Recent Gas News/GasBuddy Blog

Oil & Gas Journal -- Energy prices continued to spiral downward with crude slipping 0.3% May 17 in the New York futures market as the European Central Bank halted loans to banks in Greece, bringing the Euro-zone a step closer to possible break up.

The front-month natural gas contract dipped 0.9% after the Energy Information Administration reported a bigger-than expected injection of 61 bcf of gas into US underground storage in the week ended May 11 (OGJ Online, May 17, 2012).

European concerns continued to weigh on the broader markets, said analysts in the Houston office of Raymond James & Associates Inc. “The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index tumbled 1.5% as investors' view of the global economic outlook remained grim,” they said. Energy stocks followed the commodities and broader markets down, with the SIG O  (go to article)

AP -- HAVANA (AP) -- An exploratory oil well off the northern coast of Cuba has proved a failure and will be capped and abandoned, Spanish company Repsol said Friday, a disappointment for a cash-strapped nation hoping for an economic lifeline.

Trial and error is par for the course in oil exploration, however, and analysts said the news is far from a death blow to Cuba's petroleum dreams.

Repsol SA is evaluating the data it collected since the Scarabeo-9 rig arrived off the coast of Havana in January after a months-long, round-the-world trek from construction sites in China and Singapore. The company has not yet decided whether to sink further wells in the area, spokesman Kristian Rix said.

Rix said four of every five offshore wells come up dry, and it's too soon to determine whether other  (go to article)

How stuff works --
The average American car today gets about 20 miles per gallon (mpg) of gasoline. Eighty years ago, Henry Ford's Model T got 25 to 30 mpg and that car could run on gas or ethanol. What happened? In the decades since the Model T, car technology, speed, safety and comfort have improved tremendously. But in terms of fuel economy, we're still decades behind. With concerns about gas prices, global warming and air pollution, fuel efficiency has already become a point of concern for car buyers. Let's explore the question that a lot of people are asking: Can a car get 100 miles on a single gallon of gas?

We're not the only ones asking the question. Google -- yes, the search engine Google -- is trying to find out.
On June 20, 2007, Google announced that its founders' philanthropic organization, Go  (go to article)

Bloomberg Businessweek -- Six years ago, Ford Motor (F) was running out of time and money. To save the company, Henry Ford’s great-grandson had to do something the founder never could have imagined—sign away the family name. In order to secure a $23 billion loan, a syndicate of banks led by Citibank (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) demanded as collateral the rights to the blue oval logo that surrounds the Ford name on the nose of millions of cars. “When we had to hock the blue oval, that was a very tough thing,” recalls Bill Ford, the company’s executive chairman. “I will never forget signing those papers. My heart stopped for a moment. It will start beating again when we get it back.”

The loan, pitched to investors by....  (go to article)

The Washington Post -- Eds: Edits fourth paragraph to clarify Memorial Day weekend prices expected to be $3.60 a gallon or a little bit higher.

If you’re lucky enough to live in some parts of the United States, you may see gas pump prices fall to around $3.25 a gallon or less in the next week or two. Even West Coast drivers should get some relief from prices that are still above $4 a gallon.

Retail gasoline prices dropped by a penny to a national average of $3.71 per gallon on Friday. That’s 22 cents less than the high of $3.94 per gallon reached in early April. Lower oil prices are the main reason. Weaker demand is also helping to push down prices, as consumers watch their spending in the sluggish economic recovery.

Motorists on the West Coast, in Illinois and New York are paying the most for gas — from  (go to article)

Hydorcarbon Processing -- Compared with typical gasoline, issues include damaged valves and valve seats, misfires, lower performance, engine damage, poor fuel economy and increased emissions.

Auto repair costs for consumers could rise due to adverse effects of fuel containing 15% ethanol blends (E15), according to new results from a two-year study on engine durability.

The study was conducted by FEV, a longtime consultant to the US Environmental Protection Agency, on behalf of the Coordinating Research Council (CRC).

The CRC study released Wednesday showed adverse results from E15 use in certain popular, high-volume models of cars, its authors said.

Problems included damaged valves and valve seats, which can lead to loss of compression and power, diminished vehicle performance, misfires, engine damage, as well  (go to article)

Forbes -- A long overdue power breakfast with Loews chairman, CEO Jim Tisch placed a mighty sharp focus on all the positive ramifications of the explosion in natural gas discoveries in the US. For a solid hour Tisch sang the praises of the “disruptive technology” that will result from the finding and exploitation across the US of an abundance of natural gas.

First, no one realizes the extent of potential usage of natural gas, opines Tisch, who owns quite a bit in Loews and is looking for more, thank you very much. Gas has become crucial in the delivery of electric power in the US– and will in the future make all forms of transportation more efficient, such as trucks that now use expensive diesel oil.

Second, the US can find and produce unlimited amounts of natural gas once the market  (go to article)

Time -- The conventional thinking had it that rising gas prices would stifle the sales of SUVs. Lane-clogging Suburbans and Explorers would slowly disappear with loads of drivers turning to smaller, fuel-efficient cars. And yet, even as gas prices remain relatively high, SUV sales have never been better. What gives?

If you had to name a heyday for the American sports utility vehicle, most people would point to the ’90s, when gigantic SUVS such as the Hummer, Lincoln Navigator, and Ford Excursion were first sold to the public. According to CNN Money, 1 in 5 new cars sold in the late ’90s and early ’00s was an SUV. That sounds like a lot of cars—until you find out that nearly 1 in 3 vehicles sold today is an SUV.

High gas prices were expected to hammer SUV sales. In March, when gas prices ...  (go to article)

Knovel -- Delphi Automotive, the long-time auto parts manufacturer for General Motors, has recently developed a new type of gasoline engine that replicates the high efficiency of diesel engines, Technology Review reports.

Where traditional gasoline engines ignite fuel through the use of a spark, diesel engines compress air to the point that fuel ignites without the need of a spark. Because this approach allows diesel to burn more rapidly, among other factors, these engines are generally between one-third and one-half more efficient than gasoline engines.

The auto sector has dedicated extensive engineering research to adapting this approach for gasoline, which has the benefit of significantly lower emissions, but researchers have largely been stymied by issues controlling the reaction.  (go to article)

The Christian Science Monitor -- Fed up with $4 a gallon gas and a morning commute? Bike advocacy groups have declared Friday, May 18, as national Bike to Work Day to encourage commuters to pedal their way to work instead.

For most people, health and fitness are the main reasons to start biking to work. But since 2008, the economic benefits of ditching four wheels for two are climbing on people’s list of priorities. The savings can add up.

“When you pay $70, $80 to fill up your car, you start to think maybe it is possible to bike to work,” says Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists, a Washington advocacy group and national sponsor of Bike to Work Day. “We want to give people the opportunity to try biking and see if it works for them.”  (go to article)

EnvironmentNewsService -- BOSTON, Massachusetts, May 17, 2012 (ENS) - Institutional investors in the United States, Europe and Australia with nearly $1 trillion in assets under management have united to support a set of best practices for the hydraulic fracturing of shale rock to harvest natural gas.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves the injection of a mixture of chemicals, sand and water under high pressure into shale thousands of feet underground, fracturing it to release hydrocarbons.
Fracking rig, Texas, April 4, 2012 (Photo by lovethyearth)

Energy companies engaged in shale gas fracking face growing regulatory uncertainty and increasing opposition from shareholders concerned about health and environmental problems resulting from air, soil and groundwater contaminated by fracking.  (go to article)

Yahoo! Finance -- NEW YORK (AP) -- The price of oil continues to decline as supplies grow in the U.S.
Benchmark U.S. crude on Wednesday fell by 57 cents to $93.41 per barrel in New York. It dipped to a seven-month low of $91.81 earlier and is down about 12 percent overall since the beginning of May.
Brent crude, which helps set the price of oil imported into the U.S., fell by 87 cents to $110.58 per barrel in London.
Prices fell after the government reported that U.S. oil supplies grew last week by 2.1 million barrels. That's more than analysts expected. Storage levels are now the highest in nearly 22 years. Prices tend to decline when more oil is available.
Oil prices tumbled this month as the economy appeared to cool, and major producers like Saudi Arabia delivered more supplies to the world market. Analy  (go to article)

Detroit News -- It found that the new formula, 85 percent gasoline and 15 percent ethanol, damaged two of the eight vehicles used as guinea pigs in the high-mileage test.

 (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Chinese dealers are struggling with the rising number of unsold cars that’s threatening to deepen price cuts, according to the nation’s biggest automobile dealers’ association.

Dealerships for Honda Motor Co. (7267), Chery Automobile Co., BYD Co. (002594) and Geely (175) Automobile Holdings Ltd. carried more than 45 days of inventory as of the end of April, exceeding the threshold that foreshadows debilitating price cuts, Su Hui, vice president of the auto market division at the state-backed China Automobile Dealers Association, said in an interview yesterday.

“Unsold cars are crowding dealer lots in cities from Guangzhou in the south to Xi’an to the west,” Su said in a phone interview yesterday from Beijing. “It’s like a contagious disease that will spread.”
 (go to article)

Bloomberg -- Oil may decline next week on concern that the reversal of the Seaway Pipeline will not be enough to alleviate a record supply glut in the central U.S., a Bloomberg survey showed.

Nineteen of 34 analysts, or 56 percent, forecast oil will drop through May 25. Nine respondents, or 26 percent, predicted prices will rise and six estimated they will be little changed. Last week, 48 percent of surveyed analysts expected a decrease.

Enbridge Inc. (ENB) and Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) completed the pipeline reversal yesterday and plan to start shipping oil this weekend from Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for West Texas Intermediate oil futures traded in New York, to the Gulf Coast. U.S. oil inventories rose to a 22-year high and Cushing stockpiles peaked in the week ended May 1  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- The U.S. oil infrastructure is the product of four decades of rising imports and falling domestic supply. As those trends have reversed over the last few years, America’s network of pipelines has failed to keep pace. Designed in part to ferry oil and refined gasoline from the coasts to the interior, those pipelines are now ill-equipped to handle the enormous amount of crude gushing from shale reserves in North Dakota and Texas. Which is why so much of that oil ends up trapped in the central Oklahoma town of Cushing, the primary crude oil storage hub for the U.S.

Cushing developed as an oil trading center and then as the official price settlement point for West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark that most types of North American crude are priced against. Cushing is now best known as a bottl  (go to article)

Anchorage Daily News online -- The Associated Press

Published: May 18th, 2012 11:31 AM
Last Modified: May 18th, 2012 11:45 AM

On Friday crude oil prices fell ahead of a weekend meeting in which President Barack Obama and leaders of the world's biggest economies will search for ways to help Europe resolve its ongoing debt crisis. Here's how energy contracts traded.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange:

Benchmark crude fell $1.08 to finish at $91.48 per barrel.

Gasoline rose 1.13 cents to end at $2.8895 a gallon.

Heating oil fell 1.90 cents to finish at $2.8300 a gallon.

Natural gas rose 14.8 cents to end at $2.7420 per 1,000 cubic feet.

On the ICE Futures exchange in London:

Brent crude fell 35 cents to finish the day at $107.14 per barrel.  (go to article)

Anchorage Daily News online -- SANDY SHORE
The Associated Press

Published: May 18th, 2012 11:17 AM
Last Modified: May 18th, 2012 11:30 AM

If you're lucky enough to live in some parts of the United States, you may see gas pump prices fall to around $3.25 a gallon or less in the next week or two. Even West Coast drivers should get some relief from prices that are still above $4 a gallon.

Retail gasoline prices dropped by a penny to a national average of $3.71 per gallon on Friday. That's 22 cents less than the high of $3.94 per gallon reached in early April. Lower oil prices are the main reason. Weaker demand is also helping to push down prices, as consumers watch their spending in the sluggish economic recovery.

Motorists on the West Coast, in Illinois and New York are paying the most for gas - from $3.83 per gallon  (go to article)

AP -- If you're lucky enough to live in some parts of the United States, you may see gas pump prices fall to around $3.25 a gallon or less in the next week or two. Even West Coast drivers should get some relief from prices that are still above $4 a gallon.

Retail gasoline prices dropped by a penny to a national average of $3.71 per gallon on Friday. That's 22 cents less than the high of $3.94 per gallon reached in early April. Lower oil prices are the main reason. Weaker demand is also helping to push down prices, as consumers watch their spending in the sluggish economic recovery.

 (go to article)

cnsnews.com -- Oil prices hovered below $93 a barrel Friday in Asia, pausing after the latest twists in Europe's debt crisis triggered a sharp two-week selloff.

Benchmark oil for June delivery was up 4 cents to $92.60 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 25 cents to settle at $92.56 in New York on Thursday.

Brent crude for July delivery was up 11 cents at $107.60 per barrel in London.

Crude has plunged about 13 percent from $106 two weeks ago because of expectations Europe's debt crisis will slow the global economy and reduce demand for fuel.

On Thursday, rating agency Moody's downgraded its credit ratings on 16 Spanish banks while a newspaper reported depositors were rushing to withdraw their money from Bankia, a troubled Span  (go to article)

cnsnews.com -- If you're lucky enough to live in some parts of the United States, you may see gas pump prices fall to around $3.25 a gallon or less in the next week or two. Even West Coast drivers should get some relief from prices that are still above $4 a gallon.

Retail gasoline prices dropped by a penny to a national average of $3.71 per gallon on Friday. That's 22 cents less than the high of $3.94 per gallon reached in early April. Lower oil prices are the main reason. Weaker demand is also helping to push down prices, as consumers watch their spending in the sluggish economic recovery.

Motorists on the West Coast, in Illinois and New York are paying the most for gas — from $3.83 per gallon to $4.54 per gallon — according to AAA, Wright Express and the Oil Price Information Service. The lowest pric  (go to article)

The Nation -- The entry of the Mitsubishi Mirage and Suzuki Swift has created a hot new trend.

Add that to the popularity of the previously launched Nissan March and total sales in the eco-car market easily breaks the 80,000 mark.

This has resulted in a major change in the auto market, and many companies are forced to revamp their marketing strategies. They are also waiting to see how the eco-cars will affect the fast-growing market.

According to the Automotive Industry Group, the ratio between pickup truck and passenger car sales has become much closer (45 per cent compared with 55 per cent). This shows that the market trend is towards passenger cars, which previously made up just 35-40 per cent of the market.  (go to article)

News Now -- Nissan fell just short of selling its goal of 10,000 Leafs in 2011. According to the company, a little more than 9,600 of the electric cars were sold last year.

It's said that the car pays for itself in gas savings but with the vehicles costing nearly $40,000, is it worth it?

Lloyd Dawson has owned his Leaf for three months now and he's not the only Dawson who adores the purchase.

"I can't keep it away from my wife," Dawson said.

The retired plant worker studied the Leaf before deciding to buy one.

"It estimates what you're driving capabilities are from the way you're driving and the amount of voltage and current you're pulling out of the battery," Dawson said.

But what won him over was the savings in gas.  (go to article)

Fox News -- Outside of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, America has no energy security plan. The next best thing may lie 500 miles north of the U.S.-Canada border in a remote area of Alberta.
Here, in an area roughly the size of Florida, lies the largest single deposit of petroleum anywhere in the world. Current estimates of recoverable oil are at 170 billion barrels. Future advances in technology could push that figure as high as 300 billion barrels – bigger than oil titans Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.  (go to article)

Yahoo -- Car technology has come a long way. In the fight to decrease dependency on oil and avoid high gas prices, more electric-powered cars are starting to make their way onto the scene. It's now possible to get what's referred to as an mpg equivalent of more than 100. That's mostly due to drastic improvements in lithium-ion battery technology.

Lithium-ion batteries are able to produce more power in a smaller area than their nickel-metal-hydride counterparts, which are used in some hybrids such as the Prius. That gives vehicles with lithium-ion technology a significant increase in distance and speed.

Just like a gas-powered vehicle, you'll need to fill up the tank, or in this case, charge the battery. Fuel capacity of electric cars is measured in kilowatt hours instead of gallons. The more kilo  (go to article)

how stuff works -- Not only can gassing up the car get expensive, but driving is also not so hot for the environment. Using more fuel means increased emissions. In fact, every 6 pounds (2.7 kilograms) of fuel you burn creates 19 pounds (8.6 kilograms) of harmful carbon dioxide, along with other emissions that contribute to global warming and air pollution.

Even if you're not concerned about environmental issues, saving fuel just makes sense. Fuel prices are higher than ever, and filling up those tanks is tough on our wallets.

Unfortunately, not all fuel-saving methods work as well as they claim to. Changing the air filter, for example, doesn't improve your car's mileage, and neither does filling up your tank in the morning while the weather and fuel are cooler. Do you want to skip the myths and actually sp  (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- Many many times I receive questions from readers "why if crude oil prices have fallen to $XX are gasoline prices still high?" This is a top question I receive, and while the answer is somewhat complex, I'll try to make it as simple to understand as I can.

You see one, or maybe two types of crude oil and their price listed. Many times, the types are West Texas Intermediate crude oil, and Brent crude oil. The problem with this is that there are many different types of crude oil, each with their own price. Depending on a refinery's location, they may use an oil that many don't know about or follow the price. So while the price of one or two types of oil drops, one might drop more than the other. Bottom line is that every type of dozens...  (go to article)

Transportation Nation -- Congress member Bill Shuster (R-PA), Chair of the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, & Hazardous Materials, predicts President Barack Obama will sign a transportation bill — with a provision to build the Keystone Pipeline included — in September or October.

“Americans support the Keystone Pipeline, 80:20? Shuster told a gathering organized by the New York University Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management. (A march Gallup poll actually put that support at 57:29, still a big majority.)

The pipeline has been vehemently opposed by environmentalists, who say construction of the pipeline would mean “game over” for the environment. And President Obama has said in the past that he would oppose any transportation bill that included funding for the pipeline.
 (go to article)

State Journal -- "Folks, we're sitting on a mountain of money," he said. "People who have been poor as church mice for 150 years are now going to be the latter-day Jed Clampetts."

The detailed energy bill cleared the chamber, 27-6, with backing from both Republicans and Democrats. It also adjusts Ohio's renewable energy standard, which set a timetable for utilities to meet usage thresholds, to include waste heat such as that generated from factory smokestacks.

Supporters said the bill balances environment, public health and safety, and commerce by expanding chemical disclosure and water testing requirements. It goes next to the Ohio House.

 (go to article)

GasBuddy Blog -- We may be getting a bit of a break with gasoline prices edging lower in most parts of the country, (CA, WA, OR are still waiting for their prices to take the same turn)and as we near Memorial Day Weekend, the talk around the kitchen table often focuses on the family vacation.

If you're making plans it pays to check online for all kinds of deals that can get you where you want and stay within your budget. Laura Bly of USA TODAY reports that the number of gas cards and related deals onBnBfinder.com, for instance, a directory of more than 3,000 North American B&Bs and inns, is up from 15 last year to 22 this year.

And the offers often include a gas card valued at anywhere from $10 to $50, plus a discounted price on your...  (go to article)

Anchorage Daily News online -- PABLO GORONDI
The Associated Press

Published: May 18th, 2012 04:31 AM
Last Modified: May 18th, 2012 04:45 AM

Oil prices edged toward $93 a barrel Friday as financial markets stabilized after a sharp two-week sell-off caused by the latest flare-up in Europe's debt crisis and a gloomy economic outlook.

By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark oil for June delivery was up 16 cents to $92.72 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 25 cents to settle at $92.56 in New York on Thursday.

In London, Brent crude for July delivery was down 49 cents at $107 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Crude prices had dropped 13 percent from $106 two weeks ago, when the U.S. reported weaker than expected job numbers, followed by signs last week that China's  (go to article)

Anchorage Daily News online -- Associated Press

Published: May 17th, 2012 09:21 AM
Last Modified: May 17th, 2012 09:21 AM

JUNEAU -- The operator of the trans-Alaska pipeline plans five shutdowns this summer for maintenance work.

Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. says the shutdowns are expected to last from eight to 18 hours each, with the first planned for Friday.

Alyeska says the maintenance shutdowns are a critical part of ongoing efforts to ensure the integrity of the 800-mile pipeline. They typically coincide with the oil companies' routine maintenance on North Slope equipment and facilities.

Both Friday's shutdown and one scheduled for May 27 are expected to last eight hours. The company expects an 18-hour shutdown on June 2. Alyeska has tentatively scheduled to other shutdowns for July 28 and Aug. 5.  (go to article)

USA TODAY -- That would be about 2.1 million gallons of gas, based on Volt owners driving more than 40 million miles on electricity alone (GM should know, since it monitors the operation of all Volts through their OnStar connection). The Volt can go about 35 miles on the plug-in charge before the gas engine kicks in.

Based on the OnStar monitoring, Chevy says Volts are being driven about 60% of their miles electric-only, so they've also gone about 27 million miles using gasoline. Chevy is keeping a running tally of the use on its website here.

"With each click of the odometer, Chevrolet Volt owners are measuring their contribution to reducing America's dependence on foreign oil and to preserving the environment," Cristi Landy, Volt marketing director, said in a statement, adding that they saved about  (go to article)

Bloomberg -- The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation to study and delay Environmental Protection Agency rules that would affect the price of gasoline.

The committee voted 28-13 today for the bill that would prohibit the EPA from requiring reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions from refineries or use of lower polluting sulfur in gasoline while a government panel studies the effect of regulations on prices.

The EPA hasn’t proposed either regulation, and Democrats said it didn’t make sense that rules yet to be issued were already pushing prices higher.

“This is a messaging bill that’s going nowhere,” Representative Mike Doyle, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said at the meeting before the vote. “I think we all understand what we’re doing here now, because, we’re in the silly season.”  (go to article)

ABC News -- After a drumbeat of complaints from energy companies that the Obama administration is blocking domestic oil and gas production, the Interior department released a report claiming that U.S. oil and gas producers are sitting on millions of acres of idle government land leases.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar says that if producers were sincere about wanting to increase energy production, they would activate millions of acres of public land already leased to them. What should they be doing on that land? Drilling.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Salazar says the administration wants companies "to develop the tens of millions of acres they've already leased but have left sitting idle."

A report released by the Department of the Interior claims that of 36 million government acres ...  (go to article)

LA TImes -- Analysts said that a crude-oil glut from increasing domestic production and imports from Canada helped drive U.S. oil prices below $100. They added that a change in the flow of a key U.S. oil pipeline that begins this week could help reduce retail gasoline prices.

The U.S. Energy Department says that crude oil inventories at a storage hub in Cushing, Okla., reached a record 45.1 million barrels on May 11, breaking the old record of 41.9 million barrels set in early April 2011.

The Energy Department also said that last year the supplies at Cushing peaked in April and "generally declined slowly for the rest of the year." That's not happening this year, the Energy Department said, as the amount of crude at Cushing has continued to build.

 (go to article)

Wyoming Business Report -- An auditor told Congress last week that the Green River Formation in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado contains about as much oil as the "entire world's proven reserves," making it the "world's largest deposits of oil shale."

The formation is largely — about 75 percent — on federal Bureau of Land Management lands in the states, making it possible for the government to extract funding from the shale formation almost as well as the companies that may extract the oil.

Anu Mittal, director of natural resources for the federal General Accounting Office, said the U.S. Geological Survey estimates 3 trillion barrels of oil in the 1,000-foot sedimentary rock formations under the three states.  (go to article)

Digital Trends -- Cruise control systems are already able to keep cars from crashing into each other without the driver’s help. Now, they might also be able to help big trucks achieve better fuel economy. Mercedes-Benz’s new system, called Predictive Powertrain Control, uses GPS to read the topography ahead and shift the transmission according to the conditions.

Cruise control applies a steady amount of throttle to maintain a constant speed, but if a truck encounters a hill or other terrain abnormality, the engine might have to work harder, or waste energy, if it is in the wrong gear. The need to adjust an engine’s workload based on terrain and speed is why cars and trucks have transmissions, instead of a fixed gear ratio. By robotizing its trucks transmissions, Mercedes hopes to wring every last drop of f  (go to article)

businessinsider.com -- You would think that with the shift toward fuel efficiency over the last decade, the spending on gas per household would if not get smaller then at least remain level.

But thanks to climbing oil prices, U.S. households spending on gas over the past decade has doubled, according to the Energy Security Leadership Council. In fact, recently, the average U.S. household spent more than 8 percent of the median household income on gas, compared to 4.2 percent in 2001.

 (go to article)

The Republic -- If electric cars were as common as opinions about them, there would be charging outlets on every corner. — The electric car has become a symbol of political division in the "dis"-United States, especially in an election year. Like every other issue, this one has two poles: advocates are "liberals" that believe the industry must reduce its impact on the environment to stave off catastrophe; opponents are "conservatives" that think global warming is a power play by voltage regulators out to disrupt the market economy.

In reality, technophiles and progressives have had a long affinity with the electric car. In pitching electrics to consumers, advocates tend to accentuate the positives and eliminate the negatives. This year, they decided to mess with Mr. In-Between.  (go to article)

NY Times -- Oil prices have plummeted for the past two weeks, largely on dim projections for global growth. But an underappreciated, major threat to this trend lies on the horizon.

E.U. and U.S. sanctions against Iranian oil exports are becoming too successful. In particular, an arcane insurance ban on tankers contained in European sanctions could force so much Iranian crude off the market that oil prices could spike.

Western policy makers should use their grip on Iranian oil revenue as leverage at the May 23 talks in Baghdad on Iran’s nuclear program. But regardless of the talks’ outcome, the European Union will have to suspend parts of its sanctions regime to avoid damage to the global economy.

Western sanctions that take effect this summer will significantly impede the export of Iranian crude  (go to article)

NY Times -- TEHRAN — Iranian oil production, the backbone of the Islamic republic’s economy, fell by 12 percent in the first three months of the year and is likely to fall even more, industry experts say, as sanctions make it increasingly hard for the country to find markets for its crude.

The decline, documented in a May report by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, is sharply at odds with statistics provided by Iran’s Oil Ministry that register no significant change in output over the past year. But it is accelerating so fast that if current trends continue, Iran could lose its position as the second-largest crude oil producer in OPEC to Iraq by June 2013, the organization’s statistics show.

With a second meeting planned in Baghdad next week to discuss the Iranian nuclear prog  (go to article)

FT --
An oil tanker belonging to Iran’s state-owned shipping line has been switching flags and using multiple companies to transport crude from Syria to Iran, illustrating how Tehran is helping to sidestep international efforts to choke the finances of Bashar al-Assad, Syrian president.

Documents obtained by the Financial Times show the vessel, operated by the Islamic Republic International Shipping Lines, sailed from Syria to the Gulf of Oman and then Iran, using using different flags and changing owners.

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9704c760-9  (go to article)

KWES NewsWest 9 -- The theft of red diesel fuel is on the rise in Martin County. It's a non-taxable diesel designed for commercial and off road equipment, like the machines used in oil rigs. In Stanton, oilfield workers are stealing red diesel from rigs and pouring it straight into their personal vehicles.

The average price of diesel fuel is about $4 per gallon. The locals NewsWest 9 spoke to say they know people in the oilfields stealing this fuel because they're desperate to save a few bucks.

With the boom, diesel theft continues to rise. This week alone, two arrests were made. Ethan Duke and Erik Marines have both been charged with "concealing motor fuel," which can potentially carry jail time and possible fines.  (go to article)

The Sacramento Bee -- American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers President Charles T. Drevna welcomed action by members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee today to pass the Gasoline Regulations Act of 2012.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120125/MM41823LOGO)

The bill, which passed with a vote of 28 - 13, would establish a temporary interagency committee to conduct an analysis of the cumulative impact of regulations faced by fuel manufacturers. In particular, it would examine the impact of and the interaction among Tier 3 fuel standards, greenhouse gas regulations, the Renewable Fuel Standard and ozone NAAQS. Some of the impacts the committee will examine are gasoline prices, capital costs, competitiveness, employment, as well as consumers and public health. Drevna said:  (go to article)

AP -- BEIJING (AP) -- China's government on Friday rejected a U.S. antidumping ruling against its makers of solar power equipment and Chinese manufacturers warned possible higher tariffs might hurt efforts to promote clean energy.

The conflict has worsened U.S.-Chinese trade tensions. The two governments have pledged to cooperate in developing renewable energy but accuse each other of violating free-trade pledges by subsidizing their own manufacturers.

"The U.S. ruling is unfair, and the Chinese side expresses its extreme dissatisfaction," said a Commerce Ministry spokesman, Shen Danyang, in a statement.

Shen warned the ruling might harm clean energy cooperation but gave no indication how Beijing might respond. Some American companies that oppose the trade probe have warned China might ret  (go to article)

Huffington Post -- MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin on Wednesday signed into law the nation's first ban on a hotly debated natural gas drilling technique that involves blasting chemical-laced water deep into the ground.

The Democrat, surrounded at a Statehouse ceremony by environmentalists and Twinfield Union School students who pushed for the ban, said the law may help Vermont set an example for other states. The ban may be largely symbolic, though, because there is believed to be little to no natural gas or oil beneath the surface in Vermont.

The gas drilling technique, called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves the high-pressure injection of water and chemicals into the ground to split rock apart and release natural gas or oil.

It's being used extensively in the rapidly  (go to article)

Mlive -- HUDSONVILLE, MI – Though Gentex Corp.’s stock price was close to its 52-week low, CEO and Chairman Fred Bauer focused on the positives Thursday at the Zeeland company’s annual shareholders meeting.

Gentex, which makes automatic dimming rearview mirrors for cars and is developing other driver assistance devices based on the mirrors, is poised to grow, company officials told some 300 shareholders at the Pinnacle Center.

The company’s stock price was hammered last month, falling 16 percent in one day after company growth forecasts failed to meet expectations of Wall Street analysts. The stock closed at $22.39 a share Thursday, down 25 cents.  (go to article)

ABC 7 -- Need to look at video...  (go to article)

The World (Newspaper)Oregon -- U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield, has requested that the Justice Department’s Oil and Gas Price Fraud Working Group investigate the recent decline in West Coast oil refinery production as gas price jumped throughout the region.

According to The Associated Press, five of California’s 12 oil refineries reduced production because of “scheduled maintenance” while the largest refinery in Washington state remained closed after catching fire in February.

“The recent run up in gas prices in Oregon and Washington is very suspicious at best,” DeFazio said in a news release. “While the rest of the country is enjoying a decline in gas prices, we are seeing our gas prices skyrocket. Earlier this year the Cherry Point refinery in Washington state suffered fire damage. But that was a known fact."  (go to article)

Bloomberg News -- Chinese dealers are struggling with the rising number of unsold cars that’s threatening to deepen price cuts, according to the nation’s biggest automobile dealers’ association.

Dealerships for Honda Motor Co. (7267), Chery Automobile Co., BYD Co. (002594) and Geely (175) Automobile Holdings Ltd. carried more than 45 days of inventory as of the end of April, exceeding the threshold that foreshadows debilitating price cuts, Su Hui, vice president of the auto market division at the state-backed China Automobile Dealers Association, said in an interview yesterday.

“Unsold cars are crowding dealer lots in cities from Guangzhou in the south to Xi’an to the west,” Su said in a phone interview yesterday from Beijing. “It’s like a.....  (go to article)