Imperial, Exxon, BP form Arctic Canada venture

The partners will not start exploratory work on the acreage until after Canada's National Energy Board completes its review of offshore safety and environmental impact, Wong said. When the NEB announced the review in May, it canceled a planned hearing on a request from BP and Exxon to reexamine a requirement that Arctic drillers need to drill a relief well in the same season that an exploratory well is completed. There is no date yet for when the review is to begin, a spokeswoman for the NEB said. In May, Bruce March, Imperial's chief executive, said he did not expect to drill a well on the company's Beaufort acreage for four or five years. The company has not drilled a well there since 1989-90. Imperial and Exxon Mobil acquired the Beaufort acreage license, called EL446, in 2007 for C$585 million ($568 million), a ...

Richard Heinberg on 100 days of the BP gusher

As the 100 day anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf rolled around this week, WMNF's Kelly Benjamin spoke with Richard Heinberg, senior fellow at the Post Carbon Institute and former advisor to the National Petroleum Council on Peak Oil and the ramifications of the BP tragedy. Benjamin asked Heinberg what should be learned from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in respect to the continued reliance on petroleum as the chief energy source for the planet. listen

EU ministers impose more sanctions on Iran

European Union foreign ministers adopted extra sanctions on Iran, in particular targeting investment in the country’s oil and gas industries, as well as curtailing its refining and natural gas capabilities. “The message to the Iranian government could not be clearer: the longer it refuses to talk…about its nuclear program, the greater the pressure and isolation Iran will bring upon itself,” said Britain’s Foreign Sec. William Hague. But the Iranian government rejected the move, saying it would have no effect on the country’s oil and gas industry or its nuclear policy. “Sanctions will only further complicate the conditions and they will have no impact,” said Ramin Mehmanparast, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry. “One should think about the necessity of cooperation by all countries in resolving the global crisis.” The EU move follows earlier efforts by the UN and the US. The UN Security Council ...

BP’s ‘Kill’ Start May Be Delayed Due to Storm Debris

BP's “static kill” procedure may be delayed by a day because the company first has to remove debris at the bottom of the relief well drilled to permanently plug the source of the largest oil spill in the U.S. history. The so-called static kill procedure, aimed at more fully sealing the damaged Gulf of Mexico Macondo well with mud and cement pumped from the top, may start on Aug. 3 rather than on Aug. 2, National Incident Commander Thad Allen told reporters today on a call. Tropical Storm Bonnie, which entered the Gulf on July 23, caused some of the sediments along the sidewalls of the relief wellbore to fall inside, Allen said. BP, based in London, is removing the debris today before proceeding with running a well casing. Macondo was shut with a stack of valves on July 15 after it was ...

European Union and six countries reach deal for fusion reactor

The European Union (EU) along with China, India, Japan, the U.S., South Korea, and Russia reached a deal on Wednesday on the financing and timetable for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), BBC reported. The deal was reached after massive cost overruns and project delays. The cost of the project was initially estimated at $6.5 billion (€5 billion). It was originally expected to be finished by 2018. The ITER project will be constructed in Cadarache, southern France. It involves a multinational effort to harness energy produced through nuclear fusion, the same physical process that fuels the Sun. The device is designed with a huge, tire-shaped vacuum chamber that uses giant magnets to contain hydrogen and is heated to 150 million degrees Celsius. In its plasma state, hydrogen nuclei can fuse to create ...

Fossil Fuel Subsidies Are 12 Times Support for Renewables

Global subsidies for fossil fuels dwarf support given to renewable energy sources such as ...

Russian oil output yet to peak, say drillers

Russia's top oil firm Rosneft said new drilling technologies have spurred output growth despite ...

Europe’s Iran sanctions may backfire

In light of Iran's serious need for foreign capital in its energy sector, the ...

News Cycle Turns in BP’s Favor

The answer is boringly simple–BP capped the well, oil stopped flowing into the Gulf, ...

As the world’s population grows, Russia’s population ...

Not so long ago -- at least, ...

President Obama's push for cleaner energy ran ...

T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire energy hedge-fund ...

* New wind capacity down 71 pct ...

Some unpleasant possibilities to consider in the ...