Biodiesel Industry Waits for Renewal of Federal Subsidy
Biodiesel. It’s one of the new hot green industries. Plants and fueling stations are springing up all across the country. Two years ago, Congress passed legislation to require the blending of 500 million gallons of biodiesel into the nation’s fuel supply in 2009, and doubling to 1 billion by 2012. It’s part of a law [...]
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NJ Utility CEO Argues for Cap and Trade
On Sunday, the Washington Post published an opinion piece by Ralph Izzo, chief executive of New Jersey’s Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), in which he offered his support for a cap and trade system to reduce greenhouse emissions. Although many energy corporations are hesitant to throw their support behind cap-and-trade and climate legislation, Izzo pleads [...]
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Heating Oil Price Trend for November 25: -3¢
Discouraging economic data from the US pushed down crude and heating oil prices on Tuesday. GDP growth in the third quarter was revised downward—the Commerce Department said the US economy grew by 2.8 percent, not 3.5 percent—and consumer confidence remained lackluster. Investors are counting on economic recovery to boost oil demand, but so far that [...]
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Biofuel Used on Passenger Flight for the First Time
Moves to introduce biofuel into commercial aviation made headway on Monday as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines made the first passenger flight partially fueled by biokerosene. According to Reuters, one of the four Boeing 747 engines contained fifty percent biofuel and fifty percent traditional kerosene. Pleased with the outcome, KLM Chief Executive Peter Hartman stressed the [...]
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North Dakota Oil Field Now Accessible Through Horizontal Drilling
The AP reports that there may be another patch of oil accessible in North Dakota. According to the wire service there is a “crude-bearing cache” called Birdbear that, according to geologists, can be tapped with new technology. This oil formation is near the already-producing patches of Bakken and Three Forks-Sanish in the state.
To access the [...]
Iran’s War Games Raise Oil Prices
To demonstrate that its bite is as fierce as its bark, Iran has begun five days of large-scale military exercises meant to protect its nuclear sites from attack, the BBC reported on Monday. The exercises, held by the Revolutionary Guard and the Iranian military across an area of 230,000 square miles, are surely intended to [...]
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Advanced Clean Technologies Announces Cleaner, More Efficient Method to Process Oil Sands
On Nov. 12 American Clean Technologies (ACT) reported additional information about the pilot tests conducted by its American Petroleum Solutions (APS) subsidiary, including the fact that the oil extraction rate was more than 99 percent in tests conducted on oil sand samples from Utah and Alberta, Canada.
APS, which ACT acquired on Oct. 5, uses its [...]
Heating Oil Price Trend for November 24: +1¢
After an early rally on Monday—crude had gained over 3 percent—the price of crude and heating oil fell back towards where they started. A weak dollar was the cause of the rally, and as it regained some of its strength the rally collapsed, weighed down by the immense inventories of crude and heating oil that [...]
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Oil Industry Report Criticizes Gov’t Revocation of Utah Drilling Leases
As reported by the Deseret News on Thursday, The Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States (IPAMS) has released a report criticizing the withdrawal of Utah oil drilling leases by the Department of the Interior.
The 77 leases, granted in the closing hours of the Bush administration, were re-evaluated by the Interior Department under Obama appointee Ken [...]
Heating Oil Inventories Will Stay at Staggering Levels Over Thanksgiving
Turkeys won’t be the only overabundant resource this Thanksgiving. According to David Bird of the Wall Street Journal, heating oil stockpiles are at their highest point since Christmas in 1998, and the mild Thanksgiving weather forecast will do little to lower inventories. Coming off of the quietest hurricane season since 1997, “heating oil’s fate rests [...]
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Shell Pushes Senate for More Offshore Drilling
The hot topic of climate change has infiltrated debates over whether or not to allow oil companies to expand offshore oil drilling. On Thursday, the Houston Chronicle reported that Shell executives spoke before a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee panel investigating whether or not Congress should attach more environmental safeguards to offshore drilling operations.
Asserting [...]
Rhode Island Heating Oil Prices Steady so Far this Year
Heating oil prices in Rhode Island have remained steady for most of 2009, to the relief of homeowners looking to plan their energy budgets. Residents are currently paying an average of $2.72 per gallon for heating oil; $2.70 for unleaded gasoline; and $2.91 for diesel. Those prices are virtually the same from last week, but [...]
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Geologist Campbell: IEA Inflates Oil Supply Data; Peak Oil Came in 2008
The IEA’s 2009 World Economic Outlook continues to come under attack for its oil supplies forecast. First it was an agency whistleblower who claimed that the IEA’s oil figures were distorted by, among other factors, U.S. pressure, so as to avoid “panic buying.” Then a prominent physics professor at Upsalla University, issued a scathing rebuke [...]
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Heating Oil Price Trend for November 23: -2¢
Oil prices finished last week in decline as the dollar gained strength and stock markets sagged. A strong dollar eases concerns about inflation and reduces the draw of commodities as a hedge, as well as make commodities prices in dollars—like crude and heating oil—more expensive to holders of other currencies. Lackluster performance in stock markets [...]
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How To Build Your Own Electricity-Generating Wind Turbine
Feeling crafty and green? Then check out Viking M. Services instructional video on “How to Build a Cheap Wind Generator.” The video is really well done. John Park is easy to understand and thorough, explaining how to get the job done, as well as some of the science that goes into the process. The end [...]
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Oil Analyst Learsy: CFTC Should Act to End Distorted Oil Prices
In a column posted on Wednesday on the Huffington Post, Raymond J. Learsy, author of Over a Barrel: Breaking Oil’s Grip on Our Future, decried the CFTC’s inaction on the outlandish price of oil. The price of oil, he claims, is no longer based on supply and demand—the cornerstone of much economic thinking on prices. [...]
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Trafigura Joins Chorus of Voices Calling Oil Prices Too High, Blames Speculation
If you’re looking to invest in the commodities market, here’s a sure thing: oil prices are too high. So says Trafigura, a major commodities trading company that has joined the growing list of corporations and advisory committees warning of an inflationary crude bubble created by speculation.
According to an article published by Reuters on Thursday, Trafigura [...]
Oil Analyst Benigni on the Dismal State of the Oil Market
Johannes Benigni of JBC Energy spoke recently on CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe program (see video below), on the current weakness of the oil market.
“Right now crude is at $80 a barrel, but we haven’t meaningfully broke through that price, said Benigni. “Let’s assume oil goes to $100 dollars a barrel at some point. It will [...]
New Zealand Government Announces Big Offshore Oil Discovery
The New Zealand government has announced the discovery of at least ten untapped offshore oil fields located along the country’s coast, Stuff.com reported on Wednesday. According to an account released by GNS Science, the new fields, which run between the Great South Basin and Cape Reinga, could contain as many as 6.5 billion barrels of [...]
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Penn. Ups Inspections of Marcellus Shale Drilling Sites
Controversy surrounding drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation in the American Northeast is heating up again. On Wednesday, PoconoNews.net reported that the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) will intensify their inspections of natural gas drilling sites. Rather than just responding to incidents such as the pollution of waterways and wetlands, they will inspect natural [...]
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