Oil spill panel calls for tighter federal rules, new fees for drilling

The presidential oil spill commission said Tuesday that the federal government should require tougher regulation, stiffer fines and a new industry-run safety organization, recommendations that face an uncertain future in the new Congress. Former senator Bob Graham (D-Fla.), one of the commission's co-chairmen, said that the Deepwater Horizon accident was "both foreseeable and preventable," and that Congress and the administration needed to enact...

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Shell diverting LNG to Japan to help offset energy supply drop; lifts oil output targets

AMSTERDAM - Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Tuesday it plans to divert liquefied natural gas and fuel oil to Japan to help replace energy sources damaged in last week's earthquake and tsunami. Shell, Europe's largest publicly listed oil company, also said it planned to boost its oil production to 3.7 million barrels per day by 2014, with CEO Peter Voser vowing that a "wave of new production" will continue. Voser said Shell's refining assets in Japan...

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International Energy Agency says Libyan oil exports halted, production down to a 'trickle'

CAIRO - Libya's oil exports have "ground to a halt" because of the fighting between rebels and pro-government forces, and it could be months before the country's crude resurfaces on world markets, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday. The Paris-based group, whose members are mainly oil-consuming industrial nations such as the United States, also said that production from the North African nation appeared to have "slowed to a trickle" as...

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Increase in oil revenue amid unrest in Arab world gives Russia some breathing room

MOSCOW - With the price of oil climbing to more than $100 a barrel, Russia has a little more weight to throw around on the world stage, and it is doing just that. The stepped-up flow of petrodollars into the government's coffers relieves what had been a worrisome budget deficit and lessens the urgency of reform. Good relations with the West - and especially the "reset" with Washington - are not quite so pressing when the economy here is in good...

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BP to sell $7.06 billion in Argentina assets to help cover gulf oil spill costs

BP has agreed to sell its share of an Argentina-based oil and gas company for $7.06 billion in cash, bringing to about $21 billion its total sales of assets to help cover costs stemming from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. After the sale, BP will be most of the way toward its goal of selling as much as $30 billion in assets by the end of 2011 to help cover spill costs and bolster cash holdings to assure investors and lenders of the oil giant's financial...

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When oil prices rise, Russia has freedom over a barrel

The judge had already postponed the verdict without explanation ("The court does not explain itself," said a spokesman). Before reading it, he barred journalists and the defendant's family from the courtroom. No one should have been surprised, therefore, when Mikhail Khodorkovsky - the Russian oil baron who once defied the Kremlin - received a further six years in prison last week, on top of the eight he's served. This time, he was sentenced for...

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Gasoline prices hit eight-month low

With the end of the summer driving season just around the corner, traders and investors on Monday drove gasoline prices to an eight-month low on U.S. commodities markets, providing the latest sign of pessimism about the economic recovery. The sagging commodity market price for gasoline is good news for American motorists, promising a mild easing in pump prices. It also marks the end of a summer of relative stability for retail gasoline prices, which...

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Conventional gas-powered cars starting to match hybrids in fuel efficiency

The new Chevrolet Cruze Eco can reach eye-popping fuel economy levels of more than 50 miles per gallon on the highway, which even in this era of hybrid-electric cars stands among the best. But here's the real trick: The Cruze Eco is neither a hybrid nor electric. It runs on that "old" technology, the conventional gasoline engine. Although hydrogen, electric and other alternative cars have garnered more hype and significant federal subsidies, the...

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'Risk/reward equation' used in building gulf well, BP worker testifies

A BP drilling engineer involved in the planning of the Macondo well declined to testify before a federal investigative panel Friday, invoking through his lawyer his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Mark Hafle, who was involved in some of the most heavily scrutinized decisions about the well, became the third BP employee to invoke his constitutional right not to answer questions from the panel. Hafle had testified in an earlier round...

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Nuclear energy has environmental pluses; safety remains an issue

I thought nuclear reactors were an absolute no-go for environmentalists. But I keep hearing them touted as a clean energy source. What are nuclear energy's green credentials? Some environmentalists are indeed coming around to nuclear energy. That's because the nuclear fission process produces virtually no greenhouse gas emissions, unlike the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. (Those two fossil fuels accounted for about 70 percent...

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Great Plains oil pipeline plan sparks grass-roots activism, high-stakes lobbying

A massive feat of engineering by any measure, the Keystone pipeline expansion project would transport crude oil close to 1,700 miles from "oil sands" in the icy reaches of Hardisty, Alberta, down through the Great Plains to the refineries of Port Arthur, Tex. In doing so, the giant pipe also promises to allay some fears about U.S. energy security: The oil will come from a trusted ally, and its cross-continental path avoids visions of another deep-sea...

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Early cleanup efforts of gulf oil spill marred by communication woes, scammers

PASCAGOULA, MISS. -- Johnny Ray Harris hunted for oil in the gulf near his home for 45 days straight, radioing in coordinates to cleanup crews when he spotted large, inky patches floating in the choppy waters. "I would call it in, but no one ever came. Not once," Harris said, sitting on his 73-foot-long shrimp boat beside a box filled with unused rubber boots, gloves and coveralls. "What a waste." Harris is a part of BP's Vessels of Opportunity...

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Three books on the gulf oil spill

Just six months after BP stopped the oil that had been flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, a gusher of books about the spill has begun to wash ashore. The first wave includes three very different approaches to the disaster that riveted the nation most of last summer. How we interpret the spill is important. A 1969 spill off Santa Barbara soiled the shores, killed birds and helped give rise to the modern environmental movement. Exxon's tanker accident...

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Administration reverses offshore drilling policy in eastern gulf, Atlantic

The Obama administration announced Wednesday that it will not allow offshore oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico or off the Atlantic coast through 2017, reversing two key policy changes the president embraced in late March. The revised Interior Department drilling plan, which took industry officials and many environmentalists by surprise, will also delay the next two lease sales in the central and western Gulf of Mexico. It marks a sharp...

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Oil spill report lays much blame on BP, who knew of Halliburton weaknesses

The chief counsel of the presidential oil spill commission has issued a final report laying considerable blame on BP for last year's disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. But he also points to flaws in Halliburton's work and errors by rig owner Transocean. Fred H. Bartlit Jr., a prominent trial lawyer, said that for three years BP had been aware of problems with lab tests of Halliburton cement; that a reorganization of BP's engineering department resulted...

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Federal investigators again try to question BP spill witnesses

A federal investigative panel will begin its next round of hearings Monday into the Deepwater Horizon disaster and call witnesses who can address alleged shortcuts in the drilling of the BP oil well, problems with the failed blowout preventer and the confused scene after an explosion on the rig. Whether all of those witnesses testify remains to be seen. After challenges to the investigative board's authority and competence, the hearings are shaping...

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Chinese oil company, Chesapeake Energy enter deal for shale project in Texas

The China National Offshore Oil Corp. will pay Chesapeake Energy $2.2 billion for a one-third interest in a South Texas oil and natural gas shale project and will pay billions of dollars more for its share of development costs over the next several years. Chesapeake Energy, an Oklahoma City-based domestic exploration company, announced the deal Sunday night, saying it will help speed development of resources on 600,000 acres in the Eagle Ford shale...

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As gulf cleanup continues, BP will also struggle to clean up its brand

HOUSTON -- The protesters have stopped coming here to wave angry signs in front of BP's large office campus. The boycotts of BP gas stations are tapering off, too -- both signs that the energy company's plug of the spewing Gulf of Mexico oil well is quieting its loudest critics. The shouting may be over, but rebuilding the company's badly tarnished brand will prove a much harder task -- one that advertising and oil industry experts say could be...

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Increase in oil revenue amid unrest in Arab world gives Russia some breathing room

MOSCOW - With the price of oil climbing to more than $100 a barrel, Russia has a little more weight to throw around on the world stage, and it is doing just that. The stepped-up flow of petrodollars into the government's coffers relieves what had been a worrisome budget deficit and lessens the urgency of reform. Good relations with the West - and especially the "reset" with Washington - are not quite so pressing when the economy here is in good...

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Rising fuel prices putting everyone in a bind

NEW YORK - High fuel prices are putting the squeeze on drivers just as they are starting to feel better about the economy. They also are forcing tough choices on small-business owners, who are loath to charge more for fear of losing cost-conscious customers. Gasoline prices rose 4 percent last week to a national average of $3.29 per gallon. That's the highest level to date for this time of year, when prices are typically low. And with unrest in...

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Extensive corrosion threatens BP pipelines in Alaska, risking explosions, spills

The extensive pipeline system that moves oil, gas and waste throughout BP's operations in Alaska is plagued by severe corrosion, according to an internal maintenance report generated four weeks ago. The document, obtained by the journalism group ProPublica, shows that as of Oct. 1, at least 148 BP pipelines on Alaska's North Slope received an "F-rank'' from the company. According to BP oil workers, that means inspections have determined that more...

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Academic scientists say oil from gulf spill is not going away quickly

Academic scientists are challenging the Obama administration's assertion that most of BP's oil in the Gulf of Mexico is either gone or rapidly disappearing -- with one group Thursday announcing the discovery of a 22-mile "plume" of oil that shows little sign of vanishing. That plume was measured in late June and was described Thursday by scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. The biggest news was not the plume itself:...

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Documents indicate heavy use of dispersants in gulf oil spill

While the BP well was still gushing, the Obama administration issued an order that limited the spreading of controversial dispersant chemicals on the Gulf of Mexico's surface. Their use, officials said, should be restricted to "rare cases." But in reality, federal documents show, the use of dispersants wasn't rare at all. Despite the order -- and concerns about the environmental effects of the dispersants -- the Coast Guard granted requests to use...

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