Recent Gas News/GasBuddy Blog

The Christian Science Monitor -- Toyota announced a new recall on Thursday involving some 412,000 Avalons and Lexuses in the United States for steering problems. The recall is the second announced this month by the Japanese automaker.

Some 373,000 of the recalled cars are 2000-2004 model year Toyota Avalons. The vehicles' steering interlock system can develop a crack which can expand, making it hard to unlock the steering system when the cars are parked. In rarer cases, the steering wheel can become locked when the cars are moving.

In addition, 39,000 Lexus luxury LX 470s from model years 2003 to 2007 are being recalled because of a different steering problem. If the car hits a pothole or other large bump and then makes a hard turn, there’s a risk that over time the steering column will become disengaged...
 (go to article)

PR Newswire -- LOS ANGELES, July 29 -- Today, the Los Angeles Auto Show announced that more than 20 World Debuts are confirmed for the 2010 Press Days, Nov. 17 and 18. Many important North American premieres are also anticipated, bringing the total vehicle debuts to approximately 40.  (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- I didn't know how people in Louisiana and Florida felt about the Gulf spill. Its something you can't feel until it happens close to you, and this time, it did.

The oil spill in Marshall, Michigan is just a couple hours from me- and more significantly- the spill could impact Lake Michigan. Although no one wants to think about it or says its possible, the breaches that have already taken place suggest that the pipeline owner, Enbridge, has very little control and isn't doing enough to stop the slick from moving down the Kalamazoo River.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, lessons have already been learned via the Gulf spill. Almost immediately, the State of Michigan got the EPA, Coast Guard, and other federal and state agencies...  (go to article)

Detroit Free Press -- WASHINGTON – Federal regulators say corrosion tests done as recently as last year found “metal loss anomalies” along the pipeline that sent thousands of gallons of oil rushing into the Kalamazoo River this week.

Just two weeks ago the pipeline's owner notified the government it was considering replacing section of pipe rather than repairing it, regulators say.

Late Wednesday, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration or PHMSA – a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation – sent Enbridge Energy Partners Ltd a corrective action order in the wake of the spill, spelling out the steps that must be taken before the pipeline is reopened.

It also ordered that the secton of failed pipe be given to the National Transportation Safety Board for testing and a 20-year review  (go to article)

US Energy Information Administration -- Below, we discuss the attributes of algae that make it potentially attractive and some of the technological and economic challenges in algae cultivation, harvesting, and oil extraction that must be addressed before algae-based fuels can be commercially produced.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) estimates that the oil yield for a moderately productive algal species could be about 1,200 gallons per acre; compared to 48 gallons per acre for soybeans. The high productivity of algae could significantly reduce the land use associated with production of biofuels. 2.5 million acres of algae could produce 3 billion gallons of biodiesel, representing about 8% of all the diesel fuel used for on-road transportation in the United States in 2008.  (go to article)

US Energy Information Administration -- The U.S. Energy Information Administration weekly report revealed regional fuel price increases in the East Coast and Midwest drove up the national average overall. The U.S. average price for regular gasoline increased about three cents to $2.75 per gallon, $0.25 higher than a year ago. The average on the East Coast moved up two cents to $2.67 per gallon. The largest increase occurred in the Midwest where the average went up nearly four cents to $2.74 per gallon.  (go to article)

Windsor Star -- WINDSOR, Ont. — Mayor Eddie Francis and Windsor's 10 city councillors have been sued by the Ambassador Bridge Company for $125,000 each and accused of misfeasance, unlawful interference and conspiracy in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Councillors were served court documents at their homes.

"Nothing really surprises me as it relates to the Ambassador Bridge and their quest to build a twin span," said Coun. Drew Dilkens, served while playing a game of Monopoly with his son, Jack.

"I can't say I'm taken completely off guard by receiving something like this from them. They use their lawyers frequently and this is another example of them doing that," Dilkens said.

In nearly four years as councillor, it's the first time he has been sued, Dilkens said.

"It's never a good feeling t  (go to article)

CNN Money -- Exxon Mobil Corp. reported quarterly earnings Thursday that easily beat analysts' expectations on higher crude prices and improved refining margins.

The world's largest public energy company reported net income of $7.56 billion, or $1.60 a share, in the second quarter, up 91% from $3.95 billion, or 81 cents a share, in the same period in 2009.  (go to article)

CBC News -- A gasoline shortage at some Shell stations has spread from Alberta to southeastern B.C.
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Shell said it doesn't know how many service stations have run dry, nor how long it will take to get fuel to them.
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Several stations, starting in Alberta and now in B.C., are out of gas and have been for at least a week. Calgary and other places east of the Rockies hit empty last week, and the drought has spread to the B.C. communities of Nelson, Creston, Trail and several others.
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Shell acknowledges it has a supply problem, and that station owners have had to turn customers away.  (go to article)

http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=15njtgmen/M=340017.6230560.13810576.5028174/D=ca_news/S=96571761:HEADR/_ -- NEW YORK, N.Y. - Exxon Mobil Corp. said Thursday its second quarter income nearly doubled to $7.56 billion as oil prices increased from last year.  (go to article)

SFGate -- It took 40 years for the oil industry to get out from under the shadow of the 1969 Santa Barbara oil-well blowout, but just 100 days to cover itself with the dark clouds of a new industry-crippling accident.

Just weeks before BP's Macondo well blowout on the night of April 20, the Obama administration signed off on a plan to expand offshore drilling to federal waters off the Florida Coast and in the Atlantic Ocean. It was seen as a milestone for the industry, which had its activities largely limited to the Gulf of Mexico since the 1969 blowout sent oil onto California beaches and captured national attention.

Public support for offshore drilling hit a high-water mark just before the BP spill, too, as a Rasmussen Poll in early April found 72 percent of Americans in favor of offshore dr  (go to article)

Autoblog -- According to the American Petroleum Institute's (API) Monthly Statistical Report, U.S. gasoline deliveries for the first half of 2010 averaged 8.88 million barrels per day, 0.6 percent lower than the corresponding period a year ago. Though the drop in demand is minuscule, it does provide us with an indication that despite low gas prices and a rebounding economy, U.S. demand for gas continues to wane.

The numbers for the month of June paint a more vivid picture of our declining need for gas. June gasoline deliveries of 9.18 million barrel per day were the lowest level for any June on record since 2004 and were 0.5 percent lower than June 2009 deliveries. To gain a better understanding of the numbers, gasoline prices in 2004 barely cracked $2, whereas prices now sit at a nationwide averag  (go to article)

Washington Post -- Back in May, BP's chief executive told a British newspaper that "the Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean," and the vast amounts of oil and chemical dispersants dumped into it were small by comparison. After he said that, BP's well leaked for two more months. Hayward's upbeat assessment was cast as one of many gaffes committed on his way to resignation.

Now, 14 days after the well was closed and 100 days after the blowout, U.S. government scientists are working on calculations that could shed some light on Hayward's analysis (even if they can't shed light on why he said it). They are trying to figure out where all the oil went.  (go to article)

Battle Creek Enquirer -- Federal officials now estimate that more than 1 million gallons of oil may have spilled into the Kalamazoo River through Battle Creek, and the governor is sharply criticizing clean-up efforts as “wholly inadequate."

Tom Sands, deputy state director for emergency management and homeland security, said during a conference call with Granholm that he had seen oil past a dam at Morrow Lake. The lake is a key point in the river near a Superfund site upstream of Kalamazoo, the largest city in the region.

“It’s going to hit a Superfund site unless somebody like the EPA and the company get very serious about providing significant additional resources,” Granholm said.

Enbridge affiliates have previously been cited for skirting environmental regulations in the Great Lakes region.

 (go to article)

AP -- By HARRY WEBER and TAMARA LUSH, Associated Press Writers Harry Weber And Tamara Lush, Associated Press Writers – 25 mins ago

NEW ORLEANS – The government's point man for the Gulf spill plans to meet with coastal parish officials Thursday to talk about what's next now that the oil has stopped flowing.

Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said crews are having trouble finding patches of the crude that had been washing up on beaches and coating delicate coastal wetlands since the Deepwater Horizon  (go to article)

Edmonds.com -- "...An official statement released Wednesday said the company has received an "overwhelming response" from the public to the 918 Spyder concept. Earlier reports indicated Porsche had received expressions of interest from more than 900 buyers.

Porsche did not specify a production start-up date or a price tag, although widespread media reports in Europe have suggested the sticker could exceed $600,000.

Michael Macht, Porsche AG president and chairman of the board of management, said: "Production of the 918 Spyder in a limited series proves that we are taking the right approach with Porsche Intelligent Performance, featuring the combination of supreme performance and efficient drivetrain concepts....."  (go to article)

youtube - MSNBC - video -- According to Hugh Kaufman, the public just can’t handle the truth when it comes to the poisoning of the Gulf Coast. Kaufman, who played a major role in exposing the EPA cover up of the air quality at ground zero, stated that dispersants mixed with oil in the water atomize the oil and prevent it from coming from the surface where it can be skimmed instead it is in small particles.

Dispersants do damage by causing bleeding from orifices in both sea mammals & humans. When the atomized oil and dispersant gets into the bloodstream it atomizes your cells, and that is why there is hemorrhaging.

Now we have hundreds of millions of gallons of oil mixed with 2 million gallons of dispersant spread out over thousands of miles. We have to be very careful of the seafood which we have now poisoned.  (go to article)

mercurynews.com -- San Jose solar power system manufacturer SunPower has finished construction of a 1-megawatt solar installation at the Yolo County Justice Campus in Woodland.

Yolo County financed the $7.5 million solar power system with bonds subsidized with federal stimulus money and a 15-year $2.5 million loan from the California Energy Commission, according to a news release Tuesday and an e-mail from Ray Groom, director of the county's general services department.

With the state and federal support, "Yolo County has no out-of-pocket expenses to build this project, and will be net cash flow positive from the first day of the system's operation"..

The SunPower solar panels track the sun...generating more electricity than fixed panels.

..save money, create jobs and produce clean energy for ye  (go to article)

reuters.com -- It could be years before some Gulf of Mexico beaches recover fully from BP Plc's massive oil spill and are declared free of toxic pollutants, including heavy metals, that can make people sick, a leading environmental advocacy group said on Wednesday.

"This is an unprecedented tragedy and environmental disaster in the Gulf that is raising unprecedented questions about how to manage beaches and other parts of the environment," said David Beckman, Water Program director with the Washington-based Natural Resources Defense Council.

"We've never had to confront before the question of whether the toxicity in a wave wash is such that people should stay out of the water," Beckman told reporters on a conference call.

...group issued its 20th annual report on water quality at U.S. beaches.  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- OAO Surgutneftegaz, a Russian oil producer, sold three cargoes of East Siberian Pacific Ocean pipeline oil for loading in September and early October to Mitsui & Co. and Vitol Group, said two traders who participate in the market. The Vitol cargoes were moved on to U.S. refiner Tesoro Corp., the traders said.

Details of the sale are as follows:
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Crude: East Siberian Pacific Ocean pipeline oil
Buyer: Mitsui, Vitol (2 cargoes)
Quantity: 100,000 metric tons, about 730,000 barrels x 3
Loading: September, early October
Port: Kozmino Bay Terminal, Russia’s Far East
Price: A discount of 50 cents to parity to the Dubai
price published by Platts for the Mitsui cargo.  (go to article)

Houston Chronicle -- "The (House) bill continues to exploit the Gulf oil spill tragedy by including page after page of provisions that are unrelated to the spill, will kill jobs, establish a new energy tax and increase our dependence on foreign oil," said Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. "Reforms are needed to make offshore drilling the safest in the world, but they need to be the right reforms and based on facts."

'Gift from heaven'
Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, said Democrats viewed the oil spill as "a gift from heaven for their legislative agenda."

"I think they view this as an opportunity to push an agenda absolutely unrelated to the oil spill," Brady said, adding that fuel prices would rise as a result.

Democratic lawmakers who have championed parts of the spill-inspired legislation in the House  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Congressional Democrats proposed tougher rules for offshore drilling in response to the worst oil spill in U.S. history, while spurning calls to place a price on carbon emissions.

House and Senate leaders presented legislation yesterday rewriting oil and natural-gas drilling rules more than three months after a rig leased by BP Plc exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. The bills would strengthen safety and environmental standards for exploration in federal waters, give Congress direct oversight of offshore energy production, and require companies that cause spills to pay all damages.  (go to article)

Guardian.co.uk -- Images from the Gulf of Mexico suggest a once vast expanse of oil is breaking up so rapidly it may soon be invisible to satellite photography. But scientists warned today that underwater plumes of oil could linger for a year or even decades.

One hundred days after the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon, the US moved into a new phase in its response to the country's worst environmental disaster today.

John Amos, president of SkyTruth, an environmental satellite organisation, said the slick was "breaking up in more isolated patches. In the next few days, if there are no new oil leaks, we expect those patches to break down so that we can't see them in satellite images."

Amid the relatively good news about the slick, the justice department has stepped up its criminal investigation  (go to article)

CNN -- Where is all the oil? Nearly two weeks after BP finally capped the biggest oil spill in U.S. history, the oil slicks that once spread across thousands of miles of the Gulf of Mexico have largely disappeared. Nor has much oil washed up on the sandy beaches and marshes along the Louisiana coast. And the small cleanup army in the Gulf has only managed to skim up a tiny fraction of the millions of gallons of oil spilled in the 100 days since the Deepwater Horizon rig went up in flames.

So where did the oil go? "Some of the oil evaporates," explains Edward Bouwer, professor of environmental engineering at Johns Hopkins University. That’s especially true for the more toxic components of oil, which tend to be very volatile, he says. Jeffrey W. Short, a scientist with the environmental group Oc  (go to article)

TampaBay.com - St petersburg Times -- A pair of reports Wednesday — a long-term economic forecast from the University of Central Florida and a University of Florida survey — stoke concerns that the economic fallout from the BP oil spill will haunt the state for years.

"BP may have successfully capped the wellhead at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, but not before the oil spill put a cap on Florida's economic recovery," UCF economist Sean Snaith said in releasing a statewide forecast.

It predicts the leisure and hospitality sectors won't start growing again until 2012, lagging even an improvement in construction.  (go to article)

Salt Lake Tribune -- A small Canadian company, in need of millions for its ambitious plans, also is facing stiff opposition from two Utah environmental groups that are trying to thwart its efforts to build one of the first commercial tar sand mines in the country.

Earth Energy Resources, based in Calgary, Alberta, received approval a year ago from the staff of the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining to begin working a 62-acre deposit on the Uintah County-Grand County line.  (go to article)

Miami Herald -- BY RUSS BRIT

MARKET WATCH

LOS ANGELES — Oil giant BP PLC will reduce its contribution to U.S. coffers by roughly $10 billion due to a tax credit the company is claiming it incurred from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
BP said Tuesday that it is incurring a charge of $32.2 billion from the Gulf response, and as such, it is claiming a $9.9 billion taxation credit.
Asked in a conference call Tuesday about whether the company has discussed the tax credit with President Barack Obama's administration, outgoing BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward said, "We have followed the IRS regulations as they're currently written."Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/27/1749103/bp-to-claim-10-billion-us-tax.html#ixzz0v18Sphfb  (go to article)

gas2.org -- Plus, the Volt will supposedly be “loaded” with technology, have an eight-year/100,000 mile warranty on the battery pack, and a 5-year subscription to GM’s “Direction and Connection” OnStar service,...
turn on the Volt’s air conditioning from your office.

All of this sounds fine and dandy. But $41,000 for a Chevy Sedan? I guess that is the trend of things these days. Ford has an almost $40,000 Taurus SHO, and Dodge has has four-door sedans knocking on the $40,000 door for the better part of the past decade. It will be interesting to see how fast the pre-orders fill up, especially since Chevy is producing just 10,000 cars for 2011.

 (go to article)

CNN -- (CNN) -- Tourists visiting the Spanish island of Tenerife will soon be able to stay in the world's first bioclimatic holiday village.

Each of the 25 energy self-sufficient houses has been built to a different design using different technologies and will serve as a living experiment in sustainability.

The houses will double as science laboratories and holiday homes, with sensors constantly feeding back information on their temperature, humidity and air movement to determine which techniques are the most efficient.

The project, developed by Tenerife's Instituto Tecnológico y de Energías Renovables, came about after the region's president Ricardo Melchior Navarro said more needed to be done to protect the island's scarce resources.

Tenerife is in the Canary Islands, about 800 mile  (go to article)

AP -- Just over a decade ago, electric cars were expensive niche vehicles for gadget lovers and celebrities. Now, Nissan and General Motors are competing to sell the most affordable electric car to middle-class America.
The contest escalated Tuesday when GM announced it would start the Chevrolet Volt at $41,000. While it costs $8,000 more than the base price of Nissan's Leaf electric hatchback, GM is matching the $349-per-month lease deal that Nissan is offering on its car. Nissan Motor Co. countered by matching the Volt's eight-year, 100,000-mile battery warranty.
 (go to article)

Fox News -- ODESSA, Fla. - It's hard to believe that A.J. Vizzi spent nearly $200,000 defending his right to park his own pickup truck in his own driveway.

When he first moved in back in 1997, Vizzi was told that parking his large truck in the driveway wasn't against the subdivision's rules. But years later, the Eagles Masters Association, which governs the entire community, said it did violate their rules and therefore, the truck had to go.

It didn't end there. Knowing the truck did not fit in his garage, Vizzi decided to stand his ground.

The homeowners association sued Vizzi, and for two exhausting years, the two parties battled in court.

"They just didn't care," Vizzi told FOX 13.  (go to article)

The National -- China’s imports of Iranian crude oil fell by almost a third in the first half of the year, new figures showed this week.

Volumes have decreased just as new US and European sanctions threaten to disrupt energy ties between the two countries, experts say.

Iran shipped just over 9 million barrels of oil to China to the end of last month, making it China’s third-largest crude supplier, according to fresh Chinese customs data. That was down from 13.1 million barrels in the first half of last year, even as Chinese imports from Angola, Saudi Arabia and other major exporters rose significantly.
“In May 2009, Iran was the number one supplier to China,” said Afshin Molavi, an Iran expert at the New America Foundation, a think tank in Washington. “There is a lot of talk about whether th  (go to article)

CBC News -- Workers at General Motors in Windsor, Ont., will punch out for the last time Wednesday, as the automotive giant closes its transmission plant in the one-time heart of Canada's automotive industry.
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The plant, which has 500 or so employees, will assemble its final transmission Wednesday afternoon.
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GM was once one of the biggest employers in the border city, with more than 7,000 workers. The company facilities dwindled over the years to just one remaining plant, and in May 2008, GM eliminated 1,400 jobs in Windsor and announced it would close the transmission plant by the end of this month.  (go to article)

Montreal Gazette --
Hydroelectricity pilot project Underwater fans called more reliable, less intrusive than wind energy

Imagine if every time you flipped on the light, the energy could be traced back to a giant underwater fan propelled by the current in the St. Lawrence River.

The federal and provincial governments have invested nearly $6 million to test just that -a new subaquatic turbine that converts river currents into electricity.

The two turbines are to be submerged this week.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Turbines+submerged+river+this+week/3330688/story.html#ixzz0uzdzZSlQRead more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Turbines+submerged+river+this+week/3330688/story.html#ixzz0uzdjNjGM
 (go to article)

Bloomberg -- BP Plc’s disaster in the Gulf of Mexico will keep the planet’s biggest pot of untapped oil and gas under the Arctic ice for now as regulators toughen drilling rules and demand better ways to handle spills.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc has had plans to explore off Alaska halted by both U.S. authorities and a federal court ruling last week. Norway’s Statoil ASA faces government restrictions on drilling in Arctic waters, while BP, responsible for the Gulf spill that prompted scrutiny of offshore drilling, has put off developing its Liberty prospect in the Beaufort Sea until 2011. “There will be new regulations and requirements that we need to take into account,” said Hege Marie Norheim, head of Arctic development at Statoil, Norway’s biggest energy producer. “We all want to learn from the Gulf..  (go to article)

Detroit Free Press -- Thunderstorms are possible in the Battle Creek area this afternoon, but the National Weather Service does not expect problems for crews cleaning up the oil spill in the Kalamazoo River, which is already at flood stage because of recent rains.

"It's not going to be a major problem," said Bob Suttle, a weather specialist with the agency's Battle Creek office.

 (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- The Department of Energy released its weekly report on the condition of petroleum inventories in the United States today.

Here are some highlights:

Crude oil inventories increased by 7.3 million barrels to a total of 360.8 million barrels. At 360.8 million barrels, inventories are 12.9 million barrels above last year (3.7%) and remain above average. Supply at NYMEX delivery point, Cushing, Oklahoma increased some 100,000 barrels to 37.2 million barrels this week. Supplies at Cushing have increased for the third time in a month, and are approaching record territory once again.

Gasoline inventories increased 0.1 million barrels to 222.2 million barrels. At 222.2 million barrels, inventories are now 9.2 million...  (go to article)

Downstream Today -- The September futures price for a barrel of crude oil lost ground Tuesday on unfavorable economic news.

Oil settled at $77.50, a $1.48 decline from the previous day's trading, after The Conference Board reported a sharp drop in its Consumer Confidence Index for July. Based on a monthly survey of 5,000 U.S. households, the short-term economic indicator for July is 7.2% lower than The Conference Board's finding for June -- another down month. Adding to traders' concerns about oil demand was a Standard & Poor's report observing that U.S. home price levels -- despite some positive signs over the past year -- still do not appear to be recovering on a sustained basis. "The last seven months have basically been flat," according to an S&P executive cited in a statement Tuesday.
 (go to article)

Associated Press -- Pablo Gorondi, Associated Press Writer, On Wednesday July 28, 2010, 7:15 am EDT
Oil prices dipped to near $77 a barrel Wednesday after a report showed U.S. crude supplies unexpectedly rose last week, suggesting demand remains weak.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for September delivery was down 27 cents to $77.23 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Crude inventories jumped 3.1 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday. Analysts had expected a drop of 2.3 million barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

Supplies of gasoline and distillates also rose, the API said.

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration is scheduled to report its  (go to article)

Winnipeg Free Press -- CALGARY - A major pipeline leak in Michigan is marring what would be an otherwise upbeat financial report from Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB).
 (go to article)

Helium -- It has become ridiculous just how much we as a nation (America) have come to depend on our cars. Look around you the next time you are on the road and see just how few automobiles have more than one person in them. No one wants to share a ride these days. It might be an inconvenience to their schedule. I must admit I am just as guilty as the next person. Lately though I have been questioning why this is.

When my siblings and I were growing up on farm in east Tennessee we never had more than one vehicle at a time. There were a total of eleven people in my family and we lived a long distance from towns and stores. We rarely rode in the car unless it was something important. The two mile hike to my grandmother's house seem like a breeze and we made the trip several times a day when necessa  (go to article)

Channel 4 Detroit -- MARSHALL TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm has activated the State Emergency Operations Center after the spill of more than 800,000 gallons of oil into waterways in southern Michigan.

Battle Creek and surrounding Calhoun County are under a local state of emergency Tuesday as crews work to clean up the spill from a 30-inch pipeline.

Granholm says in a statement that the focus is "protecting Michigan citizens" and the environment.

Authorities in Battle Creek and Emmett Township were warning residents about a strong odor from the oil, which leaked Monday from the pipeline that carries about 8 million gallons of oil per day from Griffith, Ind., to Sarnia, Ontario.  (go to article)

New York Times By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN -- It is pretty much a tossup for me: Who poses a greater long-term threat to America’s Gulf Coast ecosystem: the U.S. Senate or BP? Right now, from what I’ve seen flying over the Louisiana coast at the mouth of the Mississippi, my vote is the U.S. Senate. BP at least seems to have finally gotten its act together and is cleaning up the oil spill. The Senate, in failing to pass even the most modest bill to diminish our addiction to oil and begin to mitigate climate change, has not even begun to do its job.  (go to article)

New York Times -- The oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico appears to be dissolving far more rapidly than anyone expected, a piece of good news that raises tricky new questions about how fast the government should scale back its response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

The immense patches of surface oil that covered thousands of square miles of the gulf after the April 20 oil rig explosion are largely gone, though sightings of tar balls and emulsified oil continue here and there.  (go to article)

KEVIN McGILL, Associated Press Writer -- A barge slammed into an abandoned well in a coastal inlet early Tuesday, sending a shower of water, natural gas and oil spewing about 100 feet into the air.

Emergency officials said about 6,000 feet of containment boom was in place around the site in a lake just north of Barataria Bay, which has already been fouled by oil from the massive BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

While there was no estimate of how much oil was spewing Tuesday, officials said the mile-long slick it created was small compared with the Gulf spill.

The Coast Guard said the towboat Pere Ana C was pushing the barge on Mud Lake when it hit the wellhead about 1 a.m. No one was hurt.

The towboat captain told investigators the well was not lit as required, Coast Guard Capt. John Arenstam said.

 (go to article)

UPI.com -- NEW YORK, July 27 (UPI) -- Crude oil prices
slid to nearly $77 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday, closing 0.59 percent lower with equities closing flat.

The dollar index was also flat, climbing just 0.07 percent.

News from the oil industry was dominated by Robert Dudley replacing Tony Hayward as the head of petroleum giant BP, struggling to deal with the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. On Tuesday, the news was temporarily eclipsed by a barge running into an abandoned oil well in Barataria Bay, sending a 100-foot spray of gas and oil into the gulf.

The accident took place in 20 feet of water, The Wall Street Journal reported.

September contract light, sweet crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost $1.85 Tuesday, dropping  (go to article)

Gas 2.0 -- What a difference a year makes. Just before Chrysler went bankrupt, I remember them rolling all of these could-be electric vehicles out. After all, green was in, and Chrysler needed to make itself look viable in the eyes of their savior, the Federal Government. So they gave us an electric Wrangler, a hybrid aspen, and the Dodge Circuit, a Lotus-based EV sports car. Dodge was so serious, they even made an EV division called ENVI to exclusively work on electric vehicles.

Enter 2010. ENVI is dead, all of Chrysler’s hybrids have been swept under the rug, and their plans for electric vehicles canceled. Bailout money well spent?
This piece in Automotive News (subs. req’d) gets into the nitty gritty, but the basic idea is that as soon as Fiat joined forced with Chrysler, all those grand electri  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Oil declined for a second day in New York after an industry report showed U.S. crude inventories rose and an index of consumer confidence fell more than forecast, bolstering speculation that growth and energy demand may falter.

Oil dropped the most in more than three weeks yesterday as the Conference Board’s sentiment index declined to 50.4 for July, the lowest in five months. Crude supplies increased 3.1 million barrels last week, the most in five weeks, according to the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute.

U.S. crude inventories rose to 356.3 million barrels in the week ended July 23, the highest in four weeks, according to the American Petroleum Institute report.

Gasoline stockpiles climbed 877,000 barrels to 222.3 million, a four-month high. Distillate fuel supplies, ....  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- About 27% of crude-oil production in the Gulf and 10% of natural-gas output is still idle because of Tropical Storm Bonnie, the U.S. govt reported.

Oil & gas producers report that one rig & three production platforms remain evacuated.

About 428,000 barrels of daily oil production are shut-in, along with 618 million cubic feet of gas.
“Offshore oil and gas operators in the Gulf of Mexico are reboarding platforms and rigs and restoring production following Tropical Storm Bonnie,”

The Gulf produced 1.6 million barrels of oil and 6.4 billion cubic feet of gas a day in March. The report on shut-in production is based on responses from 26 companies.

The Gulf hosts about 31 percent of U.S. oil output and about 10 percent of gas production, according to the Energy Department.
 (go to article)

nytimes.com -- The rapid growth of wind farms, whose output is hard to schedule reliably or even predict, has the nation’s electricity providers scrambling to develop energy storage to ensure stability and improve profits.

As the wind installations multiply, companies have found themselves dumping energy late at night, adjusting the blades so they do not catch the wind, because there is no demand for the power. And grid operators, accustomed to meeting demand by adjusting supplies, are now struggling to maintain stability as supplies fluctuate.

...But peak wind and peak demand times do not coincide, raising questions about how Hawaii can reach its 70 percent goal. For now, the best option seems to be storage batteries.

In New York and California, companies are exploring electrical storage that  (go to article)

Globeandmail.com -- By Nick Butler

Excerpts

"Three months on, the consequences of the Deepwater Horizon disaster are becoming clearer."

"... the cool long-term rationalism and global mindset of oil company boardrooms is inadequate ... Companies such as BP wanted to see the world as a single market, but in reality national interests still predominate."

We are entering a new world in which success will go to those who move beyond old visions of monolithic, centralised global enterprises towards new approaches built on partnerships and joint ventures attuned to local needs.

Over the past three years oil demand in Europe and North America – home to most of the industry’s existing refining and marketing base – has fallen. Yet Chinese demand rose by over 20 per cent last year. Demand in India is also  (go to article)