Chevron Phillips considers adding ethane cracker on Gulf Coast

FuelFix Newslinks |03.29.11|

Posted on March 29, 2011 at 6:44 am by Tom Fowler in General

Libyan Oil Co. under new management. More calls to end gas tax break. China will drive energy M&A. More »

BP execs may face manslaughter charges in Macondo blowout

Posted on March 29, 2011 at 6:31 am by Bloomberg in Gulf oil spill, Legal issues, Social

Federal prosecutors’ manslaughter investigation is focusing on decisions by BP managers leading up to the deadly explosion that may have sacrificed safety in favor of speed and cost savings, according to one source familiar with the matter. More »

S. Carolina lawmakers take dim view of new light bulbs

Posted on March 29, 2011 at 6:13 am by Associated Press in Electricity

This week state legislators will begin debating a bill that would allow companies to make incandescent bulbs in South Carolina, despite a federal law that is phasing out incandescent bulbs in favor of compact fluorescents. More »

Libyan rebels aim to revive oil exports

Posted on March 29, 2011 at 12:40 am by New York Times in General

Exports of high-quality crude could resume in a week, but amounts would be small and the rebels’ hold on oil facilities is uncertain. (Via NYT) More »

Halliburton says Libya sanctions will hit earnings

Posted on March 28, 2011 at 10:02 pm by chron.com Energy in General

The oil field services company said that turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, and especially sanctions imposed on Libya, will cut first-quarter earnings by 3 cents to 4 cents per share. More »

Democrat presses regulators to examine blowout preventers

Posted on March 28, 2011 at 6:09 pm by Jennifer A. Dlouhy in Politics/Policy

A top House Democrat wants the Obama administration to explain how it will address a possible design flaw in emergency drilling equipment that was revealed by an autopsy of the blowout preventer exhumed from BP’s failed Macondo well in the Gulf. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., suggested Monday that the government should stop issuing permits for offshore drilling until the supposedly ‘fail-safe’ devices are made more robust. More »

A radical kind of reactor

Posted on March 28, 2011 at 4:14 pm by New York Times in Nuclear

China is building two nuclear reactors with a radically different design that is meant to decrease the chances of a meltdown. (Via NYT) More »

Judge rules that lawyers suing BP can see engineer’s emails

Posted on March 28, 2011 at 3:52 pm by Associated Press in Gulf oil spill, Social

The marital privilege doctrine does not protect emails Brian Morel exchanged with his wife, a federal magistrate judge found. Morel is the engineer who described BP’s blown-out Macondo well as a “nightmare well” six days before the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion. More »

Is Texas electric competition working for consumers? Let’s look at an old bill

Posted on March 28, 2011 at 3:13 pm by Tom Fowler in Electricity, Social

A colleague’s electric bill from 1995 seems to be quite a bit cheaper per kwh than her current bill. We look into whether current rates could beat her old bill. More »

Oil slides as rebels take Libyan ports

Posted on March 28, 2011 at 3:00 pm by Associated Press in Crude oil

Oil had been moving higher well before the Libyan crisis, as world demand rebounded at the end of last year and started to match peak levels from 2007. A ceasefire in Libya should cool off oil’s surge, but traders said they don’t expect any sustained drop until the entire region settles down. More »

Feds clarify rules of road for offshore drilling updated

Posted on March 28, 2011 at 2:14 pm by Jennifer A. Dlouhy in Offshore, Social

The government today issued a document meant to give operators clear direction for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, in response to oil and gas industry complaints that new mandates imposed since last year’s oil spill are muddled and sometimes conflict. More »