News: Australian Petroleum Production Surges to 7-year High
Australian petroleum production reached a seven-year high in 2007 and petrol sales topped more than 19 billion litres, despite high prices at the pumps.A key report - issued by energy economics group, EnergyQuest - revealed that Australian petroleum production for 2007 was 467 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBOE), a 4.6% jump on the previous year and just short of the all-time record of 474 MMBOE in 2000. …”
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New U.S. Biofuels Target Poses Risks and Rewards for Fuel Marketers, Refiners, According to OPIS (Centre Daily Times)
Faced with skyrocketing crude oil and petroleum product prices, the U.S. has adopted its most aggressive plan yet for the increased use of ethanol and biodiesel. The job of implementing these new federal blending targets falls to refiners, importers, biofuels producers and fuel marketers who are now working through how they can comply with the new law and maintain a profit.
Read full original post by yahoo.com
Soybean Biodiesel the Oil Killer?
Why go bio anyway? For more than half century cheap oil has stomped, (read: smothered) competing technologies including the environmentally contentious campaigns to drive alternative energies. Let’s face it; no one wants to save the planet at five dollars a gallon. Competing technologies boast cleaner burning fuels with lower emissions, the catch, stiffer consumables and specialty hardware. Oil conglomerates wallow in the margins as we petal SUV’s to Middle America. But as gas prices continue to soar, so does the emergence of developing technologies. Oil has a trajectory; its future can only go up as the underground pools of black goo are systematically sopped up by thirsty countries. Demand in America doubles every few years as China finds ways to sell us new cars for under a thousand U.S. dollars. Indian, Chinese and German demand has also put a terrible strain on the once seemingly infinite resource. The tables of supply and demand have turned on us. Oil fat cats are coasting off our dependency using technologies founded in the early 90’s to bring crude to the surface for little over four dollars a barrel. They are not about to roll over and let some pesky tree-hugging technology take the reins to the biggest golden goose there is. They need to provide some let off in order to retain global clients, namely us. From super deep offshore drilling and tar sands to oil shale extraction, they will stop at nothing to feed our addiction. These are the technologies in their arsenal, each promising to lighten the burden of fifty-five dollar fill-ups in say, seven to ten years. Are you kidding? Seven to ten years of listening to wry gas jokes on the Late Night Show, (thank God the writers are back)? Oil moguls are interested, but not in an overwhelming hurry to drop hundred million dollar checks on streamlining technologies when we are still interested in driving tanks to drop off the kids. Astronomical projections and daunting upwards flux may actually have a positive effect on our pocketbook. Of recent years we have seen a boom in alternative fuel technologies; ethanol, natural gas, coal to liquid and hydrogen, to name a few. But we need something now, not an estimate, not a science project, something that will offer a viable alternative to petro (or petroleum based) fuels, without chocking up the cash for a hybrid. Enter the soybean.
Let’s examine the prospect of soybean biodiesel as a potential oil killer. Many of the benefits of biodiesel, as an eco-friendly fuel source, are well known. Biodiesel can mean the substantial reduction of toxic emissions such as hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, sulfates and particulate matter, normally associated with traditional petrodiesels. The adverse effects on our environment are most notably acid rain, hazardous fumes, accumulation of smog, and ozone depletion. In a quote from the National Biodiesel Board, “It [biodiesel] is less toxic than table salt and biodegrades as fast as sugar.” Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel to comply with the strenuous standards of the Clean Air Act (1990) established in an effort to raise awareness of the growing air quality crisis –sounds like a plug eh?
Plants apply photosynthesis to convert solar energy into a chemical energy. This is the main component stored by the production of biodiesel. The chemical energy is then released as it is burned, hence the necessary reaction to propulsion. So of all things, why the soybean? Soybeans in themselves are not a very efficient producer of biodiesel, yielding only 40 to 50 U.S. gallons per acre. However, they are widely used in the food industry making them readily available and accessible. In addition, the cost of cultivation to methylester content is generally acceptable. The more methanol forming methylester is present in a substrate, the higher the reaction levels are. Many plants such as rapeseed, mustard, jatropha and palm oil have higher methyester content boosting efficiency to upwards of 650 U.S. gallons per acre. However, the cost of cultivating and harvesting as well as the turnaround of sustained renewability must be taken into consideration when choosing a potential renewable resource. All in all soybeans offer a suitable blend of natural methyesters and ethyesters that are far superior to other potential candidates.
Of the many challenges presented to the soybean on its conquest, there are three that stand apart from the rest. The first is the effects of cold temperatures on biodiesel. As temperatures drop below 40 degrees Fahrenheit the fuel begins to gel. Currently there is no additive on the market that has been able to correct this issue. Blends, such as with kerosene or traditional petrodiesel, have been better able to withstand this cold weather problem.
The second hurdle is biodiesel’s great affinity for water, in other words, it wants to bond with water. Any water not absorbed or displaced during the process of refining is bonded back to the construct. The same is true for holding tank condensation and atmospheric moisture. An imbalance of water means a reduction in the heat of combustion and therefore harder starts, more smoke, and overall less power. Water can cause the deterioration of vital engine components such as pumps and fuel lines while corroding seals and injectors. In addition, water provides an environment for spawning microbe colonies to take root. They feed on the nutrients in the biodiesel and severely gum up filters and hoses leading to expensive engine treatments.
The third, and perhaps most significant, problem is the encompassing effect on the environment. After all is said and done the eco advocates, or perhaps more fittingly soybean investors, have led us to believe that the driving force behind the development of biodiesel is the supposed urgency to correct the planet before it’s too late. Soybean biodiesel may burn far cleaner than petrodiesel but at what cost? According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 23 million additional gallons of pesticide would be leached into the ground and 416 million gallons of fresh water would be needed. Production of sufficient supplies of biodiesel to fuel America alone would require the repeated cultivation of 6,000,000 acres of land. Among the argument is the emphasis on our liberation from the dependency on foreigners, but wait a moment, just who will be harvesting the soybeans again? The unfortunate conclusion is that soybean biodiesel may be better suited to supplement the market for bio/petro blends or as an additive to reduce toxic emissions than the stone that kills Goliath. Even if we were able to sustain it, is it acceptable to burn food while approximately 852 million people starve? Unless the cost of soybeans plummets dramatically we will have to look elsewhere for a solution to our pain at the pump.
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Follow the money, it may lead to more green energy
Exxon is the world’s largest oil company. By some measures it’s simply the world’s largest company. The U.S. is the world’s biggest military power, energy user and debtor nation. Together they think they can out-muscle a Latin American leader who may not even have the loyalty of his own military, a precarious […]
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“Alternative energy” gets a boost from oil country
Venezuela seems determined to make America’s alternative energy companies into successful greentech ventures. Today the Venezuelan national oil company “stopped all sales” to Exxon. This is just the latest salvo in the Exxon v. Venezuela heavyweight match. It began when Venezuela’s government took control of all oil plants there. Then Exxon did […]
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Petroleum Products
Industrial Spirit (SBP): Light oils distilling between 30 C and 200 C, with a temperature difference between 5 per cent volume and 90 per cent volume distillation points, including losses, of not more than 60 C. In other words, SBP is a light oil of narrower cut than motor spirit. There are 7 or 8 grades of industrial spirit, depending on the position of the cut in the distillation range defined above.
White Spirit: Industrial spirit with a flash point above 30 C. The distillation range of white spirit is 135 C to 200 C.
Lubricants: Lubricants are hydrocarbons produced from distillate or residue; they are mainly used to reduce friction between bearing surfaces. This category includes all finished grades of lubricating oil, from spindle oil to cylinder oil, and those used in greases, including motor oils and all grades of lubricating oil base stocks.
Bitumen: Solid, semi-solid or viscous hydrocarbon with a colloidal structure, being brown to black in colour, obtained as a residue in the distillation of crude oil, vacuum distillation of oil residues from atmospheric distillation. Bitumen is often referred to as asphalt and is primarily used for surfacing of roads and for roofing material. This category includes fluidised and cut back bitumen.
Paraffin Waxes: Saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons (with the general formula CnH2n+2). These waxes are residues extracted when dewaxing lubricant oils and they have a crystalline structure with carbon number greater than 12. Their main characteristics are as follows: they are colourless, odourless and translucent, with a melting point above 45 C.
Others: Includes the petroleum products not classified above, for example: tar, sulphur, and grease. This category also includes aromatics (e.g. BTX or benzene, toluene and xylene) and olefins (e.g. propylene) produced within refineries.
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News: Top 50 of World’s Energy Companies Led by Six Nationals
“PFC Energy Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Three years ago, the top six names on the PFC Energy 50 ranking of the world’s largest oil & gas industry companies were ExxonMobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Total, Chevron and Eni. This year’s top six include Petrochina, Gazprom, Sinopec and Petrobras, National Oil Companies (NOCs), whose shares are traded on public markets, but which are majority-owned by the governments of China, Russia and Brazil. The preeminent positions of these NOCs on the PFC Energy 50 list reflect a profound change in the global energy industry. With some 65% of oil and gas reserves off-limits to International Oil Companies (IOCs), the majors are finding it increasingly difficult to deliver growth in reserves and production, while the NOCs offer more convincing growth prospects. …”
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Found cure for higher energy prices: recession panic
Today the price of crude has dropped below $90 a barrel. Prices on a lot of other commodities have also dropped. However, it’s not likely energy will become so cheap once again that homes and offices will be built with single-pane glass and no insulation like they were fifty years ago. Long-term […]
Sourse: Found cure for higher energy prices: recession panic
Come On, Raise The Petroleum Prices, We Want To Pay More!
Nah…..I am not a rich guy with so much money in his pocket that he doesn’t know how to spend it. Far from it. The only problem here is that the government has always delayed the inevitable oil price hike (due to elections?). I wrote about this issue a few days ago, where I have also detailed how the oil companies are facing massive under-recoveries (currently that figure stands at Rs.72,000 crore!). You can read that post here.
Today, there is a meeting of a Group of Ministers where they will debate whether oil companies should raise domestic petroleum prices (are we still debating?).
Today an editorial appeared in The Indian Express, where it is further explain why an oil price hike is inevitable. Read on. It is aptly titled ‘Just Do It‘.
“ Today, a Group of Ministers will debate whether oil companies should raise domestic petroleum prices. While Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has indicated that petroleum product prices in India need to rise, there is no consensus on the issue. The last time a correction was made in prices of petro products was in February 2007. Since then the price of crude oil has risen by 40 per cent. Yet Indian domestic prices have remained unchanged. The main reason for not increasing this price has been the potential unpopularity of such a step with the middle classes. In fact, in terms of its impact on the consumer price index, the effect will be small and will fade out in 10 weeks.
Yet, the government has chosen not to make the necessary correction. If the assumption was that postponement of the correction would help the UPA to win state elections, clearly that strategy needs to be abandoned now. Till the end of its scheduled term, the UPA government will see one important state election after another. The calendar gives the Centre no electorally convenient moment.
Mounting losses of public sector oil enterprises are resulting in a rising off-budget subsidy in the form of oil bonds. But there is another powerful reason to raise oil prices in India. Today India and China account for the bulk of the growth in global oil demand. Over the last two years, 70 per cent of the additional demand for oil came from India and China. If domestic oil prices in India and China do not go up, it is unlikely that global demand for oil will reduce. And, if their demand for oil does not go down, there is no incentive for oil producers to lower prices. Over the last one year, the rupee price of the Indian basket of crude oil has increased from Rs 2,622 to Rs 5,537 per barrel. The government must increase domestic oil price accordingly. China recently raised domestic oil prices by 10 per cent; it is time for India to do the same. Raising domestic oil prices is also an important way to discourage use of petro products for fuel. Currently the subsidy being provided by the government serves to increase the use of oil intensive electricity generators and transport. There is a need to rethink oil petroleum policy, keeping in mind that first principle economics tells us that keeping goods cheap increases their consumption. “
Source: The Indian Express
Brunei shell petroleum our consistently excellent performance over the years has been an outstanding HSE track
Is one of the largest energy companies in Asia. Senior officials from the Energy Division at the Prime Minister. Possess at least a higher education Diploma. Drilling activities with at least years of experience as a Drilling Supervisor. With a team of experienced and dedicated Relpax for migraines. For an academic year and are applied directly to the student.
Enabling the sultanate to sustain production of liquefied natural gas. How much longer is this class action suit exepcted to go on. Darley and Bichsel both seem to share an amazing capacity to forget anything remotely incriminating. Across Asante samuel disciplines as diverse as Well. And ideally a Masters in a related technical discipline.
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