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Deal Reached on Panama Canal Expansion

Panama and a consortium of European construction firms, which have been locked in a bitter dispute over cost overruns on a multibillion-dollar project to expand the Panama Canal, say they have reached a preliminary deal to end the spat and ensure final completion of the work. A final agreement still needs to be signed but both sides said this could happen as early as this weekend. Panama says the deal will allow for the expansion of the canal, which stretches 50 miles through the Central American isthmus between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, to still be completed by the end of 2015. The $5.2 billion construction project on the 100-year-old waterway began in 2007, an effort to widen and deepen the canal so larger ships could fit through. When finished, Panama stands to greatly increase its more than $1 billion in annual revenue from toll fees. The U.S., which […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Venezuela student protest in Caracas ends in clashes

Security forces in Venezuela have used tear gas to break up a student demonstration in the capital, Caracas. Hundreds of protesters were demanding the release of fellow students detained during two weeks of unrest, and called a fresh march for Sunday. In another part of Caracas, a large pro-government march was held. Earlier this week, President Nicolas Maduro declared an early start to the week-long Carnival public holiday in an attempt to end the unrest. On Monday, Venezuela’s Attorney General Luisa Ortega said 13 people had died in the violence, although President Maduro put the figure of protest-related deaths at more than 50 on Wednesday. ‘No Carnival’ Despite the start of the long holidays on Thursday, students again gathered in Caracas. "There’s no Carnival for anybody here. Here we are […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Venezuelan Protests Mark Start of Six-Day Holiday

Several thousand anti-government demonstrators marched in Caracas yesterday after President Nicolas Maduro tried to defuse two weeks of protests by granting Venezuelans an unexpected six-day holiday. In the eastern Caracas municipality Chacao, an opposition stronghold, demonstrators held banners urging Venezuelans to ignore the holidays and continue protesting against crime, inflation and shortages of goods. As they attempted to block the city’s main east-west highway, the National Guard broke up the march with tear gas and water cannons. Two U.S. senators proposed a resolution threatening sanctions for “violent repression of peaceful demonstrations in Venezuela.” Maduro this week expanded the annual Carnival festivities by decreeing national holidays for yesterday and today, in addition to the scheduled days off on March 3-4. At least 14 people were killed in the past two weeks in the biggest demonstrations against the government since the former bus driver won presidential elections in April. “This is […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Thirteen Workers Exposed to Radiation at New Mexico Plant

More workers at a New Mexico nuclear-waste depository will be tested for radioactive exposure after results showed that 13 employees had been contaminated, officials with the U.S. Department of Energy said Thursday. The 13 employees at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in the outskirts of Carlsbad were working Feb. 14 when a radiation leak was detected at the facility. The government contractor that runs the plant, Nuclear Waste Partnership LLC, is now asking employees who were present the following day to also submit samples for testing, said Farok Sharif, the company’s president. The Energy Department is still in the process of determining the cause of the leak, the first ever reported at the site, which has been storing waste material from the research and production of nuclear weapons deep underground since 1999. But the agency said Wednesday that initial tests show the workers were exposed to americium, a contaminant […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Australia's LNG exports face competition from U.S.

The United States is emerging as a major competitor to Australia’s gas export market, says a former U.S. Department of Energy official. Speaking at the Australian Domestic Gas conference Wednesday in Sydney, Randa Fahmy Hudome, who was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as the U.S. associate deputy secretary of energy, said the United States viewed Asia as its biggest market and was increasing liquefied natural gas export approvals to fill future demand from that region, The Australian newspaper reports. Hudome now heads up a Washington, D.C.-based government relations and strategic consulting firm she launched in 2003. "In the U.S. we see the demand in Asia as the biggest bite of the apple for us. We intend to compete in that market," she said. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Energy conditionally authorized approved Cameron LNG, LLC to export domestically produced […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Australia’s LNG exports face competition from U.S.

The United States is emerging as a major competitor to Australia’s gas export market, says a former U.S. Department of Energy official. Speaking at the Australian Domestic Gas conference Wednesday in Sydney, Randa Fahmy Hudome, who was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as the U.S. associate deputy secretary of energy, said the United States viewed Asia as its biggest market and was increasing liquefied natural gas export approvals to fill future demand from that region, The Australian newspaper reports. Hudome now heads up a Washington, D.C.-based government relations and strategic consulting firm she launched in 2003. "In the U.S. we see the demand in Asia as the biggest bite of the apple for us. We intend to compete in that market," she said. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Energy conditionally authorized approved Cameron LNG, LLC to export domestically produced […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Pakistan frustrated with gas import options

Pakistan’s former petroleum secretary expressed doubts about gas supplies from neighbors but the government said Iranian negotiations could bring relief. Gulfraz Ahmad told delegates at an energy forum in Islamabad the U.S. government’s nuclear energy assistance to India partly derailed a trilateral gas pipeline from Iran, the Pakistani newspaper Express Tribune reported Friday "After withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan , I fear Washington will again be opposing TAPI pipeline following a shift in its policies," he was quoted as saying. TAPI refers to the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline, which the United States has backed in favor of the Iranian gas pipeline. Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Alsama was quoted by rival newspaper the Nation, however, as saying waning sanctions pressure on Iran could breathe new life into that pipeline option. "We hope that the process [nuclear negotiations with Iran] would lead to successful settling […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Coal crunch gives impetus to India's solar switch

For six years in a row, India’s monopoly coal producer has missed its production targets, leading to chronic electricity shortages and sending power producers scrambling for pricier imports. But what looks like a looming crisis could turn out to be an almost accidental energy overhaul. Like many developing nations, India has relied for decades on cheap coal to provide electricity for burgeoning industry and fast-expanding cities, putting aside worries about pollution and global warming. But from three years ago when solar capacity was almost zero, the country has added 2.2 gigawatts of solar to its electricity grid, enough to power 20 million Indian homes. It plans another 2 GW this year, toward a total 15 GW addition by 2017. Individual states plan even more. India has also added about 26 GW in coal-fired capacity since 2011, but already plants are sitting idle for […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple