The state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Company [MOGC] is going to sign deals with firms from China, Singapore and South Korea to explore three new areas for energy, according to the state-run media. Reuters reported that a deal is in the works with “North Petro-Chem Corporation Limited of China for exploration and production of oil […]
Tokyo Electric Power [TEPCO], the company that operates the nuclear reactors that have partially melted down at Fukushima, has announced a plan to get the reactors to cold shutdown within 9 months. Cold shutdown is defined by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission as “The term used to define a reactor coolant system at atmospheric pressure and at […]
Someone broke the embargo (shame on whomever it was) on a Congressional report detailing the substances used in hydraulic fracking to produce natural gas. So, we get the news a bit early. The press release on the report starts: “Today Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman, Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Edward […]
Minoru Oogoda of Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said this morning in Japan, “We have upgraded the severity level to 7 as the impact of radiation leaks has been widespread from the air, vegetables, tap water and the ocean.” The only other nuclear accident to reach level 7 (the highest on the IAEA’s scale) […]
Thomson Reuters Point Carbon is reporting this morning that China is going to launch carbon-trading schemes in six regions before 2013. If all goes well, that will then lead to a nationwide carbon trading platform by 2015. According to the report (which is sitting behind a pay-wall or I would link to it), the areas […]
Wednesday, a Liberian-flagged tanker sailed out of Libya’s northeastern port of Marsa al-Hariga carrying one million barrels of oil. At spot prices, this means the cargo is worth $100 million. This represents a significant milestone for the anti-Khadafy forces based in and around Benghazi in the east (formerly known as Cyrenaica). Symbolically, this provides greater […]
Last week, the Carnegie Endowment held its yearly Nuclear Power Conference. As happens annually, the conference brought together hundreds of experts to discuss both civilian nuclear power and nuclear security concerns. Naturally, this year was a bit different due to the Fukushima affair. Despite the news from Japan, the consensus among the conference panelists appeared […]
One of the enduring security threats to the US is its dependence on imported oil. President Obama was at Georgetown University this morning to address the problem. He noted that in 2008, the US imported 11 million barrels of oil per day. His ambition is to cut that by 1/3 by 2025. I hesitate to […]
A new study from EBG Capital and the World Policy Institute may have the energy industry, policymakers and environmentalists going back to the drawing board. For years now, the debate about energy and the environment has been about carbon emissions, how green various forms of energy are. This study asks how much water is utilized […]
The US-Canadian electrical grid is one of the main sources of carbon emissions on the planet. Decarbonizing it will be a major undertaking, although the goal of cutting emissions 80% by the year 2050 is feasible. The Center for Global Affairs at New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies and the Consulate General […]
The Scottish Parliament approved a plan late last week to build a £40 million tidal power development in the Sound of Islay, which separates the islands of Islay and Jura in the Western Isles. The installation is part of the Scottish government’s drive to generate 80% of Scotland’s energy from renewable sources by 2020. John […]
The situation at the Fukushima nuclear site just keeps getting worse. If it isn’t a hydrogen explosion in one of the six reactors, it’s a fire in the spent fuel pool of another. The nuclear power industry likes to point to its safety record – years of operation without an incident. The industry’s opponents will […]
Keeping fingers crossed since Friday hasn’t helped avoid nuclear troubles in Japan. After Friday’s 8.9 Richter-scale earthquake and the following tsunami, a few nuclear reactors lost power, and the cooling systems failed. The facts here are elusive, but we know that pumping sea water into the reactors to cool them as is happening is a […]
A few hours ago, Japan got hit with an earthquake that measured 8.9 on the Richter scale, the biggest temblor in more than a century. The damage done extends to at least two nuclear power plants. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, the top civil servant in the nation, said that there was a mechanical failure […]
With every bit of news about instability in the Middle East, oil industry analysts get on TV and tell us that the price of oil is going to go ever higher. On one of the cable networks yesterday, I watched (with some annoyance) a discussion of gasoline hitting $5 a gallon. Over in the UK, […]