Free Republic

Saudi Arabia dealt a big blow to the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday when it said it was going to start using a new benchmark for oil prices launched last May by the U.K. based oil-trading company, Argus Media. Instead of using WTI as a reference point for its deals with U.S. customers, which it has done since 1994, the Saudis are switching to a basket of crudes called the Argus Sour Crude Index. The new basket will include sour crudes produced in the Gulf Coast and is expected to be a better reflection of global crude markets. The reason...

When the Fermi team did the calculations, using the most conservative estimates for how astrophysics plays into this, they determined that the mass scale must be at least 1.2 times the Planck mass, and by using reasonable but less conservative assumptions, they derived lower limits on the mass scale of up to 100 times the Planck mass. One way to interpret this is to say that there is no variation of the speed of light coming from any quantum gravity effects at less than 1.2 times the Planck mass. And given that some quantum gravity frameworks predict that effects should...

Shell Sees No 'Quick Recovery' As Energy Company Cuts 5,000 JobsRoyal Dutch Shell is “not expecting a quick recovery” after shedding 5,000 jobs in a global restructuring and seeing profits drop 73pc on lower oil and gas prices. By Rowena Mason Published: 7:59AM GMT 29 Oct 2009 Europe’s biggest energy company made $2.99bn in profits on a cost of supplies basis – a measure that strips out the effect of changing inventories – slightly beating analyst expectations. Revenue fell 43pc to $76bn. Peter Voser, the chief executive who took over in July, said 5pc of the oil giant’s staff would...

Exxon Mobil, the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company, said Thursday that its profit fell 68 percent in the third quarter as oil and natural gas prices slumped from last year’s highs. The company earned $4.73 billion, or 98 cents a share in the quarter, less than analysts had expected. That compares with earnings of $14.83 billion in the period a year ago, the company’s best quarter ever. Exxon became the world’s most profitable corporation in 2008, earning $45 billion with oil averaging $100 a barrel. But the drop in prices has hurt Exxon and most other oil companies, as...

MOSCOW -- Russia should build a new nuclear-powered spaceship for prospective manned missions to Mars and other planets, the nation's space chief said in remarks released Thursday.Anatoly Perminov first proposed building the ship at a government meeting Wednesday but initially didn't explain its purpose.He said in remarks posted Thursday on his agency's Web site that the nuclear spaceship should be used for human flights to Mars and other planets. He said the project is challenging technologically, but could capitalize on the Soviet and Russian experience in the field.Perminov said the preliminary design could be ready by 2012. He said it...

FRYAZINO (Moscow Region), October 28 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos has developed a design for a piloted spacecraft powered by a nuclear engine, the head of the agency said on Wednesday. "The project is aimed at implementing large-scale space exploration programs," Anatoly Perminov said at a meeting of the commission on the modernization of the Russian economy. He added that the development of Megawatt-class nuclear space power systems (MCNSPS) for manned spacecraft was crucial for Russia if the country wanted to maintain a competitive edge in the space race, including the exploration of the Moon and...

Released on October 28, 2009 (Next Release on November 4, 2009) Changing Distillate Export Patterns Distillate (including diesel) is the second largest petroleum product consumed in the United States, used for everything from fuel for trucks and trains to residential heating and even a small amount of power generation. Although still overshadowed by gasoline consumption within the United States, global trends have been rapidly increasing the demand for distillate. This is causing major changes in the United States’ role in the world distillate market. For many years, the United States was a net importer of relatively small volumes of distillate,...

Domestic oil refiners kept up their attack of climate legislation, saying a Senate bill under consideration could increase gas prices. Domestic oil refiners kept up their attack Wednesday of climate legislation, saying a Senate bill under consideration could increase gas prices. The group, among the fiercest critics of the measure, said the proposal could add 77 cents a gallon, or around 30 percent above today’s prices. Democrats on a key Senate panel shot back, saying the industry’s estimate is based on an inflated projection of the price of permits companies will have to hold to cover their carbon emissions. A...

Their partnership will see, from today, the first fully-fledged smart meter in people's homes and marks a significant step towards Google's goal of collecting as much information about the world as possible. The software allows customers to see exactly how much energy they are using and whether it is above or below average. People can click on a graph to examine their usage on an hourly, daily, weekly or monthly basis. From next month they will be able to monitor how many pounds and pence they are spending on an hourly basis. They will be able to find out this...

Greenpeace is running rampant across Alberta’s oil sands. In the past few weeks, 37 activists have been arrested in a spate of incidents targeting North America’s most important energy resource. The most recent occurred on Oct. 5 when 19 activists stormed an upgrader in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. They tied themselves to equipment which is used to transform heavy oil into gasoline. The protesters unfurled banners reading “Climate Crime” and “Climate SOS” to draw attention to an industry they say is killing the planet. In September, two-dozen Greenpeace commandoes kayaked down the Athabasca River to intercept a Suncor bridge where conveyor...

Japan's Tokai Challenger solar vehicle has taken victory against a strong international field in the 2009 Global Green Challenge. After covering almost 1860 miles (3000km) in four days across Australia's baking red center, the entry from Japan's Tokai University crossed the finish line at 3.39pm local time. The team's run was nearly flawless, reporting only a single flat tire with just over 100 miles of the course to race and the win breaks a string of four consecutive victories by the Dutch Nuon team, which is currently battling it out for second place against University of Michigan Solar Car Team....

U.S. consumers turned decidedly more pessimistic in October, according to a report released Tuesday, with households increasingly worried about job prospects. The Conference Board, a private research group, said its monthly Consumer Confidence Index fell to 47.7 this month, from a revised 53.4 in September, which was originally reported as 53.1. The current month's reading was well below economists' projections of 53.2, according to a survey conducted by Dow Jones Newswires. The downturn in consumer confidence at this stage of the recovery is to be expected, as it has occurred in previous recoveries (please see chart below), and does not...

The Alberta firm that put “fire in the ground” oil production on the map with successful tests in a Athabasca bitumen deposit opened operations in Saskatchewan on Tuesday. And what it hopes to learn at this second test site for toe-to-heel air injection (THAI) — this time in a conventional heavy oil deposit which runs south from Lloydminster into the Kerrobert, Sask. area, east of Hardisty — could help Petrobank tap into a global market. “Most of the world’s heavy oil is similar to what is found in the Alberta/Saskatchewan belt, so what we learn from Kerrobert will have implications...

"With 3 percent of the world's oil reserves, the U.S. cannot drill its way to energy security," then-presidential nominee Barack Obama wrote on his campaign website in 2008. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) stated, "All told, the U.S. has only 1.6 percent of world's known oil supply." And in the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) added, "The math is simple: America has just 3 percent of the world's oil reserves, but Americans use a quarter of its oil." The President, Ms Pelosi and their Democratic party followers are lying, Republican Senator Inhofe, ranking member of the Senate Committee on...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Max Baucus said Tuesday he has "serious reservations" about climate legislation newly unveiled by his Democratic colleagues, signaling that lawmakers may have to pull back from some ambitious goals in order to line up needed votes. "I have some concerns about the overall direction of the bill," Mr. Baucus (D., Mont.) said at the start of hearings in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. "I have serious reservations with the depth of the mid-term reduction target in the bill and the lack of preemption of the Clean Air Act." Mr. Baucus -- who's also chairman of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Senate committee on Tuesday launches three long days of hearings on a Democratic climate bill in a bid to further convince an international summit in December that Washington is serious about tackling global warming. The Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee will kick off Tuesday's hearing at 9:30 a.m. EDT with a panel of heavy-hitters from President Barack Obama's Cabinet: the secretaries of energy, transportation and interior and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Joining them will be the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. According to an EPA statement, the officials will focus...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senators tussled over the cost of climate legislation Tuesday with the leading author of the bill maintaining that while energy prices will increase, inaction on global warming would cause even worse economic and security problems. "Are there some costs? Yes sir, there are some costs," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. But of the array of studies that show restricting greenhouse gases will lead to higher energy prices, he said, "none of them factor in the cost of doing nothing." Kerry was the leadoff witness as the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee began a series of marathon...

Would you sign up for a discount with your power company in exchange for surrendering control of your thermostat? What if it means that, one day, your auto insurance company will know that you regularly arrive home on weekends at 2:15 a.m., just after the bars close? Welcome to the complex world of the Smart Grid, which may very well pit environmental concerns against thorny privacy issues. If you think such debates are purely philosophical, you’re behind the times.

ACRAMENTO — As oil companies continue to reap record profits amid strained state revenues, a pair of Democratic lawmakers are hoping to tap into their deep pockets by installing an oil severance tax that could relieve growing pressures to cut more state services. Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Long Beach, introduced a bill Monday called the Fair Share Act, that would impose a 10 percent oil severance fee on extractions from California wells to bring in $1.5 billion to the state's coffers. A similar bill that has already cleared one committee, by Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont, would impose a 9.9 percent fee,...

Ghana, a leader in democracy and economic development in Africa, will soon begin to receive large amounts of oil revenues. In a memo to the country's president, Todd Moss describes a practical way for Ghana to avoid the corruption and conflict that is often associated with oil revenues — direct cash distribution. The "oil curse" has brought authoritarianism, conflict, corruption and poverty to too many countries. Your challenge is to put in place a system for managing oil income that protects and advances your country's impressive gains. Recommendations for a separate oil fund and increased transparency are good ones. But...

LONDONDERRY TOWNSHIP, DAUPIN COUNTY - The Three Mile Island Nuclear Power station shut down its unit one reactor on Monday capping off a record run. The unit one reactor broke the world record for the longest continuous days of operation for all pressurized water reactors. The Dauphin County based plant operated for 705 days before shutting down for a scheduled refueling and maintenance outage on Monday. The old record of 692 days was set earlier this year by a nuclear power plant in Maryland. "We don't really set out to break world records, but they're a result of what we...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday will announce $3.4 billion in government grants to help build a "smart" electric grid that will save consumers money on their utility bills, reduce blackouts and carry power supplies generated by solar and wind energy, the White House said. It marks the largest award made in a single day from the $787 billion stimulus package approved by Congress, and will create tens of thousands of jobs while upgrading the U.S. electric grid, according to administration officials. The grants, which range from $400,000 to $200 million, will go to 100 companies, utilities, manufacturers,...

President Barack Obama will announce a $3.4 billion investment of stimulus funds to modernize the electric grid at an event in Arcadia, Fla., Tuesday, administration officials said. One-hundred private companies, utilities, manufacturers, cities and others will receive grants of between $400,000 and $200 million to help build a nationwide "smart energy grid" that will cut costs for consumers and make the nation's electrical system more reliable. The grants are expected to create tens of thousands of jobs - the administration did not say exactly how many - and also lay down the infrastructure to create a new renewable energy industry,...

I'm not in the position for making any huge investments, and this might be in the category of just plain ignorant, but I figure this proposal might at least prompt some interesting discussion, and if its plausible, someone should do it: The Tesla gets about 220 miles per charge. Great... if you're going somewhere less than four hours away. But if the S-class (a $50,000 "family car") is going to be someone's main car, they're certainly going to want to take longer trips with it. The problem is the car takes 8 hours to charge with 110 volts. By doubling...

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is giving a jolt to the futuristic "smart" electric grid, hoping to more quickly bring America's power transmission system into the digital age. President Barack Obama, during a visit to a solar energy facility in Arcadia, Fla., is announcing Tuesday that he is making available $3.4 billion in government support for 100 projects aimed at modernizing the power grid. The projects include installing "smart" electric meters in homes, automating utility substations, and installing thousands of new digital transformers and grid sensors.

Ecology: The administration creates the mother of all protected habitats for a species whose numbers have increased since Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." It's our hopes for energy independence that are drowning. When filmmaker Phelim McAleer, whose documentary "Not Evil Just Wrong" takes apart the myths of global warming, got to ask Gore a question at the annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists, McAleer brought up the nine critical errors in Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth." A British court two years ago listed them and said they must be righted before the film could be shown in schools...

Senator Lamar Alexander on new nuclear development. Communications experts say that fear is the best way to get attention when you're trying to win an argument. Groups who oppose nuclear power have certainly mastered that technique by playing to economic, environmental, and safety fears. So I'd like to introduce a little element of fear into my argument here. I want to suggest what could happen if we don't adopt nuclear power as a more important part of our energy future- if Russia and China and a lot of other countries go ahead with nuclear - as they are now -...

Anne Lauvergeon, president of Areva, distinguished herself during the Women's Forum Global Meeting on October 15 - 17 in Deauville. For the occasion, 1200 women from the world of business and politics gathered for a few days of "discussions and reflections" around the theme: "Tomorrow!" Judge for yourselves the level of thinking of Madame Lauvergeon, who said of the hiring process: "All things being equal, well, sorry, we would choose, uh, the woman, or we would choose the person who, uh, is anything but a white male, to speak frankly." So tomorrow holds no future for white males, according to...

While campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama said his cap-and-trade tax plans would "bankrupt" anyone building a coal-fired power plant. Although those taxes haven't materialized, the Environmental Protection Agency has put the brakes on 79 surface mining permits in four states since he was elected. The EPA says these permits could violate the Clean Water Act and warrant "enhanced" review. But the agency went even further last week, announcing plans to revoke a permit for the Spruce No. 1 Mine in West Virginia - a move that has caused anxiety among coal-state Democrats about the future of the...

Almost two years ago, Barack Obama told the editors of the San Francisco Chronicle that anyone who wanted to open a new coal-burning electrical plant would get “bankrupted” by his policies. They may not even get the coal to burn, thanks to the EPA. The Washington Times’ Amanda Carpenter reports that the agency has held up scores of surface mining permits in an action that will get the attention of coal-producing states — and their Senators: While campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama said his cap-and-trade tax plans would “bankrupt” anyone building a coal-fired power plant. Although those...

HA NOI — Three Vietnamese banks will jointly provide a loan of up to US$51 million to the PetroVietnam Exploration and Production Corporation (PVEP) to exploit oil and gas in the Ca Ngu Vang (Gold Tuna) oilfield. Under a credit agreement signed in Ha Noi on Thursday with the Viet Nam International Commercial Joint Stock Bank (VIB), Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB) and the Sai Gon-Ha Noi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB), the PVEP would use the five-year loan to pay for the development and exploitation of oil and gas at the oilfield, located southeast of Viet Nam’s continental...

On balance, nuclear power is already a good thing. But we can only have it if we submit to a massive tax bill? What you're seeing here, basically, is a right being withheld. Inherently, you have the right to nuclear power as long as you are willing to pay all the externalities associated with generating it. But here you're being told that you will only be permitted to exercise that right if you are willing to give up another right -- in this case, paying the tax burden of cap and trade. This is not why Congress exists. On principle,...

Biofuel refineries in the US have set fresh records for grain use every month since May. Almost a third of the US corn harvest will be diverted into ethanol for motors this year, or 12pc of the global crop. The world's grain stocks have dropped from four to 2.6 months cover since 2000, despite two bumper harvests in North America. China's inventories are at a 30-year low. Asian rice stocks are near danger level. Yet farm commodities have largely missed out on Bernanke's reflation rally in metals, oil, and everything else. Dylan Grice from Société Générale sees "bargain basement" prices....

An owner of Beck Oilfield Supply traveled from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania this year to find the best place in the midst of the Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling rush to plant one of his stores. He picked Wysox, a small town that borders Towanda, the Bradford County seat, and he wasn't alone. Two other stores that specialize in drilling and gas production supplies have opened within two miles of Beck Supply along Route 6 in the past year. The supply shops are more than specialty hardware stores; they are tailored to the uninterrupted pace and idiosyncratic needs of gas drilling....

Communications experts say that fear is the best way to get attention when you’re trying to win an argument. Groups who oppose nuclear power have certainly mastered that technique by playing to economic, environmental, and safety fears. So I’d like to introduce a little element of fear into my argument here. I want to suggest what could happen if we don’t adopt nuclear power as a more important part of our energy future-- if Russia and China and a lot of other countries go ahead with nuclear – as they are now – while we get left behind. Are we...

World Recovery Is In The Hands Of OPEC Andrew Butter October 25, 2009 In a recent interview posted here, Professor Nouriel Roubini said: I worry that oil is going to go up above $100 for reasons that have nothing to do with the fundamentals of supply and demand. Oil at $100 would have the same negative effects on the global economy as oil did at $145 last year. Last year, when oil was at $145, the global economy was still growing. Right now it has collapsed, and is recovering. Oil pushing above $100 would have nasty, negative real trade effects...

Note: The following text is a quote: Home • Briefing Room • Speeches & Remarks The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release October 23, 2009 Remarks by the President Challenging Americans to Lead the Global Economy in Clean Energy Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Massachusetts 12:44 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Please, have a seat. Thank you. Thank you, MIT. (Applause.) I am -- I am hugely honored to be here. It's always been a dream of mine to visit the most prestigious school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Applause.) Hold on a second --...

It could be the breakthrough that finally has consumers warming to the energy-saving light bulb. A version that brightens up instantly, costs just 88p a year to run and lasts up to 25 years has gone on sale in Britain for the first time. The only catch is that the new LED bulb will cost £30.

Biofuel Production Increases Greenhouse Gases In Atmosphere By Noel Sheppard Created 2009-10-24 17:09 For several years, Nobel Laureate Al Gore and his media sycophants have been telling the nation that a movement away from fossil fuels to biofuels is necessary to save the planet from the Left's bogeyman known as global warming. A new study by the Marine Biological Laboratory raises series questions about this premise. According to MBL's Thursday press release [1], "Carbon emissions caused by the displacement of food crops and pastures may be twice as much as those from lands devoted to biofuels production." Beyond this, "increased...

The Florida solar panel plant cost $150 million to build. A field of orange trees makes more sense. The state of Florida is completing the final touches on a solar panel plant that cost $150 million to build and will only power 3,000 homes. Barack Obama will visit this solar-paneled cash dump next week. The AP reported: The Desoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center will power a small fraction of Florida Power & Light’s 4-million plus customer base; nevertheless, at 25 megawatts, it will generate nearly twice as much energy as the second-largest photovoltaic facility in the U.S. The White...

Increasing energy demands and concerns about global warming mean that the sun is an important inexhaustible and clean energy source. Dye sensitised solar cells (DSSCs) have proved to be a highly efficient and low-cost option for conversion of sunlight to energy. Ruthenium dye photosensitisers have given the highest power conversion efficiency in the past but they are not very environmentally friendly and supply is limited, explains Eric Diau at the National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. Diau and his team took inspiration from nature by developing a dye based on porphyrin - a component of chlorophyll, which gives plants their green...

WASHINGTON — A leading energy developer said the United States has been excluded from Iraq's revived energy market. ShareThis T. Boone Pickens told Congress that U.S. companies were losing opportunities in the Iraqi crude oil and natural gas sectors to competitors from China and Europe. The senior executive said the United States could lose all influence in the Iraqi oil sector after the military withdrawal in 2011. "They're opening them [oil fields] up to other companies all over the world," Pickens told the Congressional Natural Gas Caucus on Oct. 21. "We leave there with the Chinese getting the oil," he...

President Barack Obama said Friday that opponents of his energy bill are disputing the evidence of global warming in a cynical ploy to undermine efforts to curb pollution and steer the nation to greener energy sources. Obama said some opponents "make cynical claims that contradict the overwhelming scientific evidence when it comes to climate change - claims whose only purpose is to defeat or delay the change that we know is necessary." Obama said the nation's economic future is tied to its environmental promise, describing innovation as key to righting a flagging economy, saving the globe's natural resources and ensuring...

CALGARY -- Suncor Energy Inc. is moving forward on a new tailings pond technology that it believes will rapidly speed up its ability to reclaim the areas of northern Alberta it has strip mined as it extracts bitumen buried beneath the earth's surface. Tailings are a toxic byproduct in oil sands mining operations. They are a mixture of fine clay, sand, water, and residual bitumen that are contained in giant ponds. Before an oil sands operation can reclaim the area it has mined, the tailings have to dry, a process that now takes decades. When the tailings are dry, the...

<p>CATANO, Puerto Rico — An explosion at a Gulf gasoline facility Friday rocked a neighborhood outside Puerto Rico's capital, causing minor injuries and forcing evacuations as firefighters raced to prevent additional blasts.</p> <p>Several columns of black smoke and flames were rising from the Caribbean Petroleum Corp., a gasoline warehouse and distribution center on San Juan's bay that owns the Gulf brand in this U.S. Caribbean territory.</p>

M. Speaker: I rise in opposition to the rule and in opposition to the underlying bill. And to explain why, I’d like to walk through a little history and a little math. Let’s begin with history and two important years: 1978 and 1839. In 1978, the Wall Street Journal carried this headline: “Solar Power Seen Meeting 20 percent of Needs by 2000; Carter May Seek Outlay Boost.” Oddly, the same paper carried a headline in 2006 making the same promise this time for all renewable fuels – only this time by 2025 – but I digress. (view newspaper headlines) Billions...

The Obama administration is setting aside 200,000 square miles in Alaska and off its coast as "critical habitat" for polar bears, an action that could add restrictions to future offshore drilling for oil and gas. Federal law prohibits agencies from taking actions that may adversely modify critical habitat and interfere with polar bear recovery. Assistant Interior Secretary Tom Strickland called the habitat designation a step in the right direction to help polar bears stave off extinction, recognizing that the greatest threat to the bear is the melting of Arctic sea ice caused by climate change. The Bush administration last year...

Tanker explodes on I-465 ramp Indianapolis - A semi tanker has exploded on the southbound ramp from I-69 to I-465. The fire from the vehicle is creating dark plumes of black smoke which can be seen for miles. A second alarm has been requested to the scene. Views from a tower cam show that the billboards are also on fire. The accident is causing large back-ups on I-465. The crash is before the Allisonville Road exit. Injuries are being reported. Witnesses reported hearing loud noises. Witness Danielle Smith was on 465 headed to Keystone at the Crossing. In her rear-view...

Residents in Stockholm are divided over reports that rabbits are being used to make biofuel. The bodies of thousands of rabbits are fuelling a heating plant in central Sweden, local newspapers say. The city of Stockholm has an annual cull of thousands of rabbits to protect the capital's parks and green spaces.

Promoters of liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) ignore two large issues when seeking to incorporate LNG into the energy security mix. According to many energy and national security experts, LNG will actually increase dependency from the very countries which the United States seeks to reduce dependency—countries such as Russia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran.