Two other popular blends, ESPO and Sokol, have been trading above the Western price ceiling of $60 a barrel, at $66 and $71 per barrel respectively, as of Tuesday.
 
Quoted from:
 
See also:
 

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Greater Eurasia | Russia’s New Energy Gamble

Bruno Maçães (Apr 2018) - In October 2017, Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin took the unusual step of presenting a geopolitical report on the “Ideals of Eurasian integration” to an audience in Verona, Italy. One of the maps projected on the screen during the presentation (HERE) showed the supercontinent—what Russian circles call “Greater Eurasia”—as divided between three main regions. For Sechin, the crucial division is not between Europe and Asia, but between regions of energy consumption and regions of energy production. The former are organized on the western and eastern edges of the supercontinent: Europe, including Turkey, and the Asia Pacific, including India. 


Between them we find three regions of energy production: Russia and the Arctic, the Caspian, and the Middle East. Interestingly, the map does not break these three regions apart, preferring to draw a delimitation line around all three. They are contiguous, thus forming a single bloc, at least from a purely geographic perspective. 


Sechin’s map has a number of other interesting elements. As noted already, Turkey is left on the European side of the line delimiting the energy production core in the west. The same is true for Ukraine, which although unavoidable in this context is still an unusual inclusion in a map sanctioned by the highest echelons of Russian state power. If one looks at the world through the prism of energy geopolitics, then Ukraine is a European country—a consumer, not a producer. 


[...] The map illustrates an important point about Russia’s new self-image. From the point of view of energy geopolitics, Europe and the Asia Pacific are perfectly equivalent, providing alternative sources of demand for energy resources. Russia has been struggling to abandon its traditional orientation toward Europe, hoping to benefit from the flexibility of being able to look both east and west to promote its interests. It seems that Sechin and Rosneft can place themselves in that position much more effortlessly. 


Sechin’s map subtly makes one final—and decisive—point. As you consider the three areas it delimits, it becomes apparent that two of them are already led and organized by a leading actor: Germany in the case of Europe and China for the Asia Pacific. Production chains within these highly industrial regions are increasingly managed by German or Chinese companies, which tend to reserve the higher value segments for themselves. Their spheres of influence extend to all important inputs, with one glaring exception: energy. In order to address this vulnerability, the two regions of energy consumption will be attracted to the core region, where they need to ensure ready and secure access to energy resources. And their efforts may well be made easier by the fact that the core region of energy production lacks a hegemon capable of ensuring its survival as an autonomous unit in the Eurasian system.


The very same day he delivered his speech on Eurasian geopolitics, Sechin announced that Rosneft would take control of Iraqi Kurdistan’s main oil pipeline, boosting its investment in the autonomous region to $3.5 billion, despite Baghdad’s military action sparked by a Kurdish vote for independence. The move helped shield Kurdistan from increasing pressure from Baghdad. Two weeks later, Sechin went on to sign a preliminary pact with the National Iranian Oil Company, the first step before a binding deal to participate in Iran’s oil and gas projects over the next few years, with investments totaling up to $30 billion and a production plateau of 55 million tons of oil per year.

Four Russian oil companies have even begun negotiating for opportunities in Syria, a venture driven as much by politics as by commercial interest. The aim is not to explore and extract Syria’s modest petroleum reserves, of course. By actively participating in rebuilding and operating Syrian oil and gas infrastructure, Russian energy companies will be in control of a critical transit route for Iranian and Qatari oil and gas heading to Europe, bringing two rival producers closer to its orbit and tightening its stranglehold on the European gas supply. In 2009, Qatar proposed to run a natural gas pipeline through Syria and Turkey to Europe. Instead, Al-Assad forged a pact with Iran to build a pipeline from the Persian Gulf and then through Iraq and Syria and under the Mediterranean. This project had to be postponed because of the war. When it is resumed, Russia will be in control.

It is in the very nature of the Eurasian system described by Sechin that the core energy production region—provided it is sufficiently united and organized—will benefit from its central position, being able to pick and choose between east and west in order to obtain the most favorable terms. Russia and the Middle East are now part of the same geopolitical unit. It took the Russian military intervention in Syria for the world to start to come to terms with this reality.

Saturday, January 27, 2018

DJIA vs Crude Oil Set Forward 10 Years | Major High around June 2018


Tom McClellan's approach projects a major high in US-stocks into around June 2018, and a major low into January 2019 (see also HERE + HERE).

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Largest U.S. Onshore Conventional Hydrocarbons Discovery in 30 Years

Spanish oil major and North Slope explorer Repsol and privately held Denver based Armstrong Energy announced the discovery of the massive Horseshoe oil field in Alaska. The contingent resources currently identified in the Nanushuk play amount to approximately 1.2 billion barrels of recoverable light oil. This is the largest U.S. onshore conventional hydrocarbons discovery in the last 30 years. The Horseshoe-1 and Horseshoe-1A wells drilled in the 2016-2017 winter campaign confirm Nanushuk as a significant emerging play in Alaska’s North Slope. The discovery is 20 miles south of where the two companies have already found oil in a project known as Pikka. Preliminary development concepts for Pikka anticipate first production there from 2021, with a potential rate approaching 120,000 barrels of oil per day. The new massive find of conventional oil on state land could bring relief to budget pains in Alaska brought on by slumping production in the state and the crash in oil prices. Source: Repsol.

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Energy War over Syria │ The Geopolitics of Oil and Gas Pipelines

Major Planned Pipelines - Enlarge
The war on Syria is only unclear at first sight. On closer inspection, it becomes clear that fighting between mercenaries and government forces takes place only where important pipelines are running or planned. 

Russia, the Western powers and the Gulf States are fighting for the best starting position for gas and oil supplies for the European market. France, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and the United States, in particular, are interfering in the distribution struggle without any reference to international law, while Russia's support to the legal Syrian government is fully in line with international law.  

Two of the most important oil markets are located in the Syrian cities of Manbij and al-Bab, both of which are located in the Aleppo province. These two cities are also the most important pipeline, the oil from Iraq - from Mosul and al-Qaim - transported to Syria as far as the province of Idlib

Territorial Control - Enlarge
The same Pipeline runs through the city of Aleppo to the oil market in Idlib. Whoever controls Manbid, has a great influence on the oil transport in Syria. The same applies to Aleppo, Idlib and al-Bab in the west of the country. In the east of the country the same oil transport line runs through Raqqa and Deir Ezzor. The oil that flows through this transport line comes from Mosul, via Sinjar to Deir Ezzor and a second strand from al-Qaim to Deir Ezzor. So far, Turkey has had no influence on the oil transport lines in the Syrian conflict. Through the capture of Manbidz, Turkey could assert its influence on the transport system in Syria. The current battle for Aleppo is called only from a basic decision-making battle: Aleppo is the last big city through which flows the country's most important transport line. Anyone who controls Aleppo controls the "key" of the pipeline. It is striking that the conflicts between the conflict parties take place, in particular, on the most important points of the transport lines: Raqqa, Deir Ezzor, Aleppo, Idlib, Manbidsch, Hasaka, al-Bukamal, Ain Issa and al-Bab. In Homs and Hama also violent battles take place. Previously, Palmyra was fiercely fought. These, in turn, are the areas through which the Qatar-Turkey pipeline is planned. The Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline supported and planned by the Russians should also be run by Homs. That is why Homs from the Russian point of view cannot be controlled by the Islamic mercenaries. 

The fog of war and the realm of uncertainty:
Russian
and US Airstrikes -
Enlarge
From the map of the air strikes, it is clear that the US airspace mainly focuses on the East and the Russian air strikes, especially on the west of Syria. While the control of West Syria is important to the Russians to prevent pro-Western pipelines, it is important from the US point of view that the prospect of pro-Russian pipelines - like the Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline - to prevent.

Another planned pipeline was originally to go from the Israeli Golan Heights via Damascus to Turkey. This pipeline would allow Israel to emerge as a gas supplier, provided the government is overthrown in Damascus. But Russia does not want any competitors in the gas market.

In connection with the pipeline routes, the planned "Kurdish corridor" is also critical. The Caucasus Strategic Research Center (KAFKASSAM) in Ankara reports: "The real objective of this corridor is to transport the Kurdish oil and gas from the Northern Iraq over Northern Syria to the Mediterranean by pipeline there. In addition, the US had planned to build another pipeline from the Persian Gulf to the Northern Iraq and from there via Northern Syria. Thus, both Iraq and Turkey should be brought to the West and especially to Europe on the energy market through both Turkey and Northern Syria. But the plan to found a Kurdish corridor fell into the water because the Russians intervened in Syria. Russia is opposed to this corridor because Europe is to be maintained as a customer of Russian energy carriers. Russia will under no circumstances give up its position on the European market." See also HERE + HERE + HERE + HERE


War as the continuation of politics and economic interest by other means.

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Crude Oil and the 34 Year Commodity Cycle | Tony Caldaro

Tony Caldaro (Aug 23, 2016) - Over the years we have written many times about the 34-year commodity cycle. Generally commodities rise as a group in a 13-year bull market, which is followed by a 21-year bear market. Each specific commodity has its own particular cycle which generally fits within the broader 34-year commodity cycle.

A bullish phase of this cycle started about two decades ago in 1998, and ended in 2011. A bear market, lasting about 21-years, has been underway since then. Sorry gold bugs! During the bull market phase some commodities rise in five waves. During the bear market phase all commodities decline in three larger waves. Naturally, just like there are corrections in bull markets, there are rallies in bear markets. Commodities, in general, are currently in one of those bear market rallies.

When one looks at a Crude chart covering nearly 50-years, one can clearly see two periods of rising prices and two periods of declining to sideways prices. While these rising and declining periods may look sporadic, they are actually quite regular when one knows what to look for. As we will explain in the following chart. 


Tony Caldaro: "Expect a price range between $25 and $85 over the next decade."

The two rising periods were actually five wave 10-year bull markets, i.e. 1970-1980 and 1998-2008. These two bull markets were separated by an 18-year bear market, i.e. 1980-1998. The rise during the bull markets were quite spectacular. Well over 1000% in such a short period of time. Price rises like these always lead to excess-capacity events. And these events are normally followed by nearly as spectacular declines. Which eventually cuts capacity until supply/demand reaches an equilibrium. We are in one of those equilibrium periods now.

With Crude 8-years into its bear market, and at least a decade away from starting a new bull market, we can already see a pattern unfolding which is relative to its previous bear market. To see this pattern one needs to review the larger waves first. During the last bear market Crude declined from 1980-1986, rallied to 1990, then declined from 1990-1998. A 6-year decline, then a 4-year rally, followed by an 8-year decline.

Since the current bear market just had an 8-year decline, 2008-2016, we should look into the last 8-year decline. Then the 8-year decline unfolded in three waves [1990]: 1994-1997-1998. Now the 8-year decline has also unfolded in three waves [2008]: 2009-2011-2016. Notice 1990: 4dn-3up-1dn, and 2008: 1dn-2up-5dn, nearly the exact reverse or mirror image. If we consider this a completed pattern, and we do, the next thing that should occur is a choppy 4-year bear market rally, i.e. 1986-1990 or 2016-2020. Therefore the $26 low should be the low for at least the next four years.

How far could Crude advance? During the last bear market all rallies, excluding the aberration from the Kuwait invasion, retraced 38.2%, 50.0%, or more of the previous larger decline. This suggests an upside target between $70 and $85 by the year 2020. Then, after that, a six-year decline into the final bear market low, which should be around the $26 area. In summary one should expect a price range between $25 and $85 over the next decade. Unless there is a supply-event, which could push the upper range higher.





See also Paweł Wiśniewski on Long-Term Commodity Cycles HERE

Saturday, July 30, 2016

U.S. Oil Industry | Record Exports and Worst Profits since 1999

Big Oil had a horrible Q2 quarter. So far in Q3, oil prices had averaged lower than in Q2, and refining margins are
much lower too. Exxon has the worst profit since 1999, and the industry cannot survive on current oil prices. “What
we’re seeing is that there’s just no place for the supermajors to hide”, Brian Youngberg, an analyst at Edward Jones
& Co. in St. Louis, said in an interview. “Oil prices, natural gas, refining, it all looks very bad right now.” (HERE)

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Artificial Intelligence Long Range Forecasts | Stock Indices | Crude Oil | Gold

FFC Long Range Forecasts rely exclusively on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to analyze and model.
Source: Financial Forecast Center, LLC.
Red dots represent monthly mean prices. First dot after the dashed vertical is June 2016, last one November 2016.
 
 
 

MarketVector Financial Forecasts produces long range forecasts using Multichannel Singular Spectrum Analysis (MSSA).
MSSA to decompose the time series into a trend component and many cyclical components. The decomposed
components of the time series are then projected forward in time.
Chartsedge  provides stock market forecasts are based on cycle
data which has been analyzed by a Pattern Recognition Program.
McVerry Report generates 5-Day U.S. Market
Forecasts based on Artificial Intelligence.

Friday, June 3, 2016

Global Oil and Gas Exploration and Development | US + CAN in Free Fall

Enlarge
The Baker Hughes International Rotary Rig Count is a monthly census of active drilling rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas outside North America (U.S. and Canada). The count does not include rigs drilling in Russia, the Caspian region, Iran, Sudan, Cuba, North Korea or onshore China. Iraq was excluded from the International Rotary Rig Count for the period September 1990 to May 2012. Syria is currently excluded from the International Rotary Rig Count as of February 2012 due to difficulty obtaining data as a result of continued civil unrest.

The international rig count for April 2016 was 946, down 39 from the 985 counted in March 2016 , and down 256 from the 1,202 counted in April 2015 . The international offshore rig count for April 2016 was 220, up 9 from the 211 counted in March 2016 , and down 80 from the 300 counted in April 2015 .

The average U.S. rig count for April 2016 was 437, down 41 from the 478 counted in March 2016 , and down 539 from the 976 counted in April 2015. In late May
only 404 rigs were left in operation in the U.S.. The average Canadian rig count for April 2016 was 41, down 47 from the 88 counted in March 2016 , and down 49 from the 90 counted in April 2015 . The worldwide rig count for April 2016 was 1,424, down 127 from the 1,551 counted in March 2016 , and down 844 from the 2,268 counted in April 2015 .

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

The Limits of Oil’s Rebound

Anatole Kaletsky (May 30, 2016) - [...] "From now on, the costs faced by these marginal producers will set the top and bottom of oil’s trading range. Low-cost producers in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and Russia will continue to pump as much as their physical infrastructure can transport as long as the price is higher than $25 or so. The price needed to elicit enough production from US shale and Canadian tar sands to meet strong demand may be $50, $55, or even $60, but it is unlikely to be much higher than that.

Unpredictable shifts in supply and demand will, of course, cause fluctuations within this trading range, which past experience suggests could be quite large. In the 20-year period of competitive pricing from 1985 to 2004, the oil price frequently doubled or halved in the course of a few months. So the near-doubling of oil prices since mid-January’s $28 low is not surprising. But now that the $50 ceiling is being tested, we can expect the next major move in the trading range to be downward." 


Crude oil increased 0.62 USD/BBL or 1.26% to 49.98 on Tuesday May 31 from 49.36 in the previous trading session.
Crude oil lost 10.26 USD/BBL or 17.03 % during the last 12 months from 60.24 USD/BBL in May of 2015.
Historically, Crude oil reached an all time high of 145.31 in July of 2008 and a record low of 1.17 in February of 1946.
Bull Markets in Oil tend to be short, whereas Bear Markets last 11 to 28 Years. So far we are in the 8th year
(HERE).

Friday, February 5, 2016

Oil Price and Russian Political History


Vladimir Putin’s unshakeable popularity - a people's president with approval rates
Western muppet puppets wouldn't even dream about. Credits: The Economist
(Feb 4, 2016)

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

The Origin And Natural Abundance Of Hydrocarbons

“The suggestion that petroleum might have arisen
from some transformation of squashed fish or
biological detritus is surely the silliest notion
to have been entertained by substantial numbers
of persons over an extended period of time.”
Sir
Fred Hoyle, 1982
Since 150 years modern industrial civilization entirely rests upon the permanent and sufficient availability of hydrocarbons for fuel, power generation and the chemical transformation into an endless array of indispensable synthetical products. Yet, amazingly, there still coexist two opposing and politically very controversial theories on the origin of hydrocarbons such as petroleum, natural gas or black coal: the biogenic theory (Western School) and the abiogenic theory (Russian-Ukrainian School). The biogenic theory suggests that remnants of buried plants and animals somehow converted into hydrocarbons, and therefore crude oil, coal and natural gas were to be considered scarce, finite and hence expensive 'fossil fuels'. This view of course was always dear to Big Oil and in line with M. King Hubbert's malthusian-quack peak oil theory, forecasting the nearby exhaust and collapse of crude supplies ever since the 1950s. Meanwhile the abiogenic theory explains that deep deposits of primordial hydrocarbons were trapped during the formation of our planet, and hydrocarbon molecules (mostly methane) constantly migrate from the mantle to the crust. The element carbon is the fourth in order of abundance in the universe, preceded only by hydrogen, helium and oxygen. Therefore methane and other hydrocarbons are found not only on Earth but basically everywhere in our solar system and beyond: on Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and their moons as well as on Comet Halley, Comet Hyakutake, on cosmic dust, in nebulae and interstellar gas.

Prof. Nikolai Alexandrovitch Kudryavtsev (1893 - 1971)
The Russian geologist Nikolai Alexandrovitch Kudryavtsev was the first proponent of the modern theory of abiotic oil. In 1951 he argued that no petroleum resembling the chemical composition of natural crudes has ever been made from plant material in the laboratory under conditions resembling those in nature. He analyzed the geology of the Athabasca bituminous sands in Alberta, Canada, and concluded that no organic débris could have formed that huge volume of oil. The most plausible explanation was that oil is abiogenic, inorganic and it comes through faults from deep inside the Earth. Kudryavtsev's Rule states that "any region in which hydrocarbons are found at one level will also have hydrocarbons in large or small quantities at all levels down to and into the basement rock. Thus, where oil and gas deposits are found, there will often be coal seams above them. Gas is usually the deepest in the pattern, and can alternate with oil. All petroleum deposits have a capstone [or permafrost soils and ice], which is generally impermeable to the upward migration of hydrocarbons. This capstone leads to the accumulation of the hydrocarbon." He gave many examples of substantial quantities of petroleum being found in crystalline or metamorphic basements, or in sediments directly overlying those. Developing this approach, exploration companies like Rosneft, Exxonmobil and Tullow Oil are quite successful.

Mud volcano on Malan Island, emerged in 2011 in Balochistan,
Pakistan, producing methane, ethane, propane and butane.
Outside the Soviet Union the Austrian-American astrophysicist Thomas Gold (1920 - 2004) was the most prominent proponent of the abiogenic theory. His Deep Hot Biosphere Theory and the Deep-Earth Gas Theory propose that crude oil and natural gas are primordial materials, formed deep inside the Earth as well as in other planets. The rise of methane, sometimes along with helium and nitrogen, act as carrier gases, bring together heavier hydrocarbons and reach shallower areas in the crust, where deep microbial life interact with the hydrocarbons and contaminates the primordial oil. Natural oil and gas seeps are found worldwide, e.g. in the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, and in the Gulf of Mexico, where more than 600 natural seeps leak one to five million barrels of oil per year. Ships and aircrafts disappear in the Bermuda Triangle due to the presence of large fields of methane hydrates, underwater gas seeps and gas eruptions. Refilling is a common phenomenon in oil and gas fields throughout the Middle East, Indonesia, on Eugene Island (Alaska), in the Gulf of Mexico, the Prudhoe Basin, Russia's Romashkinokoye supergiant oilfield, and many others. Enormous amounts of methane hydrate have been found beneath Arctic permafrost, beneath Antarctic ice and in sedimentary deposits along continental margins worldwide. In some parts they are much closer to high-population areas than any natural gas field, and might allow countries currently importing natural gas to become self-sufficient. The United States, Canada, Germany, Japan and India all have vigorous research programs working to discover viable technologies for producing gas hydrates.

From the analysis of a ketchup stain on a tie can not
be concluded that the tie would be made ​​from tomatoes. 
(HERE)