Recent Gas News/GasBuddy Blog

MSNBC -- There are plenty of bargain-priced cars, trucks and crossovers, but that doesn’t always mean they add up to a good deal. Smart shoppers know there are lots of ways costs can quickly get out of control when you own a car, from insurance to fuel economy to maintenance and repairs.

And that’s why a new study from Kelly Blue Book is focusing on what really matters: the total cost of ownership. And there, the data-tracking website concludes, Kia is the clear standout as the top brand among all manufacturers when the entire ownership experience is tallied up. Audi was the No. 1 luxury brand when measured by total cost of ownership.  (go to article)

Dow Jones -- U.K. energy firm BG Group (BG.LN) proposes to scale back 80% of its planned U.S. shale gas drilling activity for this year in response to a sharp fall in prices, the company's chief executive said Thursday.

We now plan to have eight rigs in operation this year from 35," said Chief Executive Frank Chapman, who added that the move was directly related to the sharp fall in U.S. natural gas prices. New extraction techniques that allow producers to unlock previously untouched shale gas fields have led to abundant supply, pushing down prices to a decade low.

Natural gas for March delivery was recently 0.5 cent lower at $2.467 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. U.S. natural gas stockpiles stood at 2.966 trillion cubic feet last week, more than 25% above the  (go to article)

Mail Online -- Ever gone shopping only to realise you have forgotten where you parked the car? Scientists say they are on the verge of creating a treatment that could banish this dilemma.

A team from the University of California, Los Angeles, have revealed they can strengthen spatial memory in patients by stimulating a critical junction in the brain.

The finding, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, could lead to a new method for boosting memory in patients with early Alzheimer's disease.

The team, led by Dr Itzhak Fried, focused on a brain site called the entorhinal cortex. Considered the doorway to the hippocampus, which helps form and store memories, the entorhinal cortex plays a crucial role in transforming daily experience into lasting memories.  (go to article)

MLIVE -- State senators will hear testimony on a bill to ban cellphone use by new Michigan drivers later this month.

There will be a hearing for the bill on Feb. 21 in front of the Senate Energy and Technology Committee, said state Sen. Howard Walker, R-Traverse City. Walker introduced the bill and sits on the committee.

"There seems to be a lot of interest in it," he said Wednesday.  (go to article)

NY Times -- WASHINGTON — For the first time in over three decades, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to decide to grant a license to build a nuclear reactor — a milestone for an industry whose long-hoped-for renaissance is smaller and later than anticipated.  (go to article)

Fox News --
WASHINGTON – House Republicans cleared a hurdle Tuesday in their efforts to push through approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, after a House committee passed a bill mandating federal approval of the project within 30 days of receiving a proposal for it.

The pro-Keystone legislation now heads to the full House, where it will be attached to a $260 billion transportation bill backed by House Speaker John Boehner (Ohio). It then moves to the Senate, where its fate becomes less clear given the Democrat majority in that chamber.

The Obama administration opposes the bill. In a recent congressional hearing, a top State Department official said the legislation is irresponsible and legally questionable because it bypasses a final review of the pipeline route.  (go to article)

southernstudies.org -- The oil and gas industry's lobbying organization held a workshop in North Carolina last week to promote its own standards as models for how the state might regulate the controversial gas drilling technique known as "fracking"

But nowhere in their presentations did officials with the American Petroleum Institute acknowledge the environmental damage done in other states despite the industry's standards. Nor did they mention the serious shortcomings documented in API's standards-setting program following the BP oil-spill disaster.

..an industry which is a master of denial

..lawmakers are considering whether to overturn the state's fracking ban

Exxon Mobil doesn't care about geology, it doesn't care about chemistry, it doesn't care about physics" he said. "Exxon cares about profit  (go to article)

US News -- Better technology yields better data. The bad news is the extra water from 2003-2010 would fill Lake Erie eight times.
Nearly 230 billion tons of ice is melting into the ocean from glaciers, ice caps, and mountaintops annually—which is actually less than previous estimates, according to new research by scientists at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

If the amount of ice lost between 2003 and 2010 covered the United States, the whole country would be under one-and-a-half feet of water, or it'd fill Lake Erie eight times, researchers say. Ocean levels worldwide are rising about six hundredths of an inch per year, according to researcher John Wahr.

While vast quantities of ice melting into the ocean is not exactly good news, Wahr says, according to his team's estimates, about 30 percent  (go to article)

Dow Jones Newswires --
Crude-oil futures finished slightly higher Wednesday after a government report showed U.S. crude-oil stockpiles rose less than expected last week, although oil demand overall was weak.

Light, sweet crude oil for March delivery settled up 30 cents, or 0.3%, to $98.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude oil on the ICE futures exchange settled 97 cents per barrel, or 0.8%, higher at $117.20.

U.S. oil inventories last week rose 300,000 barrels, the Department of Energy reported, well below the 2.7-million-barrel increase forecast by analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires.

Despite the modest increase, weak demand continues to keep prices restrained. Nymex futures actually declined from highs of $100.09 a barrel following the weekly survey from the DOE's Energy  (go to article)

TruthOut -- Washington - A barrage of industry-led advertising and lobbying urging President Obama to "put jobs ahead of politics" has fueled the impression that labor unions universally champion the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

But that myth was blown apart just minutes after the president rejected the project on Jan. 18.

That's when five labor unions that had kept low profiles on the pipeline—including the 2 million-member strong Service Employees International Union—issued a joint statement backing Obama's decision.

Since then, a more nuanced snapshot has emerged of where labor unions stand on Keystone XL. That newer picture weakens industry's argument that the pipeline has broad union support. The handful of unions that praised the president and questioned the project’s merits represent ....  (go to article)

ThinkProgress -- In hearings to mark up Republican legislation to expedite the Keystone XL pipeline, Rep. Mike Doyle accused TransCanada of misleading the American public that the pipeline would be built with American steel.

Doyle submitted an amendment that challenged TransCanada to certify its claim that 75 percent of the pipe comes from North America. Discussing his amendment, Doyle expressed his frustration in attempts to get a straight answer from the company about where the steel for the 1700-mile pipe was made. Doyle found that Indian company Welspun Corp appears to be the pipeline supplier.

Doyle revealed he found that 148 miles of pipe have already been constructed in India and shipped to Welspun’s subsidiary Welspun Tubular in Little Rock, AR.

The steel comes from the same Indian manufa  (go to article)

Reuters -- BP Plc won a court order keeping several potentially damaging emails out of a scheduled trial to determine responsibility for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Wednesday's ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Shushan in New Orleans came a day after U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier rejected the oil company's effort to keep evidence about settlements it had already reached out of the trial.

The rulings came as Barbier prepares to preside on February 27 over a non-jury trial to assign blame for the April 20, 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 people and caused the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.  (go to article)

By MICHAEL WARREN - Associated Press -- SANTIAGO, Chile -- Repsol YPF on Wednesday raised the estimate for potentially recoverable oil and gas in its part of Argentina's "Vaca Muerta" (Dead Cow) basin to the equivalent of nearly 23 billion barrels, indicating a total shale deposit big enough to enable Argentina to challenge the United States in non-conventional petroleum production.

But it cautioned that exploiting the formation would need a huge expansion in Argentina's oil and gas industry, requiring thousands of wells, hundreds of drilling rigs and a national push to attract the necessary talent, equipment and investment at a time when other countries are competing to increase energy resources.

The company's shares traded on the Buenos Aires stock exchange jumped 8 percent after the announcement.  (go to article)

Road & Track -- A curb weight of 3355 lb. is listed on the 427’s spec sheet, as are expected performance numbers of 3.8 sec. from 0 to 60 mph and 11.8 sec. for the quarter mile. Lateral acceleration is estimated at 1.04g and its top speed is rated at a hairdo-destroying 190 mph.  (go to article)

The Street -- In a turn of events that could prove disastrous for Iran, it has found its largest exporter, China, recently reducing the amount of oil it buys and looking for other sources, such as Saudi Arabia. China normally accounts for 20% of Iran’s exports, but has reduced the quantity of oil purchased by about 250,000 barrels per day (bpd), just over half of original supplies. It has nothing to do with current US and European sanctions but is more of a negotiating ploy to help increase the bargaining power of China.

They are trying to take advantage of the pressure exerted upon Iran by the West’s sanctions and negotiate lower prices for the oil it purchases from Tehran.

China has bought its new oil from Saudi Arabia, West Africa, Russia and Australia over the last few months. According to OPEC, S  (go to article)

CPBJ -- The state House this afternoon passed a bill rewriting the state's regulations for Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling and imposing an impact fee.

The vote on the legislation, House Bill 1950, was 101-90. The state Senate passed it Tuesday night by a vote of 31-19. The bill now goes to Gov. Tom Corbett’s desk for his signature.

The bill imposes an impact fee based on the average yearly price of natural gas. The bill’s backers said the fee works out to roughly a 3 percent effective rate; opponents said it was closer to 1 percent.

The bill also limits municipalities’ ability to regulate the drilling industry, which has long argued it needs uniform statewide rules rather than a patchwork of local ordinances.

A statement on the bill’s passage from the Marcellus Shale Coalition was not imm  (go to article)

Autoweek - Car News -- Michigan-based Gibbs Technologies has released two new high-speed, commercial-grade amphibian vehicles, named the Phibian and the Humdinga.

The Phibian is a 30-foot-long, nearly 12-foot-tall craft capable of highway speeds on land and more than 30 mph (26 knots) in the water. Constructed mainly of carbon fiber, the Phibian can hold up to 15 people, including a crew of three.

Designed for first-responder and rescue operations, the Phibian can go from the road to the water in less than 10 seconds with the push of a button. A twin-turbocharged diesel engine puts 500 hp to the ground through selectable four-wheel drive and twin jet drives in the water.

The smaller Humdinga, at 21 feet long, holds five to seven occupants for light-duty patrol and rapid-response situations. It has a superc  (go to article)

Autoweek- Car News -- People, hear me--you don't need a $2,000 charging dock to recharge your electric car!

Building owners, listen to my words--you don't need to go through some charging-infrastructure contractor to provide electricity for your tenants and customers who have EVs!

Municipalities currently being sweet-talked by various entities, lend me your ears! Save everybody money!

Electricity is electricity. It comes out of the wall and goes into your car. It is not complicated and it doesn't need a box with five different-colored lights that blink, and you don't need anything that makes a bleep sound at different times. All you need is a plug, and you get one with your car when you buy it.

I just bought a Mitsubishi i, the least expensive, freeway-ready EV in America. It came with a charge cable th  (go to article)

Politico -- Last week's revelations about the organization’s hushed financial marriage to the natural gas industry — and its just-as-secretive divorce — have left some long-time supporters feeling angry, betrayed or misled. The news cut especially deep for activists who have spent years fighting the spread of shale gas drilling in states like New York and Pennsylvania.

The Sierra Club quietly accepted $26 million in donations from gas industry interests from 2007 to 2010 — years when the group’s national leaders were talking up gas as a cleaner, greener “bridge fuel” alternative to coal.

“The Sierra Club is saying we cannot go down the road of a gas-powered future,” Fox said. He added, “It would be great if our government followed suit & politicians stopped taking money from gas companies"  (go to article)

MSNBC -- Experts expect record prices in the coming months. NBC's Jay Gray reports.  (go to article)

Environmental Leader -- The Mitsubishi i-MIEV has unseated the Honda Civic Natural Gas from its throne and become the first electric car in 12 years to top environmental rankings from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

This is the first time in eight years that the Civic Natural Gas hasn’t topped the ACEEE “Greenest” list, which have been going for 14 years. The Honda Civic Natural Gas did improve its fuel economy this year, and ties for second place with the Nissan Leaf. They are followed by the Toyota Prius, the Honda Insight, and the Smart ForTwo.

With a combined city and highway fuel economy of 112 miles per gallon equivalent, the i-MIEV outperforms all other vehicles sold in the U.S., ACEEE says. It earned a score of 58, the highest since the rankings began.  (go to article)

Truthout -- Victims of contaminated water have sued Cabot and fought for more than two years for clean water, and, until about two months ago, Cabot was under state orders to deliver fresh water in giant vessels to several of the affected residences.  (go to article)

McClatchy -- Penn State climate scientist Michael Mann's upcoming talk at the university has been the target of a coal and gas interest group that would like the university to "disinvite" him.
 (go to article)

JSOnline -- Efforts to increase the amount of ethanol in gasoline were dealt a blow Tuesday by legislation that would block a 15% biofuel blend until more studies are done on whether it harms engines.

A bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) would require a comprehensive review of fuels containing more than 10% ethanol before they're allowed in the marketplace.

By a vote of 19-7, the bill was approved by a House committee on science, space and technology. Sensenbrenner chairs the committee.

Makers of small engines, especially, have said scores of their products could be ruined if consumers use a fuel mix that contains more than 10% ethanol - a corn-based fuel additive used in most gasoline.

A 15% blend could cause premature engine failure, lower fuel efficiency and void...  (go to article)

The Financial Post -- Federal rules for fracking on public lands, set to be released in a few weeks, may serve as a model for states to get companies to disclose the chemicals used in the drilling process, an Obama administration official said.

The proposed federal standards will be compatible with rules already in place in states such as Wyoming and Texas, and will allow limited exemptions for “legitimate trade secrets,” David Hayes, the deputy Interior secretary, said today.

“What we expect is that the momentum that you already see in states for disclosure will be reinforced by what we do,” Hayes said in an interview at the Washington office of Bloomberg News. “Most folks would like to see an across-the-board approach to deal with these issues.”  (go to article)

The Financial Post -- Canadian crude oil is being sold at a steep discount over concerns that pipelines and refineries are unable to keep up with rising production.

Western Canada Select has fallen steadily over the last month, closing on Monday at its lowest level in a year at just US$61.41 a barrel. Even after recovering on Tuesday to US$65.91, Canadian crude was trading at little more than half of the global benchmark.

“A barrel of Western Canadian Select crude is one of the cheapest barrels of heavy, sour crude available in the world, as the Canadian market grapples with increases in production, pipeline constraints and lack of adequate refinery demand,” said a report by Platts, an energy market news service based in New York.  (go to article)

PRI -- In a Texas town of 1,100 people, the well has run dry. Now all the water needed for drinking, washing and bathing must be trucked in from other areas. But a new report has discovered that up until just weeks before the well went dry, the local water provider was selling off water up until the last weeks before the well ran out.

Spicewood Beach, Texas, has been enduring a drought so bad they've had to start trucking in drinking water on a regular basis.

Spicewood is the first place in what is a drought-stricken state to deplete its aquifer to the point that it can no longer draw enough ground water for its 1100 residents. But in an ironic twist, the Lower Colorado River Authority, the public agency that manages the water, was selling the city's water and trucking it out of town...  (go to article)

Bloomberg Businessweek -- Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Oil pared gains after the U.S. Energy Department reported that inventories climbed as fuel consumption dropped to the lowest level in almost 13 years.

Futures slipped from the day’s highs after the department said crude supplies rose 304,000 barrels to 339.2 million in the week ended Feb. 3. Gasoline stockpiles increased to the highest level in almost a year and inventories of distillate fuels unexpectedly gained. Total fuel demand fell 0.5 percent to 17.6 million barrels a day, the lowest level since 1999.  (go to article)

Consumerist.com -- Earlier today at the Chicago Auto Show, Toyota announced that it is shifting production of Highlander SUVs from Japan to the car maker's plant in Princeton, Indiana.

The move will result in 400 new jobs at the plant and an additional $400 million investment in the facility. Toyota expects this change will allow it to manufacture an additional 50,000 Highlanders a year, some of which are intended for export.

"We plan to export some of those Highlanders to other countries," the Wall Street Journal quotes Toyota North America President Yoshi Inaba as saying. "Our exports of made-in-America products to 21 countries has topped 100,000 vehicles and we've just begun exporting American Camry sedans and Sienna minivans to South Korea."  (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog --
If you're at McCormick Place for Chicago's 2012 Auto Show (beginning tomorrow), the biggest in the nation, you may think you've died and gone to heaven. They'll have the cars of your dreams on display... the Ford Shelby Cobra GT 500; the Mustang; Corvette; Camaro; the Aston Martin DB9; the Maserati Gran Turismo; the Porsche Boxster and a nifty looking Mercede Benz SLS AMG Roadster... concept cars and convertibles, family cars and minivans; hybrids and electric vehicles... Did I mention sportscars?

To see all the vehicles on display, click here:
Cars on Display at Chicago Auto Show

Of course, they'll have some practical cars too. Hyundai said today it is adding hatchback and sport coupe versions...  (go to article)

Edmunds Inside -- Mitsubishi's new electric city car has booted Honda's compressed natural gas Civic from the top spot in a key annual ranking of the country's greenest vehicles, becoming the first EV in 12 years to occupy the throne. The CNG-powered Civic had topped the list for eight consecutive years, and the defunct EV-1 from General Motors was the last electric car to garner the green crown.

It's a pretty significant accomplishment for the brand-new Mitsubishi i, said Shruti Vaidyanathan, head vehicle analyst for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). The Washington-based environmental lobbying group has been producing its annual green car guide for 14 years.

 (go to article)

TG Daily -- Most people understand that once solar panels are paid off, the energy they provide is free. But what about on a national level? ??

Many haven’t really internalized the corresponding fact. The same people worry that government investment in solar, or policies that encourage it, is somehow wasting money. But solar works the same way at the national level. Once the infrastructure is paid for, the energy is free. The same with wind. It is money well spent.

Renewables will bring golden age of free energy. ?A new coal plant must be paid for, too, but after that initial cost is paid, money must continue to be pumped in, day in, day out, shoveling a fresh train-car-load of coal into a furnace every 12 hours, for the next 30 years.

Some nations have invested in so much renewable power in the  (go to article)

Mastercard -- Four-week demand fell 4.9%, or 430,000 barrels a day, from a year earlier to an average of 8.4 million barrels a day. The drop was the biggest year-on-year decline in four-week demand on a percentage basis since Nov. 7, 2008. Four-week gasoline demand hasn't topped the year-ago level since March 18, 2011.

Gasoline prices rose 8 cents in the week to $3.47 a gallon, the highest price since Oct. 21, 2011. The price is up 11.9% from a year ago.  (go to article)

http://notrickszone.com/ from Germany's Bild.de -- Today, not one, but two of Germany’s most widely read news media published comprehensive skeptical climate science articles in their print and online editions, coinciding with the release of a major climate skeptical book, Die kalte Sonne (The Cold Sun).  (go to article)

http://www.bild.de/politik/inland/globale-erwaermung/die-co2-luege-klima-katastrophe-ist-panik-mache -- By Professor WERNER WEBER (DO Dortmund) Does mankind before a home-made climatic disaster stand? Or is the global heating up only a large CO2-Lüge of hysterischer scientists? An author team around of Hamburg ex environmental senator Fritz Vahrenholt* gives 'all-clear' signal! In truth the sun is at least just as responsible for the variations in temperature of the earth as CO2!

Fritz Vahrenholt, one of the fathers of Germany's environmental movement, no longer trusts the forecasts of the IPCC. Doubt came two years ago when he was an expert reviewer of an IPCC report on renewable energy. "I discovered numerous errors and asked myself if the other IPCC reports on climate change were similarly sloppy. I couldn’t take it any more. I had to write this book.”
 (go to article)

Anchorage Daily News online -- CHANGES: Committee process will sort out problems, solutions.

By BECKY BOHRER
Associated Press

Published: February 7th, 2012 09:34 PM
Last Modified: February 8th, 2012 07:24 AM

JUNEAU -- The Alaska Senate is planning to unveil a generic oil tax bill this week, leaving to the committee process the job of finding problems in the proposal and working out solutions.

Senate President Gary Stevens said Tuesday that senators didn't want to set "false expectations" by putting something into a bill and then changing it later.

He said the measure, expected to be introduced later this week, will include the existing method for splitting profits between the state and oil companies at periods of high oil prices.

Some of the senators who last year refused to act on Gov. Sean Parnell's tax cut bill  (go to article)

Anchorage Daily News online -- By CLIFFORD KRAUSS and JULIA WERDIGIER
The New York Times

Published: February 7th, 2012 07:54 PM
Last Modified: February 7th, 2012 11:35 PM

HOUSTON -- Less than two years ago, the British oil company BP was worried about its very survival as a seemingly unstoppable oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico threatened to destroy its finances and reputation.

But on Tuesday, BP expressed renewed confidence in its future, reporting strong quarterly profits and raising its dividend to shareholders. The company also said it was eager to resolve billions of dollars in remaining private and government claims from the accident, whether through a settlement or in a trial scheduled to begin Feb. 27 in New Orleans.

The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in April 2010, which killed 11 workers  (go to article)

New York Post -- Big Apple gas pump prices could hit $4.55 a gallon by Memorial Day — and, at that level, likely stall the economic recovery as consumers dig deeper to fill up their cars.

A government report yesterday confirmed what many motorists don’t want to hear — there’s a “one in four chance the US average pump price of regular gasoline could exceed $4 in June this year.”

Some city gas stations are already charging more than $4 a gallon, but most motorists are currently paying around $3.80 a gallon.

The short-term forecast by the US Energy Information Institute went out on a limb as a grim oddsmaker, due in part to a surprise surge in pump prices last month — the most expensive January for gasoline on record — when prices jumped 20 cents a gallon.  (go to article)

Michigan Radio -- Voters may soon decide whether Michigan should scrap the 19-cents-per-gallon tax on gas at the pump in favor of a sales tax increase of 1 percent.

The change would help generate more money for transportation funding.

A proposal to put the question to voters is gaining momentum with some legislative leaders.  (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- The Energy Information Administration released its weekly report on the condition of petroleum inventories in the United States today.

Here are some highlights:

CRUDE INVENTORIES:
Crude oil inventories increased by 0.3 million barrels to a total of 339.2 million barrels. At 339.2 million barrels, inventories are 5.8 million barrels below last year (-1.7%) and are in the upper limit of the average range.

GASOLINE INVENTORIES:
Gasoline inventories increased by 1.6 million barrels to 231.8 million barrels. At 231.8 million barrels, inventories are 9.1 million barrels, or 3.8% lower than last year. Here's how individual regions and their gasoline inventory fared last week: East Coast (N/C); Midwest (+0...  (go to article)

MSNBC -- In 2008, it completely revised its processes which resulted in a particularly sharp dip in mileage numbers for gas-electric vehicles like the Honda Civic ...  (go to article)

CNN Money -- The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy has released its list of the most environmentally friendly cars of 2012, but there's one glaring omission.

Mitsubishi i

Fuel ecomony: 126 city / 99 hwy MPGe
Price: $29,125 - $31,125

Mitsubishi's very light lithium-ion powered electric car is the "greenest" car on sale in America today, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit group. The i-MiEV, also known as the i, is powered by a 66 horsepower electric motor.

One car you won't see anywhere on this list is the Chevrolet Volt. That's because the ACEEE uses vehicle weight as a criterion for scoring, under the assumption that a heavier vehicle causes more waste in production.  (go to article)

www.wlox.com -- BILOXI, MS (WLOX) - You've probably noticed gasoline prices are on the rise again.

One local small business owner shared his frustration with WLOX.com. David Vickers said not only does he have to pay more at the pumps, he also loses revenue every time gas prices go up. With pump in hand, Vickers said, "It makes me mad, it makes me upset."

Vickers is furious he has to spend close to $100 every time he fills up his F-150 pickup truck. He said, "It's crazy, we shouldn't be paying for these prices over here in the United States. We have more oil here in the United States than we could ever deplete. I read about it, I hear about it you know paying $3.50, $3.49 a gallon, it's crazy!"

His fantasy solution? Slash the prices!

"If you would drop fuel prices down to a buck fifty, they're st  (go to article)

www.guardian.co.uk -- The Swiss-based commodities trader Trafigura has bought oil the South Sudanese government claims was seized by Sudan, its northern neighbour and former civil war enemy, according to industry sources.

Trafigura is now in a legal dispute over ownership, the sources told Reuters.

The tanker of crude oil is one of three seized cargoes, forming part of some $815m (£512m) in oil revenues, which South Sudan's president, Salva Kiir, accused Sudan of "looting"; the Sudanese government, in Khartoum, said the cargoes provided compensation for unpaid transit fees.

Landlocked South Sudan must pump its oil to the Red Sea via a pipeline across Sudan, to Port Sudan, to earn oil revenues, which account for 98% of the seven-month-old country's income.

Last month, South Sudan shut down its production of  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Oil rose to its highest in a week in New York after a report showed U.S. stockpiles shrank, signaling increased demand in the world’s biggest crude consumer.

West Texas Intermediate futures climbed to $99.65 a barrel, the highest since Jan. 31. Crude inventories fell 4.5 million barrels in the seven days ended Feb. 3, the first drop in three weeks, the American Petroleum Institute said after yesterday’s settlement. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News had forecast today’s Energy Department report would show supplies rose 2.5 million barrels.

“Inventories decreasing are adding to the supply concerns in the market,” said Sintje Boie, an analyst at HSH Nordbank in Hamburg. “Demand is quite strong because of the winter season. There are already supply worries from Iran’s threat to stop  (go to article)

Reuters -- Brent crude futures fell to near $116 a barrel on Wednesday, as uncertainty over Greece's ability to resolve its debt problems weighed on sentiment and traders narrowed the benchmark's premium to U.S. crude.

The risk of Europe's debt crisis dragging the region into a recession that could crimp oil demand continued to weigh on risk assets.

Greek political parties will try yet again on Wednesday to strike a reform deal in return for a new international rescue to avoid a chaotic default.

"There is little doubt that should Greece come to an agreement with private debt holders and agree to tough austerity measures this would be viewed favorably in risk asset markets," said Ben Le Brun, market analyst with OptionXpress in Sydney.

London Brent crude [LCOCV1 116.54 0.31 (+0.27%)  (go to article)

USA Today -- Pressure is rising from a surprising array of interests to delay or block the sale of so-called E15 fuel at service stations.

A letter supporting more study and scientific evaluation before E15 is approved went to a House committee Monday, signed by 31 organizations.

They range from petroleum interests and automakers, to ones you might not imagine, such as environmental activist Friends of the Earth, dairy groups, the National Black Chamber of Commerce and representatives of the small-engine and snack-food industries.

The letter asks the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology to support a bill that "would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to conduct necessary scientific and technical analysis on the implications ...  (go to article)

CNN Money -- When Fisker Automotive announced it was laying off about two dozen workers at its Delaware factory, comparisons arose to Solyndra, the solar cell manufacturer that went bankrupt despite billions of dollars in U.S. government help.

Yes, the California based electric car maker and Solyndra both got a lot of government assistance, but analysts say those comparisons are unfair and premature.

The DOE had agreed to lend Fisker $529 million, and the carmaker had gotten $193 million of that before funding was cut off in May.

The company said it was cut off because it failed to meet production milestones for the Karma, a luxurious "range extended electric car," similar in nature to the less opulent Chevrolet Volt. But production is now underway and the Karma is on sale with prices starting ...  (go to article)

WSJ -- LONDON (Dow Jones)--Crude oil futures rose Wednesday alongside European equities on optimism that Greek lawmakers were close to a deal on the restructuring of the country's debt.

At 1115 GMT, the March Brent contract on London's ICE futures exchange was up 46 cents, or 0.4%, at $116.67 a barrel. The March contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading up $1.21, or 1.2%, at $99.60 a barrel.

"We see a strong rally in the European equity markets on the positive outcome about Greece and that is the key element that is moving the oil markets today," said Mryto Sokou, research analyst at Sucden Financial. "Also with a strong rally in the euro, crude oil prices are heading toward $100 [a barrel] for WTI and $118 [a barrel] for Brent."

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is scheduled  (go to article)

MarketWatch -- China announced increases in retail gasoline and diesel prices, a move that will see prices at the pump rise by 3.3% and 3.6%, respectively, above current retail ceiling benchmarks, according to calculations by The Wall Street Journal that were based on a late Tuesday announcement by the National Development and Reform Commission. In spite of the price hikes, Chinese consumers will still be shielded from paying full energy prices, although the hikes should help bring retail charges into closer alignment with those quoted on international markets. Gasoline and diesel prices will rise by 300 yuan ($47.54) per metric ton, effective from midnight Wednesday, China's top economic planning body said in a statement. Ahead of the announcement, the average retail ceiling benchmarks for gasoline ...  (go to article)

AP via Yahoo! Finance -- Norwegian oil company Statoil ASA on Wednesday said its profits soared in the fourth quarter on higher oil and gas prices and a one-time gain from the sale of a stake in a gas transportation company.

Net profit was 25.5 billion kroner ($4.40 billion), up from 9.7 billion kroner in the same period a year earlier. And revenue rose 22 percent to 173.9 billion kroner.

State-controlled Statoil booked a gain of 8.5 billion kroner, mostly related to the sale of a majority of its stake in Gassled, which owns the grid that transports gas from the Norwegian continental shelf to consumers on the European continent and Britain.

Equity production increased 1.5 percent to 1.975 million barrels of oil equivalents a day, and Statoil said it aims to reach production levels of 2.5 million barrels per day  (go to article)