BP Collected 6,077 Barrels Friday at Well
BP PLC collected 6,077 barrels of oil on Friday, the first full day after a new containment cap was placed over the deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico that has been leaking for more than six weeks, the company said early Saturday on its website.
The first daily estimate of oil collected indicates that possibly between half and one-third of the oil that is spewing from the BP-owned Macondo Well is being captured. Last week, scientists led by the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that between 12,000 and 19,000 barrels a day were gushing into the Gulf.
“Optimization continues and improvement in oil collection is expected over the next several days,” BP said in the update.
Carbon Capture on the Cheap?
Skyonic, which has developed a system for converting smokestack fumes into sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and other minerals, is moving toward commercialization and says that early data from its pilot plant indicate that it will be able to undercut many of the industry estimates for the cost of capturing the gas.
“We can capture carbon for less than $22 a metric ton” at scale, said CEO Joe Jones in an interview. The cost figure does not include revenue generated from selling minerals produced in the process.
By contrast, McKinsey & Co. has estimated that early traditional techniques for carbon capture, i.e., storing it in underground caves, will cost $80 to $120 a ton and go down to the $30-to-$60 range over time. Some of the cost can be defrayed by selling pressurized streams of CO2 to oil companies for enhanced oil recovery.
BP Funneling Some of Leak to Surface
“I would say that things are going as planned,” Kent Wells, a BP executive, said at a briefing Friday afternoon. “I am encouraged. But remember, we only have 12 hours’ experience.”
Later, BP reported on its Web site that in the first 12 hours of operation the cap had diverted 76,000 gallons of oil to a ship on the surface. Current estimates are that oil is leaking from the well at a rate of 500,000 to 800,000 gallons a day.
With Drilling Stopped, Losses Could Multiply
One oil industry group, the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, has estimated that each exploration and production job represents four supporting jobs in and around the region. If that is the case, thousands of jobs — and millions of dollars in wages — could be affected by the work stoppage, the group said.
With that in mind, a growing chorus of residents, business owners and local politicians in the gulf region are imploring the Obama administration to reconsider the deep-water drilling ban.
BP chief Tony Hayward sold shares weeks before oil spill
Tony Hayward cashed in about a third of his holding in the company one month before a well on the Deepwater Horizon rig burst, causing an environmental disaster.
Mr Hayward, whose pay package is £4 million a year, then paid off the mortgage on his family’s mansion in Kent, which is estimated to be valued at more than £1.2 million.
There is no suggestion that he acted improperly or had prior knowledge that the company was to face the biggest setback in its history.
Canada’s Oil Sands May Gain From Deepwater Drilling’s Pain
The inadvertent benefit to the oil-sands industry from the spill may be more than just cosmetic, with deepwater drilling likely to face higher costs from new regulations as a result of the disaster. The great expense and particular environmental risks of oil-sands development could look ever more bearable compared with the potentially catastrophic consequences of deepwater drilling. Any eventual shift of investment from the Gulf into the oil sands could also be a boon for the Canadian dollar and the country’s economy.
Crude from oil sands and deepwater wells has only become economical to extract over the past several years as oil prices have risen and technology has advanced. Both sources are much more expensive than conventional oil production. Both methods require oil prices of between $50 and $60 a barrel to be profitable, said BMO Capital Markets analyst Randy Ollenberger. The Gulf spill, however, is likely to lead to regulations that could increase the costs of deepwater oil production beyond that of developing oil sands, he said.
Stopping A Spill? There’s Always the Nuclear Option
The Soviets nuked several out-of-control gas wells, according to reports. In the Central Asian republic of Turkmenistan, a fire has raged for nearly 40 years after a drilling rig ignited underground gas. And in some places on earth, leaking and oozing oil has been blithely ignored for decades.
Here are some examples of oil and gas blowouts around the world that have produced strange results — and equally strange efforts to fix them:
Panel recommends continued use of oil dispersant
A federal panel of about 50 experts is recommending the continued use of chemical dispersants to break up the oil gushing in the Gulf of Mexico, despite its harm to plankton, larvae and fish.
Panel member Ron Tjeerdema (juh-DEER’-muh) said Friday they decided the animals harmed by the chemicals underwater had a better chance of rebounding quickly than birds and mammals on the shoreline. Tjeerdema chairs the Department of Environmental Toxicology at the University of California, Davis.
Governor Rell vetoes Connecticut energy bill
Citing concerns that recently passed energy legislation would increase energy costs, Governor M. Jodi Rell this week vetoed Senate Bill No. 493, An Act Reducing Electricity Costs and Promoting Renewable Energy. Governor Rell’s action will now trigger a special legislative session to consider whether to override the gubernatorial veto.
Governor Rell, in her veto message, said that “in the midst of both this great recession and our well-known state budget challenges I cannot ask our already over-burdened and over-taxed residents and businesses to bear the additional burden of the costs associated with this bill.”
Lawmakers Eager to Take Action
WASHINGTON—Congressional Democrats plan an aggressive legislative response to the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, led by proposals to raise liability limits for oil companies that cause spills and a renewed push to enact legislation to promote “clean energy.”
Among other initiatives likely to be considered, beyond raising the cap on oil-spill liability to $10 billion or more: Improvements in oil-worker safety, a toughening of environmental protections for offshore drilling and a further revamping of the Minerals Management Service, the bureau in the Interior Department that manages the nation’s oil resources. President Barack Obama has already ordered a wide-ranging overhaul of the MMS, dividing its current responsibilities across three other agencies.
Oil prices fall on weak euro, US jobs report
NEW YORK: Oil skidded more than three dollars a barrel on Friday as a sharply weaker euro and a disappointing US jobs report sparked fresh concerns about the strength of economic recovery.
Electric car goes 623 miles on single charge
A car group in Tokyo recently drove an electric car 1,003.184 kilometers (about 623 miles) on a single charge, breaking its own record for greatest distance traveled without recharging.
I’d like to know how many times the drivers stopped-and how this affected battery performance. Also, how do you fit more than 8,320 batteries (albeit small ones) into a car as tiny as the Mira? I doubt that there was much leg room left.
Stanford Kids Develop An Open-Air Electric Car (Video)
Some Stanford graduate students have created a concept vehicle that may see some large-scale production and distribution. It’s called the WENG, which stands for Where Everyone Needs to Go, and it’s a four-seater, golf-cart like vehicle with some design-y elements meant for short trips near home. As one of the team members, John Stanfield, says, “Why are people driving 4 to 6,000-pound internal combustion cars to the grocery store?”
Commuter Bikes Answer the Call for “Greener” Modes of Getting Around
Performance Bicycle, the nation’s No. 1 specialty bike retailer, recently launched the TransIt line of city and commuter bikes to help people make cycling part of their everyday routine. “I think we’re in the midst of a renaissance of the American bicycle, and commuter bicycles are going to play a larger role in that trend,” says Performance CEO Jim Thompson.
Many cities across the country are taking the initiative to encourage local commuters to bike to work by developing commuter bike paths and bike lanes on city streets. They also are providing bike “parking.” Cycling to work and around town definitely takes planning, so commuters should take the time to map the best route, know how long the ride takes in order to leave in plenty of time, and possibly bring a change of clothes if it is hot.
A primary pivot point for California transit
As primaries approach, inquiring transit-obsessed voters want to know what each of the candidates might do about all the crumbling bus systems, the rusty rails, the ruby red budgets and the push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But the leading gubernatorial pols haven’t said much about transit issues (and did not respond when this reporter asked them directly). Still, we can piece together some idea of how each potential governor would alter California’s transportation environment.
Q&A: Abdalla Salem EL Badri, Secretary General, OPEC
How is Opec looking at the future?
Since its formation, Opec has been committed to three main objectives: Securing a steady income for producing countries; ensuring an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consuming nations; and bringing about a fair return on capital for those investing in the petroleum industry.
Oil producers are faced with the challenge of security of demand and how to better decipher demand patterns and trends. Without the confidence that there will be additional demand for oil, there is little incentive for producers to invest in new capacity. Our data show that as early as 2020, demand for Opec crude could be as low as 29 million barrels per day, or as high as 37 million barrels per day. This translates into an uncertainty gap for upstream investments in Opec member-countries of over $250 billion.
What are your projections for world oil demand and world oil supply? Also what are current OECD stock levels?
In OPEC’s latest Monthly Oil Market report, we are forecasting world oil demand growth for 2010 at 0.9 million b/d. Oil supply from non-Opec producers is expected to grow by 5,00,000 b/d. We also see a steady increase in OPEC NGLs, which we are forecasting will grow by 5,00,000 b/d in 2010. Meanwhile, our latest estimate for April showed OECD stock levels at 2.74 billion barrels, which corresponds to an overhang of 174 million barrels. This overhang is split between crude and products.
Euro sinks to four-year low as Hungary fears being the next Greece
The euro sank to a four-year low against the dollar today amid warnings that Hungary could be the next European country to suffer a Greek-style debt crisis.
Fresh fears around unwieldy European sovereign debts sent the euro falling through $1.20 and knocked stock markets in Europe and the US. A spokesman for Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban set off alarm bells among investors when he conceded in a television interview that the Hungarian budget was in a “much worse” state than the previous government had indicated and “skeletons were continuously falling out of the closet”.
Thames Water opens first large-scale desalination plant in UK
Thames Water has spent £250m building the plant and pipes, and has said that the equipment will only be turned on at times of drought, when it can supply up to 1 million people.
However opponents have claimed that the plant will use too much energy and the company should be doing more to stop leaking pipes and reduce the average water use of customers by installing more water meters and better promotions.
Elsewhere, water industry experts have speculated that Thames Water could in the long-term connect the desalination plant directly to the next-door Beckton sewage plant, in east London, to produce recycled water. The recycling process uses similar technology and is usually cheaper than desalting water, but has so far been too unpopular to be accepted by homes anywhere in the world except the Namibian capital Windhoek.
Q&A: Upmanu Lall Gives Insight to India’s Nexus of Energy, Food and Water
There’s a powerful nexus, some might even say a vortex, where water, energy, and food all combine. It takes energy to treat and move water; it takes water to grow food. Upmanu Lall knows these intersections well. He’s the Director of the Water Center at Columbia University and studies the wide reaching impacts of water and climate. We spoke with him recently at a meeting of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council.
So, water’s a major issue; energy is a major issue; food is emerging as a major issue–yet they’re closely connected. Give us a picture of the nexus.
Upmanu Lall: Well, water and food are very easy to establish. Many people don’t seem to realize it, but worldwide, 70 percent of all freshwater used goes for growing food and so the connection there is very clear. One thing that’s not pointed out is that much of the pollution of aquifers and rivers also comes because of poor agricultural practices with regard to fertilizer used and pesticides, so there’s duel impact on water from agriculture and food on quantity and quality.
The next part is the water and energy linkage. In many places in the world, population densities are now high enough that locally grown food can’t be sustained via natural rain fall or natural stream flow. So people end up on being ground watered–this is a very large energy consumer. Similarly, if we are looking for drinking water at high quality–and this is a health issue obviously–then we require treatment of water: this is a major energy consumer. This is the direction in which energy influences water use. On the other side, if you look at thermal energy production–whether it is through coal fired, oil, gas or nuclear means, and now solar thermal as well–then you require a fair amount of water for cooling. That actually can be avoided if one takes air cooling methods, as are in practice now in Arizona and Southern California, but then you take an energy efficiency hit. Either way, you have to recognize that there’s an issue.
Lead poisoning from mining kills 163 in Nigeria
Dr Henry Akpan, the health ministry’s chief epidemiologist, told Reuters 355 cases in at least six locations in the northern Zamfara state had been reported so far and 111 of the dead were children, many of them under five.
“We discovered unusual cases of abdominal pains with vomiting, nausea and some having convulsions,” Akpan said. “These people were around the area where they were digging for gold. The fatality rate is 46 percent.”
Many victims died after coming into contact with tools, soil and water contaminated with large concentrations of lead.
Mexico’s May Crude Numbers Show Output Stabilizing
Mexico’s state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, produced an average of 2.603 million barrels a day of crude from May 1 to May 30, according to preliminary figures by the National Hydrocarbons Commission posted on its website Friday.
Output was slightly higher in the May period compared to April when Pemex averaged 2.593 million barrels a day. In May 2009, crude output was 2.609 million barrels a day.
