Category:

Japan Takes Another Step Toward Restarting Nuclear Power Plants

Japan ’s atomic regulator today approved a safety report for two reactors owned by Kyushu Electric Power Co., another step toward restarting plants shut after the Fukushima nuclear disaster more than three years ago. The report was approved by the regulator’s commissioners at a meeting in Tokyo today. The reactors must still clear two more steps in the stricter safety approval process set up by the Nuclear Regulation Authority after the meltdown of three reactors at the Fukushima plant north of Tokyo in 2011. The two units are unlikely to restart before the first quarter of 2015, Hidetoshi Shioda, a Tokyo-based analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., said last month in a report. With all Japan’s 48 operational nuclear plants shut for safety reviews, the country will have functioned without nuclear power for one year on Sept. 15. Kyushu Electric is among 10 utilities that have applied for safety […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Looking Beyond China, Some Companies Shift Personnel

SINGAPORE — General Motors moved the headquarters of its international division here from Shanghai last month. Archer Daniels Midland, the agribusiness giant, is gradually doing the same with its Asia and Pacific operations. Other multinationals, like IBM, have shifted staff members here from China for a few functions, like treasury operations. “I’m going to spend a lot of time going back and forth — the five-hour flight is going to be my monthly bus trip,” said Ismael Roig, the president of Archer Daniels Midland’s Asia and Pacific operations. The moves reflect the broader evolution of China, now the world’s largest market for cars, flat-panel televisions and scores of other products. The Chinese economy has become so large and affluent that companies increasingly treat it like Europe, with reports going directly to head offices in home countries and no longer lumped in with those from developing countries. “We are big […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Oil Sands Companies to Adopt Voluntary Environmental Commitments in Canada

FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta—A group of Canadian oil sands producers, including some of the world’s biggest energy companies, is prepared to commit to specific environmental impact reduction targets later this month. The plan marks the first commitment by the industry consortium, which was set up two and a half years ago in response to criticism about the rapid pace of development of oil sands projects in northern Alberta’s boreal forests. "We are in a position to launch our first two performance goals within two weeks," Dan Wicklum, Chief Executive of Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, said Tuesday. That environmental-technology partnership, known as Cosia, brings together the R&D departments of 14 energy producers, including the Canadian units of ConocoPhillips , Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC. Mr. Wicklum declined to detail the voluntary commitments, but said they apply to water use at oil-sands strip mines and in subterranean oil […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Fossil Fuels Stir Debate at Endowments

A nationwide showdown between activists and universities over investments in coal, oil and gas intensified Tuesday after a University of California task force abruptly pulled back a draft recommendation not to sell its fossil-fuel holdings. The group—charged with advising the university’s investment committee—had planned to suggest that the state system join Harvard University, Yale University and Brown University in holding fast against activist calls to dump their fossil-fuel investments, said people familiar with the discussions. But in an hourlong meeting Tuesday, several task-force members successfully argued for preserving the option of divestment. The task force subsequently removed from its recommendation to an investment committee language stating that selling those investments "would not meaningfully impact climate change," these people added. A system spokeswoman said the university isn’t currently considering a complete fossil-fuel divestment but may decide to sell some assets as it sets new investment guidelines. The deliberations at the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Former Obama Aide Summers Calls for End of Oil Export Ban

If the U.S. ban on oil exports is lifted, the only losers would be refiners that are now benefiting from crude prices cheaper than the global benchmark, said Larry Summers, President Barack Obama ’s former economic adviser. In an unconditional endorsement yesterday of ending the decades-long export ban, Summers said few public policy changes would hold such obvious benefits. Allowing more exports would lower gasoline prices, according to an analysis by the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based research group that analyzes national public policy. Summers, a former U.S. Treasury secretary and now president emeritus of Harvard University, agreed drivers would pay less at the pump, and he said billions of dollars of additional investment would be added to the economy if the export ban ended. “I don’t really understand who the losers are who are very important,” Summers said at a Brookings event in Washington. His remarks and the report […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

45-Year High U.S. Oil Output May Cut Pump Price, Imports

U.S. crude production will surge to a 45-year high next year, lowering prices and reducing the need for imports, government forecasters said yesterday. The U.S. Energy Information Administration raised its estimate of 2015 output by 250,000 barrels a day to 9.53 million, the most since 1970, Adam Sieminski , the administrator of the EIA, said in a statement yesterday. The agency forecast output of 8.53 million barrels a day this year, up from 7.45 million in 2013. “U.S. production levels are astounding,” Bill O’Grady, chief market strategist at Confluence Investment Management in St. Louis , which oversees $2.6 billion, said by phone yesterday. ‘We will see further revisions, because these technologies get better over time.’’ The EIA also reduced its price forecasts. West Texas Intermediate will average $94.67 a barrel in 2015 versus the August projection of $96.08, the EIA said in its monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook . The […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Cheapest U.S. Gasoline Since 2010 Set to Get Cheaper

Drivers across the U.S. enjoying the lowest pump prices for this time of year since 2010 will probably see further declines as refineries benefiting from the shale boom produce record amounts of fuel. The average is $3.433 a gallon, down 6 percent since Memorial Day on May 26, AAA data show. That’s the largest decline from the start of the summer driving season since 2008. U.S. refineries operated at the highest-ever seasonal rates every week since July 4. Processors are using domestic crude that costs less than foreign imports as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in shale formations increased output to the most since 1986. Gasoline will drop another 10 to 20 cents a gallon by the end of October as retailers switch to cheaper winter-blend fuel, said Michael Green , a Washington-based spokesman for AAA, the largest U.S. motoring group. “Refineries this summer were running at record-high levels […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Why Gasoline Prices Vary So Much From State-To-State

Why Gasoline Prices Vary So Much From State-To-State Expand If you’ve ever driven cross-country you know how much the price of gasoline can vary, ranging from nearly $4.00 in San Francisco to just a hair over $3.00 in Roanoke, Virginia. What’s the deal? Give credit to higher taxes, distance from supply, and type of fuel. Taxes Why Gasoline Prices Vary So Much From State-To-State Expand The map above comes from The American Petroleum Institute via ExxonMobil so take it with a coastline-cover-in-oil-sized grain of salt, but it’s accurate to say that the difference in taxes does play a role as everyone plays the federal rate of 18.4 cents-per-gallon (well, not Tesla drivers), but consumers in California have, for instance, pay 47 cents more per gallon than drivers in Alaska. But as this map from Gas Buddy (at the top of this post) shows the difference is greater than just […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

US Boosts 2015 Oil Forecast As Shale Powers Push To 10 MMbpd

NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) – The U.S. government on Tuesday jacked up its forecast for oil production next year by 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) as the boom in shale oil drilling continues to confound expectations of slower growth. The U.S. Energy Information Administration now expects domestic output to rise to 9.53 million bpd, growing by around 1 million bpd for a third consecutive year, according to its latest monthly short-term energy outlook. A month ago the EIA had predicted output growth would slow in 2015 to 800,000 bpd. The U.S. shale boom has allowed producers to unlock thousands of barrels of reserves, putting the United States on course to become the largest producer of oil globally, which would dramatically reduce its dependence on imports. "Rising monthly crude oil production, which will approach 10 million barrels a day in late 2015, will help cut U.S. fuel imports next […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Utica Shale Q2 gas production up fivefold from year ago: state data

Natural gas production from Ohio’s Utica Shale rose fivefold in the past year, according to data form the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Based on reports from gas drillers, the Utica was producing close to 1 Bcf/d at the end of the second quarter, up from 165,550 Mcf/d at the same point in 2013. Gas output from the play in Q2 also was up 32% from Q1. The number of Utica wells drilled at the end of the second quarter doubled year on year to 562, 90% of which were hooked up to sales, with 58 wells awaiting pipelines or processing capacity, DNR reported. Chesapeake Energy, which pioneered the play, was the top gas producers with 109,500 Mcf/d, or 11% of the statewide total. Chesapeake also reported oil production of 3,760 b/d from its Utica wells in the second quarter. Because Ohio doesn’t require reporting of natural gas liquids […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple