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HavenWorks.com/energy/archive/2003 |
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- Energy Archive
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ARCHIVES NEWS Energy News History Archives Energy Archives 2001 Energy Archives |
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- "120,000
in S.F. lose power after substation fire: First attempt
to restore some electricity falters." ... "Pacific Gas & Electric was
struggling to restore electricity in San Francisco late Saturday after
a fire at a major utility substation caused a massive power outage and
left 120,000 residential and business customers in the dark." -By
John Woolfolk -MercuryNews-BayArea
- 
Brazil
- "UN
wants access to Brazil atomic enrichment plant."
... "The U.N. nuclear watchdog is negotiating with the Brazilian government
to ensure that a new uranium enrichment facility due to begin operating
next year is properly safeguarded, the agency said on Friday. Several Western
diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Brazil was not considered
a problem state and there were no concerns that it was developing nuclear
weapons." ... "Brazil, which has the world's six-largest uranium reserves
and the most sophisticated nuclear programme in Latin America, has said
the new plant will begin enriching uranium next year to produce fuel for
its atomic power plants." -By Louis Charbonneau
-Reuters -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
- ELECTION
2004 - "Court
to enter fray over energy-policy task force: Supreme
Court will hear case alleging that industry leaders played a key role that
must be disclosed." ... "The US Supreme Court delivered a victory to the
White House Monday by agreeing to enter the long-running dispute over whether
Vice President Dick Cheney must publicly disclose details about the Bush
administration's energy policy task force." ... "The Supreme Court's decision
to take up the case is important for both political and constitutional
reasons. Even if a majority of justices rule against the White House, the
Supreme Court action could help the administration keep the task force
information under wraps for several more months and perhaps until after
the 2004 election, analysts say." -By Warren Richey
-CSMonitor
- 
- 
-
- "Bush:
Halliburton Must Pay for Overcharge: Bush Says U.S.
Expects Halliburton to Repay Money if Company Overcharged for Gasoline
in Iraq." ... "President Bush said Friday that Vice President Dick Cheney's
former company should repay the government if it overcharged for gasoline
delivered in Iraq under a controversial prewar contract." ... "Pentagon
auditors say the company charged up to $61 million too much for delivering
gasoline to Iraqi citizens under a no-bid contract to rebuild Iraq's dilapidated
oil industry. Halliburton denies overcharging."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- 
-
- "Iraq
delays hand Cheney firm $1bn: ·Key contract
decisions postponed again. ·Blair drawn into row over lack of 'level
playing fields'." ... "Halliburton, the engineering group formerly run
by US vice-president Dick Cheney, has been given $1 billion worth of reconstruction
work in Iraq by the US government without having to compete for it, thanks
to repeated delays in opening up a key contract to competition." ... "The
cost-plus contract means the amount spent by the US Army Corps of Engineers
(USACE), which is running the work, is open-ended, rather than being fixed
at the outset, because the scope of the damage was unknown. The USACE described
the contract as a 'bridge to competition', but original plans to award
the work competitively in August have repeatedly slipped. So far, $1.7bn
has been made available to Halliburton for the work." -By
Oliver Morgan -Observer.co.uk
via -Guardian.co.uk
- 
-
- 
- "White
House Seeks to Soften Mercury Rules." ... "The Bush
administration is working to undo regulations that would force power plants
to sharply reduce mercury emissions and other toxic pollutants, according
to a government document and interviews with officials." ... "The Nov.
26 document makes the case that the Environmental Protection Agency, under
President Bill Clinton, misread the Clean Air Act's requirements and that
there are less onerous ways to reduce the emissions." -By
Eric Pianin -WashingtonPost
- 
-
- "FirstEnergy
Blamed for Blackout in Report: U.S.-Canadian Probe
Blames Failures at Ohio-Based Utility FirstEnergy for August Blackout."
... "A computer malfunction at an Ohio utility played a major role in the
nation's worst blackout, but a U.S.-Canadian task force said power grid
operators still should have prevented the Aug. 14 outage from spreading
through eight states and Canada.Energy Secretary Spencer"This blackout
was largely preventable," [U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer] Abraham said.
He lamented the federal government's limited ability to take punitive action
for a blackout that put 50 million people in the dark, including all of
New York City, Cleveland and Detroit, and knocked out more than 260 power
plants." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Massive energy
bill clears hurdle: Billions in tax breaks
for fossil fuel; ethanol also boosted." ... "Republicans on Friday finished
a massive energy bill that would double Americans’ use of ethanol in their
cars, reduce their susceptibility to power blackouts and aim tax breaks
at oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear power providers. However, the measure
would deny President Bush his top energy priority: oil drilling in the
Arctic wildlife refuge." ... "The bill is expected to win easy approval
in the House but will face a tough fight in the Senate, where Republicans
need to muster 60 votes to end any Democratic filibuster."
-MSNBC
- "New
power source: wall vibrations." ... "Imagine using
a computer that runs on energy generated from your building's wall and
window vibrations. Masayuki Miyazaki, a senior researcher at Hitachi Co.
Ltd.'s central lab in Tokyo, is trying to do just that." ... "He recently
made a tiny generator that converts building movements into electricity,
creating enough energy to run a temperature or light sensor once an hour.
Though the output is small right now, only about 10 microwatts, scientists
predict the generator's potential could be huge in coming decades - possibly
used in battery-free computing systems." -By Lori
Valigra -CSMonitor
- "Kremlin seemingly
in disarray over Yukos: Putin undercuts aide who
threatened oil exploration licenses." ... "A flurry of mixed signals and
seeming disarray over the Yukos crisis continued to envelop the Russian
government Wednesday, as President Vladimir Putin disavowed a suggestion
by one of his top ministers that some of the company's coveted petroleum
exploration licenses may be withdrawn." ... "If such steps were to be taken,
the government could in theory seize the oil fields and devalue the stock
of Yukos, whose chief executive, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is being held in
jail on accusations of tax evasion and fraud." -By
Seth Mydans and Erin E. Arvedlund -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
- 
- "Consensus
to fix power grid, but no unity on how: Blackout
has led to calls for more regulation and for Congress to pass long-delayed
energy bill." ... "The worst blackout in US history has moved improvement
of the nation's electrical grid to the top of Washington's fall policy
agenda." ... "Congress is already planning a range of hearings into what
went wrong, while administration officials are calling again for passage
of the mammoth energy bill now plodding through the legislative process."
... "But agreement about the issue's importance doesn't mean consensus
about what should be done. The politics of electricity are so complicated
they make, say, Medicare reform look routine by comparison." -By
Peter Grier and Faye Bowers with contributions from Gail Russell Chaddock
-CSMonitor
-
- 
- "Oil
prices rise after Iraq pipeline sabotage." ... "World
oil prices came under pressure today after saboteurs blew up a vital oil
pipeline in northern Iraq for a second time." ... "The pipeline, from Iraq's
Kirkuk oil fields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, reopened last Wednesday
for the first time since US and British troops toppled Saddam Hussein.
However, just two days later, it was shut down again after a bomb attack."
-Guardian.co.uk
-
- "Merrill
Lynch rocked by $43m embezzlement claim: Wall
Street bank's former chief energy trader under investigation over offshore
cash." ... "Merrill Lynch was plunged into fresh controversy yesterday
when allegations emerged that a former energy trader had embezzled $43m
(£28m) from the firm." ... "The former chief energy trader, Daniel
Gordon, is being investigated by US and Canadian authorities for allegedly
disguising a payment made in 2000 to Falcon Energy Holdings, an offshore
company he controlled, as an insurance contract to cover power shortages."
-David Teather -Guardian.co.uk
-
-
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- 
- 
- "Britain
and Russia's tentative warming trend: President
Putin is in London this week in an historic visit by a Russian leader."
... "Having resolutely opposed the war that Britain waged with the United
States in Iraq, Putin is now determined not to be muscled out of the peace.
He insists that pre-war contracts with Iraq signed by oil giant LukOil
be upheld by the provisional authority in the country. He also wants Iraq's
former debts to Moscow, thought to be worth more than $8 billion, to be
repaid." ... "On Iran, where Russia is helping build an atomic power plant,
Putin denies that Russia is helping proliferate dangerous nuclear technology
and is staunchly defending Russia's economic interests." -By
Mark Rice-Oxley -CSMonitor
-
- "Pipeline
blast 'was sabotage': Second explosion endangers
Iraq's economic recovery and raises fears of lengthy US occupation." ...
"An explosion that ruptured a fuel pipeline 90 miles north-west of Baghdad
was caused by sabotage, Iraqi officials said yesterday." ... "The blast,
the second to hit a pipeline this month, raised fears that opponents of
the US-led occupation are striking at targets vital to Iraq's economic
recovery." ... "An oil pipeline linking the Kirkuk oilfields to Turkey
was badly damaged by a double explosion on June 12. This was initially
blamed on a gas leak, but local officials, together with the Turkish foreign
minister, said it was sabotage." -By Michael Howard
and Brian Whitaker -Guardian.co.uk
-
- 
-
- "Iraqis
may be given oil profits share-out." ... "Some of
the profits from Iraq's oil sales could be distributed to its citizens
as dividends, Paul Bremer, (pictured) the US civil administrator
for Iraq, said on Sunday as he set out a goal of transforming the country
into a free-market economy." -By Roula Khalaf
-FT.com
- "Clean
air at the Internet truck stop cafe: Hookup
lets drivers turn off engine, go online at night." ... "Trucks pull into
bays that feature long, flexible tubes hanging from the roof. Each tube
ends in a control panel and vents for heated or cooled air. Drivers pull
the apparatus into their window and fasten it there. A touch- sensitive
screen on the control panel will let them set the thermostat, check maps
of the area or surf the Internet." ... "Basic services cost $1.25 per hour
for truck owners or fleets that have signed agreements with IdleAire, with
fees payable through a credit-card reader above a computer screen." ...
"The fees should be cheaper than idling a truck. Because federal law requires
long-haul truckers to take eight hours off for every 10 spent on the road,
most drivers will pay about $10 per day with the IdleAire system, Everhart
said. Without it, they spend about $15 to $20 per day on diesel burned
while the truck is idling, he said." -By David R.
Baker -SFGate.com
-
-
- "Iraq ill equipped
to exploit oil: Industry is hobbled by absence
of rules for foreign activity." ... "An enormous reservoir of petroleum
almost certainly lies beneath the Majnoon oil field, a blank expanse of
pale sand near the Iranian border. Under Saddam Hussein, Majnoon was the
linchpin of an ambitious plan to expand Iraq’s
oil industry." ... "But even though the United Nations lifted the sanctions
that barred most exports of Iraqi oil for more than a decade, considerable
barriers remain. No government exists to sanction contracts, develop new
fields or determine whether old deals are still valid. No codes are in
place for foreign investment. Data about the Majnoon oil are scarce, and
key export facilities are battered by years of war and neglect." -By
Peter S. Goodman -WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
- 
-
-
- "Halliburton
contract goes beyond extinguishing oil fires." ...
"An emergency contract the Bush administration gave to Halliburton Co.
to extinguish Iraqi oil fires also gave the firm a more lucrative role
in getting the country's oil system up and running, documents showed Tuesday."
... "A congressional critic of the Houston company, formerly run by Vice
President Dick Cheney, said the administration was hiding the expanded
role." -AP
via -USATODAY
-
- "OPEC
confronts leaderless Iraq." ... "For the 11 nations
of OPEC, the end of the war in Iraq is the beginning of the new petroleum
order. But when OPEC oil ministers gather Thursday in Vienna to try to
keep oil prices from collapsing, the most talked-about seat at the table
will probably be empty." ... ""Crude oil prices already have come down
from their pre-war high of nearly $38 a barrel. But after falling to $27
after the war began, the price has climbed and was just under $31 in New
York trading Monday. That's higher than the price has been for most of
the last two years." -By Warren Vieth-LAtimes
via -RegisterGuard
-
- "U.N.
Works to Find Compromise on Lifting Iraq Sanctions."
... "The Security Council was set to hold two separate consultations on
Iraq today. Benon Sevan, the director of the Oil For Food program which
has overseen the operation of much of the Iraqi economy for the past seven
years, was to brief the afternoon session." ... "Under the program, which
began in 1996, the Iraqi did the contracting, offering billions of dollars
worth of business to companies from countries it wanted to trade with.
In the seven years since the program began, one Security Council diplomat
said yesterday, Russian companies did twice as much business as any other
country's firms — $7.3 billion worth in both oil purchases and the sale
of other goods since 1996." -By Felicity Barringer
-NYTimes via -Google-News
-
- 
-
- "France
wants Iraq sanctions suspended: The French
ambassador to the United Nations has proposed the immediate suspension
of UN sanctions against Iraq, in an unexpected move." ... "The United States
has been pressing for the sanctions to be lifted since US-led forces ousted
Saddam Hussein's regime." ... "The UN embargo was imposed in August 1990,
shortly after Iraq invaded Kuwait, and dismantling it would pave the way
for Iraq to sell oil to help pay for post-war reconstruction."
-BBC/News
-
-
- 
- "Israel
seeks pipeline for Iraqi oil: US discusses
plan to pump fuel to its regional ally and solve energy headache at a stroke."
... "Plans to build a pipeline to siphon oil from newly conquered Iraq
to Israel are being discussed between Washington, Tel Aviv and potential
future government figures in Baghdad." ... "The plan envisages the reconstruction
of an old pipeline, inactive since the end of the British mandate in Palestine
in 1948, when the flow from Iraq's northern oilfields to Palestine was
re-directed to Syria." ... "Now, its resurrection would transform economic
power in the region, bringing revenue to the new US-dominated Iraq, cutting
out Syria and solving Israel's energy crisis at a stroke." -By
Ed Vuillamy -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "Why
Bush Will Go Back to the UN on Iraq: It may
sound like geopolitical Groundhog Day, but cutting a deal with France and
Russia may be the only way to free up Iraq's oil revenues. And the war
has brought a more obliging tone in Paris and Moscow." ... "The UN Security
Council is probably the last place many would expect the Bush administration
to go to discuss the next step in Iraq. But the White House wants international
sanctions against Iraq lifted immediately, in order to free up Iraqi oil
revenue for reconstruction. And the UN Security Council is not only the
sole body legally empowered to lift those sanctions; it is also legally
in control of Iraq's oil revenues right now. That's why the U.S. plans
next week to take its call for lifting sanctions to the same Security Council
that failed to authorize its invasion of Iraq." -By
Tony Karon -TIME.com
- 
-
-
- "Calif.,
high-tech firm target more wind for grid." ... "U.S.
utilities have been buying wind power since the 1980s, but it has proven
difficult to reserve space for wind on the transmission grid because no
one could accurately forecast when it would be available." ... "But the
California Independent System Operator, which must balance energy supplies
with demand on the state grid, and TrueWind Solutions, an Albany, New York-based
computer modeling firm, are betting they can make wind a more "predictable"
power source scheduled for transmission shortly before it's needed." -By
Leonard Anderson -Reuters
via -Forbes
-
-
-
- "U.S.
Seeks to Shut Down Pipeline to Syria." ... "Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that U.S. forces have shut down
a pipeline used for illegal oil shipments from Iraq to Syria, but he could
not assure that oil is not still flowing between those two countries."
... "During a question-and-answer session with reporters, Rumsfeld denied
that coalition forces had destroyed any pipelines. ``We have preserved
infrastructure in that country,'' he said."
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
- 
-
- "Kirkuk's
oil fields loom as possible flashpoint for Kurds, Turks."
... "Kurds, Turks and Americans sought Thursday to avert any violent scramble
for control of the prolific oil fields around Kirkuk after Iraqi defenses
appeared to collapse in the strategic northern city." ... "As advancing
Kurdish fighters poured into the city, neighboring Turkey dispatched military
observers to the area stoking fears the two sides could blunder into a
local war within the larger Iraqi conflict." -By Bruce
Stanley -AP
via -Boston/Globe
-
-
- "BP
maps out Iraq strategy: World's No. 3 oil company
is getting ready to work on the world's second largest reserves of crude."
... "British oil company BP PLC has put a team to work on a strategy for
its future in oil-rich Iraq, people familiar with the situation said Tuesday."
... "The news follows a meeting in London at the weekend where Iraqi exiles
and U.S. state department officials agreed that international oil firms
should take a leading postwar role in reviving Iraq's oil industry."-Reuters
via -CNN /fn
-
- "Power
Off in Baghdad for First Time in War." -ABCNEWS.com
via -Reuters
-
-
-
-
- "US
officials vow to extinguish fires, repair wells."
... "While flames billowed hundreds of feet in the air at Oil Well Number
4, US officers and a private contractor vowed yesterday to extinguish the
fire and others set by retreating Iraqis and to repair and update the wells."
... "Of nine oil well fires set in Rumaila, one of Iraq's largest crude
deposits, five still burned yesterday. But the military said two more would
be extinguished in the next day or so, with the others to follow quickly
now that coalition forces have secured the field and [Halliburton Co. subcontractor]
Boots & Coots International Well Control of Houston is on the scene
to snuff out the blazes." -By Marcella Bombardieri
-Boston/Globe
- 
-
- "U.S.
Force Plans Taking Kirkuk Oil Fields." ... "After
falling out of the sky and sleeping in the mud, American paratroopers grabbed
a strategic air base on Thursday and began plotting how to cross 80 miles
and thousands of Iraqi troops to seize invaluable oil fields in northern
Iraq." ... ""Kirkuk is key," said Maj. Mike Hastings of the Army's 173rd
Airborne Brigade. "The Iraqis want it, the Kurds want it, the Turks want
it and various other ethnic groups also want it." ... ""What this drop
means is that we can secure it until we are relieved by other forces,"
he said. Nearly 50 percent of Iraq's vast oil supplies are pumped in the
northern fields of Kirkuk and neighboring Mosul." -By
Jonathan Ewing and Brian Murphy -AP
via -SeattlePI.NWsource
Search
Iraq News - Search
Google:
-
- "UN
Council Agrees on New Iraq Oil, Food Plan." ... "Security
Council members reached broad agreement on Thursday to free billions of
dollars of Iraq's oil revenues in an effort to avert a humanitarian crisis
triggered by the week-old war." ... "Germany's U.N. ambassador, Gunter
Pleuger, head of the week-long negotiations, told reporters he would introduce
the resolution shortly, aiming to get a vote on Friday." ... "Some 60 percent
of Iraq's 26 million people are solely dependent on rations from the oil-for-food
program." -By Evelyn Leopold-Reuters
/World
-
- "Bush
wants UN vote to release Iraq food funds." ... "President
George W. Bush on Thursday urged the United Nations to approve a resolution
immediately restarting the UN oil-for-food programme - a move that threatens
to expose fresh divisions on the security council." ... "The survival of
more than half the Iraqi people depended on the UN-administered scheme
to use the country's oil revenues to buy food supplies, Mr Bush said."
-By James Blitz, James Harding, and Robert Graham
-FT.com
-
-
-
- "Massive
air raids rock Iraq: United States and British
forces have launched massive aerial assaults on targets in Baghdad and
beyond in a major escalation of the war." ... "Bombs rained down on the
Iraqi capital, as the US unleashed what it calls its "shock and awe" strategy."
... "Several hundred targets would be hit in the coming hours, the US Defence
Department said." ... "The BBC's Paul Wood in Baghdad says the targets
there included President Saddam Hussein's palaces." ... "Several explosions
have also been reported in another northern city, Kirkuk, where American
forces are trying to secure control of vast oilfields."-BBC/News
-
-
- "Saddam
defiant, troops move closer to Iraq border girding for war:
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein - defiant and dressed for battle." ... "Tuesday
rejected President Bush's demand that he flee into exile. The White House
called it Saddam's "final mistake."" ... "The 48-hour deadline imposed
by the United States arrives at 8 p.m. EST Wednesday. War could explode
at any moment after that - or sooner if Saddam is caught preparing to use
nerve gas or seems ready to destroy dams or oil fields." ... "A U.S.-led
invasion force of 300,000 troops awaits the order to attack." -By
Mark Johnson, Peter Smolowitz and Martin Merzer -Knight
Ridder via -Miami/Herald
-
-
-
-
- "Oil
[Prices] Soars as Turkey Mulls US Troops Vote." ...
"Turkish Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis indicated on Tuesday the government
was considering a new parliamentary motion to approve the deployment of
U.S. troops." ... "Oil prices have risen 20 percent since the start of
the year on fears that war in Iraq could upset supplies from the Middle
East which pumps a third of the world's oil." - By
Andrew Mitchell -Reuters
via -ABCNEWS.com
-
- "Energy
report claims vast cheating of state: Evidence
to feds cites $7.5 billion in overcharges." ... "A report to be delivered
to federal energy regulators Monday will provide new and extensive evidence
backing up claims that a wide range of power companies manipulated California's
energy markets and reaped at least $7. 5 billion in unfair profits, sources
told The Chronicle." ... "Compiled by a team of California lawyers who
have had unprecedented access to internal company records for the last
three months, the report will show that power traders used Enron-style
manipulation strategies to gouge the state during the energy crisis." -By
Mark Martin and Christian Berthelsen -SFGate.com
-
-
- "Advisers
tell Bush climate plan is useless: Strategy
'lacks vision, goals, timetable and criteria'." ... "George Bush's strategy
on global warming suffered a setback yesterday when a panel of scientists
convened at the request of the White House condemned it as lacking vision,
and wasting time and money on research questions that were resolved years
ago." ... "Mr Bush's plan, introduced after the US backed out of the Kyoto
protocol, replaces that treaty's call for mandatory limits on greenhouse
gas emissions with a decade-long programme of research to determine the
scale of the problem." -By Oliver Burkeman
-Guardian.co.uk
-
-
- "Price
gouging: Oil strike, threat of war with Iraq
push gas prices to more than $2 in California." ... "Political instability
in Venezuela and the prospect of war in Iraq are triggering price hikes
that normally don't kick in until the peak driving season. And experts
warn prices could shoot up even more as the political situations and the
weather heat up." ... "The average retail price for a gallon of regular
unleaded, $1.66, has risen 22 cents since the beginning of the year."
-AP via -WCFCourier.com
