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.
Social Justice: Current Affairs, Business, Politics, and all the reasons in the world to Thrive on Creative Discontent!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Pakistan: Musharraf to be tried for assassination of Bhutto
A Pakistani court has ordered former president Pervez Musharraf's financial assets to be frozen and confiscated, a prosecutor said.
A hearing in Adiyala prison in the garrison town of Rawalpindi on Saturday ruled for his property to be confiscated and his Pakistani bank accounts to be frozen, Chaudhry Azhar, a public prosecutor, told the AFP news agency.
The hearing is adjourned until September 10, Azhar said.
Musharraf, the former military ruler, has been living in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai since leaving office in 2008.
He is alleged to have been part of a "broad conspiracy" to have Benazir Bhutto, ex-premier and his political rival, killed in 2007 before presidential elections.
Prosecutors issued an arrest warrant in February over what they said was his failure to provide her with enough security.
The exact nature of the charges against him, however, has not so far been made clear.
"This is a criminal case and it’s most ridiculous that my name has been added because I’m supposed to have been in charge or that I failed to provide security," Musharraf told Al Jazeera on Saturday.
"In this, I have to appear personally in court [as] it can not be done through any lawyer appearing in the court."
"Because of many other reasons I am outside the country and I don’t want to appear in the court but when I go on the 23rd of March, when I go back to Pakistan I certainly will go in and appear in the court and answer questions," he said.
Bhutto was shot dead on December 27, 2007 as she was leaving an election campaign rally in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.
At the time, Musharraf's government blamed Baitullah Mehsud, the chief of the Pakistani Taliban, for Bhutto's assassination.
Mehsud, who denied any involvement, was killed in a US drone attack in August 2009, one of the most high-profile casualties of the covert American campaign targeting al-Qaeda and its allies in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border.
Bhutto, who served two terms as prime minister, had returned from exile two months before she was killed to stand for election.
Her widower Asif Ali Zardari led her Pakistan People's Party to election victory in February 2008 and is now president.
A hearing in Adiyala prison in the garrison town of Rawalpindi on Saturday ruled for his property to be confiscated and his Pakistani bank accounts to be frozen, Chaudhry Azhar, a public prosecutor, told the AFP news agency.
The hearing is adjourned until September 10, Azhar said.
Musharraf, the former military ruler, has been living in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai since leaving office in 2008.
He is alleged to have been part of a "broad conspiracy" to have Benazir Bhutto, ex-premier and his political rival, killed in 2007 before presidential elections.
Prosecutors issued an arrest warrant in February over what they said was his failure to provide her with enough security.
The exact nature of the charges against him, however, has not so far been made clear.
"This is a criminal case and it’s most ridiculous that my name has been added because I’m supposed to have been in charge or that I failed to provide security," Musharraf told Al Jazeera on Saturday.
"In this, I have to appear personally in court [as] it can not be done through any lawyer appearing in the court."
"Because of many other reasons I am outside the country and I don’t want to appear in the court but when I go on the 23rd of March, when I go back to Pakistan I certainly will go in and appear in the court and answer questions," he said.
Bhutto was shot dead on December 27, 2007 as she was leaving an election campaign rally in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, the Pakistani capital.
At the time, Musharraf's government blamed Baitullah Mehsud, the chief of the Pakistani Taliban, for Bhutto's assassination.
Mehsud, who denied any involvement, was killed in a US drone attack in August 2009, one of the most high-profile casualties of the covert American campaign targeting al-Qaeda and its allies in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border.
Bhutto, who served two terms as prime minister, had returned from exile two months before she was killed to stand for election.
Her widower Asif Ali Zardari led her Pakistan People's Party to election victory in February 2008 and is now president.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Candian Oil to the USA not soon enough....
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration gave a crucial green light on Friday to a proposed 1,711-mile pipeline that would carry heavy oil from Canada across the Great Plains to terminals in Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast, saying the project would provide a secure source of energy without significant damage to the environment.
In reaching its conclusion that the Keystone XL pipeline from the oil sands deposits in Alberta would have minimal environmental impact, the administration dismissed criticism from environmental advocates, who said that extracting the oil would have a devastating impact on the climate and that a leak or rupture in the 36-inch-diameter pipeline could wreak ecological disaster. Opponents also said the project would prolong the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels, threaten sensitive lands and wildlife and further delay development of clean energy sources.
The State Department said in an environmental impact statement that the pipeline’s owner, TransCanada, had reduced the risks of an accident to an acceptable level and that the benefits of importing oil from a friendly neighbor outweighed the potential costs.
Final approval of the $7 billion project will not come before the end of the year, after public hearings and consultation with other federal agencies. But the State Department report Friday gave the clearest signal yet that the administration was prepared to see Keystone proceed.
The pipeline is expected to open in 2013 unless delayed by lawsuits or other challenges.
For many in the environmental movement, the administration’s apparent acceptance of the pipeline was yet another disappointment, after recent decisions to tentatively approve drilling in the Arctic Ocean, to open 20 million more acres of the Gulf of Mexico for oil leasing and to delay several major air quality regulations.
TransCanada has insisted that its pipeline will be as safe as any in North America. It has refused to change its application in the face of critics who say the half-inch thick pipe wall in the pipeline is insufficiently sturdy for maximum flow pressures, a claim the company denies.
TransCanada agreed to 57 conditions set by the Department of Transportation last spring, including burying the pipeline four feet below the surface, committing to frequent aerial and ground monitoring and setting the maximum distance between shut-off valves at 20 miles.
“We believe we are building the safest pipeline in North America,” said Terry Cunha, a TransCanada spokesman.
The Canadian government has lobbied hard for the pipeline extension, joining forces with oil companies like Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil that have large investments in Canadian oil sands production. The future expansion of oil sands production is largely at stake since planned production growth could overwhelm current pipeline capacity in less than five years.
Gary Doer, the Canadian ambassador to the United States, said building the pipeline would produce 20,000 construction jobs and 100,000 additional indirect jobs in services and supplies. “It’s good for the U.S. economy, U.S. jobs and U.S. energy security,” he said. “If you ask Americans, would you choose Canada over the Middle East, they’d say yes.”
Mr. Doer said the carbon emissions from oil sands production and refining have declined by roughly 40 percent per barrel since1990, and further improvements were being developed. “We have to continue working on the sustainability of development,” he said. “We believe in clean water and air too.”
Canada, already the United States’ No. 1 source of imported oil, produced 1.5 million barrels a day of synthetic crude from oil sands in 2010 and hopes to expand that total to 2.2 million barrels in 2015 and then to 3.7 million barrels a day by 2025. That level of expansion will require not only the Keystone project, but also pipelines to the west coast of Canada, where the crude could be exported to China and the rest of Asia.
The Keystone expansion would increase Canada’s pipeline capacity by 700,000 barrels a day, roughly equivalent to the amount of oil Malaysia produces. Proponents say that would give a big lift to Canada’s economy, and increase trade between the two countries.
If Keystone is not ultimately approved, Canada could proceed with plans to build pipelines to its west coast to increase exports, but that would mean regulatory delays spurred by opposition from Native Canadian groups that have a large say in territories they occupy.
The Canadian Energy Research Institute, a research group with ties to the oil industry, estimates that the Keystone extension would mean more than $600 billion in additional investments and revenue from operations in existing and future oil sands projects through 2035.
According to IHS-Cera, a consultancy, carbon dioxide emissions from the oil sands, including the full cycle from production through combustion and exhaust from an automobile tailpipe, is greater than many Saudi, Mexican and Venezuela crudes but is comparable or even lower than heavy crudes produced in California, Nigeria and the Middle East and pumped in American gas stations.
UAE: So a Raped 18 yr old is to blame???? What is wrong with you??? Too much Sun!
A Muslim woman in Abu Dhabi who accused six men of gang rape -- and was consequently threatened with lashes for having premarital sex -- has retracted her allegations.
"According to court records the primary suspect, 19, called five of his friends – four Emiratis and one Iraqi – and invited them to join him."
Six men had been charged with the gang rape after a forensic examination.
Yet the woman, identified by the initials LH in news reports, retracted all of her accusatory statements in a hearing on Monday. If prosecuted and convicted for lying under oath she could face a punishment of up to two years in jail.
Dr. Theodore Karasik, a security analyst with Dubai-based think tank INEGMA, said the retraction was common in a legal system that can assign blame to victims of sexual assault.
"It's the nature of the law. The status here is that if a female is caught having illegal sex, no matter what the instance, this is seen as haram [forbidden]," he said.
An 18-year-old woman who told police she was the victim of a gang rape retracted her statement in a court hearing in Abu Dhabi, state newspaper The National reported. The woman had been charged with the crime of having sex out of wedlock after reporting the rape to police, and faced a sentence of lashes and jail time.
The case is latest high-profile prosecution on morality laws in the United Arab Emirates.
Earlier this year a couple was arrested for allegedly kissing in a Dubai restaurant, while neighboring Sharjah began a door-to-door campaign to catch unmarried couples cohabitating against the law.
In January a British woman told police she had been raped in a Dubai hotel, but she and her fiancé were instead arrested on accusations of having sex out of wedlock.
"These charges will make young women in the UAE, citizens and tourists alike, think twice about seeking justice and reporting sexual assaults for fear of being charged themselves," wrote Nadya Khalife, a Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch, shortly after the hotel rape case became public.
"The message to women is clear: victims will be punished for speaking out and seeking justice, but sexual assault itself will not be properly investigated," Khalife said.
"According to court records the primary suspect, 19, called five of his friends – four Emiratis and one Iraqi – and invited them to join him."
Six men had been charged with the gang rape after a forensic examination.
Yet the woman, identified by the initials LH in news reports, retracted all of her accusatory statements in a hearing on Monday. If prosecuted and convicted for lying under oath she could face a punishment of up to two years in jail.
Dr. Theodore Karasik, a security analyst with Dubai-based think tank INEGMA, said the retraction was common in a legal system that can assign blame to victims of sexual assault.
"It's the nature of the law. The status here is that if a female is caught having illegal sex, no matter what the instance, this is seen as haram [forbidden]," he said.
An 18-year-old woman who told police she was the victim of a gang rape retracted her statement in a court hearing in Abu Dhabi, state newspaper The National reported. The woman had been charged with the crime of having sex out of wedlock after reporting the rape to police, and faced a sentence of lashes and jail time.
The case is latest high-profile prosecution on morality laws in the United Arab Emirates.
Earlier this year a couple was arrested for allegedly kissing in a Dubai restaurant, while neighboring Sharjah began a door-to-door campaign to catch unmarried couples cohabitating against the law.
In January a British woman told police she had been raped in a Dubai hotel, but she and her fiancé were instead arrested on accusations of having sex out of wedlock.
"These charges will make young women in the UAE, citizens and tourists alike, think twice about seeking justice and reporting sexual assaults for fear of being charged themselves," wrote Nadya Khalife, a Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch, shortly after the hotel rape case became public.
"The message to women is clear: victims will be punished for speaking out and seeking justice, but sexual assault itself will not be properly investigated," Khalife said.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Syria: Assad must go!!! Now...
Bashar al-Assad of Syria has been using armoured columns against peaceful protests, tanks against hospitals, machine guns in mosques, and, reserving a special place for himself in hell, targeting children for torture and murder as a way of intimidating protesters.
The case of 13-year-old Hamza Ali al-Khatib, whose corpse was returned to his family smashed, burned, bullet-riddled and with his penis torn off, for the crime of having attended a protest march with his father, drew special revulsion in Syria and abroad.
But the people of Syria have shown a bravery and a fierce thirst for liberty that Assad could not have expected. An estimated 2000 people have been killed in the uprising to date. Protesters have started an ad hoc renaming of the streets of Syria's cities, with paper signs giving thoroughfares the names of "martyrs", demonstrators who have been killed by Assad's forces. There are many new street names appearing.
Violent repression is all Assad knows. He pretends to hold office through elections and, indeed, has won two of them with apparently remarkable support rates of 97 per cent of the vote. But he allows no one to run against him. He could never have won a real election. He is a member of the Alawite sect. This is an offshoot of Shia Islam, and a minority that makes up only about 7 per cent of the population. Three quarters of Syrians are Sunni Muslims.
Assad's father seized power in a coup in 1970. He was a ruthless dictator and is estimated to have killed some 20,000 Syrians in a bloodbath in the city of Hama when it resisted his rule. Bashar took over from his father in 2000 and is proving every bit as ruthless. But this time, it is not only one city rising up against the Assad dynasty. It is spreading to every city.
But as long as NATO was preoccupied with Gaddafi, Assad was able to operate with much less international scrutiny and pressure. That is about to change. "Assad has a very narrow window of time," wrote Jacques Neriah, former foreign policy adviser to Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. "This window is more or less equal to the time in which Muammar Gaddafi remains in power. The moment Gaddafi steps down, Syria will experience all the attention of the Western powers, especially if the turmoil and armed suppression persist."
Assad deserves a great deal more attention, and not only because of his criminal brutality. The fall of Assad would be a great strategic prize. Assad's Syria is the only country in the Middle East that is a close ally of Iran. As the power of the US has waned in the Middle East, Iran has risen, a theocratic power with nuclear ambitions and thoughts of regional hegemony.
Syria is crucial to Iran's ambitions. Under Assad, Syria has helped Iran project power. It supports Iran's international militant network, Hezbollah, and has helped it to intimidate and influence Lebanon, which has become a client.
When Lebanon's plucky prime minister Rafiq Hariri stood up to Syrian interference through Syria's proxy, the president, Emile Lahoud, Assad allegedly threatened Hariri: "Lahoud is me. If you want me out of Lebanon, I will break Lebanon." Four months later, a massive car bomb killed Hariri and 21 others in central Beirut.
And Syria under Assad also supports the militant Hamas, whose political wing controls the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip. Like Hezbollah, Hamas also operates a terrorist arm. Syria supplies military training, arms and money.
So even though Syria under Assad's Baath Party is a secular regime, it is nonetheless a linchpin of Shiite Islamist power and aggression throughout the Middle East.
To remove Assad would be to weaken Iran and to crimp its ambitions. It would also undermine its political and terrorist proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas.
The case of 13-year-old Hamza Ali al-Khatib, whose corpse was returned to his family smashed, burned, bullet-riddled and with his penis torn off, for the crime of having attended a protest march with his father, drew special revulsion in Syria and abroad.
But the people of Syria have shown a bravery and a fierce thirst for liberty that Assad could not have expected. An estimated 2000 people have been killed in the uprising to date. Protesters have started an ad hoc renaming of the streets of Syria's cities, with paper signs giving thoroughfares the names of "martyrs", demonstrators who have been killed by Assad's forces. There are many new street names appearing.
Violent repression is all Assad knows. He pretends to hold office through elections and, indeed, has won two of them with apparently remarkable support rates of 97 per cent of the vote. But he allows no one to run against him. He could never have won a real election. He is a member of the Alawite sect. This is an offshoot of Shia Islam, and a minority that makes up only about 7 per cent of the population. Three quarters of Syrians are Sunni Muslims.
Assad's father seized power in a coup in 1970. He was a ruthless dictator and is estimated to have killed some 20,000 Syrians in a bloodbath in the city of Hama when it resisted his rule. Bashar took over from his father in 2000 and is proving every bit as ruthless. But this time, it is not only one city rising up against the Assad dynasty. It is spreading to every city.
But as long as NATO was preoccupied with Gaddafi, Assad was able to operate with much less international scrutiny and pressure. That is about to change. "Assad has a very narrow window of time," wrote Jacques Neriah, former foreign policy adviser to Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. "This window is more or less equal to the time in which Muammar Gaddafi remains in power. The moment Gaddafi steps down, Syria will experience all the attention of the Western powers, especially if the turmoil and armed suppression persist."
Assad deserves a great deal more attention, and not only because of his criminal brutality. The fall of Assad would be a great strategic prize. Assad's Syria is the only country in the Middle East that is a close ally of Iran. As the power of the US has waned in the Middle East, Iran has risen, a theocratic power with nuclear ambitions and thoughts of regional hegemony.
Syria is crucial to Iran's ambitions. Under Assad, Syria has helped Iran project power. It supports Iran's international militant network, Hezbollah, and has helped it to intimidate and influence Lebanon, which has become a client.
When Lebanon's plucky prime minister Rafiq Hariri stood up to Syrian interference through Syria's proxy, the president, Emile Lahoud, Assad allegedly threatened Hariri: "Lahoud is me. If you want me out of Lebanon, I will break Lebanon." Four months later, a massive car bomb killed Hariri and 21 others in central Beirut.
And Syria under Assad also supports the militant Hamas, whose political wing controls the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip. Like Hezbollah, Hamas also operates a terrorist arm. Syria supplies military training, arms and money.
So even though Syria under Assad's Baath Party is a secular regime, it is nonetheless a linchpin of Shiite Islamist power and aggression throughout the Middle East.
To remove Assad would be to weaken Iran and to crimp its ambitions. It would also undermine its political and terrorist proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas.
UAE: Free the UAE 5
For the first time in the award’s ten-year history, Amnesty International today (25 August) announced two winners of its prestigious Freedom of Expression Award at the Edinburgh Fringe: Sold, directed by Catherine Alexander at the Pleasance Courtyard and The Wheel, directed by Vicky Featherstone at the Traverse.
The award, given to an outstanding Fringe production carrying a human rights message, in association with Fest magazine, was presented by Amnesty International Scotland Director John Watson. This year saw a record number of entries, with 92 productions nominated.
John Watson said:
“This was a year of firsts for the Freedom of Expression Award: the first time we’d had such a huge number of entries; the first comedian to be shortlisted in Mark Thomas; and our first joint winners, ‘Sold’ and ‘The Wheel’.
“With 92 productions entering for the award it’s perhaps fitting that we have two winners this year. Both are superb productions in quite different ways – but in both cases audiences are confronted with challenging questions about human rights.
“Amnesty marks its 50th birthday this year and protecting the right to freedom of expression has always been at the heart of our what we do. It’s why we’ve always worked so closely with artists and performers and it's why we’re delighted to be giving this award today.”
Judging the award were Joyce McMillan of the Scotsman and Neil Cooper of the Herald newspapers; academic, artist and researcher Stephanie Knight; Sam Friedman of Fest magazine and Amnesty International Scotland Director John Watson. The judging panel said of the two productions:
“The Wheel is a complex and epic story of how children can be corrupted by the ravages of war. By lurching through the centuries the way it does, it brings home the message that circumstances too often dictate how lives can go off the rails in a brilliantly performed, masterfully directed and profound piece of work that offers no easy answers except hope.”
"Sold is an ambitious, fast-moving show which combines a strong overview of the whole issue of slavery in human society with a series of powerful cameos of individual stories, involving trafficking into this country now. It's a memorable piece of agitprop drama which leaves us in no doubt that despite the increasing exposure of human trafficking in recent years, and widespread political debate on the issue, it is a problem that is not going away; in fact, if anything, it is growing worse, demanding real action from us all."
The other shortlisted productions were: Extreme Rambling (Walking the Wall), by Mark Thomas, at The Bongo Club; and Release, by Icon Theatre at the Pleasance Dome.
Amnesty’s involvement with the world’s largest arts festival is based on the celebration of freedom of expression and fighting for the rights of people whose free speech is denied. Amnesty’s 2011 Edinburgh Festival campaign is for the “UAE 5”, five men detained in the United Arab Emirates and charged with “insulting officials” after calling for democracy and criticising the government.
Amnesty is asking people at the festival to text (SMS) the word “FREEDOM” followed by their name to 81222 to join a petition, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the “UAE 5”, which will be presented to the United Arab Emirates’ embassy in London ahead of their trial, now set for the end of September. Amnesty campaigners are out on the streets of Edinburgh asking people to get involved.
The five men – blogger and political commentator Ahmed Mansoor, lecturer Nasser bin Ghaith and online activists Fahad Salim Dalk, Ahmed Abdul Khaleq and Hassan Ali al-Khamis - have been detained in the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi since April. In June they were charged under article 176 of the Penal Code, which makes it a crime to publicly insult the country’s top officials. None of the men is known to have advocated any violence or change of government.
The award, given to an outstanding Fringe production carrying a human rights message, in association with Fest magazine, was presented by Amnesty International Scotland Director John Watson. This year saw a record number of entries, with 92 productions nominated.
John Watson said:
“This was a year of firsts for the Freedom of Expression Award: the first time we’d had such a huge number of entries; the first comedian to be shortlisted in Mark Thomas; and our first joint winners, ‘Sold’ and ‘The Wheel’.
“With 92 productions entering for the award it’s perhaps fitting that we have two winners this year. Both are superb productions in quite different ways – but in both cases audiences are confronted with challenging questions about human rights.
“Amnesty marks its 50th birthday this year and protecting the right to freedom of expression has always been at the heart of our what we do. It’s why we’ve always worked so closely with artists and performers and it's why we’re delighted to be giving this award today.”
Judging the award were Joyce McMillan of the Scotsman and Neil Cooper of the Herald newspapers; academic, artist and researcher Stephanie Knight; Sam Friedman of Fest magazine and Amnesty International Scotland Director John Watson. The judging panel said of the two productions:
“The Wheel is a complex and epic story of how children can be corrupted by the ravages of war. By lurching through the centuries the way it does, it brings home the message that circumstances too often dictate how lives can go off the rails in a brilliantly performed, masterfully directed and profound piece of work that offers no easy answers except hope.”
"Sold is an ambitious, fast-moving show which combines a strong overview of the whole issue of slavery in human society with a series of powerful cameos of individual stories, involving trafficking into this country now. It's a memorable piece of agitprop drama which leaves us in no doubt that despite the increasing exposure of human trafficking in recent years, and widespread political debate on the issue, it is a problem that is not going away; in fact, if anything, it is growing worse, demanding real action from us all."
The other shortlisted productions were: Extreme Rambling (Walking the Wall), by Mark Thomas, at The Bongo Club; and Release, by Icon Theatre at the Pleasance Dome.
Amnesty’s involvement with the world’s largest arts festival is based on the celebration of freedom of expression and fighting for the rights of people whose free speech is denied. Amnesty’s 2011 Edinburgh Festival campaign is for the “UAE 5”, five men detained in the United Arab Emirates and charged with “insulting officials” after calling for democracy and criticising the government.
Amnesty is asking people at the festival to text (SMS) the word “FREEDOM” followed by their name to 81222 to join a petition, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the “UAE 5”, which will be presented to the United Arab Emirates’ embassy in London ahead of their trial, now set for the end of September. Amnesty campaigners are out on the streets of Edinburgh asking people to get involved.
The five men – blogger and political commentator Ahmed Mansoor, lecturer Nasser bin Ghaith and online activists Fahad Salim Dalk, Ahmed Abdul Khaleq and Hassan Ali al-Khamis - have been detained in the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi since April. In June they were charged under article 176 of the Penal Code, which makes it a crime to publicly insult the country’s top officials. None of the men is known to have advocated any violence or change of government.
Is it the month of being off by trillions???
WASHINGTON — Federal geologists published new estimates this week for the amount of natural gas that exists in a giant rock formation known as the Marcellus Shale, which stretches from New York to Virginia.
The shale formation has about 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas, according to the report from the United States Geological Survey. This is drastically lower than the 410 trillion cubic feet that was published earlier this year by the federal Energy Information Administration.
As a result, the Energy Information Administration, which is responsible for quantifying oil and gas supplies, has said it will slash its official estimate for the Marcellus Shale by nearly 80 percent, a move that is likely to generate new questions about how the agency calculates its estimates and why it was so far off in its projections.
The decision by the agency to lower the estimates comes amid growing scrutiny from Congress about how the administration calculates its numbers and why it depends on outside and industry-tied consultants to produce some of its reports.
Accurate estimates are important for lawmakers who are making long-term decisions about subsidies and policies relating to the nation’s energy mix. They are also essential for landowners and investors as they decide where and whether to lease their land to drillers or invest in gas companies. Some market analysts say that the large differences between public estimates for natural gas resources provide further evidence that there may be more risk and uncertainty involved with gas drilling than many investors realize. Amid growing questions about the administration’s research, Howard K. Gruenspecht, the agency’s acting director, appeared before Congress in July to reiterate that, despite some uncertainties, his agency’s estimates were accurate.
The shale formation has about 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas, according to the report from the United States Geological Survey. This is drastically lower than the 410 trillion cubic feet that was published earlier this year by the federal Energy Information Administration.
As a result, the Energy Information Administration, which is responsible for quantifying oil and gas supplies, has said it will slash its official estimate for the Marcellus Shale by nearly 80 percent, a move that is likely to generate new questions about how the agency calculates its estimates and why it was so far off in its projections.
The decision by the agency to lower the estimates comes amid growing scrutiny from Congress about how the administration calculates its numbers and why it depends on outside and industry-tied consultants to produce some of its reports.
Accurate estimates are important for lawmakers who are making long-term decisions about subsidies and policies relating to the nation’s energy mix. They are also essential for landowners and investors as they decide where and whether to lease their land to drillers or invest in gas companies. Some market analysts say that the large differences between public estimates for natural gas resources provide further evidence that there may be more risk and uncertainty involved with gas drilling than many investors realize. Amid growing questions about the administration’s research, Howard K. Gruenspecht, the agency’s acting director, appeared before Congress in July to reiterate that, despite some uncertainties, his agency’s estimates were accurate.
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