Category:

Iran Says Parties to Nuclear Deal Are ‘Far’ Apart

A comprehensive nuclear deal between Iran and six major powers is "within reach" but the two sides are still "very far" apart on some issues, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said Thursday. Iran and the six powers—the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Russia and China—are seeking to seal a comprehensive nuclear deal by July 20. An agreement would seek to address international concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions in exchange for eventually lifting tight sanctions on Tehran. Speaking at the European Council on Foreign Relations event in Rome, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister and pointman in the nuclear talks said "negotiations are now in a very critical stage." "There are still gaps. We need hard work, wisdom and creativity to bridge the gaps," he said. "A deal is within reach." If Iran and the six-power group fail to reach a deal by July 20, they could agree to extend the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Building Nuclear Weapon Would Take Years, Not Months, Iran Says in Report

The Iranian government this week published its first detailed study of how long it estimates it would take its scientists and engineers to assemble a nuclear weapon, saying that with its current infrastructure, “the required time span is in years.” Iran described the estimate as entirely hypothetical, and it was clearly intended to allay fears that Iran has the ability to race for a bomb. Not surprisingly, American officials immediately disputed the conclusions, which contradicted both classified assessments by the United States government and many estimates by outside experts. But the very fact that Iran’s nuclear energy establishment wrote the eight-page report, titled “How Long Would an Iranian ‘Breakout’ Really Take?” was itself notable. Until now, Iran’s public position has been that its program is entirely peaceful and that it has never studied what it would take to amass the fuel for a weapon, which is known […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Drug Gangs Attacking With Tanks Block Mexican Shale Boom

e Oil shale drillers in Texas have had to contend with environmental opposition and soaring costs. A few miles south of the border in Mexico, Angel Torrez and co-workers duck gunfire sprayed from drug traffickers. When gunmen pulled up in April in a makeshift tank and riddled the Hotel Asya with bullets, Torrez dropped to the floor. After the attack, the 21-year-old machine operator for Weatherford International Ltd. and his crew of about 30 left town under police escort. Ciudad Mier, in the gas-rich region along the Texas border known as the Burgos Basin, had already become a ghost town after most of its inhabitants had fled following years of bloodshed. “My girlfriend says she doesn’t want me here,” Torrez said as he rested on a bench outside his new hotel […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

California Warns of Oil-by-Rail While Keeping Data Secret

California ’s government agencies aren’t ready to handle the safety risks accompanying a boom in oil shipments by train, the state said in a report this week. The warning comes even as the most populous U.S. state declines to disclose oil-by-rail data handed over by Burlington Northern Santa Fe on June 9. The railroad company deemed the summary of its oil shipments “sensitive security information” containing trade secrets. It’s only available to public safety agencies until the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services determines whether it’s confidential. “The report is spot on in highlighting the risks of crude-by-rail transport going through heavily populated areas,” Devorah Ancel, a San Francisco-based attorney for Sierra Club, an environmental group, said by telephone. “They need to take it a step further by disclosing this very important information. The fact that not all of it is coming out and that the public is not made […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

EIA expects oil, gas disruptions from hurricanes

Oil and natural gas disruptions from hurricane activity in the Gulf of Mexico may be much higher than last year, the U.S. Energy Department said Thursday. The Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, said its mean estimate is that 12 million barrels of crude oil and 30 billion cubic feet of natural gas could be forced offline during the current hurricane season. That would be three and four times higher than 2013, respectively, if forecasts are accurate. EIA said its estimates are "highly uncertain" given the difficulty in predicting the intensity of storms in the Atlantic. The U.S. National Hurricane Center shows no tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it expects this year to be mild for named storms. Tropical Storm Karen was the only 2013 storm to effect production in U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

North Dakota's economy booming

The economy in North Dakota, the state at the heart of the U.S. oil boom, is growing faster than all other states, Gov. Jack Dalrymple said. For the fourth year in a row, the gross domestic product in the state increased 9.7 percent to top all other states. North Dakota oil production is increasing at a rapid pace. Oil production in March, the last full month for which data are available, averaged 977,051 barrels per day, an all-time high. State officials expect production, mostly from the Bakken reserve area, should reach an average 1 million bpd at some point this summer. The state’s mineral resources accounted for 3.6 percent of the GDP growth. Dalrymple said he’d move the state forward in a way that supports strong economic growth. "It’s very encouraging that our continued economic growth stems from nearly every business sector and that no single industry tells the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

North Dakota’s economy booming

The economy in North Dakota, the state at the heart of the U.S. oil boom, is growing faster than all other states, Gov. Jack Dalrymple said. For the fourth year in a row, the gross domestic product in the state increased 9.7 percent to top all other states. North Dakota oil production is increasing at a rapid pace. Oil production in March, the last full month for which data are available, averaged 977,051 barrels per day, an all-time high. State officials expect production, mostly from the Bakken reserve area, should reach an average 1 million bpd at some point this summer. The state’s mineral resources accounted for 3.6 percent of the GDP growth. Dalrymple said he’d move the state forward in a way that supports strong economic growth. "It’s very encouraging that our continued economic growth stems from nearly every business sector and that no single industry tells the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Fukushima Fires Up Atomic Industry’s Removal-of-Liability Drive

Japan will introduce legislation this year to ratify a controversial treaty backed by General Electric Co. and other atomic-plant manufacturers seeking protection from damage claims caused by nuclear accidents. The treaty, known as the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage or CSC, will encourage experienced U.S. companies to assist in the cleanup and decommissioning at the Fukushima atomic accident site, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement today. Protection from accident claims is needed because of the dangers and risks that remain at Fukushima, said U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman in an interview in Tokyo yesterday. The plant has three melted reactors and thousands of tons of radioactive water. “The important thing is to do everything that we can to facilitate the cleanup and decontamination of the Fukushima site,” Poneman said. The CSC is a means to support U.S. companies in that role, he said. Poneman was […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Gulf of Mexico 2014 production shut in by storms seen higher than last year

Graph of shut-in crude oil and natural gas production, as explained in the article text Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook, June edition The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting a relatively mild hurricane season , but even a quiet season like last year can lead to disruptions to offshore crude oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico. EIA recently analyzed the potential for Gulf shut-in production during the upcoming months, given NOAA’s outlook for hurricane activity. EIA’s mean estimate of offshore production outages during the current hurricane season totals 12 million barrels (bbls) of crude oil and 30 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas, more than three and four times higher than last year, respectively. These estimates are highly uncertain as it is difficult to predict the location and intensity of individual storms. If the actual storm activity in the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

War on Coal being waged by Geology and Markets, Not EPA

With the release of the Environmental Protection Agency’s  proposed rules limiting carbon pollution  from the nation’s electricity sector, you’ve no doubt been hearing a lot of industry outrage about “Obama’s War on Coal.” Don’t believe it. Despite the passionate rhetoric from both sides of the climate divide, the proposed rules are very moderate — almost remedial.  The rules  grade the states on a curve , giving each a tailored emissions target meant to be attainable without undue hardship.  For states that have already taken action to curb greenhouse gasses, and have more reductions in the works, they will be easy to meet.   California ,  Oregon, Washington , and  Colorado , are all several steps ahead of the proposed federal requirements — former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter  told Colorado Public Radio  that he expects the state to meet the proposed federal emissions target for 2030 in 2020, a decade ahead […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple