A Philippine warship is in a standoff in the South China Sea with Chinese vessels after they blocked the arrest of Chinese fishermen in the disputed waters.
Philippine personnel attempting to arrest fishermen aboard eight boats on the Scarborough Shoal were blocked by two Chinese surveillance ships, the foreign affairs department in Manila said in an e-mailed statement today. The Philippines summoned the Chinese envoy in Manila to seek a “diplomatic solution,” it said.
The latest tension follows a push by the Philippines for Southeast Asian nations to take a common position regarding territorial disputes in the South China Sea. China used patrol boats last year to disrupt hydrocarbon survey activities in waters it claims, chasing away a ship working for Forum Energy Plc (FEP) off the Philippines and slicing cables of a survey vessel doing work for Vietnam.
The Chinese fishermen were first spotted in the area on April 8, according to the Philippine statement, which referred to the waters as “an integral part of Philippine territory.” Philippine Foreign Affairs SecretaryAlbert del Rosario asked China’s ambassador in Manila, Ma Keqing, to discuss the issue this morning, the statement said.
The South China Sea contains oil reserves that may total as much as 213 billion barrels, according to Chinese studies cited in 2008 by the U.S. Energy Information Agency. The Philippines said in January it’s ready to host a summit to help resolve territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
The Scarborough Shoal is within the Philippines’ 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, today’s statement said.
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Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Saturday, April 7, 2012
No Big Govt; Less Taxes; Stop Subsidies... I mean unless they're agricultural or for the oil industry; squeals TEXAS!!! The lone star state with its hand out.
Farm Subsidies….Gaines County Texas 2nd largest recipient of Federal Agricultural Funding but votes against Federal Handouts … hmm like farm subsidies…”oh no, we deserve those!”
The political shift hasn’t stopped the flow of payments to the county’s cotton and peanut growers who have relied on aid dating to the 1930s Dust Bowl and Great Depression. Gaines County farmers took $797 million in payments from 1995 to 2010, including price supports, soil-conservation programs and crop- failure compensation, according to a database compiled by Washington-based lobby the Environmental Working Group. That puts it second in the nation behind Fresno County, California, as a recipient of federal funds.
Farmers use the programs mainly to give banks confidence that the loans to finance planned crops will be paid back regardless of weather or commodity prices, says Delmon Ellison, Jr. who farms 4,000 acres of cotton, peanuts and wheat in the area.
The political shift hasn’t stopped the flow of payments to the county’s cotton and peanut growers who have relied on aid dating to the 1930s Dust Bowl and Great Depression. Gaines County farmers took $797 million in payments from 1995 to 2010, including price supports, soil-conservation programs and crop- failure compensation, according to a database compiled by Washington-based lobby the Environmental Working Group. That puts it second in the nation behind Fresno County, California, as a recipient of federal funds.
Farmers use the programs mainly to give banks confidence that the loans to finance planned crops will be paid back regardless of weather or commodity prices, says Delmon Ellison, Jr. who farms 4,000 acres of cotton, peanuts and wheat in the area.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Bakken trumps Prudhoe!!!!
You'll know the U.S. energy industry is really on the rebound when North Dakota's newfangled Bakken oil field starts pumping more crude than Alaska's stalwart Prudhoe Bay. Energy experts expect it to happen in 2012.
Dwindling production from the once-mighty Alaskan field has been a symbol of what was once seen as the slow, inexorable decline of U.S. oil. But new technologies have turned that overall decline into an increase, led by the Bakken shale, which in July produced 424,000 barrels a day, to Alaska's 453,000.
Dwindling production from the once-mighty Alaskan field has been a symbol of what was once seen as the slow, inexorable decline of U.S. oil. But new technologies have turned that overall decline into an increase, led by the Bakken shale, which in July produced 424,000 barrels a day, to Alaska's 453,000.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Might just be a bull market....
Oil rose to the highest in almost three months in New York before European leaders meet to agree on a blueprint to tackle the region’s sovereign debt crisis.
Prices climbed as much as 0.4 percent, gaining for a fourth day. European government heads will hold a summit today to agree on a plan to rein in a crisis that threatens to curb economic growth and slow demand for commodities. December futures traded at a premium to the January contract, a so-called backwardation that typically signals an increase in demand or decline in supply in the near term.
“The market has run up quite a lot in advance” of the summit, said Ric Spooner, a chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney. “The market has been re-pricing a view that we might be looking at a low-growth environment, rather than a recessionary environment.”
Crude oil for December delivery was at $93.49 a barrel, up 32 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 3:33 p.m. Sydney time. The contract yesterday increased 2.1 percent to $93.17, the highest settlement since Aug. 2. Prices are up 2.3 percent this year.
December futures were at a 19-cent premium to January, compared with 24 cents at yesterday’s close. The front-month contract on Oct. 24 settled higher than the next month for the first time since Nov. 20, 2008, after U.S. stockpiles shrank.
Prices climbed as much as 0.4 percent, gaining for a fourth day. European government heads will hold a summit today to agree on a plan to rein in a crisis that threatens to curb economic growth and slow demand for commodities. December futures traded at a premium to the January contract, a so-called backwardation that typically signals an increase in demand or decline in supply in the near term.
“The market has run up quite a lot in advance” of the summit, said Ric Spooner, a chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney. “The market has been re-pricing a view that we might be looking at a low-growth environment, rather than a recessionary environment.”
Crude oil for December delivery was at $93.49 a barrel, up 32 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 3:33 p.m. Sydney time. The contract yesterday increased 2.1 percent to $93.17, the highest settlement since Aug. 2. Prices are up 2.3 percent this year.
December futures were at a 19-cent premium to January, compared with 24 cents at yesterday’s close. The front-month contract on Oct. 24 settled higher than the next month for the first time since Nov. 20, 2008, after U.S. stockpiles shrank.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Rent a supertanker or a fun nite at the Burj Al-Arab = cost about the same day rate...
Owners of supertankers, losing money for a sixth consecutive quarter, will probably idle the most ships in more than two decades as they contend with a glut that drove charter rates to the lowest in at least 14 years.
The combination of too many ships and slowing demand growth for oil means that about 6 percent of the fleet will be anchored in a year from almost none now, according to the median in a Bloomberg survey of eight brokers and analysts. That may not be enough to end the slump. Forward freight agreements, traded by brokers and used to bet on transport costs, anticipate rates no higher than $13,819 a day through 2013.
Frontline Ltd., the biggest operator of the vessels, says it needs $29,800 to break even. The Hamilton, Bermuda-based company will report its biggest annual loss in 12 years in 2011, analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg show. While owners can cut operating costs to as little as $2,000 a day from $12,000 by anchoring ships, it also means no income, said Andreas Sohmen- Pao, chief executive officer of the oil and gas shipping unit of BW Group Ltd., which is idling three vessels.
“When it’s this bad, eventually it wears people down a bit and some do get out of the market,” said Martin Stopford, the London-based managing director of Clarkson Research Services Ltd., a unit of the world’s biggest shipbroker. “To lay the ship up, you would eventually have to totally lose confidence in the market improving for some time.”
The combination of too many ships and slowing demand growth for oil means that about 6 percent of the fleet will be anchored in a year from almost none now, according to the median in a Bloomberg survey of eight brokers and analysts. That may not be enough to end the slump. Forward freight agreements, traded by brokers and used to bet on transport costs, anticipate rates no higher than $13,819 a day through 2013.
Frontline Ltd., the biggest operator of the vessels, says it needs $29,800 to break even. The Hamilton, Bermuda-based company will report its biggest annual loss in 12 years in 2011, analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg show. While owners can cut operating costs to as little as $2,000 a day from $12,000 by anchoring ships, it also means no income, said Andreas Sohmen- Pao, chief executive officer of the oil and gas shipping unit of BW Group Ltd., which is idling three vessels.
“When it’s this bad, eventually it wears people down a bit and some do get out of the market,” said Martin Stopford, the London-based managing director of Clarkson Research Services Ltd., a unit of the world’s biggest shipbroker. “To lay the ship up, you would eventually have to totally lose confidence in the market improving for some time.”
Monday, September 19, 2011
See what $100 oil can't buy you... ie if you live in the West
Saudi Arabia will spend $43 billion on its poorer citizens and religious institutions. Kuwaitis are getting free food for a year. Civil servants in Algeria received a 34 percent pay rise. Desert cities in the United Arab Emirates may soon enjoy uninterrupted electricity.
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries members are poised to earn an unprecedented $1 trillion this year, according to the U.S. Energy Department, as the group’s benchmark oil measure exceeded $100 a barrel for the longest period ever.
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries members are poised to earn an unprecedented $1 trillion this year, according to the U.S. Energy Department, as the group’s benchmark oil measure exceeded $100 a barrel for the longest period ever.
Friday, September 16, 2011
SPR release demonstrates healthy management of floor and ceiling approach to oil prices
It might not sound like much of a victory. The United States and other oil-consuming countries release emergency stocks of oil to put a lid on prices. The result: crude prices in London rise by $1 since the program began, three months ago.
But many oil experts say the strategic releases -- just the third-ever by a group of consumer countries -- were a major success. Not only did they likely avert a further rise in oil prices during the peak U.S. driving season, but they set a precedent for consuming countries to keep bullish oil speculators in check.
"The releases completely changed the psychology of the oil market," said Amy Jaffe, an energy policy expert at Rice University's Baker Institute in Houston.
"The move worked, as it has in the past, because speculators now have to worry that extra oil may come if prices reach a certain level. It showed they are willing to use the strategic reserves."
The program to release 60 million barrels by the 28-nation International Energy Agency, which formally ended on Thursday, was first announced on June 23, when it set off an immediate drop of $7 a barrel in Brent crude prices.
The program, led by the U.S. government, was controversial, with lots of oil market players deriding it as a political move to appease testy consumers, after U.S. gasoline prices rose to near $4.00 a gallon in May.
IEA's extra oil supplies may have helped accelerate a 22 percent slide in U.S. oil prices from 30-month highs near $115 in early May. U.S. crude traded below $90 on Friday.
While European benchmark Brent crude has bounced back to its June price levels, it has not come anywhere near a high of $127 a barrel reached in April, a price some economists warned could tip major economies back into recession.
The IEA releases came in response to surging oil prices and supply disruptions in war-torn Libya. As Libya starts to resume output following the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi's regime, the IEA says it sees no need to release more oil for now.
But many oil experts say the strategic releases -- just the third-ever by a group of consumer countries -- were a major success. Not only did they likely avert a further rise in oil prices during the peak U.S. driving season, but they set a precedent for consuming countries to keep bullish oil speculators in check.
"The releases completely changed the psychology of the oil market," said Amy Jaffe, an energy policy expert at Rice University's Baker Institute in Houston.
"The move worked, as it has in the past, because speculators now have to worry that extra oil may come if prices reach a certain level. It showed they are willing to use the strategic reserves."
The program to release 60 million barrels by the 28-nation International Energy Agency, which formally ended on Thursday, was first announced on June 23, when it set off an immediate drop of $7 a barrel in Brent crude prices.
The program, led by the U.S. government, was controversial, with lots of oil market players deriding it as a political move to appease testy consumers, after U.S. gasoline prices rose to near $4.00 a gallon in May.
IEA's extra oil supplies may have helped accelerate a 22 percent slide in U.S. oil prices from 30-month highs near $115 in early May. U.S. crude traded below $90 on Friday.
While European benchmark Brent crude has bounced back to its June price levels, it has not come anywhere near a high of $127 a barrel reached in April, a price some economists warned could tip major economies back into recession.
The IEA releases came in response to surging oil prices and supply disruptions in war-torn Libya. As Libya starts to resume output following the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi's regime, the IEA says it sees no need to release more oil for now.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Contagion stopped in Europe by China!!!
Asian stocks rose, helping the region’s benchmark index rebound from a one-year low, as oil and copper climbed, while the euro weakened toward a 10-year low against the yen before Italy sells bonds today.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.5 percent as of 1:05 p.m. after yesterday falling to the lowest level since Aug. 31, 2010. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures advanced 0.4 percent. oil gained 0.8 percent in New York, copper jumped 0.9 percent and gold rose 0.9 percent, Europe’s 17-nation currency slipped 0.2 percent to 105.42 yen. The cost of insuring Asia bonds against default snapped a three-day increase.
Italy will seek to raise as much as 7 billion euros ($9.5 billion) in a bond sale, after a government official said yesterday the nation held talks with China about potential investments in the euro region’s third-largest economy. The chance of a default by Greece in the next five years has soared to 98 percent as Prime Minister George Papandreou fails to reassure investors that his country can survive the euro-region crisis, credit-default swaps showed.
“The idea that the Chinese may step up and buy Italian bonds puts to halt the idea of contagion,” Jim Bianco, Chicago- based president of Bianco Research LLC, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “The big question is whether they actually follow through and buy Italian bonds.”
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.5 percent as of 1:05 p.m. after yesterday falling to the lowest level since Aug. 31, 2010. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures advanced 0.4 percent. oil gained 0.8 percent in New York, copper jumped 0.9 percent and gold rose 0.9 percent, Europe’s 17-nation currency slipped 0.2 percent to 105.42 yen. The cost of insuring Asia bonds against default snapped a three-day increase.
Italy will seek to raise as much as 7 billion euros ($9.5 billion) in a bond sale, after a government official said yesterday the nation held talks with China about potential investments in the euro region’s third-largest economy. The chance of a default by Greece in the next five years has soared to 98 percent as Prime Minister George Papandreou fails to reassure investors that his country can survive the euro-region crisis, credit-default swaps showed.
“The idea that the Chinese may step up and buy Italian bonds puts to halt the idea of contagion,” Jim Bianco, Chicago- based president of Bianco Research LLC, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “The big question is whether they actually follow through and buy Italian bonds.”
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Bahrain: More dead from peaceful protests
A 14-year-old Bahraini boy has died after being hit by a tear gas canister during clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces, the Gulf kingdom's main Shia opposition group al-Wefaq has said.
Activists blamed the police for the death of Ali Jawad Ahmad, who was among the protesters in the oil hub area of Sitra on Wednesday.
A police official told the state news agency BNA that the incident was being investigated, without saying how the boy was injured.
Bahrain has been in turmoil for the past few months since protests by the dominant Shia community broke out, demanding great freedom and political rights.
More than 30 people have been killed since the protests began in February inspired by other uprisings across the Arab world.
More than 70 per cent of Bahrain's population is Shia but claim widespread discrimination by the ruling al-Khalifa Sunni dynasty.
Clashes between police and mostly Shia demonstrators have become a near nightly event in the tense Gulf nation since authorities lifted emergency rule in June.
King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa said protest-related trials will continue.
Activists blamed the police for the death of Ali Jawad Ahmad, who was among the protesters in the oil hub area of Sitra on Wednesday.
A police official told the state news agency BNA that the incident was being investigated, without saying how the boy was injured.
Bahrain has been in turmoil for the past few months since protests by the dominant Shia community broke out, demanding great freedom and political rights.
More than 30 people have been killed since the protests began in February inspired by other uprisings across the Arab world.
More than 70 per cent of Bahrain's population is Shia but claim widespread discrimination by the ruling al-Khalifa Sunni dynasty.
Clashes between police and mostly Shia demonstrators have become a near nightly event in the tense Gulf nation since authorities lifted emergency rule in June.
King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa said protest-related trials will continue.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Go Southwest
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP said September shipment requests for its Trans Mountain pipeline, which moves crude and refined products to the western coasts of the U.S. and Canada, exceeded capacity by 62 per cent.
Subscriptions on the portion of the system delivering to refineries in British Columbia and Washington were 68 per cent over capacity, the Houston-based company said in a bulletin to shippers.
The Trans Mountain mainline system is expected to carry 270,045 barrels a day in September, up 2.2 per cent from estimated July shipments of 264,306, according to the notices received today and July 21.
The Puget Sound pipeline system will ship 134,773 barrels a day next month, according to the bulletin.
The 715-mile (1,150-kilometer) system runs from Edmonton to marketing terminals and refineries in central B.C., the Vancouver area and the Puget Sound region in Washington, according to the company's website.
Products also are moved to California, the U.S. Gulf Coast and overseas through the Westridge marine terminal in Burnaby, British Columbia.
Nominations for "advanced timing" shipments to the Westridge dock were oversubscribed by 8 percent, according to the bulletin.
Subscriptions on the portion of the system delivering to refineries in British Columbia and Washington were 68 per cent over capacity, the Houston-based company said in a bulletin to shippers.
The Trans Mountain mainline system is expected to carry 270,045 barrels a day in September, up 2.2 per cent from estimated July shipments of 264,306, according to the notices received today and July 21.
The Puget Sound pipeline system will ship 134,773 barrels a day next month, according to the bulletin.
The 715-mile (1,150-kilometer) system runs from Edmonton to marketing terminals and refineries in central B.C., the Vancouver area and the Puget Sound region in Washington, according to the company's website.
Products also are moved to California, the U.S. Gulf Coast and overseas through the Westridge marine terminal in Burnaby, British Columbia.
Nominations for "advanced timing" shipments to the Westridge dock were oversubscribed by 8 percent, according to the bulletin.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Nigeria: Christians and Muslims have shared the same soil for centuries.
None of the violence has to do with the revelations of Christ or Mohammed. The violence has to do with greed. Man’s desire for control and dominate shrouded in a veil of theocracy to exploit the weak and illiterate.
Several people were wounded in a bomb blast in Maiduguri on Saturday, a city in remote northeastern Nigeria which has been plagued by almost daily attacks from a radical Islamist sect.
"Three soldiers have been injured in the Saturday evening bomb blast that occurred close to the Palace of the Shehu of Borno," Hassan Mohammed, an officer in the Joint Task Force (JTF) told Reuters.
The Shehu is a traditional ruler in Borno state, one of the poorest regions in Africa's most populous nation, close to borders with Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
Witnesses at a local hospital said at least one body from the blast site had been brought to the mortuary.
Boko Haram, which wants sharia law more widely applied across Nigeria, has claimed responsibility for almost daily bombings and shootings in Borno, mostly targeting police, churches and drinking spots.
The JTF have been accused of using indiscriminate force in retaliation to the attacks, leading to the deaths of civilians and the destruction of homes. The government said there have been only isolated misdemeanors by soldiers.
The heightened clashes between the JTF and Boko Haram forced thousands to flee Maiduguri earlier this month. Violence has killed more than 150 people in the city this year.
Bomb blasts in the north have replaced militant attacks on oil facilities hundreds of kilometers (miles) away in the southern Niger Delta as the main security threat in Nigeria. The United States and European Union have condemned the violence.
Boko Haram strikes have spread farther afield in recent months, including a bomb in the car park of national police headquarters in the capital, Abuja, last month.
-----------------------------
“The car belonging to Goodluck Jonathan was stoned by mobs in Uganda,” said Fred Opolot, director of the government media center. “The security shot around the area, and one person was shot dead.”
It must be recalled that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Attahiru Jega declared Jonathan winner of controversial Nigeria April 16, polls. INEC documented that Jonathan polled more than 30. 2. Million votes, followed by distance CPC-candidate, Buhari with 10.3 Million of votes cast. Buhari draws majority of his support from Muslim Islamic States up North. Nigeria pre-polls and post elections were marred with rioters led by Islamic zealots in twelve Shariah Northern states. Reports say, more than 3,000 was killed culminating to the chaotic polls, with thousands currently displaced internally in Northern States of what is called Nigeria.
Meanwhile, between 3,000 to 5,000 Nigeria Youth Service Corps (NYSC) remain stranded in Bauchi alone, and other places, with many Corpers murdered in cold-blood by CPC-supporters and rioters. Curiously, the country appears divided by North and South. Coincidentally, Museveni’s victory in Uganda has been marred by massive protests by opposition groups who claimed the Uganda polls were rigged ruling party led by Museveni.
-----------------------
The violence in Nigeria cuts across 13 states, demonstrating the religious and ethnic tensions that divide Africa’s most populous nation.
Heavy gunfire echoes through the cities. Crowds burn buildings and tires and throw stones at security forces.
A nation endowed with vast resources is unable to evolve from barbarism = welcome to the 21st Century.
Several people were wounded in a bomb blast in Maiduguri on Saturday, a city in remote northeastern Nigeria which has been plagued by almost daily attacks from a radical Islamist sect.
"Three soldiers have been injured in the Saturday evening bomb blast that occurred close to the Palace of the Shehu of Borno," Hassan Mohammed, an officer in the Joint Task Force (JTF) told Reuters.
The Shehu is a traditional ruler in Borno state, one of the poorest regions in Africa's most populous nation, close to borders with Chad, Cameroon and Niger.
Witnesses at a local hospital said at least one body from the blast site had been brought to the mortuary.
Boko Haram, which wants sharia law more widely applied across Nigeria, has claimed responsibility for almost daily bombings and shootings in Borno, mostly targeting police, churches and drinking spots.
The JTF have been accused of using indiscriminate force in retaliation to the attacks, leading to the deaths of civilians and the destruction of homes. The government said there have been only isolated misdemeanors by soldiers.
The heightened clashes between the JTF and Boko Haram forced thousands to flee Maiduguri earlier this month. Violence has killed more than 150 people in the city this year.
Bomb blasts in the north have replaced militant attacks on oil facilities hundreds of kilometers (miles) away in the southern Niger Delta as the main security threat in Nigeria. The United States and European Union have condemned the violence.
Boko Haram strikes have spread farther afield in recent months, including a bomb in the car park of national police headquarters in the capital, Abuja, last month.
-----------------------------
“The car belonging to Goodluck Jonathan was stoned by mobs in Uganda,” said Fred Opolot, director of the government media center. “The security shot around the area, and one person was shot dead.”
It must be recalled that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Attahiru Jega declared Jonathan winner of controversial Nigeria April 16, polls. INEC documented that Jonathan polled more than 30. 2. Million votes, followed by distance CPC-candidate, Buhari with 10.3 Million of votes cast. Buhari draws majority of his support from Muslim Islamic States up North. Nigeria pre-polls and post elections were marred with rioters led by Islamic zealots in twelve Shariah Northern states. Reports say, more than 3,000 was killed culminating to the chaotic polls, with thousands currently displaced internally in Northern States of what is called Nigeria.
Meanwhile, between 3,000 to 5,000 Nigeria Youth Service Corps (NYSC) remain stranded in Bauchi alone, and other places, with many Corpers murdered in cold-blood by CPC-supporters and rioters. Curiously, the country appears divided by North and South. Coincidentally, Museveni’s victory in Uganda has been marred by massive protests by opposition groups who claimed the Uganda polls were rigged ruling party led by Museveni.
-----------------------
The violence in Nigeria cuts across 13 states, demonstrating the religious and ethnic tensions that divide Africa’s most populous nation.
Heavy gunfire echoes through the cities. Crowds burn buildings and tires and throw stones at security forces.
A nation endowed with vast resources is unable to evolve from barbarism = welcome to the 21st Century.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Delegitimizing Gadhafi regime...like we needed to!
The U.S. and more than 30 other nations including the Arab League on Friday formally recognized Libya's main opposition group as the country's legitimate government, giving the rebel movement a major boost.
The decision, which declared Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime no longer legitimate, gives his foes greater credibility and will potentially free up billions in cash that the rebels fighting Libyan forces urgently need.
Rebels, backed by NATO's air force bombings, control much of the country's east and pockets in the west.
Foreign ministers and other representatives of the organization known as the Contact Group on Libya said in a statement Friday that the "Gadhafi regime no longer has any legitimate authority in Libya." They said the Libyan strongman and certain members of his family must go.
"The Contact Group has sent an unequivocal message to Gadhafi: that he has no legitimacy and there is no future for Libya with him in power. He must go and go now," said British Foreign Secretary William Hague.
The nations said they would deal with Libya's main opposition group -- the National Transitional Council, or NTC -- as "the legitimate governing authority in Libya" until an interim authority is in place that will organize free and fair elections.
Contact Group representatives broke into spontaneous applause when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced her nation's recognition of the NTC, according to U.S. officials.
Meanwhile, the council's oil minister said Libya could be exporting 1 million barrels of oil a day within three to four months of Gadhafi's departure. He said the opposition hopes to hold elections within a year and resume oil exports very soon, saying the damage to oil facilities has been minimal and repaired. Allied multinational oil and service companies will expedite repairs and increase capacity.
And another Dictator soon to bite the dust!!!
The decision, which declared Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime no longer legitimate, gives his foes greater credibility and will potentially free up billions in cash that the rebels fighting Libyan forces urgently need.
Rebels, backed by NATO's air force bombings, control much of the country's east and pockets in the west.
Foreign ministers and other representatives of the organization known as the Contact Group on Libya said in a statement Friday that the "Gadhafi regime no longer has any legitimate authority in Libya." They said the Libyan strongman and certain members of his family must go.
"The Contact Group has sent an unequivocal message to Gadhafi: that he has no legitimacy and there is no future for Libya with him in power. He must go and go now," said British Foreign Secretary William Hague.
The nations said they would deal with Libya's main opposition group -- the National Transitional Council, or NTC -- as "the legitimate governing authority in Libya" until an interim authority is in place that will organize free and fair elections.
Contact Group representatives broke into spontaneous applause when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced her nation's recognition of the NTC, according to U.S. officials.
Meanwhile, the council's oil minister said Libya could be exporting 1 million barrels of oil a day within three to four months of Gadhafi's departure. He said the opposition hopes to hold elections within a year and resume oil exports very soon, saying the damage to oil facilities has been minimal and repaired. Allied multinational oil and service companies will expedite repairs and increase capacity.
And another Dictator soon to bite the dust!!!
Friday, June 24, 2011
Energy independence has a price...what's new?
Based on the oil industry’s plans, shale and other “tight rock” fields that now produce about half a million barrels of oil a day will produce up to three million barrels daily by 2020, according to IHS CERA, an energy research firm. Oil companies are investing an estimated $25 billion this year to drill 5,000 new oil wells in tight rock fields, according to Raoul LeBlanc, a senior director at PFC Energy, a consulting firm.
Key resource areas are the Bakken formation in North Dakota, Eagle Ford in Texas and Niobrara in Colorado and Wyoming.
Eagle Ford, is just one of about 20 new onshore oil fields that advocates say could collectively increase the nation’s oil output by 25 percent within a decade — without the dangers of drilling in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the delicate coastal areas off Alaska.
There is only one catch: the oil from the Eagle Ford and similar fields of tightly packed rock can be extracted only by using hydraulic fracturing, a method that uses a high-pressure mix of water, sand and hazardous chemicals to blast through the rocks to release the oil inside.
The technique, also called fracking, has been widely used in the last decade to unlock vast new fields of natural gas, but drillers only recently figured out how to release large quantities of oil, which flows less easily through rock than gas. As evidence mounts that fracking poses risks to water supplies, the federal government and regulators in various states are considering tighter regulations on it.
The companies estimate that the boom will create more than two million new jobs, directly or indirectly, and bring tens of billions of dollars to the states where the fields are located, which include traditional oil sites like Texas and Oklahoma, industrial stalwarts like Ohio and Michigan and even farm states like Kansas.
“It’s the one thing we have seen in our adult lives that could take us away from imported oil,” said Aubrey McClendon, chief executive of Chesapeake Energy, one of the most aggressive drillers. “What if we have found three of the world’s biggest oil fields in the last three years right here in the U.S.? How transformative could that be for the U.S. economy?”
In the most developed shale field, the Bakken field in North Dakota, production has leaped to 400,000 barrels a day today from a trickle four years ago. Experts say it could produce as much as a million barrels a day by the end of the decade.
The Eagle Ford, where the first well was drilled only three years ago, is already producing more than 100,000 barrels a day and could reach 420,000 by 2015, almost as much as Ecuador, according to Bentek Energy, a consultancy.
EOG began quietly buying the rights to thousands of acres in the Bakken and Eagle Ford after an EOG engineer concluded that the techniques used to extract natural gas from shale — fracking, combined with drilling horizontally through layers of rocks — could be used for oil. Chesapeake and a few other independents quickly followed. Now the biggest multinational oil companies, as well as Chinese and Norwegian firms, are investing billions of dollars in the fields.
The new drilling makes economic sense as long as oil prices remain above $60 a barrel, according to oil companies. At current oil prices of about $100 a barrel, shale wells can typically turn a profit within eight months — three times faster than many traditional wells.
But water remains a key issue. In addition to possible contamination of surface and underground water from fracking fluids, the sheer volume of water required poses challenges, especially in South Texas, which faces a severe drought and rapidly diminishing water levels in the local aquifer.
Dave Thompson, regional production superintendent for the oil company SM Energy said the industry knew that water issues were “an Achilles heel.” He said his company was building a system to reuse water in the field.
When we have oil, who needs to drink water? Right!
Investment ideas: EOG, CHK, SM
Key resource areas are the Bakken formation in North Dakota, Eagle Ford in Texas and Niobrara in Colorado and Wyoming.
Eagle Ford, is just one of about 20 new onshore oil fields that advocates say could collectively increase the nation’s oil output by 25 percent within a decade — without the dangers of drilling in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico or the delicate coastal areas off Alaska.
There is only one catch: the oil from the Eagle Ford and similar fields of tightly packed rock can be extracted only by using hydraulic fracturing, a method that uses a high-pressure mix of water, sand and hazardous chemicals to blast through the rocks to release the oil inside.
The technique, also called fracking, has been widely used in the last decade to unlock vast new fields of natural gas, but drillers only recently figured out how to release large quantities of oil, which flows less easily through rock than gas. As evidence mounts that fracking poses risks to water supplies, the federal government and regulators in various states are considering tighter regulations on it.
The companies estimate that the boom will create more than two million new jobs, directly or indirectly, and bring tens of billions of dollars to the states where the fields are located, which include traditional oil sites like Texas and Oklahoma, industrial stalwarts like Ohio and Michigan and even farm states like Kansas.
“It’s the one thing we have seen in our adult lives that could take us away from imported oil,” said Aubrey McClendon, chief executive of Chesapeake Energy, one of the most aggressive drillers. “What if we have found three of the world’s biggest oil fields in the last three years right here in the U.S.? How transformative could that be for the U.S. economy?”
In the most developed shale field, the Bakken field in North Dakota, production has leaped to 400,000 barrels a day today from a trickle four years ago. Experts say it could produce as much as a million barrels a day by the end of the decade.
The Eagle Ford, where the first well was drilled only three years ago, is already producing more than 100,000 barrels a day and could reach 420,000 by 2015, almost as much as Ecuador, according to Bentek Energy, a consultancy.
EOG began quietly buying the rights to thousands of acres in the Bakken and Eagle Ford after an EOG engineer concluded that the techniques used to extract natural gas from shale — fracking, combined with drilling horizontally through layers of rocks — could be used for oil. Chesapeake and a few other independents quickly followed. Now the biggest multinational oil companies, as well as Chinese and Norwegian firms, are investing billions of dollars in the fields.
The new drilling makes economic sense as long as oil prices remain above $60 a barrel, according to oil companies. At current oil prices of about $100 a barrel, shale wells can typically turn a profit within eight months — three times faster than many traditional wells.
But water remains a key issue. In addition to possible contamination of surface and underground water from fracking fluids, the sheer volume of water required poses challenges, especially in South Texas, which faces a severe drought and rapidly diminishing water levels in the local aquifer.
Dave Thompson, regional production superintendent for the oil company SM Energy said the industry knew that water issues were “an Achilles heel.” He said his company was building a system to reuse water in the field.
When we have oil, who needs to drink water? Right!
Investment ideas: EOG, CHK, SM
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Blink, let’s play chicken
For OPEC to be a reliable steward of oil supply and its flex – it must be responsive to world events and react in a manner that communicates its actions and intended actions clearly to consuming nations.
Thursday's announcement of a 60 million-barrel release from emergency stocks -- only the third in the IEA's 37-year history -- came after consumer nations unsuccessfully applied pressure on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase its output at a meeting this month.
The talks collapsed in disarray, but top exporter Saudi Arabia said it would still produce as much oil as the market needed.
As far as OPEC delegates were concerned, there was no justification for any action from the IEA.
OPEC delegates from the Gulf, which has traditionally sided with the U.S. and favored moderate prices, said it was unnecessary, unjustified interference.
"The oil price hasn't shot up to $150. There is no reason to do this. The market is not short of supply. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have been raising production, but there have not been many buyers. The IEA is just playing politics with the U.S.," one Gulf delegate told Reuters.
OPEC has yet to issue an official statement, but speaking at Reuters Global Climate and Energy Summit last week, OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri accused the IEA of being unprofessional.
"Strategic reserves should be kept for their purpose and not used as a weapon against OPEC," Badri told Reuters.
Badri's words recall OPEC's use of its "oil weapon" during the Arab Oil Embargo, which led to the creation of the IEA in 1974 to protect consumers' interests.
A more harmonious chapter began with the formal beginning of producer-consumer dialogue through the International Energy Forum in 1991.
Since then, OPEC-IEA dialogue has been happiest when oil prices were high enough to reward oil producers, but not so high as to alarm consumers.
In June this year, OPEC failed to get as far as a new production agreement. Iran, holder of the rotating OPEC presidency, was joined by six other nations in refusing to add more oil to the market.
They refused even though data from the OPEC headquarters in Vienna agreed there could be an oil shortage later in the year.
Saudi Arabia, which holds almost all available spare production capacity, is expected nevertheless to raise its output toward 10 million barrels per day (bpd) in June and July.
Could this be the Kings club trying to discipline Western Democracies into submission and we’re foiling their plans by using a reserve to dampen price spikes while the EU is dealing with a debt work-out and the US is trying to ignite its economy?
In all likelihood OPEC is trying to influence the US Presidential election. Not happy at the democratic initiatives of Middle Eastern citizens who have been supported overtly or tacitly by the West, OPEC is trying to drive up energy prices to crisis levels to prevent a second term Obama administration.
Perhaps flooding the market with petroleum and bring down to $50 bbl for a period of time would bring producers in line with the democratic reforms their consumers demand and citizens bleed for.
Investment play: conagra
Thursday's announcement of a 60 million-barrel release from emergency stocks -- only the third in the IEA's 37-year history -- came after consumer nations unsuccessfully applied pressure on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase its output at a meeting this month.
The talks collapsed in disarray, but top exporter Saudi Arabia said it would still produce as much oil as the market needed.
As far as OPEC delegates were concerned, there was no justification for any action from the IEA.
OPEC delegates from the Gulf, which has traditionally sided with the U.S. and favored moderate prices, said it was unnecessary, unjustified interference.
"The oil price hasn't shot up to $150. There is no reason to do this. The market is not short of supply. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have been raising production, but there have not been many buyers. The IEA is just playing politics with the U.S.," one Gulf delegate told Reuters.
OPEC has yet to issue an official statement, but speaking at Reuters Global Climate and Energy Summit last week, OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri accused the IEA of being unprofessional.
"Strategic reserves should be kept for their purpose and not used as a weapon against OPEC," Badri told Reuters.
Badri's words recall OPEC's use of its "oil weapon" during the Arab Oil Embargo, which led to the creation of the IEA in 1974 to protect consumers' interests.
A more harmonious chapter began with the formal beginning of producer-consumer dialogue through the International Energy Forum in 1991.
Since then, OPEC-IEA dialogue has been happiest when oil prices were high enough to reward oil producers, but not so high as to alarm consumers.
In June this year, OPEC failed to get as far as a new production agreement. Iran, holder of the rotating OPEC presidency, was joined by six other nations in refusing to add more oil to the market.
They refused even though data from the OPEC headquarters in Vienna agreed there could be an oil shortage later in the year.
Saudi Arabia, which holds almost all available spare production capacity, is expected nevertheless to raise its output toward 10 million barrels per day (bpd) in June and July.
Could this be the Kings club trying to discipline Western Democracies into submission and we’re foiling their plans by using a reserve to dampen price spikes while the EU is dealing with a debt work-out and the US is trying to ignite its economy?
In all likelihood OPEC is trying to influence the US Presidential election. Not happy at the democratic initiatives of Middle Eastern citizens who have been supported overtly or tacitly by the West, OPEC is trying to drive up energy prices to crisis levels to prevent a second term Obama administration.
Perhaps flooding the market with petroleum and bring down to $50 bbl for a period of time would bring producers in line with the democratic reforms their consumers demand and citizens bleed for.
Investment play: conagra
Friday, June 17, 2011
Baghdad Texas Tea
USA oil drilling companies will make tens of billions of dollars from the new petroleum activity in Iraq long before any of the oil producers start seeing any returns on their investments.
Lukoil and many of the other international oil companies that won fields in the auction are now subcontracting mostly with the four largely American oil services companies that are global leaders in their field: Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Weatherford International and Schlumberger. Those four have won the largest portion of the subcontracts to drill for oil, build wells and refurbish old equipment.
“Iraq is a huge opportunity for contractors,” Alex Munton, a Middle East analyst for Wood Mackenzie, a research and consulting firm based in Edinburgh, said by telephone.
Mr. Munton estimated that about half of the $150 billion the international majors are expected to invest at Iraqi oil fields over the next decade would go to drilling subcontractors.
The 11 contracts Iraq signed with oil majors, including the six for the largest fields, are intended to raise Iraqi output from about 2.8 million barrels of oil a day now to 12 million barrels daily in 2017. On average in 2002, the year before the United States invasion, Iraq produced only 1.9 million barrels of oil a day.
Most outside experts, including those at the International Energy Agency in Paris, are skeptical of the production targets. The I.E.A. predicts that Iraq will not surpass six million barrels a day until 2030.
Investment ideas: HAL, BHI, WFT, & SLB
Lukoil and many of the other international oil companies that won fields in the auction are now subcontracting mostly with the four largely American oil services companies that are global leaders in their field: Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Weatherford International and Schlumberger. Those four have won the largest portion of the subcontracts to drill for oil, build wells and refurbish old equipment.
“Iraq is a huge opportunity for contractors,” Alex Munton, a Middle East analyst for Wood Mackenzie, a research and consulting firm based in Edinburgh, said by telephone.
Mr. Munton estimated that about half of the $150 billion the international majors are expected to invest at Iraqi oil fields over the next decade would go to drilling subcontractors.
The 11 contracts Iraq signed with oil majors, including the six for the largest fields, are intended to raise Iraqi output from about 2.8 million barrels of oil a day now to 12 million barrels daily in 2017. On average in 2002, the year before the United States invasion, Iraq produced only 1.9 million barrels of oil a day.
Most outside experts, including those at the International Energy Agency in Paris, are skeptical of the production targets. The I.E.A. predicts that Iraq will not surpass six million barrels a day until 2030.
Investment ideas: HAL, BHI, WFT, & SLB
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Algae: Simply the best fuel for our present and future!
You can eat it, use it in cosmetics, fertilize with it and now fuel your car or plane with it – Algae!
Why Algae? Check out the Biofuel crop yields:
Soybean 40-50 gal/acre
Rapseed 110-145 gal/acre
Mustard 140 gal/acre
Jatropha 175 gal/acre
Palm Oil 650 gal/acre
Algae 10,000-20,000 gal/acre = abundantly clear!
I heard you…What does it cost? If the annual yield is 15,000 gallons per acre, then the cost of producing algae biodiesel $18.56 per barrel of oil equivalent. Very competitive!!!
Power station and other emitters of CO2 can capture emissions to increase crop yields.
Independence Bio-Products (IBP) of Dublin, Ohio has produced algae oil, which has been converted to jet fuel and then tested by the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. The algae was grown in open ponds in Ohio and harvested with IBP’s patent pending system. This milestone is a part of a federally funded project to examine Algae to Fuel (ATF) processing strategies. IBP founder and President Ron Erd stated that testing of the algae-derived fuel sample by the Air Force Research Laboratory has confirmed that the composition of the fuel derived from the Ohio-grown algae is similar to fuel derived from other plant oils such as soybeans, Jatropha or camelina—which are already being investigated as jet fuel precursors.
Since June 2009 the Algae to Fuel (ATF) project has been exploring the best strategy for creating, cultivating, and expanding an “algaculture” industry for Ohio. This effort has been divided into examination of three main areas: 1) selection of algae suitable for optimizing oil production based on climate factors; 2) development of cultivation systems (growing locations, harvesting, dewatering, and separation techniques); and 3) cultivation strategy (algae harvesting, processing into value-added products, etc.). This public/private technical effort has been jointly led by three Ohio organizations: the Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI) of Brook Park, the Edison Materials Technology Center (EMTEC) of Dayton, and the Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT) of Toledo along with several other industry and university collaborators, including IBP. The recent development by IBP represents the achievement of one goal of the federally funded initiative: to demonstrate the feasibility of deriving military fuel from Ohio-grown algae.
As we watch this play out, here are some algae biofuel firms that you should know about:
Solazyme: (SZYM) The firm uses synthetic biology and genetic engineering to tweak algal strains for better biofuel yields. Based in South San Francisco, the company grows its algae in fermentation tanks without sunlight, by feeding it sugar. The company is one of the few that have managed to do deals with a major oil company — Chevron — as well as biodiesel maker Imperium Renewables. Backers include Blue Crest Capital Finance and The Roda Group.
Blue Marble Energy: The Seattle-based company finds algae-infested polluted water systems, cleans up the environment, and turns the algae into biofuel.
Inventure Chemical: Also out of Seattle, this startup is working on an algae-to-jet fuel product, and told the Seattle PI that it has already created algae-based fuel in 5- to 10-gallon tests and plans to set up a test plant to see if it can produce between from three and 15 million gallons of biofuel each year. Investors are reported to be biodiesel company Imperium Renewables, Cedar Grove Investments, Brighton Jones Wealth Management and undisclosed angel investors.
Solena: Solena uses high temperatures to gasify algae and other organic substances with high-energy outputs. The Washington state-based company is talking with Kansas power firm Sunflower to build a 40-megawatt power plant run on gasified algae, according to the NYT; the algae would be grown in big plastic containers, and fed by a combination of sunlight and the sodium bicarbonate biproduct of the adjacent coal plant.
Live Fuels: Instead of attempting to convert algae directly into ethanol or biodiesel, this startup is trying to create green crude that could be fed directly through the nation’s current refinery system. The Menlo Park, Calif-based startup uses open-pond algae bioreactors and plans to commercialize its technology. Investors include the Quercus Trust (David Gelbaum’s well-known environmental funding group) and Sandia National Labs.
Solix Biofuels: Like Live Fuels, Solix is also working on a biocrude, but using a closed-tank bioreactor set-up. Based in Fort Collins, Colo., and founded in April 2006, the firm is backed by Colorado State University’s Engine and Energy Conversion Laboratory. The company has said that construction will begin shortly on its first, large-scale bioreactor at the nearby New Belgian Brewery, where CO2 waste produced during the beer-making process will be used to feed the algae.
Aurora Algae: Developed at the University of California at Berkeley, the company is using genetics to isolate exclusive algae strains that can efficiently create biodiesel. Aurora claims the technology can create biodiesel fuel with yields that are 125 times higher and have 50 percent lower costs than current production methods. Backers include Gabriel Venture Partners, Noventi, Oak Investment Partners (and angel investors include Auttomatic CEO Toni Schneider).
Aquaflow Binomics: The New Zealand company’s goal is to become “the first company in the world to economically produce biofuel from wild algae harvested from open-air environments.” Like Blue Marble Energy, the three-year-old startup sources its algae from algae-infested polluted water systems, cleaning the polluted environment in the process.
The publicly held Aquaflow used its algae-based biodiesel to run a Land Rover driven by New Zealand’s Minister of Climate Change. And it’s been working with Boeing on algae-to-bio-based jet fuel.
Bionavitas: Based in Snoqualmie, Wash., the company says it has developed technology for the high-volume production of algae using bioreactors. Check out their WIPO patent app for the bioreactor setup.
Bodega Algae: Roots at MIT, the firm has developed a set-up to grow algae in bioreactors with light and nutrients that it says is lower cost and more efficient than the current methods.
Seambiotic: The Israeli based firm produces algae for applications, including the budding biofuel industry, and is working with Inventure Chemical. The firm has been working with Israeli Electric Company, utilizing IEC’s smokestack for a source of CO2 and grows algae in eight open algae ponds.
In closing, with China’s appetite for energy continuing to grow and political turbulence rumbling across the world’s primary oil-producing region, oil experts say there is only so much that OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) can do to ease prices. As history has taught us time and time again supply lines of critical feedstocks and technology must be within the sovereign’s physical domain of control -- pass me the pond scum…
Why Algae? Check out the Biofuel crop yields:
Soybean 40-50 gal/acre
Rapseed 110-145 gal/acre
Mustard 140 gal/acre
Jatropha 175 gal/acre
Palm Oil 650 gal/acre
Algae 10,000-20,000 gal/acre = abundantly clear!
I heard you…What does it cost? If the annual yield is 15,000 gallons per acre, then the cost of producing algae biodiesel $18.56 per barrel of oil equivalent. Very competitive!!!
Power station and other emitters of CO2 can capture emissions to increase crop yields.
Independence Bio-Products (IBP) of Dublin, Ohio has produced algae oil, which has been converted to jet fuel and then tested by the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. The algae was grown in open ponds in Ohio and harvested with IBP’s patent pending system. This milestone is a part of a federally funded project to examine Algae to Fuel (ATF) processing strategies. IBP founder and President Ron Erd stated that testing of the algae-derived fuel sample by the Air Force Research Laboratory has confirmed that the composition of the fuel derived from the Ohio-grown algae is similar to fuel derived from other plant oils such as soybeans, Jatropha or camelina—which are already being investigated as jet fuel precursors.
Since June 2009 the Algae to Fuel (ATF) project has been exploring the best strategy for creating, cultivating, and expanding an “algaculture” industry for Ohio. This effort has been divided into examination of three main areas: 1) selection of algae suitable for optimizing oil production based on climate factors; 2) development of cultivation systems (growing locations, harvesting, dewatering, and separation techniques); and 3) cultivation strategy (algae harvesting, processing into value-added products, etc.). This public/private technical effort has been jointly led by three Ohio organizations: the Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI) of Brook Park, the Edison Materials Technology Center (EMTEC) of Dayton, and the Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT) of Toledo along with several other industry and university collaborators, including IBP. The recent development by IBP represents the achievement of one goal of the federally funded initiative: to demonstrate the feasibility of deriving military fuel from Ohio-grown algae.
As we watch this play out, here are some algae biofuel firms that you should know about:
Solazyme: (SZYM) The firm uses synthetic biology and genetic engineering to tweak algal strains for better biofuel yields. Based in South San Francisco, the company grows its algae in fermentation tanks without sunlight, by feeding it sugar. The company is one of the few that have managed to do deals with a major oil company — Chevron — as well as biodiesel maker Imperium Renewables. Backers include Blue Crest Capital Finance and The Roda Group.
Blue Marble Energy: The Seattle-based company finds algae-infested polluted water systems, cleans up the environment, and turns the algae into biofuel.
Inventure Chemical: Also out of Seattle, this startup is working on an algae-to-jet fuel product, and told the Seattle PI that it has already created algae-based fuel in 5- to 10-gallon tests and plans to set up a test plant to see if it can produce between from three and 15 million gallons of biofuel each year. Investors are reported to be biodiesel company Imperium Renewables, Cedar Grove Investments, Brighton Jones Wealth Management and undisclosed angel investors.
Solena: Solena uses high temperatures to gasify algae and other organic substances with high-energy outputs. The Washington state-based company is talking with Kansas power firm Sunflower to build a 40-megawatt power plant run on gasified algae, according to the NYT; the algae would be grown in big plastic containers, and fed by a combination of sunlight and the sodium bicarbonate biproduct of the adjacent coal plant.
Live Fuels: Instead of attempting to convert algae directly into ethanol or biodiesel, this startup is trying to create green crude that could be fed directly through the nation’s current refinery system. The Menlo Park, Calif-based startup uses open-pond algae bioreactors and plans to commercialize its technology. Investors include the Quercus Trust (David Gelbaum’s well-known environmental funding group) and Sandia National Labs.
Solix Biofuels: Like Live Fuels, Solix is also working on a biocrude, but using a closed-tank bioreactor set-up. Based in Fort Collins, Colo., and founded in April 2006, the firm is backed by Colorado State University’s Engine and Energy Conversion Laboratory. The company has said that construction will begin shortly on its first, large-scale bioreactor at the nearby New Belgian Brewery, where CO2 waste produced during the beer-making process will be used to feed the algae.
Aurora Algae: Developed at the University of California at Berkeley, the company is using genetics to isolate exclusive algae strains that can efficiently create biodiesel. Aurora claims the technology can create biodiesel fuel with yields that are 125 times higher and have 50 percent lower costs than current production methods. Backers include Gabriel Venture Partners, Noventi, Oak Investment Partners (and angel investors include Auttomatic CEO Toni Schneider).
Aquaflow Binomics: The New Zealand company’s goal is to become “the first company in the world to economically produce biofuel from wild algae harvested from open-air environments.” Like Blue Marble Energy, the three-year-old startup sources its algae from algae-infested polluted water systems, cleaning the polluted environment in the process.
The publicly held Aquaflow used its algae-based biodiesel to run a Land Rover driven by New Zealand’s Minister of Climate Change. And it’s been working with Boeing on algae-to-bio-based jet fuel.
Bionavitas: Based in Snoqualmie, Wash., the company says it has developed technology for the high-volume production of algae using bioreactors. Check out their WIPO patent app for the bioreactor setup.
Bodega Algae: Roots at MIT, the firm has developed a set-up to grow algae in bioreactors with light and nutrients that it says is lower cost and more efficient than the current methods.
Seambiotic: The Israeli based firm produces algae for applications, including the budding biofuel industry, and is working with Inventure Chemical. The firm has been working with Israeli Electric Company, utilizing IEC’s smokestack for a source of CO2 and grows algae in eight open algae ponds.
In closing, with China’s appetite for energy continuing to grow and political turbulence rumbling across the world’s primary oil-producing region, oil experts say there is only so much that OPEC (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) can do to ease prices. As history has taught us time and time again supply lines of critical feedstocks and technology must be within the sovereign’s physical domain of control -- pass me the pond scum…
Friday, June 10, 2011
July 1 Aviation Bio-Fuel Independence Day!!!
Primary energy use will grow by nearly 40% over the next twenty years, with 93% of the growth coming from non-OECD (Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. Non-OECD countries are seen to rapidly increase their share of overall energy demand from just over half currently to two-thirds.
Global liquids demand is forecast to reach 102.4 million barrels per day (mmbpd) in 2030. The net growth of 16.5 mmbpd over the next 20 years comes exclusively from the emerging economies of the non-OECD.
Biofuels production’s (high case scenario) is expected to reach 16.7 mmbpd by 2030 from 2.3 mmbpd in 2011. Continued policy support, high oil prices, political instability (oil producers) and continued technological innovations all contribute to the rapid expansion.
Beginning July 1, 2011 (subject to regulatory delays), fuel processed from organic waste or non-food materials, such as algae or wood chips, may comprise as much as 50% of the total fuel burned to power passenger flights, ATA spokesman Steve Lott and a Boeing Co. (BA) official told Bloomberg.
“The real winners of this type of regulatory breakthrough will be technology companies involved in the production of aviation biofuels,” said Harry Boyle, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance in London. “The biotech-biofuels business models of Amyris Inc. (AMRS), Codexis Inc. (CDXS), Gevo Inc. and Solazyme Inc. are all making claims to these types of new markets.”
Other biofuels companies that may benefit from opening up the $139 billion-a-year aviation fuel market are Neste Oil Oyj (NES1V) of Finland, Spain’s Abengoa SA and Honeywell International Inc. (HON)’s UOP unit, which is developing a fuel-making technology.
General Electric Co., the world’s biggest jet engine maker by sales last year, said at a 50% blend level it doesn’t expect to see any impact on engines or operability.
Airbus and Boeing, which together manufacture about 80% of the world’s passenger planes, are planning to set up biofuel production chains across the world. Airbus is working on a supply hub in India where it’s talking with government and airline officials. Its aim is to form joint ventures and partnerships with growers, transporters and refiners. Boeing is negotiating with companies across the supply chain in South America.
Fuel from inedible plants or waste doesn´t put price pressure on crops as can fuel from corn, sugar cane or soy. Honeywell and Indian Oil Corp., the nation’s largest refiner, are planning to establish a pilot biofuel production plant in India next year, James Rekoske, vice president of renewable energy at Honeywell’s UOP, said. It would be Honeywell’s first pilot facility in Asia and the companies will examine the feasibility of using plants such as jatropha and pongamia to make renewable jet fuel.
The 30 component stocks of the Biofuels Digest Index are:
Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM)
Algae.Tec (AEB.AX)
Amyris (AMRS)
The Andersons (ANDE)
Aventine Renewable Eenergy (AVRW.OB)
Bluefire Ethanol (BFRE.OB)
BioFuel Energy (BIOF)
British Petroleum (BP)
Biox (BX.TO)
Codexis (CDXS)
CleanTech Biofuels (CLTH.OB)
Cosan (CZZ)
Danisco (DAY.F)
DuPont (DD)
Gevo (GEVO)
Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE)
GreenHunter (GRH)
Gushan Environmental Energy (GU)
Lignol Energy (LEC)
Monsanto (MON)
Novozymes (NZMB.BE)
OriginOil (OOIL.OB)
Pacific Ethanol (PEIX)
PetroAlgae (PALG.OB)
Rentech (RTK)
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS-A)
SunOpta (STLK.T)
Syngenta (SYT)
Valero (VLO)
Verenium (VRNM)
The only question now is: will there be enough chips to go around?
Sources: IEA, BP 2030 Energy Outlook, Bloomberg.
Global liquids demand is forecast to reach 102.4 million barrels per day (mmbpd) in 2030. The net growth of 16.5 mmbpd over the next 20 years comes exclusively from the emerging economies of the non-OECD.
Biofuels production’s (high case scenario) is expected to reach 16.7 mmbpd by 2030 from 2.3 mmbpd in 2011. Continued policy support, high oil prices, political instability (oil producers) and continued technological innovations all contribute to the rapid expansion.
Beginning July 1, 2011 (subject to regulatory delays), fuel processed from organic waste or non-food materials, such as algae or wood chips, may comprise as much as 50% of the total fuel burned to power passenger flights, ATA spokesman Steve Lott and a Boeing Co. (BA) official told Bloomberg.
“The real winners of this type of regulatory breakthrough will be technology companies involved in the production of aviation biofuels,” said Harry Boyle, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance in London. “The biotech-biofuels business models of Amyris Inc. (AMRS), Codexis Inc. (CDXS), Gevo Inc. and Solazyme Inc. are all making claims to these types of new markets.”
Other biofuels companies that may benefit from opening up the $139 billion-a-year aviation fuel market are Neste Oil Oyj (NES1V) of Finland, Spain’s Abengoa SA and Honeywell International Inc. (HON)’s UOP unit, which is developing a fuel-making technology.
General Electric Co., the world’s biggest jet engine maker by sales last year, said at a 50% blend level it doesn’t expect to see any impact on engines or operability.
Airbus and Boeing, which together manufacture about 80% of the world’s passenger planes, are planning to set up biofuel production chains across the world. Airbus is working on a supply hub in India where it’s talking with government and airline officials. Its aim is to form joint ventures and partnerships with growers, transporters and refiners. Boeing is negotiating with companies across the supply chain in South America.
Fuel from inedible plants or waste doesn´t put price pressure on crops as can fuel from corn, sugar cane or soy. Honeywell and Indian Oil Corp., the nation’s largest refiner, are planning to establish a pilot biofuel production plant in India next year, James Rekoske, vice president of renewable energy at Honeywell’s UOP, said. It would be Honeywell’s first pilot facility in Asia and the companies will examine the feasibility of using plants such as jatropha and pongamia to make renewable jet fuel.
The 30 component stocks of the Biofuels Digest Index are:
Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM)
Algae.Tec (AEB.AX)
Amyris (AMRS)
The Andersons (ANDE)
Aventine Renewable Eenergy (AVRW.OB)
Bluefire Ethanol (BFRE.OB)
BioFuel Energy (BIOF)
British Petroleum (BP)
Biox (BX.TO)
Codexis (CDXS)
CleanTech Biofuels (CLTH.OB)
Cosan (CZZ)
Danisco (DAY.F)
DuPont (DD)
Gevo (GEVO)
Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE)
GreenHunter (GRH)
Gushan Environmental Energy (GU)
Lignol Energy (LEC)
Monsanto (MON)
Novozymes (NZMB.BE)
OriginOil (OOIL.OB)
Pacific Ethanol (PEIX)
PetroAlgae (PALG.OB)
Rentech (RTK)
Royal Dutch Shell (RDS-A)
SunOpta (STLK.T)
Syngenta (SYT)
Valero (VLO)
Verenium (VRNM)
The only question now is: will there be enough chips to go around?
Sources: IEA, BP 2030 Energy Outlook, Bloomberg.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Price risks skewed heavily to the upside
On a short-term basis, the U.S. market looks oversold and could bounce later this week, but the thing that has my attention is oil!
OPEC data shows demand for its crude will rise by 2.1 million barrels/day (mmb/d) in the third quarter from the group’s total output in April of 28.8 mmb/d, Naimi said. “Saudi Arabia is committed to supplying the needs of the market regardless of the disagreement,” he said.
The 11 nations with production quotas pumped 26.15 mmb/d in April, according to the IEA. That leaves the group with about 4.5 mmb/d of spare capacity, most of it in Saudi Arabia, to be tapped in an emergency.
The 50-year-old organization met as fighting in Libya shut off most of the output from Africa’s third-largest producer. A rebellion against Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi has cut shipments from the North African country by almost 90 percent, according to Bloomberg estimates.
The lack of Libyan oil production is concerning. Estimates of current shut in production vary from a low of 500,000 b/d to a high of 1.5 million, from a total production of 1.6 mmb/d. Company withdrawal of expatriate production workers appears to be a major contributing cause of the production decline, not damage to producing fields. Libya is a small producer; however its oil is highly prized in the Mediterranean basin by Italian, French, and other regional buyers, as well as in northwest Europe for use by heavy, sour-based refiners as a blending crude.
To date, OPEC crude production remains around 1.3 mmb/d below where it was before the Libyan crisis broke out. Political and military stalemate there leads me to assume Libyan supply will remain absent from the market for the rest of 2011.
Production from Yemen too is now significantly curtailed by political unrest.
OECD stocks are on a trajectory to descend through the trailing 5 year average.
The good news!!! Iraq's current output is about 2.7 million to 2.8 mmb/d and expected to reach 3 mmb/d by end 2011 and 4 mmb/d by end 2012. Iraq's oil exports in May averaged 2.225 mmb/d.
"Export terminals and pipelines will not be the obstacle," Shahristani, who is responsible for Iraq's energy affairs, told reporters during a visit to southern oilfields and export facilities.
Iraq is rebuilding its oil infrastructure after years of conflict and has signed deals with oil majors to reach a proposed production capacity of 12 mmb/d by 2017. Most analysts see 6-7 mmb/d as more realistic.
I see lots up upside in oil prices, if supply is not brought back on stocks will deplete to worrying levels and that could excessively hamper global growth as oil prices exceed pre-crash levels.
Stock pick of the day: COG
OPEC data shows demand for its crude will rise by 2.1 million barrels/day (mmb/d) in the third quarter from the group’s total output in April of 28.8 mmb/d, Naimi said. “Saudi Arabia is committed to supplying the needs of the market regardless of the disagreement,” he said.
The 11 nations with production quotas pumped 26.15 mmb/d in April, according to the IEA. That leaves the group with about 4.5 mmb/d of spare capacity, most of it in Saudi Arabia, to be tapped in an emergency.
The 50-year-old organization met as fighting in Libya shut off most of the output from Africa’s third-largest producer. A rebellion against Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi has cut shipments from the North African country by almost 90 percent, according to Bloomberg estimates.
The lack of Libyan oil production is concerning. Estimates of current shut in production vary from a low of 500,000 b/d to a high of 1.5 million, from a total production of 1.6 mmb/d. Company withdrawal of expatriate production workers appears to be a major contributing cause of the production decline, not damage to producing fields. Libya is a small producer; however its oil is highly prized in the Mediterranean basin by Italian, French, and other regional buyers, as well as in northwest Europe for use by heavy, sour-based refiners as a blending crude.
To date, OPEC crude production remains around 1.3 mmb/d below where it was before the Libyan crisis broke out. Political and military stalemate there leads me to assume Libyan supply will remain absent from the market for the rest of 2011.
Production from Yemen too is now significantly curtailed by political unrest.
OECD stocks are on a trajectory to descend through the trailing 5 year average.
The good news!!! Iraq's current output is about 2.7 million to 2.8 mmb/d and expected to reach 3 mmb/d by end 2011 and 4 mmb/d by end 2012. Iraq's oil exports in May averaged 2.225 mmb/d.
"Export terminals and pipelines will not be the obstacle," Shahristani, who is responsible for Iraq's energy affairs, told reporters during a visit to southern oilfields and export facilities.
Iraq is rebuilding its oil infrastructure after years of conflict and has signed deals with oil majors to reach a proposed production capacity of 12 mmb/d by 2017. Most analysts see 6-7 mmb/d as more realistic.
I see lots up upside in oil prices, if supply is not brought back on stocks will deplete to worrying levels and that could excessively hamper global growth as oil prices exceed pre-crash levels.
Stock pick of the day: COG
Monday, June 6, 2011
Humala on a shining path forward!!!
Peru’s stocks tumbled the most in two years and dollar bonds fell after former army rebel Ollanta Humala claimed victory in the country’s presidential runoff yesterday and sparked concern that he will seek greater state control of the economy.
I think his election represents a great buying opportunity. Excluding Mr. Chavez, most of the former populist revolutionaries of the Southern Cone have become quite pragmatic in their maturing years. Humala is no Chavez; he is more in the camp of Lula de Silva of Brazil.
Humala defended policies that have made Peru the fastest growing Latin American economy over the past decade. Some investors may be concerned he will raise mining royalties and impose greater state control over natural resources. My guess is that they should be more worried about England’s treatment of taxes in the North Sea!!!
Peru’s benchmark Lima General Index of stocks sank the most since October 2008, retreating 8.7 percent to 19,378.78 at 9:38 a.m. New York time. Yields on dollar-denominated bonds due 2037 rose 17 basis points, or 0.17 percentage point, to 5.91 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The cost to protect Peru’s debt from non-payment with credit-default swaps jumped 20 basis points to 168, the highest since April 27, according to data provider CMA in London. The sol weakened 0.3 percent last week to 2.7631 per U.S. dollar.
Peru is the world’s top silver producer, third in copper and zinc and sixth in gold. It has vast oil and gas reserves.
Good stock bets are (not to mention the currency and bond plays):
Southern Copper Corp. (SCCO), Peru’s biggest producer of the metal, fell 8.6 percent in U.S. trading to $31.73.
Hochschild Mining Plc (HOC), a producer of silver in Peru, fell to its lowest in four months in London trading, declining 8.7 percent to 498.8 pence.
Viva Zapata!!!
I think his election represents a great buying opportunity. Excluding Mr. Chavez, most of the former populist revolutionaries of the Southern Cone have become quite pragmatic in their maturing years. Humala is no Chavez; he is more in the camp of Lula de Silva of Brazil.
Humala defended policies that have made Peru the fastest growing Latin American economy over the past decade. Some investors may be concerned he will raise mining royalties and impose greater state control over natural resources. My guess is that they should be more worried about England’s treatment of taxes in the North Sea!!!
Peru’s benchmark Lima General Index of stocks sank the most since October 2008, retreating 8.7 percent to 19,378.78 at 9:38 a.m. New York time. Yields on dollar-denominated bonds due 2037 rose 17 basis points, or 0.17 percentage point, to 5.91 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The cost to protect Peru’s debt from non-payment with credit-default swaps jumped 20 basis points to 168, the highest since April 27, according to data provider CMA in London. The sol weakened 0.3 percent last week to 2.7631 per U.S. dollar.
Peru is the world’s top silver producer, third in copper and zinc and sixth in gold. It has vast oil and gas reserves.
Good stock bets are (not to mention the currency and bond plays):
Southern Copper Corp. (SCCO), Peru’s biggest producer of the metal, fell 8.6 percent in U.S. trading to $31.73.
Hochschild Mining Plc (HOC), a producer of silver in Peru, fell to its lowest in four months in London trading, declining 8.7 percent to 498.8 pence.
Viva Zapata!!!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
June Swoon or not? My bets are on that which feeds us….
No nation is an island and the world continues to motor on even in the wake of European Debt crisis after crisis and environmental wake-up calls in select parts of the globe.
What do we know…feedstocks are all in growing demand. Oil, metals, corn and wheat. Guess what? All have faced big challenges in delivering on growth to meet increasing demand. Think about civil unrest, environmental impacts and a global population that grows at 2%+ year and is urbanizing at 10% pa. All equal: upward pressure and strains on supply lines…
Speculators raised their net-long positions in 18 commodities in the week ended May 31, government data compiled by Bloomberg show. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index rose for a fourth straight week as Chinese metal inventories plunged and droughts lingered in the Asian country and Europe, trimming prospects for wheat and cotton crops. The global recovery “is gaining strength,” the Group of Eight leaders said May 27 after a summit in Deauville, France.
One final note: The Asia-Pacific region overtook North America last year as the world’s biggest derivatives market amid increasing demand for futures and options contracts in the region’s fast-growing economies, according to data from the Washington-based Futures Industry Association.
Pure plays, like commodities are trader’s friends. Asia – Pacific and Southern Cone are going to make huge strides this year and next and that means more volatility!!!
What do we know…feedstocks are all in growing demand. Oil, metals, corn and wheat. Guess what? All have faced big challenges in delivering on growth to meet increasing demand. Think about civil unrest, environmental impacts and a global population that grows at 2%+ year and is urbanizing at 10% pa. All equal: upward pressure and strains on supply lines…
Speculators raised their net-long positions in 18 commodities in the week ended May 31, government data compiled by Bloomberg show. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index rose for a fourth straight week as Chinese metal inventories plunged and droughts lingered in the Asian country and Europe, trimming prospects for wheat and cotton crops. The global recovery “is gaining strength,” the Group of Eight leaders said May 27 after a summit in Deauville, France.
One final note: The Asia-Pacific region overtook North America last year as the world’s biggest derivatives market amid increasing demand for futures and options contracts in the region’s fast-growing economies, according to data from the Washington-based Futures Industry Association.
Pure plays, like commodities are trader’s friends. Asia – Pacific and Southern Cone are going to make huge strides this year and next and that means more volatility!!!
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