During a Cleveland steel plant tour, President Obama highlighted US energy as a success story. “We [have] invested in new American technologies to reverse our addiction to foreign oil, double wind power, double solar power, produce more oil, produce more natural gas, and do it all in a way that is actually bringing down some… Keep reading →
You may not know this, but the United States is already the largest natural gas producer in the world, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and is estimated to produce more oil than Russia and Saudi Arabia in 2013. The U.S. greatly reduced its dependence on foreign energy imports in a very short time.… Keep reading →
The EIA’s latest Short-Term Energy and Winter Fuels Outlook finds US households heated with natural gas, propane and electricity face higher heating bills this winter. Projected changes in residential expenditures from last winter are: 13% higher for homes that heat primarily with natural gas 9% higher for propane 2% higher for electricity 2% lower for… Keep reading →
Siemens’ financing arm is seeing a shift in project finance from a focus on renewables to a more even mix of renewable and fossil fuel generation, according to US chief executive Kirk Edelman. “What we’re seeing now is a little bit of a shift away from a lot of focus on renewables to a more… Keep reading →
Opinions vary on how serious are the challenges facing the industry. For some time now, everybody and his brother, as the saying goes, is talking about the rapid changes taking place within the electric power sector and the potential impact of these on the future of the industry. This newsletter has had its own share… Keep reading →
The possibility of a rapprochement in nuclear talks between the US and Iran – though they did not produce a deal – had fueled a degree of oil market optimism about Iran’s reinstatement as a global oil supplier. But even if negotiations had proved successful, political and logistical hurdles would likely have stalled any significant return… Keep reading →
The data explosion racing around the internet as people do more online banking, shopping and thousands of other things requires energy-hungry data centers to process and store the growing volumes of information. These data centers need lots of electricity to power and cool servers, but IBM researchers have developed technology that can redistribute workloads to… Keep reading →
On September 23, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) updated its 2012 New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) rule, which indirectly regulates fugitive methane emissions at the production phase of oil and natural gas development. EPA will use outcome data from the NSPS NESHAP rule to determine whether… Keep reading →
Coal, renewables, nuclear and decreased year-on-year electricity demand are all eating into US natural gas-fired power generation. Increased installed wind power capacity played a major role, as developers rushed to achieve project eligibility ahead of scheduled end-2012 PTC expiration, according to Genscape data. “Year-to-date gas-fired generation continues to trail 2012 by 13%. It has lost… Keep reading →
After repeated delays to the start-up of Kazakhstan’s giant Kashagan field, and not one, but two incidents that forced its shutdown in the first month that the field was on stream, some might call the project cursed. But the latest in the string of mishaps – a gas leak that has prompted an indefinite shutdown… Keep reading →
