Category:

Duke To Build Natural Gas Power Plant, Retire Coal Plant

Duke said the new 650-megawatt plant will allow it to capitalize on low natural gas prices and cut its carbon dioxide emissions by about 60%. The plant would also be about 35% cheaper to operate than the 376-megawatt coal plant, based on current natural gas prices. Duke said the key parts of the plan, which also includes building a $320 million transmission substation in South Carolina, should be completed by the end of 2019. Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke operates utilities that serve more than seven million customers in the Carolinas, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Duke in February agreed to settle charges that it violated the federal Clean Water Act by spilling coal ash into the Dan River in North Carolina last year, and said it would pay $102.2 million in penalties and restitution. The deal with federal investigators includes a five-year probationary period with a court-appointed monitor to ensure […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Shell CEO Defends Arctic Drilling, Environment Record

ENLARGE Shell CEO Ben van Beurden is the latest oil-industry executive to face investors’ questions over environmental policies. Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images In the company’s first annual shareholder meeting since it announced its planned tie-up with British energy company BG Group , BRGYY -1.58 % the climate issue took center stage, overshadowing the $70 billion deal announced in April. It took place after Shell’s Arctic-bound vessels were met with kayak-borne protests in Seattle last week. F ossil-fuel companies are coming under scrutiny ahead of climate-change talks in Paris later this year. CEO Ben van Beurden said the company was the first in the industry to acknowledge a link between CO2 emissions and climate change. “We have thought through a fairly pragmatic strategy to position your company with the long-term energy transition that is currently under way,” Mr. van Beurden said. On the Arctic, Mr. van Beurden said Shell was […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Shell vows to explore Arctic despite Seattle protests

LONDON Royal Dutch Shell will press on with a campaign to explore the Arctic for oil this summer despite protests in the port city of Seattle, chief executive officer Ben van Beurden said on Tuesday. Hundreds of environmental activists have fanned out across the Seattle Bay in recent days to disrupt the Anglo-Dutch company’s rigs from entering the port en route to the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, saying drilling in the remote Arctic waters could lead to an ecological catastrophe. Van Beurden however dismissed claims that Shell’s was using Seattle’s port illegally. "The contract that we have with Fos, the maritime contractor that we have there, the lease that they have in terminal 5 we think they are legally valid and indeed have tested it and are ready to move ahead with putting the Polar Pioneer (rig) there, loading it out so it is ready for its journey to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Georgia denies key permit for Kinder’s Palmetto pipeline

HOUSTON The state of Georgia’s top transportation official has denied Kinder Morgan Inc’s request for a key permit to build a $1.12 billion gasoline and distillate pipeline through the southeast part of the state. In a letter dated Monday, Georgia’s Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurray said he had determined that Kinder’s proposed 360-mile (579 km) Palmetto Pipeline is not critical enough to allow the company to condemn property and obtain easements along its route to allow its construction. "There is substantial evidence that the construction of the proposed pipeline will not constitute a public convenience and necessity," McMurray said in the letter addressed to an attorney representing Kinder in the matter, a copy of which was received by Reuters. Kinder Morgan was "evaluating all options to move forward with the project," Ron McClain, the company’s head of products pipelines, said in a statement on Tuesday. The company did […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

BNSF Railway Abandons Plans to Buy Tanker Cars

Crude by Rail Citing ‘customer complaints’, the BNSF railway has abandoned plans to buy 5,000 crude oil tankers. Typically, leasing companies or oil companies own the tank cars that move crude along the tracks and not the railroads themselves. But last year, BNSF requested proposals from railcar manufacturers to produce cars for them that were stronger and safer cars than the current DOT standards. The company had hoped that producing cars with thicker shells, reinforced ends and thermal blankets would reduce the risks of using trains to haul oil. Over the past two years, BNSF Railway has been involved in a number of incidents including a derailment and fiery crash that caused the evacuation of a small town in North Dakota just last week. The company confirmed that the eight cars that derailed were the unjacketed CPC-1232 models that the federal government would like phased out by 2020 due […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Build for Rhode Island wind farm one step closer

Rhode island wind farm, billed as first offshore wind farm in the United States, is moving closer to construction phase. Photo by Teun van den Dries/Shutterstock NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I., May 19 (UPI) — A Rhode Island company will be the first of its kind to build a vessel to support the development of the inaugural U.S. offshore wind farm, planners said. Rhode Island Fast Ferry was contracted by developer Deepwater Wind to build a vessel and design the training for crew transfer. The ferry company will invest more than $4 million and employ more than 70 workers to build the vessel. "This will mean more jobs in the marine trades for Rhode Islanders and another way that the Ocean State will lead the growth of this new American offshore wind industry," Deepwater Wind Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Grybowski said in a statement. The ferry company will provide crew and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Gas cheap, relatively speaking, AAA finds

Spike in U.S. gasoline prices won’t keep people off the roads this holiday weekend, AAA finds. Photo by James Steidl/Shutterstock WASHINGTON, May 19 (UPI) — While gas prices continue to rise ahead of the Memorial Day holiday, U.S. travelers are paying nearly a $1 less per gallon of gas year-on-year, AAA said. The motor club reports a national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded at $2.70 for Tuesday, up about five cents, or nearly 2 percent, from last week. More than half of all U.S. states reported an average price below the $2 per gallon mark in late 2014, though prices have been on a steady rise for most of the year. AAA finds the national average price for gasoline has increased for 33 of the past 35 days and is at a new high for the year. The motor club finds the increase in gasoline prices, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Russia: Gazprom Cuts Natural Gas Production Forecast For 2015

Russia’s state-controlled natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, will cut its production plan for 2015 to 450 billion cubic meters because of decreasing demand due to warm weather, company officials said, Reuters reported May 19. The company had estimated it would produce 485.4 bcm this year. Officials say the amount of natural gas produced this year will still be more than the 444.4 bcm produced last year. Meanwhile, Gazprom says it hope to begin laying a pipeline for the Turkish Stream project in early June.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Europe dampens Greek hopes of swift deal as clock ticks

ATHENS/BRUSSELS Greece’s European lenders on Tuesday played down Athens’s hopes of a swift end to negotiations on an aid agreement and said talks must speed up before the country runs out of cash. The sober outlook from Brussels and Berlin contrasted sharply with vigorous optimism displayed in Athens, where top officials from the new leftist government made a series of public appearances to promise that a deal was just days away. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told a talk show overnight that a deal could arrive in a week, while Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said talks were in their "final stretch". The comments helped push Greek stocks up 2.6 percent on Tuesday. But euro zone policymakers said talks were not moving nearly as fast as needed to clinch a deal in a short time. "More time and effort is needed to bridge the gaps on the remaining open issues. We […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Russia sidesteps sanctions with China financing: Rosneft

LONDON Russia is developing non-dollar financing and ties with China in the face of U.S. and EU sanctions, the head of Rosneft’s Swiss-based trading division, Marcus Cooper, said on Tuesday. "Sanctions are being counteracted … from a very high level," Cooper told the Platts’ Global Crude Oil Summit. Rosneft and its chief Igor Sechin, one of the closest allies of President Vladimir Putin, were hit by sanctions that prevent long-term financing, development of tight oil, Arctic and offshore deposits as part of broader measures against Russia for its actions in Ukraine. Cooper, who previously worked for BP, joined Rosneft in 2013 to help the company build its global trading platform but Rosneft’s plan to acquire Morgan Stanley’s trading division fell apart because of sanctions. The company has however maintained its output and exports at pre-sanctions levels while expanding its tally of customers. Cooper said Rosneft is working to develop […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple