Recent Gas News/GasBuddy Blog

18 March 2013 By Jim Bentein .. -- "If it bleeds, it leads."

That's the mantra used often to describe the news media's penchant for giving violent crime, disasters and other bad news preference over good news.

So let's start with what we already know about the state of Canada's natural gas production sector—the bad news.

Gas prices are low, and they're not likely to rise much anytime soon.

The Alberta Natural Gas Reference Price, a monthly weighted average field price of all Alberta gas sales—as determined by the Alberta Department of Energy—shows that prices were under $2 per gigajoule for much of last year, plummeting to a low of $1.58 per gigajoule last May and never rising above $3 in any month in 2012.

And it won't get any better anytime soon, according to Bill Gwozd, senior vice-president of gas service  (go to article)

The Dally Record (A Gannet Company) -- The chief impetus for the changing world oil picture is the increase in production in the U.S. The U.S. created the world oil market more than a century ago and is the world’s biggest consumer, but domestic production was thought to be in permanent decline. Then drillers, inspired by high prices and armed with improving technology, learned how to produce oil from previously inaccessible rock under several U.S. states.

U.S. production reached 7.4 million barrels per day early this month, 48 percent higher than the average production in 2008 and the highest it’s been since February of 1992. The IEA expects U.S. production to reach 9.1 million barrels per day by 2018. The U.S. last produced that much oil in 1972.  (go to article)

The Motley Fool -- Americans spent more money on gasoline in 2012 than in any other year... ever. Meanwhile, here in 2013, retail gasoline prices spiked to $3.60 a gallon on average -- $3.94 on the West Coast -- the sharpest rise in prices seen in the past three months. And Iran is happy to hear it.

In fact, if the Islamic Republic has anything to say about it, Americans could wind up paying even more for gas than we already do. Right now, a barrel of benchmark crude costs about $95. But over the weekend, Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Ghasemi was quoted arguing that "the price of crude oil [should] remain at about $100." Ghasemi thinks that price "is fair, and Iran supports it."
 (go to article)

May 14, 2013 8:30 AM | By Ian Dickson for MSN Autos -- From the Jetsons to Blade Runner, the idea of the flying car has captivated commuters dreaming of congestion-free journeys and complete travel freedom.

Last week, aircar builder Terrafugia announced the TF-X, a new model that can take off vertically. The company is also planning a car called the Transition that will go on sale in 2015.

Is the reality of aircar travel finally here? We look back over nearly 100 years of man’s attempt to create a flying car and ponder if the idea of a car-plane will ever leave the ground?
.  (go to article)

Fuelfix.com -- Texas on Friday joined other Gulf Coast states suing BP for environmental damage caused by the 2010 oil spill.  (go to article)

New York Times -- Detroit’s ever-growing black mountain is the unloved, unwanted and long overlooked byproduct of Canada’s oil sands boom.  (go to article)

Washington Post -- Late last year, Ford owners made headlines when they sued the automaker over inaccurate fuel economy claims for the Fusion Hybrid and C-Max Hybrid. According to the Detroit News, Ford now has another lawsuit on its hands -- this time, over its acclaimed EcoBoost engine.
The suit has been filed by three Ford owners from Ohio, who say that the company's six-cylinder EcoBoost engine is defective. The three claim that the engine has caused their vehicles to shudder and lose power during acceleration.  (go to article)

OilPrice.com -- An article by a contributing editor to The Atlantic, Charles C. Mann, is among those believing in the economic significance of fossil fuels. He claims that "Americans will be less likely to spend trillions on fancy no-oil cars if cheap petroleum is in abundant supply," which is debatable for two reasons:

First, new oil is harder to find, takes longer to develop and requires a lot more capital. We are not running out of oil. Although supply is indisputably important, the amount of oil that can be extracted at a reasonable cost should be more of a concern. Oil must be in the range of $50 per barrel to sustain economic growth, far below the current level of over $100 per barrel. Even when the price of oil in the U.S. (the WTI) dips, the price of gasoline does not decrease because it is ...  (go to article)

USA today -- U.S. public concern over a European probe into possible oil price manipulation escalated Friday as the head of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources urged the Justice Department to join the investigation.

The request from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., came after European Union investigators this week raided the offices of global energy giants BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Statoil. The anti-trust probe is examining whether the companies manipulated oil prices by making false reports to Platts, an energy industry data service owned by McGraw Hill Financial.  (go to article)

MarketWatch -- The International Energy Agency said this week that a “supply shock” will essentially change the way the oil market works — and with change come opportunities, analysts said.

The supply shock the IEA referred to in its Medium-Term Oil Market Report comes from a surge in North American oil production, which the Paris-based agency said will “be as transformative to the market over the next five years as was the rise of Chinese demand over the last 15.”

That sounds pretty impressive — and it is. It just wasn’t that much of a surprise for many.

“Is it spectacular? Yes, but not a surprise,” said James Williams, energy economist at WTRG Economics. “It’s like the 4th of July. You know the fireworks are coming but the display is still spectacular.”
 (go to article)

Journal Star -- Thanks to multiple refinery shutdowns, gasoline prices are soaring and could be headed toward a record.

As of Friday morning, AAA said the average price of regular unleaded in Nebraska was $3.89 a gallon, 11 cents more than on Thursday, 28 cents more than a week ago and 45 cents more than a month ago. The average in Lincoln also was $3.89 a gallon.

Rose White, a spokeswoman for AAA Nebraska, said prices were expected to keep climbing. Prices for regular unleaded are likely to top $4 in the next few days and could go as high as $4.18, White said.

That would break the all-time record average price for the state, which is $4.10, as well as Lincoln's all-time high of $4.16. Both records were reached in July 2008.

Minnesota already has hit a record high, and Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota an  (go to article)

NY Times -- WINDSOR, Ontario — Assumption Park gives residents of this city lovely views of the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit skyline. Lately they’ve been treated to another sight: a three-story pile of petroleum coke covering an entire city block on the other side of the Detroit River.

Detroit’s ever-growing black mountain is the unloved, unwanted and long overlooked byproduct of Canada’s oil sands boom.

And no one knows quite what to do about it, except Koch Carbon, which owns it.  (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- Have you gotten a ticket for running a red light? If you think the 'warning' time of your yellow light ran out a bit too fast, you may be right. And you might be able to make that case in court.

Apparently, when state DOTs reduce the yellow light time, that fraction of a second produces more money for the state. Imagine that. In Florida the state raked in an extra $50 million in 2012 just by reducing yellow light times by less than half a second.

How did they do it? According to WTSP-TV's Noah Pransky, the FDOT quietly changed the state's policy on yellow intervals in 2011, reducing the minimum below federal recommendations. The rule change was followed by engineers, both from FDOT and local municipalities, collaborating...  (go to article)

usnews.com -- Reports have debunked claims that fracking contaminates drinking water, but a new study says a lack of monitoring equipment may mask problems

Is hydraulic fracturing..bad for the environment?

..we don't really know what the impact of hydraulic fracturing has on the environment, according to a new paper, published in Science magazine Thursday that examines the potential effects..of the massive ramp up in production..

..density of monitoring sites in Pennsylvania is much lower than the density of wells, which raises the question of our ability to actually pick up [evidence of contamination] with our current monitoring network.

If somebody spills millions of gallons [of fracking wastewater], by the time you get down to where you have a gauge, you may not have picked it up at all  (go to article)

WKYT -- PIKEVILLE - Officials say around 250 coal jobs are coming to eastern KY.

High Ridge Mining plans to develop seven deep mines in Pike County which will employ 36 miners each.

"We are probably still a month off from doing our major majority of our hiring," said Kyle Smith.

He says the prep plant has been idled for about 10 years, and they are working to get it ready. Right now, the seven mines are also idled.

“Every time our coal industry hits rock bottom, it’s not the big national companies that bring it back, it’s the local companies,” Carlton said.(Smith) is taking advantage of the need for coal in foreign markets. This won’t be the last we hear about our coal being exported to Asia and Europe because the market for our coal is no longer domestic. Washington has killed our domestic  (go to article)

Reuters -- LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A European probe into possible oil price manipulation expanded with the investigation of a small niche trading house in the Netherlands, while a key U.S. senator on Friday called for the Justice Department to join the investigation.

Dutch trading house Argos Energies, a mid-sized trading company that deals in physical oil products and owns storage facilities, was visited by inspectors from the European Commission on Tuesday, a source familiar with the investigation said on Friday.

The visit occurred on the same day that authorities raided the London bureau of pricing agency Platts, and the offices of Statoil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP in the biggest cross-border action since the probe into rigging of Libor benchmark interest rates.
 (go to article)

Forbes -- Chevron CVX +0.54% may be making a pact with the devil. On Thursday, Argentine energy producer YPF announced it had reached a “final agreement” with the global oil giant to develop the Vaca Muerta basin, considered by Chevron the second largest reservoir of unconventional oil in the world. The second largest U.S. oil and gas producer has pledged to invest $1.5 billion in the first phase of the project, which the Argentine government desperately needs after being forced to import energy for the first time in 17 years in 2012.

Facing runaway inflation and pressure on its precious foreign reserves, the administration of Cristina Kirchner forcibly nationalized YPF last year, throwing out Spain’s Repsol without compensation, which is an indication of the types of risks Chevron is willing to  (go to article)

stateimpact.npr.org -- In a broadcast story last week, StateImpact talked about how Oklahoma relies heavily on six major coal-fired power plants and the Wyoming coal that’s needed to run them — despite sitting on one of the largest supplies of natural gas in the country.

We wanted to find out what explains this paradox. So we did some research and called some power companies.

The short answer: It seems the federal government is to blame. The same federal government that is currently forcing some coal plants to shut down in favor of other energy sources, including, ironically, natural gas.

It’s a long story, one about the logistics of transporting natural gas, botched government attempts at price-setting, and miscalculations about how much the U.S. has in gas reserves.

It all started at the beginning  (go to article)

Downstream Today -- The construction of a natural gas pipeline from southern Texas to central Mexico for state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, will allow gas imports from the U.S. to triple, to around 3 billion cubic feet per day by 2015 to meet increasing demand by industry for the relatively cheap fuel, a Pemex official said Wednesday.

"The lack of gas means that our industries are having to burn fuel oil," which is currently about three times as expensive as natural gas, Mr. Martinez said.

The gas supply problem is expected to be alleviated with the Los Ramones project, a pipeline that will carry gas from southern Texas to the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, which is a hub for the Mexican auto industry.  (go to article)

Reuters -- Marathon Petroleum Corp said on Thursday that the 223,000 barrel-per-day crude oil pipeline from Wood River to Patoka, Illinois, remained shut after it leaked water and oil during testing over the weekend as part of routine maintenance.

In a filing with Illinois regulators, Marathon said the incident occurred near midnight on May 11 in the city of Greenville in Bond County, southern Illinois.

Marathon said that at the time of the leak the pipeline was shut for testing as part of routine maintenance and the company estimated the release at 2,500 barrels of hydrostatic test water and less than two gallons of crude oil.  (go to article)

Yahoo News -- Tests and scientific experts have already claimed that many health and environmental concerns tied to hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, often voiced by opponents of the process, lack scientific backing. Now, yet another study has found that wells near fracking sites did not experience water contamination.
Duke University and members of the U.S. Geological Survey examined 127 drinking water wells for evidence of pollution from methane gas or chemicals. With more than 4,000 new gas wells drilled in Arkansas' Fayetteville Shale since 2004, researchers were looking for the presence of contamination from drilling, or from naturally occurring gas or ultra-salty liquids that seep up through pre-existing faults.  (go to article)

Reuters -- The Obama administration opened the door to a new era of U.S. energy exports on Friday, approving the first liquefied natural gas project since the start of a heated debate over how best to benefit from the shale energy boom.

The Freeport project, part-owned by ConocoPhillips and Osaka Gas Co Ltd, will allow the company to export up to 1.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day for 20 years. Osaka, Chubu Electric Power Co and BP have already committed to buying gas from the project.

Some 26 applications have been filed to export natural gas, but a vocal contingent led by Dow Chemical have argued that allowing unlimited exports could raise prices and hinder a resurgence in U.S. manufacturing.  (go to article)

The Globe and Mail -- The Ontario Government states that distracted driving is cited as a causal factor in 30 to 50% of traffic collisions and pedestrian fatalities.

Researchers at the University of Alabama-Birmingham claim that seniors who drive with pets in the car are twice as likely to end up in a crash. “This is the first study to evaluate the presence of pets in a vehicle as a potential internal distraction for elderly drivers"

According to NHTSA, drivers should never take their eyes off the road for more than 2 seconds at a time. A moving pet, especially in the front seat, can cause a driver to do exactly that. If a dog or cat gets startled and moves suddenly, it stands a good chance of causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle. “Adding another distracting element, especially an active, potenti  (go to article)

Reuters -- LONDON/WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - A European probe into possible oil price manipulation expanded with the investigation of a small niche trading house in the Netherlands, while a key U.S. senator on Friday called for the Justice Department to join the investigation. Dutch trading house Argos Energies, a mid-sized trading company that deals in physical oil products and owns storage facilities, was visited by inspectors from the European Commission on Tuesday, a source familiar with the investigation said on Friday. The visit occurred on the same day that authorities raided the London bureau of pricing agency Platts, and the offices of Statoil, Royal Dutch Shell and BP in the biggest cross-border action since the probe into rigging of Libor benchmark interest rates. In Washington, the  (go to article)

Financial Post -- Speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations, Harper is expected to stress that Canada is halfway towards meeting its GHG emissions target. Many people in both countries, however, are wondering about the other half.

As the Obama administration ponders the TransCanada proposal, Harper’s government is trumpeting the steps it has taken to ensure pipeline safety, cut emissions and monitor oil sands pollution.

The trouble with Harper’s “halfway” claim is that it lumps together all the measures both provincial and federal governments have taken and the cumulative effect they will have on emissions by 2020.

Numerous analyses suggest that closing the rest of the gap will take a near miracle, or some kind of national carbon pricing program.

The federal Conservatives reject carbon pricing, altho  (go to article)

Yahoo Autos -- Drivers who fill up their tanks every week probably noticed a recent jump in the cost of gasoline. Indeed, the average price for a gallon of regular gas is $3.58, which is six cents higher than a week ago, marking the biggest weekly increase since February. The current average is four cents higher than a month ago.  (go to article)

KMSP TV - Fox 9 News -- MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) -
Minneapolis on Friday passed Honolulu for the most expensive gas in the country, at an average of $4.28 per gallon, according to GasBuddy.com.

While the national average has risen just 7 cents per gallon in the past week, the Twin Cities has been hit with a massive 42-cent increase. Twin Cities gas prices are also up nearly 80 cents from last month.

Statewide, Minnesota gas prices average $4.23 per gallon, still behind Hawaii's $4.30 but higher than California's $4.04 average.

FIND THE LOWEST PRICES

Good luck finding gas prices under $4 per gallon. You can search a map or enter your cip code on the FOX 9 Gas Gauge at http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/category/233804/gas-gauge

WHY?

Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for GasBuddy, says there are three factors...  (go to article)

Downstream Today -- Johnson and Jack Galloway, Canopy's president and a refining industry veteran, saw an opportunity that could provide an economic lifeline to struggling Philadelphia-area refineries: shipping light sweet crude oil produced in the Bakken Shale via unit trains to an independent Delaware River terminal facility tied into the region's well-developed rail network. The appeal of shipping domestically produced Bakken crude became evident after chatting with a former high school classmate who happens to be involved in commercializing reserves in the shale play, Johnson said.

"When the refineries shut down we realized that trains can be pointed anywhere and that these refineries can be enormously profitable with Bakken crude," said Johnson.

Philadelphia-area refineries traditionally have relied on  (go to article)

Duluth News Tribune -- U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has asked the U.S. Department of Energy to investigate the steep increase in Minnesota gas prices over the past few weeks.

Gasoline industry officials say regional gas prices have jumped 80 cents over the past month and 30 cents in the past week because of both unexpected and planned shutdowns at gasoline refineries. Klobuchar said temporary closures shouldn’t be allowed to raise the price consumers have to pay.

In a letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Klobuchar called on the Department of Energy to thoroughly examine the timing of scheduled maintenance operations to prevent future supply shocks that cause gas prices to rise.

“This spike in gas prices is hurting families, businesses and farmers across Minnesota and disrupting commerce,” -Klobuchar  (go to article)

Platts -- US refiners aim to maximize distillate output to work attractive export arbitrage opportunities, but may leave high-priced hydrocracker investments to competitor Valero Energy, who wants to be the first North American refiner to produce as much distillate as gasoline.

Valero plans to implement a one-to-one gasoline-to-distillates ratio by around 2015, after more than $3 billion worth of projects go live to increase the company's distillate production, the company said.

Valero previously said that it would boost its export capacity for gasoline and diesel. The company can export 280,000 b/d of distillates, but this should rise to 425,000 b/d by the end of 2013 or early 2014."Part of the future of US refining is exporting," Klesse said. Future distillate export markets include Asia, espe  (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- It was coming. Some states and cities have shattered records that have stood for nearly five years and gasoline prices skyrocket in the Midwest.

Minneapolis saw another jump over night and into today to $4.39 a gallon, beating out consistently high Honolulu by a dime! There's more bad news before the light at the end of the tunnel- more hikes may hit in the day or two ahead. But relief isn't far off- prices may peak in the next week before beginning to decline. The high prices for gasoline are sure to attract replenishment from far away. Records for gas prices are listed below.

Cities and states and their pricing status:
NE: $4.00. All time high $4.09 on 7/13/08.
Lincoln: $3.96. All time high $4.14 on 7/13/08...  (go to article)

Associated Press -- If North Carolina ever puts toll booths on an existing interstate, the state House still wants to give motorists the option to drive the route for free.

The chamber voted unanimously Thursday for a measure that targets potential tolling on Interstate 95 but would apply to all current interstates.

The bill says the state can't collect tolls on these interstates unless it maintains the same number of non-toll lanes before the tolling.

Rep. Jeff Collins of Rocky Mount is an I-95 toll critic and bill sponsor. He says the bill envisions toll lanes in which users would pay to drive at a higher speed limit than in non-toll lanes.

 (go to article)

Casper Star-Tribune -- The state of Wyoming's oil and gas lease auction on May 8 generated $10.4 million from bids on 82,970 acres of land.

The sale included parcels from Albany, Campbell, Carbon, Converse, Crook, Fremont, Goshen, Hot Springs, Johnson, Laramie, Lincoln, Natrona, Niobrara, Park, Platte, Sheridan, Sublette, Sweetwater, Uinta and Weston counties, according to a release from the Office of State Lands and Investments.

 (go to article)

The Kansas City Star -- One way or another, a penny sales tax hike to pay for roads and bridges in Missouri will probably end up on the 2014 ballot.

Sen. John Lamping just doesn’t want it to be the Republican legislative majority that puts it there.

A group of Republican senators this week stalled legislation that would ask voters to temporarily raise the sales tax. The extra revenue from the tax increase would fund updates to the state’s transportation infrastructure, a strategy that will almost assuredly mean rebuilding Interstate 70 from Independence to Wentzville.

 (go to article)

USA Today -- It's been a rollercoaster year for gas prices, which began the year averaging $3.29 a gallon, then zoomed to $3.78 in February before dropping to $3.50 last month. Current average price: $3.60.
Troubles at several oil refineries are driving gasoline prices sharply higher in the Midwest, and the regional shortages are expected to boost pump prices nationwide.

While the USA may be dripping in new found crude oil deposits and early May supplies were at their highest levels since the early 1930s, issues at a handful of refineries that turn crude into gasoline and diesel fuel underscore how kinks in the supply chain can cause quick surges in what consumers pay at the pump.

Gas prices in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and Wisconsin have spiked  (go to article)

The Post and Courier -- South Carolina school districts may be able to bring in extra money next year selling advertisements on activity buses.

Critics of the plan are concerned about how being bombarded with ads would affect students. But leaders in the Charleston County and Dorchester District 2 schools said they would carefully consider the fundraising option if it became available to them.

 (go to article)

USA Today -- As oxymorons go, "aerodynamic pickup truck" ranks right up there with" military intelligence" and "jumbo shrimp." But General Motors thinks it can prove that it accomplished the task on this one.

We'll believe when we see it -- in better gas mileage numbers for the shapely new trucks.

But it is interesting to hear how GM went about making aero improvements to the new 2014 GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Silverado full-size pickup trucks. GM says it went over inch of the trucks an effort to find places to make air slip more easily over the truck's steel body.

Air dam. A new air dam beneath the front bumper directs air away from the trucks rough underbody

Tailgate. The top of the pickups' tailgate and a center stop light are positioned in a way to keep air flowing freely.

"The gap." ...  (go to article)

CBS News -- A controversial oil pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast "absolutely needs to go ahead," Canada's prime minister said Thursday, and he warned that the oil will be transported through America one way or another.

Stephen Harper addressed the Keystone XL project, a flashpoint in the debate over climate change, during a visit to New York City. The long-delayed project carrying oil from Canada's tar sands would need approval from the State Department, and Harper's remarks with the U.S. ambassador to Canada, David Jacobson, in the audience were meant to apply some pressure.

"The only real immediate environmental issue here is, do we want to increase the flow of oil from Canada by pipeline or via rail?" Harper said. He called railroad transit "far more environmentally challenging."  (go to article)

The Oklahoman -- For the first time in more than five years, Oklahoma’s statewide average price is above the national average, with 29 states recording lower statewide average prices.

“It’s a little bit of a puzzle,” AAA Oklahoma spokesman Chuck Mai said. “From what we can determine, it’s related to the rising price of crude and tight supplies due to refineries going through maintenance procedures. Apparently it’s confined just to certain portions of the country.”

Oklahoma’s average gasoline price last topped the national average in September 2007.

Mai said it is unusual because he knows of no problems at Oklahoma refineries.

“It’s something I really can’t explain,” he said.  (go to article)

Fuelfix.com -- Although it is poised to be the first major federal rule governing the hydraulic fracturing process that is unlocking vast domestic oil and gas reserves, the measure would apply only on the small sliver of U.S. land under the Interior Department’s contro  (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- Anybody who's looked at electric vehicles and follows the news knows that one of the big obstacles that steers buyers away has been concern about the sometimes diminishing performance of the EV batteries, and, their inability to hold a charge for as long as advertised...

Smart USA has come up with a novel solution to alleviate those concerns.

According to AutoNews.com, Smart is now allowing buyers and lessees to rent the battery -- and lower the purchase price or monthly leases -- in the ForTwo Electric Drive coupe that went on sale this week.

(For the moment, forget about the fact that an auto maker will rent its battery to the potential buyer as a way to discount the cost even if it undermines the perceived...  (go to article)

News Biz -- A bill that lays the groundwork for offshore wind development in Lake Michigan has received preliminary approval in the Illinois state senate.

The Senate Energy Committee unanimously approved Bill HB 2753, which authorizes the Department of Natural Resources to determine the best locations to site wind projects.

The Lake Michigan Wind Energy Act also entitles the department to grant offshore wind site assessment permits and leases, which later can be converted to construction and operation leases.  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- The European oil price-fixing probe expanded as Neste Oil Oyj (NES1V), Finland’s only refiner, said it was asked to provide information regarding potential manipulation of global crude and biofuel markets.

The widening investigation comes as Pannonia Ethanol, a Hungarian biofuel producer, said it lodged a complaint with the European Commission last year after data-pricing company Platts denied requests to contribute to its price-setting process. Meanwhile, Statoil ASA (STL), one of the European oil companies that has been ensnared in the investigation, said it has “zero tolerance” for breaches of rules.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), BP Plc (BP/) and Statoil, three of Europe’s biggest oil explorers, are being investigated by European Commission officials about potential manipulation...  (go to article)

The Economist -- GIVEN that oil is a vital source of energy and its price has ramifications for every economy on the planet, it is not surprising that regulators keep an eye on the way it is set. Europe’s antitrust watchdogs clearly believe something is amiss. On May 14th the European Commission said that it had carried out “unannounced inspections” at big oil and biofuel companies which it suspects of having colluded to manipulate prices in the physical market.  (go to article)

Reuters -- NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - The deadline for claims against BP Plc (BP.L) in connection with the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill is 11 months away, but the man responsible for paying the claims said on Thursday he is already bracing for a late surge in filings.

Patrick Juneau, a Lafayette, Louisiana attorney experienced in complex litigation, was named by U.S. Judge Carl Barbier last year to oversee BP's settlement with the many individuals and firms who say they were harmed by the spill and its aftermath.

Of 165,877 claims filed as of May 15, his office has found 40,970 eligible for payment, with a total value exceeding $3.2 billion, he said, adding that the pace of filings from the five states covered by the settlement has picked up in recent months.

"It certainly wouldn't surprise me that  (go to article)

RR -- What makes a good family car? It’s usually a combination of features like roominess, safety, cost to purchase, cost to run and maintain, style, and resale value. Purchasing a family car represents trade-offs and the trick is to minimize what you have to give up in order to get all the features you really need.

The editors at Kelley Blue Book (KBB) have named their 10 best cars for American families based on criteria such as safety, roominess, comfort and value. That seems like a pretty good list to us, and KBB’s choices appear to strike a reasonable balance.

Click here to see the 10 best cars for the American family

It’s worth pointing out that of the top 10 there is only one minivan, the Honda Odyssey. Minivans are declining in popularity among American families due to a combination of  (go to article)

The Deseret News -- Companies that drill for oil and natural gas on federal lands will be required to disclose publicly the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations, the Obama administration said Thursday. The new "fracking" rule replaces a draft proposed last year that was withdrawn amid industry complaints that federal regulation could hinder an ongoing boom in natural gas production.

The new draft rule relies on an online database used by Colorado and 10 other states to track the chemicals used in fracking operations. FracFocus.org is a website formed by industry and intergovernmental groups in 2011 that allows users to gather well-specific data on thousands of drilling sites.

The proposed rule also sets standards for proper construction of wells and disposal of wastewater.  (go to article)

CNBC.com -- Some of the most popular small SUVs have failed crash tests that simulate a common and deadly front end collision.

"These are troubling results," said Joe Nolan with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "These small SUV's are very popular and for the most part pretty safe, but with these tests most of them did not do well."

For the first time the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety conducted small overlap crash tests with small SUV's. Eleven of the thirteen models tested received marginal or poor ratings.

"Too often many of these models did a poor job protecting the front occupant cabin," said Nolan.
 (go to article)

Yahoo/Finance -- The operators of Indiana's largest wind farm are proposing changing the nighttime operations of the farm's 300-plus wind turbines to protect endangered Indiana bats from being killed by the turbines' spinning blades.

Two of the mouse-sized federally protected species have been found dead since 2009 near wind turbines at northwestern Indiana's Fowler Ridge Wind Farm — a discovery that meant the farm's operators had to devise steps for cutting those deaths to avoid possible federal penalties.  (go to article)

NBC -- A group of self-styled Robin Hoods who scamper around the streets of a New Hampshire city and feed expired parking meters for strangers has been hit with a harassment lawsuit.

The city of Keene says its three parking inspectors have been taunted, insulted and followed by the group — to the point that one of them says he has suffered heart palpitations and is thinking about quitting his job.

In its lawsuit, the city is asking a court to order the group not to come within 50 feet of the parking inspectors.

The suit names six defendants, most of them bloggers for Free Keene, which describes itself on its Facebook page as “your connection to the liberty activism movement in New Hampshire.”
Advertise | AdChoices

One of the six, Ian Freeman, told NBC News that “The Robin Hooders have always  (go to article)

Fierce Energy -- Despite some high-profile scrutiny of the failures of some renewable energy companies, consumers still view solar and wind energy favorably, according to Navigant Research -- but not as favorably as they did in 2008.

"Since 2009, there have been steady declines in favorability for some clean energy concepts, particularly the areas that have traditionally enjoyed strong consumer support such as solar energy, wind energy, hybrid vehicles, and electric cars," said Clint Wheelock, managing director at Navigant Research. "Overall, support for clean energy concepts in our tracking survey held fairly steady from 2011 to 2012, but the decline for solar energy in particular was...  (go to article)