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BP expects surge in Deepwater payments

BP is expecting a surge in compensation payments over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, after a slowdown that has lasted almost two months. The company revealed in a court filing just before the Thanksgiving holiday last week that it had been told payments for businesses’ economic losses, which had been held up since an appeal court ruling at the beginning of October, were about to restart. It says the expected resumption of payments increases the need for the court to issue an injunction blocking unjustified claims for compensation under the settlement it agreed with plaintiffs’ lawyers last year. BP argues that businesses that appear not to have suffered losses […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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What is the real cost of shale gas?

US shale gas production has grown from around 4 billion cubic feet (bcf) per day in 2007 to around 26 bcf/day in 2012 US gross natural gas production  has grown from a plateau of 2 trillion cubic feet (tcf) per month in the period 1995 to 2002 to 2.5 tcf per month in 2012 Some believe this is marching the USA towards energy independence while others believe, owing to costs and decline rates, that this may be an energy bubble At the end of 2011, shale gas accounted for 32% of total US natural gas production (EIA data)   Pre 2008 financial crash, there were roughly 400 rigs drilling oil in the USA and 1600 drilling gas. Today it is roughly 1400 drilling oil and 400 drilling gas The fall in US prices to  while in fact over-production caused a crash in the price in US natural gas to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Canada at Crossroads in Bid to Become Energy Superpower

Canada ’s bid to become what Prime Minister Stephen Harper calls an energy “superpower” is at risk as approval delays for new pipelines threaten an industry already hurt by high costs and rival production. The world’s sixth-largest crude producer can’t get its surging crude supplies to markets in Asia where prices are higher than in North America. Decisions in the next year or so on proposed pipelines designed to connect oil-sands production to supertankers on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts may set the tone for the future of the nation’s energy industry. “There’s no doubt that over the next 12 to 24 months, there will be some significant decisions made on pipelines infrastructure in Canada,” Ian Anderson, president of the Canadian division of Kinder Morgan (KMP) Energy Partners LP, said in a Nov. 29 interview in Lake Louise, Alberta. “What’s important about the time frame is, there’s a window […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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UMD researchers address economic dangers of ‘peak oil’

Team identifies key industries for policy action Researchers from the University of Maryland and a leading university in Spain demonstrate in a new study which sectors could put the entire U.S. economy at risk when global oil production peaks (‘Peak Oil”). This multi-disciplinary team recommends immediate action by government, private and commercial sectors to reduce the vulnerability of these sectors. While critics of Peak Oil studies declare that the world has more than enough oil to maintain current national and global standards, these UMD-led researchers say Peak Oil is imminent, if not already here — and is a real threat to national and global economies. Their study is among the first to outline a way of assessing the vulnerabilities of specific economic sectors to this threat, and to identify focal points for action that could strengthen the U.S. economy and make it less vulnerable to disasters. Their work, “Economic […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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Study shows bamboo ethanol in China technically and economically feasible, cost-competitive with gasoline

Study shows bamboo ethanol in China technically and economically feasible, cost-competitive with gasoline Bamboo, the composition of which is highly similar to energy grasses used for biofuel production such as switchgrass, is an interesting potential feedstock for advanced bioethanol production in China due to its natural abundance, rapid growth, perennial nature and low management requirements. Now, researchers at Imperial College London have shown that bioethanol production from bamboo in China is both technically and economically feasible, as well as cost-competitive with gasoline. An open access paper on their study is published in Biotechnology for Biofuels . Bamboo2 Bamboo3 China bioethanol pump price for five enzyme loading scenarios in ( a ) 2011 with a 16¢ per liter […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple