New alt energy trade show planned for Houston

Eastman buys Houston’s Sterling Chemicals for $100M

Posted on June 22, 2011 at 2:27 pm by Simone Sebastian in Chemicals

The Tennessee-based chemical and plastics maker will acquire Sterling’s Texas City assets, including an idled plasticizer unit and an active acetic acid production unit. More »

Offshore regulator: New drilling rules on the way

Posted on June 22, 2011 at 1:01 pm by Jennifer A. Dlouhy in Gulf oil spill, Offshore

The government is readying new rules to boost the safety of offshore drilling and tighten standards for blowout preventers used to guard subsea wells. More »

Norway says Transocean evaded $1.8B in taxes

Posted on June 22, 2011 at 12:08 pm by Associated Press in General, Legal issues

The charges announced today against Transocean and Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling Inc. are related to the sale of 12 oil rigs 10 years ago by their Norwegian subsidiary Transocean ASA. More »

Reactions to Transocean report: More ‘circular finger-pointing’ update

Posted on June 22, 2011 at 11:03 am by Tom Fowler in Gulf oil spill, Offshore, Politics/Policy, Social

Immediately following the release this morning of Transocean’s internal investigation report on the Deepwater Horizon disaster last year, several of the companies involved in the accident, analysts and politicians were ready with responses. More »

Condoleeza Rice to join board of Houston biofuels firm

Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:44 am by Brett Clanton in Crude oil, Environment, General, Refining

The former U.S. Secretary of State joins KiOR, a firm that has developed a process for turning wood chips into a crude oil substitute that can be refined into gasoline and diesel blends and that operates a demonstration plant in Pasadena. More »

Will new fracking disclosures be enough to settle controversy?

Posted on June 22, 2011 at 10:18 am by Loren Steffy in Environment, Natural gas, Social

Oil companies wonder why are have become such convenient villains, Loren Steffy writes, especially for environmental groups, but the fracking issue provides an answer: They are so willing to play the role. More »

Dutch airline to turn used cooking oil into aviation biofuel

Posted on June 22, 2011 at 7:26 am by Associated Press in Europe

Starting in September, 200 KLM flights between Paris and Amsterdam will use biofuel made from used cooking oil in an attempt to reduce the airline’s carbon emissions. The European Union told airlines earlier this year they would have to cut emissions by three percent in 2012 to fall within new pollution limits. More »

Transocean report: BP didn’t assess risks properly before blowout update

Posted on June 22, 2011 at 7:11 am by Tom Fowler in Accidents, Gulf oil spill

BP failed to adequately assess the risks of well design and operations decisions before the Deepwater Horizon blowout and ensuing oil spill, according to a report by rig owner Transocean. More »

Arkansas regulators seek ban on injection wells in Fayetteville Shale

Posted on June 22, 2011 at 7:04 am by Associated Press in Hydraulic fracturing, Natural gas, Shale

If a ban is approved, companies will have to truck frac fluids to injection wells elsewhere in Arkansas or in Oklahoma or Texas. The proposal comes after a swarm of earthquakes have shaken the region. More »

FuelFix Newslinks |06.22.11|

Posted on June 22, 2011 at 6:41 am by Tom Fowler in General

BP says OPEC needs to step it up. Hayward could take the stand. Rees-Jones is rolling in it. More »

Merrill/BP alum launches new production research firm

Posted on June 22, 2011 at 5:26 am by Tom Fowler in Natural gas, People

Randall Collum is partnering with Waterborne Energy to start a new natural gas production analysis firm. More »