Oil
Jan 25th, 2011
Biofuels
Overview
From the earliest days of internal-combustion engines, technological visionaries dreamed that engines would run on fuel made from plants. Experiments conducted in the 19th century showed that it was possible, and both Henry Ford and Rudolf Diesel supported the notion. Interest has waxed and waned for decades. These days, it is running high once again,...
Jan 17th, 2011
Crude Oil Falls to $91
The price of crude oil falls today to $ 91 a barrel, as the movements of the Chinese government against the overheating of the economy supply estimates for a reduction in crude demand. In February’s delivery contracts, the price fell to 48 cents to $ 91.06. During the last year, it writes profits of 17%....
Nov 8th, 2010
OIL FUTURES: Crude Hits 25-Month High Despite Dollar Strength
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures hit a 25-month high in Asian trading Monday despite the U.S. dollar strengthening against the euro, though it pared those gains after the greenback’s rise became significant.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in December traded at $86.96 a barrel at 0609 GMT, up 11...
Jul 13th, 2010
BP Oil Spill: New Cap ‘Successfully Installed’ on Leaking Well
BP to begin tests to close valves on new containment cap in Gulf of Mexico and hopes to temporarily stop oil gushing from wellhead
BP has fitted a larger, tighter-fitting containment cap on the ruptured Gulf of Mexico wellhead that has been gushing with oil since the Deepwater Horizon explosion on 20 April.Crude oil continues to...
Jun 16th, 2010
Fabric Could Help Clean Up US Oil Spill
A company from Switzerland which produces a fabric used for absorbing oil said on Tuesday that it had been visited by US officials, after claiming that it could aid in the clean-up effort in the Gulf of Mexico.
Carlo Centonze, chief executive of HeiQ Materials, said the company had received a visit from US army and...
Jun 16th, 2010
US Projects Receive Funds to Demonstrate Carbon Capture
Three projects in the US have been selected to receive up to $612m (£414m) from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - matched by $368m in private funding - to demonstrate large-scale carbon capture and storage from industrial sources.
Two of the three projects will use the stored CO2 for enhancing the recovery of oil, while...
Jun 16th, 2010
Oil Crops Production is Actively Promoted in Kazakhstan
Key products of Fat-and-oil industry are vegetable oil, margarine, cooking butter. Raw materials for these products are seeds and fruits of oil crops, including sunflower, soy, rape, safflower, maize, lint, etc.
Kazakhstan is a traditionally crop country. In 2009 just 5.5% of the total cultivation area was used for oil crops, that is 1.5% more then...
May 5th, 2010
America Holds Its Breath as Race to Halt Oil Leak Goes On
CALMER seas in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday helped efforts to fight the growing oil slick but gave little comfort to coastal residents waiting to find out when and where it would hit land.
So far only light surface oil, called sheens, have reached some coastal waters in the south-east United States, and the oil’s slow...
Mar 23rd, 2010
Enbridge Pushes into U.S. Natural Gas Liquids
Enbridge Inc. plans to expand into the natural gas liquids shipping business, tapping the potentially huge resources of the U.S. Marcellus shale gas play to fill fractioning plants in the U.S. Midwest.
The oil pipeline giant said Monday it will hold an open season mid-year to gauge interest from producers in the Pennsylvania-West Virginia region in...
Mar 22nd, 2010
U.S. Government Exposes Its Own Oil Supply And Demand Data To Be Completely Flawed
The Department of Energy has just released a study that found ‘critical shortcomings’ in U.S. oil inventory data.
The documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, expose several errors in the Energy Information Agency’s weekly oil report, including one in September that was large enough to cause a jump in oil prices, and a...
Mar 19th, 2010
Oil prices retreat as US dollar strengthens
NEW YORK, (Xinhua) — Oil prices dipped yesterday as the US dollar strengthened against the euro.
The dollar gained against the euro as the single currency was hit by a report saying Greece is not hopeful of receiving aid from euro zone members.
The stronger dollar pressures oil and commodity prices by making them more expensive for...
Mar 17th, 2010
ENERGY-LATIN AMERICA: Moving Towards Renewables
BUENOS AIRES - Argentina is building its first solar energy park in the northwestern province of San Juan. The project calls for the manufacture of photovoltaic panels to supply the rest of the country and the other member countries of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur).
In Mexico, meanwhile, plans are under way to achieve 25 percent...
Feb 19th, 2010
Oil falls to near $78 on US dollar rally
Oil falls to near $78 in Europe as Fed emergency loans rate hike triggers dollar rally
Pablo Gorondi, Associated Press Writer, On Friday February 19, 2010, 6:56 am EST
Oil prices fell to near $78 a barrel Friday after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s unexpected hike to interest rates for emergency loans to banks boosted the dollar,...
Feb 19th, 2010
EDG Fuels to open biodiesel plant
EDG Fuels is due to open a new biodiesel plant on 13 March 2010, based in Tucson, Arizona, US.
The facility will begin operations by producing 3 million gallons of biodiesel a year and it is hoped this will expand to 6 million gallons the following year.
Used cooking oil will be collected and converted into biodiesel.
According...
Feb 12th, 2010
Crude oil, gold stay down after U.S. retail sales
NEW YORK — Crude oil and gold futures stayed lower early Friday, after the government reported U.S. retail sales rose a bigger than expected 0.5% in January. Crude oil for March delivery was down $1.26, or 1.7%, at $74.02 a barrel. Gold for April delivery fell 7 cents, or 0.6%, at $1,087.90 an ounce.
Source:...
Feb 2nd, 2010
US Gas Consumption Down, Biofuels Replacing Oil
Three years ago, petroleum-based gasoline consumption was the highest the U.S. had ever seen. But thanks in part to biofuels, including biodiesel and ethanol, the amount of gas we use has actually gone down since the peak of 2007.
This article in the Kansas City Star says that while the recession and the increased popularity of...
Jan 21st, 2010
Synthetic Genomics and EMRE to Develop Biofuels
US firm Synthetic Genomics (SGI) has signed a multi-year research and development agreement with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering (EMRE) to develop biofuel products.
Under the agreement, SGI will receive more than $300m from EMRE to develop biofuel products using photosynthetic algae, according to SGI.
SGI will use its proprietary technologies in genomics, metagenomics, synthetic genomics and genome...
Jan 18th, 2010
Plans for 1,800-mile ethanol pipeline across eastern U.S. unveiled
These numbers describe a new ethanol pipeline plan unveiled last week by Poet Ethanol Products and Magellan Midstream Partners. If built, this would be the first long-distance pipeline in the U.S. (pictured above is the Trans Alaska-Alyeska Oil Pipeline) and would run from the midwest to the east coast. In some areas, the biofuel pine...
Dec 28th, 2009
Oil prices rise on larger-than-expected drop in US energy stocks, OPEC oil
Oil prices ended the previous week on an optimistic note, rising by over a dollar as energy stockpiles showed a larger than expected drop amid an intense cold wave in USA. New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, rose by US$1.38 to US$78.05, while London’s Brent North Sea crude for...
Dec 24th, 2009
Petro Giants of Brazil, China Sign MoU on Feasibility of Ethanol Projects
Brazil’s state-owned oil and gas conglomerate Petrobras on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chinese oil giant PetroChina to assess the technical and economic feasiblity of launching ethanol production projects in Brazil.
According to the document, projects of ethanol production in Brazil would be developed in partnership between PetroChina and Petrobras’ subsidiary, Petrobras...