Recent Gas News/GasBuddy Blog

Courthouse News Service -- Wisconsin can once again enforce a minimum markup on gas prices after the 7th Circuit dissolved an order barring the markups, citing a lack of evidence that they violate federal antitrust regulations.
Flying J, a Utah-based gas supplier, challenged the Wisconsin Unfair Sales Act, which requires in-state gas dealers to mark up prices by at least 6 percent. The markup allows competitors to meet, but not beat, others' prices.
Flying J said the law stifled competition by blocking it from selling gas in Wisconsin for less than the statutory requirement.
The Federal Trade Commission and the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute have both concluded that the law prevents competitive price-cutting and encourages price collusion at the expense of Wisconsin consumers.
A feder  (go to article)

CleanTechnica.com -- I wrote a piece over a month ago on the possibility of getting a nationwide renewable energy standard (RES) passed despite the demise of comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation in the Senate. Since then, though, I thought the possibility of getting an RES through an almost nonfunctional Senate sort of faded into oblivion. Apparently not, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
Reid, who had said just before the Senate’s August recess that he doubted an RES could get 60 votes, said last Tuesday that an RES “is ‘absolutely’ in the mix as he tries to salvage energy legislation this year,” The Hill’s Energy & Environment Blog, E-2 Wire, reports.

Reid did not name the two Senators, but he said that two Republicans have expressed interest in an RES and he is going  (go to article)

The Economist -- N 1995 Alfa Romeo ignominiously pulled out of America, having managed to sell only 400 cars there that year. Yet this month the sporting Italian marque, which is celebrating its centenary, was the star of the annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California, a show for classic and concept cars that is perhaps the most prestigious of its kind in the world. Alfa brought over seven cars from its museum in Milan, but none of its current offerings. It is testimony to the enduring power of a brand that has a wonderful history but which for many years has over-promised and under-delivered. There are signs, however, that this may be changing......  (go to article)

Gas 2.0 -- The hunt for a commercially viable biobutanol could finally be over thanks to an inspired, if ironic, bit of recycling by scientists working at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland.

They’ve taken the two main waste products from the Scotch whisky production cycle and brought them together in a process which outputs biobutanol, long heralded as a next generation biofuel because it produces up to 30% more power than ethanol and can be used in existing combustion engine cars without modification.

The process has now been patented by the University which has also set up a limited company to leverage the commercial possibilities of the invention.

Professor Martin Tangney, Director of the Biofuel Research Centre at Edinburgh Napier University, believes the biofuel could be sold at garages  (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- As summer comes to a close, so does the peak demand season for motor gasoline in the United States. Typically, gasoline prices weaken in the autumn months as demand for gasoline drops. Here are some supply and demand numbers from this summer and how this year compared to last year and years past.

We began summer 2010 (Memorial Day weekend) with nearly 219 million barrels of gasoline in inventories. This compared to 203 million in 2009, 209 million in 2008, 198 million in 2007, and 209 million in 2006.

We're finishing summer 2010 (Labor Day weekend) with 225.5 million barrels of gasoline available. This compares to 205 million in 2009, 194 million in 2008, 191 million in 2007, and 206 million in 2006.

Demand...  (go to article)

Associated Press -- Motorists should see pump prices slide again after they spending a little more to fill their tanks over the Labor Day weekend.

The national average for a gallon of unleaded regular was $2.682 Tuesday, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. That's 0.5 cent higher than a week ago and 9.9 cents higher than a year ago.

Drivers in the West, Illinois and New York state saw the highest prices over the weekend, ranging from $2.794 to $3.525 a gallon. The lowest prices were in Texas, parts of the Midwest and the South.

Analysts expect retail prices to fall now that the summer driving season has ended with plentiful supplies still in storage. In addition, consumers are watching their dollars carefully as unemployment remains high.

"Demand probably did pick up  (go to article)

Detroit Free Press -- BY MARK PHELAN
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

American society as we know it was born a few feet off Woodward Avenue in Highland Park.

The Highland Park plant is where the mainspring of the 20th Century was wound," said Bob Casey, John and Horace Dodge curator of the transportation collection at the Henry Ford museum.

Thousands drive past the historic Ford Highland Park Model T Assembly plant every day, unaware of its significance. Now an online contest could make the plant a magnet for visitors to the Detroit area.

The Woodward Avenue Action Association has nominated the plant for This Place Matters, a national online competition for a $25,000 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. You can vote for the Highland Park plant at

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USA Today -- American taxpayers are likely to be losers when it comes to the first public offering of General Motors stock, Reuters is reporting.

Reuters, quoting six unnamed people, says the initial round is likely to be priced below what would be needed to put the the federal government on track to make a full recovery of the $50 billiion it sunk into GM last year to try to save it. But in later years, subsequent offerings may be priced at levels that would allow taxpayers to be fully paid back for saving the world's largest automaker.

The Treasury could take three years to sell down its remaining shares in GM, well into the next presidential term, and it would be years as well before taxpayers are made whole, if they ever are, on their investment, the news agency says.  (go to article)

CBC News -- U.S. President Barack Obama is asking Congress to approve at least $50 billion US in long-term spending on the country's roads, railways and runways in a pre-election effort to show he's trying to stimulate the sputtering economy.

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CSP News -- Nearly half (45%) of U.S. households are diligently seeking lower gas prices, The Nielsen Co. has found. The economy has consumers looking for cost savings across the board, even as they revert to some pre-recession habits, it said.

"Although gas prices are not as high as they were in mid-2008, they have been edging up for some time and continue to impact how consumers shop and buy," said Todd Hale, senior vice president, Consumer & Shopper Insights, Nielsen. "Even though gas prices are reasonable relative to recent years, consumers continue to employ money-saving strategies, such as using coupons and gas purchase incentives, as means to deal with gas costs given overall economic concerns."  (go to article)

Brand X Daily -- Eco-conscious travel is about to become a lot easier. Beginning as early as January, electric cars will be available at the nation's two largest auto rental companies. Enterprise Rent-A-Car, North America's largest car rental firm, unveiled plans last week to offer about 500 Nissan Leaf all-electric cars, initially at dealerships in Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland and Seattle.

The announcement came a few months after Hertz, the world's largest car rental company, said it planned to offer Nissan Leafs next year at a handful of locations in the U.S. and Europe, including New York, Washington and San Francisco. A fully charged Leaf has a range of about 100 miles.  (go to article)

nytimes.com -- Energy efficiency is a way to meet the world’s growing energy needs, just like building more power plants — except that it costs less, emits no carbon dioxide or radiation, and does not rely on scarce resources in potentially hostile places.

Efficiency is often confused, detrimentally, with conservation. Conservation connotes making do with less — turning down the heat or driving a smaller car. Efficiency means getting more bang per buck. For example, California’s 35 years of efficiency standards for appliances have created refrigerators that use 75 percent less electricity than models from the 1970s. Yet today’s refrigerators are larger, have more features and cost less in inflation-adjusted dollars.

In transportation, “we could double fuel economy for light-duty vehicles by 2035  (go to article)

TopNews -- High unemployment rates in the US have had a bad impact on the oil prices from Monday itself.

During the starting of the week itself, the price of crude oil slipped close to $74 per barrel in the Asian markets backed by the fear that the US economic figures will reduce the demand for oil in near future.

Price of benchmark oil for October was down by 35 cents to end at $74.25 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as per the Singapore time. For the contracts the decrease was of 42 cents and it settled at $74.60.

As per the data published by the US Labor Department on Friday, the jobless rate in the country was at 9.6 per cent as against 9.5 per cent in the month of July. What is worrying is that the US has spent huge sums in form of stimulus package to be able to get the figures do  (go to article)

Eco-Business -- Singapore, September 7 - Efforts to harness the sun’s energy are spreading in the heartland.

The Housing Board recently bought solar photovoltaic panels worth about $2.3 million for various residential estates. In total, the panels are expected to produce 170 megawatt-hours of energy each year which, said an HDB spokesman, would represent about $40,000 in savings a year per precinct.

The HDB began installing solar panels in the estates of Serangoon and Wellington in December 2008. Since then, the price of solar panels has dropped by more than half, from $5.17 a watt-peak to $2.33 a watt-peak.

While there are many options for renewable energy - hydropower, biofuel and wind among them - solar power could become a significant energy source in Singapore.

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NY Times -- Germany extends the life spans of their 17 nuclear plants while alternative energy sources are developed.

New taxes levied on utility companies will be used to help develop renewable energy sources. Germany can not afford to get rid of nuclear power because “It is a bridge”.

German law, passed by a previous government in 2002, requires the last nuclear power plant to be shut by 2022. That decision, bitterly resented by the nuclear energy companies, was largely supported by the German public, which has a deep aversion to anything nuclear, a sentiment that intensified after the nuclear accident at Chernobyl.

A survey in July found that 81 percent of Germans said the country could not do entirely without nuclear power, up from 59 percent five years ago.
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CNBC -- Tropical Storm Hermine strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico Monday as it approached landfall near the U.S.-Mexico border, but oil and gas operations in the Gulf were unaffected.



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Reuters -- Monday September 6, 2010, 12:55 pm EDT - By Christopher Johnson

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices slipped below $74 per barrel on Monday as the end of the U.S. driving season and high levels of unemployment in the world's biggest oil consumer raised concerns over the outlook for demand.

The U.S. Labor Day holiday, which marks the traditional end of American summer holidays when gasoline demand peaks, kept volume low in many markets.

U.S. crude for October delivery was down 65 cents at $73.95 a barrel by 1638 GMT (12:38 p.m. EDT)...

"The U.S. (oil futures) complex is coming under considerable pressure from the end of the driving season and the high inventory levels, while bearish employment data continues to undermine hopes of economic recovery," said David Wech ...  (go to article)

U.S.NEWS AND WORLD REPORT -- If you’ve been waiting for the Labor Day weekend to buy a new car, your wait may have paid off. The August sales numbers for new cars are in, and they aren’t good. According to analysts, new car sales were down three percent from July, and down twenty percent from August 2009. That means that dealers may be feeling pinched and hoping to use the holiday weekend to spur September sales.


Whether those sales will pick up is a mystery. Most car makers set their August deals and incentives – the same ones that didn’t manage to attract many buyers – to expire the Tuesday after Labor Day. Those discounts and incentives weren’t terrible. In fact, they were fairly typical  (go to article)

Softpedia News -- Geothermal energy could be the solution to all our energy needs – present and future, experts say. The source is nearly inexhaustible, and is located just under our feet. We only need to reach out and take it.  (go to article)

By Robert Kropp, SocialFunds.com -- FITZROY, Australia — The tipping point for climate change, after which many of its most destructive effects will become irreversible, strongly suggests that atmospheric CO2 must be reduced from its current level of 390 ppm to "well below 350 ppm‚ significantly closer to pre-industrial concentrations of 285 ppm," according to a recent report by Beyond Zero Emissions, an Australian nonprofit organization.

To achieve such reductions, however, it will be necessary for the US to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to zero within ten years. Because "Australia has about the same per-capita emissions as the USA," according to the report, it too would have to pursue the same goal.

The report, entitled Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan, "outlines a technically feasible and ...  (go to article)

The Associated Press -- By Yuri Kageyama, The Associated Press, thecanadianpress.com TOKYO - Suzuki Motor Corp. is planning a third vehicle plant in India to keep up with burgeoning sales, the Japanese small-car maker said Monday.

The plant will be up and running, perhaps as early as 2013, at the same site as its plant in the northern town of Manesar with a yearly production capacity of 250,000 vehicles, a company official said.

Suzuki holds a controlling 54 per cent stake in Maruti Suzuki Ltd., India's largest car maker.

Long India's dominant car maker, Maruti Suzuki is losing market share as it faces capacity constraints and new competition from companies like Ford and Tata Motors, who have successfully launched models in Maruti Suzuki's core small car segment.  (go to article)

Detroit Free Press -- Cruze commercials to hit TV sets on Tuesday

BY CHRISSIE THOMPSON
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Buzz Lightyear to the rescue.

After more than a year of searching for a new marketing theme, Chevrolet says it has landed the right person to deliver its message: comedian Tim Allen, also known as "The Santa Clause," Tim Taylor from "Home Improvement" and, of course, Buzz.

The first real look at Chevrolet's future ad plans comes Tuesday, as the brand debuts commercials for its new Chevrolet Cruze compact car.

GM is aiming the Cruze at 20-somethings and empty nesters. And both groups may recognize his voice, although possibly because of different gigs.

Many may also recognize Allen's voice from the "Pure Michigan" commercials touting the state he called home as  (go to article)

CNN -- -- Tropical Storm Hermine, which formed Monday in the Gulf of Mexico, strengthened slightly as it continued on course toward the Texas-Mexico border region.

Hermine is set to make landfall early Tuesday as a tropical storm, the National Hurricane Center said. A tropical storm warning is in effect for the Texas coast from the mouth of the Rio Grande River to Baffin Bay, and for the Mexican coast from Tampico to the mouth of the Rio Grande.

As of 8 a.m. ET, Hermine's maximum sustained winds were at 45 mph (75 kph) with higher gusts. It was expected to strengthen further before making landfall.

The storm's center was located about 185 miles (300 kilometers) east-southeast of Tampico, Mexico, and about 280 miles (450 kilometers) south-southeast of Brownsville, Texas. It was moving n  (go to article)

MSNBC -- TOKYO — Toyota's Prius was the top selling car in Japan during August for the 16th straight month, as incentives for green vehicles continued to boost sales of the hybrid.

The Prius, Toyota Motor Corp.'s best-selling gasoline-gas hybrid, sold 22,263 of the cars during the month, enough to secure the top spot ahead of Honda's Fit compact at 17,258 vehicles, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Monday.

But it was the lowest monthly total so far this year for the hybrid, sales of which may fade once government-backed tax breaks and incentives run out at the end of this month in Japan.

The Prius went on sale for the first time in 1997, beating rivals as the first mass-produced commercially available hybrid. Toyota's hybrids currently span minivans, sport utility vehicles and  (go to article)

Honolulu Star Advertiser -- With a surge of renewable energy projects in the pipeline, Hawaii's electric utilities are working overtime to modernize their generation systems that for decades have relied on traditional oil-fired power plants.

Recent installations of photovoltaic panels in Kaunakaki, Molokai, mean an estimated 15 percent of electrical generation comes from the sun, pushing the circuit to the maximum level.

The issue is top priority with the goal of generating 40 percent from renewable sources by 2030.

The intermittent nature of renewable electricity, mainly solar & wind. That creates instability that, if not offset with generation from firm sources, could cause customers to lose power.

Plans proceed to bring 400 megawatts of electricity to the island via an undersea cable from wind farms.
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latimes.com -- Sometimes, the best person to preach the wonders of solar power is a man in a ten-gallon hat.

Specifically, that would be J.R. Ewing, the nefarious Texas oil tycoon from the hit television series "Dallas" ..Larry Hagman.

..a major proponent of alternative energy. Solar panels blanket his Ojai estate.. His 94-kilowatt installation cost $750,000 to install but helped cut his electricity bill from $37,000 to $13 a year ..

“It doesn’t make any noise and does a wonderful job,” he said. “I’ve realized that if the infrastructure is so delicate, then I better look after myself.”

He will encourage consumers to go with domestically made solar panels, “made here by Americans, for Americans.”

“It’s keeping jobs here."
“Our security is going to be in producing all of our own energy,”  (go to article)

greenbiz.com -- Butte College in Northern California will begin generating more renewable energy next year than it uses, saving the school an estimated $150 million over the next 30 years.

The Butte College Board of Trustees gave the campus the go-ahead to finish a major solar energy project next year that will push the school's generating capacity to 4.55 megawatts (DC)..

Roughly 15,000 photovoltaic panels will cover parking spaces and roofs to generate the green power..in addition to 10,000 existing solar panels that now generate 1.85 MW..will make Butte College the only college in the U.S. that produces more solar energy on-site than it uses.

The project will ..provide job training to students. The school also offers coursework in green building, solar hot water installation, and energy fundam  (go to article)

AFP -- The number of vehicles on China's roads will more than double to at least 200 million by 2020, a top official was quoted Monday as saying, further straining the nation's environment and energy supply.

China must make it a top priority to develop fuel-efficient and alternative energy cars, the China Securities Journal said, citing Wang Fuchang, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

China's auto sales hit 13.64 million units last year, overtaking the United States as the world's top car market, while sales this year are forecast to hit 15 million units.

The surging car use has brought mounting concerns over pollution, soaring energy demand, and traffic gridlock.  (go to article)

Sacramento Bee -- It's certainly no secret that the oil industry remains deeply embedded in Louisiana culture. Not only does it employ tens of thousands of people, but it is also the economic engine state leaders depend on as they struggle to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Even so, it was something of a surprise earlier this summer when the first round of lawsuits over the BP oil spill reached a federal court in downtown New Orleans.

One of the judges on the court - the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana - recused herself because she owns stock in BP. Another bowed out because her husband holds stock in the firm. Several others stepped aside because they have family members who are involved in BP litigation.  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Hedge-fund bets against gasoline exceeded wagers that prices will rise for the first time in almost four years as the fuel fell in the final week of the U.S. driving season.

Net-short positions held by money managers in gasoline futures and options increased to 1,169 contracts the week ended Aug. 31, the first time speculators have been bearish since November 2006, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly Commitments of Traders report. Hedge funds cut bullish bets for four straight weeks.

Investors have turned bearish on gasoline amid a slide in demand just as the motoring season ends and economic data sends mixed signals about U.S. recovery.  (go to article)

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- If you're considering buying a new car, you may want to consider buying it this weekend.

According to Juan Flores, director of vehicle valuation for Kelley Blue Book, Labor Day is traditionally the best time to buy a car. That is because manufacturers offer generous incentives on current-year models to clear them out and make room on dealer lots for vehicles from the next model year, which traditionally start arriving this month.

"If you just isolated this calendar year, Labor Day is the best time to buy," he said.

So how do this year's Labor Day deals compare with past ones?
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The Washington Post -- When the United States went to war in Iraq, the price of oil was less than $25 a barrel, and futures markets expected it to remain around that level. With the war, prices started to soar, reaching $140 a barrel by 2008. We believe that the war and its impact on the Middle East, the largest supplier of oil in the world, were major factors. Not only was Iraqi production interrupted, but the instability the war brought to the Middle East dampened investment in the region.

In calculating our $3 trillion estimate two years ago, we blamed the war for a $5-per-barrel oil price increase. We now believe that a more realistic (if still conservative) estimate of the war's impact on prices works out to at least $10 per barrel. That would add at least $250 billion in direct costs to our original asses  (go to article)

Detroit Free Press -- 2011 Dodge Durango Citadel is proudly shown off at the ÒDodge Rock ÔnÕ Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon presented by SunTrustÓ in Virginia Beach, Va., over the Labor Day weekend. In addition to being title sponsor of the Sunday, Sept. 5, race, the Dodge brand will show off its all-new 2011 Dodge Durango as the official pace vehicle of the race.  (go to article)

solar.calfinder.com -- Kids waiting at the bus stop in Wisconsin this year will be introduced to a new sort of school supply ..much bigger than their new back-to-school sneakers. Plug-in electric school buses are set to carry children in southeastern Wisconsin back to school..

The 11 hybrid electric-diesel buses heading out..in the Oconomowoc school district.. battery-driven electric motor will work in tandem with a conventional diesel motor to power the buses.

In addition to fuel and fuel cost savings, the buses should save money through less maintenance costs due to reduced wear and tear on their engines.

To avoid trading fossil-fueled driving emissions for fossil fuel power plant emissions (used when recharging the buses’ batteries), a solar-powered recharging station was installed at the fleet's gar  (go to article)

San Diego Union Tribune -- A Washington State man who built his own fuel-efficient car 25 years ago repeated his feat of driving border-to-border on a single tank of diesel this week.

"I smashed my old record," Craig Henderson said shortly after arriving at an Otay Mesa parking lot just across the Mexican border Wednesday.

He said the aerodynamic car, which he calls Avion, averaged 119 mpg on its journey from Canada to San Diego. His old record was 103.

The key was an aerodynamic, lightweight design and tires with low rolling resistance from Goodyear, which sponsored the trip.

The car weighs 1,500 pounds and has an 18-gallon fuel tank. To achieve the high mileage, Henderson drove 55 to 60 mph.

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Associated Press -- MADISON, Wis. — A federal appeals court on Friday reinstated Wisconsin's 71-year-old minimum markup law on gasoline, a decision that could save some jobs but increase the cost of gas.

Siding with an association representing small gas station owners, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the law that requires retailers to sell gas above cost does not encourage illegal price-fixing.

The court lifted an order entered last year that put enforcement of the law on hold after U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa concluded it violated federal antitrust law and increased the price at the pump by up to 30 cents a gallon.  (go to article)

Associated Press -- WASHINGTON - David Sandalow starts his five-mile commute each day by unplugging an orange extension cord connecting his Toyota Prius hybrid to an outlet in his brick carport.

His Prius, which was converted two years ago to allow him to recharge the battery from an electric outlet, gets more than 80 miles per gallon and lets him drive 30 miles on a single charge. He fills up his car with gasoline about once every month or two, an oddity in a transportation sector long dominated by the internal combustion engine.  (go to article)

Detroit Free Press -- UAW's plan: Tap into worker discontent, focus on social justice

BRENT SNAVELY
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

On this Labor Day weekend, the role of those who advocate for workers and those who want to work -- such as the UAW -- has never been more important.

U.S. unemployment stands at 9.6%, with Michigan at 13.1%.
Those who do have jobs are often anxious about losing them and watching their benefits decline. Incomes are down. And working or not, many people are finding health care expensive or are lacking coverage altogether. For many, retirement seems but a dream.
With four new leaders at its helm, including UAW President Bob King, the union is trying to tap into this worker discontent and recommit itself to broader social-justice issues in an effort to rejuvenate its sunken
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PressTV -- “Global dependence on the OPEC for oil will rise in the next five to 10 years as output by non-OPEC nations falls,” IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka said.

"We have seen an increase in non-OPEC supplies. But in the mid-term, non-OPEC production will decline, so dependency on OPEC oil will increase.”

Tanaka noted that the global oil market is currently well supplied. It is anticipated that there will be no change to OPEC production quotas.

Iran is OPEC’s second-largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia.

In 2009, Iran's crude production stood at approximately at 3.8 million barrels per day.

OPEC's 12 members — Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, Angola, Ecuador, and Venezuela — produce about 40 percent of the world's crude oil
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fuelfix.com -- The U.S. Coast Guard (and news organizations) should be forgiven if in the first hour of the Mariner accident there was confusion about whether it occurred on an oil rig or an oil platform.

But once it was clear this was a production platform and not a drilling rig, getting it right did matter.

Why? Because whether you love fossil fuels or hate them, there’s a big difference between drilling (what a rig does) and producing (what a platform does)..

First, the definitions:

•A rig refers to the piece of equipment that actually drills into the earth to tap into oil and gas reservoirs. These are mobile pieces of equipment that can either be self-propelled ships or vessels that are towed from one location to another.

•A production platform is usually a structure that stays in one  (go to article)

Reuters -- NEW YORK/DETROIT, Sept 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. government is likely to take a loss on General Motors Co [GM.UL] in the first offering of the automaker's stock, six people familiar with preparations for the landmark IPO said.

Subsequent offerings of the government's holdings may be profitable depending on how investors trade the newly listed stock, the sources said.

But the question of whether taxpayers are ultimately made whole on GM's $50 billion bailout could be left open for years, the people said.

It could take more than three years for the Treasury to sell down its remaining stake in GM after the IPO, one person said. That would push a final accounting into the next presidential term.  (go to article)

AP -- A crane hoisted a key piece of oil spill evidence to the surface of the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, giving investigators their first chance to personally scrutinize the blowout preventer, the massive piece of equipment that failed stop the gusher four months ago.  (go to article)

By HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press Writer Harry R. Weber, Associated Press Writer – -- ON THE GULF OF MEXICO – Icelike crystals had formed Saturday on the 300-ton blowout preventer that failed to stop oil from spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, forcing BP crews to wait before they could safely hoist the device to the surface.

The hydrates — which caused the oil giant problems when the company was trying to contain the oil spilling into the Gulf — need to melt because they are combustible. Crews must take care not to damage the device, which is considered a key piece of evidence in the spill investigation.

"We don't want to lift it and risk an uncontrolled release of gas because that's inherently dangerous," Darin Hilton, the captain of the Helix Q4000 vessel that's raising the device with a giant crane, told The Associated Press.
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TBO.COM -- The R/V Weatherbird II is about to head back out into the Gulf of Mexico again for more research on possible effects of the gigantic BP oil gusher.

It will be the fourth such voyage for the ship, which is scheduled to leave port at 10 a.m. Saturday from the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg.

More than 172 million gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf for months after the April 20 explosion and collapse of a BP oil rig 40 miles off the Louisiana coastline.  (go to article)

CleanTechnica.com -- Put this one in the category of every cloud has a silver lining: E. coli, the bacteria notorious for contaminating food products from lettuce to ground beef, could also play a key role in developing the next generation of biofuels. A team of scientists from Rutgers University is working with computer modeling to tweak the pesky little bug into overproduce fatty acids, which can then be processed into biodiesel.

If the research is successful, chalk up another win for producing biofuels from sustainable, non-food sources that can be grown without competing for land with food crops. The growing list includes weedy plants, woody plants, algae and various microorganisms.
E. coli is short for Escherichia coli, which is a rod-shaped bacteria. Some strains are harmful but others are responsible  (go to article)

New York TImes -- A new report from a University of Michigan researcher estimates that, even without going electric, U.S. cars and trucks could achieve an average efficiency of 74 miles per gallon by 2035. Compared to a federal 2005 Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) baseline, that’s a tripling of fuel economy.

Under the researcher’s fuel economy projections, the average car in 2035 would save 5,254 gallons over its lifetime compared to a similar 2005 vehicle, and would emit 47 tons less carbon dioxide.

The report, commissioned by the Energy Foundation, is by John DeCicco, a senior lecturer at the University of Michigan and a former auto policy expert at the Environmental Defense Fund.  (go to article)

Pottstown Mercury -- In the past, diesel fuel was always considered dirtier than gasoline. But newer standards regulating sulfur content and improved technology in diesel engines have made diesel somewhat kinder to the environment.

Many eco-advocates now tout diesel as a viable and preferable alternative to regular unleaded gasoline.

Where diesel fuel really shines over gasoline is improved fuel economy thanks to its higher “energy density”: Diesel contains more power per liter than gasoline.

Today’s diesel engines have 20-40 percent better fuel economy than their gasoline counterparts, which some say more than makes up for the fact that they also produce about 15 percent more greenhouse gases.  (go to article)

AP -- What now for the Gulf? News of another oil rig fire in the Gulf of Mexico, so soon after the BP oil spill, has set off a wave of anxiety along the Gulf Coast and prompted calls for the government to extend its six-month ban on deepwater drilling.

Just when it seemed the Obama administration might be ready to lift the unpopular ban, the fire raises new questions about the dangers of offshore drilling, leaving the industry wondering when it can get back to work.

"Anything that casts any kind of shadow on the industry right now certainly complicates lifting the moratorium," said Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University in Texas. "It makes it difficult to continue to say that (the BP spill) is an aberration."
 (go to article)

all cars electric . com -- Fear is a powerful motivator. It has been used in the past to start wars, persuade kids to study at school and of course, sell life insurance.

But now GM appears to be gearing up to use the fear of running out of electricity to give the extended-range 2011 Chevrolet Volt a competitive edge over purely electric cars.
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BTW - This is similar, not a repost.  (go to article)

The Sydney Morning Herald -- Crude oil fell after service industries grew in August at the weakest pace in seven months, bolstering concern that the US economic rebound will slow.

Futures slipped after the Institute for Supply Management's index of non-manufacturing business, which covers about 90 per cent of the economy, fell to 51.5 in August from 54.3 the prior month. It was the smallest gain since January. Prices rose earlier when a government report showed companies in the US added more jobs in August than forecast.

"Prices are still pretty lofty, given supply and the economic backdrop," said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on energy. "The economic outlook is at best mixed."
Advertisement: Story continues below

Crude oil for October delivery declined 42 US  (go to article)

inhabitat.com -- By Brit Liggett

Excerpts

"The United States and China are the top countries when it comes to world oil consumption, and the idea behind the partnership has been that these two large countries can find a common ground to work together to solve similar problems."

"Yesterday, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced that the two countries have formed the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center and will both provide a total of $100 million dollars in funding to research to get both energy hungry countries on the path to a greener future."

"We’re all for the University of Michigan figuring out the future of clean vehicles — especially when considering how much petroleum the US and China’s consume..."

 (go to article)

allcarselectric.com -- Many think the infrastructure for hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles just isn’t there, and they’re mostly right. There have been a few advances in hydrogen production recently, but the distribution system is the weak point. However, there are companies, such as SunHydro, which are helping to change all that and are even partnering with major automakers to help accelerate the development and eventual commercialization of hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles.

SunHydro is the world's first chain of privately funded fueling stations that provides hydrogen to fuel cell vehicles and produces its fuel using just solar-power and water, meaning it is a true zero emissions source.

The company ..partnered with Toyota and will be commencing trials of ten Toyota Advanced Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle  (go to article)