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Fukushima Watch: Some Power Companies in Black without Nuclear Restarts

The latest earnings show that many of Japan’s major utilities generated a profit in the first half of this fiscal year, even without the help of their nuclear power plants. Amid uncertainty about whether nuclear restarts can win regulatory approval, that is good news for shareholders. But it puts the utilities themselves in a difficult position, since they have been loudly complaining that without their nuclear plants, they will remain in the red. Five of the nine regional utilities that have nuclear power plants posted a net profit for the six months ending Sept. 30. They include Tokyo Electric Power Co., whose Fukushima Daiichi plant in northern Japan was at the center of the nuclear crisis that led to the shutdown of nuclear plants amid safety concerns. Also making profits were Tohoku Electric Power Co., Hokuriku Electric Power Co., Kansai Electric Power Co. and Chugoku Electric Power Co. The […]

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CNPC raises gas output from Turkmen fields to meet Chinese winter demand

Singapore (Platts)–12Nov2013/419 am EST/919 GMT China National Petroleum Corp has ramped up production at its gas fields in Turkmenistan in anticipation of higher winter demand in China, the company said Tuesday. Gas from the Amu Darya project’s 31 wells is now flowing at rate of 19.8 million cubic meters/d or nearly 700,000 Mcf/d, while sales volumes have risen 11.7% year on year to 18.1 million cu m/d, CNPC said. Gas production comes from two blocks in the Bagtyiarlyk contract area on the right bank of the Amu Darya River. CNPC signed a production sharing agreement for the acreage in 2007 and production started in 2010. CNPC said it has primarily carried out capacity expansion at Block A, where the gas processing capacity is now 6.5 billion cu m/year, while sales gas send-out capacity has reached a new high of 18 million cu m/d. A second phase development will see […]

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China May Loosen Energy Price Controls After Planning Meeting

China may announce looser energy price controls and the break up of the domestic duopoly of PetroChina Co. and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (386) after a four-day Communist Party meeting ends today. “We expect an announcement on liberalizing of resource price and an opening up of the energy industry to more private investment,” Simon Powell, head of oil and gas research at CLSA Ltd., said in a telephone interview yesterday. “Any fuel price reforms would be mildly positive for Sinopec and natural gas price liberalization would help PetroChina.” China Petroleum is known as Sinopec. Chinese Politburo member Yu Zhengsheng said last month reforms to be discussed at the meeting of the party’s Central Committee meeting will be unprecedented “and will promote profound changes in every area of the economy and society.” Yu is ranked fourth in the seven-strong Politburo Standing Committee headed by party chief and President Xi […]

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U.S., Pakistani officials to discuss energy issues

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (UPI) — A U.S. State Department official in charge of energy policy aims to help tackle Pakistan’s energy woes with visiting Pakistani officials, the department said. Carlos Pascual, U.S. coordinator for international energy affairs, is part of a group scheduled to meet Tuesday with Pakistani Minister of Natural Resources Shahid Abassi and Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif. The meeting is part of a strategic energy dialogue announced by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during his August visit to Pakistan. “This working group fosters cooperation on Pakistan’s energy sector, including power generation, renewable energy, gas, and reform priorities,” the State Department announced Sunday. Pakistan’s aging infrastructure and energy sector mismanagement have left most the country without a reliable source of electricity, observers say. The State Department said the U.S. government helped Pakistan add 1,000 megawatts of power to its grid since 2009. Pakistan’s interest in […]

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U.S. gasoline prices continue decline

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (UPI) — The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline Monday in the United States is the cheapest it’s been since February 2011, AAA said. “Most drivers today are paying the cheapest gas prices in nearly 33 months,” AAA spokesman Michael Green told United Press International. “Today’s national average price of gas is $3.19 per gallon, which is the cheapest since Feb. 22, 2011.” AAA said about 25 percent of the retail filling stations in the United States are selling gasoline for less than $3 per gallon while 10 percent have prices above $3.50. Arkansas had the lowest state average Monday with $2.93 per gallon. California had the highest price in the Lower 48 states with a state average of $3.61. “The national average could fall very close to $3 per gallon by the end of the year due to abundant supplies, declining demand […]

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The secret, dirty cost of Obama's green power push

AP Photo CORYDON, Iowa (AP) — The hills of southern Iowa bear the scars of America’s push for green energy: The brown gashes where rain has washed away the soil. The polluted streams that dump fertilizer into the water supply. Even the cemetery that disappeared like an apparition into a cornfield. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. With the Iowa political caucuses on the horizon in 2007, presidential candidate Barack Obama made homegrown corn a centerpiece of his plan to slow global warming. And when President George W. Bush signed a law that year requiring oil companies to add billions of gallons of ethanol to their gasoline each year, Bush predicted it would make the country “stronger, cleaner and more secure.” But the ethanol era has proven far more damaging to the environment than politicians promised and much worse than the government admits today. As farmers rushed to […]

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The secret, dirty cost of Obama’s green power push

AP Photo CORYDON, Iowa (AP) — The hills of southern Iowa bear the scars of America’s push for green energy: The brown gashes where rain has washed away the soil. The polluted streams that dump fertilizer into the water supply. Even the cemetery that disappeared like an apparition into a cornfield. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. With the Iowa political caucuses on the horizon in 2007, presidential candidate Barack Obama made homegrown corn a centerpiece of his plan to slow global warming. And when President George W. Bush signed a law that year requiring oil companies to add billions of gallons of ethanol to their gasoline each year, Bush predicted it would make the country “stronger, cleaner and more secure.” But the ethanol era has proven far more damaging to the environment than politicians promised and much worse than the government admits today. As farmers rushed to […]

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The Hunt for Biofuels Looks Beyond Ethanol

For biofuels, the future won’t look much like the past. We’re heading, some believe, for a post-ethanol age. Today, nearly all plant-based liquid fuels are either used to make ethanol, which is blended with gasoline, or biodiesel. But efforts to increase the amount of ethanol in gas are opposed by auto makers and others who say the environment and economy are better served by more efficient engines and the shift to hybrid, electric and natural-gas vehicles. There are critics, too, who say making biofuel from edible plants—most ethanol is based on corn or sugar cane—is a poor use of land and crops needed to feed growing populations. Now energy experts see a growing role for new biofuels that use nonedible plant material and are hydrocarbons, like petroleum fuels, and so don’t require a separate infrastructure. “Biofuels have a much broader future than ethanol,” says Thomas Foust, director of biofuels […]

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Carlyle Seeks Over $7 Billion in New Energy Funds by 2015

Carlyle Group said it plans to raise more than $7 billion in new capital for energy and power investments by 2015. On Monday at Carlyle’s first investor day since it went public last year, the Washington, D.C., firm said it had already started fundraising for two $1.5 billion vehicles: one for midmarket private equity energy transactions outside of North America and another for midmarket private equity power transactions in North America. Both funds target deals requiring roughly $150 million of equity. The firm also said it plans to raise a $4 billion midmarket North American energy investment fund, with the bulk of assets expected to be in exploration and production. Carlyle’s energy experts expect pressures on natural gas prices to ease in the next few years. Utilities across the country are decommissioning coal fired power plants and nuclear power plants in favor of natural gas plants, which will increase […]

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North Dakota’s Salty Fracked Wells Drink More Water to Keep Oil Flowing

North Dakota’s Salty Fracked Wells Drink More Water to Keep Oil Flowing Page added on November 12, 2013 It’s well known that water has been key to the shale oil and gas rush in the United States. But in one center of the hydraulic fracturing boom—North Dakota—authorities are finding that the initial blast of water to frack the wells is only the beginning. The wells being drilled into the prairie to tap into the Bakken shale need “maintenance water”—lots of it—to keep the oil flowing. (See related photos: “ Bakken Shale Boom Transforms North Dakota .”) So while the water first pumped down the hole to crack rock formations and release the underground oil and natural gas typically totals 2 million gallons (7.5 million liters) per well, each of North Dakota’s wells is daily drinking down an average of more than 600 gallons (2,300 liters) in maintenance water, according […]

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Three reasons why America is using less oil

Page added on November 12, 2013 The United States is the largest consumer of oil in the world by a wide margin. In 2012, we used around 18.5 million barrels of oil per day (that’s nearly 800 million gallons !). That represents around 20% of global oil consumption, and is still nearly twice as much oil as China uses. Until the mid-2000s, U.S. oil consumption was rising steadily. However, a sharp uptick in oil prices caused demand growth to stagnate after 2004. The Great Recession then led to a steep drop in demand as people found ways to make do with less oil. In 2010, oil consumption looked like it might rebound, but since then, it has started to decline again. This is likely the beginning of a long-term trend. Here are three big reasons why U.S. oil consumption will continue shrinking. Natural gas hits the road The biggest […]

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Rosneft discloses new $6 billion oil supply deals with BP

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s top crude oil producer Rosneft said on Tuesday its board had approved deals to sell oil product cargoes to BP worth over $6 billion, on top of a previous deal to sell oil worth $5.3 billion. The Russian state-owned company said in a filing that it would sell up to 3.2 million metric tons of fuel oil to BP Singapore worth as much as $2.6 billion from the Far East ports of Nakhodka or Vanino between November 2013 and December 2014 with a possibility to lift it in 2015. Rosneft has not disclosed the timeframe for other deals, but a source familiar with the agreements, said the deliveries should be fulfilled over the next 12 or 13 months. Rosneft declined to comment further. Rosneft will also sell up to 1.44 million metric tons of diesel to BP worth as much as $1.77 billion from the […]

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The Future Requires (Better) Batteries

George Crabtree has a familiar problem. His phone is charged in the morning, but by 4 p.m. it’s out of juice. “I find it really annoying to see that it’s off and wonder how many calls I’ve missed,” he says. Unlike most of us, though, Mr. Crabtree might be able to do something about it. He directs the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research at Argonne National Laboratory. Argonne is part of a group of labs, universities and companies tasked by a Department of Energy program to design a battery that lasts five times as long and costs one-fifth as much as current batteries—in five years or less. In truth, few people give the Argonne program—or similar quests by other researchers and startups around the world—much chance of succeeding within a few years. Electric-car makers, to cite one example, take four or five years just to evaluate a new […]

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LA 2013: Volkswagen Announces 256 MPG Diesel Hybrid

Hybrid Cars VW Diesel Hybrid Gets 260 MPG Published on November 9th, 2013 | by Jo Borrás 7 VW Diesel Hybrid Gets 260 MPG Volkswagen knocked one out of the park with its genre-defying, extreme MGP XL1 supercar- with orders exceeding the company’s XL1 production plans for the slinky exotic car , despite its six-figure price tag. Don’t think that the XL1 is done because VW doesn’t plan on building more XL1s, though. Meet the Volkswagen’s XL1 follow-up act: the 250+ MPG Volkswagen Twin Up! diesel hybrid set to debut later this month at the LA Auto Show . The Twin Up! uses a modified version of the XL1′s 47 hp, 800 cc diesel engine and electric hybrid drivetrain to return a claimed fuel consumption of more than 256 MPG and CO2 emissions of just 27 g/km on the European cycles (if that g/km measurement didn’t give it away). […]

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Brent Rises Second Day After Iran Talks Fall Short of Agreement

Brent crude rose for a second day after Iran and six world powers failed to agree on curbs to the Persian Gulf nation’s nuclear program, tempering expectations of an end to the decade-long stalemate. Futures increased as much as 0.6 percent in London while West Texas Intermediate gained 0.3 percent. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano is leading inspectors to Tehran for negotiations after Iran’s talks in Geneva with the United Nations Security Council and Germany ended without a deal. Prices also climbed as Chinese government data showed an expansion in industrial production in October. “The market may have been too optimistic about this current process leading to an actual change like a wind-down of the sanctions,” said Ric Spooner, a chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney. “That was enough to remind the market about risk in the Middle East .” Brent for December settlement rose […]

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Amid dire climate warnings, Warsaw summit to begin

Climate envoys from developed countries, emerging economies and low-lying nations at risk of being swamped by rising seas will meet in Poland for the next two weeks to lay the groundwork for a new climate change pact. The meeting comes as the Philippines reels from a massive typhoon that reportedly killed as many as 10,000 people , and recent reports saying climate change will exacerbate  problems , such as poverty and extreme weather, that already exist. Despite the seeming urgency of the issue, stubborn sticking points remain and no major decisions are expected at the conference starting Monday in Warsaw’s National Stadium. The level of progress could be an indicator of the world’s chances of reaching a deal in 2015. That’s the new watershed year in the U.N.-led process after a 2009 summit in Copenhagen ended in discord. Climate change is “very, very scary stuff. And evidence is accumulating weekly, […]

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Kerry says U.S. not in race to complete Iran talks

ABU DHABI (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday Washington was not engaged in a race to complete talks with Iran on its nuclear program and vowed to defend Washington’s regional allies against any threats. Speaking at a news conference with United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan in Abu Dhabi, Kerry also praised the Syrian opposition’s decision to participate in a proposed peace conference as "a big step forward". "This is not a race to complete just any agreement," Kerry said, adding: "Through diplomacy we have an absolute responsibility to pursue an agreement." Marathon talks between six major world powers – the United States, Russia, China, Britain, Germany and France – and Iran on Saturday ended without agreement and the sides arranged to meet again on November 20. While saying that an agreement with Iran was expected within months, Kerry […]

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Sunni-Shi'ite tension biggest threat to world security, Iran says

DUBAI (Reuters) – Tension between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims is the biggest threat to world security, Iran’s foreign minister said in comments published on Monday, accusing Sunni Arab countries of "fanning the flames" of sectarian conflict. The increasingly sectarian civil war in Syria has drawn in regional powers with Shi’ite Iran backing President Bashar al-Assad and Sunni Gulf Arab states and mainly Sunni Turkey helping the rebels. The conflict threatens to spill over into countries split between Sunnis and Shi’ites such as Lebanon and Iraq. The sectarian tension is "the most serious security threat not only to the region but to the world at large", Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told the BBC. "I think we need to come to understand that a sectarian divide in the Islamic world is a threat to all of us." Zarif, a U.S.-educated former Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, called for regional […]

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Sunni-Shi’ite tension biggest threat to world security, Iran says

DUBAI (Reuters) – Tension between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims is the biggest threat to world security, Iran’s foreign minister said in comments published on Monday, accusing Sunni Arab countries of "fanning the flames" of sectarian conflict. The increasingly sectarian civil war in Syria has drawn in regional powers with Shi’ite Iran backing President Bashar al-Assad and Sunni Gulf Arab states and mainly Sunni Turkey helping the rebels. The conflict threatens to spill over into countries split between Sunnis and Shi’ites such as Lebanon and Iraq. The sectarian tension is "the most serious security threat not only to the region but to the world at large", Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told the BBC. "I think we need to come to understand that a sectarian divide in the Islamic world is a threat to all of us." Zarif, a U.S.-educated former Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, called for regional […]

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Iran backed out of nuclear deal – Kerry

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi leaves the Geneva talks (9 November 2013) 11 November 2013 Last updated at 10:12 A senior US official reportedly said the deal was “too tough” for the Iranians US Secretary of State John Kerry has said Iran backed out of a deal on its nuclear programme during talks with world powers in Geneva on Saturday. Amid reports that France’s reservations scuppered an agreement, Mr Kerry told reporters in Abu Dhabi: “The French signed off on it, we signed off on it.” Iran had been unable to accept the deal “at that particular moment”, he added. Mr Kerry said he hoped in the next few months they could “find an agreement that meets everyone’s standards”. Representatives from Iran and the so-called P5+1 – the US, UK, France, Russia and China plus Germany – will meet again on 20 November. Powers ‘unified’ Some reports said […]

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Iran Faces Monitoring Test After Failing to Sway Powers

Iran faces a new test with United Nations monitors after failing to convince world powers the time was right to reduce tension over its nuclear work. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano led a delegation of inspectors flying to Tehran for negotiations today aimed at widening access to people and places connected with Iran’s nuclear work. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said his country is ready to improve cooperation. “Negotiations with the IAEA will continue in Tehran and will be finalized with Amano,” Zarif told ISNA news agency after the Geneva talks. “Our relationship with the agency should be on a serious basis of finalizing all issues. We are prepared to do everything for the agency so that they can do their technical work.” Zarif spoke after three days of discussions in the Swiss city with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov […]

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Iranian deputy minister shot dead

An unidentified attacker shot dead an Iranian deputy minister of industry in Tehran on Sunday, the state news agency IRNA reported, in what appeared the first reported killing of a senior central government official in years. Safdar Rahmat Abadi was shot in the head and chest as he got into his car in the east of the capital, IRNA said, quoting witnesses as saying the attack occurred at about 7:50 p.m local time.  “Investigations show that two shots were fired from inside the vehicle,” the agency quoted a police official as saying. “That two shells were found inside the car shows a strong likelihood that the assailant was inside the car and in conversation with Mr Abadi. There was no sign of struggle at the scene of the killing.” The student news agency ISNA said a special homicide investigator and criminal prosecutor were at the scene. It cited a […]

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Iraq-Turkey pipeline capacity to be raised

by Bloomberg News November 10, 2013 , 6 : 21 pm SAVE THIS ARTICLE Baghdad: Work to increase the capacity of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan crude pipeline from Iraq to Turkey will be completed within months, according to a Turkish government official. Daily flows through the link will rise by about 100,000 to 200,000 barrels a day, from the current rate of 300,000 to 400,000 barrels, when improvements to pumping station equipment in northern Iraq are complete, the official said, asking not to be identified because the issue hasn’t been publicly announced. The main northern crude export pipeline, running from Iraq’s Kirkuk oil fields to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, operates at far below its designed capacity of 1.6 million barrels a day after years of disrepair amid international sanctions against Saddam Hussein’s regime and more recent sabotage attacks. Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, whose economy has boomed from oil production […]

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After Clashes With Saudis, Laborers Opt to Go Home

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Thousands of foreign laborers turned themselves over to the authorities in Saudi Arabia on Sunday to be sent to their home countries after a night of protests and clashes in which one foreigner and one Saudi were killed. The protests were directed against a Saudi campaign to arrest and deport illegal immigrants who were given until last week to get valid work permits or leave the country. In recent days, the security forces have raided the work sites of large employers of foreign laborers and the neighborhoods where they live to round up violators. Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Persian Gulf nations have long relied on large numbers of foreign laborers from Africa, Asia and elsewhere to keep their economies running by doing jobs like driving taxis and building skyscrapers as well as staffing hospitals, schools and universities. Human rights organizations have accused the gulf countries […]

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Oil Flow Reported at Givot Olam's Well in Central Israel

By Sara Toth Stub Special to DOW JONES NEWSWIRES JERUSALEM–Israeli energy exploration company Givot Olam Oil Exploration Ltd. Partnership (GIVOL.TV) said Monday oil flowed to the surface during drilling at its well in central Israel. The flow of oil, at about five barrels a minute, doesn’t change expectations of the amount of reserves in its Meged field, Givot Olam said. The company said in its most recent estimates that the field may contain up to 7.8 million barrels of oil. Givot Olam was founded by Jewish geologist Tovia Luskin, who claims that the Bible promises oil will be found in Israel. The company began looking for oil in Israel in 1992 and discovered the Meged reserve in 2004. Although significant quantities of oil haven’t previously been found in Israel, in recent years large, commercially viable quantities of natural gas have been discovered offshore Israel. Increased production from those natural […]

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Oil Flow Reported at Givot Olam’s Well in Central Israel

By Sara Toth Stub Special to DOW JONES NEWSWIRES JERUSALEM–Israeli energy exploration company Givot Olam Oil Exploration Ltd. Partnership (GIVOL.TV) said Monday oil flowed to the surface during drilling at its well in central Israel. The flow of oil, at about five barrels a minute, doesn’t change expectations of the amount of reserves in its Meged field, Givot Olam said. The company said in its most recent estimates that the field may contain up to 7.8 million barrels of oil. Givot Olam was founded by Jewish geologist Tovia Luskin, who claims that the Bible promises oil will be found in Israel. The company began looking for oil in Israel in 1992 and discovered the Meged reserve in 2004. Although significant quantities of oil haven’t previously been found in Israel, in recent years large, commercially viable quantities of natural gas have been discovered offshore Israel. Increased production from those natural […]

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Syrian opposition agrees to participate in Geneva peace talks

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – – The Western-backed Syrian opposition agreed to participate in international peace talks in Geneva, the Syrian National Coalition said in a statement early on Monday. The statement, translated from Arabic, outlined conditions that must be met before the talks, which aim to end Syria’s two-and-a-half year civil war, by creating a transitional governing body. The Syrian National Coalition’s leader has expressed a willingness to attend the U.S. and Russian sponsored talks but this is the first time the group as a whole has committed to the proposed conference, while making stipulations. It was hoped that the talks would take place before the end of November but the Syrian coalition’s failure to come up with a clear stance, as well as differences between Washington and Moscow over the purpose of the talks and opposition representation made delays likely. The coalition held that previous commitments, such as the […]

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Egypt relies on Gulf aid for economy: Then what?

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt is engaged in a high stakes gamble, using billions of dollars from Gulf Arab allies to stimulate the economy and keep its politically charged streets calm in the hope that investors and tourists will return. The biggest Arab country’s finances are in a precarious state with a massive deficit but the government, armed with billions of Gulf petrodollars, has rejected the conventional wisdom of IMF-prescribed austerity measures. If the plan fails, a new government expected to be elected early next year could find itself deep in debt, its currency overvalued and an economy in crisis. "Now we are living on a ventilator, (with) aid from neighboring countries and that is understandable in the midst of a meager tourism industry and reluctance of direct foreign investment," Sherif Samy, Egypt’s Financial Supervisory Authority head, said. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates pledged more than $12 […]

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Syrian Rebels Said to Recapture Base

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian rebels recaptured a base near the international airport in the northern city of Aleppo in a counteroffensive hours after the Syrian Army had advanced into the area, activists said on Saturday. The rebels were able to recapture the military base of Brigade 80 after government troops seized parts of it early Friday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an antigovernment monitoring group based in Britain, and the Aleppo Media Center, another rebel group. The observatory said 40 rebels and more than 20 government troops were killed in the latest fighting, which began Friday and continued early Saturday. The main job of Brigade 80 was to protect the government-held Aleppo International Airport, which has been closed because of fighting for almost a year. Syria ’s state-run news agency, SANA, said a rocket fired by opposition fighters struck near a health center in Aleppo’s Ashrafieh […]

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Libya may face budget problems unless oil strikes end – PM

Reuters TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya may find it difficult to cover its budget expenditure next month or the one after unless strikes blocking oil ports and fields end, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said on Sunday. A mix of militias, tribes and civil servants seeking political rights or higher pay have seized oil ports and fields across the OPEC producer, knocking down output to a fraction of its capacity of 1.25 million barrels a day. “The budget is based on the assumption that oil revenues flow for the (full) year,” Zeidan told reporters. “From next or the following month, there could be a problem covering expenditures.” Zeidan said the government had given the protesters a week to 10 days to clear the blocked oil fields and ports. “Otherwise, we will take measures,” he said, declining to be more specific. He said the blockage of the Mellitah terminal in Western Libya […]

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Venezuela arrests looters, store bosses in 'economic war'

CARACAS (Reuters) – President Nicolas Maduro’s government announced arrests of both store managers and looters on Sunday as part of what it calls an "economic war" in Venezuela between the socialist state and unscrupulous businessmen. In a major pre-Christmas campaign reminiscent of the late President Hugo Chavez’s dramatic style, Maduro has sent soldiers to "occupy" one chain of electronics stores and inspectors into scores of others to check for price-gouging. Thousands of Venezuelans have been flocking to electronics stores, hoping to take advantage of new "fair prices" the government is imposing, sometimes half the previous cost. However, scenes of looting on Saturday at a store belonging to the occupied electronics chain, Daka, have left many Venezuelans ashamed and fueled opposition claims that Maduro is stirring chaos rather than defending the poor. Authorities announced that five managers, from the local Daka, JVG and Krash companies, would be prosecuted on charges […]

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Venezuela arrests looters, store bosses in ‘economic war’

CARACAS (Reuters) – President Nicolas Maduro’s government announced arrests of both store managers and looters on Sunday as part of what it calls an "economic war" in Venezuela between the socialist state and unscrupulous businessmen. In a major pre-Christmas campaign reminiscent of the late President Hugo Chavez’s dramatic style, Maduro has sent soldiers to "occupy" one chain of electronics stores and inspectors into scores of others to check for price-gouging. Thousands of Venezuelans have been flocking to electronics stores, hoping to take advantage of new "fair prices" the government is imposing, sometimes half the previous cost. However, scenes of looting on Saturday at a store belonging to the occupied electronics chain, Daka, have left many Venezuelans ashamed and fueled opposition claims that Maduro is stirring chaos rather than defending the poor. Authorities announced that five managers, from the local Daka, JVG and Krash companies, would be prosecuted on charges […]

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Venezuelan Soldiers Deployed to Stores

CARACAS, Venezuela — The Christmas shopping season has started with a jolt here, with the socialist Venezuelan government dispatching soldiers to “occupy” a major chain of electronic goods stores, ordering prices slashed there and in other shops that it has accused of price gouging. Huge crowds formed outside stores in several cities over the weekend as inflation-weary Venezuelans showed up hoping for bargains. Others took the government’s order as a license to loot: Some posted cellphone videos online showing large-screen televisions and other items being carted off in Valencia, the country’s third-largest city. The dramatic measures, ordered on Friday by President Nicolás Maduro, were reminiscent of the populist gestures of his immediate predecessor, Hugo Chávez, the country’s longtime leader who died in March . They come as the government grapples with serious economic problems, including inflation of 54 percent a year and shortages of many basic goods, including toilet […]

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China wary of sourcing too much gas from the US

China wary of sourcing too much gas from the US Concerns that a surge in US gas exports to China could undermine prospects for further expansion of Australian gas sales may be overblown, with the Chinese likely to be wary of sourcing gas from America. A paper by the National Bureau of Asian Research in the US highlights political concerns in Beijing about relying on the US, which will prompt China to look instead to Australia and Canada for additional supplies of gas in volume. Australia will overtake Qatar as the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, which is transported by ships to end markets, from 2017, thanks to burgeoning demand, mainly in north Asia. By that time, Australia will have the capacity to export an estimated 88 million tonnes of LNG annually, which could rise to 130 million tonnes since many projects being developed have ready expansion prospects. […]

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For many Fukushima evacuees, the truth is they won't be going home

IWAKI, Japan (Reuters) – For many of Japan’s oldest nuclear refugees, all they want is to be allowed back to the homes they were forced to abandon. Others are ready to move away, severing ties to the ghost towns that remain in the shadow of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant. But among the thousands of evacuees stuck in temporary housing more than two and a half years after the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, there is a shared understanding on one point – Japan’s government is unable to deliver on its ambitious initial goals for cleaning up the areas that had to be evacuated after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster. "You can’t have a temporary life forever," said Ichiro Kazawa, 61, whose home was destroyed by the tsunami that also knocked out power to the Fukushima plant. Kazawa escaped four minutes before the first wave. Next year, […]

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For many Fukushima evacuees, the truth is they won’t be going home

IWAKI, Japan (Reuters) – For many of Japan’s oldest nuclear refugees, all they want is to be allowed back to the homes they were forced to abandon. Others are ready to move away, severing ties to the ghost towns that remain in the shadow of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant. But among the thousands of evacuees stuck in temporary housing more than two and a half years after the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl, there is a shared understanding on one point – Japan’s government is unable to deliver on its ambitious initial goals for cleaning up the areas that had to be evacuated after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster. "You can’t have a temporary life forever," said Ichiro Kazawa, 61, whose home was destroyed by the tsunami that also knocked out power to the Fukushima plant. Kazawa escaped four minutes before the first wave. Next year, […]

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Pirates Hijack Tanker Near Singapore in Second Attack in a Month

Pirates hijacked a second tanker in a month off the Malaysian coast near Singapore, Asia’s biggest oil-trading hub, according to the International Maritime Bureau. Ten pirates armed with guns and knives boarded a tanker about 7.3 nautical miles (13.5 kilometers) west of Malaysia’s Pulau Kukup in the Strait of Malacca , forcing the crew to transfer gasoil from the vessel to another ship, the IMB’s Piracy Reporting Center said in a Nov. 7 incident report on its website. The attack was about 34 miles west of Singapore, according to the co-ordinates recorded by the agency. The U.S. Energy Information Administration identifies the Malacca Strait, which connects the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean, as one of the world’s two “most strategic chokepoints” for oil trade along with the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. It is the shortest sea route between the Middle East […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Removing Fuel Rods Poses New Risks at Crippled Nuclear Plant in Japan

TOKYO — It was the part of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant that spooked American officials the most, as the complex spiraled out of control two and a half years ago: the spent fuel pool at Reactor No. 4, with more than 1,500 radioactive fuel assemblies left exposed when a hydrogen explosion blew the roof off the building. In the next 10 days, the plant’s operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, is set to start the delicate and risky task of using a crane to remove the fuel assemblies from the pool, a critical step in a long decommissioning process that has already had serious setbacks. Just 36 men will carry out the tense operation to move the fuel to safer storage; they will work in groups of six in two-hour shifts throughout the day for months. A separate team will work overnight to clear any debris inside […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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UN nuclear agency looking at Fukushima contamination

Inspectors from the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in Japan this week to monitor the ongoing cleanup and look into the continued leaking of contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. This as the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) , the company nominally in control of the crippled facility, has again postponed the start of procedures to remove highly radioactive fuel rods from a severely damaged storage pool inside what used to be the Fukushima plant’s reactor No. 4.   Three reactors at Fukushima suffered core meltdowns after a massive earthquake and tsunami compromised containment and damaged cooling systems in March 2011. The three molten cores have now likely melted through the floors of their containment buildings and are somewhere underground, though plant and government officials have no clear picture as to exactly how deep. At the time of the Tohoku quake, the reactor at […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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More oil and gas drillers turn to water recycling

AP Photo MIDLAND, Texas (AP) — When the rain stopped falling in Texas, the prairie grass yellowed, the soil cracked and oil drillers were confronted with a crisis. After years of easy access to cheap, plentiful water, the land they prized for its vast petroleum wealth was starting to dry up. At first, the drought that took hold a few years ago seemed to threaten the economic boom that arose from hydraulic fracturing, a drilling method that uses huge amounts of high-pressure, chemical-laced water to free oil and natural gas trapped deep in underground rocks. But drillers have found a way to get by with much less water: They recycle it using systems that not long ago they may have eyed with suspicion. “This was a dramatic change to the practices that the industry used for many, many years,” said Paul Schlosberg, co-founder and chief financial officer of Water […]

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BP in fresh attempt to curb oil spill payouts

A clinic where the main doctor had his licence revoked, a mobile phone shop closed by a fire, and a car dealership that sold a discontinued marque are among businesses that successfully claimed compensation from BP for its 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, according to court documents filed by the company late last week. BP cited the cases as it made a fresh attempt to limit the cost of its compensation settlement for the Deepwater Horizon disaster, trying for the first time to challenge directly payments for losses not caused by the spill. Until now, its arguments in court have centred on the method used to calculate the size of loss, rather than the issue of causation. In its filing at the US District Court in New Orleans, BP said its lawyers had found compensation payments of $76m had been paid for claims where it was […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Dueling forecasts: Why our energy future is actually a risk management problem

Optimistic, but unwarranted, energy supply forecasts permeate the media (courtesy of the oil and gas industry) even as the occasional dire scenario gets coverage. But, it is well to remember that none of people making forecasts can know the one thing they all desperately want to know: the future. The most important thing you need to understand about forecasts–any forecast–is that their accuracy deteriorates rapidly, the further they go into the future. Surprisingly, almost no one who makes public energy supply forecasts acknowledges this; otherwise, we would see what statisticians call error bars –very large ones–in all these forecasts. In layman’s terms, the further out a forecast goes, the wider the range of possible outcomes–so much so that for long-term forecasts the range of outcomes is far more important than the middle estimate. But, this kind of waffling doesn’t get headlines. Humans are evolutionarily disposed to listen to those […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Natural gas could spell doom for nuke power

Page added on November 11, 2013 If today’s global fracking frenzy had kicked into high gear a decade ago, thousands of jobs at FirstEnergy Corp.’s Davis-Besse, Perry and Beaver Valley 1 and 2 nuclear plants in northern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania could have been imperiled by now. “That’s fair to say,” Jennifer Young, FirstEnergy spokeswoman, said. But while job security at those massive power-generation stations is never strong enough to put workers at ease — especially with economic pressures brought on by the natural gas boom jolting the nuclear industry — Ms. Young said the situation appears more stable for FirstEnergy’s holdings than it does for nuclear plants in other parts of the country. The era of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” of shale bedrock has caused a drop in natural gas prices, which has caused energy markets to react. Much of the hype is based on the anticipated fracking […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Crude-Oil Futures Inch Higher as Traders Ponder Demand Signals

NEW YORK–Crude-oil futures settled slightly higher Friday as traders balanced hints of improving oil demand with lofty inventories. Prices dropped by a single penny in the week, underscoring the standoff between the conflicting elements. U.S. oil inventory data in the week showed bigger-than-expected declines in gasoline inventories and in inventories of diesel fuel and heating. Implied demand figures from the Energy Information Administration showed oil use in the world’s biggest oil consumer topped 20 million barrels a day for a second straight week. That was the strongest showing since January 2009. But some analysts dismissed signs of gains in heating oil use as reflecting typical pre-season residential deliveries and expect the figure to drop in coming weeks. The EIA also reported that crude oil stocks stand at their highest end-October level since 1930, keeping prices depressed. Light, sweet crude oil for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange […]

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Brent Crude Rises as Kerry Tempers Expectations on Iran

Brent crude rose for the first time in four days as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry tempered expectations of a possible deal over Iran ’s nuclear work. The European benchmark gained 1.6 percent after Kerry said that there are “some important gaps” in reaching an accord that would ease sanctions against Iran’s oil exports in exchange for concessions on its nuclear work. He spoke in Geneva during an unscheduled stop for the talks. West Texas Intermediate advanced less than Brent as better-than-expected jobs data fueled worry that the Federal Reserve will scale back stimulus. “It’s not clear if the Iranians can deliver enough for the West to reduce sanctions,” said Bill O’Grady, chief market strategist at Confluence Investment Management in St. Louis, which oversees $1.4 billion. “Kerry added a dose of reality to expectations that probably have gotten ahead of themselves. The market is reacting to that reality.” […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Natural Gas Advances Ahead of Colder Weather

–Futures rise 1.31% for the week on hopes for colder weather next week –Natural gas for December up 1.14% to $3.559 –Temperatures expected to warm up later in the month By Nicole Friedman NEW YORK–Natural gas gained Friday on calls for cold weather next week, which could increase demand for gas-powered electricity to heat homes and offices. Natural gas for December delivery settled up 4 cents, or 1.14%, at $3.559 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures settled up 1.31% for the week, boosted by hopes that lower temperatures in the middle and eastern U.S. next week would prompt people to turn up their heating. About half of U.S. households use natural gas as their primary heating fuel, according to the Energy Information Administration. Prices fell for three straight weeks in the latter part of October as traders bet that warmer-than-expected weather would fail […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple