Energy News

Venezuela wants to replace Exxon Mobil as its partner in a U.S. oil refinery partly controlled by Venezuela's state-run oil company. via KSWO

“Given the global run on fossil fuels and the corresponding high prices, I am pleased that Georgia Power is keeping the option of nuclear generation open through the Westinghouse contract to potentially build two nuclear reactors”

Georgia Power Co. has reached an agreement with Westinghouse Electric Co. and The Shaw Group to design and build two 1,100-megawatt nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle in east Georgia, which is co-owned with other ... via WJXT

“Demand, as gauged by first quarter economic indicators, is less than rosy as consumer confidence erodes thanks to falling housing values and a retrenchment in the jobs market”

Oil prices were little changed Wednesday as traders awaited the release of a U.S. government report expected to show gasoline inventories fell last week.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange slipped 22 cents to $108.28 a barrel in electronic trading by midday in Europe. The contract fell 59 cents to settle at $108.50 a barrel Tuesday.

But Brent crude futures rose 11 cents to $106.45 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London.

Oil prices have been supported recently by a growing belief that U.S. gasoline supplies are falling as the summer driving season in the Northern Hemisphere approaches. Read more

“It will allow us to keep our North Slope fields in production for another 50 years.”

- Two of the world's largest oil companies announced plans Tuesday to jointly develop a multibillion-dollar natural gas pipeline to move North Slope natural gas to U.S. markets through Canada.

Britain's BP PLC and ConocoPhillips, based in Houston, said they plan to spend US$600 million in the first phase of the project over the next three years.

The plan, dubbed Denali - The Alaska Gas Pipeline, is to deliver natural gas via a 3,200-kilometre pipeline from the energy rich North Slope in Alaska to a pipeline hub in Alberta, which has links to numerous other markets. Read more

NEWS VIDEO_Clubroot, a deadly disease affecting canola crops, is being spread around Alberta. The province's energy industry is being asked to stop the spread by cleaning the soil off equipment. Seed specialist Murray Hartman talks about the disease and its impact.

“We have strong supplies and weaker demand, and we're still seeing prices climb, which is ... distressing to consumers who are paying more each week”

It's time to brace yourself for higher gas prices. Although a spot check showed prices were steady at $3.35 per gallon of regular gas in the Appleton area on Monday, they rose to a record $3.46 in Eau Claire. via Appleton Post-Crescent

“We have the opportunity today to put money back in the pockets of the ratepayers, and tomorrow the fight to end deregulation continues, because nothing in this legislation will stop it”

Maryland lawmakers approved legislation to complete a settlement between the state and Constellation Energy on Monday, a deal valued at about $2 billion when rate relief is factored in with an end to consumer liability for nuclear decommissioning costs.

The Senate voted for a bill that removed an amendment the Senate approved last week that would have been a deal-breaker. The amendment would have given Maryland regulatory control over new power plants, authority the state lost in the 1999 decision to deregulate. Read more

“Damage is much more extensive than we originally thought”

Entergy Mississippi officials say 19,000 people remained without electricity Monday, three days after tornadoes ripped through the central part of the state. via Log Cabin Democrat

The West Texas oil refinery closed by an explosion in February reopened at about half-capacity on Monday, but part of the Alon USA Energy Inc. plant shut down again after a fire broke out in an asphalt tank.

Alon Chief Executive Jeff D. Morris called the fire "minor" and said there were no injuries, but it closed a unit that prepares crude oil for refining into finished products such as gasoline.

"We suspended production for a little bit. We're in the process of restarting," Morris said. He said he couldn't give a timetable for when the crude oil unit would be running again. Read more

"Historic" is a word thrown around pretty regularly by government types when describing one development or another. via Seattle Post-Intelligencer

- Dissident shareholder Waterford Finance & Investment Ltd. says First Calgary Petroleums Ltd. (TSX:FCP) intends to seek an extraordinary delay in the company's special meeting set for Tuesday.

Waterford said early Monday that it has been told First Calgary made this decision after learning that more than half of the company's share proxies were voted in favour of shaking up the board and removing CEO Richard Anderson.

"The proxy vote is an overwhelming endorsement by fellow shareholders that it is time for change at FCP," Waterford declared. Read more

“The weakening fundamentals exert a lid on how high oil pricing can go, but the weak dollar continues to prop up oil pricing”

Oil prices rose Monday as prospects for further cuts in U.S. interest rates seemed more likely after poor U.S. jobs data at the end of last week.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose 80 cents to $107.03 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe. On Friday, the contract rose $2.40 to settle at $106.23 a barrel.

In London, Brent crude futures rose 56 cents to $105.46 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The U.S. Labor Department said Friday that employers cut payrolls by 80,000 jobs last month, much more than analysts had expected. The news that the U.S. unemployment rate rose to 5.1 percent is consistent with forecasts that the U.S. is experiencing a sharp pullback in economic growth in the first half of the year. Read more

“Oil supply to the market is enough and high oil prices are not due to a shortage of crude but rather it is because of the decrease in the dollar's value, shortage of refinery capacity and some political tensions in the world”

Oil prices rose half a dollar to a one-week high near $107 a barrel on Monday, extending last week's late rebound after the dollar fell and a fire hit a U.S. refinery. via Boston.com

“I think we've got a lot of the heavy lifting out of the way”

While most of the difficult work is out of the way, there are still a couple of potentially nettlesome differences in legislation that lawmakers will grapple with during the last day of Maryland 's General ... via WTOP

“It's different every year. They basically present the ideas, and they vote on what they would like from Monday through Friday”

An elementary-school event in which kids were encouraged to dress as members of the opposite gender drew the ire of a Christian radio group, whose angry broadcast prompted outraged calls to the district office.

Students at Pineview Elementary in Reedsburg had been dressing in costume all last week as part of an annual school tradition called Wacky Week. On Friday, students were encouraged to dress either as senior citizens or as members of the opposite sex.

A local resident informed the Voice of Christian Youth America on Friday. The Milwaukee-based radio network responded by interrupting its morning programming for a special broadcast that aired on nine radio stations throughout Wisconsin. The broadcast criticized the dress-up day and accused the district of promoting alternative lifestyles. Read more

“It's still the proper resource decision for the nature of resources that we need.”

Amid growing criticism about its heavy reliance on coal-fired power, the state's second-largest utility is considering the prospect of building a nuclear power plant in southeastern Colorado.

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association's board of directors voted recently to have its staff study nuclear as a possibility for the site in Prowers County near Holly.

The company secured the site and necessary water rights for a plant that could either be coal-fired or nuclear. Tri-State would need a partner on a nuclear plant because of high construction costs. The staff was directed to pursue potential partners. Read more

“Stuff was going around in circles.

'About that time, it pushed her up against the building and knocked me down and pushed me under that truck”

A tornado left a path of damage through Pulaski and Saline counties, where storms continued Friday morning, complicating efforts to restore electricity and assess damage.

The tornado damaged a trailer park, an auto dealership and other spots in Saline County, and moved northeast into Little Rock and then North Little Rock, where almost 20,000 electric customers were left without lights. The twister damaged areas of the central part of Little Rock and moved past the National Weather Service office in North Little Rock, where the airport also sustained damage to hangars and aircraft. Read more

About 2,000 people were without power late Friday after heavy rains and winds hit northeastern Louisiana.

Officials with Entergy Louisiana said special equipment would be used Saturday to reach rain-drenched areas, including Jonesboro, Winnfield, Bastrop, Tallulah and Columbia and Chatham.

'The hardest hit area was the Winnfield and Chatham areas,' said Entergy spokeman Kenny Solley. 'We had a lot of broken poles and with all the rain, it made some areas inaccessible by truck.'

Solley said all power was expected to be restored by Saturday afternoon. At the height of the outages, about 14,000 customers in the region were without electricity. Read more

“He was aware that plants were having to have a tight budget with discretionary spending, which usually affects maintenance.”

An attorney for victims of BP PLC's deadly 2005 plant explosion said the company's former CEO admitted Friday that budget cuts some blame for creating conditions that helped cause the blast were ordered so the oil giant could remain competitive in the petrochemical industry.

But Lord John Browne denied knowing there were major problems at the company's refineries as a result of the budget cuts, said victims' attorney Brent Coon.

Browne was questioned by telephone for about an hour Friday by Coon for a deposition that is part of ongoing litigation resulting from the accident, which killed 15 people and injured more than 170. Read more

“The whole thing was like being in a silent movie”

Ambulances transported more than 20 people to Jackson-area hospitals Friday as a powerful storms packing possible tornadoes, powerful winds, heavy rain and hail tore across Mississippi.

Jim Pollard, a spokesman for American Medical Response ambulance service, which serves a number of counties in the Jackson area, said ambulances crews responded to at least 75 emergency calls 'from all over' the Jackson area. There was no immediate information on the nature of the injuries.

At least 69,000 customers of Entergy Mississippi were without power as of 9:30 p.m. CDT Friday, said company spokesman Checky Herrington. That was down from about 92,000 earlier in the day. Most of the outages were in and around Jackson but there were also outages in other areas, including Vicksburg on the Mississippi River and Cleveland in the Delta. Read more