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Interview: Chinese automaker BYD to sell electric cars in S. Korea in 2 years

JEJU, South Korea , March 7 (Xinhua) — Chinese new energy vehicle maker BYD is planning to sell its electric vehicles to the South Korea market before the end of 2015, according to a senior company executive. BYD, a rising Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, has brought its popular BYD e6 electric taxi and SUV to an international electric vehicle (EV) expo which opened here Friday in the renowned South Korean tourist attraction. Liu Xueliang, BYD’s general manager of the Asia-Pacific Region who leads the company’s team at the show, believes that South Korea is an ideal country for developing EVs due to its favorable policies and strong public environmental awareness, as well as their understanding of the automotive industry. BYD is the only Chinese EV producer at the expo, which also attracts world big name automakers including BMW and General Motors. Liu told Xinhua they paid great attention to […]

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Oil Production in Federal Gulf of Mexico Expected to Continue Increasing

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration. Note: Production data have not yet been reported for four of the eight fields (Cardamom Deep, Jack, St. Malo, and Tubular Bells). Because of the long timelines associated with Gulf of Mexico (GOM) projects, the recent downturn in oil prices is expected to have minimal direct impact on GOM crude oil production through 2016. EIA projects GOM production to reach 1.52 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2015 and 1.61 million bbl/d in 2016, or about 16% and 17% of total U.S. crude oil production in those two years, respectively. The forecasted production growth is driven both by new projects and the redevelopment and expansion of older producing fields. Five deepwater projects began in the last three months of 2014: Stone Energy-operated Cardamom Deep and Cardona projects, Chevron-operated Jack/St. Malo fields, Murphy Oil-operated Dalmatian, and Hess-operated Tubular Bells. Also occurring at the end of […]

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Sluggish Productivity Hampers Wage Gains

A Ford Truck assembly line in Dearborn, Mich., in November. ENLARGE Photo: Getty Images Based on the jobs data alone , the American economy is doing fabulously. Monthly payroll growth this year, averaging 267,000, already is ahead of last year’s impressive tally, which in turn handily beat the prior year. The unemployment rate, at 5.5%, is now in the range some economists consider “full employment.” But overall economic growth has been less impressive. That’s because productivity—the amount of goods and services each worker produces—is growing at a tepid rate. Since the economic expansion began in 2009, annual productivity growth has averaged just 1.3%, if the farm and government sectors are excluded. That is the weakest growth of any expansion since the 1970s. On Thursday, the day before the encouraging February jobs data were released, the Labor Department reported that productivity in last year’s fourth quarter didn’t grow at all […]

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US jobs surge sends dollar soaring

The Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve building stands at sunrise in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014. The Federal Open Market Committee meets today and tomorrow after six weeks of volatility in global financial markets. Since the FOMC met in mid-September, oil prices have tumbled 14 percent, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of stocks dropped as much as 7.4 percent from a record close. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg The dollar soared and bond yields spiked as hiring by US employers smashed Wall Street expectations and sparked heightened speculation that the Federal Reserve is nearing its first interest-rate rise in nearly a decade. Employers added 295,000 jobs in February in defiance of bad weather and the unemployment rate fell to 5.5 per cent, the lowest level since 2008. The US has now seen its longest streak of monthly jobs gains above the 200,000 mark in 20 years. […]

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Oil Rigs Get Slammed for the 13th Week

The number of U.S. oil rigs out drilling new wells fell for the 13th straight week as the U.S. sinks deeper in a glut of excess oil. Drillers idled 64 oil rigs (excluding gas rigs), dropping the number to 922, Baker Hughes reported on Friday. The rig count is down 43 percent since October, an unprecedented retreat. The median forecast from a Bloomberg survey of 20 #RigCountGuesses on Twitter was for a decline of 20 rigs. Every week since 1944, oilfield-services company Baker Hughes has released a survey of rigs out drilling for oil. But it wasn’t until oil prices dropped by more than half that "rig counts" became a popular metric for oil watchers. Rigs are used to explore for new deposits and to drill new wells, but fewer rigs don’t always mean less production. The U.S. is currently pumping oil faster than at any time since 1972. Bloomberg recently […]

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Baker Hughes: Monthly U.S. rig count drops 20 percent

U.S. rig count falling amid high inventories, low price environment. Photo by David Gaylor/Shutterstock Sign up for our daily Energy Newsletter WASHINGTON, March 6 (UPI) — The number of U.S. rigs actively exploring for or producing oil or gas was down 20 percent from January. Oil services company Baker Hughes published its monthly rig count report for February, and the average U.S. rig count for February was 1,348, down 335 from January and down 421 year-on-year. The average Canadian rig count was 363, down 5 from January and down 263 year-on-year. Oil prices are off about half their June value, as U.S. inventories accumulate, which has led to planned spending cuts in exploration and production. The U.S. Energy Information Administration in its petroleum status report for the week ending Feb. 20, the most recent data available, said U.S. crude oil inventories increased by 8.4 million barrels from the previous […]

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Bakken Rigs Decrease to 106

Whiting Petroleum to Cut Rigs in 2015 Whiting Bakken Acreage Map | Click to Enlarge The Bakken-Three Forks rig count decreased by three t0 106 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week. In recent Bakken news, Whiting Petroleum announced a record 2014 and revealed a 2015 spending plan that includes reducing Bakken rig count. Read more: Whiting to Reduce Bakken Rig Count The U.S. rig count fell another 72 to 1192 rigs running as of today. A total of 268 rigs were targeting natural gas (down 12 from the previous week) and 922 were targeting oil in the U.S. (64 less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 108 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 105 are in ND alone. Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs The number of oil […]

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Gas Pump Prices Rising Five Times Faster Than Crude Oil in U.S.

The highest price for gasoline in the lower 48 states among the markets surveyed was in Los Angeles, at $2.91 a gallon, Lundberg Survey Inc. said. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg (Bloomberg) — Gasoline is rising five times faster than crude oil as refinery shutdowns limit supplies. Retail gasoline increased 0.3 cent to $2.458 a gallon Thursday, the highest level since Dec. 17, according to Heathrow, Florida-based AAA. After climbing 20 percent since Jan. 31, prices will rise by another 20 cents this month because of refinery maintenance and unexpected outages, the nation’s largest motoring group estimates. Refineries are operating at the lowest rate in six weeks, government data show. Fuel production may slow further as more plants shut for seasonal maintenance. Gasoline is also climbing as the panic in oil markets subsides, with volatility the lowest in three months. The gain threatens to reduce the windfall to U.S. drivers from […]

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Derailed Oil Train From Bakken Region Burns Day After Accident

(Bloomberg) — A BNSF Railway Co. train that carried 103 cars of crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken region continued to burn a day after derailing just outside a rural Illinois town. Five of the cars caught fire and were still burning, BNSF said Friday in a statement. Fires and explosions related to Bakken crude spurred North Dakota regulators to require all operators to condition the crude to lower the vapor pressure beginning in April. “An initial pool fire occurred that we believe impacted five rail cars and that fire continues to burn,” BNSF, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said in the statement. “Local, state and BNSF Railway emergency personnel are on the scene working to contain the incident.” Of the 105-car train, including two sand cars as buffers, 21 jumped the tracks Thursday afternoon near Galena, Illinois, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) west of Chicago. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple