Legal

Experts Call on DOE to Speed up LNG Export Approvals

By


The US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing on the approval process for exporting LNG to non-free trade agreement countries on Tuesday. One approval has thus far been granted to export LNG to non-free trade agreement nations and several are currently pending. Proponents of LNG exports are anxious to get projects running before the global LNG market tightens as major LNG export projects come on stream in other parts of the world, particularly Australia.

Here are a few highlight from the hearing courtesy of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas: Keep reading →

 /  Published March 21, 2013 at 8:30 AM

Canadian Government and Business Leaders ‘Frustrated’ with Keystone XL Debate

By


The controversial Keystone XL Pipeline was very much on the agenda at today’s FT Global Investment Series: Focus on Canada event held in New York City, with government officials and business leaders using strong language to underline the importance of US – Canadian trade relations with regard to the pipeline.

“For the record, I would note that is no small irritant to some in Canada that our American friends focus on the current and future emissions from the oil sands while, here in the United States, a far greater environmental impact is caused by hundreds of coal-fired plants that remain in operation,” said Jim Prentice, Senior Executive Vice President and Vice Chairman at CIBC. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 14, 2013 at 8:45 AM

Get Your Cruise On Now, Before Fuel Costs Double

By


Not surprisingly, fuel makes up a significant portion of a cruise ship’s operating budget – about $1 million for a 10 day trip – but due to tighter maritime industry emissions regulations, these costs are sharply rising.

Cruise ships are often described as floating hotels, but they are also floating power plants. “This ship is a diesel-electric plant,” Richard Pruitt, Associate Vice President of Safety and Environmental Stewardship at Royal Caribbean recently told a group of journalists during a tour of the “Explorer of the Seas,” at the Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Beyonne, New Jersey. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 8, 2013 at 8:30 AM

Natural Gas Market Transparency: What does FERC Want?

By


Everyone wants Washington to take action, but when politicians and regulators start moving ahead with reform plans it is a good bet almost no one is going to be happy with the outcome.

The energy sector, as one of the most heavily regulated industries in the country, has some surprisingly freewheeling elements following the piecemeal and incomplete deregulation of energy trading that followed decades of extreme centralization. Efforts to dismantle the old central-planning model of energy markets were halted by the extraordinary complexity of market disruptions in the late 1990s and early 2000s and have been lagging in the decade since. Keep reading →

 /  Published February 15, 2013 at 11:15 AM

Jeremy Grantham to Join Keystone Pipeline Protest

By


The fund manager will march in the Sierra Club’s first-ever act of civil disobedience against a controversial pipeline.

 /  Published February 13, 2013 at 10:15 AM

Exxon Paid Roughly Twice the Income Tax as Apple Last Year

By


Tax code reform is expected to be high on the US political agenda this year and the issue of tax breaks or subsidies for Big Oil is often tossed around as part of the discussion. However, despite receiving various tax incentives, oil companies pay more in taxes than many other US-based multinational firms.

In their dogged pursuit of sensational headlines, media companies love to make a big deal about the largest US company by market capitalization, a title that ExxonMobil and Apple have traded for the past few years. Exxon recently reported its fourth quarter and full-year 2012 financials and on net income of roughly $45 billion last year, which is slightly higher than Apple’s approximately $42 billion, the oil company paid about twice as much in income taxes. Keep reading →

 /  Published February 7, 2013 at 9:15 AM

Memo To DC: Think Long-Term On Clean Energy

By


Memo To DC: Think Long-Term On Clean EnergIn his inaugural address, President Obama issued a ringing call for U.S. leadership on the development of sustainable energy technologies. Given Republican reluctance on the issue, what that will mean in practice is hard to say, but a leading nonpartisan research group has a message for the administration and Congress: Adopt long-term, consistent policies or lose out to the rest of the world.

“Although initiatives in recent years have helped to stimulate clean energy progress in the United States, the future of government policy is now uncertain and weighs heavily on U.S. industry and its competitive prospects,” the Pew Chartitable Trust says in its new study [PDF], “Innovate, Manufacture, Compete: A Clean Energy Action Plan.” Keep reading →

 /  Published January 25, 2013 at 2:00 PM

It’s Not DOE That Drives Energy Policy

By


With Secretary of Energy Steven Chu set to depart his post in the coming weeks, many are watching for clues as to who President Obama will pick to be his successor. Some hope for a more industry-friendly pick, such as Duke Energy’s CEO Jim Rogers. Environmentalists have been pulling for names like Tom Steyer, billionaire investor and cleantech enthusiast, or John Podesta, head of the Center for American Progress. Considering Secretary Chu’s struggles with Congress, many want a more politically-adept pick like former Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND).

Whomever President Obama chooses, the nominee will be critical in laying out the energy agenda for the next four years. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 23, 2013 at 8:30 AM

Post-election US Energy Policy Considerations

By

Numerous factors are set to influence US energy policy under the second Obama Administration and during the new Congress, including a leadership change at the EPA, tax code reformation, fracking, the Keystone Pipeline and Alaskan oil exploration, just to name a few.

In this video, Breaking Energy discusses important energy policy considerations for the administration, the 113th Congress and energy companies with Ian Nathan, Manager of Global Gas and LNG at Energy Intelligence Research & Advisory, a consultancy and publisher. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 10, 2013 at 3:00 PM

Update: Shell Kulluk Rig Accident in Alaska

By

Shell spent billions of dollars and significant political capital to obtain the licenses and approvals required to explore for oil and gas off the coast of Alaska.

The company’s problems in the region were compounded when a drilling rig ran aground in rough seas on December 31st as it was being towed from Alaska to the port of Seattle, Washington for scheduled offseason maintenance – the rig was not drilling at the time. Although there does not appear to have been a petroleum release, the risks associated with operating in the Arctic have been highlighted by the incident. Keep reading →

 /  Published January 8, 2013 at 11:00 AM
Page 7 of 261...34567891011...26