The Department of Energy’s decision to change how it’s involved in the FutureGen “clean coal” power plant project has really ticked off industry and Illinois politicians. Gov. Rod Blagojevich called the move “politics at its worse.” “On November 30th, 2007, the Department of Energy sent a letter reaffirming that the project was moving forward as [...]  More »

It will be more of the same for oil and natural gas prices in 2008, say the big brains of Deloitte & Touche, but uncertainty over how regulators will treat climate change could push the electric power business in new directions. Power lines leaving the South Texas Project nuclear power plant near Bay City. Photo [...]  More »

Energy related stories from today’s Houston Chronicle or on chron.com: • BP blast survivors line up to speak: Several victims of the deadly 2005 blast at BP’s Texas City refinery aim to share their views with a federal judge who is considering approval of the company’s proposed plea deal to resolve a criminal probe into [...]  More »

An oft-repeated mantra from industry is that the U.S. has not built a new oil refinery since the 1970s. Technically that’s true, but it ignores the fact that we had an too much refinery capacity through the 1980s (when many were shut down) and that capacity creeps up as much as two or three percent [...]  More »

A few of the energy business related items in the Houston Chronicle or on Chron.com. • Behind closed doors: Judges set rare hearing for Iraq contractor cases: In an unusual closed session, a federal appeals court will hear arguments Wednesday in three cases alleging KBR knowingly sent civilian contractors along a dangerous route in Iraq, [...]  More »

Maybe Texas should consider itself lucky it didn’t win the competiton for the FutureGen project last month. From the Associated Press: The U.S. Department of Energy, frustrated by ballooning costs for an ambitious plan to build a virtually emissions-free power plant, told federal lawmakers Tuesday it plans to pull its support for the $1.8 billion [...]  More »

The Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy issued a new report today on oil and gas potential on Alaska’s North Slope asking: A Promising Future or an Area in Decline? One only needs to realize how long the report is — 479 pages — to realize the DOE’s answer is A: Promising Future. A [...]  More »

Some of the energy items in today Houston Chronicle or on chron.com. • This time, the energy issue is an ‘also ran’: Oil prices may have touched $100 a barrel. And motorists can expect to pay $3.50 a gallon at the gas pump this spring. But energy issues were not uppermost in President Bush’s mind [...]  More »

ConocoPhillips has responded to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s rejection of their plans for a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope and is calling for a meeting with legislators to move the plan forward. Earlier this month Palin told the Houston company its proposal is too much like the deal former Gov. Murkowski reached with [...]  More »

A few of the recent energy related stories in the Houston Chronicle or on chron.com. • Atomic waste in limbo: AP — Thousands of canisters of highly radioactive waste from the world’s most nuclear-energized nation lie silent and deadly beneath this jutting tip of Normandy. • Weatherford profit rose 22 percent: Bloomberg News – Weatherford [...]  More »

Texas’ oil and gas production economy grew by 8.1 percent in 2007, according to Karr Ingham, an economist and author of the Texas Petro Index. OK, so this is really a replica of Spindletop spraying water. Total production value for oil and gas in Texas in 2007 was nearly $65 billion, according to the TPI, [...]  More »

A few of the energy related items in the Houston Chronicle or on Chron.com: • Houston’s Allis-Chalmers Energy to acquire Bronco Drilling: Allis-Chalmers Energy, a provider of services and equipment to oil and gas exploration companies, has agreed to acquire Bronco Drilling in a cash and stock deal worth $438 million, the companies said today. [...]  More »