There is a saying in Brazil, “he who steals a little is a thief but he who steals a lot is a baron.” Apparently, executives at Brazilian oil giant Petrobras were stealing a lot. Corruption charges are turning the company upside down as investigators unravel kickback schemes and inflated construction budgets that involved some of the country’s largest firms.… Keep reading →
Elon Musk described the new Tesla Model D as a digital vehicle compared to conventional ICE autos which are analog mechanical machines. The Model D is an iterative upgrade of the Model S, but it presents two significant feature sets that demonstrate how the auto world is moving from the analog to the digital age… Keep reading →
Natural gas supply negotiations between Russia’s Gazprom and Ukraine’s Nagtogaz appear to be inching closer to a deal. In fact, the two sides have agreed on a price of $385 per thousand cubic meters, but payment details now appear to be a sticking point. “If the Ukrainians have the money, then the documents will be signed. If not,… Keep reading →
Christophe de Margerie, CEO of major French oil company Total, was killed Monday night when his corporate jet crashed into a snow removal vehicle on the runway of an airport near Moscow. The company reportedly has no succession plant in place, but has strong corporate governance led by a long-standing board of directors. “Barclays France… Keep reading →
Electric Vehicles today are considered to be more expensive to purchase than their Internal Combustion Engine counterparts. But the purchase price of EV’s versus ICE vehicles tells an incomplete story about the comparative costs. While none of the EV’s on the market today are cheap, they are competitively priced for their class of vehicle. The… Keep reading →
I recently had the opportunity to test drive the Tesla Model S P85, the high-performance version of the highly acclaimed all-electric luxury sedan. Like many drivers of the Model S, I was thoroughly impressed by the performance of this machine and after examining the engineering I am increasingly convinced that electric vehicles (EVs) are the… Keep reading →
Siemens is acquiring gas equipment manufacturer Dresser-Rand for $7.6 billion dollars in a move meant to help the German conglomerate capitalize on the US energy boom. Earlier this year Siemens bought “most” of Rolls-Royce’s civil energy operation for $1.3 billion. The acquisitions are also likely motivated by a desire to remain competitive with rival GE, which… Keep reading →
News broke on Wednesday that Nevada had apparently won the five-state competition to land Tesla Motors’ vaunted Gigafactory. A boost in manufacturing prestige and 6,500 jobs are expected to result – but is it possible this giant battery plant of the future could turn out to be a white elephant? OK, Lux Research didn’t go… Keep reading →
Q: How fast can I go? A: How much do you want to spend? It seems like Renovo Motors, the just-unstealthed EV builder, wants to build really fast battery-powered cars. Like, 0-to-60-in-3.4-seconds fast. Elon Musk of Tesla certainly wants to build really fast performance cars. But Musk also wants to build a mass-market EV, move the world to solar power… Keep reading →
Natural gas production from the Marcellus shale formation – primarily from West Virginia and Pennsylvania – exceeded 15 billion cubic feet per day through July, equivalent to 21% of total 2013 US marketed gas production. With the rig count essentially stable, increases in drilling productivity are driving output growth. “…production from new wells is more… Keep reading →
