Despite tensions over whether or not OPEC and non-OPEC cooperation should continue, the oil minister of the United Arab Emirates and the current OPEC President Suhail Al Mazroui says the cartel is looking enhance and “institutionalize” the ongoing partnership.
The move resulted in the coming together of 14 OPEC oil producers and 10 non-OPEC producers in 2017 via a historic partnership brokered by Saudi Arabia and Russia, with 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil production taken out of the supply pool.
The ongoing deal is supposed to last till the end of 2018, and has seen the oil price recover from sub-$30 per barrel levels at one point in 2016 to $80 earlier this year using Brent as a benchmark; a level not seen since November 2014.
However, with global oil inventories having fallen to the five-year average, increasing pressure from the U.S. government on OPEC to raise production, and power-brokers Saudi Arabia and Russia calling for a production hike, tensions have surfaced.
OPEC members Iran and Venezuela do not want any uptick in production, but Saudi Oil Minister Khalid Al-Falih has suggested a gradual increase of 1 million bpd, while his non-OPEC Russian counterpart Alexander Novak has called for a 1.5 million bpd hike.
The discord has seen the oil market fluctuate wildly throughout the week, as traders attempt to price in possible goings-on at OPEC.
Speaking at the OPEC Ministers’ Meeting in Vienna, Austria on Friday (June 22), the UAE Oil Minister said: “Over the next couple of days, and in the months ahead, we will look to further institutionalize OPEC and non-OPEC cooperation, in order to continuously adapt to ongoing market dynamics, in pursuit of the interests of producers and consumers, whilst promoting healthy global economic growth. “It is important that we maintain all possible avenues for cooperation and understanding for the benefit of OPEC countries, in particular, and the world at large.”
Not only that, Al-Mazroui said OPEC’s doors were open to other oil producers should they choose to “join and cooperate” in the ongoing “historic level of cooperation” between the world’s leading crude producers.
Should that happen, and a new “OPEC-Plus” emerges then it would be massive impact statement for the oil market.

A study published Thursday found that U.S. oil and natural gas operations release 60 percent more methane than currently estimated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to a press release from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at University of Colorado, Boulder.
The study, published in Science, calculated yearly methane emissions from the oil and gas industry totaling 13 million metric tons (approximately 14.3 million U.S. tons), mostly from leaks.
In fact, the amount of methane leaked by these operations in 2015 had as much impact on the climate as emissions from coal-fired plants during the same year, undermining the idea that natural gas has a lower carbon footprint than coal. “This study provides the best estimate to date on the climate impact of oil and gas activity in the United States,” co-author and CIRES scientist Jeff Peischl said in the release.
Methane has 80 times the warming impact of carbon dioxide over the first 20 years after it is released into the atmosphere, and methane emissions estimated by the study were equal to 2.3 percent of natural gas production in the U.S.
However, the study’s authors said the problem could be solved if the industry worked to investigate and repair leaks. “Identifying the biggest leakers could substantially reduce emissions that we have measured.” “But the entire industry has to take action to stop the problem,” he said.
They also looked at measurements from midstream facilities, valves, tanks and aerial surveys of oil and gas operations.
The study said that the EPA likely underestimates emissions because it first asks industry permission to take measurements, and so workers likely tighten up any leaks before their visit.

It seems like it’s always bad news for coral reefs.
Desperate to help coral survive climate change, scientists have tried many strategies to improve reef resilience.
They’ve developed marine-protected areas, built coral nurseries, and even started genetically engineering “super-corals” that can withstand bleaching.
After a bleaching event, coral reefs are weakened and vulnerable to disease.
She and her team tested their idea on corallivorous snails and brain corals in the Florida Keys in 2014.
Shaver is hopeful that the finding will encourage reef managers to continue to take action locally.
“Climate change is the single greatest threat that faces coral reefs,” Shaver says.
John Bruno, professor of biology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, argues that while local interventions may work in a controlled or limited environment, they don’t carry over to large-scale policy.
“When people actually test the policy, in a way that a manager would do it — it never works,” he told me over the phone.
“I don’t really see there being a policy where scientists remove snails from the Great Barrier Reef.

And if you’re interested in a green job that entails sustainability, recycling, or environmental protection/reclamation, we applaud you!
Arizona State University, which offered the first undergraduate sustainability program at a U.S. college, reports that 70 percent of its 2017 graduates have jobs in the sustainability field, which is an impressive achievement when you consider an additional 16 percent went on to graduate school instead of the workplace.
If you’re thinking of starting off in the CEO’s office, you might want to lower your expectations, but there are plenty of paths to the top in this emerging industry.
Average salary: $66,579 (GlassDoor) Benefits: Excellent earning potential, large impact on urban planning, with a variety of applications Drawbacks: High-stress position, requires licenses/certifications How to apply: Start at Engineerjobs.com to find opportunities 2.
Average salary: $45,000 (ZipRecruiter) Benefits: Lots of work in the field, math/science intensive, steady work opportunities Drawbacks: Mostly freelance/contract, long hours How to apply: Visit the American Water Works Association career page 3.
Solar Power Installer Company/organization: Private companies making solar panels Summary: Installing solar panels on housing and buildings is a complicated process done by humans.
Zero Waste Coordinator Company/organization: Cities, waste haulers, Fortune 500 companies, universities Summary: Everyone wants to reduce waste; zero waste programs for cities and companies set goals to recycle more material.
They conduct research, preserve trails, and interact with visitors.
Average salary: $16 per hour (GlassDoor) Benefits: Not an office job, lots of overtime in peak seasons, lower cost of living than cities Drawbacks: Uniform required, additional training required How to apply: All NPS ranger jobs are posted on https://www.usajobs.gov; state park jobs are on state sites Editor’s note: This article was updated in June 2018 by Trey Granger.
Can you suggest other green jobs for recent grads?

← Use Arrows Keys → Dua Lipa is quickly proving that her street style looks are just as steamy as her bikinigrams.
The British musician was seen with her boyfriend, Isaac Carew, in New York for a signing event with V magazine.
Dua opted for a supersexy polka-dot dress by Marianna Senchina that looked as sweet as can be until she turned to the side.
Our jaws dropped to the floor when we saw that her dress was completely open on one side and it was literally held together by two tiny velvet bows.
This isn’t the first time Dua has worn the brand, as she was just spotted wearing a polka-dot set by the designer a few days prior to wearing this dress.
To balance her sultry look, Dua finished it with shiny gold platform heels and a yellow beret that had “Solidarity” written on it.
Read on to see all angles of her steamy street style outfit and buy the exact dress if you dare.

This has been a dramatic week, even by recent standards of world drama. As one small example, at least tangentially

MPs are to investigate the environmental impact of throwaway “fast fashion” in the UK amid growing concerns that the multi-billion pound industry is wasting valuable resources and contributing to climate change.
The inquiry, launched on Friday by the House of Commons environmental audit committee, will explore the carbon impact, resource use and water footprint of clothing throughout its lifecycle and supply chain.
“Fashion shouldn’t cost the Earth” said Mary Creagh MP, chair of the committee.
Every time we put on a wash, thousands of plastic fibres wash down the drain into the oceans.
We don’t know where or how to recycle end-of-life clothing.” Despite recent troubles on the UK high street, the fashion sector has continued to grow.
The raw materials used to manufacture clothes require land and water, or extraction of fossil fuels, while carbon dioxide is emitted throughout the clothing supply chain and some chemical dyes, finishes and coatings may be toxic.
Research has found that plastic microfibres in clothing are released when they are washed, and enter rivers, the ocean and even the food chain.
It warned that if the global fashion industry continues on its current growth path, it could use more than a quarter of the world’s annual carbon budget by 2050.
Key to the inquiry is how consumers could be encouraged to buy fewer clothes, reuse clothes and think about how best to dispose of clothes when they are no longer wanted.
An estimated 300,000 tonnes of fashion waste goes straight into landfill each year, despite growing efforts to encourage consumers to recycle their worn and unwanted clothing.

MPs are to investigate the environmental impact of throwaway “fast fashion” in the UK amid growing concerns that the multi-billion pound industry is wasting valuable resources and contributing to climate change.
The inquiry, launched on Friday by the House of Commons environmental audit committee, will explore the carbon impact, resource use and water footprint of clothing throughout its lifecycle and supply chain.
“Fashion shouldn’t cost the Earth” said Mary Creagh MP, chair of the committee.
Every time we put on a wash, thousands of plastic fibres wash down the drain into the oceans.
We don’t know where or how to recycle end-of-life clothing.” Despite recent troubles on the UK high street, the fashion sector has continued to grow.
The raw materials used to manufacture clothes require land and water, or extraction of fossil fuels, while carbon dioxide is emitted throughout the clothing supply chain and some chemical dyes, finishes and coatings may be toxic.
Research has found that plastic microfibres in clothing are released when they are washed, and enter rivers, the ocean and even the food chain.
It warned that if the global fashion industry continues on its current growth path, it could use more than a quarter of the world’s annual carbon budget by 2050.
Key to the inquiry is how consumers could be encouraged to buy fewer clothes, reuse clothes and think about how best to dispose of clothes when they are no longer wanted.
An estimated 300,000 tonnes of fashion waste goes straight into landfill each year, despite growing efforts to encourage consumers to recycle their worn and unwanted clothing.

It seems like it’s always bad news for coral reefs.
Desperate to help coral survive climate change, scientists have tried many strategies to improve reef resilience.
They’ve developed marine-protected areas, built coral nurseries, and even started genetically engineering “super-corals” that can withstand bleaching.
After a bleaching event, coral reefs are weakened and vulnerable to disease.
She and her team tested their idea on corallivorous snails and brain corals in the Florida Keys in 2014.
Shaver is hopeful that the finding will encourage reef managers to continue to take action locally.
“Climate change is the single greatest threat that faces coral reefs,” Shaver says.
John Bruno, professor of biology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, argues that while local interventions may work in a controlled or limited environment, they don’t carry over to large-scale policy.
“When people actually test the policy, in a way that a manager would do it — it never works,” he told me over the phone.
“I don’t really see there being a policy where scientists remove snails from the Great Barrier Reef.

Malta has broken EU law by allowing the hunting and trapping of several finch species, the European court has ruled.
An estimated 110,000 finches have been caught by hunters since then, along with many other wild birds such as song thrushes and golden plovers.
Catherine Bearder, the Liberal Democrat MEP, hailed the verdict as “a welcome judgment that confirms what we have all known for too long.
The slaughter of these wonderful birds is illegal and unsustainable.
The EU must step in and take action to stop the killing without delay.” Finch-trapping was once common across Europe but the practice has been progressively rolled back by the EU’s birds directive, which aims to conserve avian species and prevent habitat destruction.
It should mark the end of indiscriminate trapping, which is a completely unsustainable and barbaric practice.” According to BirdLife, the court verdict effectively outlaws the trapping of finches in Malta, which had been due to resume with this autumn’s hunting season.
Malta had reportedly argued in court that the EU’s birds directive allowed it to strike a balance between conservation and leisure activities.
But the judges in Luxembourg found that its derogation was not selective, did not apply merely to “small numbers of birds”, and that more humane alternatives had not been considered.
“Trapping in Malta is so intensive that only a handful of each of the common finch species regularly breed on the islands, whereas they breed in high numbers in other areas of the Mediterranean,” the ruling noted.
Those that survive are typically sold between trappers or traded in markets and pet shops as “domestic birds”.

Once upon a time, shortly after the age of bloodletting, people thought that facts could change minds.
What changed?
Sure, Lynas learned some new facts.
If changing minds means ripping apart the bonds of friendship, what are the chances that Republicans are ever going to change their minds about climate change?
He wrote a chapter called “What Anti-GMO Activists Got Right.” In the process, Lynas began repairing the damage done to his relationships with Monbiot and Kingsnorth.
Lynas’ experience suggests that the most important mind you can change is your own.
Set out to win every argument, and you’ll only alienate your friends.
The ability to change one’s mind is the ability to grow and adapt — and ultimately to survive.
Learn to argue in a way that builds relationships, rather than destroying them.
Everyone who can take it to heart makes it a little more likely that civilization can grow, learn, adapt, and survive this moment of crisis.

“That one’s definitely a puffin.
She rings it, notes its number – this is now Bird EZ88918 – then gently replaces it and its precious egg in the burrow.
With this year’s count recording nearly 31,000 individuals, up from 14,000 in 2013, breeding adults are even starting to encroach into what were once “Manxie” burrows.
Bird EZ88918 is one of three puffins Baker discovers today that have commandeered burrows known previously to have been home to a pair of breeding shearwaters.
The RSPB’s seabird specialist Dr Ellie Owen confirms that on 20 monitored sites across Shetland, the 33,000 puffins counted in the last nationwide census in 2000 have plummeted to just 570 individuals.
Climate change has warmed the oceans, and scientists suspect that this is forcing cold-water fish species further north, meaning, in turn, that seabirds struggle to find food close to their traditional breeding grounds.
Seabird scientists regard puffins – which in the breeding season are the only species to return to land with fish very visibly held in their beaks, as long as there are fish to be found – very much as coalminers used canaries.
It combined tracking of puffins in the Shiant Isles and Shetland with crowdsourced “citizen science” information on the species; securing the new funding would allow teams of trained researchers to source data on where puffins are feeding all around the UK, and from Norway, Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
After a 17-hour day mostly spent crawling on her hands and knees, being bitten by shearwaters and pooed on by puffins, Baker will get up again at 5.30am to attempt to ring lesser black-backed gulls.
Everyone is hoping that it stays that way – and that Scotland’s puffin numbers revive.

Not surprisingly, the methods that scientists use to gather data from the natural world have changed considerably since then, as have the types of information we use as data.
How has the field change in that time?
There’s been phenomenal growth in terms of the number of people interested this type of research, as well as its potential applications.
For conservation organizations that’s been a really important development, because the questions that we want to ask need to match the scale of our conservation work, which is often larger than the scale of ecological questions tackled using acoustics in the past.
All research is valuable, but I work in a space that is about outcomes on the ground.
And that’s great because then we know more about the impact of our projects, and we also have more available to spend on taking action.
Q: Tell me about how and where The Nature Conservancy is using acoustics?
One thing that I think is interesting is the use of acoustics to look at reporting under certification standards or impact investment projects.
For example, we could use acoustic benchmarks to track when a restoration project has been successful or to verify that effective conservation measures are in place.
Those are things it’s been hard to get robust and independent benchmarks on, particularly ones that are cost-effective for the scale of the projects.

The mystery of a seemingly bizarre “wolf-like” creature that was shot and killed in Montana last month has been solved: The animal was a wolf all along.
DNA results from a U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service forensic laboratory in Oregon show the lupine creature was a female gray wolf.
The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced the results in a press release on Monday.
In May, a rancher shot and killed the wolf on his property near the Montana town of Denton.
Officials sent the carcass for further inspection to a lab in Bozeman, Montana.
Tissue samples were then sent to the Oregon lab for DNA testing.
Initial “confusion” about the creature could have been “due to the condition of the animal and the photos, which seemed to show short legs and big ears,” the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said in Monday’s statement.
The wolf was 2 years to 3 years old and she wasn’t lactating, meaning she didn’t leave a litter of pups behind.
The rancher who shot the wolf didn’t break the law, the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks statement noted, because it’s legal in Montana for property owners to shoot wolves they believe threaten their livestock.

This has been a dramatic week, even by recent standards of world drama. As one small example, at least tangentially

MPs are to investigate the environmental impact of throwaway “fast fashion” in the UK amid growing concerns that the multi-billion pound industry is wasting valuable resources and contributing to climate change.
The inquiry, launched on Friday by the House of Commons environmental audit committee, will explore the carbon impact, resource use and water footprint of clothing throughout its lifecycle and supply chain.
“Fashion shouldn’t cost the Earth” said Mary Creagh MP, chair of the committee.
Every time we put on a wash, thousands of plastic fibres wash down the drain into the oceans.
We don’t know where or how to recycle end-of-life clothing.” Despite recent troubles on the UK high street, the fashion sector has continued to grow.
The raw materials used to manufacture clothes require land and water, or extraction of fossil fuels, while carbon dioxide is emitted throughout the clothing supply chain and some chemical dyes, finishes and coatings may be toxic.
Research has found that plastic microfibres in clothing are released when they are washed, and enter rivers, the ocean and even the food chain.
It warned that if the global fashion industry continues on its current growth path, it could use more than a quarter of the world’s annual carbon budget by 2050.
Key to the inquiry is how consumers could be encouraged to buy fewer clothes, reuse clothes and think about how best to dispose of clothes when they are no longer wanted.
An estimated 300,000 tonnes of fashion waste goes straight into landfill each year, despite growing efforts to encourage consumers to recycle their worn and unwanted clothing.

If you’re looking for good news on the climate front, don’t look to the Antarctic.
Last week’s spate of studies documenting that its melt rates had tripled is precisely the kind of data that underscores the almost impossible urgency of the moment.
It’s as if he’s on a reality show where the premise is to see how much petty corruption one man can get away with.
But from somewhat less likely quarters, there’s been reason this month for hope – reason, at least, to think that the basic trajectory of the world away from coal and gas and oil is firmly under way.
And from Wall Street came welcome word that market perceptions haven’t really changed: even in the age of Trump, the fossil fuel industry has gone from the world’s surest bet to an increasingly challenged enterprise.
Researchers at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis minced no words: “In the past several years, oil industry financial statements have revealed significant signs of strain: Profits have dropped, cash flow is down, balance sheets are deteriorating and capital spending is falling.
And the third problem for the fossil fuel industry?
And the third problem for the fossil fuel industry?
According to IEEFA, that would be the climate movement – a material financial risk to oil and gas companies.
But it’s not what’s best for Canada | David Suzuki Read more The report’s authors write: “The financial world is just beginning to understand the fundamental weakness of the fossil fuel sector, and barely acknowledges the global climate movement’s growing power and reach.

Deal between lawmakers and ministers will cut energy waste 32.5% and reduce reliance on fossil fuel imports, but didn’t go far enough for green groups EU negotiators finally signed off on new energy efficiency rules Tuesday evening (19 June), as Bulgaria’s EU Presidency wrapped up another clean energy file.
The Council was able to defend its own red line though; namely, where energy savings should or should not actually be made.
Comment: The EU needs to update its climate ambition – here’s how It looked likely that the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) would mirror the renewable energy directive (RED) agreement with a ‘32/32’ set of targets but the extra half a percentage point sets the energy savings rules apart.
The RED deal is also binding rather than a mere ‘headline’.
Talks had started and were ongoing at the time of writing.
EU negotiators meet once again this week for what promises to be final talks on two crucial energy files on energy governance and energy efficiency.
But Bulgarian Presidency negotiator Zhecho Stankov insisted that his mandate was not generous enough to meet the Parliament’s new negotiating position and the talks collapsed.
Poche tweeted after tonight’s agreement that the deal is “strong” on Article 7 and that the final text will guarantee “higher annual savings” than the European Commission’s original proposal.
But Europe’s gas self-sufficiency dropped below 50% for the very first time as well.
This article was produced by Euractiv

Light pollution a reason for insect decline Artificial lighting at night could be a reason for declining insect populations Climate change, pesticides and land use changes alone cannot fully explain the decline in insect populations in Germany.
Many studies already suggest that artificial light at night has negative impacts on insects, and scientists should pay greater attention to this factor when exploring the causes of insect population declines in the future.
The biomass of flying insects has decreased by more than 75 per cent – this alarming figure made front page news in autumn 2017.
At the same time, they pointed out that these impacts alone are unable to explain this drastic decline.
Light at the wrong time disturbs the balance of ecosystems Clearly an assignment for scientists from the Light Pollution and Ecophysiology research group at IGB.
Therefore, the team led by IGB researcher Dr. Maja Grubisic looked at the locations of the areas involved in the 2017 study: areas in conurbations that have a higher than average level of light pollution.
As such, they depend on darkness and natural light from the moon and stars for orientation and movement or to escape from predators, and to go about their nightly tasks of seeking food and reproducing.
An artificially lit night disturbs this natural behaviour – and has a negative impact on their chances of survival”, explains Maja Grubisic the starting point of their investigation.
The scientists analysed all recent studies on the effects of artificial light at night on insects, and found that there is strong evidence to suggest a credible link between light pollution and declines in insect populations.
A decline in insect populations in agricultural areas – which make up no less than eleven per cent of land use worldwide – does not only mean a decline in species diversity, but also jeopardises important ecosystem services: for example, there are then fewer moths, beetles and flies to pollinate plants.

We somehow need to find out what happens to these juvenile rays that are so rare elsewhere in the worlds oceans.
While big mantas can be friendly, the young are far too often caught in fishing nets to be careless around humans, and deep waters probably hide them from both predation and human investigation.
The 56 miles2 (145 metres2) , and expanding, reserve in NOAA’s Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary consists of healthy coral reefs, which are rare in the Caribbean these days.
Bleaching has taken place several times, but the corals remain living on most occasions.
Deep water off the reefs provides a refuge and an upsurge of suitable planktonic food for the animals.
Josh Stewart has looked into the 25 years of records since the reserve was formed.
Oil pollution is a major problem in the Gulf, too, as we have often seen in the past.
Josh Stewart has been collecting DNA samples in addition to his nursery work.
Hopefully the relationships of the mantas within the Gulf of Mexico and those that come from the western Atlantic can be worked out.
Then we can tell where species and/or subspecies exist.