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Protesters March Against Chemical Plant in South China City

Protests against a planned chemical plant in the southern Chinese city of Maoming ended with demonstrators throwing stones and water bottles, the local government said. Demonstrators gathered yesterday morning in front of the city’s Communist Party committee building and walked slowly through the streets, the city’s propaganda office said in a statement on its official Weibo account today. After 10:30 p.m. a few “troublemakers” threw stones and water bottle that damaged public facilities, it said. No one was hurt. The protests were the latest sign of growing public anger in China over pollution. Photos on social networking site Weibo purportedly of the demonstration showed an overturned car on the street and a crowd of people raising clenched fists. Last May, hundreds of people took to the streets of Kunming in Yunnan province to protest plans to produce paraxylene at a new refinery. The protesters in Maoming, in southern Guangdong […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Production Starts at China's First Deep-Water Natural Gas Field

China’s first deep-water natural gas field has started producing gas, marking a milestone in China’s efforts both to exploit energy reserves deep under the South China Sea and to increase use of the cleaner-burning fuel. The US$6.5 billion Liwan-3 project, operated and 49% owned by Canada-listed Husky Energy Inc., is in undisputed Chinese waters about 325 kilometers southeast of Hong Kong. Beijing wants to increase gas use to around 10% of China’s energy mix by 2020 from less than 5% now as part of a push to wean the country off coal, which supplies around two-thirds of its fuel and produces huge amounts of pollution and greenhouse gases. "Liwan is Husky’s largest project to date and places us inside the door of one of the fastest-growing energy markets in the world," said Chief Executive Asim Ghosh, in a news release issued here Monday to mark the first gas […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Production Starts at China’s First Deep-Water Natural Gas Field

China’s first deep-water natural gas field has started producing gas, marking a milestone in China’s efforts both to exploit energy reserves deep under the South China Sea and to increase use of the cleaner-burning fuel. The US$6.5 billion Liwan-3 project, operated and 49% owned by Canada-listed Husky Energy Inc., is in undisputed Chinese waters about 325 kilometers southeast of Hong Kong. Beijing wants to increase gas use to around 10% of China’s energy mix by 2020 from less than 5% now as part of a push to wean the country off coal, which supplies around two-thirds of its fuel and produces huge amounts of pollution and greenhouse gases. "Liwan is Husky’s largest project to date and places us inside the door of one of the fastest-growing energy markets in the world," said Chief Executive Asim Ghosh, in a news release issued here Monday to mark the first gas […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Eagle Ford Gas Draws Steelmakers to Texas' Coastal Bend

Upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry have long contributed to the economy of South Texas’ "Coastal Bend," a 12-county region whose hub city is Corpus Christi. Not only is the region accessible to onshore and offshore oil and gas fields, but it boasts the infrastructure necessary to ship, store and process hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon products. Lured by the region’s growing port facilities and ready availability of cheap natural gas from the prolific Eagle Ford Shale play, two foreign-owned firms are bringing a newcomer – iron and steel manufacturing – into the Coastal Bend’s economic fold. "The addition of iron and steel manufacturing to the regions’ economy will further diversify and strengthen our growing economy," said Roland Mower, CEO of the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corp. "In fact, this region is experiencing an uptick in interest from international manufacturers interested in leveraging our low-cost, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Eagle Ford Gas Draws Steelmakers to Texas’ Coastal Bend

Upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the oil and gas industry have long contributed to the economy of South Texas’ "Coastal Bend," a 12-county region whose hub city is Corpus Christi. Not only is the region accessible to onshore and offshore oil and gas fields, but it boasts the infrastructure necessary to ship, store and process hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon products. Lured by the region’s growing port facilities and ready availability of cheap natural gas from the prolific Eagle Ford Shale play, two foreign-owned firms are bringing a newcomer – iron and steel manufacturing – into the Coastal Bend’s economic fold. "The addition of iron and steel manufacturing to the regions’ economy will further diversify and strengthen our growing economy," said Roland Mower, CEO of the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corp. "In fact, this region is experiencing an uptick in interest from international manufacturers interested in leveraging our low-cost, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Kerry's Talks With Russia's Lavrov Fail to Ease Ukraine Crisis

Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart appeared to make no major advances Sunday in a four-hour meeting aimed at easing the standoff over Ukraine, raising the specter of a prolonged crisis that threatens to bring broader instability to Europe. Mr. Kerry, in remarks after the negotiations, said he received no assurances from the Kremlin that it would pull back thousands of Russian troops amassed on Ukraine’s eastern border. The chief U.S. diplomat and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also didn’t appear to reach any major common ground on discussions aimed at revamping Ukraine’s political system. Mr. Kerry said his counterpart pledged Russia’s desire to de-escalate tensions over Ukraine but offered no specifics. Read about key events since the Cold War. "Any real progress in Ukraine must include a pullback of the very large Russian force that is currently amassing along Ukraine’s border," Mr. Kerry said. "Tonight […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Kerry’s Talks With Russia’s Lavrov Fail to Ease Ukraine Crisis

Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart appeared to make no major advances Sunday in a four-hour meeting aimed at easing the standoff over Ukraine, raising the specter of a prolonged crisis that threatens to bring broader instability to Europe. Mr. Kerry, in remarks after the negotiations, said he received no assurances from the Kremlin that it would pull back thousands of Russian troops amassed on Ukraine’s eastern border. The chief U.S. diplomat and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also didn’t appear to reach any major common ground on discussions aimed at revamping Ukraine’s political system. Mr. Kerry said his counterpart pledged Russia’s desire to de-escalate tensions over Ukraine but offered no specifics. Read about key events since the Cold War. "Any real progress in Ukraine must include a pullback of the very large Russian force that is currently amassing along Ukraine’s border," Mr. Kerry said. "Tonight […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Eurozone inflation slows to lowest level in five years

Inflation in the eurozone slowed again in March, dipping to 0.5 per cent ahead of the European Central Bank’s policy vote on Thursday. The latest flash estimate from Eurostat , the commission’s statistics bureau, showed inflation slowing from 0.7 per cent in February to its lowest level since 2009. Though economists believe last year’s early Easter – a time when businesses tend to raise their prices – weighed on cost pressures, the low number puts pressure on the ECB to do more to stave off the threat of a prolonged period of falling prices. The March figure was below economists’ expectations of 0.6 per cent. The ECB targets inflation of just below 2 per cent, but expects inflation to remain below this level at least until the end of 2016. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2014. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com […]

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Can Europe wean itself from Russian natural gas?

One of the companies most entwined in the natural gas business in Europe is the Italian oil giant ENI – and that has put it smack in the middle of the crisis between Russia and western nations. ENI is the biggest seller of natural gas in Europe, providing 22 percent of the market. It is also the biggest customer of the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, worth about 10 billion euros a year, and it might join with Gazprom to build a new pipeline under the Black Sea. It has a deal with Russia’s biggest oil company, Rosneft, to explore in the Barents Sea. It also has rights to look for shale gas in Ukraine and plans to propose reworking some old neglected oil and gas fields there to boost output. And it is the largest natural gas producer in Libya, a key source of natural gas for Europe. Altogether, […]

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German Minister Sees 'No Sensible Alternative' to Russian Gas

German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said there was "no sensible alternative" to Russian natural gas imports and it was unlikely Russia would stop deliveries because of the crisis over Ukraine, a German daily reported Friday. "Even in the darkest hours of the Cold War, Russia respected its contracts," the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung reported Gabriel, who is also energy minister and vice chancellor, as telling an energy forum. Europe’s biggest economy is heavily reliant on Russian gas, which accounted for about a third of its gas imports last year, BDEW figures show. Germany’s top utilities E.ON and RWE receive most of their gas from Russia’s state-controlled gas producer Gazprom. Russia’s seizure of the Crimea region and its threat to cut off gas to Ukraine, a transit route to the rest of Europe, has prompted European leaders to consider strategies to curb the bloc’s energy reliance on Russia. Gabriel also said that two current business deals with Russia by German companies BASF and RWE were "company decisions" and "essentially unproblematic," according to the newspaper. The newspaper said Gabriel also told the forum that Europe’s […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple