Here is the latest Energy and Environment News from CNBC.
Oregon Energy Project Receives New Life Days After Feds Rejection
More developments broke late last week over the embattled $6 billion Jordan Cove LNG Project slated to be built in Coos County on the southern Oregon coast by Veresen Inc., a Calgary-based energy infrastructure company that focuses on pipelines, midstream and power.
Spain’s Renewable Giant Abengoa Wins Grace Period, Still Faces Pressure
After months of financial pressure, Spain’s renewable firm Abengoa announced that it had received a seven month grace period from creditors as it explores options for reorganization without seeking bankruptcy protection – outside of the U.S, at least.
America Needs An Energy President
Anyone who has been waiting for leadership on energy policy during this year’s tumultuous Presidential campaign may be waiting in vain. There’s little talk of energy and, even when the candidates offer a few proposals on their campaign websites or mention them during a debate, there is a dismaying lack of detail.
Tesla Model 3 competitors
Environmental Policy, Nuclear Power, Carbon Tax And A Portfolio Approach To Reduce CO2 Emissions
By Elsie Hung and Kenneth B. Medlock III
Why are thousands lining up outside Tesla stores today? Trump knows.
Today is sign up day for the Tesla Model 3 and Tesla disciples are all aflutter. Tesla is a five-letter dirty word in some parts of the auto industry. They’re often dismissed as a short-term disrupter and there are plenty of people waiting for them to fail. But Tesla believers – and Donald Trump’s campaign – adhere to Simon Sinek’s “Golden Circle” theory that people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Today’s lines at Tesla stores (measuring in the thousands according to the Tesla Club Forum) and Donald Trump’s often inexplicable success thus far provide further proof of Sinek’s theory.
Eni Finds A Place In Morocco With Chariot Farm-Out Agreement
In the latest reshuffling of exploration and production efforts, Italy’s Eni moved to expand its North African presence with a farm-out agreement with Chariot Oil & Gas Limited.
Will Oil Price Crash Create A New Price Spike?
Expectations that reductions in upstream investment will lead to production shrinkage and a sharp oil price recovery appear to be exaggerated.
Highest-Earning Hedge Fund Managers 2016
SunEdison Exec Resigns As CEO Of YieldCos Amid Pressure From Billionaire David Tepper
On Wednesday evening, TerraForm Power announced that recently installed CEO Brian Wuebbels would resign, paving the way for a committee of SunEdison board members to run both outfits.
Sierra Club’s Legal Theory In Frackquake Case Draws ‘Star Trek’ Comparison
The Sierra Club and Public Justice are taking a novel approach in citing the Resource Conservation and Recovering Act in a lawsuit against the oil and gas industry in Oklahoma, according to several industry and environmental attorneys.
Global Price Decline Unlikely to Impact Trans-Adriatic Pipeline
A planned pipeline that would link the gas fields of Azerbaijan to eager European consumers is unlikely to be impacted by the broader, sustained decline in global energy prices, according to a project manager from Greece.
Toyama Goes Back To The Future To Create An Eco-Techno-friendly City
Faced with a steadily shrinking population a decade ago, Toyama dusted off and spruced up some old technologies like streetcars, waterwheels and hot water, and is using them in clever ways to encourage people to stay. The strategy is working.
Nature Inspired Nanotexturing Gives Graphene Boost In Light Absorption
The humble moth has provided inspiration to a team of top researchers at the Advanced Technology Institute at the University of Surrey, who have engineered graphene, a material that is usually terrible at absorbing light, to create a nanotextured graphene that can absorb 95% of incident light – all by mimicking the nanostructure found on on the eye of a moth.
13 Best Deals On New Or Redesigned 2016 Cars And Crossovers
The Disruption In Oil Markets Is Just Beginning
U.S. drillers are raising the amount of oil they can economically extract from shale formations. Meanwhile, advances in electric vehicles promise to reduce consumption. These developments pose a grave threat to the international oil companies tied to capital intensive deepwater and oil sands plays.
Tesla Model 3 Could Be Timed Perfectly For Mass Market Electric Driving
When Elon Musk introduces the Model 3 Thursday night, it should mark a turning point for the company, vaulting the young automotive brand into a new market: middle-income buyers who have largely had their noses pressed up against the glass gazing at the higher-priced luxury cars Tesla has made to date. Here’s why it could succeed.
Why You Shouldn’t Trade On Donald Trump Or Make Stock Bets On Bernie Sanders
Long-term investors shouldn’t react to polarizing rhetoric spouted at this stage of the presidential election. But there may be opportunities in markets when party conventions ease uncertainty.
Stock Performance Under Every President Since 1901
The World’s Biggest Public Energy Companies 2016
New Method For Discovering Chemical Reactions Could Speed Product Development
A study shows pulling back the curtain on the way some molecules react could help scientists find valuable new compounds.
The World’s Biggest Public Energy Companies 2016
The 25 Biggest Oil And Gas Companies In The World
The past two years have been a wild ride for investors in the world’s biggest publicly traded oil companies. Compared with their high-water marks in mid-2014, Big Oil shares are down about 25% and earnings have collapsed. The big irony: even as oil prices have halved, Big Oil is still getting bigger, with global oil production higher than ever. Here are the largest of the large.
Energy Showing Signs Of A Thaw With The Arrival of Spring
While it’s March Madness in the sports world, its March happiness if you are an investor in the energy sector as the sector has returned 9% in the month of March through the end of last week. In fact, the energy sector is the best performing sector within the S&P 500 so far this month.
David Bowie’s Music-As-Utility Vision Could Actually Come True And Save The Music Industry
Can music be a utility, like water or electricity? 14 years ago, one of the most renowned musician-entrepreneurs thought so.
Russian Military Moves Risk Japanese Peace Talks And Energy Ties
Russia’s assertive military moves risk derailing upcoming talks with Japan on a long-standing territorial dispute and formal peace treaty. This comes at a time when Russian companies are actively seeking Japanese investment in its energy sector. While Japan takes the long view that Russia is a reliable energy supplier and is vital to its national energy security, Japanese investors will likely take a cautious and patient approach considering global geopolitical and market uncertainties.
2016 30 Under 30 Asia: Manufacturing & Energy
Free To A Good Home: 75,000 Tons Of Nuclear Waste
As the Department of Energy embarked Tuesday on its third quest to find a permanent disposal site for nuclear waste—this time with community consent—a Chicago audience gave officials a fresh reminder of the difficulties ahead.
The Radical Implications of Declining U.S. Electricity Consumption
Electricity sales in the United States have fallen five out of the past eight years, according to new data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Cyprus Moves to Open Third Offshore Licensing Round
Late last week, Cyprus opened the door for a third licensing round for offshore oil and gas drilling, offering some confidence in the future of the country’s energy efforts.
Lessons From The Aluminum Industry: The Hidden Cost Of China’s Cheap Solar
The glut of cheap solar panels manufactured in China has largely been considered to be a boon for the solar industry in North America. Who wouldn’t want hugely subsidized solar panels? But, if the chaos derailing the global aluminum industry is any indication, the long-term consequences of China’s solar manufacturing overcapacity are likely to be far less palatable than the short term consequences.
SunEdison’s Shoddy Disclosures Become Target Of SEC Probe As Bankruptcy Looms
The Securities and Exchange Commission is questioning the forthrightness of SunEdison’s disclosures after the company delayed filing a 10-k in late February.
Highest-Earning Hedge Fund Managers 2016
Statoil’s U.S. Chief Brings Cool Scandinavian Thinking To Crazy Texas Oil Biz
“There was a lot not working anymore. This is a great opportunity to get it right.”
The 93 Global Billionaires In Oil And Energy, 2016
Energy Stocks Energize The Markets, But Can It Last?
There is evidence that much of the rebound in the energy space has been fueled by a short covering rally and this rally has relieved some pressure on the overall market. Case in point: Chesapeake Energy. has surged over 140% since February 19. The problem is that Chesapeake Energy is doing so poorly that its earnings are expected to plunge this quarter.
Oil Bust 2016: Journey To $26
The Future Of Manufacturing In Europe: 7 Transformative Forces That Will Boost Industrial Growth
With Europe witnessing a number of significant initiatives to facilitate a more sustained and competitive economy, such as Europe’s 2020 agenda for digitization, Horizon 2020 plan for R&D funding and the COP 21 for climate change, how do all these long-term strategies trickle down to the manufacturing sector, which currently accounts for 15.0% of Europe GDP ? And what technological innovations will arise on the shop floor to bolster production output and efficiency? Here, I will explore some of the key transformative forces identified in Frost & Sullivan’s upcoming research, “Future of Manufacturing in Europe,” that are poised to disrupt Europe’s manufacturing sphere.
10 Cars Most Likely To Become Collectible
Dyson Reportedly Developing An Electric Car Of Its Own
The high-tech vacuum-cleaner maker could be taking its electric motor skills from the carpet to the open road.
The Tech Revolution Comes of Age
This article was originally published at Stratfor.com.
EIA Renewables Forecast Was Wrong! News At Eleven
Complaints that the Energy Information Administration is lowballing renewable energy forecast to serve an agenda are off-base.
Terrorism In Brussels Shadowed By Dirty Bomb Plans
The Brussels terrorists were planning to target a Belgium nuclear facility and a top nuclear scientist. And they had plans to make a dirty bomb. But there are important reasons this type of attack has yet to be carried out. Nuclear plants are militarily hardened facilities, and a dirty bomb is not a weapon of mass destruction at all. Few people, if any, would die from the radioactivity of a dirty bomb, even a big one, but hundreds would die from the conventional blast just as with any large car or truck bomb. But the public’s irrational fear of any radiation makes a dirty bomb an effective weapon of terror.
The Market Implications of a Hillary Clinton Presidency
Past articles have looked at the whole gamut of this presidential election and its potential impact on markets. From the over-arching significance of potential policy implications to the specific ramifications of a Trump presidency we have looked at all sorts of issues that matter to investors and voters and objectively evaluated what it may all mean.
Cree: Moving From ‘Obedient’ To Intelligent Commercial Lighting Solutions
Cree’s next iteration of intelligent lighting uses Power over Internet technology.
The Case For Free-Market Energy: Removing Energy Subsidies And Price Controls Improves Market
Economists generally agree that government subsidies and price caps distort free markets. Energy subsidies combined with price control can reduce supply when producers do not have a profit incentive to increase supply.
Alaska Has Hard Decisions To Make Amid Oil And Gas Price Plunge
Alaska has some hard decisions to make. Amid the plunge in global oil prices of more than 60% since mid-July 2014 and with oil production in the state already dropping due to maturing fields and with production losses not being replaced, state coffers have been hit hard. The revenue losses have created a political fire-storm between Gov. Bill Walker and legislators over hard budget cut choices since nearly 90% of the state’s revenue is usually derived from oil activities. Adding to the fray was Shell’s announcement late last year that it was abandoning its Alaska Arctic oil exploration and production ambitions.
Israeli High Court Strikes Down Noble Gas Deal
Marking a significant setback for gas exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean, Israel’s high court struck down a deal between the government and a U.S. consortium led by Noble Energy.
The World’s 25 Biggest Oil Companies
Mounting Political Risks Threaten Russia’s New European Gas Pipeline
Russia’s planned Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline faces mounting political risks that threaten the project’s deliverability and is dividing Europe geopolitically. However, a trilateral agreement between EU-Russia-Ukraine guaranteeing continued gas transit through Ukraine beyond 2019 would mitigate Nord Stream-2’s most consequential geopolitical effects and allow the pipeline to move forward on a commercial basis.
Bootleggers, Baptists And Regulating Carbon Emissions
Did you hear the one about the bootleggers and Baptists? What would these two groups have to do with energy policies, such as carbon emission regulation?
Oil Bust 2016: Journey To $26
Taking The Temperature Of The MLP Market
To say that the past year has been a tumultuous one for master limited partnerships (MLP) would be an understatement.
Could The Traditional Car Industry Be Undone By Dyson, A Vacuum Cleaner Maker?
The nightmare for big car manufacturers has been waking up to find Google, Apple, Tesla, or maybe even the Chinese have come up with the electric car for the masses which will spell doom for their business. Did any of them think it could be a vacuum cleaner maker?
Hillary, Bernie, Hydraulic fracturing And The Future Of US Oil And Gas Production
By Anna Mikulska, Michael Maher and Kenneth B. Medlock III
Oil price ‘may have bottomed out’ but China’s flat demand spells trouble
As the Brent front-month future contract stabilizes either side of the $40 per barrel level, and WTI lurks within that range to, a comment by the International Energy Agency that the ‘oil price may have bottomed has triggered a lot of market interest.
Frackquake Lawsuits Present PR Dilemma For Industry, Evidence Hurdle For Plaintiffs
The negative publicity surrounding lawsuits alleging the oil and gas industry are responsible for earthquakes in Oklahoma is likely to cause more damage than the outcome of any of the suits – despite the plaintiffs’ challenge of finding evidence tying fracking to the surge in activity.
In Face Of Low Oil, Qatar Makes Moves To Bolster Private Sector
A new law governing private-public partnerships is among several preemptive actions or announced reforms that the Qatari government has taken to reduce state spending, encourage private sector growth and boost economic diversification amidst low oil prices.
Kellogg Stabilizes the Food Supply Base: A VUCA Response
We live in a VUCA world: Volatile – Uncertain – Complex – Ambiguous. This term has been kicking around business strategy circles for at least a decade now with references as traditional as Harvard Business Review and as new media as YouTube. For supply chain leaders, the topic is especially challenging given our traditional love of predictability.
Is Nuclear Power A Renewable Or A Sustainable Energy Source?
Nuclear fuel made with uranium extracted from seawater will make nuclear power both renewable and sustainable. Because uranium extracted from seawater is replenished continuously, nuclear would become as endless as solar. Seawater concentrations of U are controlled by steady-state chemical reactions between waters and rocks on the Earth, both in the ocean and land. It is impossible for humans to extract enough U to lower the overall seawater concentrations of U faster than it is replenished. And new technologies of extracting U from seawater are fast becoming economic.
Rockefellers Divest From Exxon: Planet Is Saved!
Although the divestment from Exxon by the Rockefeller Family Fund got headlines, it is probably harmful to efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
How Taiwan Could Lose Its Claim To The South China Sea
Taiwan has only one major holding among the disputed South China Sea’s 500 islets. But it stands to lose the legal basis for it and rights to a vast tract of surrounding water as bigger players circle like sharks. Anxiety over what becomes of that islet flew an unusually angry Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou on his first visit there in January and packed a plane with handpicked journalists on Wednesday. Here’s why the president is upset even with less than two months left in office.
CEOs Of America’s Best Employers 2016
Mega Utility Deal Between Exelon and Pepco Gets Toughest Approval Yet
The bigger they are, the harder they are to get together. That’s what Exelon Corp. and Pepco Holdings discovered as they have tried to merge over the last two years. But on Wednesday, the two overcame the final regulatory hurdle. It’s a $6.8 billion dollar deal that gives Chicago-based Exelon a foothold in eastern markets it would not otherwise have: Washington, D.C., Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. But it gives the powerhouse something else — a diversified energy portfolio, which will include income from regulated operations that will offset the losses it has suffered on its unregulated merchant nuclear plants. The deal had gotten the Okay from all prior regulators that include the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and other state utility commissions. But the District of Columbia had been especially concerned about the impact the deal would have on low income residents and giving up local control to an out-of-state utility. At the same time, environmentalists said the deal was not green enough. To get it through, the utilities made concessions, essentially saying that they would freeze rates for about three years. The utilities have thus offered to put up about $25 million into a fund to give its customers rate relief and another $20 million into a fund that would allow the public service commission to make grid updates, or use as it pleases.
One Floating LNG Dream Sinks As Another Gets Ready To Float
No-one blinked and share prices barely fluttered when a $40 billion plan by Australia’s Woodside Petroleum to develop a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) project was torpedoed earlier today.
America’s Best Tech Employers 2016
How ‘America’s Best Employer’ Marathon Petroleum Is Taming BP’s Deadly Refinery
America’s best employer isn’t a left-coast tech firm with a climbing wall and beanbag chairs but an old-line energy giant facing real problems like a disgruntled union and fatal plant accidents.
South Korea’s Economy Has Bigger Worries Than Threats From Up North
Landing at Incheon Airport – South Korea’s international gateway to its vibrant capital city of Seoul and the industrial hub of Incheon – you would not get the impression of an economy spooked by a barrage of nuclear threats from its bellicose neighbor North Korea.
U.S. Nuclear Energy Industry Has A Clean Bill Of Health And Says Its Plants Deserve A Life Extension
Just five years ago, the world watched astonishingly as a massive tsunami knocked out the Fukushima Daichi nuclear power units in Japan. For many, the events of March 11, 2011 became the nail in nuclear energy’s coffin. For others, though, it would strengthen their resolve to perfect the carbon-free, reliable fuel source.
Japanese Ambassador Admonishes Canada Over Gas Project Postponement
You know things have turned sour when one of your potential customers admonishes you. Yet, that’s what happened after Canada’s federal government announced that it would, once again, delay a decision on the controversial Petronas-led $36 billion Pacific NorthWest LNG project slated to be built in British Columbia (BC).
Chevrolet Starts Building Bolt EVs As Wall Street Salivates For Tesla Model 3
With just over a week to go until Tesla gives the world a first look at its design for an affordable EV, the Model 3, the hype machine is spinning up again. Meanwhile, General Motors is actually building an affordable EV, the Bolt, with several hundred pre-production versions set to come off the line for testing before mass production begins in a few months.
World’s Biggest Oil Companies – 2015
Technology and Substance in Sustainability
By Casey Talon
Threat To Value Of Fossil Fuel Resources Misplaced
Claims that the value of fossil fuel resources are overstated because of threats to long-term demand are incorrect.
Batwind: Statoil Backs Utility-Scale Battery System For World’s First Floating Wind Farm
Statoil, the multinational oil and gas company based in Norway, said today that it would develop a utility-scale battery system for storing electricity at offshore wind farms.
The 93 Global Billionaires In Oil And Energy, 2016
10 ‘Reality Check’ Problems That Must Be Addressed By Opponents Of Coal, Oil And Natural Gas
The movement against more coal, oil, and gas use faces a number of problems and unintended consequences that don’t go so easily ignored in the real world as hoped.
Poll: Majority Of Americans Oppose Nuclear Energy For The First Time [Infographic]
A Gallup poll has revealed that a clear majority of Americans oppose nuclear energy for the first time. When asked if they favor or oppose nuclear energy as one way to provide electricity, 54 percent of respondents said that they oppose it, a considerable increase on last year’s 43 percent. Support for nuclear energy in the U.S. peaked in 2010 when 62 percent of people were in favor of it. Back in 2001, opposition did edge above support, though a larger number of those polled did not know or held no opinion about the issue.
50 Billionaires To Follow On Twitter
Oil Company Taps IBM’s Watson To Fend Off Anti-Fracking Attacks On Twitter
The supercomputer is watching your tweets, and learning.
With Super-Computing, The Process of Disruptive Innovation In Energy Is Likely To Accelerate
We have seen a good deal of disruptive innovation in the energy space in recent years. With the application of more high performance computing in materials science, get ready for an acceleration of this dynamic.
The Little Reactor That Could – Germany’s Grohnde Nuclear Plant
The German Grohnde nuclear power plant in Lower Saxony has produced 350 billion kWhs of electricity, more power than any other nuclear power plant in history, and more power than any single plant. Commissioned in 1984, the single reactor has put out about 10 billion kWhs every year. Plans to retire it ahead of schedule will require building several thousand large wind turbines at a cost of at least $12 billion. This does not include back-up capacity that is likely to come from brown coal since renewable subsidies are closing even new efficient natural gas CCGT plants across northern Europe.
Cheap Gas Hurts Mining Companies As Well As Oil Producers
Low gasoline prices are not just a worry for oil-producing companies and countries, they’re starting to have an unexpected impact on some metals such as copper and the material billed as the new gas, lithium.
Oil Price Sturm Und Drang Misses Local Price Points
In all the Sturm und Drang over the collapse in commodity prices, we have all rallied around two numbers that we can hang our hats on—the price of Brent and the price of WTI.
Singapore’s LNG Trading Hub Ambitions Press Forward
Last week at the LNG Supplies for Asian Markets 2016 conference in Singapore, S. Iswaran, Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry, said that the city-state aims to allow domestic gas customers to import up to 10% of their annual LNG intake from the international spot market for domestic use – a brilliant move that will help establish Singapore’s regional gas trading hub ambitions.
Turkey Is Winner In EU Migrant Deal But Full Membership Not A Real Option
The European Union and Turkey struck a landmark deal last week in a bid to stem the tide of migrants fleeing warzones in Syria and elsewhere in the region. But Turkey cannot become part of a core European Union as both Turkey and the EU would have to sacrifice too much of their identities.
Are Low Diesel Prices Hurting Biofuels Companies?
Plunging diesel prices are challenging companies developing fuel-efficiency and emissions technologies for the trucking fleet. Will upcoming EPA emissions rules be their savior?
Capital Is Making It Easy To Be Green
It’s not easy being green, Kermit the Frog lamented in 1970 when he first recorded the hit single “Bein’ Green.” But it’s becoming easier as the flow of capital shifts from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, a law and policy expert said in Chicago Friday.
What’s Killing The U.S. Coal Industry? Don’t Blame Renewable Energy
Environmentalists have been quick to highlight the role of renewables in the coal industry’s woes, often emphasizing that most new electrical generating capacity lately has been renewables. Here’s why that’s not really much of a factor.
Abengoa Debt Deal Could Save Company From Freefall and Spanish Insolvency Unknowns
By Joshua Friedman
Highest-Earning Hedge Fund Managers 2016
Bernie Sanders And Elizabeth Warren Back Useless Bill To Regulate Hedge Fund Activism
On Thursday, Senators Tammy of Wisconsin and Jeff Merkley of Oregon unveiled The Brokaw Act, a Congressional effort to introduce legislation to regulate activist funds.
Did Russia Just Broker A Deal To Exempt Iran From Oil Freeze?
Unable to persuade Tehran to join in capping production, Russia has thrown its weight behind Iran?s asserted right to restore shut-in production and recover lost market share. Having initiate the ?freeze? talks, Moscow has now likely informed major OPEC producers that reaching a final deal would require either excluding Iran all together or making special concessions to bring Iran on board.
‘What Carbon Bubble?’ Says Oil Company Economist
The carbon bubble that’s driving investors away from stranded coal, oil and gas assets may be a scare tactic, the chief economist for ConocoPhillips said in Chicago yesterday?and if it succeeds, we may all find our assets stranded.
The 93 Global Billionaires In Oil And Energy, 2016
SunEdison Offers Another Excuse For Its Missing Financials
SunEdison now blames delayed 10-k filing on IT and accounting control issue.
Global Oil’s Woes Come Home To Roost At PEMEX
In its current situation amidst the global commodities downturn, PEMEX will be a challenging partner in the joint ventures with private companies that are necessary to take part in Mexico?s still promising energy sector.
Business Could Do Far Worse Than With Justice Garland
Business could do far worse than this moderate nominee to the Supreme Court.
The Solar Net Metering Controversy: Who Pays For Energy Subsidies?
A huge controversy has arisen in California and other states over the way solar electrical generation is subsidized by net metering, or the way in which people who produce solar energy – usually through rooftop panels – are reimbursed for the energy they generate and send back to the electric grid. Proposed or already approved reductions have been greeted by public protests, lawsuits and even a proposed amendment to the national Energy Policy Modernization Act, which would limit the ability of states to reduce subsidies.
Can Fukushima Ever Recover?
Dr. Onishi of PNNL sees the recovery as a chair held up by three legs – clean-up of radioactive materials in the area, caring for the emotional and mental health of the people so they can move back to their residences, and rebuilding lost infrastructure that was destroyed by the tsunami, emplacing a high-tech infrastructure for a new economic future. All are on-track to succeed.
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