Bodman: 'Not Uncomfortable' with OPEC Output Plan

U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Tuesday he's not uncomfortable with a plan by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to maintain crude oil supplies at current levels until September.

Pakistan port opens new possibilities

Energy-hungry China is eyeing Central Asia's oil and gas reserves and is increasingly looking to Pakistan for oil and gas supplies. Beijing plans to run at least five oil and gas pipelines to Gwadar from the Central Asian republics and wants to turn the facility into a transit terminal for Iranian and African crude-oil imports.

Safe Climate Act Best Chance to Avert Dangerous Climate Change, Scientists Say

More than 120 House members today will reintroduce the Safe Climate Act, which offers the best opportunity to protect future generations from the worst effects of global warming, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). The bipartisan bill, spearheaded by Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), calls for an 80 percent reduction of global warming pollution from 1990 levels by 2050, a cut that UCS scientists say is necessary to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.

ConocoPhillips Tries to Buy Into 'Big Oil U' in Greenwash Campaign

ConocoPhillips, with a $6 million gift to the University of Oklahoma's School of Geology and Geophysics, is the latest oil giant seeking to buy respectability by capitalizing on the name of a well-known university, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) said today.

A deal at Stanford University funded by ExxonMobil, and another proposed by BP at the University of California Berkeley are already facing criticism as examples of "Big Oil U".

Randy Udall: Comments to the National Petroleum Council

The NPC has a wonderful opportunity to reframe the discussion around peak oil. After thoroughly studying the evidence, I hope that you conclude, as many of us have, that peak oil is near. If that is your conclusion, I urge you to communicate that finding in succinct, sober language. It's time to speak truth to power. Likewise, if you conclude that peak oil is a chimera, and those of us that were on the last call are grievously mistaken, chronic pessimists, nervous Nellies, please say that, loud and clear.

U.S. Interior to Work with Lawmakers on Extending Gulf Leases

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne endorsed efforts today by two key senators to extend Gulf of Mexico oil-and-gas leases by three years in an attempt to either recoup lost royalties or institute price thresholds on leases from the late 1990s.

Venezuela to Open Opegasur to Middle East, Asia

Venezuela will invite member countries in the gas-exporting countries' forum (GECF) to enter Opegasur, the OPEC-style organization for natural gas producers the South American country is promoting.

Palm oil it is for S. Korea's Enertec

"We're sticking to our plan to use palm oil as our feedstock," Enertec managing director Mckin Lee Jin said.

"We find palm biodiesel the only green fuel that can really be considered sustainable.

Gore takes his warming warnings to Congress

Former Vice President Al Gore brings his push for government action on global warming to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, testifying in both the House and Senate.

Science turns sun, surf into green energy

A REVOLUTIONARY technology that uses sunlight and sea water to produce an unlimited supply of clean, hydrogen fuel could be developed within a decade, Sydney researchers say.

Leigh Sheppard, of the University of NSW, estimated that 1.6 million of the solar devices, installed on rooftops, would be able to produce enough hydrogen gas to supply Australia's entire energy needs. While other energy options under discussion, such as nuclear power, produce harmful wastes, the only by-products of this solar hydrogen technology would be oxygen and fresh water, Dr Sheppard said.

£25 fridge gadget that could slash greenhouse emissions

It is made of wax, is barely three inches across and comes in any colour you like, as long as it's black. And it could save more greenhouse gas emissions than taxes on gas guzzling cars, low energy light bulbs and wind turbines on houses combined. It is the e-cube, and it is coming soon to a fridge near you.

More Efficient Wind Turbine Blade Designed

A new wind turbine blade design that researchers at Sandia National Laboratories developed in partnership with Knight & Carver (K&C) of San Diego promises to be more efficient than current designs. It should significantly reduce the cost-of-energy (COE) of wind turbines at low-wind-speed sites.

Asian fuel oil volatile on low grades, tight storage

Poorer quality fuel oil flowing into this region and limited storage space are expected to spark wild price swings in Asia this year and could lead to sudden supply disruptions.

The problem will last until additional tank capacity is available by the end of the year, offering traders more space to blend cargoes that do not meet industry specifications into retail-grade quality, industry sources said.

Colorado: Trouble down the pipe has stations on empty

Signs saying “Sorry, Out of Fuel” greeted motorists at some Diamond Shamrock gas stations Tuesday, a repercussion of a Feb. 16 explosion and fire at a Texas refinery that supplies the Pikes Peak region.

Canada Moves to Phase Out Tax Break for Tar Sands Producers

Canada announced intentions yesterday to phase out the tax break for oil sands producers that allows them to write off investment costs, setting a final deadline of 2015 for the changes.

The Little Cartel That Could?

Despite some obvious complications, it appears that a “gas OPEC” will formed in a matter of weeks. Yet the effect of a natural gas cartel doesn’t pose any short term threat, and it raises the question, “Why bother?”

PEMEX Starts Operating in Panama

Mexican Oil (PEMEX) began operating in Panama to distribute and supply oil to the ships passing across the Panama canal, official sources reported on Tuesday.

Government allocates land for refinery in eastern Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has allocated land to two companies that plan to build a 400,000 barrel-a-day refinery in the eastern port city of Jubail, the official Saudi Press Agency reported Tuesday.

China 'to become world's largest economy by 2038'

A host of factors could constrain China's ability to become a superpower in the future, including limited supplies of energy and raw materials, questions over its innovation capability, inequality and corruption, risks to social stability and the environment and its choice of political system.

Ducks Unlimited fights for land reserves

The fear is that during the current energy crisis, farmers will be urged to grow crops to be converted into biofuels, at the same time driving up land prices and forcing farmers to weigh the dollar amount offered for a CRP vs. the money that could be made if they jumped into the biofuel pool.

Power prices put utilities in the hot seat

Spurred by skyrocketing power bills, lawmakers in at least six states are considering reining in electric utilities that were freed from regulation in the late 1990s.

Not Your Mother's Solar Power Anymore

Slowly (often far too slowly for our patience), costs continued to decrease, until we at last trumpeted the revolutionary $5 per watt panel in 1994.

Regrettably, prices have not fallen appreciably since then, and as a result the domestic solar electric industry is experiencing a midlife crisis as it approaches its 50th birthday. Even manufacturing gadflies will admit that PV is having a tough time finding a boom market in North America, primarily because the government is not getting involved.

Ghana - The Power Crisis: a Real Mess

Subsequent to what appeared to be a temporary power rationing to ease pressure off the sources of electricity supplies to meet the country's energy requirements, Ghanaians have now come face to face with what obviously is a national energy crisis.

Moscow won’t support “excessive” Iran sanctions

Russia will not support “excessive” sanctions against its economic partner Iran, the foreign minister said on Wednesday, as the UN Security Council considered imposing harsher measures intended to push Teheran to freeze its nuclear program.

Sergey Lavrov also denied allegations that Moscow has told Iran it would not deliver nuclear fuel for the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear plant unless Teheran complies with the United Nations’ demands.

Ethanol isn't worth getting pumped up about, but oil shale might be

There are no easy answers, but we can develop new sources of power. First, though, we need to move past one attempted solution that simply isn't working: ethanol.

Bush appointees 'watered down greenhouse science'

The Bush administration ran a systematic campaign to play down the dangers of climate change, demanding hundreds of politically motivated changes to scientific reports and muzzling a pre-eminent expert on global warming, Congress was told yesterday.

NYMEX to offer clean energy futures

The weighted indexes will incorporate biomass, wind and solar companies as well as firms in energy efficiency and environmental controls.

Which green car is best? - Automakers using a range of technologies to improve fuel economy

Canada auto emissions incentives seen ineffective

A Canadian government plan to offer rebates for fuel-efficient vehicles and heavily tax gas-guzzlers will do little to change consumer buying habits and curb emissions, industry observers and environment groups said on Tuesday.

Bush, Edwards, activists focus on global warming

Environmentalists rallied on Capitol Hill, President George W. Bush pushed fuel economy and White House hopeful John Edwards unveiled a new energy plan on Tuesday, focusing on global warming a day before Al Gore was to testify to Congress on the hot political topic.

Utility chiefs wary of emission limits

Top executives of some of the country's largest electric utilities gave guarded support Tuesday — or at least said they were not opposed — to mandatory carbon emission limits to deal with global warming.

Still, the executives expressed concern over the potential for huge electricity cost increases, depending on how such emission limits are imposed.

Bush seeks to scrap current ethanol standard

The Bush administration has proposed scrapping the current U.S. renewable fuels standard that requires ethanol use to reach 6.8 billion gallons a year in 2010 in favor of a wider alternative fuels requirement that aims to cut America's foreign oil dependence.

Increasing use of biodiesel could fuel canola explosion

Field crop growers looking for a viable alternative to wheat, corn and barley may soon find their answer in canola.

Syncrude: Ottawa could break oil sands' back

Canada's government needs to be wary of putting too many demands on Alberta's oil sands for fear of derailing the runaway success enjoyed over the past decade, one of the sector's most senior executives says.

Cyprus, oil and the West

The hasty EU membership of the Greek Cypriot state and the continued deadlock in Cyprus peace talks are all related to the existing energy potential in the region.

EU trying to solve renewable-energy 'headache'

Officials said that the Commission was still unsure about how it will share the burden among member states, after EU leaders agreed earlier in March to have 20% of their overall energy needs covered by renewables by 2020.

Despite Climate Concerns, Germany Plans Coal Power Plants

European Union states agreed earlier this month on a binding 20 percent cut in CO2 emissions by 2020. Yet over 20 coal-fired power plants -- major producers of greenhouse gases -- are planned for Germany.

IEA slams gas OPEC proposal

Creating a cartel of gas exporting countries would hurt producers and consumers alike, the head of the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.

BP refinery probe cites poor OSHA oversight

The U.S. agency responsible for worker safety failed to inspect plants with enough care and frequency to prevent an accident like the 2005 explosion at BP’s Texas City refinery that killed 15 people and injured 170, a government report said Tuesday.

The final report on the nation’s worst industrial accident since 1990 also blamed BP for cost cutting that left the plant vulnerable to catastrophe.

Going beyond petroleum proved to be a fatal error

Why did Britain’s biggest industrial enterprise treat a core business unit with such indifference, dare one say contempt? Did they open the door too wide to antiindustrial green zealots or was it the constant harping of City and media scribblers that cash invested is cash wasted?

The CSB report is a sad end to the Browne era. It will have done some good if it reasserts the importance of massive and dangerous industrial processes in keeping us lit, warm and comfortable.

Some people seem to think that the world can be powered by windmills and controlled by clicking a mouse.

It’s not true.