The average price of retail diesel has dropped to a record low — under $2 a gallon for the first time in 12 years, and gas is currently around $1.72 a gallon. The prices are tied to a huge supply of diesel and a warmer winter, according to the Energy Information Administration analysit Sean Hill. […]
Fuel Prices Expected To Swing Up And Down $20 A Barrel This Year
“Patience,” raising rates, or QE4?
It’s anyone’s guess… On Wednesday, March 18th, the Federal Reserve released an official statement and held a press conference regarding monetary policy and current economic conditions. In this statement, the Fed projected a decline in its inflation expectation, and revised projected GDP growth downward. These are both signs of a slowing economy, not the accelerating […]
Canadian industry jobs on the rise–in green energy sector–as oil and gas prices slump
As gas prices plummet and many O&G workers face unemployment in the upcoming year, a new report has charted the transition from oil and gas to green energy in Canada. Better prospects for jobs–sun, wind and water are more widely distributed across the nation than oil fields–and clean energy business opportunities exist in many areas that have so […]
Understanding cheap oil
On November 28, following the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) meeting, oil proceeded to plunge over 10 percent. At the meeting, OPEC decided not to cut production, in order to match demand, but continue to overproduce and drive the price lower. OPEC by its very nature is a cartel, a group of companies […]
Fracking and the future – shale gas in the UK
The debate about hydraulic fracturing for shale gas exploitation (fracking) has been raging constantly in the UK since 2007 when the prospect of drilling for shale gas was first proposed. Since then, the British government, having looked at the US experience and decided that it wants a piece of the action, has embraced the idea. […]
Russia scraps Europe pipeline, talks Turkey
Russia’s proposed South Stream pipeline–which would connect Russia to southern Europe without crossing Ukraine–was scrapped Monday in the wake of EU objections to the project. Instead, Russia is naming Turkey as its preferred piped gas partner. Russia has been for several years in the planning stage for an undersea pipeline to that would feed 63 billion cubic meters […]
China $12bn deal for Nigerian coast railway–China’s biggest overseas contract
A railway stretching over 850 miles (1,400 km) along the Nigerian coast is being taken on by China. Chinese officials announced this week that the $12bn contract was China’s biggest ever overseas contract. The project is being undertaken by China Civil Engineering Group Co., Ltd. (CCECC), a subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corporation Limited. The railway will cross […]
China: Renewable Energy Goal Missed for First Time
China has cut forecasts for offshore wind power installations by 60 percent–the nation had projected 5,000 megawatts of capacity by 2015 and 30,000 megawatts by 2020, but has reassessed its ambitions. China now aims to install approximately 2,000 megawatts of capacity by 2015 and 10,000 by 2020. “The pace and scale of offshore wind are […]
World’s First Big Carbon Capture Coal Plant Will Sequester 90% Of Its Emissions
In the Canadian province of Saskatchewan the world’s first big carbon capture coal power plant has begun. The project will sequester almost all of its emissions–about a million tons of carbon per year. Canadian utility SaskPower is undertaking the project at the 110 megawatt Boundary Dam power station near Estevan, Saskatchewan, where it will retrofit […]
Pennsylvania Releases Information About Fracking Contamination for First Time: 243 Cases of Private Drinking Water Contamination Revealed
The state of Pennsylvania has made its first admission that oil and gas drilling operations in the state have been contaminating private drinking wells for years. The state made public 243 cases of contamination in 22 counties which had remained unreported since 2008–the first year of the Marcellus shale play boom. “This is something that should […]
US States Do Not Measure Amount of Gas Burned at Fracking Sites, Equivalent to the Emissions of Millions of Cars, and It May Be Illegal
The amount of gas burned by fracking flares in Texas and North Dakota is not measured by the states, according to a new report by Ecowatch, which also found that the amount of gas burned in just two shale plays was equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions produced by 1.5 million cars. This burned gas […]
Fracking Can Be Banned by Local Communities, Says New York’s Highest Court
Local communities have the power to use local zoning laws to ban heavy industry, such as oil and gas production and fracking, according to New York’s Court of Appeals Monday. The state’s highest court ruled in a 5-2 decision that the towns of Dryden and Middlefield could ban such industry within municipal borders. “Today the […]