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Shell to Pay $83 Million Settlement for Nigeria Oil Spills

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) agreed to pay compensation to thousands of residents of the Bodo community in Nigeria’s crude-rich Niger River delta region for two “highly regrettable” oil spills in 2008. Shell will pay a total of 55 million pounds ($83.3 million) with “an individual payment to each claimant who accepts the settlement agreement in compensation for losses arising from the spills,” the Hague-based company said today in a statement. The settlement follows a three-year legal tussle between Shell and 15,600 Nigerians from Ogoniland, mostly fishermen, in a London court. “From the outset, we’ve accepted responsibility for the two deeply regrettable operational spills in Bodo,” Mutiu Sunmonu, managing director of Shell’s Nigerian unit, said in the statement. “We’ve always wanted to compensate the community fairly and we are pleased to have reached agreement.” The compensation is split 35 million pounds for individuals and 20 million pounds for the […]

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Old nexus between China GDP growth, power and coal demand broken: analyst

Singapore (Platts)–7Jan2015/635 am EST/1135 GMT The traditional relationship between China’s real GDP growth, expansion in electricity consumption, and coal demand is now broken, a phenomenon that began to emerge over 2012-2014, according to a new report by the US-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. Chinese power consumption over January-November 2014 ticked up by around 3.9% from the corresponding months of 2013, but thermal power production — fueled by natural gas and coal — declined 0.3% during the periods of comparison, based on government data, IEEFA analyst Tim Buckley wrote. Hydroelectricity, followed by "other" sources of power generation accounted for the rise in power production to 4,975 TWh in January-November, from 4,788 TWh a year ago. The annual growth in Chinese coal demand halved to 4-6% in 2012 and 2013 from around 10% over the decade to 2011. In 2014, coal demand actually declined by 2.1%, the report […]

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Oil group CEO: Amid price drop, US set to be global leader

WASHINGTON (AP) — The CEO of the oil and gas industry’s top lobbying arm says plunging oil prices may hurt American companies in the short run. But American Petroleum Institute CEO Jack Gerard says increased U.S. production and dropping oil prices also mean the U.S. is on its way to being a global leader in oil production. He says falling prices have empowered the United States and weakened OPEC and Russia. Gerard says the U.S. needs to maintain the right policies to secure a future that allows it to control its own interests. He says the nation should lift a ban on exporting crude oil in order to serve growing global demand. Gerard spoke at a "State of American Energy Event" in Washington.

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Republicans push Keystone bill, White House threatens veto

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican senators kicked off the new U.S. Congress with legislation to approve the hotly disputed Keystone XL oil pipeline, but the White House promptly threatened a veto. With Republicans assuming full control of Congress on Tuesday after their victories in the November election, they have put Keystone at the center of their legislative agenda and plan weeks of debate. They believe that the public spotlight on the issue will pressure President Barack Obama to eventually approve the project. If Obama vetoes the initial legislation, backers will attach it to a wider measure he could find harder to reject, such as a must-pass spending bill or steps to improve energy efficiency. The White House was adamant that Obama would not sign the Keystone legislation. "There is already a well-established process in place to consider whether or not infrastructure projects like this are in the best interest of […]

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White House says it will veto bill to approve oil pipeline

AP Photo/Susan Walsh Politics Video Buy AP Photo Reprints WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Tuesday threatened to veto the first piece of legislation introduced in the Republican-controlled Senate, a bill approving the much-delayed Keystone XL oil pipeline, in what was expected to be the first of many confrontations over energy and environmental policy. Hours after supporters of the bipartisan bill, which is sponsored by all 54 Senate Republicans and six Democrats, announced its introduction, the White House said for the first time that President Barack Obama would veto it. "If this bill passes this Congress, the president wouldn’t sign" it, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday, saying legislation shouldn’t undermine the review process underway at the State Department or circumvent a pending lawsuit in Nebraska over its route. It’s "premature to evaluate the project before something as basic as the route of the pipeline has been […]

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API disappointed with Keystone XL veto threat

President Barack Obama is likely to veto legislation approving the Keystone XL pipeline. UPI/Kevin Dietsch WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) — A sign from the White House that bills meant to approve Keystone XL would be met with a veto is disappointing, the American Petroleum Institute said Tuesday. White House spokesman Josh Earnest affirmed signals from the president’s desk that Keystone XL might not get moved through normal vetting procedures despite a bill introduced Tuesday by the newly-minted GOP leadership on Capitol Hill. With Republican leaders taking their seat Tuesday for the first session of the 114th Congress, API President and Chief Executive Officer Jack Gerard rolled out the industry’s State of American Energy platform from Washington D.C. The agenda describes Keystone XL as "vital infrastructure" for the North American energy sector. Gerard said the project would support thousands of jobs, while bringing 830,000 barrels of oil per day across […]

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Chevron finds oil in Gulf of Mexico

Chevron announces significant oil discovery in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. UPI/A.J. Sisco.. SAN RAMON, Calif., Jan. 6 (UPI) — U.S. energy company Chevron said its latest major oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico anchors its position as a global leader in deep water activity. The company said it made what it described as a "significant" oil discovery at the Anchor prospect in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, its second such discovery in less than a year. "We had one of our best years with the drill bit in 2014, reporting more than 30 discoveries worldwide and adding an estimated 1 billion barrels of new resources to our holdings," Jay Johnson, a vice president in charge of exploration and production operations, said in a statement. The company in early December announced crude oil production started at the Jack/St. Malo project in the […]

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U.S. Steel Lays Off 756 Blaming Low Oil Prices

ENLARGE Workers for U.S. Steel in Lorain, Ohio, say they will find out who is being laid off at a meeting Wednesday. Associated Press PITTSBURGH— U.S. Steel Corp. said it will idle plants in Ohio and Texas and lay off 756 workers, becoming one of the first big U.S. industrial casualties of the recent collapse in global oil prices. The plants make steel pipe and tube for oil and gas exploration and drilling. With oil prices more than 5½-year lows and hovering around $50 a barrel, energy companies have far less incentive to drill for new supply, reducing demand for the plant’s products. The Lorain, Ohio operation, which will shed 614 workers, produces more than 700,000 tons a year. Houston, where 142 will be laid off, generates over 100,000 tons annually. “The company has suddenly lost a great deal of business because of the recent downturn in the oil […]

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Crescent Point Scales Back 2015 Spending Plans on Oil Woes

Canadian oil producer Crescent Point Energy Corp. on Tuesday cut its capital-spending budget for 2015 by 28% from 2014 levels due to slumping oil prices, and said it is pursuing options to cut costs. Calgary, Alberta-based Crescent Point, like many of its peers in the oil patch, is scaling back spending plans to combat the more-than-50% drop in oil prices since last June. U.S. prices briefly fell below $50 a barrel Monday for the first time since April 2009, and continued to slide Tuesday , recently trading below $49 a barrel. Surging oil production in North America and a decline in global demand have led energy producers to rethink investment plans. In mid-December, Crescent Point’s Canadian peers, Husky Energy Inc. and Penn West Petroleum Ltd. , reduced capital-spending plans for 2015 due to the dramatic plunge in oil prices. Crescent Point, which called its budget plans “conservative and disciplined,” […]

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New Congress Grapples With Energy Issues

ENLARGE The John Amos coal-fired power plant is seen behind a home in Poca, West Virginia in May. With coal production slowing due to stricter environmental controls, the availability of natural gas and a shift to surface mining, the state’s coal country has been hit hard with job losses and business closures. Reuters Legislation approving the Keystone XL pipeline , which lawmakers will take up as soon as this week , will open the first broad debate on energy policy in Congress in eight years and give the new Republican majority a chance to push for significant changes to President Barack Obama ’s agenda. GOP lawmakers, who now control the Senate and have a firmer hold on the House, are planning measures that would aim to spur greater development of fossil fuels and curtail a series of Mr. Obama’s environmental regulations, including ones cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Republicans are […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple