The skyline of downtown Pittsburgh.
Shell Chemical has signed an option to lease land in western Pennsylvania for a possible “world-scale” petrochemical complex including an ethane cracker that would use abundant natural gas from the Marcellus Shale field to make ethylene and other components for plastics. Keep reading →
API President & CEO, Jack Gerard
Most in the energy business know the American Petroleum Institute as a Washington DC-based oil and natural gas industry lobby, but some may be surprised to learn the organization’s first initiatives were the creation of an authoritative statistics program and an industry standardization drive. Keep reading →
Today, President Obama speaks on energy and gas prices at Prince George’s Community College. Watch at 11ET: http://wh.gov/live whitehouse
Gas prices are rising and government fuel economy requirements are going up, too. This time around, Detroit’s ready for the fight. General Motors, for instance, is entering the increasingly competitive mini-car market with the Chevrolet Spark. Mini-cars are even smaller than subcompacts. The reason for selling them isn’t that they get better fuel economy, though. Generally speaking, subcompacts and minicars don’t get better mileage than larger compact cars. Beyond a certain point, there’s just no gain from shrinking cars any further. The reason for offering a car this tiny is competition. Some customers, especially younger buyers living in crowded cities, want a really small car. If Chevy didn’t offer the Spark, those buyers might go get a Scion iQ or Fiat 500 and GM wants every small car sale it can get.
The debate surrounding the use of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling as part of oil and natural gas development has certainly reached the national stage, but the American Petroleum Institute – the industry lobby – has not lost sight of stakeholders at the state level.
The group is holding a series of workshops in various cities throughout the country designed to educate interested parties about how API creates industry standards and guidance. When followed by drillers and contractors, those practices are intended to ensure safety and responsible environmental stewardship. Breaking Energy attended one of these workshops earlier this month in the New York the state capital of Albany. Keep reading →
Ridership on the nation’s trains and buses hit one of the highest levels in decades, with officials crediting high gas prices, a stronger economy and new technology that makes riding public transit easier. In 2011, Americans took 10.4 billion trips on mass transit — which includes buses, trains, street cars and ferries, according to the American Public Transportation Association. That’s a 2.3% increase over 2010 and just shy of the number of trips in 2008, when gasoline spiked to a record national average of $4.11 a gallon. “As people get jobs and go back to work, they get on mass transit more,” said Michael Melaniphy, president of APTA. “And then when people look at gas prices, they really get on transit more.”
ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson
ExxonMobil, one of the world’s largest energy companies by operational size and market capitalization, is reaching into its wallet in a big way. Exxon sees significant global energy demand growth – even with the considerable efficiency gains that many expect – and is solidifying its position as a major global supplier of the both the raw commodities and finished products that will fuel global consumption. Keep reading →
The federal government spent $24 billion on energy subsidies in 2011, with the vast majority going to renewable energy sources, according to a government report. Renewable energy and energy efficiency accounted for $16 billion of the federal support, according to the Congressional Budget Office, while the fossil-fuel industry received $2.5 billion in tax breaks. This is a stark change from a decade ago. The CBO noted that until 2008, most energy subsidies went to the fossil-fuel industry. The idea at the time was to encourage more domestic oil production, especially when the price of oil was low. CBO said the $24 billion total is a small fraction of the hundreds of billions the government’s various annual subsidies, which take the form of both grants and tax breaks.
The planned closure of Sunoco’s Philadelphia refinery, which accounts for a quarter of the US East Coast’s capacity, looks set to constrain supplies of diesel, heating oil, and perhaps gasoline, while pushing prices higher.
The projected shutdown, due to take effect in July if no buyer is found, was highlighted by the Energy Information Administration in a February 27 report saying petroleum product markets in the Northeast could be “significantly impacted” if the closure goes ahead. Keep reading →
