Energy / Energy-General

• Eliminating CO2 Emissions at Low Cost

  The TU Darmstadt’s Institute for Energy Systems and Technology’s newly dedicated pilot plant will be utilized for investigating two new methods for CO2 capture that will allow nearly totally eliminating CO2 emissions and require virtually no additional energy input and entail only slight increases in operating costs. Known as carbon capture and storage or CCS the new pilot plant might be able to reduce CO2 emissions resulting from the employment of fossil fuels for power generation and other uses in industry to near zero and make available a product for reuse and sales. During the combustion of fossil fuels reaction,…

• Higher Energy Prices Help Russia Regain its Fiscal Footing

  Higher energy prices have helped Russia regain its fiscal footing after the global financial crisis walloped the country in 2008. But some experts say the economic forecast for the Kremlin remains cloudy, as Russian leaders are mired in deficit spending.  According to Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, Russia is projected to register a 4.3 percent growth rate this year. Beyond this year, however, Russia’s economic fortunes appear to be dangerously dependent on energy, specifically the price of oil and natural gas. That’s a factor that is largely beyond Russia’s ability to control. Leonid Grigoriev, the director of the Institute for…

• Waste Plastics to Diesel Being Scaled up in the UK

  STA UK is gearing up to build 10 new waste plastic to diesel plants in the UK. The first plant is to be built in Port Laoighise, Ireland. The process utilises pyrolysis (heating in absence of oxygen) of waste plastics, with fractional distillation of the pyrolysis gases to purify the diesel. Plastic waste is continuously treated in a cylindrical chamber and the pyrolytic gases condensed in a specially-designed condenser system to yield predominantly straight chain aliphatic hydrocarbons with little formation of by-products. These hydrocarbons are then selectively condensed and cleaved further catalytically to produce the average carbon chain length required…

• Is the Kyrgyz Government About to put the Brakes on the Pentagon Fuel Contract

  It seems the $315 million contract awarded by the Pentagon to a controversial and secretive fuel-supplier is only part of the story about future operations at Kyrgyzstan’s Manas Transit Center. The contract, awarded to Mina Corp on November 3, covers only 80 percent of the overall projected jet fuel needs over the next year at Manas, a key logistics hub for US and NATO operations in Afghanistan. The other 20 percent appears destined for a Kyrgyz government-run entity, US officials say. More importantly, the Kyrgyz government may be preparing to put the brakes on the Pentagon contract. On November 5,…

• Graduates Cut Out of the Oil Boom in Basra

  On a recent afternoon in the southern city of Basra, a cry went up in the local bazaar that the police were coming. In an instant, street-sellers rolled up their wares and scattered. One of the vendors, Gasim Talib, wasn't so lucky. As he received an earful from the local officers, Talib had some strong words of his own. "What do you want me to do? There are no jobs; there isn't even a government to find us jobs. How can I make a living if I don't sell on the streets?" Talib said. It might be a typical scene…

• Oil and Gas News from This Week

  European Energy Consortium to Sign Turkmen Gas Deal A consortium of two European energy companies and a financial institution are seeking to strike a major gas supply deal with Turkmenistan by the end of this month, to bring gas to Europe, bypassing Russia, which has recently experienced some disappointment in its dealings with Turkmenistan. If the deal goes through as planned, the first Turkmen gas would make its way to Europe by 2014. The information came from Turkmenistan’s honorary consul to the EU, Koen Minne. "Our timeline is to get an agreement in principle during the month of November," he…

• US Coal to Gasoline Plant Will be the Largest in the World

  TransGas Development Systems, LLC announced an agreement with SK Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd (SKE&C) leading to engineering, procurement and construction of its first US coal-to-gasoline plant—Adams Fork Energy—to be located in Mingo County, West Virginia. _GCC US coal deposits contain 12 X as much energy as all known oil in Saudi Arabia. The gasification process to be used in the new West Virginia CTL plant could cleanly utilise coals of any grade -- including the cheapest and dirtiest coal. By moving US coal reserves into the liquid fuels arena, the prospects for peak oil continue to remain slight --…

• Putin in Ukraine to Discuss Gas and Nuclear Energy

  Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited Ukraine yesterday, with Russian gas supplies to Ukraine back on the agenda of his talks with Ukraine's Moscow-friendly leadership. About 80 percent of Russian gas exports to the European Union transit Ukraine, and Russia has long said it wants a stake in Ukraine's pipeline system. Ukraine, which also depends heavily for its own consumption on Russian gas imports, wants Russia to cut prices. During his last visit in April, Putin proposed a merger between Russia's energy giant Gazprom and Ukraine's state-owned Naftogaz. Ukraine has ruled out a merger, but Ukrainian officials have said a…

• Gazprom to Supply Fuel to the Manas Transit Center

  Representatives of the Russian energy giant Gazprom confirm that the company is poised to participate in a joint venture to supply fuel to the US-run Manas Transit Center, a key logistics hub for US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. Gazprom’s subsidiary, Gazpromneft-Aero is “ready to consider proposals from the Kyrgyz Republic to establish a joint Russian-Kyrgyz venture for aviation fuel supply at Manas airport,” a spokeswoman for the company told Eurasianet.org on October 20. The US facility outside Bishkek uses around 10 million US gallons of aviation fuel per month and is currently being supplied by Mina Corp, an affiliate…

• Iraqi Provinces Angered by Energy Auctions Which May Have Violated the Iraqi Constitution

  The oil ministry’s auction of three natural gas fields this week have been angrily opposed by all the governorates in which they are located, with provincial officials threatening legal action against Baghdad and warning that they will refuse to cooperate with the developers. Bids were granted to companies from Turkey, Kuwait, Kazakstan and South Korea to develop gas fields holding approximately ten per cent of the country’s reserves. The fields in Anbar, Diyala and Basra are primarily being developed for domestic consumption to improve Iraq’s feeble power supply, oil ministry officials said. But provincial council members maintain the oil ministry…