http://www.commodityonline.com/news/india-says-us-has-not-threatened-to-impose-any-sanctions-due-to-iran-oil-import-47729-3-47730.html
and....
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2012/04/26/Irans-Oil-Ministry-under-cyberattack/UPI-85701335473868/
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, April 26 (UPI) -- Iran's Oil Ministry, already battling stringent economic sanctions aimed at throttling the country's oil exports, is having to fight on another front: cyberattacks.
In what may be an effort by the United States and Israel to disrupt oil exports, the backbone of Iran's increasingly battered economy, the computer systems of the ministry and the Iran National Oil Co. were attacked Sunday by a virus the ISNA news agency identified without elaboration as "Viper."
Key installations were knocked out for a time. Iranian media reported the ministry was forced to disconnect key oil facilities, including control systems at the terminal on Kharg Island in the northern Persian Gulf that handles 90 percent of Iran's oil exports.
Terminals on the islands of Gheshm and Kish in the southern gulf were also hit by the virus. However, oil industry sources reported that oil was being loaded Monday at Kharg.
The semi-official Mehr news agency reported that oil production -- pegged by Tehran at around 2 million barrels per day -- wasn't affected by the virus that crippled the internal computer systems at the ministry and the state oil company.
The ministry has called in a "cyber crisis committee" that includes 50 of Iran's leading computer experts who were mobilized in 2010 when the country's nuclear program was crippled by the Stuxnet virus.That was the first major cyberattack on the Islamic Republic to be reported but some Western specialists say the virus was first unleashed against Iran's nuclear infrastructure in 2009.
Those attacks are widely believed to have been the work of Israel's intelligence services, perhaps aided by the Americans, who have been waging a covert campaign to sabotage Iran's nuclear program and assassinate key scientists.
No authoritative account of who invented and deployed Stuxnet or how it was inserted into the Iranian nuclear program to disable the centrifuge cascades at Natanz in central Iran has surfaced.
The centrifuges are vital components of the uranium-enriching process that's at the heart of the nuclear weaponization program.
Western cyber engineers say the Iranians have been able to neutralize Stuxnet and have purged the malware from the nuclear industry.
Sunday's attack was apparently the most intense of a series of cyberstrikes that began early in April.
Who was responsible isn't known but the United States and Israel are widely seen as the likely instigators.
"We're making progress in neutralizing this cyberattack," said Hamdollah Mohammadnejad, deputy oil minister in charge of civil defense.
Iran's media has reported that Sunday's attack, the heaviest in the latest series, corrupted all the data stored in the Oil Ministry's computer system.
But it said the core data on the oil industry was safe because it was stored on backup systems.
It remains to be seen whether there will be more cyberattacks on the oil industry but the Americans clearly want to step up the pressure on Iran.
and....
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/27/markets-grain-europe-idUSL6E8FR7XM20120427
MUMBAI (Commodity Online): The United States has not threatened to impose any sanctions on India because of its continuing economic relations with Iran, Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna told lawmakers in a written statement to the parliament.
“Unilateral sanctions imposed by countries or [a] group of countries shouldn't impact legitimate trade relations with Iran”, Krishna argues while adding that India has to import oil from Iran in order to ensure that its domestic energy requirements are met.
Iran is one of the major suppliers of oil to India and the US had declared that it will impose sanctions on countries which does not substantially reduce its oil imports from Iran. The sanctions were declared to come into effect on June 28, 2012 and will reportedly affect the non-complying countries financial institutions in the US.
and....
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2012/04/26/Irans-Oil-Ministry-under-cyberattack/UPI-85701335473868/
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, April 26 (UPI) -- Iran's Oil Ministry, already battling stringent economic sanctions aimed at throttling the country's oil exports, is having to fight on another front: cyberattacks.
In what may be an effort by the United States and Israel to disrupt oil exports, the backbone of Iran's increasingly battered economy, the computer systems of the ministry and the Iran National Oil Co. were attacked Sunday by a virus the ISNA news agency identified without elaboration as "Viper."
Key installations were knocked out for a time. Iranian media reported the ministry was forced to disconnect key oil facilities, including control systems at the terminal on Kharg Island in the northern Persian Gulf that handles 90 percent of Iran's oil exports.
Terminals on the islands of Gheshm and Kish in the southern gulf were also hit by the virus. However, oil industry sources reported that oil was being loaded Monday at Kharg.
The semi-official Mehr news agency reported that oil production -- pegged by Tehran at around 2 million barrels per day -- wasn't affected by the virus that crippled the internal computer systems at the ministry and the state oil company.
The ministry has called in a "cyber crisis committee" that includes 50 of Iran's leading computer experts who were mobilized in 2010 when the country's nuclear program was crippled by the Stuxnet virus.That was the first major cyberattack on the Islamic Republic to be reported but some Western specialists say the virus was first unleashed against Iran's nuclear infrastructure in 2009.
Those attacks are widely believed to have been the work of Israel's intelligence services, perhaps aided by the Americans, who have been waging a covert campaign to sabotage Iran's nuclear program and assassinate key scientists.
No authoritative account of who invented and deployed Stuxnet or how it was inserted into the Iranian nuclear program to disable the centrifuge cascades at Natanz in central Iran has surfaced.
The centrifuges are vital components of the uranium-enriching process that's at the heart of the nuclear weaponization program.
Western cyber engineers say the Iranians have been able to neutralize Stuxnet and have purged the malware from the nuclear industry.
Sunday's attack was apparently the most intense of a series of cyberstrikes that began early in April.
Who was responsible isn't known but the United States and Israel are widely seen as the likely instigators.
"We're making progress in neutralizing this cyberattack," said Hamdollah Mohammadnejad, deputy oil minister in charge of civil defense.
Iran's media has reported that Sunday's attack, the heaviest in the latest series, corrupted all the data stored in the Oil Ministry's computer system.
But it said the core data on the oil industry was safe because it was stored on backup systems.
It remains to be seen whether there will be more cyberattacks on the oil industry but the Americans clearly want to step up the pressure on Iran.
Cyber experts say Stuxnet has at least four "cousins" developed on a single platform whose origins go back to 2007, the Russian computer security firm Kaspersky Lab disclosed in December.
One of these is the data-stealing Trojan virus known as Duqu, which was also used to attack Iranian computer systems following the Stuxnet episode.
Iran's oil exports have been cut because of the sanctions imposed by the United Nations in June 2010 because of Tehran's refusal to cease uranium-enrichment for the United States and its allies say is a clandestine weapons program. Iran denies that.
Recent oil industry figures suggest exports have fallen badly from some 2.2 million bpd in February to 1.9 million bpd in March. That means a drop in annual oil earnings of around $30 billion.
The International Energy Agency said that output could tumble to levels last seen during the 1980-88 war with Iraq.
As sanctions drive off Iran's oil customers, it reportedly has been forced to use half its fleet of 25 supertankers and five of its nine smaller tankers to store some 33 million barrels of oil at anchor in the gulf.
The pressure on Iran will intensify greatly in June and July when U.S. and EU sanctions are scheduled to be tightened.
One of these is the data-stealing Trojan virus known as Duqu, which was also used to attack Iranian computer systems following the Stuxnet episode.
Iran's oil exports have been cut because of the sanctions imposed by the United Nations in June 2010 because of Tehran's refusal to cease uranium-enrichment for the United States and its allies say is a clandestine weapons program. Iran denies that.
Recent oil industry figures suggest exports have fallen badly from some 2.2 million bpd in February to 1.9 million bpd in March. That means a drop in annual oil earnings of around $30 billion.
The International Energy Agency said that output could tumble to levels last seen during the 1980-88 war with Iraq.
As sanctions drive off Iran's oil customers, it reportedly has been forced to use half its fleet of 25 supertankers and five of its nine smaller tankers to store some 33 million barrels of oil at anchor in the gulf.
The pressure on Iran will intensify greatly in June and July when U.S. and EU sanctions are scheduled to be tightened.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/27/markets-grain-europe-idUSL6E8FR7XM20120427
(Reuters) - European milling wheat futures rose on Friday as Chinese demand for U.S. corn and soybeans helped to spark a broad-based advance in grain and oilseed prices.
* U.S. corn surged about 4 percent while soybeans hit $15 a bushel for the first time in nearly four years, pulling wheat futures along in their wake.
* May milling wheat in Paris was 3.50 euros or 1.7 percent higher at 214.50 euros a tonne by 1605 GMT, while new crop November was up 3.25 euros at 203.75 euros.
* "The rise is mainly due to the sales of U.S. corn which are exciting the market," Antoine Gautier of French consultancy Offre & Demande Agricole said.
* The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday confirmed the largest one-day sale of U.S. corn since 1991. The sale totalled 1.56 million tonnes, and while USDA did not identify the buyer grain traders said the bulk of it was bound for China.
* The USDA also said that exporters sold 110,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans to China and 116,000 tonnes to an unknown destination for 2012/13 delivery, a fresh sign of strong demand for U.S. soy amid ailing harvest prospects in South America.
* May feed wheat futures in London rose 2.10 pounds or 1.2 percent to 179.50 pounds a tonne.
* "Exporters have been unable to make new sales, but continue to execute existing contracts. Milling premiums are no better, and in some areas are non-existent," Openfield said in a market note on Friday.
* German feed wheat was again quoted way above bread wheat prices with the continuing demand from animal feed makers helping to keep Germany's market way above Paris.
* Unconfirmed market talk continued that a rare shipment of about 60,000 tonnes of Romanian feed wheat is bound for Germany or a neighbouring north European country.
* Standard milling wheat for May delivery in Hamburg was offered for sale up 2 euros at 234 euros a tonne with buyers at around 232 euros, with prices firmed by the Paris and Chicago strength. But dealing was difficult as producers preferred to sell milling wheat for feed.
* Feed wheat for nearby delivery in the South Oldenburg animal feed grains market near the Netherlands was again offered for sale way above milling wheat, up 1 euro at 240 euros a tonne with buyers at around 238 euros.
* German new crop prices are well below old crop. Standard milling wheat for Hamburg delivery in September was offered for sale up 2 euros 213 euros a tonne with buyers at 211 euros.
* "Milling wheat is again going for feed today," one German trader said. "There is talk that feed makers have started buying from the Black Sea region, with a big ship of feed wheat possibly arriving from Romania, but this is not cooling prices yet."
* "Some dealers have the attitude that even if a large shipment is on the way from Romania it will only provide relief for a week or so and that feed makers will have to start buying again. Old crop supplies are tight."
* German prices were also supported by continued purchasing interest by Poland, with Polish dealers mainly active in east German regions.
* German new crop prices are well below old crop. Standard milling wheat for Hamburg delivery in September was offered for sale up 2 euros at 213 euros a tonne with buyers at 211 euros.
* Polish wheat prices dropped in the last week as traders booked imports from surrounding countries including Germany, Denmark, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
* Standard milling wheat ex store was quoted around 1,000 zloty (235 euros) in much of the country, down about 2 to 3 euros on the week.
* Polish farmer selling has been restrained since heavy frosts in February caused heavy damage to crops in some regions, causing some observers to cut forecasts of Poland's 2012 harvest.
* "Polish mills and feed makers had been maintaining only limited advanced supply cover before the frosts and have been taken by surprise by the lack of old crop farmer sales," a trader in Warsaw said. "Farmers have been using poorer wheat grades as seed, which has further tightened feed supplies as seed producing areas were among those hardest hit by frosts."
* "A lot of imports have been booked recently and the arrivals have helped to cool the market a little this week. Poland has been buying from places it normally exports to, including Germany, Austria and Denmark."
* Rapeseed prices were higher, boosted by prospects for a small harvest in the EU this year and surging U.S. soy values.
* August rapeseed was up 6.25 euros or 1.30 percent at 486.50 euros.
* Analyst Strategie Grains forecast the crop would fall to a six-year low of 17.6 million tonnes, below the current outlook of Oil World. (Reporting by Nigel Hunt in London, Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Gus Trompiz in Paris; Editing by Alison Birrane)
and....
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304811304577370222848787882.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
CHICAGO—Corn prices jumped 4.6% after the federal government reported the sixth-largest export sale ever for the grain, which analysts believe is headed for China.
The sale, the latest indication of the Chinese appetite for U.S. corn, coincided with analysts' expectations in recent weeks that China would make a large purchase from the U.S. to help replenish its reserves. China's state-owned grain-stockpiling enterprise, China Grain Reserves Corp., said in March that it would continue to import corn this year if it found a need or if doing so would be profitable.
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