[Top News] from [REUTERS]
[Green Business]
Oil companies racing back to Gulf following Ida
Wed Nov 11, 2009 3:27pm EST
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Oil companies were quickly restoring Gulf of Mexico production shut by Tropical Storm Ida, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said on Wednesday.
Shut oil production fell on Wednesday to 401,120 barrels, or 30.86 percent of the 1.3 million barrels that come out of the Gulf daily, the MMS said. Producers have restarted 12.23 percent of oil output since Tuesday.
All but 7.6 percent of the 7.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas taken daily from the Gulf was back on-line Wednesday, the MMS said. A total of 532 million cubic feet per day remained shut. On Tuesday, 27.96 percent was offline.
Companies had begun shutting production on Sunday ahead of Ida, which was then a hurricane, and the first storm in this year to threaten production platforms and drilling rigs in the Gulf, home to 25 percent of U.S. domestically produced oil and 15 percent of natural gas.
Ida weakened and made landfall on Tuesday but workers flying back to offshore platforms were having to contend with rough seas, that at the storm's height, disrupted shipping across the northern Gulf of Mexico.
"Seas are down from what they were at the storm's passage," said Jim Shugart, executive vice president at ERA Helicopters. "But they're still pretty rough out there because winds were high. Today's better. We should be through by end of the day."
The giant Independence Hub, which can process 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas daily had resumed partial production by Wednesday morning, said owner Enterprise Products Partners.
The giant Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), which can offload 1 million barrels per in foreign crude, said it was ready to receive the giant crude carriers, but rough seas made it impossible for the ships to dock.
Crude oil prices added more than a dollar earlier in the week because of storm disruptions from Ida, but were soaring on Wednesday due to sliding dollar and China's demand for oil.
The Gulf's largest producers BP, Exxon, Shell and Chevron have said they saw little damage to offshore platforms during initial inspections on Tuesday.
Exxon said on Tuesday its Mobile Bay operations sustained minimal impact from the storm.
(Writing by Erwin Seba; Reporting by Joshua Schneyer, Edward McAllister, Eileen Moustakis, Scott Disavino in New York; Janet McGurty in Toronto; Bruce Nichols, Kristen Hays and Erwin Seba in Houston; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
[Green Business]
Obama, Japan PM to agree on green technology: report
Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:20pm EST
TOKYO (Reuters) - The United States and Japan will agree this week to cooperate in developing environmental and energy technologies, including capturing and storing emissions, a Japanese newspaper reported on Thursday.
As no major breakthrough is expected on a feud over a U.S. military base at a meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Friday, environment and energy cooperation will likely take the center stage at Friday's summit in Tokyo, the Nikkei business daily added.
The two leaders are expected to agree on technical cooperation in five areas -- smart power grids, carbon capture and sequestration, nuclear power, joint efforts between their national research labs, as well as renewable energy and energy conservation, the paper said.
On carbon capture and storage, they are expected to agree to work together on the development of a liquid solution for absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2), as well as on environmental assessments of CO2 storage sites, it added.
Obama and Hatoyama are likely to agree that the two nations should cooperate in developing construction technology for making nuclear plants more earthquake resistant.
In addition, they are expected to agree to help other nations introduce nuclear power for civilian uses, the newspaper said.
(Reporting by Yoko Nishikawa; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
[Green Business]
China should reduce carbon intensity: report
Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:22pm EST
BEIJING (Reuters) - China should cut its carbon intensity every year by 4 or 5 percent if it wants to achieve a goal of low-carbon development by 2050, state media on Thursday cited a thinktank report as saying.
In September, Chinese President Hu Jintao promised to put a "notable" brake on the country's rapidly rising carbon emissions, but dashed hopes he would unveil a hard target to kickstart stalled climate talks.
Hu, the leader of the world's biggest emitter, told a U.N. summit China would pledge to cut "carbon intensity," or the amount of carbon dioxide produced for each dollar of economic output, over the decade to 2020.
The official China Daily said the China Council of International Cooperation on Environment and Development would submit a report to the central government on cutting carbon intensity.
"If China is to meet the target of year-on-year emissions cuts of between 4 and 5 percent, it will need to reduce energy intensity by between 75 and 85 percent by 2050," the newspaper wrote, paraphrasing the report.
"In addition, the proportion of manufacturing industry within the national economic structure would need to be cut from the current 50 percent to around 30 percent by the middle of the century," it added.
"By 2030, more than half of new energy demand should be met by low-carbon energy and by 2050, all new energy should be clean energy," the newspaper said. "In addition, carbon capture and storage technology should be promoted by 2030."
The China Daily said the report was the first time a high-level think-tank had made concrete proposals to cut emissions since Hu's September address.
The think tank said China should reform its environmental tax system.
"It says the time is ripe for the country to begin to collect taxes from companies that emit pollutions and carbon dioxide because of the burning of fossil fuels."
The report comes ahead of a major U.N. climate gathering in Denmark in December.
The United Nations wants the December 7-18 Copenhagen meeting to yield a broader, and tougher, legally binding agreement by all nations to fight climate change but negotiations have largely stalled, dimming hopes of success.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jerry Norton)
[Green Business]
Japan to reassure U.S. on alliance at summit
Thu Nov 12, 2009 6:39am EST
By Chisa Fujioka
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will reassure the United States that their alliance is in good shape, Tokyo said on Thursday, as a feud over a Marine base strains relations ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama.
Japan's new government has pledged to steer a diplomatic course more independent of its key ally, raising worries about the alliance which is central to security arrangements in a region home to a rising China and an unpredictable North Korea.
But Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said he wanted to allay such concerns in talks on Friday with Obama, who will make his first visit to Japan as president.
"There are many people (in the United States) who have been supportive of our new government, while there are those who have been worried about the change," Hatoyama told reporters.
"One big purpose of the Japan-U.S. summit is to tell those who are concerned that there is nothing to be worried about, that things are all right."
Obama and Hatoyama are expected to turn down the heat in a dispute over the U.S. Marines Futenma air base on Japan's southern island of Okinawa, a key part of a realignment of the 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan.
U.S. officials have made crystal clear they want Tokyo to implement a 2006 deal under which Futenma, now located in a crowded part of Okinawa, would be closed and replaced with a facility in a remoter part of the island.
But Hatoyama said before the August election that swept his Democratic Party to power that the base should be moved off the island, reluctant host to more than half the U.S. forces in Japan.
No breakthroughs are expected on the issue during Obama's visit, although Hatoyama said on Thursday he would tell the U.S. leader that he wants to resolve the issue soon.
The two sides will instead likely stress the positive as they look for ways to adjust the decades-old alliance to changes in the region.
"I will obviously be discussing bilateral issues with President Obama, but I also want to spend time talking about more global issues," Hatoyama said.
The mass circulation Yomiuri newspaper said the two leaders would issue a statement pledging to cooperate to promote nuclear disarmament, as well as calling on North Korea to rejoin stalled multilateral talks on its nuclear arms program and urging Iran to allay suspicions about its atomic energy program.
As the leader of the only country to suffer atomic bombings, Hatoyama has backed Obama's calls for a world free of nuclear arms -- although presently Japan relies on the U.S. "nuclear umbrella" for deterrence.
The leaders will also agree to cooperate in developing environmental and energy technologies, including capturing and storing emissions, the Nikkei business daily reported.
About 50 protesters gathered near the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on Thursday, calling for U.S. military bases to be moved out of Japan and for the United States to end the war in Afghanistan.
(Additional reporting by Yoko Nishikawa, Linda Sieg, Yoko Kubota; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
[Green Business]
Oil companies racing back to Gulf following Ida
Wed Nov 11, 2009 3:27pm EST
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Oil companies were quickly restoring Gulf of Mexico production shut by Tropical Storm Ida, the U.S. Minerals Management Service said on Wednesday.
Shut oil production fell on Wednesday to 401,120 barrels, or 30.86 percent of the 1.3 million barrels that come out of the Gulf daily, the MMS said. Producers have restarted 12.23 percent of oil output since Tuesday.
All but 7.6 percent of the 7.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas taken daily from the Gulf was back on-line Wednesday, the MMS said. A total of 532 million cubic feet per day remained shut. On Tuesday, 27.96 percent was offline.
Companies had begun shutting production on Sunday ahead of Ida, which was then a hurricane, and the first storm in this year to threaten production platforms and drilling rigs in the Gulf, home to 25 percent of U.S. domestically produced oil and 15 percent of natural gas.
Ida weakened and made landfall on Tuesday but workers flying back to offshore platforms were having to contend with rough seas, that at the storm's height, disrupted shipping across the northern Gulf of Mexico.
"Seas are down from what they were at the storm's passage," said Jim Shugart, executive vice president at ERA Helicopters. "But they're still pretty rough out there because winds were high. Today's better. We should be through by end of the day."
The giant Independence Hub, which can process 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas daily had resumed partial production by Wednesday morning, said owner Enterprise Products Partners.
The giant Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), which can offload 1 million barrels per in foreign crude, said it was ready to receive the giant crude carriers, but rough seas made it impossible for the ships to dock.
Crude oil prices added more than a dollar earlier in the week because of storm disruptions from Ida, but were soaring on Wednesday due to sliding dollar and China's demand for oil.
The Gulf's largest producers BP, Exxon, Shell and Chevron have said they saw little damage to offshore platforms during initial inspections on Tuesday.
Exxon said on Tuesday its Mobile Bay operations sustained minimal impact from the storm.
(Writing by Erwin Seba; Reporting by Joshua Schneyer, Edward McAllister, Eileen Moustakis, Scott Disavino in New York; Janet McGurty in Toronto; Bruce Nichols, Kristen Hays and Erwin Seba in Houston; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
[Green Business]
Obama, Japan PM to agree on green technology: report
Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:20pm EST
TOKYO (Reuters) - The United States and Japan will agree this week to cooperate in developing environmental and energy technologies, including capturing and storing emissions, a Japanese newspaper reported on Thursday.
As no major breakthrough is expected on a feud over a U.S. military base at a meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Friday, environment and energy cooperation will likely take the center stage at Friday's summit in Tokyo, the Nikkei business daily added.
The two leaders are expected to agree on technical cooperation in five areas -- smart power grids, carbon capture and sequestration, nuclear power, joint efforts between their national research labs, as well as renewable energy and energy conservation, the paper said.
On carbon capture and storage, they are expected to agree to work together on the development of a liquid solution for absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2), as well as on environmental assessments of CO2 storage sites, it added.
Obama and Hatoyama are likely to agree that the two nations should cooperate in developing construction technology for making nuclear plants more earthquake resistant.
In addition, they are expected to agree to help other nations introduce nuclear power for civilian uses, the newspaper said.
(Reporting by Yoko Nishikawa; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
[Green Business]
China should reduce carbon intensity: report
Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:22pm EST
BEIJING (Reuters) - China should cut its carbon intensity every year by 4 or 5 percent if it wants to achieve a goal of low-carbon development by 2050, state media on Thursday cited a thinktank report as saying.
In September, Chinese President Hu Jintao promised to put a "notable" brake on the country's rapidly rising carbon emissions, but dashed hopes he would unveil a hard target to kickstart stalled climate talks.
Hu, the leader of the world's biggest emitter, told a U.N. summit China would pledge to cut "carbon intensity," or the amount of carbon dioxide produced for each dollar of economic output, over the decade to 2020.
The official China Daily said the China Council of International Cooperation on Environment and Development would submit a report to the central government on cutting carbon intensity.
"If China is to meet the target of year-on-year emissions cuts of between 4 and 5 percent, it will need to reduce energy intensity by between 75 and 85 percent by 2050," the newspaper wrote, paraphrasing the report.
"In addition, the proportion of manufacturing industry within the national economic structure would need to be cut from the current 50 percent to around 30 percent by the middle of the century," it added.
"By 2030, more than half of new energy demand should be met by low-carbon energy and by 2050, all new energy should be clean energy," the newspaper said. "In addition, carbon capture and storage technology should be promoted by 2030."
The China Daily said the report was the first time a high-level think-tank had made concrete proposals to cut emissions since Hu's September address.
The think tank said China should reform its environmental tax system.
"It says the time is ripe for the country to begin to collect taxes from companies that emit pollutions and carbon dioxide because of the burning of fossil fuels."
The report comes ahead of a major U.N. climate gathering in Denmark in December.
The United Nations wants the December 7-18 Copenhagen meeting to yield a broader, and tougher, legally binding agreement by all nations to fight climate change but negotiations have largely stalled, dimming hopes of success.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jerry Norton)
[Green Business]
Japan to reassure U.S. on alliance at summit
Thu Nov 12, 2009 6:39am EST
By Chisa Fujioka
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will reassure the United States that their alliance is in good shape, Tokyo said on Thursday, as a feud over a Marine base strains relations ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama.
Japan's new government has pledged to steer a diplomatic course more independent of its key ally, raising worries about the alliance which is central to security arrangements in a region home to a rising China and an unpredictable North Korea.
But Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said he wanted to allay such concerns in talks on Friday with Obama, who will make his first visit to Japan as president.
"There are many people (in the United States) who have been supportive of our new government, while there are those who have been worried about the change," Hatoyama told reporters.
"One big purpose of the Japan-U.S. summit is to tell those who are concerned that there is nothing to be worried about, that things are all right."
Obama and Hatoyama are expected to turn down the heat in a dispute over the U.S. Marines Futenma air base on Japan's southern island of Okinawa, a key part of a realignment of the 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan.
U.S. officials have made crystal clear they want Tokyo to implement a 2006 deal under which Futenma, now located in a crowded part of Okinawa, would be closed and replaced with a facility in a remoter part of the island.
But Hatoyama said before the August election that swept his Democratic Party to power that the base should be moved off the island, reluctant host to more than half the U.S. forces in Japan.
No breakthroughs are expected on the issue during Obama's visit, although Hatoyama said on Thursday he would tell the U.S. leader that he wants to resolve the issue soon.
The two sides will instead likely stress the positive as they look for ways to adjust the decades-old alliance to changes in the region.
"I will obviously be discussing bilateral issues with President Obama, but I also want to spend time talking about more global issues," Hatoyama said.
The mass circulation Yomiuri newspaper said the two leaders would issue a statement pledging to cooperate to promote nuclear disarmament, as well as calling on North Korea to rejoin stalled multilateral talks on its nuclear arms program and urging Iran to allay suspicions about its atomic energy program.
As the leader of the only country to suffer atomic bombings, Hatoyama has backed Obama's calls for a world free of nuclear arms -- although presently Japan relies on the U.S. "nuclear umbrella" for deterrence.
The leaders will also agree to cooperate in developing environmental and energy technologies, including capturing and storing emissions, the Nikkei business daily reported.
About 50 protesters gathered near the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on Thursday, calling for U.S. military bases to be moved out of Japan and for the United States to end the war in Afghanistan.
(Additional reporting by Yoko Nishikawa, Linda Sieg, Yoko Kubota; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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