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Tepco Prepares to Remove Fuel Assemblies at Fukushima

TOKYO—Operators of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power plant this month will begin a potentially hazardous operation to remove fuel rods from one of the reactor units, a critical step in what is expected to be a decadeslong cleanup of the site of one of the worst nuclear-energy accidents in history. Tokyo Electric Power Co. 9501.TO -1.14% Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc. Japan: Tokyo ¥ 520 -6 -1.14% Nov. 8, 2013 3:00 pm Volume : 26.08M P/E Ratio 3.62 Market Cap ¥856.54 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee ¥129,550,000 11/07/13 Tepco Prepares to Remove Fuel … 11/07/13 Fukushima Watch: Daiichi Plant… 10/30/13 Fukushima Watch: Watchdog Appr… More quote details and news » 9501.TO in Your Value Your Change Short position , known as Tepco, plans to transfer 1,533 metal casings holding nuclear-fuel pellets from their precarious storage pool—130 feet above the ground in one of the plant’s reactors—to a common […]

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Colorado's Fracking Bans Could Fall Before Courts

Reuters More NEW YORK, Nov 7 (Reuters) – For environmentalists, votes this week to ban fracking in three Colorado cities may prove symbolic victories at best, as two decades of legal precedent suggests drillers can successfully contest the bans in court, experts say. In elections on Tuesday, the cities of Boulder, Lafayette and Fort Collins voted to suspend or ban fracking, which environmentalists hoped would strengthen opposition to the drilling process. But in Colorado, which has been a hub of energy production for decades, a number of cases have established that local municipalities may not halt energy drilling. Attorneys versed in Colorado law say the votes will likely be overturned should they be pursued in court. In 1992, the Colorado Supreme Court struck down a drilling ban implemented by the City of Greeley, known as the Voss versus Lundvall Brothers case, upholding the Oil and Gas Conservation Act that […]

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Colorado’s Fracking Bans Could Fall Before Courts

Reuters More NEW YORK, Nov 7 (Reuters) – For environmentalists, votes this week to ban fracking in three Colorado cities may prove symbolic victories at best, as two decades of legal precedent suggests drillers can successfully contest the bans in court, experts say. In elections on Tuesday, the cities of Boulder, Lafayette and Fort Collins voted to suspend or ban fracking, which environmentalists hoped would strengthen opposition to the drilling process. But in Colorado, which has been a hub of energy production for decades, a number of cases have established that local municipalities may not halt energy drilling. Attorneys versed in Colorado law say the votes will likely be overturned should they be pursued in court. In 1992, the Colorado Supreme Court struck down a drilling ban implemented by the City of Greeley, known as the Voss versus Lundvall Brothers case, upholding the Oil and Gas Conservation Act that […]

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Chesapeake Energy Production Outlook Sparks Anxiety

Chesapeake Energy Corp. CHK -3.16% Chesapeake Energy Corp. U.S.: NYSE $ 25.40 -0.83 -3.16% Nov. 7, 2013 4:01 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 19.55M AFTER HOURS $ 25.36 -0.04 -0.16% Nov. 7, 2013 7:57 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 136,454 P/E Ratio 18.81 Market Cap $17.46 Billion Dividend Yield 1.38% Rev. per Employee $1,366,500 11/06/13 Chesapeake Energy Production O… 11/06/13 Stocks to Watch: Tesla, Humana… 10/17/13 Energy Industry’s Odd Couple: … More quote details and news » CHK in Your Value Your Change Short position is cutting costs after years of liberal spending, but the natural-gas company’s newfound thrift is raising questions about its growth prospects. The Oklahoma City company, which shelled out billions of dollars more than it made from operations in recent years, spent 45% less to drill wells in the third quarter than a year earlier. Chesapeake still managed to boost oil production by 23%, helping the […]

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U.S. rig operations decline

HOUSTON, Nov. 7 (UPI) — Oil service company Baker Hughes Inc. said Thursday oil and gas exploration internationally was increasing though U.S. activity declined. Baker Hughes published its monthly rig count for October. The international rig count for October was up 56 year-on-year to 1,315. For international offshore work, the rig count was up 10 year-on-year to 316. The company’s rig count reflects the number of drilling rigs actively exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. For the United States, the company said the average rig count for October was 1,744, down 90 compared to the same time last year. A similar U.S. trend was observed last month. For Canada, the number was up 13 to 378 when compared to last October, but nine fewer than the number reported in September. New drilling technologies for shale oil and natural gas deposits helped push North America to the top […]

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Canadian Oil Companies Trail on Environmental Disclosure

Canada ’s biggest energy companies including Suncor Energy Inc. (SU) and Imperial Oil Ltd. (IMO) are trailing global peers in reporting environmental performance as scrutiny of the oil sands intensifies. The 10 largest Canadian oil and natural gas producers by market value scored an average 31.7 out of 100 on environmental-performance disclosures in 2011, the last year with information for all companies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Environmental Disclosure Scores weigh information such as emissions, spills and water use. The Canadian scores lag behind those of some of their largest U.S. and European competitors, including 54.6 (XOM) for Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s biggest energy company, 48.8 (RDSA) for Europe’s No. 1 oil producer Royal Dutch Shell Plc, and 62 (BP/) for London-based BP Plc, which has taken a charge of $42.5 billion related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil-spill disaster. Canadian oil-sands producers […]

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Canada boasts of gas potential in western provinces

CALGARY, Alberta, Nov. 7 (UPI) — The Montney field across Alberta and British Columbia holds more than 400 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the Canadian government said. The National Energy Board, along with provincial energy regulators, announced they completed the first-ever study of the marketable unconventional resources in the Montney area. The governments said the formation holds 449 trillion cubic feet of marketable natural gas and 1.1 billion barrels of marketable oil. “At current consumption rates the Montney gas resource would meet Canadian needs for 145 years,” NEB Chairman Gaetan Caron said in a statement Wednesday. “The report clearly shows that Canadian energy markets will be well supplied with natural gas far into the future.” The NEB said Montney’s marketable gas reserves add to a lucrative resource base already under development in Western Canada. Montney stretches from northeast British Columbia to northwest Alberta. The NEB said it’s been […]

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Russian long-term forecast sees oil price flat in real terms

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia forecast on Thursday that oil prices would remain flat in real terms through to 2030, taking a more bullish view than many independent forecasters who expect an exploration revolution to deliver ample supply and depress prices. After taking inflation into account, the price of crude oil and other commodities will remain roughly unchanged over the period, the government said in its revised long-term forecast for Russia’s $2 trillion economy. Expressed in 2010 dollars, making prices comparable over time, the average cost of a barrel of oil would be in a range of $90-$110. In nominal terms – or the money of the day – crude is seen rising to $160-$170 per barrel by 2030, said the forecast, which cited "worsening production conditions and increased demand from developing countries". The price forecast by Russia, the world’s leading oil producer, is more bullish than expectations of a […]

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Greece encouraged by Ionian Sea hydrocarbon survey

ATHENS, Greece, Nov. 8 (UPI) — Greece this week hailed the preliminary results of an oil and gas survey in the Ionian Sea showing similarities to earlier finds in Italian and Albanian waters. Greek Energy Minister Yiannis Maniatis, speaking Wednesday at a petroleum industry conference in Athens, said the first conclusions of a seismic survey carried out in the Ionian and south of Crete by the Norwegian company Petroleum Geo-Services were promising. Maniatis said the initial findings revealed geological analogies between the underwater area of the North Ionian and Italian and Albanian regions of the sea where oil and natural gas have already been found, the Greek daily To Vima reported. In the findings, PGS reported “a diversity of geological characteristics of the Greek subsoil and a corresponding number of potential petroleum resources” — potentially good news for the cash-strapped country, which is seeking to improve its financial situation […]

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10 Years After 'The Party's Over': an interview with Richard Heinberg

10 Years After ‘The Party’s Over’: an interview with Richard Heinberg While running the risk of sounding like a Hello! Magazine reporter, I must introduce this post by saying that while in the US recently, I joined Richard Heinberg and his wife Janet in their beautiful permaculture garden in Santa Rosa, California.  Richard will be known to most readers of this blog as the author of  The Party’s Over, Powerdown, The Oil Depletion Protocol, Peak Everything, Blackout  and  Snake Oil  as well as one of the best communicators on the whole peak oil/everything question.  This year marks the tenth anniversary of the publication of  The Party’s Over .  Richard has already reflected on this in September’s Museletter [ 10 Years After ], but Richard and I pulled up a chair under a tree in his garden and chatted more about the book, its impact, and other related issues.  You transcript […]

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