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Toll Climbs in Fight for Syrian Gas Field

More than 100 people were killed in two days in a continuing fight between government forces and militants for control of a gas-production facility east of Homs, according to opposition activists and media outlets aligned with the regime. Among the casualties as of Sunday evening were at least 65 members of the regime’s forces, according to Syrian opposition activists, while the rest were fighters from the extremist group Islamic State. The fighting erupted after gunmen from Islamic State mounted an attack late Wednesday on the Al-Shaer gas field and production facility, located in the desert about 150 miles northeast of the capital Damascus. Over 270 guards, workers and members of a pro-regime paramilitary group known as the National Defense Force were killed in the initial attack and subsequent executions carried out by Islamic State militants, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Israelis barely break stride under missile shield

Civilians take cover in an air raid shelter in Sderot, south Israel, as several rockets are fired from the Gaza Strip Several large booms rang out over Ashkelon, southern Israel, on Monday afternoon as Israel fired interceptor missiles from its Iron Dome defence system to destroy incoming rockets fired by militants in the Gaza Strip, 7km away. The sound has become common across Israel since it began its war in Gaza two weeks ago; people shopping near a crowded town centre shopping mall did not break their stride. More On this story On this topic IN Arab-Israel conflict As of Monday, Hamas and other Gaza-based militants had shot 154 rockets into Ashkelon, a seaside city of 137,000, since Israel’s Operation Protective Edge began. Of these, 85 were intercepted and blown to pieces mid-air by Iron Dome; one of the few that landed in a populated area where residents were […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Palestinian death toll rises in Gaza fighting; Israel thwarts infiltration attempts

GAZA CITY — The Palestinian death toll rose to more than 500 on Monday as Israel announced that it had prevented two more attempts by Hamas militants to infiltrate the nation via tunnels from the Gaza Strip. As international concern mounted over the growing casualties on both sides in the conflict, now in its 14th day, yet another diplomatic push was underway to bring about a cease-fire. U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon were both expected in Cairo later Monday in hopes of finding a diplomatic resolution that has so far proved elusive. Israeli airstrikes continued to bombard Gaza on Monday — more than 50 Hamas targets were attacked, including two weapons manufacturing sites, six underground rocket launchers and five tunnels, Israel’s military said. Over the past few hours, Israel reported intense rocket fire across its southern communities, reaching up to Tel […]

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Fracking Opponents Renew Call for South African Shale-Gas Halt

A South African environmental group renewed its call for a moratorium on shale-gas fracking, as the government moves closer to a decision on whether to allow the process opponents say imperils water quality. The Treasure Karoo Action Group, named after the semi-desert area of South Africa that has attracted petroleum exploration companies, started in Johannesburg today the latest phase of a campaign to block the drilling technique. An April 2011 moratorium placed on shale-gas exploration in South Africa ended in September 2012. The government on Oct. 16 published proposed regulations for hydraulic fracturing as it seeks to tap as much as 390 trillion cubic feet of resources in the Karoo. Opponents of fracking, which blasts water, chemicals and sand into rock to release natural gas, say it risks contaminating ground water. Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) is among explorers to have applied for permits to explore the Karoo. South […]

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Production Dries Up Amid Currency Woes and a Scramble for Parts

This car-crazed country’s auto industry, once the third largest in South America, is seizing up as manufacturers struggle to produce a few vehicles a day. Car makers, including global giants like Ford Motor Co. , Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. , have cut output by more than 80% in the first six months of the year compared with a year earlier because of a lack of dollars to pay parts suppliers, according to data compiled by the Automotive Chamber of Venezuela, which represents car makers. "This is the first time I have ever seen things this bad," said 61-year-old Antonio Lopez, a Ford worker who recently prepared a sedan for painting at the auto maker’s factory […]

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Pakistan working with China on gas needs

Pakistan’s government said Monday it was getting China’s help with the construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal and associated pipeline infrastructure. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources said it consented to the construction of an LNG terminal for the port city of Gwadar near the Iranian border. An associated pipeline would be built through a government-to-government arrangement. "We are running from pillar to post to get this mega LNG terminal-cum-pipeline included in the list of early harvest projects agreed with China," Pakistani Natural Resources Minister Shahid Khagan Abbasi told The News , a Pakistani newspaper. "It will take three to four years to get commissioned." The minister said the pipeline would cost an estimated $1 billion and more than $2 billion would be needed for the LNG terminal. The Pakistani government has said aging infrastructure in the country is leaving it short on energy supplies. Sanctions on […]

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Sinopec First-Half Production Increases 8% on Overseas Output

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (386) , Asia ’s biggest refiner, reported an 8 percent gain in first-half oil and gas production as overseas output doubled. Output rose to 237 million barrels in the six months ended June 30, the Beijing-based company known as Sinopec said in a statement yesterday after the close of trade. Production rose faster than the 3.8 percent increase a year earlier. Overseas crude oil production increased to 23.7 million barrels in the first-half, Sinopec said. Output rose after the refiner bought foreign assets from its state-owned parent last year, according to Laban Yu, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Jefferies Group LLC. “The increase came totally from the acquisition of the parent’s assets last year,” Yu said by phone. “Its organic growth was flat in the first-half, although the near 10 percent increase in natural gas could be considered positive, compared with the around 7 […]

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California Halts Injection of Fracking Waste

California officials have ordered an emergency shut-down of 11 oil and gas waste injection sites and a review more than 100 others in the state’s drought-wracked Central Valley out of fear that companies may have been pumping fracking fluids and other toxic waste into drinking water aquifers there. The state’s Division of Oil and Gas and Geothermal Resources on July 7 issued cease and desist orders to seven energy companies warning that they may be injecting their waste into aquifers that could be a source of drinking water, and stating that their waste disposal "poses danger to life, health, property, and natural resources." The orders were first reported by the Bakersfield Californian, and the state has confirmed with ProPublica that its investigation is expanding to look at additional wells. The action comes as California’s agriculture industry copes with a drought crisis that has emptied reservoirs and cost the state […]

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Corralling Carbon Before It Belches From Stack

So much soot belched from the old power plant here that Mike Zeleny would personally warn the neighbors. “If the wind was blowing in a certain direction,” Mr. Zeleny said, “we’d call Mrs. Robinson down the street and tell her not to put out her laundry.” That coal plant is long gone, replaced by a much larger and cleaner one along the vast Saskatchewan prairie. Sooty shirts and socks are a thing of the past. But as with even the most modern coal plants, its smokestacks still emit enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, the invisible heat-trapping gas that is the main contributor to global warming. So this fall, a gleaming new maze of pipes and tanks — topped with what looks like the Tin Man’s hat — will suck up 90 percent of the carbon dioxide from one of the boilers so it can be shipped […]

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Temporary Closing of Indian Point Power Plant Is Considered

Business groups and the operator of the Indian Point Energy Center have aligned against a proposal by New York state to close the nuclear power plant in spring and summer months to protect fish in the Hudson River, an idea drawing tentative support from some environmental advocates. Indian Point produces about 25% of the electricity consumed in New York City and the lower Hudson Valley. The state Department of Environmental Conservation, which is proposing the shutdown, hasn’t specified how the loss of power produced by Indian Point would be made up, though it said it would do what it could to prevent service disruptions. The DEC is advocating the shutdown as an alternative to proposed engineering changes to the facility that have largely been rejected by Entergy Corp. , the plant’s operator. Millions of fish and larvae are killed as Indian Point sucks in 2.5 billion gallons of Hudson […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple