Recent Gas News/GasBuddy Blog

Financial Post -- In changes announced Tuesday, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said companies operating in the Atlantic would be on the hook for a maximum of $1-B in the event of a spill, up from $30-M previously

Arctic drillers, who face high costs and harsh operating conditions in the Canadian Beaufort Sea, would also be responsible for a $1-B limit, up from $40-M under existing rules

The changes come amid renewed interest from BP, Shell, Imperial Oil and Chevron in tapping offshore Atlantic and Arctic crude, and with new seismic work uncovering 3 large highly prospective oil fields in the Labrador Sea

There still will be unlimited liability in the event the operator is negligent or at fault, Oliver said, but we need to have a larger absolute amount so that there is no issue about responsibility  (go to article)

investing.com -- Investing.com - Oil futures nudged lower in Asian trading Wednesday following the release of weekly inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute as traders turned their heads to the end of the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting later Wednesday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for August delivery inched down 0.01% to USD98.67 per barrel in Asian trading Wednesday after settling up 0.37% at USD98.40 a barrel on Tuesday in the U.S. Crude continues to flirt with its highest levels of 2013 as well as nine-month highs.

After the close of U.S. markets Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said U.S. oil inventories dropped by 4.3 million barrels for the week ended June 14. Analysts expected a decline of 1 million barrels.  (go to article)

THE BLAZE -- Although it has been said the NSA’s programs collecting communication data is targeting foreigners to thwart potential terrorist activity, the Washington Post has an in-depth feature on a database that hits much closer to home for many Americans. In fact, many can look into their wallet and find the card that entered them into it in the first place — their state-issued photo ID.

The Post reports that 37 states use facial recognition in drivers license registrations. Twenty-six of these states also allow law enforcement — local, state and federal — to search or request searches of the database as photos could pertain to investigations.

Although some like Scott McCallum with the facial-recognition unit in Pinellas County, Florida, say the technology is meant to “benefit law enforcement...  (go to article)

Alaska Dispatch -- Republican chest-beating over the passage of a massive tax cut for the oil industry [2] continues, with Sen. Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, recently proclaiming in a joyous press release that more engineers are moving north to the promised land for work.

“With the recent passage of oil production tax reform, our workforce is already growing! And that includes professional engineers!" shouted Giessel, who represents voters from the Hillside in Anchorage to the Kenai Peninsula.

But the official numbers raise questions about that argument, and a state licensing administrator said it is likely too early to tell how the tax cut is impacting the number of licensed engineers in Alaska.  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- A 98-percent drop in the value of official UN-backed carbon credits is pushing sellers of emission offsets into the voluntary market, where prices are as much as 30 times higher.

The trend is a signal that many companies not required by law to cut their pollution are doing so anyway to bolster their corporate sustainability credentials.  (go to article)

Christian Science Monitor -- Oil and gas companies have begun to struggle to grow due to their inability to find skilled workers; and tactics such as offering large bonuses and building high-tech training facilities, have not helped.

Maersk Group, the giant energy and shipping company, is trying a new technique to train and encourage new work staff; it is offering a video game called “Quest for Oil: A Sub Surface Gaming Experience.”

In the game the player must make similar decisions to an oil executive in the real world. He must locate and drill into deep oil reserves situated in extreme environments, which vary from the cold, dangerous North Sea, to the blazing heat of the Qatari dessert. Gamers must explore the rocks, use 3D seismic maps, secure licenses, use realistic advice from a team of advisors, and reach ...  (go to article)

Popular Science -- Since long before the rise in big data, the U.S. Energy Information Administration has tracked the country’s energy consumption and production [thick lines]. The size of the gap between the two reflects how close the country is to energy independence. The EIA also projects energy production and usage into the future to help guide industry regulations and policy decisions. A computer program—which took the EIA nearly two decades to build and requires 35 analysts to run—generates its predictions [thin lines] based on current energy laws and regulations. While it’s impossible to predict influential events such as wars and recessions, the general trend suggests that since 2005—when the energy deficit [red] peaked—the U.S. is making more of its own energy and using less overall. “We as a societ  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- West Texas Intermediate crude traded near the highest price in nine months after an industry report showed U.S. stockpiles dropped last week.

Futures were little changed in New York after advancing 0.7 percent yesterday. U.S. crude inventories dropped by 4.3 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute said. An Energy Information Administration report today may show supplies declined by 500,000 barrels, according to a Bloomberg survey. Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to sign a statement at the Group of Eight summit calling for a “transitional government” in Syria.  (go to article)

The New Yorker -- I am not sure I gave much thought to nuclear power before 1979, when the accident at Three Mile Island made environmental apathy impossible—or, at least, detestable. But there are few more obvious signs that the world is moving in the wrong direction than an event that threatens to despoil the planet forever. To be for nuclear power after Three Mile Island (and, even worse, after the accident at Chernobyl, in 1986) was to be for corporations; for lying, callous governments; and for the inane notion that the benefits of new technologies always outweigh the risks. Nuclear power just wasn’t nature’s way, and who can be against nature?

That, to bend a phrase of Bill Clinton’s, depends on what the nature of nature is. If nature means continuing to melt the globe by wantonly burning fossil fuel  (go to article)

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/energy/article/California-budget-triples-refinery-inspectors-460835 -- California would nearly triple the number of oil refinery safety inspectors under a proposal on the governor's desk that backers say would help close regulatory gaps that federal investigators found played a role in a fire at a Chevron refinery last year.

One of more than two dozen budget-related bills — all expected to be signed by Gov. Jerry Brown by the end of the month — would require the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, also known as Cal/OSHA, the state's main agency overseeing refinery safety, to make refineries in California pay for at least 15 new plant safety inspectors. Four more would be hired with existing funds.

The state now has just seven inspectors. The added help would bring the total to 26 under the new budget. Still, even a beefed-up staff likely would ...  (go to article)

MSN News -- A 67-year-old Canadian man was fined $800 and lost his driving privileges for 45 days after driving 112 mph to dry his freshly washed car.

BLACK DIAMOND, Alberta — He was drying off his freshly washed car.

That's what the Canadian man told the Mounties when they stopped him for driving 112 mph south on Highway 22 south of Black Diamond in western Canada.

The driver, a 67-year-old who lives in the area, appeared in court Monday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Tuesday the judge fined the man $800 and suspended him from driving for 45 days.
 (go to article)

Hawaii News Now -- Tesoro Corporation is selling the state's largest refinery and its 31 gasoline stations in a deal valued at up to $350 million.

The sale to Par Petroleum of Houston will avert the shutdown of the 94,000 barrel per day Kapolei refinery and will save about 200 jobs.

Tesoro says it anticipates completing the sale in the third quarter 2013, subject to regulatory approval.

Lawmaker hope the deal will make Hawaii less susceptible to future shortages and large crude oil price swings.

he deal comes nearly six months after Tesoro announced it was shutting down the refinery and would sell its gas stations and terminal facilities to a company that import gasoline to Hawaii.

The shutdown would have left Hawaii with just one refinery: Chevron's 55,000 barrel per day plant, also in Kapolei.  (go to article)

Reuters -- Koch Pipeline Co LP may build a 250,000 barrel-per-day North Dakota-to-Illinois pipeline to move Bakken shale oil to markets, if enough shippers show interest, the company said on Tuesday.

If approved, the Dakota Express pipeline would start up in 2016 with an initial capacity of 250,000 bpd, Koch said.

Last November, ONEOK Partners LP shelved plans to build a 200,000 bpd pipeline to carry Bakken crude to the U.S. crude futures hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, for lack of shipper interest.

However, Koch's proposal would bypass the glutted hub for a different route to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries.

Koch said the company also will explore connecting to the proposed Eastern Gulf Crude Access Pipeline in Patoka, Illinois, a $1.5 billion joint venture of Energy Transfer Partners and Enbridge Inc, whi  (go to article)

Associated Press -- Starting this fall, people who drive electric vehicles should be able to travel the 138-mile route between Burlington, Vt. and Montreal without worrying they'll run short of a charge thanks to a planned electric vehicle charging corridor, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin and Quebec Premier Pauline Marois announced in Montreal.

Initially the corridor will have more than 20 charging stations along the route, although it's expected the number of stations will increase.
 (go to article)

Global Research -- "The discovery in late 2010 of the huge natural gas bonanza off Israel’s Mediterranean shores triggered other neighboring countries to look more closely at their own waters. The results revealed that the entire eastern Mediterranean is swimming in huge untapped oil and gas reserves. That discovery is having enormous political, geopolitical as well as economic consequences. It well may have potential military consequences too.".........
 (go to article)

Fox News -- NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Three more employees of the truck stop chain owned by the Cleveland Browns' owner and Tennessee's governor pleaded guilty Tuesday in what authorities call a scheme to cheat trucking firms out of rebates.

Regional sales manager Kevin Clark pleaded guilty to mail fraud in federal court in Knoxville. Local media reported that account manager Holly Radford and salesman Jay Stinnett entered similar pleas later in the day.

Court records state Clark ''knowingly and voluntarily joined and participated in the conspiracy'' with others at Pilot Flying J, the country's largest diesel retailer, to short-change trucking companies between 2009 and this spring in order to increase Pilot profits and boost sales commissions.

Federal agents raided the privately held company's Knox  (go to article)

Financial Post -- Suncor, Canada’s No.1 oil company and now the biggest company by revenue, finished the first 3 months of 2013 on a high note, posting operating earnings of almost $1.4 B and cash flow of $2.3B

In the same week, it also declared a 54% hike to its dividend and agreed to buy back up to $2-B worth of stock in an effort to boost a long-suffering share price

The results followed a decision to permanently shelve its $11.6B Voyageur upgrading plant and then sold $1B worth of conventional natural gas properties in Western Canada

In 2002, 6 years before the bull run in commodity prices pushed oil past $147, Suncor ranked No.57 on the FP500 with revenues of $4.9B. By 2011, with the acquisition of Petro-Canada, Suncor vaulted to the No.2 with $39.6B. Last year’s take of $38.4B was unrivalled  (go to article)

Autoblog -- Chrysler made big news earlier in the month by refusing a recall request from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for the 1993-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee and 2002-2007 Jeep Liberty. Last week, NHTSA boss David Strickland countered by defending his agency's request for the recall of 2.7 million Jeep SUVs. Today marked the deadline for Chrysler to formally respond to NHTSA, and it seems that both parties have met in the middle with Chrysler inspecting and upgrading some of the affected vehicles without using the word "recall," which would constitute the admission of a defect; instead, Chrysler said that it is conducting a "voluntary campaign.  (go to article)

Houston Chronicle -- NOAA has released its seasonal forecast for the Gulf of Mexico dead zone — the area of low-oxygen waters off the Louisiana and Texas coasts where marine life has difficulty surviving.

The scientists predict the Gulf’s dead zone will be between 7,286 and 8,561 square miles. The high estimate would exceed the largest reported Gulf dead zone, 8,481 square miles in 2002. The dead zone typically peaks in July and August.

The dead zone is created by the delivery of excess nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, into the Gulf by the Mississippi from farms in the Midwest. These nutrients create large algae blooms which, upon decomposition, suck oxygen out of the water. In such conditions fish, shrimp and crabs are stressed and can sometimes die due to oxygen starvation.  (go to article)

Associated Press -- Chrysler abruptly agreed to recall 2.7 million older model Jeeps Tuesday, reversing a defiant stance and avoiding a possible public relations nightmare over fuel tanks that can rupture and cause fires in rear-end collisions.

In deciding on the recall, Chrysler sidestepped a showdown with government safety regulators that could have led to public hearings with witnesses providing details of deadly crashes involving the Jeeps. The dispute ultimately could have landed in court and hurt Chrysler's image and its finances.
 (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Gardendale, Texas, sits on the Permian Basin, the largest oil province in the United States. That makes it an unlikely site of anti-fracking protests and an even more unlikely bellwether for shale gas drilling activity in Europe and Asia. And yet it is.  (go to article)

InsideClimate News -- The grand old building in downtown Berlin has seen some of the worst of German history: aerial bombing in World War II, a close-up view of the Berlin Wall, service as communist East Germany's highest court. But on May 24 an ornate conference room in the Ministry of Economics and Technology served as the setting for the delivery of a report card on a new and more hopeful chapter in Germany history: the country's ambitious effort to run its economy on non-polluting energy.

Germany has gone farther than any other large industrial economy in decarbonizing its power sector. Already it derives more than 20 percent of its electricity from clean sources, and it's aiming to reach 80 percent by 2050. But the sheer scale of its Energiewende, or "energy transition," has caused skeptics here and abroa  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- The U.S. oil boom is moving Congress closer than it has been in more than three decades to easing the ban on exporting crude imposed after the Arab embargo. Advances such as hydraulic fracturing are leading to record production that may outstrip refinery capacity within 18 months to three years, said Benjamin Salisbury, a senior energy policy analyst at FBR Capital Markets Corp. in Arlington, Virginia. Net petroleum imports now account for about 40 percent of demand, down from 60 percent in 2005, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department research unit.

Congress has limited oil exports since the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo triggered shortages that pushed up prices and led to long lines at gas stations. An increase in domestic production last year by a rec  (go to article)

fox -- Two-time defending American Solar Challenge champion the University of Michigan is hoping for a lopsided win at the world's top sun-powered car competition in Australia this year.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/06/18/university-michigan-unveils-asymmetrical-sun-powered-racing-car/#ixzz2WbNGhYyh  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Even if U.S. President Barack Obamaapproves the Keystone XL pipeline, Canadian crude oil probably will remain the cheapest in the world, hampering expansion of the country’s largest export industry.

Canadian oil prices are forecast to fall compared with world benchmarks because production from oil sands, fields of sand coated with heavy oil beneath about 90,000 square kilometers of boreal forest in northernAlberta, is estimated to more than double to 3.8 million barrels a day by 2022. Keystone, the 1,179-mile link from Alberta to Nebraska first proposed in 2008 and delayed in part by environmental activists, would only briefly relieve the glut.

The prospect of prices staying below other types of crude oil risks undermining investment in the Alberta oil sands, the world’s third-largest r  (go to article)

NBC news -- CHENGDU, CHINA -- The assembly line crept along at a glacial pace. For the next few months, the workers at the sprawling plant on the outskirts of the Sichuanese capital of Chengdu will be carefully trained before the first cars roll into Chinese showrooms.

If all goes according to plan, the factory will be running at a frantic rate. Long viewed as an after-thought in the global luxury market, Volvo Cars aims to challenge more established brands like Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

At least, that’s the goal set by Geely, which purchased the Swedish maker from Ford Motor Co., three years ago. The ambitious Chinese conglomerate plans to invest at least $6 billion to rebuild Volvo, completely updating its product line-up and adding new plants to produce them, starting with the factory in Cheng  (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- In a journey that has lasted nearly half a century, spanned the globe and elicited awe from generations of car lovers, Long Island's Irv Gordon has a phenomenal achievement in his sight: driving 3,000,000 miles in the same car – a shiny, red 1966 Volvo P1800.

"It's not about getting to the three million miles; it's about the trips that got me to the three million miles," Gordon said. "I never had a goal to get to one million, to two million. I just enjoyed driving and experiencing life through my Volvo.

"The best way to explore America is by car," Gordon added. "I challenge everyone to go out and see as much as possible. Find your own journey and reason to believe because you only have one life to live. No matter how many...  (go to article)

Motley Fool -- Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA ) has made a huge splash with its all-electric Model S luxury sedan -- its first big move in its effort to become the electric-car version of Germany's BMW (NASDAQOTH: BAMXF ) .

But now, BMW is making its own first move on to Tesla's turf. Executives said this week that BMW already had 100,000 people signed up to test drive the all-electric car it plans to launch this fall. Is it time for Tesla to worry? In this video, Fool.com contributor John Rosevear takes a closer look at BMW's new electric car -- and gives his take on how it's likely to affect Tesla's sales.
Tesla's plan to disrupt the global auto business has yielded spectacular results. But giant competitors are already moving to disrupt Tesla. Will the company be able to fend them off? The Motley  (go to article)

Wall Street Journal -- The latest battleground is North Carolina, where the Republican-controlled state Senate last month unanimously approved a measure that would block Tesla from selling online, its only sales outlet here. Tesla has staged whiz-bang test drives for legislators in front of the State House and hired one of the state's most influential lobbyists to stave off a similar vote in the House before the legislative session ends in early July.
Stephen Voss for The Wall Street Journal Tesla 'galleries' such as this one in McLean, Va., can show but not sell cars.
The focus of the power struggle between Mr. Musk and auto dealers is a thicket of state franchise laws, many of which go back to the auto industry's earliest days when industry pioneer Henry Ford began turning to eager entrepreneurs to help sell  (go to article)

South Coast Today -- "Continued operation of the wind turbines ... in excess of the limit set forth in the DEP noise regulations, during the hours of 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., constitutes a nuisance which is injurious to the public health."  (go to article)

CNNMoney -- Chrysler Group will formally respond Tuesday to the government's request for a recall of 2.7 million Jeeps that safety officials say pose too great a risk of fire in a rear-end accident.
Chrysler stated last week that it will not comply with the recall demand, arguing that the vehicles are safe.

The automaker also claimed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's analysis is faulty and that most of the deaths involved high-speed accidents in which modifications to the gas tank of the vehicles would not have made a difference.

But if it does not comply with the recall, it faces the prospect of high-profile public hearings with testimony from both car safety advocates who have pushed for the recall, as well as the parents of children who burned to death in fires. Experts  (go to article)

Associated Press -- Legislators said Monday that a tentative agreement could provide $800 million for road and bridge work across South Carolina without raising taxes.

A three-part infrastructure compromise approved by a panel of House and Senate members would provide up to $141 million in state taxes toward infrastructure in the fiscal year that starts July 1. The measure was crucial for a separate panel reaching agreement hours later on the overall budget plan for 2013-14.

 (go to article)

Raleigh News & Observer -- When our legislators want to move fast, by golly, they move fast.

Take Sen. Neal Hunt’s proposal to let drivers go 75 mph on some North Carolina highways. It would bump up the state speed ceiling established 17 years ago at 70 mph.

 (go to article)

AP -- BAGHDAD — U.S. oil giant Chevron says it has signed a deal with Iraq’s Kurdish regional government to expand its oil exploration territory in the northern self-rule region.

The California-based company said in a statement emailed Tuesday that it acquired the rights to hunt in the Qara Dagh exploration block, which is located southeast of the regional capital Irbil.  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- The U.S. oil boom is moving Congress closer than it has been in more than three decades to easing the ban on exporting crude imposed after the Arab embargo.

Advances such as hydraulic fracturing are leading to record production that may outstrip refinery capacity within 18 months to three years, said Benjamin Salisbury, a senior energy policy analyst at FBR Capital Markets Corp. in Arlington, Virginia. Net petroleum imports now account for about 40 percent of demand, down from 60 percent in 2005, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department research unit.  (go to article)

Kansas City Star -- The United States, in a milestone that burnishes its growing energy reputation, for the first time in more than 50 years is exporting more gasoline than it imports.

 (go to article)

MarketWatch -- Futures prices for U.S. crude oil rose Tuesday, ahead of weekly data expected to show a decline in inventories.

Crude for July delivery added 24 cents, or 0.3%, to $98.01 a barrel.

Oil prices on Monday reversed course and fell 8 cents, with losses appearing to be triggered after the Financial Times reported that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke plans to say he is close to tapering the central bank’s $85-billion-a-month in asset purchases.

Bernanke is scheduled to hold a press conference Wednesday after the conclusion of the Fed’s two-day policy meeting, which will start later Tuesday.

Also, data due out later Tuesday are projected to show U.S. commercial crude-oil stocks declined 1 million barrels for the week ended June 14, according to a Platts survey of analysts.  (go to article)

Platts -- Global oil prices are unlikely to drop below $100/b until 2025, supported by OPEC's market management efforts and crude demand growth in Asia, Leonid Fedun, vice president of Lukoil said Tuesday, presenting key findings of the company's first public long-term global industry outlook.

"Under our estimates, prices aren't going to drop below $100/b, with the [oil pricing] dynamics to be determined by three factors...softening or hardening of the [US monetary] policies...growing demand [for crude] in Asia and, in the longer term, African markets, and OPEC's stabilization efforts," Fedun said in an interview with Russia's Business FM radio station.

The so-called shale boom in North America is unlikely to have a visible downward effect on oil prices, according to Lukoil's outlook, Fedun said.  (go to article)

AutoBlog -- CR, in a 27-page report ... estimates that drivers will save about $4,600 with the recently adopted Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards in place. CR basically figured that the average cost of a new car would rise about $2,000 but fuel use would drop enough to save $7,300 during the car's lifetime (higher taxes and maintenance will eat up the $700 difference between the gross savings of $5,300 and the stated figure of $4,600).  (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- With all the attention that the Bakken formation has brought to N. Dakota, it's easy to forget about Alaska.

BP recently announced Monday that it will spend $1 billion to spark crude production from Alaska’s declining North Slope, weeks after the state decided to give the oil industry a $750 million annual tax cut.

The company says it plans to add two drilling rigs to its Prudhoe Bay field, bringing the count up to nine, the highest in about six years. New well work and drilling, along with upgrades of existing facilities, could support 200 new jobs, the company said.

According to FuelFix.com, with the agreement of BP's 'working interest partners' at Prudhoe Bay, including ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp...  (go to article)

Science Daily -- Traveling alone in a large car can be as bad for the climate as flying, but driving with three in a small car could have an equally low impact as a train ride," says IIASA's Jens Borken-Kleefeld. A 1000 km trip alone in a big car could emit as much as 250 kg of carbon dioxide (CO2), the researchers calculate, while a train trip or carpooling in a small car could emit as little as 50 kg of CO2 for each traveler.

Air travel has by far the biggest impact on climate per distance traveled, because it can lead to contrails and formation of cirrus clouds that have a strong climate impact, as well as ozone. These mechanisms have a strong effect on the climate, but cause warming over much shorter periods of time than CO2.

The study focused on the short-lived greenhouse gases and aerosols emitted  (go to article)

Reuters -- Danish designer Henrik Fisker knows how to style a sexy car. Among his works is the BMW Z8, driven by James Bond in "The World Is Not Enough,"

The Dane's startup, Fisker Automotive, hasn't built a car in nearly a year. It fired most of its workforce, hired bankruptcy advisers and is seeking a buyer. Co-founder Henrik Fisker resigned in mid-March in a dispute with some of the directors. And despite raising $1.4 billion in private and public funds since its founding in 2007, the company is out of cash. For months, key investors have been footing the car maker's day-to-day expenses to keep it alive in diminished form.

An examination of the company's rise and fall reveals Fisker's finances started to unravel as early as June 2011, when the U.S. DOE cut off access to taxpayer-funded loans — a  (go to article)

Washington Post -- When we think of innovation in the energy sector, we typically think of companies exploring alternative energy solutions, such as wind , solar or even nuclear. But something very interesting is taking place with enormous implications for both U.S. economic policy and foreign policy. The latest report on the global energy industry from the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that the U.S. will become a net oil exporter by the year 2020 and energy independent by the year 2035. We’ll actually be pumping more oil than Saudi Arabia by 2017 - and pumping more than is needed to keep our economy moving shortly thereafter - and it’s all due to our remarkable ability to extract oil from places that never used to be possible. In short, technological innovation is making it possible for America to  (go to article)

Science Daily -- In the United States, gas is mined from horizontal, hydraulically fractured wells in the Marcellus Shale of Pennsylvania. The study compares the total input energy with the energy expected to be made available to end users.

"Our analysis indicates that gas can be extracted from shale efficiently, from an energy perspective. The energy return on (energy) investment ratio (EROI) does seem to be at least as favorable as coal," said lead author Mike Aucott. "However, a comparison with coal is difficult. There appear to be large amounts of coal still available. Estimates of the amount of gas available from the shale plays vary widely. It is not clear yet whether there is anywhere near enough to rival coal over the long haul."  (go to article)

THE BLAZE -- A few months ago we showed you “13 Unreal Photos” of what boring a New York City subway tunnel looks like.

Well, it’s officially time for a photo update on the MTA’s work that is going on deep below the skyscrapers of the bustling city.

These latest photos of the East Side Access “megaproject” that will connect the Long Island Rail Road to a new concourse under Grand Central Terminal were taken this month.

The MTA also reached its “final mile marker” for the “legendary project” that is the Second Avenue Subway this month, according to President of MTA Capital Construction Michael Horodniceanu. The milestone was awarding a $208 million contract, the last of phase 1 for the $4.45 billion project expected to be complete December 2016.  (go to article)

Asbury Park Press -- A first-of-its-kind plan to deliver offshore wind power to electricity users has been blowing in the wind. But developers seeking coveted ratepayer subsidies are re-imagining it as a New Jersey-only project, rousing new interest from gov't policy-makers.

The U.S. still doesn’t have any offshore wind farms despite years of discussion. Gov. Chris Christie signed legislation in 2010 to facilitate use of the technology here, spurring a group of investors including Google Inc. to pledge $5 billion to build a 350-mile underwater transmission spine from northern New Jersey to Norfolk, Va.

The retooling of the transmission spine to exclude service to other states — to route power only to New Jersey stations at Lacey, Jersey City and south of Atlantic City from planned offshore wind farms . . .  (go to article)

The National -- There seems no end to the stream of good news coming out of the energy sector.

After the International Energy Agency (IEA) last November hailed the United States shale revolution by predicting that the country would become the biggest producer of oil by the end of the decade, the compliments have now been returned.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA), the US government department that releases energy data, this week released a report updating on the world's shale potential.

The term shale revolution is shorthand for the enormous boost in gas - and increasingly oil - supply in the US and Canada, enabled by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, an extraction technique that releases hydrocarbons from previously inaccessible rock formations.

Oil and gas stuck in ungiving rock is not  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- TransCanada Corp. (TRP), which says Keystone XL will be the safest pipeline ever built, isn’t planning to use infrared sensors or fiber-optic cables to detect spills along the system’s 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) path to Texas refineries from fields in Alberta.

Pipeline companies have been slow to adopt new leak detection technology, including infrared equipment on helicopters flying 80 miles an hour or acoustic sensors that can identify the sound of oil seeping from a pinhole-sized opening. Instead of tools that can find even the smallest leaks, TransCanada will search for spills using software-based methods and traditional flyovers and surveys.  (go to article)

Automotive News -- Ford Motor Co. plans to revert to more traditional knobs and buttons in its MyFord Touch infotainment and control system.

The system has hurt Ford's ratings in several quality surveys. Customers have complained the system is bulky, distracting and overly complicated to use. Ford has issued several software upgrades.

Ford hinted at its plan to change MyFord Touch today in a press release touting improvements in the system's quality.

Ford's F-series pickup models already include the latest MyFord Touch system with more redundant knobs and buttons.

"A similar balance" is "planned for future Ford vehicles," the release said.

The automaker revealed its plans just days before J.D. Power's annual Initial Quality Study, which reviews new-car quality, is set to be released.

In 2010, the....  (go to article)

Popular Mechanics -- It takes Robert Stone's controversial new documentary Pandora's Promise 30 minutes and five apostate environmentalists, but it finally gets to the point: Nuclear power, the energy source many people fear most, is the best and currently only way to satisfy the world's voracious demand for electricity without producing carbon dioxide and other emissions that contribute to climate change.

Stone, perhaps best known for the Oscar-nominated anti-nuclear weapons documentary Radio Bikini (1987) and Earth Days (2009), about the rise of the modern environmental movement, paints himself as one of the converts. His film follows unlikely fellow travelers such as Stewart Brand (author of The Whole Earth Catalog) and Pulitzer Prize–winner Richard Rhodes (The Making of the Atomic Bomb). Once the scales h  (go to article)

Financial Post -- After 10 years of planning, recrimination and debate, proponent Enbridge, First Nations leaders, union and provincial government interests, environmental organizations, are putting forward final oral arguments before a joint panel of the NEB and the CEAA

The first day of the final hearings Monday was all business after an exhaustive process, pitted Albertans against British Columbians and has cost Enbridge alone so far nearly half a B dollars

Enbridge said the proposed oil sands pipeline from Edmonton to the N BC Coast is making enormous and costly commitments to avoid accidents and that the biggest risk to the country would be to not approve it.

Canada is vulnerable to its only market for oil, the U.S., deciding it no longer wants Canadian oil.

 (go to article)