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Venezuela's Maduro vows stricter business inspections

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said a stricter wave of inspections for suspected price-gouging would begin on Saturday in an aggressive pre-election "economic offensive" aimed at taming the highest inflation in the Americas. "We’re not joking, we’re defending the rights of the majority, their economic freedom," Maduro said on Friday, alleging price irregularities were found in nearly 99 percent of 1,705 businesses inspected so far this month. Maduro, who has staked his presidency on preserving the legacy of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, launched a theatrical – and often televised – wave of inspections this month to force companies to reduce prices. He says "capitalist parasites" are trying to wreck Venezuela’s economy and force him from office. Opponents scoff at the measures as cheap and short-term populism that is hiding the failure of Venezuela’s socialist economic model and intended to win votes at an upcoming poll. Economic […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Venezuela’s Maduro vows stricter business inspections

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said a stricter wave of inspections for suspected price-gouging would begin on Saturday in an aggressive pre-election "economic offensive" aimed at taming the highest inflation in the Americas. "We’re not joking, we’re defending the rights of the majority, their economic freedom," Maduro said on Friday, alleging price irregularities were found in nearly 99 percent of 1,705 businesses inspected so far this month. Maduro, who has staked his presidency on preserving the legacy of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez, launched a theatrical – and often televised – wave of inspections this month to force companies to reduce prices. He says "capitalist parasites" are trying to wreck Venezuela’s economy and force him from office. Opponents scoff at the measures as cheap and short-term populism that is hiding the failure of Venezuela’s socialist economic model and intended to win votes at an upcoming poll. Economic […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China Makes Environmental Case for Increasing Big Coal's Clout

China is moving to increase the clout of its state-owned coal giants, as it seeks to clean up a sprawling and heavily polluting industry that is nevertheless crucial to its energy needs. In a policy proposal unveiled Thursday, the State Council, China’s cabinet, said it wants big corporate champions to manage the economic development and environmental consequences of the industry, which also has a slew of smaller operators. The government said it would “encourage the consolidation of coal companies, with large-scale companies as the main body, building large-scale modern coal mines within large-scale coal bases.” Analysts said the proposal also puts the industry more firmly under the control of Beijing. The new measures “protect state-owned enterprises as much as they protect the environment,” said North Square Blue Oak energy analyst Miao Tian. In helping state-owned giants to assert their position in the industry, Beijing may be conceding it can’t […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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China Makes Environmental Case for Increasing Big Coal’s Clout

China is moving to increase the clout of its state-owned coal giants, as it seeks to clean up a sprawling and heavily polluting industry that is nevertheless crucial to its energy needs. In a policy proposal unveiled Thursday, the State Council, China’s cabinet, said it wants big corporate champions to manage the economic development and environmental consequences of the industry, which also has a slew of smaller operators. The government said it would “encourage the consolidation of coal companies, with large-scale companies as the main body, building large-scale modern coal mines within large-scale coal bases.” Analysts said the proposal also puts the industry more firmly under the control of Beijing. The new measures “protect state-owned enterprises as much as they protect the environment,” said North Square Blue Oak energy analyst Miao Tian. In helping state-owned giants to assert their position in the industry, Beijing may be conceding it can’t […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Too Much Oil: U.S. Storage Set to Pass the 400 Million Threshold

Trend is to Store more Oil  A year ago oil in storage stood at 274 million barrels, and with another robust year of domestic production, and despite curtailed imports, the US Oil Inventory stands at 391 million barrels and climbing. The domestic need for refined products was stagnant at best, the real demand was in the export market, without a robust export market for refined products, oil supplies would have crushed the 400 Million Barrier this summer, and prices at the pump would have been much cheaper here stateside.   So the drawing season accounted for roughly a 40 million barrel retracement in US supplies, and we are not even close to the   middle of the building season, which even by conservative estimates should continue until mid-March of 2014.  We might have some year-end selling of US inventories due to tax reasons, especially in Texas, but after all […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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New York's Fracking Hypocrisy Underscores Energy Illiteracy

New York has issued a moratorium for hydraulic fracturing in the portions of the Marcellus Shale that fall within its borders, but the state is benefiting economically and environmentally from the fracking going on in neighboring Pennsylvania, as NPR reported. New York City, for example, has rolled out a program, “NYC Clean Heat, ” to encourage building owners to switch from heating oil to natural gas. One building owner told NPR that by switching, he expects to reduce his building’s energy costs by 50 percent. The abundance of natural gas produced by fracking in places like the Marcellus has driven down prices and made those savings possible. The irony, as NPR points out, is that most New Yorkers oppose fracking: In polls, New York City voters have opposed fracking. “It’s varied anywhere from 1- or 2-point margin of opposition to as much as […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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New York’s Fracking Hypocrisy Underscores Energy Illiteracy

New York has issued a moratorium for hydraulic fracturing in the portions of the Marcellus Shale that fall within its borders, but the state is benefiting economically and environmentally from the fracking going on in neighboring Pennsylvania, as NPR reported. New York City, for example, has rolled out a program, “NYC Clean Heat, ” to encourage building owners to switch from heating oil to natural gas. One building owner told NPR that by switching, he expects to reduce his building’s energy costs by 50 percent. The abundance of natural gas produced by fracking in places like the Marcellus has driven down prices and made those savings possible. The irony, as NPR points out, is that most New Yorkers oppose fracking: In polls, New York City voters have opposed fracking. “It’s varied anywhere from 1- or 2-point margin of opposition to as much as […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Large-scale Arctic oil and gas drilling decades away – Statoil

*Norway’s Statoil said it would be decades until drilling begins for much of the Arctic’s vast untapped oil and gas reserves due to the challenges of working in one of the world’s harshest environments. State-owned Statoil hopes to tap into the reserves of about 90 billion barrels of oil equivalent that the U.S. Geological Survey estimates lie in the Arctic, amounting to almost three years of total global demand or a third of Saudi Arabia’s remaining petroleum reserves. But the company’s exploration chief, Tim Dodson, said the likely costs involved, regulatory complexities and harsh weather conditions meant drilling in much of the Arctic […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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In Appalachia, Coal Struggles to Compete With Natural Gas

Coal has regained a little ground this year as the fuel of choice for U.S. power plants—except in Appalachia, where natural gas for electricity generation has become extremely cheap. So much gas is being pumped from the Marcellus Shale, and so few pipelines serve the area, that a glut has developed in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, driving down the price of electricity and making it hard for coal to compete. Several companies have told regulators they want to close coal plants, and one owned by a private-equity firm has filed for bankruptcy protection. Sunbury Generation LLC plans to close its 60-year-old coal plant in Shimokin Dam, Pa., north of Harrisburg, because the price for electricity it sells on the open market is just too low to cover its costs. “It is difficult to run merchant coal plants in Pennsylvania,” said Dave Meehan, the company’s president. “Even though we’re old, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple