A mystery is confounding the US oil market: when inventories rise, prices rise, too. That is not the way it is supposed to work. At 508.6m barrels as of early February, stocks of crude sitting in commercial tanks were 8 per cent higher than a year before and close to a record. In theory, the excess supply should weigh on markets. But this year a loose pattern has emerged after the US government releases weekly oil data: surprisingly large increases in crude stocks have prompted spurts of buying. “The mantra is ‘buy the builds’,” said Andy Lebow of Commodity Research Group, a US consultancy. “It seems to be working, week after week, as inventories build.” The midweek petroleum status report of the Energy Information Administration is watched obsessively by traders, shedding light on supply and demand in the leading oil-consuming nation. The next one is due on Wednesday morning Washington time. Over the last five reports US commercial crude oil stocks rose by a total of 29.6m barrels. Each weekly rise surpassed expectations. While declining immediately after each report, the price of the West Texas Intermediate oil benchmark was trading higher 20 minutes later, often accompanied by a burst of volume. WTI prices also settled higher after four of the past five releases. Theories about who is behind the bidding have riveted an otherwise placid oil market. WTI has hewed to a range of less than $5 a barrel, averaging about $53, since the start of the year. Ole Hansen, chief commodity strategist at Saxo Bank, said: “There’s been a lot of head-scratching in the oil market the last few weeks as the EIA data has been consistently bearish, but each week after the initial dip we have rallied. Everyone is talking about it.” Fund managers have been betting that the Opec oil cartel will prop up prices after curtailing supplies since January 1. “There is a very big incentive to support this market both by producers, some of whom have cut output, and by the hedge funds that have built up this very big long position,” Mr Hansen said. Doug King, co-founder of the $229m Merchant Commodity Fund, said he saw “a lot of agendas” behind the buying, from big macro hedge funds defending bullish positions to Opec countries trying to ensure the market rides out excess stocks before the group’s cuts are felt. Mr King said Opec members pumping millions of barrels a day had an incentive to defend the price. “In the greater scheme of things buying a few thousand lots (contracts) is not a big deal,” he said. It is difficult to identify buyers given the anonymous nature of futures markets. A trader at a big US energy merchant said the surge of post-report volume was unmistakable, even as he had “no clue” who it was. “Everybody sees it,” he said. The price swings around the releases may reflect broader tensions in the market, as the data trigger selling by automated trading programs that is then reversed by investors with a longer-term view. Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix, a Swiss-based energy consultancy, said strong buying volumes generally came about 10 minutes after the reports. “It seems clear that someone there is implementing a defined strategy, but we are still in a price range because the strong buying that systematically comes after the release of the weekly report is not followed by continued strong buying on the Thursday and Friday,” he wrote in a note last week. Some traders said that while EIA figures still attracted attention, their importance was overstated. “We have two words to describe it: ‘Stats, shmats’,” said Mark Vonderheide, a veteran oil trader who runs Geneva Energy Markets in New York. “The stats are old news, codifying bits and pieces picked up by 1,000 different people and already discounted in the market.”

---

Attached Files

Libyan and Nigerian crude oil export loadings so far this month are up nearly 600,000 bpd from December's low

‏@ClipperData

Nigeria will this week launch a comprehensive clean-up program for the oil-producing Niger Delta region devastated by years of pollution from oil spills, a government statement on Tuesday said, as Nigeria moves to curb unrest in the region that has long impacted production and exports.

The clean-up program for Ogoniland in the heart of the Niger Delta region would be undertaken by a special body set up by the government in 2016, and will cost $1 billion, Nigeria's Vice President Yemi Osinbajo announced in southern Rivers state during the second leg of his peace talks with Niger Delta leaders and stakeholders, the statement said.

Osinbajo said Shell, Nigeria's biggest oil producer, would provide $1 billion spread over five years, while the government has provided a grant of $10 million.

Shell was not immediately available for comment.

Niger Delta communities have staged protests against oil spillages that they said, damaged their environment and sources of livelihood, and have often blockade access to production facilities by producers, as well as attacks on pipelines to demand compensation.

Oil companies said most of the spills in the Niger Delta region were caused by oil theft and sabotage attacks.

Nigerian oil output plummeted to a near 30-year low of around 1.4 million b/d in May 2016, from 2.2 million b/d earlier in the year, as attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta rose at an alarming pace due to resurgent militancy.

A United Nations report released in 2011 estimated that the clean-up of Ogoniland could take up to 30 years with the initial remediation taking five years and the restoration another 25 years.

Osinbajo said the government viewed the clean-up project and the restoration of the degraded environment as a major step towards achieving the peace deal in the Niger Delta where attacks on oil installations which began early last year, cost the Nigerian government 60% of its revenues.

http://www.platts.com/latest-news/oil/lagos/nigeria-to-launch-1-bil-niger-delta-clean-up-26662521

---

Attached Files

The amount of natural gas equivalent held in tank in the UK's three LNG regasification terminals fell to the lowest since March 2013 over the weekend as a weak delivery schedule led to stocks running low despite poor regas rates, data from National Grid showed Tuesday.

LNG stocks combined began Monday's gas day at 429 million cu m of natural gas equivalent, below the levels recorded in March/April last year and falling further towards the low seen 46 months ago.

Stock levels were split between Isle of Grain, South Hook, and Dragon at 187 million cu m (32% of capacity), 171 million cu m (35%), and 71 million cu m (37%), respectively, National Grid data showed.

Total LNG stock levels were less than half the 2017-to-date high of 918 million cu m from early January and over 200 million cu m shy of the five-year average of 642 million cu m.

The unseasonably low stock levels have come despite regasification having been at low levels this winter, as deliveries of LNG into the UK have been much lower this winter compared with previous seasons amid higher pricing and firmer spot demand elsewhere.

Between October 1 and January 31, nine LNG tankers delivered LNG into the UK, with South Hook receiving six vessels from Qatar, Isle of Grain receiving three -- two from Qatar, one from Nigeria -- and Dragon none.

During the first four months of the Winter 2015-16 delivery period, South Hook received 30 vessels from Qatar alone. Isle of Grain received six -- three from Algeria and one each from Norway, Qatar, and Trinidad & Tobago -- and Dragon two Qatari deliveries.

This has been countered by regas levels being well down this winter compared with previous winters.

Regas levels this winter have totaled 1.06 Bcm, more than 75% lower year-on-year and on course for the lowest total for a winter-delivery period this decade.

Moreover, Isle of Grain has reloaded three LNG tankers this winter -- one each to Belgium, South Korea and Turkey -- after having begun reloading operations last March, further contributing to the weaker regas levels.

Stock levels at Isle of Grain were expected to be boosted in the short term with the expected arrivals of the Cadiz Knutsen from the Dominican Republic and the Gallina from Peru, though no Qatari LNG tankers are confirmed as UK arrivals for the remainder of the month, meaning South Hook stocks could slide further.

http://www.platts.com/latest-news/natural-gas/london/uk-lng-stocks-fall-at-46-month-low-on-weak-delivery-26662523

The CFR China methanol price has risen 11% since the start of this month to be assessed at $382/mt Tuesday, just short of a three-year high, S&P Global Platts data showed.

The rally was driven by exceptionally tight supply from the Middle East, as well as expected demand from several methanol-to-olefin plants, according to industry sources.

The CFR China methanol assessment was last higher on March 12, 2014, when it was at $395/mt.

Oman's Salalah Methanol Company unexpectedly shut its 1.3 million mt/year plant Tuesday due to a technical problem detected Monday evening, a source from main offtaker Oman Trading International said Tuesday.

Earlier on February 3, Iran's Zagros Petrochemical Company shut both its methanol plants Friday because of a shortage in natural gas supply, according to a company source.

The No. 1 and 2 plants have a nameplate capacity of 1.65 million mt/year each, and the gas outage will affect 3.3 million mt/year of total capacity.

The Iranian government is grappling with cold weather, and is shifting feedstock natural gas away from the petrochemical sector into heating, according to industry sources.

Similarly, Fanavaran Petrochemical Company's methanol plant has been affected, and operations have fallen to 50% of its 1 million mt/year nameplate capacity, sources said. On the demand side, China's Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical, also known as Jiangsu Shenghong, is expected to restart its MTO plant in early March, pending the start-up of its downstream ethylene vinyl acetate unit, industry sources said.

The MTO plant has capacity to produce 385,000 mt/year of propylene, 315,000 mt/year of ethylene and 100,000 mt/year of C4/C5, consuming about 2.4 million mt/year of methanol in the process.

Still in China, Zhejiang Xingxing New Energy is expected to restart its MTO plant in the second half of February, according to industry sources.

The MTO plant consumes 1.8 million mt/year of feedstock methanol, and produces 600,000 mt/year of olefins. Downstream integration includes 300,000 mt/year polypropylene capacity and a swing plant capable of producing ethylene oxide or monoethylene glycol, sources added.

http://www.platts.com/latest-news/petrochemicals/singapore/cfr-china-methanol-hits-35-month-high-on-tight-27769174

---

Attached Files

Iran's oil minister has criticised French oil company Total for its decision to delay signing a contract to develop a gas field in southern Iran, saying that the reasons given by Total's chief executive were "unacceptable" to Tehran.

Total was the first Western energy company to sign a major deal with Tehran since the lifting of international sanctions with its South Pars 11 project in the Gulf to develop a part of the world's largest gas field that Iran shares with Qatar.

Total's chief executive, Patrick Pouyanne, said last week that it aimed to make a final investment decision on the $2 billion project by the summer, but the decision hinges on the renewal of U.S. sanctions waivers.

"I don't know why Total has said so," Bijan Zanganeh was quoted as saying by Mehr news agency on Wednesday. "It's been included in the contract that we all follow European Union's policies. Their comments are unacceptable," he added. U.S. President Donald Trump has called into doubt the Western powers' deal with Iran over its nuclear technology development programme and, responding to an Iran's ballistic missile test last month, imposed fresh sanctions on Tehran. The South Pars 11 project aims to produce 1.8 billion cubic feet a day of gas, equivalent to 370,000 barrels of oil. The produced gas will be fed into Iran's gas network.

http://www.reuters.com/article/iran-total-sanctions-idUSL8N1G03Q2

Japan’s biggest city gas supplier, Tokyo Gas said its natural gas sales rose 3.5 percent in January year-on-year.

Total gas sales by Tokyo Gas reached 1.63 billion cubic meters in January.

Volumes sold to the residential market were boosted by the lower average temperature, reaching 486.451 million cubic meters, 6.4 percent up on the corresponding period in 2016.

In its latest monthly report, Tokyo Gas said the volumes in the business sector was up 8.3 percent, reaching 276.853 million cubic meters while the volumes in the industrial sector rose 3.6 percent reaching 645.704 million cubic meters.

Volume for wholesale supply to other gas companies totalled 219.868 million cubic meters, dropping 7.4 percent from January 2016.

http://www.lngworldnews.com/tokyo-gas-sales-rise-in-january/

---

Attached Files

France's Total is looking to invest in energy projects further downstream than their upstream and LNG production facilities, the company's President of Gas Laurent Vivier said Tuesday.

The strategy is a logical change given the current tough environment for final investment decisions for new greenfield LNG production projects, according to Vivier.

What some industry observers are underestimating is the pace that new buyers can enter the market, as Total's interests in two recently announced LNG import projects in the Ivory Coast and Pakistan would require a combined 9 million mt/year and will start receiving LNG in 2018, Vivier said.

Both projects would allow for quick entrance into the market, utilizing FSRUs from Golar LNG and Hoegh LNG respectively, he said.

"We are now ready to invest downstream in the value chain," Vivier added.

Last November, a consortium led by Total was awarded the rights to build and operate an LNG regasification terminal in the Ivory Coast with a total import capacity of 3 million mt/year.

The project, planned to receive first gas imports by mid-2018, would require $200 million in capital expenditure and add 2 GW of new power plant capacity to the region, as well as feed connections to neighboring countries.

More recently, Total was part of a consortium including Qatar Petroleum, Mitsubishi, ExxonMobil and Hoegh LNG, in collaboration with local developer Global Energy Infrastructure Limited, to develop a 6 million mt/year import terminal in Pakistan.

This terminal would be Pakistan's third FSRU but first private LNG import terminal, and would include a 170,000 cu m FSRU, jetty and pipeline, with gas starting in 2018.

A final investment decision is expected to be made on the Pakistan project by mid-2017.

The key to helping absorb a lot of this extra supply is the new demand coming from unexpected areas that were not forecast to require LNG three years ago, Vivier said.

Over the next three years, he said he expected to see more LNG importers in growing economies to rapidly gain access to the LNG market, which should rebalance any supply-demand imbalance relatively quickly.

Platts Analytics expects Ivory Coast could begin importing LNG in early 2019.

http://www.platts.com/latest-news/natural-gas/singapore/frances-total-looks-further-downstream-in-effort-27769476

Engie, Fluxys, Mitsubishi Corporation, and Nippon Yusen Kaisha have taken delivery of the ENGIE Zeebrugge -- the world's first purpose-built LNG bunkering vessel -- from Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction at the Yeongdo shipyard in Busan, South Korea, Fluxys said in a statement Wednesday.

The ENGIE Zeebrugge, which has a 5,000 cu m LNG capacity, will be based at the Zeebrugge LNG terminal in Belgium and will be able to supply LNG as a marine fuel to ships operating in northern Europe.

LNG-fueled ships are largely dependent on fixed bunker locations in order to receive the fuel, with a limited bunkering capacity currently available from LNG trailers.

"LNG is expected to become an important alternative fuel for the maritime industry," Fluxys said, with international regulations on emissions for ships tightening.

"The challenge in making LNG grow in the bunker market is to develop sufficient supply infrastructure to support the increasing number of LNG- fueled ships that are expected to come into operation," Fluxys said.

The Zeebrugge LNG terminal recently commissioned its second jetty, where small LNG-fueled carriers with capacities of 2,000 cu m and above are able to berth and receive fuel.

http://www.platts.com/latest-news/shipping/london/worlds-first-purpose-built-lng-bunkering-vessel-26663660

Origin Energy Ltd fell far short of analysts' forecasts on Thursday, reporting a 28 percent drop in half-year underlying profit as weak oil prices hit revenue at its Australia Pacific liquefied natural gas (APLNG) project.

The blow came a day after Australia's top power and gas retailer flagged it was taking a A$1 billion ($770 million) impairment charge on its 37.5 percent stake in APLNG, which the market shrugged off given that rival LNG projects had been hit by writedowns earlier.

Still, Managing Director Frank Calabria, reporting his first results since taking the reins last October, said earnings were growing from the company's power and gas retail business, thanks to higher volumes and better profit margins.

"We continue to focus on accelerating debt reduction and improving returns to shareholders, so we can position Origin for growth in a rapidly changing market," Calabria said in a statement.

Gas prices have been rising sharply in Australia, as gas has been drained from the domestic market to feed new LNG export plants, including APLNG. At the same time, electricity prices have rocketed on the back of rising use of wind and solar energy.

Origin said it was on track to go ahead with an initial public offering of its exploration and production assets, excluding gas aimed for exports, in 2017.

Underlying profit after tax sank to A$184 million for the six months to December from A$254 million a year earlier. That compares with a forecast of around A$332 million from two analysts.

Weakened revenue from APLNG meant the project was unable to cover increases in interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, it said.

Origin paid no interim dividend, as expected. It stopped paying dividends last August to focus on paying down debt to help it weather weak oil and gas prices.

http://www.reuters.com/article/origin-energy-results-idUSL4N1G05QM

                                                   Last Week  Week Before   Last Year

Domestic Production '000.......... 8,977           8,978           9,135
Alaska ................................................ 511              518              512
Lower 48 ...................................... 8,466           8,460           8,623

http://ir.eia.gov/wpsr/overview.pdf

U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged about 15.5 million barrels per day during the week ending February 10, 2017, 435,000 barrels per day less than the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 85.4% of their operable capacity last week. Gasoline production decreased last week, averaging about 9.0 million barrels per day. Distillate fuel production decreased last week, averaging over 4.5 million barrels per day.

U.S. crude oil imports averaged 8.5 million barrels per day last week, down by 881,000 barrels per day from the previous week. Over the last four weeks, crude oil imports averaged 8.5 million barrels per day, 9.9% above the same four-week period last year. Total motor gasoline imports (including both finished gasoline and gasoline blending components) last week averaged 604,000 barrels per day. Distillate fuel imports averaged 216,000 barrels per day last week.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) increased by 9.5 million barrels from the previous week. At 518.1 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year. Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 2.8 million barrels last week, and are above the upper limit of the average range. Both finished gasoline inventories and blending components inventories increased last week. Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 0.7 million barrels last week but are above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year. Propane/propylene inventories fell 2.6 million barrels last week but are in the middle of the average range. Total commercial petroleum inventories increased by 11.1 million barrels last week.

Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged about 19.4 million barrels per day, down by 2.0% from the same period last year. Over the last four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged over 8.4 million barrels per day, down by 5.3% from the same period last year. Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 3.8 million barrels per day over the last four weeks, up by 7.4% from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied is down 3.3% compared to the same four-week period last year.

Cushing down 700,000 bbls

http://ir.eia.gov/wpsr/wpsrsummary.pdf

Bryan Sheffield, CEO of Austin-based Parsley Energy, speaks at NAPE Summit in Feb. 2017 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.

Bryan Sheffield isn’t worried about a land-price bubble in West Texas’s booming Permian Basin oil field.

Sheffield, chief executive of Austin-based Parsley Energy, just spent $2.8 billion on Permian land held by Fort Worth’s Double Eagle Energy. It was the second largest deal of the year so far, behind only Exxon Mobil’s $6.6 billion purchase of Bass family land in the Permian’s Delaware Basin.

Parsley paid about $37,000 an acre and Sheffield says he won’t pay more than $40,000 any time soon. But he argued that Permian sweet spots are so good they’ll make money at $60,000 an acre — which some have paid — as long as the companies get rigs up and running on the land within a few months of purchase.

Still, he warned, competition for services is now quickly tightening, and that will likely cut into profits. Hydraulic fracturing teams, drilling rigs and truck hauling crews are in such demand they’re firing clients who won’t pay higher prices, or skipping jobs to find higher-paying work, he said.

It’s almost like 2011 again, he said in an interview after speaking at the winter NAPE conference at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. As the shale revolution was booming, when Parsley was much smaller, he was bringing frack companies breakfast. He even took oil field service executives to a World Series game — Texas Rangers v. St. Louis Cardinals — in Arlington that year, just so he could get on top of their waiting list.

“It’s déjà vu all over again,” Sheffield said on Tuesday.

The Double Eagle deal was Parsley’s second of the year. The company spent $650 million in January for about 23,000 acres in the Delaware and Midland basins.

Parsley is done buying land for the year, Sheffield said. But he’s happy with the company’s purchases.

“We’re growing so fast,” he said. “I think we’re in the driver’s seat.”

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2017/02/15/competition-for-oil-services-ramping-up-in-permian-its-deja-vu-says-parsley-ceo/

Phillips 66 expects a revival in the US midstream space in 2017, as demand for exports of crude, products and LPGs remain strong, President Tim Taylor said Tuesday.

"We see a resurgence of opportunities in the midstream," said Taylor, addressing attendees at Credit Suisse's 22nd Annual Energy Summit in Vail, Colorado. His comments were webcast.

Taylor said Phillips 66 and its midstream master limited partnership, Phillips Energy Partners, continues to find ways to deal with the "nature of market changes," particularly around growth in exports of both crude and products.

Phillips 66 is a stakeholder in the Dakota Access Pipeline, expected to come online in the second quarter of 2017.

DAPL received its final permit to finish the line in February 2017 following a contentious battle with environmentalists.

Completion of the pipeline will open cheaper transportation for North Dakota's Bakken crude. The line will carry the light, sweet crude into the Midwest oil hub of Patoka, Illinois, and onward to the US Gulf Coast via the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline, or ETCOP. Phillips 66 is also a stakeholder in ETCOP.

This will give the landlocked crude port access, opening the door for exports, as well as lower transport costs for East Coast refiners, who pay high rail costs from North Dakota to the East Coast.

Phillips 66 is also working on the completing the Bayou Bridge Pipeline, which will bring Texas crude east to Louisiana. The Beaumont, Texas, to Lake Charles, Louisiana, segment is completed and work is underway connecting the line to St. James, Louisiana.

"We are creating crude options" for us and others, Taylor said.

While Phillips 66 is bullish on its chemical and midstream segments this year, it sees challenges remaining for the US refining segment, expecting current high product inventories to weigh on margins into the summer.

Taylor expects the first half of 2017 to be dedicated to "clearing up excess product inventories" and the second half heading back into a balanced supply and demand picture for refiners.

"This is a transition year," he said.

Asked about the corporate tax reform being discussed in Washington, Taylor echoed many other refiners saying "it is not completely understood."

He said a 25% tax on crude imports as being considered would see "Gulf Coast crude rise to parity" to imported grades, raising both crude and product prices.

The higher costs would be passed through to consumers and likely cause "upsets in the supply chain," he said.

While it is "way too early to tell" whether it would be a negative or positive for refining, it would be a positive for their chemical segment operations, Taylor said.

Removal of taxes on exports, as is currently under discussion, would benefit Phillips 66's chemical operations where exports are high and feedstock is domestic.

http://www.platts.com/latest-news/oil/newyork/phillips-66-sees-strong-us-export-demand-reviving-21892679

---

Attached Files

Norway's oil and gas powerhouse Statoil ASA has finalised its exit from the Canadian oilsands and is by no means alone in a list of high-profile internationally-based operators to agree a sale of Canadian upstream assets during the past 12 months.

Statoil  is selling its interest in the Kai Kos Denseh project to Athabasca Oil Corp. for an initial Cdn$578 million. Analysis of this transaction can be found here.

Other significant sales agreed upon in 2016 by non-Canadian companies include:

1) Murphy Oil Corp. sold a 5% stake in the Syncrude project to Suncor Energy Inc. for $937 million in June. Murphy has been a stakeholder in the Syncrude project for 19 years. Murphy also agreed to sell heavy oil assets in Alberta's Peace River area to Baytex Energy Corp. for Cdn$65 million in November. This sale to Baytex closed in January 2017 – Download CanOils' latest M&A review for more details.

2) Royal Dutch Shell sold Alberta Deep Basin and Northern B.C. Montney assets to Tourmaline Oil Corp. for Cdn$1.4 billion in November. That same month, Shell also parted with interests in five Newfoundland and Labrador exploration licenses in a deal with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. for an undisclosed fee.

3) Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. sold its 50% interest in its Cordova natural gas joint venture with Penn West Petroleum Ltd. to its partner for an undisclosed fee in November.

4) Harvest Operations Corp. (owned by South Korea's KNOC) sold assets producing 1,500 boe/d in Southeast Saskatchewan to Spartan Energy Corp. in June for Cdn$62 million. Harvest also sold assets in South Alberta to an unnamed party for Cdn$6.7 million in August.

CanOils Monthly M&A review for January 2017 is available to download here.

Despite all of these deals, 2016 was hardly a complete exodus when it came to foreign-based companies and Canadian M&A deals. For example, Calgary Sinoenergy Investment Ltd., a Chinese firm, acquired Long Run Exploration Ltd. in June for Cdn$770 million.

Since then, Sinoenergy has been one of Alberta's most active operators, according to recent Rig Locator drilling market share data for Q4 2016. Only Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.and Cenovus Energy Inc. drilled more new operated wells in Q4 2016. U.S.-based Devon Energy Corp. also figured prominently in terms of wells drilled.

https://www.oilvoice.com/Opinion/2221/Statoil-joins-Shell-and-other-foreign-companies-exiting-Canadian-projects

The governor of North Dakota ordered protesters on Wednesday to evacuate a demonstration camp near the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline in the latest move to clear the area that has served as a base for opposition to the multibillion dollar project.

Republican Doug Burgum ordered demonstrators to leave the camp located on land owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by Feb. 22, citing safety concerns that have arisen due to accelerated snowmelt and rising water levels of the nearby Cannonball River.

Burgum also said in his executive order that the camp poses an environmental danger to the surrounding area. His order reaffirms a Feb. 22 deadline set by the Army Corps for the demonstrators to clean up and leave.

Environmentalists and Native Americans who have opposed the pipeline, saying it threatens water resources and sacred sites, have faced a series of set-backs since President Donald Trump took office in January.

A federal judge on Monday denied a request by Native American tribes seeking to halt construction of the final link of the $3.8 billion pipeline after the Corps of Engineers granted a final easement to Energy Transfer Partners LP last week.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-north-dakota-pipeline-idUSKBN15V0E0