Recent Gas News/GasBuddy Blog

chron.com -- Mercury emissions from power plants remain flat despite the availability of the technology to cut back on the dangerous toxin, according to a report released today by the Environmental Integrity Project.

Texas has five power plants in the top 10 list of worst emitters of mercury, according to the study. Leading the pack: Luminant's Martin Lake power plant in Rusk County, which reported a 4.56 percent increase from 2007 to 2008 (the most recent data available.

...Mercury emissions don't need to be as high as they've been at the nation's power plants, according to the report:

Sorbent injection, which can achieve mercury reductions up to 90 percent from coal-fired power plants, has been proven by more than 30 full scale demonstrations performed by the U.S. Department of Energy, Ele
 (go to article)

Breitbart -- TOKYO, March 18 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Domestic automobile sales in Japan in fiscal 2010 beginning April are expected to drop 4.9 percent from the previous year to a 33- year low of 4,649,600 units, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said Thursday.
It would be the lowest level since around 4.23 million vehicles were sold in fiscal 1977, with auto demand expected to taper off after the government subsidy for fuel-efficient vehicles expires in September.

"While the subsidy will expire in the first half (of the financial year), we hope auto sales will be supported as economic conditions recover fully through various measures," JAMA Chairman Satoshi Aoki said, citing the Bank of Japan's decision Wednesday to further ease its ultra-loose monetary policy.

The industry body also said domest  (go to article)

Business Week -- March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street’s contribution to the debate on how to curb global warming: Buy coal, sell solar.

Peabody Energy Corp., the biggest coal producer, is rated a “buy” by 79 percent of analysts, while 44 percent recommend First Solar Inc., the largest maker of thin-film solar panels. The Stowe Global Coal index of 38 coal producers has gained 6.5 percent in 2010, and the Bloomberg Global Leaders Solar index of 38 solar module and component makers has dropped 17 percent.

While investors including T. Boone Pickens and Warren Buffett are pushing cash into green technologies, the tilt toward Peabody and away from First Solar is the widest in two years. It reflects a sense that government support for reducing air pollution may be waning, said Kevin Landis,  (go to article)

bloomberg.com -- Pumping natural gas trapped in shale rock has made the U.S. the world’s largest producer of the fuel. While geologists say Europe may have similar fields spread from northwest England to Ukraine, drilling them profitably will prove a whole lot harder.

Getting the shale gas out requires drilling hundreds of wells and blasting the rock with water and chemicals, raising environmental objections in densely populated Europe. Those obstacles suggest Russia’s OAO Gazprom, supplier of 25 percent of Europe’s gas, will have plenty of customers for its fuel pumped through new pipelines across the Baltic and Black Seas.

“There is a great future for Russian gas in Europe,” John Barry, a strategic issues manager at Royal Dutch Shell Plc, said in an interview. “There is a lot of unconventional

 (go to article)

The Wall Street Journal -- VIENNA—The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to keep its oil production steady, saying it won't meet again for seven months, underlining the group's confidence that crude prices will remain buoyant.

OPEC has calculated that emerging-market consumers will absorb its members' oil output, which has risen in recent months, without torpedoing their goal of a healthy crude price. Oil prices have gained about 15% since the group's last meeting in December to trade at around $82 a barrel Wednesday, slightly above the $70 to $80 range many OPEC members prefer.  (go to article)

to http://www.trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_5c3238fb-41df-506b-af71-ba114d32694c.html -- Home / News
Potential oil play in eastern Wyoming excites oil and gas industry
StoryDiscussionDustin Bleizeffer Casper Star-Tribune | Posted: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 12:46 pm | (4) Comments

Font Size:Default font sizeLarger font sizeCASPER, Wyo -- After more than a year of gloom in Wyoming's oil and gas industry, there's optimistic chatter of a potential oil boom in eastern Wyoming.

The talk centers on a couple of successful pilot wells targeting formations known to have vast amounts of oil and sour, over-pressurized natural gas. For decades, these formations in eastern Wyoming remained technically unrecoverable.

But with national oil prices expected to average more than $80 per barrel through 2010 and average $85 in 2011, and huge leaps in drilling and completion technologi  (go to article)

Auto Fans -- GM Tests Show Vibe Brakes Can Stop Unintended Acceleration—By General Motors
General Motors has tested two Pontiac Vibe small SUVs and found the brakes stop the vehicle in case of unintended acceleration.  (go to article)

Auto Fans -- How Toyota Will Fix Recalled Vehicles
Toyota has pinpointed the issue that could, on rare occasions, cause accelerator pedals in recalled vehicles to stick in a partially open position. The issue involves a friction device or lever, in conjunction with a spring in the accelerator pedal assembly, that is designed to help control the force  (go to article)

Yahoo Buzz -- They're not as bad as mechanics or lawyers, but taxi drivers do have a bit of reputation for inflating their fares. But is this true or just an urban legend designed to keep Midwesterners out of Times Square?

So, how was the scam discovered? It all started with one guy who was suspicious of his fare. Dr. Mitchell Lee, who often takes taxis home after working at the NYU Medical Center, says he noticed his normal $5 fare had mysteriously risen to $7 one night. He complained to the driver, who offered Lee a discount. Lee declined, paid the full fare with his credit card, then complained to the Taxi and Limousine Commission. From that one complaint, a gigantic scam was quickly unraveled.  (go to article)

Reuters -- CALGARY, Alberta, March 17 - Steam-driven projects to extract crude from Canada's oil sands, often held up as more environmentally friendly than mining, have major drawbacks of their own that require more stringent regulation to fix, an environmental think tank said on Wednesday.

The Alberta-based Pembina Institute compared nine projects that employ "in situ" extraction methods -- where steam is pumped into the earth to liquefy the extra-heavy crude so it can be pumped to the surface -- and found all need to make improvements to varying degrees.

"The impacts of in situ have sort of been framed as low-impact oil sands development, but when you look at the data that isn't actually borne out," said Simon Dyer, one of the authors of the report, called "Drilling Deeper."  (go to article)

Newsweek -- Miles below the ocean floor lies enough oil to power the U.S. for more than a decade—and perhaps our best shot at energy independence.

Oil producers like Chevron say offshore drilling represents our best shot at energy independence. Today some two thirds of U.S. production comes from land-based reserves, mostly in Texas and Alaska, but those sources aren't producing the way they once did. The U.S. government estimates that the Gulf of Mexico holds somewhere around 70 billion barrels of oil, 40 billion of which remain undiscovered in the deep water. Combined with the entire Outer Continental Shelf, there's thought to be more than 85 billion barrels of undiscovered crude off the coast of the U.S., more than a decade's worth of oil at our current pace. By 2020, 40 percent of U.S. oil could c  (go to article)

Washington Post -- Never has the political climate in Virginia so favored offshore drilling.

Most Virginia leaders -- regardless of their political party -- have expressed interest in joining Alaska, Texas, Louisiana and other states in setting up offshore platforms to drill for oil and natural gas.

The political shift comes as pressure builds for the United States to search for alternative energy sources while creating new jobs and revenue during the economic slowdown.

"This is common sense. Why not use our resources so we don't have to depend on fluctuating political realities in the Mideast to determine the cost of gasoline?"

Virginia is in line to be the first Atlantic Coast state to drill off its shore, although it will probably be years before it starts, even if it receives the necessary approval  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Crude oil may head toward $90 a barrel if it breaks a resistance level at $82, according to a technical analysis by Auerbach Grayson, a brokerage in New York.

Futures may first advance to the $84 area that was last tested on Jan. 11, according to Richard Ross, an analyst at Auerbach Grayson. Oil would then be set to reach $89.84, which corresponds to the 50 percent Fibonacci retracement of the range generated by the record high of $147.27 on July 11, 2008, and the low of $32.40 touched on Dec. 19, 2008, Ross said.

“In crude oil we are witnessing a heavyweight battle between momentum and resistance,” Ross said in a telephone interview. “A close above $82 could set crude up for a deep run into the $80s, while failure will send it home packing to the $75-to-$77 range.”  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- General Motors Co. aims to commercialize autos fueled by hydrogen even as the largest U.S. carmaker prepares to begin selling the battery-powered Chevrolet Volt plug-in vehicle late this year.

While U.S. policy has shifted to favor developing cars that use lithium-ion packs, rather than hydrogen fuel-cell models, both are needed to cut oil reliance and greenhouse gases, Charles Freese, GM’s executive director of global powertrain engineering, said at a briefing in Burbank, California. He discussed GM’s new fuel-cell power system that’s smaller, lighter and cheaper than the one used in its hydrogen-powered Equinox wagon.  (go to article)

The Detroit News -- Investigators from Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration inspected a wrecked 2005 Prius in a suburb of New York City on Wednesday to see if its event data recorder or the car would point to a problem with braking or acceleration.

A housekeeper who was driving the car told police that it sped up on its own as she eased forward down her employer's driveway on March 9 and hit a wall across the street. She was not hurt and authorities have said there is no indication of driver error.

Toyota Motor Corp. has recalled more than 8 million cars since the fall because their gas pedals could become stuck or be held down by floor mats. The Prius is not on Toyota's recall list for sticky accelerators. However, the 2005 hybrid had been repaired for the floor mat problem.  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Renewable energy investment may rise by 23 percent this year as government stimulus funds mainly in the U.S. and Europe are spent on wind turbines and solar panels.

Spending may rise to between $175 billion and $200 billion this year from $162 billion in 2009, said Bloomberg New Energy Finance Chief Executive Officer Michael Liebreich today.

“There’s a big bulge of stimulus money coming through this year,” he said during a press conference at the consultant’s annual conference in London. “The question is what happens when they switch off the stimulus.”  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Iraq will increase its estimate of crude reserves, Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani said.

The level “is going to go higher, we’re revising it now,” al-Shahristani said in Vienna today.

The Middle Eastern country, the only member of the 12- nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries without a quota, had reserves of 115 billion barrels at the end of 2008, according to BP Plc’s Statistical Review. It’s producing 2.5 million barrels of oil a day and exporting slightly more than two million barrels, al-Shahristani said. Exports from the semi- autonomous Kurdistan region will resume within a month, he said.  (go to article)

The Detroit News -- Moody's Investors Service has upgraded Ford Motor Co.'s credit rating, along with that of its Ford Credit lending arm, and hinted that another upgrade could come soon.

Moody's upgraded Ford's corporate family rating to "B2" from "B3" and increased the rating of the automaker's secured credit facility to "Ba2" from "Ba3." Ford's senior unsecured debt rating was increased to "B3" from "Caa1" and raised Ford Credit's senior debt rating to "B1" from "B2."

"Ford clearly has a much more robust and competitive business model that is capable of supporting significant improvement in performance over time," said Bruce Clark, senior vice president with Moody's.  (go to article)

Associated Press -- Benchmark crude for April delivery rose $1.23 cents to settle at $82.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Despite sluggish oil demand in the U.S. and other developed countries, oil analyst Andrew Lipow said global economic indicators support higher prices.

Retail gasoline prices rose Wednesday. The nationwide average added 2 cents at $2.789 per gallon according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.  (go to article)

BloggingStocks -- Nissan (NSANY) is jumping in on the electric car revolution, producing a car called the Leaf. It's an all-electric car that seats five. The good news for Nissan is that this car will face little in the way of competition; no other electric car seats as many passengers. Nissan is planning to make 500,000 of the Leaf in North America, Japan, and Europe by 2012. The company also announced that 56,000 of the Leaf are on order in the United States; but, this could be the number of dealers ordering the car, not individuals. The company also expects this electric car to be a popular choice for a no-emission fleet vehicle (like a taxi). Last month, Forbes ran an article on why the Leaf would flop, and Jerry Flint (the author) sure seems eerily prophetic. One of the reasons Flint gave for the  (go to article)

cnbc -- Interest rate hike not likely to push crude oil prices out of the $75-$83 band.

Turning our attention abroad, much ink has been spilled on OPEC’s meeting today (Wednesday), but we’re expecting very few surprises. There is no incentive for any of the members to hike/cut production, apart from Iran being Iran.

Another big concern is China’s upcoming interest rate shift. With a stronger than expected increase in the consumer price index (2.7% instead of 2.5%) for February, analysts are beginning to worry about inflation and over-heating.

But if the government steps in to increase interest rates it could signal a tightening in the credit markets and a sell-off in the equities markets and, in turn, commodities prices.

Light-Sweet and Brent Crude Futures Now
But just like OPEC,  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- March 17 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose above $82 a barrel after the Energy Department reported U.S. imports fell to a seasonal low and fuel inventories dropped.

“Imports are down to a really, really small trickle,” said Carl Larry, president of Oil Outlooks & Opinions LLC in Houston. “We’re not able to bring in as much oil as we’d like to because the oil that is out there is going elsewhere. When the economy does start to grow and the refineries start to pick up runs, that crude isn’t going to be there.”

Crude oil for April delivery gained $1.22, or 1.5 percent, to $82.92 a barrel at the 2:30 p.m. close of floor trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices have increased 69 percent in the past year.  (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- With gasoline prices on the rise the past few weeks, many of you have heard multiple reasons (some from yours truly) on why gasoline prices are increasing.

First of all, the economy has long since bottomed out, and perception is that with an improved economy comes higher gasoline and oil demand. It's held true in the past, but what we saw in 2008 was a large recession, one that some called the largest in decades. Reality is that gasoline demand will be slow to bounce back, and prices are out of line with that reality.

Secondly, there are supply concerns that are completely overdone. Looking at this week's numbers, refineries used just over 80% of their capacity. In the unlikely case of a large increase in demand, there...  (go to article)

Wall Street Journal -- VIENNA—The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to keep its oil production steady, saying it won't meet again for seven months, underlining the group's confidence that crude prices will remain buoyant.

OPEC has calculated that emerging-market consumers will absorb its members' oil output, which has risen in recent months, without torpedoing their goal of a healthy crude price. Oil prices have gained about 15% since the group's last meeting in December to trade at around $82 a barrel Wednesday, slightly above the $70 to $80 range many OPEC members prefer.

 (go to article)

Reuters -- Pakistan has signed a deal with Iran paving the way for the construction of a much-delayed pipeline pumping Iranian natural gas to the energy-starved South Asian country, officials said on Wednesday.

The $7.6 billion project is crucial for Pakistan to avert a growing energy crisis already causing severe electricity shortages in the country of about 170 million.

Pakistani Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Naveed Qmar hailed the signing of the deal in Turkey on Tuesday as an "historic achievement."

"It's a milestone toward meeting energy needs of the country," a Pakistani government statement quoted Qamar as saying.

Iran has the world's second-largest gas reserves after Russia. But sanctions by the West, political turmoil and construction delays have slowed its development...  (go to article)

Reuters -- Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) has received clearance from U.S. and Dutch regulators for its $27 billion acquisition of U.S. oil and gas company XTO Energy Inc (XTO.N), Exxon said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

The approvals put the U.S. oil major one step closer to completing a deal meant to ramp up global exploration for natural gas in substances like shale or impermeable sands.

The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter, still lacks the approval of XTO's shareholders, according Exxon's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  (go to article)

USA Today -- General Motors thinks it has cut so much weight and complexity out of its hydrogen fuel cell system that it says it could be production-ready by 2015.

Drive On got a look at the fuel cells yesterday at a presentation in Burbank, Calif. The new one, at right, is half the size, 220 pounds lighter and uses a third of the expensive platinum needed in the original, which is being real-world tested in a fleet of 119 Chevrolet Equinox SUVs. (It was an even 120, but one got totaled in an accident. No hydrogen escaped.)  (go to article)

Daily Finance -- For most industries, 2009 will be remembered as one of the worst economic years in history. But it was a year in which the global clean-energy market -- including revenue from solar photovoltaics, wind power and biofuels – grew 11.4% to reach $139.1 billion, according to a report that research firm Clean Edge released Tuesday.

That doesn't mean clean-energy companies have made it out of the recession unscathed. Solar revenues decreased for the first time since Clean Edge began tracking the clean-energy industry a decade ago, falling 20% to $30.7 billion from $38.5 billion in 2008...  (go to article)

Red Orbit -- ENON, Ohio, March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Speedway has been ranked as the nation's top retail gasoline brand for a second consecutive year. According to the 2010 EquiTrend® Brand Study conducted by Harris Interactive®, Speedway is the highest ranked gasoline in overall brand equity. The EquiTrend® study evaluates key metrics including: Equity, Customer Connection, Commitment, Energy, Brand Behavior, Brand Advocacy and Trust. The keystone to the program is Equity, which provides an understanding of a brand's overall strength and is determined by a calculation of Familiarity, Quality, and Purchase Consideration.  (go to article)

Budet Travel -- But even more surprising was the news this week that China is in negotiations with 17 countries to build a high-speed rail network to Europe...
 (go to article)

The Detroit News -- General Motors Co. is developing technology that will help drivers -- particularly older motorists -- navigate through fog and other dangerous road conditions. The technology involves night vision, navigation and camera-based sensors that transform windshields into transparent displays that can illuminate the edge of driving lanes and alert motorists to dangers -- from deer to motorcycles to children -- outside their normal field of vision.

The technology could become increasingly important as baby boomers age, and older people keep their licenses longer and drive more miles than in previous years -- and presumably keep buying new model vehicles. Though the population of people 70 and older climbed 10 percent between 1997 and 2006, crash deaths fell 21 percent in that group....  (go to article)

Reuters -- Is the Golden State getting ahead of itself?

Starting today, the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project will offer financial incentives of up to $20,000 towards the purchase of a new, zero-emissions and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Cars like the all-electric Tesla Roadster qualify for a $5,000 rebate, and the money can be applied towards passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and neighborhood-electric cars. But are there really enough such vehicles to justify the $4.1 million program at a time when many state governments are tightening the fiscal belt?  (go to article)

Wall Street Journal -- Honda Motor Co. said it is recalling about 344,000 Odyssey vans and 68,000 Element sport-utility vehicles in the U.S. from the 2007 and 2008 model years to address consumer complaints that the brake pedals felt "soft" or the pedal height gradually lowered.  (go to article)

Reuters -- - Gas 2.0

by Christopher DeMorro

In 1984, General Motors and Toyota joined forces to produce cars together at a single plant in Fremont, California. Called the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., the joint venture gave Toyota its first manufacturing base in the U.S., and GM a chance to learn from its rival Toyota on quality and lean manufacturing techniques. Over the years the plant gave us the Geo Prizm, the Toyota Hilux, and Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix, among many other items.  (go to article)

Associated Press -- Prices at the wholesale level plunged in February by the largest amount in seven months as a big drop in energy prices offset higher food costs.

The Labor Department said Wednesday that wholesale inflation dropped 0.6 percent in February, much larger than the 0.2 percent decline economists had expected. Excluding food and energy, prices edged up a slight 0.1 percent, in line with expectations.

The deep recession and weak economic rebound are keeping inflation at bay and giving the Federal Reserve leeway to maintain record low interest rates in an effort to build momentum from stronger economic growth.

While overall wholesale prices have risen 4.4 percent over the past 12 months, core inflation, which excludes energy and food, is up a much more subdued 1 percent over the past year.  (go to article)

The Wall Street Journal -- LONDON—Nymex crude-oil futures traded above $82 a barrel in London Wednesday, gaining ground on news that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will hold its production quota steady.

"OPEC's decision to leave its output quotas unchanged will help to underpin oil prices going into the summer, a broker said. "I think everyone knew there would be no surprises," he added. "I believe it keeps the market buoyant with the gasoline season on us soon, and above all these are good prices" for OPEC with crude above $80 a barrel.

The front-month April contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading 66 cents higher at $82.36 a barrel. The front-month May Brent contract on London's ICE futures exchange was 81 cents higher at $81.34 a barrel.

 (go to article)

Reuters -- OPEC ministers agreed not to change oil output targets they are already exceeding, anticipating that demand will pick up later in the year to mop up extra barrels.

But with economic recovery still fragile as powerhouse China considers curbs on credit, members discussed on Wednesday their adherence to production levels set in December 2008 to keep supply at 24.84 million barrels per day (bpd).

OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri said the producers would next meet on October 14 in Vienna, pushing back slightly from the usual September slot.

"Good demand, reliable supply, beautiful prices -- we are very happy," Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said just before entering the meeting.  (go to article)

Bloomberg.com -- General Motors Co. aims to commercialize autos fueled by hydrogen even as the largest U.S. carmaker prepares to begin selling the battery-powered Chevrolet Volt plug-in vehicle late this year.

While U.S. policy has shifted to favor developing cars that use lithium-ion packs, rather than hydrogen fuel-cell models, both are needed to cut oil reliance and greenhouse gases, Charles Freese, GM’s executive director of global powertrain engineering, said at a briefing in Burbank, California. He discussed GM’s new fuel-cell power system that’s smaller, lighter and cheaper than the one used in its hydrogen-powered Equinox wagon.

 (go to article)

The New York Times -- By the end of the year, at least five plug-in cars, including the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt, are expected to be on the market. And as electric vehicles roll out, their owners will be wiring their homes to accommodate what is called Level 2 charging. The wall-mounted 220-240-volt boxes can recharge an E.V.’s batteries in four to eight hours.

Think of home chargers as gas pumps for your garage. The more sophisticated ones will be programmable to charge only late at night when energy rates are low and can be scheduled from cellphones and computers.

But as is often the case, the answer to the question, “How much will they cost?” is more complex. Because of the challenges in homes with what can be very outmoded electric service, a Nissan spokesman, Mark Perry, said that the cost of a  (go to article)

New York Times -- Generating 20 percent of America’s electricity with wind, as recent studies proposed, would require building up to 22,000 miles of new high-voltage transmission lines. But the huge towers and unsightly tree-cutting that these projects require have provoked intense public opposition.

Recently, though, some companies are finding a remarkably simple answer to that political problem. They are putting power lines under water, in a string of projects that has so far provoked only token opposition from environmentalists and virtually no reaction from the larger public.  (go to article)

Denver Post -- VIENNA (AP) -- Saudi Arabia's oil minister said Tuesday he expected OPEC to keep output steady for the rest of this year, in comments reflecting expectations that crude prices and supply are in sync with the fitfully recovering world economy.

The Saudis, who are OPEC's top producers, usually have their way within the organization. But with U.S. demand for oil lackluster, even traditional price hawks like Iran and Venezuela are happy with present prices near $80 a barrel as the 12-nation organization prepares to make a decision on output Wednesday.

OPEC now is producing nearly 2 million barrels above its official target - a result of cheating by individual nations on their quotas. While OPEC does not reveal which nations are overproducing and by how much, overall quota compliance within t  (go to article)

The Detroit Bureau -- Roadway safety boils down to just two real issues: what caused the crash, and how to correct the problem? EDRs can help.

Today we have the two tools that could be extremely useful to study road crashes and get to their actual causes. These are the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data collected from states nationwide by NHTSA, and the crash information collected in life-threatening crashes by Electronic Data Recorders (EDRs), or “Black Boxes,” in most vehicles – but not all – on the road today.

GM worked with a California service diagnostics company, Vetronix, to develop software and hardware for convenient downloading of EDR data. By 2004, Ford was also aboard with the Vetronix equipment. Nearly six years ago, the California Highway Patrol already owned eight of these $2500 Vet  (go to article)

examiner.com -- The United Auto Workers expressed their sentiment that Congress should move forward to enact comprehensive climate change legislation that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions; they did so in a letter they sent to the members of Congress recently.Although we recognize the difficulties involved in this effort, we believe that legislation can be crafted that will reduce global warming pollution while at the same time creating jobs and providing a boost to our economy. In particular, we believe such legislation can help to provide significant investment in domestic production of advanced technology vehicles and their key components, as well as other energy saving technologies. (Source)

Members of the UAW, particularly hard-hit by the recent recession, see an electric vehicle

 (go to article)

Reuters -- Oil prices extended overnight gains and rose above $82 a barrel on Wednesday, supported by a weaker dollar and expectations that producer group OPEC will keep oil output cuts in place at a meeting later in the day.

An industry report that showed a steep fall in U.S. gasoline stockpiles and smaller-than-expected increase in crude inventories also helped buoy investor sentiments.

U.S. crude for April delivery was up 41 cents at $82.11 a barrel by 0046 GMT, after settling up $1.90 at $81.70 on Tuesday. London Brent crude rose 42 cents to $80.95 a barrel.

"Oil prices continue to be supported by the soft tone of the U.S. dollar, while the industry data showing a fall in gasoline is also somewhat supportive," said David Moore, an oil analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.  (go to article)

TCpalm -- TALLAHASSEE — With a gallon of gas on the Treasure Coast teetering at the $3 mark, the head of the gas station associations in Florida blamed those speculating in crude oil for high prices.

“We’re probably paying 50 cents a gallon too much because of speculation,” said Jim Smith, president of the Tallahassee-based Florida Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, Inc. “The price of a gallon of gasoline is directly related to the barrel of oil.”

In the past year, the price for a barrel of crude oil has increased 72 percent on the New York Mercantile Exchange and on Sunday Jessica Brady, spokeswoman for AAA Auto Club South, said the basic fundamentals of supply and demand did not support such high pump prices.  (go to article)

Reuters -- Canadian lawmakers accused Toyota Motor Corp executives on Tuesday of waiting too long to inform the government of problems with faulty accelerators in some of the company's vehicles.

Separately, Canada's transport minister said his department would conduct an investigation into Toyota's actions, and would consider making disclosure laws tougher if necessary.

Toyota, the world's biggest automaker, recalled more than 8 million vehicles in late January, 270,000 of them in Canada, over problems with sticky gas pedals and with floor mats that interfere with gas pedals and could cause unintended acceleration.

"Many Canadians have wondered whether their vehicles are safe, and we regret this has caused our customers both anxiety and inconvenience," said Yoichi Tomihara, chief executive.  (go to article)

DAN STRUMPF and KEN THOMAS, Associated Press Writers -- Toyota's investigation of sudden acceleration in some of its cars is shifting to suburban New York, where a driver said her Prius sped up on its own and slammed into a stone wall.

Technicians from Toyota will join government investigators in Harrison, N.Y., on Wednesday to inspect the car. Toyota plans to examine an internal data recorder that documents the moments before and after a crash.

The company will use equipment to determine how many times the driver hit the brakes and gas. It used the same tools earlier this week to cast doubt on a California driver who claimed his Prius sped to 94 mph before a patrol officer helped him stop it.

In the Harrison case, authorities have said there is no indication of driver error.  (go to article)

WorldTribune.com -- CAIRO — Libya plans to marginalize U.S. energy majors and grant preference to rivals from China and Russia.
The head of Libya's energy sector has asserted that the North African state would favor Chinese and Russian companies for the development of Libya's crude oil and natural gas sectors.
Libyan National Oil Co. director Shokri Ghanem said Tripoli was becoming increasingly dismayed by Washington, which has criticized the Libyan regime.


 (go to article)

CNBC -- OPEC could surprise the oil market and decide to change to its output targets at Wednesday's meeting. But comments from oil ministers gathering in Vienna indicate the group will likely stick with existing quotas.

As Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi, the minister of the world's top oil producing nation, put it, "The market is in balance, the price is great, inventories are coming down so why should we do anything?" But later, he added that OPEC "will never allow" global oil markets to get too tight to pressure oil prices.

Some observers may have expected the latter comments to contribute to an oil price rally, but even as prices approach $82 a barrel, many traders say they are focused more on charts than OPEC members' chatter.

"Everything is short term now  (go to article)

Forbes -- A new strategy annoucement at Royal Dutch Shell sent its shares up in Tuesday trading as investors reacted positively to the company's plans to take on new projects and cut jobs.

The Netherlands-based oil and gas company said it would increase its oil production by 11% from 2009 levels over the next two years, with a targeted output of 3.5 million barrels of oil per day. The production increase would follow a decade of declines for Shell.

According to the company, 2009 was the best year for exploration in over a decade. Shell added roughly 3.4 billion barrels of oil to proven reserves and 2.4 billion barrels of new resources in Australia, the Gulf of Mexico and North America tight gas. The company's tight gas production increased more than 60% in 2009.  (go to article)

Reuters -- NEW YORK, March 16 - U.S. retail gasoline demand fell 1% in the week to March 12, according to a MasterCard SpendingPulse report released on Tuesday.

Gasoline demand averaged 9.523 million barrels per day last week, down from 9.619 million the previous week, the weekly survey showed.

"The decline is not that large, but the largest declines can probably be attributed to weather-related events," said Michael McNamara, VP Research and Analysis for MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse.

Year-on-year, gasoline demand rose by 1.7 percent for the week  (go to article)