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Iran Would Eliminate Stock of Some of Its Enriched Uranium Under Deal

WASHINGTON — Under the proposed six-month deal that six major powers are negotiating with Iran in Geneva, Iran would eliminate its current stock of uranium enriched to 20 percent by diluting it or turning it into fuel rods or oxide powder, forms that are unusable for weapons, senior Western officials said Friday. Iran would be allowed to continue to enrich uranium at much lower levels, to 3.5 percent, the officials said, but would also agree to cap its current stockpile of such uranium, by eliminating, diluting or transforming into fuel as much 3.5 percent uranium as it produces over the six months. The officials spoke about the deal on the condition of anonymity because the negotiations had not been completed. The rationale for such a deal, the officials said, is to satisfy Iran’s refusal to suspend all enrichment — a concession that its negotiators could not sell domestically, even […]

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Costa Rica to build 3 geothermal electricity plants with Japanese funding

The Tico Times has a report on plans to expand geothermal power in Costa Rica – Costa Rica to build 3 geothermal electricity plants with Japanese funding . Costa Rica hopes that the additional electricity generated by steam from the volcanic area will help the country reach its goal of generating 95 percent of its electricity with renewable resources by 2014. … The first of the proposed plants, Pailas II, will have an electrical generation capacity of 55 megawatts and will cost more than $333 million to build, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial. The costa Rican Electricity Institute, or ICE, will construct two other 50-MW power plants, Borinquen I and II, 40 kilometers away from the Pailas geothermal plants. “This is 165 MW of reliable [electricity generation]; that is to say, they will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This is clean, renewable and […]

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Qingdao oil flow halted as explosion toll hits 47

Crude pipelines have been shut-off in the eastern Chinese oil hub of Qingdao pending safety checks a day after a leak triggered a huge explosion that killed 47 people, a refinery official and state media said on Saturday. Qingdao is one of China’s largest crude oil import terminals, supplying at least two major Sinopec Corp refineries – the Qingdao plant and Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical Corp – as well as many small, independent refineries. An official at the Qilu refinery said the city government had halted the flow of oil in all of the city’s pipelines for safety inspections, which meant crude deliveries to all refineries in the city were temporarily cut off. Qilu has not stopped refining nor reduced production but it was now drawing down its crude inventories, which will last about four to five days, the official said by telephone from Shandong province. Qilu […]

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Urbanites Flee China’s Smog for Blue Skies

DALI, China — A typical morning for Lin Liya, a native of Shanghai transplanted to this ancient town in southwest China, goes like this: See her 3-year-old son off to school near the mountains; go for a half-hour run on the shores of Erhai Lake; and browse the local market for fresh vegetables and meat. She finished her run one morning beneath cloudless blue skies and sat down with a visitor from Beijing in the lakeside boutique hotel started by her and her husband. “I think luxury is sunshine, good air and good water,” she said. “But in the big city, you can’t get those things.” More than two years ago, Ms. Lin, 34, and her husband gave up comfortable careers in the booming southern city of Guangzhou — she at a Norwegian risk management company , he at an advertising firm that he had founded — to join […]

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Wood Mackenzie: China Winter Gas Shortages to Last through 2020

China is likely to see natural gas shortages every winter until the end of the decade as domestic production fails to keep up with demand, a factor likely to drive global liquefied natural gas prices higher, energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie said in a report released on Friday. Increased gas demand from China for heating has already helped lift spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices by over 20 percent since mid-September and will aggravate an already tight market for spot LNG cargoes. “Winter gas shortages will be exacerbated through to 2020 as seasonal demand growth in northern China increases at an annualised rate of approximately 16 percent per annum,” Gavin Thompson, Wood Mackenzie’s head analyst for Asia Pacific gas and power, said in the report. “(China’s increased LNG demand) will increase competition among Asian spot LNG buyers during peak demand periods and allow […]

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China Announces That It Is Going To Stop Stockpiling U.S. Dollars

China just dropped an absolute bombshell, but it was almost entirely ignored by the mainstream media in the United States.  The central bank of China has decided that it is “no longer in China’s favor to accumulate foreign-exchange reserves”.  During the third quarter of 2013, China’s foreign-exchange reserves were valued at approximately $3.66 trillion .  And of course the biggest chunk of that was made up of U.S. dollars.  For years, China has been accumulating dollars and working hard to keep the value of the dollar up and the value of the yuan down.  One of the goals has been to make Chinese products less expensive in the international marketplace.  But now China has announced that the time has come for it to stop stockpiling U.S. dollars.  And if that does indeed turn out to be the case, than many U.S. analysts are […]

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US Eyes Increase In Arctic Operations

The U.S. military is looking for ways to expand operations in the vast waters of the Arctic as melting ice caps open sea lanes and other nations such as Russia compete for the lucrative oil and gas deposits. But the effort will take money and resources to fill the broad gaps in satellite and communications coverage, add deep-water ports and buy more ships that can withstand the frigid waters or break through the ice. There are no cost or budget estimates yet. But by the end of this year, the Navy will complete plans that lay out what the U.S. needs to do to increase communications, harden ships and negotiate international agreements so that nations will be able to track traffic in the Arctic and conduct search-and-rescue missions when needed. En route to a security conference here […]

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US pipeline conversions, gas flow reversals raise safety concerns

In the rush to accommodate shifting US natural gas supply patterns, there are worries that pipeline safety could get short shrift in companies’ plans to reverse flows or switch to oil and liquids transportation, particularly as federal standards do not specifically address such changes, observers say. “We’re in the era of multi-billion-dollar projects,” Richard Kuprewicz, president of pipeline safety consultant Accufacts, told this week’s Pipeline Safety Trust annual meeting in New Orleans. And that can lead to what he calls the “Space Shuttle syndrome,” in which the “pressure to launch can overcome safety considerations.” “Pipelines are undergoing a fundamental rebalancing” in North America as large volumes of shale gas come online, he said. And converting an older gas pipeline to a new purpose, such as carrying natural gas liquids from the Marcellus Shale south to the Gulf Coast or reversing the flow […]

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Crude spread volatilities could mean US nearing refining capacity limits: Citi

Platts New York (Platts)–22Nov2013/418 pm EST/2118 GMT The current volatility of crude oil spreads like Brent/WTI and Brent/LLS are a sign that, when it comes to light, sweet crude in the US, refining capacity limits are being reached, Ed Morse, head of commodities research at Citigroup, said Friday. At a press event for the release of Citi’s annual market review, Morse was asked whether the US will soon run out of refining capacity as US production of crude oil continues at a high pace. “Broadly, we think there is growing investment in capacity to move beyond what we currently identify,” he said. Morse said his research group had identified 700,000 b/d of clear capacity to refine more light crude than is currently being done. “The 700,000 b/d is less than the 1.1 million b/d of growth in the system as a whole,” he said. “But there is about 300,000 […]

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House energy bills called irresponsible by NRDC official

WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 (UPI) — U.S. House oil and natural gas bills are irresponsible and will dismantle environmental safety measures, the Natural Resources Defense Council director said. David Goldston, in a statement Thursday, said the bills, which House members say remove redundant federal regulations on hydraulic fracturing, known also as fracking, and make the approval process for new natural gas pipelines quicker, should die in the Senate. “These irresponsible measures are part of a continuing campaign by House Republicans to systematically dismantle longtime, sensible safety protections the American people depend on, and to deliberately let the oil and gas industry write its own rules,” Goldston said. Republican leaders in the House say President Obama ‘s energy policies are stifling the domestic oil and natural gas sector. Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, the former chief executive of oil and gas company Phoenix Exploration Co. who introduced a bill on fracking this […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple