Energy News: September 2010

Saturday, September 25, 2010

ODAC Newsletter - Sep 24

Mr Huhne said the UK was having to prepare itself for "lots of shocks", forcing the price of a barrel of oil to double, mirroring the volatility last seen in the 1970s.

The news came as Mr Huhne said he would only give the green light to more nuclear power stations if Chancellor George Osborne agreed to taking millions of the lowest paid out of income tax. "A deal is a deal," he said...

Obama's fiscal stimulus no substitute for cheap oilJeff Rubin, Globe & Mail, 22 Sep 2010View original article

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with President Obama's earmarking $50-billion (U.S.) for new transport infrastructure, or extending the Bush tax cuts to low- and middle-income American households—provided the country can afford them. But already burdened with a record budget deficit of over $1-trillion, most Americans probably think Washington's already done far too much for the economy as it is.

After all, there seems precious little to show for all the fiscal stimulus. The U.S. jobless rate seems stuck at around 9.5 per cent, and the GDP remains miles below its pre-recession peak. And although the economy is indeed growing, its pace is a shadow of past recoveries, and a fraction of last cycle's growth rates...

IEA's Birol says little supply impact from BP spillDavid Sheppard, Reuters, 22 Sep 2010View original article

The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will have little or no effect on the medium-term outlook for offshore drilling and supplies, the International Energy Agency told Reuters on Tuesday.

Fatih Birol, the chief economist of the group that advises 28 industrialized economies, said while some projects may be delayed in the short-term, the need to increase future oil supplies meant governments will not impose draconian regulations in the wake of the BP (BP.L) spill that caused the United States' worst ever oil spill...

Oil sands emissions 6 pct above other oil -studyJeffrey Jones, Reuters, 21 Sep 2010View original article

Emissions from Canada's oil sands, from crude production to end use, are 6 percent higher than from other oil imported into the United States, a study said on Tuesday.

While that is well below the levels cited by some environmental groups, meeting new rules on carbon emissions would still mean an unlikely halving of greenhouse gases from oil sands crude over the next 10 years, according to the study by energy think tank IHS CERA...

BP well dead, but its effects live onBrett Clanton and Tom Fowler, Houston Chronicle, 20 Sep 2010View original article

Sunday's death knell for BP's Macondo well heralded a milestone worth noting but was largely symbolic given the ongoing personal, economic, legal and environmental fallout from the accident.

The British oil giant and federal officials pronounced the well dead nearly five months to the day after the April 20 blowout 40 miles off the Louisiana coast that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, killed 11 workers and triggered the nation's worst oil spill...

Oil Pares Loss as German Confidence Tempers U.S. Supply Concern Grant Smith, Bloomberg, 24 Sep 2010View original article

Oil erased earlier losses as a jump in German business confidence tempered concerns that fuel demand in the U.S. remains constrained by slack economic growth.

Prices may drop next week on speculation that U.S. inventories will climb as fuel demand declines, a Bloomberg News survey showed. Yesterday the Labor Department reported claims unexpectedly increased by 12,000 to 465,000 in the week ended Sept. 18, as the unemployment rate holds near a 26-year high...

Gas

Russia, China agree gas supply terms: GazpromAFP, 22 Sep 2010View original article

Moscow and Beijing have agreed on key supply terms for future Russian gas deliveries to China, which is seeking to secure energy resources to fuel its growing economy, Gazprom said on Wednesday.

Russian gas giant Gazprom, keen to diversify its energy clients, has been in talks with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to start sending gas to China but the two countries have yet to agree on pricing...

Europe agrees plan to avoid gas shortagesOana Lungescu, BBC Online, 21 Sep 2010View original article

The European Parliament has approved proposals to improve co-ordination between European Union member countries if they face sudden gas shortages.

Supplies to thousands of homes and businesses across the EU were cut last year due to a payment dispute between Russia and Ukraine...

Gas is the futureKiran Stacey, FT Energy Source Blog, 22 Sep 2010View original article

At least that was the message from a new report published today by Oil & Gas UK and written by Pöyry Energy Consulting.

The report's authors reckon the government's commitment to renewables is coming at the detriment to affordability, security and decarbonisation. They say the target of providing 15 per cent of energy from renewables by 2020 should be pushed back and gas should be used to help bring down carbon levels in the meantime...

View report

Electricity

Ofgem launches wide-ranging energy review BBC Online, 22 Sep 2010View original article

The energy regulator, Ofgem, has announced a wide-ranging review into the costs of supplying electricity to the National Grid.

It promises an "open, comprehensive and objective" review of the charges...

Study says heat pumps are not environmentally friendlyMichelle Ward, Green Wise, 22 Sep 2010View original article

A new report has found that UK air source heat pumps have the same carbon footprint as gaseous fuels used in conventional heating.
Emissions of powerful greenhouse gas, hydro fluorocarbon (HFC) add another 20 per cent to the carbon footprint of UK air source heat pumps, according to a study released today from Atlantic Consulting...

Smart grids need smart attitudesGareth Morgan, New Scientist, 21 Sep 2010View original article

The drive towards a low-carbon economy has dramatically increased the need for electricity suppliers to seek out and develop renewable energy sources and for consumers to curb their appetite for power. Even so, in the UK the stark facts suggest that within a decade demand for electricity is likely to outstrip the nation's ability to supply it, says Luq Niazi of IBM Global Business Services. "We will simply have to live with less energy," he says...

Produced by New Scientist in association with IBM. Paid for by IBM. All editorial content commissioned and edited by New Scientist

Nuclear

President Barack Obama's Yucca Mountain decision is a blow to US nuclear powerGarry White, The Daily Telegraph, 20 Sep 2010View original article

This followed intense pressure from leading Democrat Senator Harry Reid, who didn't want all of America's nuclear waste stored in his home state of Nevada.

Yucca Mountain has been planned for more than two decades and is one of the most extensively studied areas of geology anywhere on the planet...

Renewables

US renewable energy bill faces battle in 2010Timothy Gardner, Reuters, 21 Sep 2010View original article

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators introduced a bill on Tuesday that would require utilities to generate minimum levels of renewable power which environmentalists welcomed but analysts said had slim chances of passing this year.

Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat and chair of the Senate's energy committee, and Sam Brownback, a Republican, introduced the bill which would create a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) requiring utilities to generate 15 percent renewable power by 2021...

Largest offshore wind farm opens off Thanet in KentBBC Online, 23 Sep 2010View original article

The world's biggest offshore wind farm off the Kent coast is being officially opened later.

Swedish energy giant Vattenfall said the 100 turbines are expected to generate enough electricity to power 240,000 homes...

Scots renewable energy target surpassedBBC Online, 23 Sep 2010View original article

Scotland is on track to smash its target for expanding renewable power generation, according to research.

It could move from 50% to at least 80% reliance on green energy sources within the next ten years...

Biofuels

Where there's bugs, there's brass: UK firm lands $500m biofuel contractShanta Barley, The Guardian, 20 Sep 2010View original article

A British company that uses a genetically modified compost-heap bug to produce biofuel from rubbish has signed a $500m (£319m) contract with a US firm.

TMO Renewables developed a strain of "turbo-charged" bacteria that can turn tea bags, cardboard, wood and other household waste into fuel for cars and trucks. The Guildford-based company signed a 20-year, $25m-a-year deal with US firm Fiberight...

Airlines chief urges more investment in biofuelsAFP, 17 Sep 2010View original article

The head of the world's biggest airline association, IATA, berated the oil industry and governments on Friday for investing "peanuts" in cleaner biofuels.

"Biofuels could break the tyranny of oil and lift millions from poverty along with providing a sustainable fuel source for aviation," Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association said...

Solar power subsidy under reviewFiona Harvey, Environment Correspondents, Financial Times, 24 Sep 2010View original article

The recent mini-boom in solar power could be in jeopardy, as the government has privately indicated that new feed-in tariffs that have fuelled the industry could be slashed.

If such cuts are adopted, renewable energy experts fear that it will scare off investors — with repercussions throughout the industry...

Chris Huhne announces 250,000 green jobs to boost the economyPatrick Wintour, political editor, The Guardian, 21 Sep 2010View original article

A plan to create almost 250,000 jobs in green industries, including nuclear power and home insulation, will turbo-charge the economy and help offset budget cuts, the energy secretary, Chris Huhne, claimed today.

The "green deal" will lead to thousands of workers modernising some 26 million homes to make them more energy efficient as part of the coalition's ambition to be the "greenest government ever"...

Government prepares fund to help small business become more energy efficientRichard Tyler, Telegraph, 20 Sep 2010View original article

The Government is preparing a radical multi-billion pound fund to finance the rapid "greening" of more than 4m small businesses.

Under the plans, firms will receive loans to replace old boilers, freezers and other pieces of energy hungry equipment, with the cash repaid from the savings made in their monthly energy bills...

Geopolitics

Arctic summit in Moscow hears rival claimsBBC News, BBC News, 22 Sep 2010View original article

An international meeting to try to prevent the Arctic becoming the next battleground over mineral wealth is taking place in Moscow.

One quarter of the world's resources of oil and gas are believed to lie beneath the Arctic Ocean...

China Suspends Ministerial-Level Talks With Japan Over Boat ClashMichael Forsythe, Bloomberg.com, 20 Sep 2010View original article

Diplomatic ties between the world's second- and third-biggest economies soured as China escalated a dispute over Japan's extended detention of a fishing boat captain for a collision in disputed waters.

China yesterday severed senior-level government contacts with Japan, halting aviation talks and suspending a meeting on coal because of the incident. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu pledged "strong countermeasures" if Japan failed to release the captain. Japan's government hasn't been informed of the measures, a spokesman said today...

Transport

How to Get People Out of Their CarsPatrick Condon, The Tyee, 23 Sep 2010View original article

[Editor's note: This is the fourth excerpt from Patrick Condon's new book Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities: Design Strategies for the Post Carbon World. This series, running Wednesdays and Thursdays for four weeks, offers just a sampling of Condon's vital guide for green planning; interested readers are encouraged to seek out the book.]

Many believe that electric cars and windmills will solve the climate change crisis, with no need for fundamental change in city form. This belief excludes an acknowledgment of the gargantuan energy and material demands consequent to such an ever more sprawling metropolitan pattern...

Pulaski carport taps into solar power for TVA, autos ODAC Newsletter - Sep 10

Sunday, September 19, 2010

ODAC Newsletter - Sep 17

The three major organizations that forecast long-term oil demand and supply – the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) – along with oil companies and consulting firms, believe that OPEC will reconcile predicted global demand and non-OPEC supply. But they are wrong: OPEC output will not meet such projections, because they are based on flawed and outdated forecasting models...

Opec at 50: cartel faces new challengesJavier Blas, Financial Times, 14 Sep 2010View original article

As the Opec oil cartel celebrates its 50th anniversary, the club can reflect over its recent success. Amid the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and a savage reduction in oil demand, the cartel has, against the odds, fruitfully anchored oil prices at $75 a barrel...

Unconventional Gas and Raised Oil Recovery Are Focus for Saudi Aramco's Samuel Ciszuk - IHS, Commodities Now, 14 Sep 2010View original article

Having built up a spare crude production capacity of over 4 million b/d, Saudi Aramco's priorities will now be gas development—where an increasing focus on unconventional gas is needed—to meet spiralling domestic demand, while its oil position will be sustained through, over the long term, raising recovery levels to 70% at its main onshore oilfields.

IHS Global Insight Perspective
Significance Saudi Aramco expects to continue growing its oil reserves mainly through improvements to its recovery levels, hoping to raise those to 70% and add 40% to crude reserves "over time", while its domestic gas shortage is to be met over the long term by the company moving into the exploitation of unconventional gas reserves in the kingdom...

Bracing For Peak Oil Production By Decade's EndWallace Forbes, Forbes, 13 Sep 2010View original article

Charles Maxwell is senior energy analyst at Weeden & Co. Maxwell discusses where oil's production peak is and how that affects investments.

Charles Maxwell: The use of petroleum in the world is now up to about 30 billion barrels per year. The rate at which we have found new supplies of petroleum over the last 10 years has fallen to an average, of only about 10 billion barrels per year...

BP cited for North Sea safety failures: reportAFP, 15 Sep 2010View original article

BP failed to comply with emergency regulations on oil spills at four out of five of its North Sea installations which were inspected last year, a report said Wednesday, citing official records.

The British oil giant had not complied with rules on regular training for offshore operators on how to respond to an incident, according to inspection records obtained by the Financial Times newspaper...

BP insists deepwater drilling in North Sea will go aheadTerry Macalister, The Guardian, 15 Sep 2010View original article

BP is determined to press ahead with plans to drill deepwater wells west of the Shetlands despite criticism of its "outrageous" attitude to the risks of drilling in the US and worries about its North Sea safety record.

The company is still in talks with the government and privately recognises the Deepwater Horizon disaster makes it a highly sensitive issue but said it would probably start work next year...

Obama asks for millions for oil, gas oversightAFP, 14 Sep 2010View original article

US President Barack Obama asked Congress for more than 90 million dollars to reform oversight of the offshore oil and gas industry, following the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.

Some of the money would be raised by more than doubling the fees the government charges firms for inspecting their offshore facilities, Obama told House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi in a letter...

Oil spills hit on land, too: Aging pipelines imperil MidwestMark Guarino, Christian Science Monitor, 14 Sep 2010View original article

Two oil spills between late July and last week in Michigan and Illinois are expected to significantly raise prices at Midwestern gas pumps even as they raise questions about the aging infrastructure of pipelines delivering oil and natural gas from Canada to Midwestern refineries.

The two broken pipelines are owned by one company: Enbridge Energy Partners of Calgary, Alberta, a firm that is poorly regarded by environmentalists for a large, and increasing, number of spills that have dumped millions of gallons of crude into the environment over the past decade...

BP well could be 'killed' by Sunday: US spill overseerAFP, 15 Sep 2010View original article

BP is on the cusp of finishing drilling operations to seal its blown-out Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico and could declare it permanently "killed" by Sunday, a top US official said.

"We're moving faster than we expected," retired US Coast Guard admiral Thad Allen said, adding that engineers were drilling the last 20 to 25 feet (six to 7.5 meters) of a relief well that will allow them to pour in a final seal of heavy drilling mud and cement...

Crude Oil Declines as Enbridge Says Midwest Pipeline Will Start TomorrowMargot Habiby, Bloomberg.com, 16 Sep 2010View original article

Oil fell the most this month as Enbridge Energy Partners LP prepared to start a pipeline that supplies Canadian crude to refineries in the U.S. Midwest.

Futures dropped as much as 2.5 percent after Enbridge said it plans to send oil through the pipeline early tomorrow after repairing a leak in Romeoville, Illinois, that was discovered last week. The timetable is in compliance with an agreement with federal regulators. Another pipeline was shut in August...

Gas

Shell CEO: Nat Gas To Play Prominent Global Energy RoleAngel Gonzalez and Mark Peters, Wall Street Journal, 13 Sep 2010View original article

Natural gas, boosted by recent breakthroughs in its production and its relatively small carbon footprint, will play a prominent role in the world's energy future, as long as global energy policies allow it to fill an increasing share of demand, Royal Dutch Shell PLC's (RDSA, RDSB) Chief Executive Peter Voser said Monday.

"If we create space for natural gas to grow, natural gas will change the world's energy landscape for the better," Voser said at the World Energy Congress in Montreal...

Unconventional Gas: Cheap Gas Coming?Paul Stevens, Chatham House - The World Today, 14 Sep 2010View original article

In the last decade America has rapidly developed a new source of gas found naturally in rocks. It now provides a fifth of national needs. Such gas is present in Europe too, and whether or not it is practical to extract it, it is already having an effect on future supplies.

EPA to Widen Drilling StudySiobhan Hughes - Wall Street Journal, Rigzone, 14 Sep 2010View original article

Environmental Protection Agency officials said that they plan to widen their investigation into a natural-gas drilling technique that the energy industry says is critical to tapping huge new supplies of natural gas.

Controversy over whether the practice -- called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking -- poses a risk to drinking water and public health drew hundreds of people to an EPA hearing here Monday...

UK to boost gas stashUpstream, 15 Sep 2010View original article

The UK's gas storage capacity is set to rise by 15% after the government today gave the go ahead to WINGAS Storage to convert its Saltfleetby onshore gas field into an underground gas storage facility.

Saltfleetby in Lincolnshire is the UK's largest onshore gas field and will provide between 700 million to 800 million cubic metres of new gas storage capacity...

Coal

Fears £9bn clean coal programme could be drastically scaled backTim Webb, The Guardian, 14 Sep 2010View original article

The Treasury is reviewing the government's £9bn clean coal programme amid growing fears in the energy department that it will be drastically scaled back.

Senior sources within the energy department believe the plan for four new clean coal pilot plants – funded by a £9bn levy on consumer electricity bills – are the most vulnerable to cuts...

Electricity

A Multi-Trillion-Euro Price Tag for Energy EfficiencyDer Spiegel, 13 Sep 2010View original article

Chancellor Angela Merkel's plan to make Germany's residential buildings the most energy-efficient in the world has run into resistance within her cabinet. The project's price tag could be as high as 2.4 trillion euros -- and the minister responsible told SPIEGEL it is impracticable.

It was Berlin's decision to extend the lifespans of the country's nuclear reactors that has received the most attention. Since Chancellor Angela Merkel's government presented its new energy strategy last week, hardly a day has gone by without yet another voice being added to the national wrangling over atomic energy. This weekend will see a large anti-nuclear demonstration in Berlin...

Renewables

World's largest offshore windfarm set to open off Kent coastTerry Macalister, The Guardian, 12 Sep 2010View original article

Vattenfall's Thanet farm set to open as National Grid confirms wind-generated electricity has hit a new peak

The world's largest offshore windfarm, which cost over £750m to build, is poised to open off the coast of Kent, with 100 turbines producing enough electricity to supply heat and light for 200,000 homes...

An ill wind blows for Denmark's green energy revolutionAndrew Gilligan, Telegraph, 14 Sep 2010View original article

Denmark has long been a role model for green activists, but now it has become one of the first countries to turn against the turbines.

To green campaigners, it is windfarm heaven, generating a claimed fifth of its power from wind and praised by British ministers as the model to follow. But amid a growing public backlash, Denmark, the world's most windfarm-intensive country, is turning against the turbines...

'Privileged' opposition holding back wind farm developmentThe Ecologist, 10 Sep 2010View original article

Onshore wind sites being ignored because of threat of local resistance as analysis points to unfulfilled potential of community-driven projects

Prime locations for wind energy are being ignored because of a 'privileged' and politically active local opposition, suggests new analysis of English windfarms applications...

Warning on target for green energyFiona Harvey, Environment Correspondent, Financial Times, 10 Sep 2010View original article

Drastic new measures will be needed if the UK is to meet its target of generating 15 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, the government's climate change watchdog has warned.

The UK generates only 3 per cent of its energy from such sources, despite more than a decade of policy measures intended to raise that figure substantially...

Biofuels

Biofuels May Replace Half of EU Gasoline by 2020 Using Waste, Study SaysBloomberg, 14 Sep 2010View original article

Biofuels made from plant waste and municipal trash rather than food crops could replace more than half of gasoline used in the European Union by 2020, Bloomberg New Energy Finance said.

The 27-nation bloc could produce 90 billion liters (24 billion gallons) of next-generation ethanol in 2020, or about 65 percent of predicted fossil gasoline consumption, the London- based research group said today in a study. At least 100 refineries a year could be built in the region from 2013, according to the report...

Biofuels: Alternative fuels fail to live up to the hypeEd Crooks, Financial Times, 12 Sep 2010View original article

In the search for new feedstocks to provide the fuels of the future, one of the latest ideas is to use dirty nappies. Amec, the UK-based engineering group, is developing a process to use discarded disposable nappies and other plastic materials that are not now recycled to make a synthetic diesel fuel...

Plan to generate electricity from waste food in GwyneddBBC Online, 14 Sep 2010View original article

An anaerobic digestion plant to treat 15,000 tonnes of food waste annually and generate electricity as a result is being proposed for Gwynedd.

It would be built at the Llwyn Isaf tip near Clynnog and would treat waste using "micro-organisms" to produce bio-fertiliser...

Climate

Climate change advisers urge UK to prepare for changeRichard Black, BBC Online, 16 Sep 2010View original article

The UK needs to prepare itself quickly to deal with the impacts of climate change, government advisers warn.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) says climate effects are already being felt in the UK in the form of higher temperatures and changing seasons...

Transport

A Possible Solution to Europe's Clogged RoadwaysChristian Wüst, Der Spiegel, 06 Sep 2010View original article

Experts in the transportation sector are excited about CargoBeamer, a new German transshipment technology designed to shift more truck freight to the railways. The innovative system could ease congestion on the roads and help the environment.

For some people, the profession of long-distance truck driver used to be considered a dream job. Those days are long gone...

Nottingham named England's least car-dependent cityDan Milmo, The Guardian, 14 Sep 2010View original article

Nottingham has been named as England's least car-dependent city in a survey that exposes inconsistent planning across the country with one of the nation's newest conurbations, Milton Keynes, labelled the worst for cyclists and bus users.

Award-winning bus services, a European-style embrace of the tram and a bias against out-of-town shopping centres were cited as powerful incentives for residents of Nottingham to leave their cars at home, according to a report by the Campaign for Better Transport. By contrast, Milton Keynes, trumpeted as the epitome of modern urban dwelling in the 1980s, is criticised for a reliance on the motor vehicle to get people from A to B...

America’s delusions of energy independence TN loan program helps businesses go green

Sunday, September 12, 2010

ODAC Newsletter - Sep 10

BP Plc, facing billions of dollars in damages and penalties for causing the largest U.S. oil spill, says its investigation shows other companies made mistakes that led to the Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion.

BP managers had direct involvement in just one of the eight judgment errors and equipment failures that led to the April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, according to the company's internal investigation. The explosion killed 11 workers and spewed crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico for almost three months...

BP oil spill: after the human cost will come the cost of safer oil productionDamian Reece, Head of Business, The Daily Telegraph, 09 Sep 2010View original article

In the gloom of a Gulf night, 28 workers were either killed or injured as first mud violently and uncontrollably spewed on to the rig floor and then exploded skywards. All the time a great pressure was building beneath the sea floor forcing a fatal mixture of mud, sea water, oil and gas through the rig's pipework and vents, eventually raining the awful cocktail down on to the heads of terrified workers. All this in the space of just four minutes - no time for calm reflection on how to handle the situation.

Yesterday's report logs the inevitable panicked call that came next. "The well is blowing out," by which time the 126 workers on the rig "were enveloped in a flammable mixture" and the noise that any drill operator fears most became audible - the dreaded hissing sound of gas escaping at high pressure. With terrible inevitablity the sound of ruptures gave way to the first alarm piercing the night air. Then a second alarm was triggered, then another, then another as the scale of the gas leak cloaking Deepwater Horizon was confirmed...

Offshore Drilling Agency Overwhelmed, Says ReportTenille Tracy, Wall Street Journal, 09 Sep 2010View original article

The federal agency that regulates offshore drilling rarely conducted unannounced inspections, allowed oil-rig operators to shop around for favorable decisions and gave its inspectors financial incentives for speeding up application approvals, according to an internal report released Wednesday by the Interior Department.

The report, by a panel of top Interior officials, shed more light on the extent of the problems at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, formed from the agency formerly known as the Minerals Management Service...

MPs warned on deep sea drilling banSylvia Pfeiffer, Financial Times, 08 Sep 2010View original article

Preventing the drilling of wells in the waters off the UK would send "a very negative message" to investors in the oil industry, the head of Oil and Gas UK, the industry body, has warned...

Oil Rises After U.S. Jobless Claims Decline, China Crude Imports IncreaseGrant Smith and Ben Sharples, Bloomberg, 10 Sep 2010View original article

Oil climbed to near a three-week high as economic indicators from the U.S. and Asia restored confidence that the recovery will stimulate fuel demand.

Oil was set for a weekly increase of 1.5 percent as U.S. jobless claims fell, Japan boosted its estimate of economic growth, and China increased imports of crude. Prices gained after a leak prompted Enbridge Energy Partners LP shut a pipeline that can carry more than one-third of oil to the U.S. Midwest...

BBC One Planet - Peak oil and happy cowsRichard Hollingham, BBC World Service, 05 Sep 2010View original article

Type the phrase 'peak oil' into any popular internet search engine, and you will not be short of results to wade through.

Like the fuel itself, the topic generates a lot of heat and hot air. This week on One Planet, reporter Richard Hollingham seeks to define the term 'peak oil' before asking leading experts whether they believe the event is nearing...

Listen

Pricey Petrobras Oil Deal Removes Share Sale HurdleJeff Fick, Wall Street Journal, 03 Sep 2010View original article

A deal between Brazil's government and oil company Petroleo Brasileiro, or Petrobras, has removed some doubts that the company can pull off the world's largest share offer later this month.

Petrobras and the Brazilian government reached a $42.5 billion agreement late Wednesday that gives the oil giant the right to produce five billion barrels of crude oil in government-held areas...

Gas

US test shows water problem near natgas drill siteJon Hurdle, Reuters, 01 Sep 2010View original article

U.S. government officials urged residents of a Wyoming farming community near natural gas drilling sites not to use private well water for drinking or cooking because of chemical contamination.

"Sample results indicate that the presence of petroleum hydrocarbons and other chemical compounds in groundwater represents a drinking water concern," the Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement about tests of 19 water wells around the town of Pavillion...

Pa. Senate GOP writes Marcellus Shale tax billMarc Levy, Business Week, 03 Sep 2010View original article

State Senate Republicans have begun drafting legislation for a sweeping overhaul of Pennsylvania's oil and gas law that includes proposals for a new tax on the extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation and limitations on municipal zoning that affects drilling.

Senate President Joe Scarnati said Friday the GOP plan is a sincere effort to keep the pledge Gov. Ed Rendell and lawmakers made in this summer's budget agreement to enact a severance tax by Oct. 1...

Electricity

Smart meters alone may not save much energy -studyNina Chestney, Reuters, 08 Sep 2010View original article

Smart meters to boost energy efficiency in homes do not automatically achieve a significant reduction in energy demand, research showed on Wednesday.

Smart meters record energy or water consumption and send the readings back to the utility for monitoring and billing...

Residents, industries in uproar over power cutsPan Yan, Global Times, 06 Sep 2010View original article

Residents and businesses in a county in Hebei Province are in an uproar over a measure taken by the local government aimed at reducing emissions by regularly cutting off power supplies.

China National Radio (CNR) reported Sunday that Anping county began limiting electricity supplies to local residents and industries on August 27 in order to achieve power consumption targets set by authorities under the country's 11th Five-Year Plan, which stipulates that carbon dioxide emissions from 2006 to 2010 should be reduced by 1,500 million tons...

German energy watchdog wants faster grid expansionVera Eckert, Reuters, 06 Sep 2010View original article

Germany's renewable energy future hinges on the fast expansion of power transmission grids, but planning authorities are dragging their feet, the head of the country's energy regulator said on Monday.

"Many of the planned lines are waiting in local queues, among them ones that have priority," Matthias Kurth of the Bundesnetzagentur (BnetzA) told reporters during an energy conference...

Flexitricity aims to bolster power gridAndrew Bolger, Scotland Correspondent, Financial Times, 06 Sep 2010View original article

A Scottish start-up believes private industry can make millions of pounds annually, and help reduce the UK's carbon footprint, by selling spare electricity to the National Grid.

Flexitricity has patented technology that brings together the capabilities of standby generators, combined heat and power units and heavy users of power such as commercial greenhouses, cold stores and distribution centres...

Nuclear

Germany agrees to extend life of nuclear power stationsKate Connolly, The Guardian, 07 Sep 2010View original article

The German government today agreed to extend the working lives of its nuclear reactors by an average of 12 years, in a controversial move that will shape the energy strategy of Europe's largest nation for decades to come.

Having put the seal on a deal that was hammered out after lengthy talks between politicians and power companies, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, hailed it as a "revolution in energy provision". She said it would help to ensure Germany's place at the forefront of "the most environmentally and worldwide most efficient" energy policy...

'Floating Chernobyls' to hit the high seasGarry White, Telegraph, 06 Sep 2010View original article

"Floating Chernobyls-in-waiting" are coming to a sea near you after a major international agreement was signed last week, according to critics of nuclear power.

China and Russia agreed to expand co-operation over nuclear power, specifically on uranium exploration and safer power plants – but also on floating nuclear reactors...

Renewables

Alex Salmond unveils plan to turn Scotland into 'world's first hydro-economy'Severin Carrell, The Guardian, 08 Sep 2010View original article

The state-owned utility Scottish Water is to be given new powers to build windfarms, hydro schemes and "green" power stations in partnership and competition with established energy companies.

The company, one of the country's last remaining state-owned firms, could generate £300m or more in extra revenues by using its 80,000 acres of land and vast pipe network for renewable energy projects...

UK 'heat pumps' fail as green devices, finds studyAdam Vaughan, The Guardian, 08 Sep 2010View original article

Government plans to subsidise green heating are challenged today by the largest ever field study of "heat pump" devices in the UK, which reveals 80% perform so badly they would not qualify as renewable energy under proposed European standards.

The report, from the Energy Saving Trust, reveals the prevalence of badly installed heat pumps that are consequently under-performing. The controversial report could affect the government's plans to launch its Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) next April to pay householders for generating heat from such "green" ground and air source heat pumps. There are already fears the RHI could be a victim of spending cuts announced next month...

China Supplants U.S. for First Time on Renewable-Energy Investor RankingAlex Morales, Bloomberg.com, 08 Sep 2010View original article

China overtook the U.S. to lead a quarterly index of the most attractive countries for renewable energy projects for the first time, according to a list compiled by the global accounting firm Ernst & Young.

After sharing the lead with the U.S. in the first quarter, China moved ahead of the world's largest economy to rank as the most appealing nation for investing in wind and solar power projects, according to the report released today. The move follows the failure of U.S. Congress to pass legislation that would have required utilities to use clean energy...

Severn green energy project loses government fundingTim Webb, The Observer, 05 Sep 2010View original article

The government will this month sound the death knell for the world's largest tidal energy project – to be built across the Severn estuary between Somerset and south Wales – when it rules out public funding for the controversial £20bn plan.

The announcement will please some environmentalists, who were worried about the impact on bird life in the estuary, but others say such spending cuts will make a mockery of David Cameron's pledge to be the "greenest government ever"...

Britain's energy challenge: meeting energy generation and carbon emission targetsPaul Hatchwell, The Independent, 03 Sep 2010View original article

Energy policy in the UK is at a crossroads, and the decisions made now will reverberate for decades. At least 43 gigawatts of new electrical generation capacity, equivalent to half of Britain's current total, will be needed by 2020, as all but one of its nuclear plants are retired and coal-fired power stations closed to meet EU air pollution standards.

A staggering £200bn of investment will be needed not only to maintain energy security against price spikes as North Sea resources dwindle and energy imports grow, but also to deliver the largest single contribution to a low-carbon economy...

Urban development - global solutionsGenevieve Roberts, The Guardian, 08 Sep 2010View original article

The ways cities around the globe can make themselves smarter are as varied and multi-layered as the different sizes and shapes of the world's urban areas.

Cities face different problems. For one it might be dealing with transport, or crime, while for another sustainability, or streamlining public service provision and access to technology for all, might be important. There is no one-size-fits-all model...

Rising wheat prices raise fears over UK commitment to biofuelsJamie Doward, The Guardian, 04 Sep 2010View original article

The soaring price of wheat has raised questions about the UK's commitment to biofuels as it attempts to wean itself from its dependence on oil.

A network of biorefineries that convert wheat and other crops into bioethanol that can then be blended with petrol are being developed as the UK looks to meet its EU renewable transport fuels obligations...

Climate

Greens Seek `Fast, Furious' Movement on Climate Under Gillard GovernmentJames Paton, Bloomberg.com, 07 Sep 2010View original article

The Australian Greens plan "fast and furious" action to establish a climate change committee and impose a price on carbon emissions under a government led by the Labor Party's Julia Gillard.

"This is the best political opportunity collectively we've ever had," Christine Milne, deputy leader of the Greens Party, said in Sydney today before Gillard won the support needed to form a government. With Labor retaining power, "this committee will be on track fast and furious," Milne said...

A carbon border tax can curb climate changeDieter Helm, Financial Times, 06 Sep 2010View original article

As global growth picks up after the economic crisis, carbon emissions are going back up too. With China and India back on track to double their gross domestic product every decade, and with coal providing nearly 30 per cent of global energy, the chances of stabilising and reducing emissions are low. Indeed, little progress has been made in the last two decades. Only recessions lower emissions – and then only for a short time.

Mazda recall to fix power-steering problems EIA: From forecast of oil supply abundance to decade of stagnation

Saturday, September 4, 2010

ODAC Newsletter - Sep 3

A study by a German military think tank has analyzed how "peak oil" might change the global economy. The internal draft document -- leaked on the Internet -- shows for the first time how carefully the German government has considered a potential energy crisis.

The term "peak oil" is used by energy experts to refer to a point in time when global oil reserves pass their zenith and production gradually begins to decline. This would result in a permanent supply crisis -- and fear of it can trigger turbulence in commodity markets and on stock exchanges...

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Mariner Energy Platform Explodes in Gulf of MexicoJoe Carroll and Aaron Clark, Bloomberg.com, 02 Sep 2010View original article

A Mariner Energy Inc. oil and natural-gas platform was ablaze in the Gulf of Mexico after an explosion that may prolong the U.S. drilling moratorium imposed after BP Plc's record crude spill.

All 13 workers were rescued and will be transported to shore from the platform 90 miles (145 kilometers) off the Louisiana coast, U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Thomas Blue said in a telephone interview. Mariner, which agreed in April to be acquired by Apache Corp., tumbled as much as 16 percent in New York trading in the hours after the blast...

Greenpeace activists arrested after abandoning occupation of Arctic oil rigSeverin Carrell, Scotland correspondent, The Guardian, 02 Sep 2010View original article

Four Greenpeace activists who halted drilling by a British-owned oil exploration rig off Greenland have been arrested after they abandoned their occupation because of severe weather.

Greenlandic police arrested the four after high winds buffeted the Stena Don drilling rig overnight, forcing them to abandon mountaineering-style platforms they had suspended by ropes underneath the platform less than 48 hours earlier...

Judge rules against U.S. government on oil drillingAnna Driver in Houston and Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington, Reuters, 01 Sep 2010View original article

A federal judge on Wednesday rejected the U.S. government's request to dismiss an industry lawsuit challenging its deepwater oil and gas drilling moratorium, dealing another blow to the Obama administration.

Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc and other drilling companies sued the administration on June 7 after it first ordered a halt to deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico following BP Plc's well rupture that killed 11 workers and caused the world's worst offshore oil spill...

US oil industry protests against drilling moratoriumSheila McNulty, Financial Times, 01 Sep 2010View original article

Thousands of oil industry workers rallied on Wednesday to lift the moratorium on new deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and head off new taxes and punitive measures in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon spill.

Companies ranging from Chevron to Apache bussed in up to 5,000 employees to the Houston convention centre to underline to Washington the industry's contribution to the country...

BP's internal probe faults its own engineers: reportSakthi Prasad, Reuters, 30 Aug 2010View original article

BP Plc's internal probe of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has placed some of the blame on mistakes by its engineers while finishing the deep sea oil well, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the report.

The probe also blamed BP engineers for misreading pressure data which indicated a blowout was imminent, the news agency said...

Bad weather delays BP bid to recover blowout preventerAFP, 30 Aug 2010View original article

A bid to recover a key valve that failed to prevent the blowout of the BP well in the Gulf of Mexico has been delayed because of bad weather, the pointman for the US response to the oil spill said Monday.

"We are in a hold pending calming of the current weather," retired coast guard admiral Thad Allen told reporters, adding that it would be two or three days before the operation could begin...

Deep-Water Drilling Moratorium No Longer Needed, Panel Probing Spill SaysJim Efstathiou Jr. and Alison Fitzgerald, Bloomberg.com, 26 Aug 2010View original article

President Barack Obama's moratorium on deep-water drilling is no longer needed because new rules reduce the risk of an uncontrolled spill, according to a report for a panel investigating BP Plc's blowout.

Rules issued in June by the Interior Department "provide an adequate margin of safety to responsibly allow the resumption of deep-water drilling,” according to the report today from the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington-based research group. The rules, if followed by BP, Apache Corp. and other drillers, and enforced by regulators, "will achieve a significant and beneficial reduction of risk."...

BP ad spending tripled after spill: US lawmakersAFP, 01 Sep 2010View original article

Energy giant BP spent more than 93 million dollars on advertising in the three months after the April 20 Gulf oil spill, triple what it spent over the same period in 2009, US lawmakers said Wednesday.

Leaders of a key US House of Representatives Committee said the embattled firm, still reeling from the disaster's impact, told them Monday that it had shelled out 93.4 million dollars on ads from the spill through July 2010...

Crude Oil Trades Below $74 Amid Fears of Double-Dip Recession in the U.S.Rachel Graham and Grant Smith, Bloomberg.com, 02 Sep 2010View original article

Oil declined as equity indexes slipped and traders waited for signs whether the European Central Bank will extend emergency lending.

ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet may signal at a rate meeting today that policy makers will keep offering unlimited cash to financial institutions through the end of the year. A U.S. government report yesterday showed crude stockpiles increased almost three times more than analysts forecast...

Oil, health, and health careAngela E Raffle, BMJ, 01 Sep 2010View original article

The April 2010 oil leak in the Mexican Gulf illustrates the risks being taken to extract oil from inaccessible fields, and in June a Lloyd's 360° risk insight report said, "we have entered a period of deep uncertainty in how we will source energy for power, heat and mobility and how much we will pay for it." The reason why such damaging extraction methods are pursued, and why Lloyd's are telling us we face a "new energy paradigm" rather than normal market volatility, is that oil discoveries peaked 40 years ago, and oil supply is probably at its maximum, with decline soon to follow. This has substantial implications for transport, food, jobs, health, and health care. Yet many people still haven't heard of "peak oil" and few are discussing it...

Canada tar sands industry ignoring toxic river pollutionThe Ecologist, 01 Sep 2010View original article

Canada's rapidly expanding tar sands industry is causing the toxic pollution of its rivers, but the government of Alberta continues to deny there is a problem.

A two-year study of the Athabasca River by ecologists at the University of Alberta found levels of arsenic, copper, cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel, silver and zinc far in excess of national guidelines downstream from industrial oil sands sites in the Canadian province...

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Crude Oil Climbs After Reports Show Gains in U.S., Chinese ManufacturingMark Shenk and Margot Habiby, Bloomberg.com, 01 Sep 2010View original article

Crude oil surged the most in a month after manufacturing in the U.S. and China, the world's biggest energy-consuming countries, accelerated in August at a faster pace than forecast.

Oil climbed 2.8 percent and equities rebounded from the biggest August slump in nine years after the Tempe, Arizona- based Institute for Supply Management's factory index rose to 56.3 from 55.5 in July. Futures gained even as U.S. crude oil supplies increased 3.43 million barrels to 361.7 million last week, an Energy Department report showed today...

Russia opens China pipeline for Siberian oilIsabel Gorst in Moscow, Financial Times, 31 Aug 2010View original article

Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, on Sunday opened a new pipeline to export east Siberian oil to China that will help Russia reorientate its oil trade towards the east.

The pipeline, running 67km from Skovorodino in east Siberia to China's north-eastern frontier, is an offshoot of a new oil export route Russia is building to the Pacific Ocean, providing a strategic window on the fast-growing energy markets of Asia...

Gas

Doubts over Chinese coal-bed methaneLeslie Hook in Beijing, Financial Times, 29 Aug 2010View original article

China's ambitious targets for the commercial production of coal-bed methane need "a reality check", according to a consultant's report into the country's efforts to extract the high-energy gas trapped in coal deposits.

This autumn marks the fifth anniversary of China's first commercial CBM production. Beijing announced an aggressive target of 5bn cubic metres a year by 2010...

Coal

Carbon capture companies want protection if acid leaks into the seaRobin Pagnamenta, The Times, 28 Aug 2010View original article

The energy industry wants the British taxpayer to shield it from the risk of new North Sea carbon capture and storage projects leaking and producing carbonic acid that could kill fish and other marine life at a catastrophic level.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) set out new guidelines yesterday on how it intended to license CCS projects, which it hopes will play a significant role in cutting UK emissions by 80 per cent by 2050...

Facebook faces campaign to switch to renewable energyJohn Vidal, environment editor, The Guardian, 01 Sep 2010View original article

Social networking website Facebook is coming under unprecedented pressure from its users to switch to renewable energy. In one of the web's fastest-growing environmental campaigns, Greenpeace international says at least 500,000 people have now protested at the organisation's intention to run its giant new data centre mainly on electricity produced by burning coal power.

Facebook will not say how much electricity it uses to stream video, store information and connect its 500m users but industry estimates suggest that at their present rate of growth all the data centres and telecommunication networks in the world will consume about 1,963bn kilowatt hours of electricity by 2020. That is more than triple their current consumption and more electricity than is used by France, Germany, Canada and Brazil combined...

Nuclear

Merkel's Cabinet Backs Nuclear Tax in $102 Billion Savings PlanBloomberg, 01 Sep 2010View original article

Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet backed a tax on nuclear power-plant operators, shunning utilities and German industry as the government holds to budget cuts it says are needed to protect the euro.

Ministers meeting in Berlin today approved the nuclear levy alongside a four-year program of spending cuts and revenue- raising measures worth about 80 billion euros ($102 billion), Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said. The draft legislation will now go to parliament for consideration...

Renewables

August sees record rise in UK home solar panels fittedBBC Online, 01 Sep 2010View original article

A record number of homeowners had solar panels installed this month, according to energy regulator Ofgem.

The devices have been fitted to 2,257 homes so far during August, up from 1,700 in July and 1,400 in June...

China builds base to tap deep-sea energy: state mediaAFP, 27 Aug 2010View original article

China will build a multi-million-dollar research base on its east coast as it steps up its efforts to search for energy sources and rare earths on the ocean floor, state media said Friday.

Engineers have started to design the base, which will cost an estimated 495 million yuan (72.8 million dollars) for the initial construction, the Xinhua news agency reported...

Biofuels

Land grabs, biofuel demand raise global food-security risk Nick Amies, Deutsche Welle, 02 Sep 2010View original article

A new report says Europe's growing demand for biofuels increases the risk of conflict over land and impairs food security. The authors even warn of a potential global crisis.

The report, compiled by international environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth (FoE), says that the amount of land being taken in Africa to feed Europe's increasing demand for biofuels is "underestimated and out of control." An area of arable land the size of Denmark – around five million hectares – has been acquired by foreign companies to produce biofuels, mainly for the European market, the report says...

View report

UK biofuels 'falling short' on environmental standardsMark Kinver, BBC Online, 02 Sep 2010View original article

The Renewable Fuels Agency says it is disappointed that the vast majority of biofuels sold on UK forecourts do not conform to environmental standards.

The body said fuel suppliers were meeting legally binding volume targets but some were falling "well short" on achieving voluntary green standards...

Ethanol Surpasses Gasoline for First Time Since December: Energy MarketsMario Parker, Bloomberg.com, 01 Sep 2010View original article

For the first time since December, ethanol prices are higher than gasoline as corn surges and refiners profit from tax breaks.

The alternative fuel jumped 22 percent since the U.S. driving season began in May, rising above gas, which has fallen 6.5 percent in the same period. Ethanol as a gasoline component rose 6.1 percent since early June to 799,000 barrels a day in the week ended Aug. 27, Energy Department data show. It touched a record 810,000 barrels in the week ended Aug. 20...

Geopolitics

Middle East peace talks begin in WashingtonChris McGreal, in Washington, and Haroon Siddique, The Guardian, 02 Sep 2010View original article

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Binyamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas, begin direct talks in Washington today as Hamas pledged to scupper attempts to bring about peace after its second attack on Israelis in two days.

Launching his initiative to forge a Middle East peace agreement within a year, Barack Obama described it last night as a "moment of opportunity that may not soon come again"...

Backlash over China curb on metal exportsAmbrose Evans-Pritchard, Telegraph, 29 Aug 2010View original article

China's draconian export curbs on rare earth minerals needed by the rest of the world for frontier technologies is escalating into a serious diplomatic and trade clash with the United States and other leading powers.

Japan's foreign minister Katsuya Okada issued what amounted to a formal protest at top-level meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing over the weekend, saying the sudden cut-off was "affecting the global production chain"...

Event

ASPO-USA 2010 Peak Oil ConferenceASPO-USAView original article

The ASPO-USA Peak Oil Conference, October 7-9, 2010 in Washington, DC, is the world's premier event focused on peak oil challenges and solutions. It is produced by the nonprofit Association For The Study Of Peak Oil & Gas - USA (ASPO-USA). The format includes keynotes, plenary sessions, concurrent educational tracks, networking receptions, and exhibits. The conference is supported by more than 30 publications, websites and partnering associations. ODAC newsletter subscribers can receive a $50 discount off the Peak Aware Package registration option by inserting the code mediapartner when prompted on the eRegistration page linked from www.aspousa.org/worldoil2010/.

America’s delusions of energy independence Shipbuilders, repair shops feel pain of Gulf drilling ban

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