U.S. retail gasoline prices should drop below the July average by 2013 amid depressed consumer demand and continuing declines in crude oil prices. U.S. lawmakers were in panic mode when the average price of gasoline hovered at around $4 per gallon in April. While relatively low compared with European markets, U.S. consumer sentiment historically turns negative when retail gasoline prices pass the $4 per gallon threshold. By next year, however, it’s likely the prices at the pump will be below the current average of $3.41 per gallon, the U.S. Energy…

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Four transcripts have been handed to Reuters of official accounts from workers who were aboard Chevrons natural gas rig on the 16th of January 2012, when a blowout killed two people and caused a fire which then burned for a further 46 days.The accounts claim that workers had been pleading with Chevron to be evacuated from the platform due to fears that a disaster was imminent, the accounts then claim Chevron denied the request for evacuation and demanded that drilling continue despite the fact that black smoke was billowing out of a borehole.The…

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Since 2005, the “total oil supply” for the United States as reported by the Energy Information Administration increased by 2.2 million barrels per day. Of this, 1.3 mb/d, or 60%, has come from natural gas liquids and biofuels, which really shouldn’t be added to conventional crude production for purposes of calculating the available supply. Of the 800,000 b/d increase in actual field production of crude oil, almost all of the gain has come from shale and other tight formations that horizontal fracturing methods have only recently opened up. Here…

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Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are at it again, feuding over a lucrative patch of the Caspian Sea. Russia would likely be the chief beneficiary of Caspian discord, if it continues.Baku and Ashgabat have wrestled since the Soviet collapse in 1991 over ownership of three Caspian oilfields. Two of the three fields are now among Azerbaijan’s energy gems – the Azeri field (Omar to Turkmenistan) and the Chirag/Osman (620 million tons in oil reserves), both developed by a BP-led consortium. The third disputed field, Kyapaz (Serdar), has about…

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As decades-long coal mine fires continue to burn beneath the ground in Centralia, Pennsylvania, ghosts with unfinished business remain.Hundreds of coal mine fires continue to burn beneath the ground across the US to this day—a majority of which are found in Pennsylvania, home to the world’s largest deposits of coal. For over 50 years, the Pennsylvania town of Centralia has become a ghost town as of a result. Lethal levels of carbon monoxide spew from cracks in the Earth, transportation routes have been shut down and the majority of the city’s…

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The United States Air Force announced that they have flown the first aircraft that runs on a new fuel blend based on alcohol.The fuel, known as Alcohol-to-Jet or ATJ, is the third alternative fuel to have been evaluated by the U.S. Air Force as a potential replacement for standard petroleum-derived JP-8 aviation fuel for the organization’s fleet.The fuel was tested on an A-10C Thunderbolt II aircraft on June 28.The fuel is cellulose-based, or can be derived from any cell-based material like wood, paper or grass. The extracted sugars are then fermented…

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In 2005, after 22 years of conflict, Sudan split into two; the Republic of the Sudan, and the Republic of South Sudan. In the split South Sudan took 75 percent of the nation’s 470,000 barrels a day ouput of crude oil, whilst the North was left in control of the pipelines, the only manner of transporting the oil to the coast for export to other countries. Ever since the split the two young nations have been unable to agree as to how much South Sudan should pay Sudan for the privilege of using the oil pipes.Sudan announced that it will seize…

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As wind energy companies look to generate ever more power from wind turbines, the turbines themselves are getting bigger and bigger. Some can now use rotor blades that are 180 meters in length.As the size increases, so does the height of the tower, and therefore traditional methods for examining the blades and turbine, by using a high powered telescope placed on the ground, are becoming less and less effective.GE Global Research has partnered up with the US-based International Climbing Machines, to develop a robot which can scale the wind turbine…

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