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China’s PMI rises to highest level in 2014

Growth in China’s manufacturing sector continued to accelerate in May, rising to the highest level for this year and adding to signs of a stabilizing economy, official data showed on Sunday. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) increased to 50.8 in May, up from 50.4 in April, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP). The reading, which inched further above the 50-point level separating a monthly expansion in factories’ activity from a contraction, indicated a pickup in China’s manufacturing sector and the economy as a whole. This is the third consecutive monthly uptick of the widely watched data. The index, seen as one of the key indicators of how the economy performs, began to climb in March after three months of declines. Zhang Liqun, a researcher at the Development Research Center of […]

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In North Dakota it is Mostly Just One County

North Dakota publishes crude oil production numbers for each county.  The problem is these numbers do not include confidential wells. Their totals for all North Dakota do include these wells however. I have figured out a way to estimate, pretty closely I believe, each county’s share of those unreported wells. That is take each county’s percentage of total production, then assume they would have the same percentage of confidential wells. It is not exact but close enough. The data is published only as a PDF file and cannot be copied and pasted. Therefore I must input the data for each of 18 counties, each month, manually. That is very time consuming and I only had the patience to do 15 months. But that is plenty for what I am trying to show. All the rest of North Dakota combined produces less than the lowest of the big four. McKenzie […]

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EPA Sets Draft Rule to Cut Carbon Emissions by 30% by 2030

EPA announces Monday a proposal seeking a 30% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, immunotherapy drug data show promise in treating cancer, work becoming more relaxing than home and preventing elderly falls. Photo: Getty WASHINGTON—The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday released a draft rule to regulate carbon emissions from hundreds of fossil-fired power plants across the U.S., the cornerstone of President Barack Obama ‘s climate-change agenda. The proposed rule mandates that power plants cut U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions 30% by 2030 from levels seen in 2005, an aggressive target that marks the first attempt at limiting such pollution. "That’s like canceling out annual carbon pollution from two thirds of all cars and trucks in America," EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said in speech at agency headquarters Monday announcing the rule. "And if you add up what we’ll avoid between now and 2030—it’s more than double the carbon pollution from every […]

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Unveiling New Carbon Plan, E.P.A. Focuses on Flexibility

The Obama administration on Monday announced one of the strongest actions ever taken by the United States government to fight climate change, a proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulation to cut carbon pollution from the nation’s power plants 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. The regulation takes aim at the largest source of carbon pollution in the United States, the nation’s more than 600 coal-fired power plants. If it withstands an expected onslaught of legal and legislative attacks, experts say that it could close hundreds of the plants and also lead, over the course of decades, to systemic changes in the American electricity industry, including transformations in how power is generated and used. Gina McCarthy, the E.P.A. administrator, unveiled the proposal in a speech Monday morning. “Today, climate change — fueled by carbon pollution — supercharges risks not just to our health, but to our communities, our […]

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Natural-Gas Prices Rising as EPA Pitches Power Plant Emissions Plan

By Timothy Puko NEW YORK–Natural gas prices inched up Monday after details emerged of a federal plan to curb power plant emissions. Natural gas for July delivery is up 3.6 cents, or 0.8%, at $4.578 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Environmental Protection Agency plans to propose mandating power plants cut U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions 30% by 2030 from levels of 25 years earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday evening. Its biggest impact is expected to be in cutting the demand for coal, natural gas’s primary competitor as a fuel for power plants. The plan sets a distant goal that isn’t as severe as some environmentalists had advocated, so it isn’t clear it creates pressure on the more near-term futures markets, said Teri Viswanath, a natural-gas strategist at BNP Paribas. But with weather forecasts that cooled over the weekend–and should have damped natural […]

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EPA’s proposal on carbon emissions creates complications for coal-state Democrats

The Obama administration’s proposal to cut carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants prompted an immediate backlash from Democrats in conservative-leaning states Monday, underscoring the extent to which the president’s energy policy will become a major front in the battle for control over Congress this fall. The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule, which is now subject to public comment and will be finalized a year from now, would cut carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal plants by up to 30 percent by 2030 compared with 2005 levels. It tackles the largest source of the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions, the electricity sector, which is helping drive climate change. While environmentalists and liberal supporters of President Obama hailed the move as a long-overdue effort to tackle one of the biggest threats facing the planet, it added new complications for a party already facing a difficult midterm election landscape. Nineteen states get […]

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New US EPA rule may hit oil refiners with higher power costs: sources

The Obama administration’s latest proposal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is largely aimed at the more than 600 US coal-fired power plants. But oil refiners should expect higher electricity costs the rule could bring, sources said Monday. The Environmental Protection Agency says the proposal, released Monday morning, would reduce emissions 30% from 2005 levels by 2030. Diana Cronan, a spokeswoman for the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, said the proposal is expected to have an indirect effect on refiners, since the new regulations on power plants could increase electricity prices. After crude oil, electricity is the second highest cost refiners face, she said. Article continues below… Oilgram News brings you fast-breaking global petroleum and gas news on and including: Industry players, upstream and downstream markets, refineries, midstream transportation and financial reports Supply and demand trends, government actions, exploration and technology Daily futures summary Weekly API statistics, and much more […]

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Domestic production satisfies 84% of total U.S. energy demand in 2013

Total U.S. energy production reached 81.7 quadrillion British thermal units (quads) in 2013, enough to satisfy 84% of total U.S. energy demand, which totaled 97.5 quads. Natural gas was the largest domestically produced energy resource for the third year in a row and, together with the other fossil fuels (coal, crude oil, and hydrocarbon gas liquids), accounted for more than three quarters of U.S. energy production. In total, the United States consumed 97.5 quads of energy, 82% of which was fossil fuels. Renewable and nuclear energy made up 10% and 8%, respectively, of U.S. energy consumption. The portion of U.S. energy consumption supplied by domestic production has been increasing since 2005, when it was at its historical low point (69%). Since 2005, production of domestic resources, particularly natural gas and crude oil, has been increasing as a result of the application of technologies that can develop harder-to-produce resources. At […]

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Exxon gets first crack at U.S.-Mexican maritime border area

Exxon Mobil won the first three oil and gas leases for an area straddling the U.S.-Mexican border in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Interior Department said. Exxon gets access to nearly 1.5 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Interior Department estimates the area, Alaminos Canyon, contains as much as 172 million barrels of oil and 304 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The transboundary area was opened by congressional agreement in December. Through it, U.S. companies agree voluntarily to develop the area jointly with Mexican energy company Petroleos Mexicanos. "These leases represent a significant step forward in U.S.-Mexico cooperation in energy production and pave the way for future energy and environmental collaboration," U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a Saturday statement . The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management sold the three leases areas in March for a total of […]

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EIA: U.S. growing more energy independent

Enough energy was produced in the United States last year to meet more than 80 percent of the nation’s demands, the Energy Department said Monday. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, said 81.7 quadrillion British thermal units of energy was produced from domestic resources last year. EIA said natural gas was the largest source of energy for the third year in the row. Fossil fuels in general accounted for 82 percent of the energy produced last year, with renewable resources and nuclear energy making up 10 percent and 8 percent, respectively. EIA said production of oil and natural gas has increased steadily since 2005, the same year for which the portion of U.S. energy consumption supplied by domestic production reached its historical low point. EIA said the last time there’s been a major increase in the ratio of domestic supply to consumption was […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple