Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a Saudi billionaire investor with holdings in outfits like Citigroup and Time Warner, published a critical letter to Saudi Arabia’s oil minister, Ali Al-Naimi (on twitter, no less). It said that the country “won’t be able to fulfill its plan to increase capacity to 15 million barrels a day”, that “there’s… Keep reading →
Several of the Lower 48 United States, such as North Dakota, are in the midst of rapid oil sector growth. Meanwhile, oil output in Alaska – traditionally a producing state – is declining. And who owns the land could be a factor in that disparity. US oil production has grown rapidly over the past… Keep reading →
Even the Tea Party is pushing back on the conservative political group’s claims. A curious thing happened in Georgia this month. As the state’s public service commission was considering a proposal for 525 megawatts of solar PV — a program fiercely opposed by Georgia Power — an unlikely alliance formed to support more solar. The… Keep reading →
Last Friday, Alaska Governor Sean Parnell reacted to the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s rejection of the state’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) exploration plan. Parnell has been pushing to open up a section of ANWR to exploration, and submitted a proposal earlier this year to the Secretary of the Interior to conduct 3-D seismic… Keep reading →
Arguments about expensive, exotic renewables are dated If you are among those who still believes that renewables are exotic, expensive, unreliable, intermittent or whatever, you may be fighting a losing battle. With each passing day, renewables are gaining ground, and their shortcomings, most notably intermittency, diffused energy source and low capacity factor, are getting compensated in ingenious ways.… Keep reading →
You’d be forgiven for ignoring the latest round of crisis manufacturing underway in Washington, DC; the current set of politicians in power, like oversized kindergarteners with cable news spots, seem able to operate only by continually threatening to close the government down and walk away. The markets and the citizenry have seen so many rounds… Keep reading →
The Motley Fool has compiled a list of this year’s “Disturbing Energy Blunders”, which includes the train derailment in Quebec that killed dozens, as well as oil leaked form pipelines belonging to the country’s two largest oil and gas companies, ExxonMobil and Chevron. “The hope is that these big blunders will bring about more prudent… Keep reading →
The big ones are enormous Every industry has its own top 10 list. In the power generation business, like everything else, being the biggest carries clout and bragging rights. Table below, from data provided by Electric Light & Power, lists the world’s top 10 generation stations. All the big ones are either large hydro or nuclear sites with multiple reactors. Only 2 of the top… Keep reading →
Reducing the impact of operations on the environment is a lofty goal for any business, but good citizenship is, in most cases, an insufficient motivation for sweeping changes at a company that must answer to its shareholders. What makes many sustainability efforts feasible for profit-driven companies is that by pursuing them – especially those that… Keep reading →
Investment bank Simmons & Co’s long-term forecasting envisions 12-20 billion cubic feet per day of incremental US natural gas demand by 2020, pushing total demand to 82-90 bcfd from around 70 bcfd this year. LNG exports are the biggest driver, adding 4.2-6.8 bcfd, followed by exports to Canada and Mexico (2.5-3.4 bcfd), power generation (3.2-5.6… Keep reading →
