Category:

Zuma Seeks Nuclear Power to Solve South Africa’s Energy Crisis

(Bloomberg) — South African President Jacob Zuma said his priority is to solve the energy crisis in the country that’s curbing output at mines and factories and stifling economic growth, including adding more nuclear power by 2023. “We will pursue gas, petroleum, nuclear, hydropower and other sources as part of the energy mix,” Zuma, 72, said in his annual state-of-the-nation speech in Parliament in Cape Town on Thursday. “The country is currently experiencing serious energy constraints which are an impediment to economic growth and is a major inconvenience to everyone in the country.” Zuma’s speech follows nine consecutive days of rolling blackouts implemented as demand for power outstripped supply. State utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., which provides 95 percent of the nation’s electricity, has warned of almost-daily blackouts until the end of April. The power crisis has soured investor appetite for South Africa’s currency and debt. The rand reached […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Nigeria: NNPC Rejects “Missing U.S.$20 Billion” Indictment

Despite a recommendation by a government-appointed auditor that it should refund $1.48 billion (about N248.6 billion Naira) to the federation account, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, insisted Wednesday that it was not indicted by the investigations carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The Group Managing Director, GMD, of the NNPC, Joseph Dawha, said the investigations carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers over the alleged missing $20 billion oil money, did not indict the corporation in anyway. Mr. Dawha said the report "has clearly vindicated our long held position that the alleged unremitted crude oil revenue was a farce from day one". He said the $1.48billion the corporation was directed to refund was actually the balance of the book value of the divested assets transferred to NNPC upstream subsidiary, the NPDC, excluding taxes and royalties. "This does not constitute indictment; rather this value is still being reconciled with the Department of Petroleum Resources […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

How an Aruba Taxi Driver Saves $17,000 Bootlegging Venezuela Gas

A Texaco fueling station stands near San Nicolas, southeast of Oranjestad, Aruba, on Jan. 3. Gasoline costs about $4.24 a gallon at Texaco and Valero service stations in Aruba. Photographer: Pietro D. Pitts/Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — How does an Aruban taxi driver who shuttles mostly U.S. visitors around the Dutch Caribbean save $17,000 a year? By sailing to Venezuela to buy the world’s cheapest fuel. The driver, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because what he’s doing is illegal, said he makes the 18-mile trip to Venezuela’s Paraguana Peninsula at least once a week, loading as much as 104 gallons of Venezuelan gasoline into numerous small containers at a cost of $120. The $3.09 a gallon he saves after expenses on each trip adds up to almost $17,000 a year. In Venezuela, 95-octane fuel costs 0.097 bolivar a liter, or about a fifth of a U.S. penny a gallon […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Violent clashes in Venezuela on protest movement anniversary

SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela (AP) — Protesters clashed with police in this anti-government stronghold Thursday amid a storm of tear gas, rocks and buckshot as Venezuelans staged dueling marches on the anniversary of last year’s bloody protest movement. While demonstrations were mostly calm elsewhere in the country, the anti-government march turned violent in this restive city near the border with Colombia, which was an epicenter of the 2014 movement. A sea of protesters marched in San Cristobal’s streets. Some youths threw projectiles at police officers clad in riot gear, who fired tear gas canisters while onlookers ran in the opposite direction with young children in their arms. At least five people were injured in the fighting, San Cristobal Mayor Patricia Gutierrez said. In Caracas, both friends and foes of Venezuela’s socialist government braved pouring rain to stage competing marches. A small group of students in Caracas rallied against the government […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Japan Has More Car Chargers Than Gas Stations

An electric charging cable is seen connected to the updated Nissan Leaf electric vehicle (EV) during a news conference in Tokyo. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — There are more electric-car charging points in Japan than there are gas stations. That surprising discovery comes from Nissan Motor Co., which reported that the number of power points in Japan, including fast-chargers and those in homes, has surged to 40,000, surpassing the nation’s 34,000 gas stations. The figure shows that in the relatively brief time since electric vehicles were introduced, the infrastructure to support them has become bigger than what the oil industry built over decades in the world’s third-biggest economy — at least by this one measure. Why that matters is obvious. Nissan’s battery-powered Leaf can travel 84 miles (135 kilometers) on a charge, and the anxiety of being stuck away from home without power has restrained consumer demand. As the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Revised Oil-Train Safety Rule Said to Push Back Upgrade Deadline

(Bloomberg) — The Obama administration revised its proposal to prevent oil trains from catching fire in derailments, giving companies more time to upgrade their fleets but sticking with a requirement that new tank cars have thicker walls and better brakes. The changes, described by three people familiar with the proposal who asked not to be identified because the plan has not been made public, are in proposed regulations the U.S. Transportation Department sent to the White House last week for review prior to being released. The administration is revising safety standards after a series of oil-train accidents, including a 2013 disaster in Canada that killed 47 people when a runaway train derailed and blew up. Earlier this month a train carrying ethanol derailed and caught fire outside of Dubuque, Iowa. No one was hurt. Companies that own tank cars opposed the aggressive schedule for modifying cars in the DOT’s […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

This Producer Shows How the U.S. Can Put Brakes on Shale

(Bloomberg) — Apache Corp.’s decision to sharply curb the growth of its oil output this year suggests that the major U.S. shale producers who helped create a global oil glut will be able to reduce supplies faster than expected. One of the biggest operators in Texas’ prolific Permian basin, Apache will cut the number of rigs it uses to drill for oil by 70 percent by the end of the month, the company said in a statement today. That’s going to slow output enough to keep overall production flat for the year, compared with the Houston-based company’s November forecast for growth of as much as 12 percent. Unlike huge, billion-dollar oil developments taking place elsewhere, U.S. shale producers surprised the world with their speed in ramping up production. That nimbleness means they’ll also be able to slow down quickly, said Tyler Priest, a historian at the University of Iowa […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Exxon moves ahead with Alaska LNG project

Exxon submits draft reports on Alaska gas facility after Gov. Bill Walker drops lawsuit related to Point Thomson field development. Photo courtesy Gov. Bill Walker’s office Exxon Mobil said it submitted a draft environmental report to federal regulators for a $500 million liquefied natural gas project in Alaska. A preliminary engineering and design phase for the Alaska LNG project is under way. Steve Butt, Exxon’s project executive, said submitting a draft report to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission sets the permitting process in motion. "These draft documents, known as resource reports, allow Alaska stakeholders to engage early in the regulatory process, so potential environmental and socioeconomic issues and opportunities can be proactively identified and managed," he said in a Wednesday statement. The Alaska LNG project has foundations in production from Prudhoe Bay and Point Thomson fields in the state, which combine for an average 3.5 billion cubic feet of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Shale industry irked by Pennsylvania tax proposal

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is making few friends in the shale natural gas industry with early-term policies. Photo courtesy Commonwealth of Pennsylvania HARRISBURG, Pa., Feb. 12 (UPI) — The state’s governor said gas taxes will help schools, but an energy coalition working in Pennsylvania said it will discourage capital spending plans in shale. Arguing schools have suffered from $1 billion in funding cuts, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf proposed a severance tax on gas extraction in the state to help right the state’s economic ship. The state hosts the Marcellus shale natural gas formation, which accounts for almost 40 percent of all shale gas produced in the United States. The governor’s proposal, dubbed the Pennsylvania Education Reinvestment Act, calls for a 5 percent tax plus 4.7 cents per thousand feet of gas extracted. The governor said the proposal is modeled after severance tax plans in other states in the region, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

BNSF makes capital commitments to North Dakota

BNSF makes $325 million commitment to improve rail network in oil-rich North Dakota. Photo: Daniel J. Graeber/UPI BISMARCK, N.D., Feb. 12 (UPI) — A $325 million commitment from BNSF Railway Co. will help meet the growing needs in the oil-rich state of North Dakota, one of the state’s senators said. BNSF early this week said it was investing in continued construction and upgrades to its rail network in North Dakota, including a centralized traffic control center meant to improve traffic efficiency through the state. "We have been working to maintain and improve our infrastructure, especially our railways, to meet the needs of our growing state," Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said in a Wednesday statement . "BNSF’s $326 million investment will help to relieve backlogs now, but also plan for the continued growth of our economy." North Dakota’s economy is growing at a faster rate than any state in the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple