+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Australian Floods Push Coal Price to Two-Year High, Ravage Crops
2011-01-11 05:43:05.131 GMT
By Ben Sharples and Wendy Pugh
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Australian thermal coal prices rose
to the highest since September 2008 as Queensland's worst floods
in 50 years disrupted mines, cut transport and damaged crops.
The price of power station coal at the port of Newcastle in
New South Wales, the benchmark for Asia, jumped 4.5 percent to
$131.80 a metric ton in the week ended Jan. 7, according to IHS
McCloskey. Australian Cotton Shippers Association Chairman
Arthur Spellson said today production losses may be about
300,000 bales. Rabobank Groep NV has cut its output forecast for
the cotton crop by 8 percent because of the floods.
The rains have inundated an area the size of France and
Germany, shutting mines, cutting rail lines and destroying
crops, with the latest downpour leaving nine people dead and
more than 60 missing. Gladstone Ports Corp. Chief Executive
Officer Leo Zussino said today coal stockpiles at the export
harbor were "extremely low."
"There is going to be some coal scarcity that's going to
impact the global market for a little while," Michael Roche,
chief executive officer of the Queensland Resources Council,
said in a telephone interview. "You've got to expect that
clearing water from flooded pits will go on into next month.
Getting back into full production will be a mine-by-mine
proposition."
The flooded region is losing A$480 million ($473 million) a
week in coal exports, Mark Pervan, head of commodity research at
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Melbourne, said in
a note on Jan 7. BHP Billiton Ltd., Wesfarmers Ltd. and Rio
Tinto Group are among companies to declare force majeure, a
legal clause that allows mines to miss deliveries.
Cotton and Sugar
The deluge may have cut Queensland cotton production by
500,000 bales, Rabobank estimated in an e-mailed report
yesterday. The bank cut its forecast for national production to
3.95 million bales, each weighing 500 pounds. The cotton crop
will still be at a record because output in New South Wales will
help offset the flooding losses.
"The ability of cotton to recover is going to be
determined by whether it gets a lot of good, hot, sunny weather
from now, and it's obviously not getting that at the moment,"
the Cotton Shippers Association's Spellson said by telephone.
Rabobank cut its raw sugar output forecast for 2011-2012 by
10 percent to 3.8 million metric tons. Maryborough Sugar Factory
Ltd. said today there has been "no material impact" to the
company's infrastructure or crop estimates.
Queensland may have lost 200,000 tons of wheat and barley
output since the end of November as well as 300,000 tons in
sorghum production, Rabobank said. Australia is the fourth
largest cotton exporter and the third-biggest shipper of sugar.
'Significant Landslide'
Rains caused a landslide near the city of Toowoomba,
cutting part of the rail network that carries freight and
passengers and serves Peabody Energy Corp. and New Hope Corp.
coal mines, QR National Spokesman Mark Hairsine said by
telephone today. "The early advice is that it's a significant
landslide."
Australia's export coking coal prices jumped 6.9 percent to
$265 a metric ton on average last week from $248, according IHS
McCloskey, a Petersfield, U.K.-based provider of coal data. The
country is the largest shipper of coal used in steelmaking and
trails only Indonesia in exports of the thermal variety.
Queensland exports about 50 million tons of thermal coal a
year, according to Macquarie Group Ltd. Including coal used by
steelmakers, Australia shipped 259 million tons in 2009, the
World Coal Association website shows.
New Hope said today production had been suspended at its
New Acland and New Oakleigh coal mines because of "substantial
rainfall" in the past 48 hours. Wesfarmers said severe flooding
is "significantly impacting" output from its Curragh
operation.
Beef Disruptions
Gloucester Coal Ltd. said today that its open cut mining
operations, 100 kilometers north of Newcastle in New South
Wales, haven't been materially affected.
Swift Australia, the nation's largest beef processor, said
its operations at Ipswich and Toowoomba had been disrupted.
"Toowoomba is down for two days," Director John Berry
said by phone today. "Ipswich will be affected for a long
period of time because of supply issues." Swift Australia is a
unit of Sao Paulo-based JBS SA.
GrainCorp Ltd., eastern Australia's largest grain handler,
said yesterday its Fisherman Islands port elevator near Brisbane
was receiving grain by road, while rail operations were still
restricted after flooding.
Repairing the damage may cost more than A$5 billion ($4.94
billion), Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has said.
For Related News and Information:
Top Commodity Stories: CTOP <GO>
--With assistance by Phoebe Sedgman in Wellington. Editors: John
Viljoen, Peter Langan
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ben Sharples in Melbourne at +61-3-9228-8732 or
bsharples@bloomberg.net;
Rebecca Keenan in Melbourne at +61-3-9228-8721 or
rkeenan5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jane Lee in Kuala Lumpur at +603-2302-7855 or
jalee@bloomberg.net
2011/01/11
(BN) Brisbane Faces Worst Flood Since 1893 Amid Evacuation (Update2)
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Brisbane Faces Worst Flood Since 1893 Amid Evacuation (Update2)
2011-01-11 10:17:49.603 GMT
(Updates death toll in second paragraph.)
By Angus Whitley and Jacob Greber
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Brisbane faces its worst floods
since 1893 as rivers swollen with heavy rain race toward
Australia's third-largest city.
Flash floods overnight left 10 dead and 79 missing in the
northeastern state of Queensland, the state's premier, Anna
Bligh, said today at a news conference. She said the death toll
may more than double and urged Brisbane residents to be prepared
for enormous disruptions.
Queensland has been lashed for more than two weeks as
downpours hammered the coal- and sugar-producing state.
Brisbane's airport today bustled with people fleeing the coastal
city, home to more than 1 million people. Some of those staying
to ride out the waters cleared store shelves to hoard food.
"We are facing one of our toughest tests," Bligh said.
"We are now in a very frightening experience. We continue to
hold very grave fears for the missing."
The Australian dollar fell to a three-week low against its
U.S. counterpart as concern mounted that economic growth will
slow. Australian thermal coal prices rose as the waters curbed
output.
Floodwaters reaching Queensland's capital on Jan. 13 may
surpass the level of a deluge that inundated the city in 1974,
Brisbane's worst floods of the 20th century, Bligh said. About
9,000 properties will be inundated and some residents may be
forced to evacuate, she said.
Emerging from an operations room where she's bunkered down
with police and emergency-services officers, Bligh asked
residents to stay calm, close ranks and follow orders.
Obeying Instructions
"We do need to brace ourselves for a significant death
toll," Bligh said. "If you're asked to leave your property,
don't make the job harder."
As floodwaters sweep east, an evacuation center has been
set up at the RNA Showgrounds at Bowen Hills in Brisbane,
Queensland police said. Main roads were clogged late today.
Close to the city center, shops and homeowners began surrounding
their properties with sandbags.
Bligh warned that shops and businesses are likely to be
closed in the next few days as waters rise. Motorists should
avoid driving wherever possible, she said.
Many shops in Brisbane are empty, said resident Steven
Pearce, a book seller.
"It's mayhem," he said by phone from a supermarket in the
south of the city. "On the shelves there is no bread, there is
no water, no fruit or vegetables."
Gunship Paluma
The record 1893 floods dumped the gunship Paluma on the
Brisbane Botanical Gardens. The 1974 torrent, triggered by near-
record rainfall and a tropical cyclone, killed 16 people and
inundated a third of the city's metropolitan area, according to
the website of the Attorney General's department. Following that
deluge, the state built the Wivenhoe Dam to protect the capital.
That dam is close to capacity and some of its water must be
released, said Brisbane's Lord Mayor Campbell Newman.
"The big shock absorber that is that dam is now full," he
told reporters. "Every bit of rain that falls in the catchment
is going to come down into the city."
One positive development is that rain is expected to ease
overnight and tomorrow, which will help relief and rescue
efforts, Bligh said late today. The weather bureau expects light
showers for the rest of the week.
A further 30,000 properties in Brisbane will be partially
affected by the flood, Bligh said. Queensland's government today
declared three-quarters of the state a disaster zone.
"Thursday is going to be devastating for the residents and
businesses concerned," Newman said. "Those people should take
immediate action."
Inland Tsunami
The latest floods first swept yesterday through Toowoomba,
home to 90,000 people about 127 kilometers (79 miles) west of
Brisbane. As a wall of brown water cascaded through the town
without warning, people were trapped in vehicles, while others
hung to lamp posts and trees.
The flash floods, described by police as an "inland
instant tsunami," were triggered after heavy rains fell on
already sodden ground. The downpour have hit the state's farming
and coal industries and may have affected as many as 200,000
people, authorities say.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard today offered defense force
resources to Premier Bligh for the rescue operation. The U.S.,
China, Japan, Singapore and New Zealand are among nations that
have offered help, she said.
Rescue efforts have been hampered as fog grounded
helicopters, leaving residents stranded on rooftops overnight.
West of Brisbane closer to yesterday's flash floods, about 300
people were airlifted to safety, police said.
The most recent floods have affected about 1 million square
kilometers, an area the size of France and Germany. Repairing
the damage may cost more than A$5 billion ($4.94 billion), the
state government has said.
In Sydney, shares of Suncorp Group Ltd. and Insurance
Australia Group Ltd. fell as investors bet floods in Brisbane
will trigger a spike in claims.
For Related News and Information:
Top Stories: TOP <GO>
Top commodity stories: CTOP <GO>
Most read Australian news: MNI AUD <GO>
Most-read natural disaster stories: TNI MOSTREAD NAT <GO>
--With assistance from Rebecca Keenan and Ben Sharples in
Melbourne. Editors: Iain Wilson, Indranil Ghosh
To contact the reporters on this story:
Angus Whitley in Sydney at +61-2-9777-8643 or
awhitley1@bloomberg.net;
Jacob Greber in Brisbane at +61-2-9777-8635 or
jgreber@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Philip Lagerkranser at +852-2977-6626 or
lagerkranser@bloomberg.net
Brisbane Faces Worst Flood Since 1893 Amid Evacuation (Update2)
2011-01-11 10:17:49.603 GMT
(Updates death toll in second paragraph.)
By Angus Whitley and Jacob Greber
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Brisbane faces its worst floods
since 1893 as rivers swollen with heavy rain race toward
Australia's third-largest city.
Flash floods overnight left 10 dead and 79 missing in the
northeastern state of Queensland, the state's premier, Anna
Bligh, said today at a news conference. She said the death toll
may more than double and urged Brisbane residents to be prepared
for enormous disruptions.
Queensland has been lashed for more than two weeks as
downpours hammered the coal- and sugar-producing state.
Brisbane's airport today bustled with people fleeing the coastal
city, home to more than 1 million people. Some of those staying
to ride out the waters cleared store shelves to hoard food.
"We are facing one of our toughest tests," Bligh said.
"We are now in a very frightening experience. We continue to
hold very grave fears for the missing."
The Australian dollar fell to a three-week low against its
U.S. counterpart as concern mounted that economic growth will
slow. Australian thermal coal prices rose as the waters curbed
output.
Floodwaters reaching Queensland's capital on Jan. 13 may
surpass the level of a deluge that inundated the city in 1974,
Brisbane's worst floods of the 20th century, Bligh said. About
9,000 properties will be inundated and some residents may be
forced to evacuate, she said.
Emerging from an operations room where she's bunkered down
with police and emergency-services officers, Bligh asked
residents to stay calm, close ranks and follow orders.
Obeying Instructions
"We do need to brace ourselves for a significant death
toll," Bligh said. "If you're asked to leave your property,
don't make the job harder."
As floodwaters sweep east, an evacuation center has been
set up at the RNA Showgrounds at Bowen Hills in Brisbane,
Queensland police said. Main roads were clogged late today.
Close to the city center, shops and homeowners began surrounding
their properties with sandbags.
Bligh warned that shops and businesses are likely to be
closed in the next few days as waters rise. Motorists should
avoid driving wherever possible, she said.
Many shops in Brisbane are empty, said resident Steven
Pearce, a book seller.
"It's mayhem," he said by phone from a supermarket in the
south of the city. "On the shelves there is no bread, there is
no water, no fruit or vegetables."
Gunship Paluma
The record 1893 floods dumped the gunship Paluma on the
Brisbane Botanical Gardens. The 1974 torrent, triggered by near-
record rainfall and a tropical cyclone, killed 16 people and
inundated a third of the city's metropolitan area, according to
the website of the Attorney General's department. Following that
deluge, the state built the Wivenhoe Dam to protect the capital.
That dam is close to capacity and some of its water must be
released, said Brisbane's Lord Mayor Campbell Newman.
"The big shock absorber that is that dam is now full," he
told reporters. "Every bit of rain that falls in the catchment
is going to come down into the city."
One positive development is that rain is expected to ease
overnight and tomorrow, which will help relief and rescue
efforts, Bligh said late today. The weather bureau expects light
showers for the rest of the week.
A further 30,000 properties in Brisbane will be partially
affected by the flood, Bligh said. Queensland's government today
declared three-quarters of the state a disaster zone.
"Thursday is going to be devastating for the residents and
businesses concerned," Newman said. "Those people should take
immediate action."
Inland Tsunami
The latest floods first swept yesterday through Toowoomba,
home to 90,000 people about 127 kilometers (79 miles) west of
Brisbane. As a wall of brown water cascaded through the town
without warning, people were trapped in vehicles, while others
hung to lamp posts and trees.
The flash floods, described by police as an "inland
instant tsunami," were triggered after heavy rains fell on
already sodden ground. The downpour have hit the state's farming
and coal industries and may have affected as many as 200,000
people, authorities say.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard today offered defense force
resources to Premier Bligh for the rescue operation. The U.S.,
China, Japan, Singapore and New Zealand are among nations that
have offered help, she said.
Rescue efforts have been hampered as fog grounded
helicopters, leaving residents stranded on rooftops overnight.
West of Brisbane closer to yesterday's flash floods, about 300
people were airlifted to safety, police said.
The most recent floods have affected about 1 million square
kilometers, an area the size of France and Germany. Repairing
the damage may cost more than A$5 billion ($4.94 billion), the
state government has said.
In Sydney, shares of Suncorp Group Ltd. and Insurance
Australia Group Ltd. fell as investors bet floods in Brisbane
will trigger a spike in claims.
For Related News and Information:
Top Stories: TOP <GO>
Top commodity stories: CTOP <GO>
Most read Australian news: MNI AUD <GO>
Most-read natural disaster stories: TNI MOSTREAD NAT <GO>
--With assistance from Rebecca Keenan and Ben Sharples in
Melbourne. Editors: Iain Wilson, Indranil Ghosh
To contact the reporters on this story:
Angus Whitley in Sydney at +61-2-9777-8643 or
awhitley1@bloomberg.net;
Jacob Greber in Brisbane at +61-2-9777-8635 or
jgreber@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Philip Lagerkranser at +852-2977-6626 or
lagerkranser@bloomberg.net
New York, U.S. Northeast May Get 14 Inches of Snow From New Storm
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
New York, Northeast May Get 14 Inches of Snow From New Storm
2011-01-11 01:46:37.384 GMT
By Brian K. Sullivan
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- A winter storm that forced the
cancellation of thousands of flights across the U.S. South
yesterday is bearing down on New York with as much as 14 inches
(36 centimeters) of new snow.
The storm, which will head into Boston after hitting New
York, will be a "pretty standard nor'easter," said Jeff
Masters, co-founder of Weather Underground Inc. in Ann Arbor,
Michigan.
"It is going to bomb off the East Coast and intensify
rapidly," Masters said. "It will not be as intense as the
post-Christmas Day nor'easter, but it is still a respectable
snowstorm for January."
Snow is expected to start falling about 9 p.m. in New York
with the highest amounts on Long Island, said Andy Mussoline, a
meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. in State College,
Pennsylvania.
"I would anticipate disruptions in travel for that
Wednesday morning commute," Mussoline said. The snowfall should
be over in New York, except for some flurries, by tomorrow
afternoon, he said.
Philadelphia may receive 3 inches to 7 inches, with 2
inches to 4 inches in Baltimore and 1 inch to 3 inches in
Washington, the National Weather Service said.
Flights Canceled
The storm is expected to disrupt air travel from Chicago
eastward through the U.S. Northeast, Mussoline said.
At least 491 flights have been canceled so far today,
according to FlightAware in Houston, Texas. At least 2,259
flights were canceled yesterday, with 1,044 of those originating
from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport,
according to the flight-tracking company's website.
Delta Airlines scrubbed 1,608 flights, or about 25 percent
of its regular schedule yesterday, according to FlightAware.
Yesterday, Huntsville, Alabama, recorded its third-largest
snowfall, with 8.9 inches, according to the weather service. The
record was 17.1 inches set Dec. 31, 1963, into Jan. 1, 1964, the
agency said.
At least 12.5 inches was recorded in the mountains of North
Carolina and 9 inches fell in South Carolina, according to the
weather service.
The storm comes two weeks after a blizzard struck New York
and the Northeast, dropping at least 20 inches of snow on
Central Park and forcing the cancellation of more than 8,000
flights.
NYC Snow Costs
The Dec. 26-27 storm left some New York City streets
unplowed for days and garbage pickups backlogged. It cost New
York at least $20 million of its $38.8 million snow-removal
budget, according to the city's Sanitation Department.
After the latest snow leaves, southern New England will be
clear and cold for at least a few days, said Mussoline. There is
a chance snow may fall when the National Football League's New
England Patriots host the New York Jets in the second round of
the American Football Conference playoffs.
"It doesn't appear to be heavy but it could make for some
entertaining views on the TV for that New England game on
Sunday," Mussoline said.
For Related News and Information:
Natural Gas Prices: NG1 <COMMODITY> GP <GO>
Top Energy Stories: ETOP <GO>
Top Natural Gas Market Stories: TGAS <GO>
--With assistance from Mary Jane Credeur in Atlanta. Editors:
Charlotte Porter, Bill Banker.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at +1-617-210-4631 or
bsullivan10@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at +1-212-617-4403 or
dstets@bloomberg.net
New York, Northeast May Get 14 Inches of Snow From New Storm
2011-01-11 01:46:37.384 GMT
By Brian K. Sullivan
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- A winter storm that forced the
cancellation of thousands of flights across the U.S. South
yesterday is bearing down on New York with as much as 14 inches
(36 centimeters) of new snow.
The storm, which will head into Boston after hitting New
York, will be a "pretty standard nor'easter," said Jeff
Masters, co-founder of Weather Underground Inc. in Ann Arbor,
Michigan.
"It is going to bomb off the East Coast and intensify
rapidly," Masters said. "It will not be as intense as the
post-Christmas Day nor'easter, but it is still a respectable
snowstorm for January."
Snow is expected to start falling about 9 p.m. in New York
with the highest amounts on Long Island, said Andy Mussoline, a
meteorologist with AccuWeather Inc. in State College,
Pennsylvania.
"I would anticipate disruptions in travel for that
Wednesday morning commute," Mussoline said. The snowfall should
be over in New York, except for some flurries, by tomorrow
afternoon, he said.
Philadelphia may receive 3 inches to 7 inches, with 2
inches to 4 inches in Baltimore and 1 inch to 3 inches in
Washington, the National Weather Service said.
Flights Canceled
The storm is expected to disrupt air travel from Chicago
eastward through the U.S. Northeast, Mussoline said.
At least 491 flights have been canceled so far today,
according to FlightAware in Houston, Texas. At least 2,259
flights were canceled yesterday, with 1,044 of those originating
from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport,
according to the flight-tracking company's website.
Delta Airlines scrubbed 1,608 flights, or about 25 percent
of its regular schedule yesterday, according to FlightAware.
Yesterday, Huntsville, Alabama, recorded its third-largest
snowfall, with 8.9 inches, according to the weather service. The
record was 17.1 inches set Dec. 31, 1963, into Jan. 1, 1964, the
agency said.
At least 12.5 inches was recorded in the mountains of North
Carolina and 9 inches fell in South Carolina, according to the
weather service.
The storm comes two weeks after a blizzard struck New York
and the Northeast, dropping at least 20 inches of snow on
Central Park and forcing the cancellation of more than 8,000
flights.
NYC Snow Costs
The Dec. 26-27 storm left some New York City streets
unplowed for days and garbage pickups backlogged. It cost New
York at least $20 million of its $38.8 million snow-removal
budget, according to the city's Sanitation Department.
After the latest snow leaves, southern New England will be
clear and cold for at least a few days, said Mussoline. There is
a chance snow may fall when the National Football League's New
England Patriots host the New York Jets in the second round of
the American Football Conference playoffs.
"It doesn't appear to be heavy but it could make for some
entertaining views on the TV for that New England game on
Sunday," Mussoline said.
For Related News and Information:
Natural Gas Prices: NG1 <COMMODITY> GP <GO>
Top Energy Stories: ETOP <GO>
Top Natural Gas Market Stories: TGAS <GO>
--With assistance from Mary Jane Credeur in Atlanta. Editors:
Charlotte Porter, Bill Banker.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at +1-617-210-4631 or
bsullivan10@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Dan Stets at +1-212-617-4403 or
dstets@bloomberg.net
(BN) U.K. Summer Gas May Rise on European Demand, Deutsche
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
U.K. Summer Gas May Rise on European Demand, Deutsche Bank Says
2011-01-11 12:59:10.852 GMT
By Ben Farey
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. summer natural-gas prices may
rise as buyers from mainland Europe increase their purchases of
the fuel from Britain through Interconnector (U.K.) Ltd.'s
pipeline to Belgium, according to Deutsche Bank AG.
"European buyers will seek to replace contract gas with
summer spot-market purchases, raising exports through the
interconnector as occurred in summer 2010," analysts at the
bank including Michael Hsueh and Mark Lewis in London said in a
report today.
Summer gas may gain to 56.4 pence a therm under the bank's
"base case" which assumes liquefied natural gas imports of 45
million cubic meters a day during the six months through
September, they said. The summer contract advanced 1.9 percent
to 54.15 pence a therm as of 12:30 p.m. London time today.
Most gas on mainland Europe is sold under multiyear
contracts linked to the cost of crude-oil and oil products, with
a lag of three to nine months. Brent crude climbed to as much as
$96.46 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange today, its
highest since October 2008.
The price difference between the summer and winter gas
contracts may narrow due to increased demand for U.K. summer
gas, according to the report.
This may cause "a reversal of the traditional seasonality
of delivered prices" with summer gas more expensive than winter
gas once delivered, Deutsche Bank said.
More LNG
Maintenance at Norway's Kollsnes gas-export plant and Royal
Dutch Shell Plc's Ormen Lange field scheduled for May might
coincide with a rise in exports to Belgium through the
reversible pipeline and boost summer prices, the analysts said.
The greatest risk to the summer price forecast is higher
LNG imports as Qatar starts new plants and production from GDF
Suez SA's Gjoea field in Norway, Deutsche Bank said.
"If we experience the same interconnector demand uptick
this year, it will coincide with heavy Norwegian maintenance, so
the price effect could be greater," according to the report.
Prices for the winter contract, the six months from
October, may fall, Deutsche Bank said, giving a forecast of 54
pence a therm. The contract was at 61.15 pence a therm at 11:45
a.m., according to broker prices on Bloomberg.
The biggest risk to the winter price is "an extended
infrastructure outage," the analysts said.
For Related News and Information:
Top Gas Stories: TGAS <GO>
--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Reed Landberg
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ben Farey in London at +44-20-7673-2369 or
bfarey@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or
sev@bloomberg.net
U.K. Summer Gas May Rise on European Demand, Deutsche Bank Says
2011-01-11 12:59:10.852 GMT
By Ben Farey
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. summer natural-gas prices may
rise as buyers from mainland Europe increase their purchases of
the fuel from Britain through Interconnector (U.K.) Ltd.'s
pipeline to Belgium, according to Deutsche Bank AG.
"European buyers will seek to replace contract gas with
summer spot-market purchases, raising exports through the
interconnector as occurred in summer 2010," analysts at the
bank including Michael Hsueh and Mark Lewis in London said in a
report today.
Summer gas may gain to 56.4 pence a therm under the bank's
"base case" which assumes liquefied natural gas imports of 45
million cubic meters a day during the six months through
September, they said. The summer contract advanced 1.9 percent
to 54.15 pence a therm as of 12:30 p.m. London time today.
Most gas on mainland Europe is sold under multiyear
contracts linked to the cost of crude-oil and oil products, with
a lag of three to nine months. Brent crude climbed to as much as
$96.46 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange today, its
highest since October 2008.
The price difference between the summer and winter gas
contracts may narrow due to increased demand for U.K. summer
gas, according to the report.
This may cause "a reversal of the traditional seasonality
of delivered prices" with summer gas more expensive than winter
gas once delivered, Deutsche Bank said.
More LNG
Maintenance at Norway's Kollsnes gas-export plant and Royal
Dutch Shell Plc's Ormen Lange field scheduled for May might
coincide with a rise in exports to Belgium through the
reversible pipeline and boost summer prices, the analysts said.
The greatest risk to the summer price forecast is higher
LNG imports as Qatar starts new plants and production from GDF
Suez SA's Gjoea field in Norway, Deutsche Bank said.
"If we experience the same interconnector demand uptick
this year, it will coincide with heavy Norwegian maintenance, so
the price effect could be greater," according to the report.
Prices for the winter contract, the six months from
October, may fall, Deutsche Bank said, giving a forecast of 54
pence a therm. The contract was at 61.15 pence a therm at 11:45
a.m., according to broker prices on Bloomberg.
The biggest risk to the winter price is "an extended
infrastructure outage," the analysts said.
For Related News and Information:
Top Gas Stories: TGAS <GO>
--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Reed Landberg
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ben Farey in London at +44-20-7673-2369 or
bfarey@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or
sev@bloomberg.net
(BN) South Korea Carbon Trading Bill Faces Opposition From Businesses
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
South Korea Carbon Trading Bill Faces Opposition From Businesses
2011-01-11 09:17:43.99 GMT
By Shinhye Kang
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- South Korea's government is facing
opposition from business groups over its proposal to start a
carbon-emissions trading system in 2013.
Business groups, including the Federation of Korean
Industries, the Korea International Trade Association, the
Korean Employers Federation and the Korea Federation of Small
and Medium Business, want the government to delay the adoption
of carbon emissions trading, the Korea Chamber of Commerce &
Industry said at a conference today on the subject in Seoul.
The system will increase costs for domestic companies and
make them less competitive than rivals from Japan and China,
which don't have emissions trading, Lee Jong In, head of climate
change team at the Korea Chamber of Commerce. He didn't give a
figure for the increase in costs.
The government of Asia's fourth-biggest polluter said in
November it will aim to adopt a carbon-emissions trading system
in 2013 as part of its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and fight global warming. The proposal requires public
hearing sessions and parliamentary approval.
The Federation of Korean Industries, the country's largest
business group, has 507 members including Posco, South Korea's
largest steelmaker and Korea Electric Power Corp.
Annual revenue at South Korea's main industries may fall 12
trillion won ($10.7 billion) should emissions trading be
introduced, the Korea Economic Daily reported on Nov. 25, citing
a research paper by the Korea Economic Research Institute.
Saving Energy
The government also announced on Sept. 28 that companies
with factories producing at least 25,000 metric tons of carbon
dioxide a year must set energy-saving and greenhouse gas-
reduction targets by September 2011. They will face fines of as
much as 10 million won if the targets aren't met.
South Korea said in 2009 that it would voluntarily reduce
carbon emissions by 30 percent from the expected 2020 level, or
4 percent below its emissions in 2005. South Korea may become
the second nation to start emissions trading in Asia after New
Zealand if the parliament approves.
Europe accounted for 81 percent of total emissions trades
in 2010, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. This trend
is set to continue through 2020 given the lack of progress on
legislation in the U.S., Japan and Australia, Guy Turner, an
analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance said last week.
Japan's Environment Minister Ryu Matsumoto declined to
commit to a schedule in a press conference on Dec. 28 after a
meeting with other ministers to discuss the nation's emissions
trading plans. In August, an environment ministry panel
recommended starting emission trading in fiscal 2013.
For Related News and Information:
Top environment news page: GREEN <GO>
Most-read climate-change stories: MNI CLIMATE <GO>
South Korea's energy statistics: ENST <GO>
Top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
--Editors: Aaron Sheldrick, Paul Gordon.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Shinhye Kang in Seoul at +82-2-3702-1638 or
skang24@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amit Prakash at +65-6212-1167 or
aprakash1@bloomberg.net.
South Korea Carbon Trading Bill Faces Opposition From Businesses
2011-01-11 09:17:43.99 GMT
By Shinhye Kang
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- South Korea's government is facing
opposition from business groups over its proposal to start a
carbon-emissions trading system in 2013.
Business groups, including the Federation of Korean
Industries, the Korea International Trade Association, the
Korean Employers Federation and the Korea Federation of Small
and Medium Business, want the government to delay the adoption
of carbon emissions trading, the Korea Chamber of Commerce &
Industry said at a conference today on the subject in Seoul.
The system will increase costs for domestic companies and
make them less competitive than rivals from Japan and China,
which don't have emissions trading, Lee Jong In, head of climate
change team at the Korea Chamber of Commerce. He didn't give a
figure for the increase in costs.
The government of Asia's fourth-biggest polluter said in
November it will aim to adopt a carbon-emissions trading system
in 2013 as part of its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and fight global warming. The proposal requires public
hearing sessions and parliamentary approval.
The Federation of Korean Industries, the country's largest
business group, has 507 members including Posco, South Korea's
largest steelmaker and Korea Electric Power Corp.
Annual revenue at South Korea's main industries may fall 12
trillion won ($10.7 billion) should emissions trading be
introduced, the Korea Economic Daily reported on Nov. 25, citing
a research paper by the Korea Economic Research Institute.
Saving Energy
The government also announced on Sept. 28 that companies
with factories producing at least 25,000 metric tons of carbon
dioxide a year must set energy-saving and greenhouse gas-
reduction targets by September 2011. They will face fines of as
much as 10 million won if the targets aren't met.
South Korea said in 2009 that it would voluntarily reduce
carbon emissions by 30 percent from the expected 2020 level, or
4 percent below its emissions in 2005. South Korea may become
the second nation to start emissions trading in Asia after New
Zealand if the parliament approves.
Europe accounted for 81 percent of total emissions trades
in 2010, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. This trend
is set to continue through 2020 given the lack of progress on
legislation in the U.S., Japan and Australia, Guy Turner, an
analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance said last week.
Japan's Environment Minister Ryu Matsumoto declined to
commit to a schedule in a press conference on Dec. 28 after a
meeting with other ministers to discuss the nation's emissions
trading plans. In August, an environment ministry panel
recommended starting emission trading in fiscal 2013.
For Related News and Information:
Top environment news page: GREEN <GO>
Most-read climate-change stories: MNI CLIMATE <GO>
South Korea's energy statistics: ENST <GO>
Top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
--Editors: Aaron Sheldrick, Paul Gordon.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Shinhye Kang in Seoul at +82-2-3702-1638 or
skang24@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amit Prakash at +65-6212-1167 or
aprakash1@bloomberg.net.
(BN) Climate Change May Continue for at Least a Millennium (Correct)
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Climate Change May Continue for at Least a Millennium (Correct)
2011-01-10 15:45:33.188 GMT
(Corrects temperature conversion in last paragraph.)
By Rudy Ruitenberg
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Climate change may be unstoppable
for the next millennium.
Rising carbon-dioxide levels in the atmosphere will affect
the climate for at least another 1,000 years, based on a
simulation by researchers at Canada's University of Victoria and
University of Calgary. That will cause the West Antarctic ice
sheet to collapse by the year 3000 and raise sea levels by 4
meters (13 feet), it showed.
The study, published online in Nature Geoscience, is the
first full climate model to make predictions so far into the
future, the Calgary university said in a Jan. 9 statement.
Researchers studied the length of time needed to reverse
climate-change trends if the world stopped using fossil fuels
and putting CO2 in the atmosphere as of 2010 and 2100.
"Ongoing regional changes in temperature and precipitation
are significant following a complete cessation of carbon-dioxide
emissions in 2100, despite almost constant global mean
temperatures," researchers led by Nathan P. Gillett at the
Victoria university said.
The effects' duration may be related to inertia in world
oceans, with parts of the southern Atlantic Ocean beginning to
warm only now as a result of CO2 emissions in the previous
century, according to the researchers.
"The simulation showed that warming will continue, rather
than stop or reverse, on the 1,000-year time scale," Shawn
Marshall, a geography professor at the University of Calgary,
said in the statement.
The Northern Hemisphere is better off in the computer
simulation, with climate-change patterns reversing in the
timeframe in places including Canada, the study shows.
Parts of North Africa would experience desertification as
land dries out by up to 30 percent, according to the
researchers. Ocean warming off Antarctica of up to 5 degrees
Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) is likely to trigger "widespread
collapse" of the West Antarctic ice sheet, the study shows.
For Related News and Information:
Top commodity stories: CTOP <GO>
Top agriculture stories: YTOP <GO>
Global agriculture statistics: GCSD <GO>
Agricultural commodity futures: CRPM <GO>
--Editors: Dan Weeks, Claudia Carpenter.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris at +33-1-5365-5039 or
rruitenberg@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Claudia Carpenter at +44-20-7330-7304 or
ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net.
Climate Change May Continue for at Least a Millennium (Correct)
2011-01-10 15:45:33.188 GMT
(Corrects temperature conversion in last paragraph.)
By Rudy Ruitenberg
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Climate change may be unstoppable
for the next millennium.
Rising carbon-dioxide levels in the atmosphere will affect
the climate for at least another 1,000 years, based on a
simulation by researchers at Canada's University of Victoria and
University of Calgary. That will cause the West Antarctic ice
sheet to collapse by the year 3000 and raise sea levels by 4
meters (13 feet), it showed.
The study, published online in Nature Geoscience, is the
first full climate model to make predictions so far into the
future, the Calgary university said in a Jan. 9 statement.
Researchers studied the length of time needed to reverse
climate-change trends if the world stopped using fossil fuels
and putting CO2 in the atmosphere as of 2010 and 2100.
"Ongoing regional changes in temperature and precipitation
are significant following a complete cessation of carbon-dioxide
emissions in 2100, despite almost constant global mean
temperatures," researchers led by Nathan P. Gillett at the
Victoria university said.
The effects' duration may be related to inertia in world
oceans, with parts of the southern Atlantic Ocean beginning to
warm only now as a result of CO2 emissions in the previous
century, according to the researchers.
"The simulation showed that warming will continue, rather
than stop or reverse, on the 1,000-year time scale," Shawn
Marshall, a geography professor at the University of Calgary,
said in the statement.
The Northern Hemisphere is better off in the computer
simulation, with climate-change patterns reversing in the
timeframe in places including Canada, the study shows.
Parts of North Africa would experience desertification as
land dries out by up to 30 percent, according to the
researchers. Ocean warming off Antarctica of up to 5 degrees
Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) is likely to trigger "widespread
collapse" of the West Antarctic ice sheet, the study shows.
For Related News and Information:
Top commodity stories: CTOP <GO>
Top agriculture stories: YTOP <GO>
Global agriculture statistics: GCSD <GO>
Agricultural commodity futures: CRPM <GO>
--Editors: Dan Weeks, Claudia Carpenter.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris at +33-1-5365-5039 or
rruitenberg@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Claudia Carpenter at +44-20-7330-7304 or
ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net.
(BN) China, U.K. Agree to Work Together on Low-Emissions Growth
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
China, U.K. Agree to Work Together on Low-Emissions Growth
2011-01-10 18:24:02.591 GMT
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. Department for Energy and
Climate Change said it will work with China to cut carbon-
dioxide emissions.
The countries signed an agreement to share knowledge on
market mechanisms and measuring emissions to spur investment in
low-carbon technologies and energy efficiency, they said today
in a statement. They plan to publish a joint plan to reduce CO2
later this year.
China and the U.K. said they will focus on pilot projects
in Chongqing, Guangdong and Hubei provinces with a combined
population of 180 million people.
"Making green growth a reality for both countries will be
crucial for prosperity, the environment and for our energy
security," Chris Huhne, energy and climate change secretary,
said in an e-mail statement today.
For Related News and Information:
Climate-change news: NI CLIMATE <GO>
Top environment page: GREEN <GO>
Most-read environmental news: MNI ENV <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Randall Hackley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie at +44-20-7073-3308 or
cairlie@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
China, U.K. Agree to Work Together on Low-Emissions Growth
2011-01-10 18:24:02.591 GMT
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. Department for Energy and
Climate Change said it will work with China to cut carbon-
dioxide emissions.
The countries signed an agreement to share knowledge on
market mechanisms and measuring emissions to spur investment in
low-carbon technologies and energy efficiency, they said today
in a statement. They plan to publish a joint plan to reduce CO2
later this year.
China and the U.K. said they will focus on pilot projects
in Chongqing, Guangdong and Hubei provinces with a combined
population of 180 million people.
"Making green growth a reality for both countries will be
crucial for prosperity, the environment and for our energy
security," Chris Huhne, energy and climate change secretary,
said in an e-mail statement today.
For Related News and Information:
Climate-change news: NI CLIMATE <GO>
Top environment page: GREEN <GO>
Most-read environmental news: MNI ENV <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Randall Hackley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie at +44-20-7073-3308 or
cairlie@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
yest/UN Emissions Decline the Most in Two Months as Supply
why no trade today folks?
------------------------------------------------------------
Mathew Carr, emissions markets, energy reporter. London Bloomberg News ph +44 207 073 3531 yahoo ID carr_mathew
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
UN Emissions Decline the Most in Two Months as Supply Rises
2011-01-10 17:42:41.372 GMT
By Mathew Carr
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- United Nations emissions permit
prices declined the most in almost two months as supplies of new
credits advanced.
UN Certified Emission Reductions for December fell 2.9
percent to 10.90 euros ($14.11) a metric ton on the ICE Futures
Europe exchange in London. They dropped 4 percent on Nov. 16.
European Union carbon allowances for December lost 2.7 percent
to 14.23 euros a ton.
Barclays Plc cut its forecast for UN carbon prices in the
first half of 2011, citing a higher-than-expected supply of new
credits. UN prices will average 13 euros a ton in the six
months, less than a previous forecast for 14.50 euros, Trevor
Sikorski, a London-based analyst at Barclays Capital, said today
in an e-mailed report.
The supply of UN credits rose 8.2 percent last year to 132
million tons, Sikorski said. China had 69 percent, higher than
its 60 percent in 2009, he said. Power stations and factories in
the EU, the world's largest carbon market, can use UN credits
for compliance.
EU regulators are considering restrictions on UN emission
credits linked to industrial gases.
The European Commission, regulator for the 27-nation bloc,
proposed Nov. 25 to exclude UN-sponsored credits related to
industrial gases including hydrofluorocarbons and nitrous oxide
starting in 2013. The commission said the credits may create
windfall profits for investors and undermine the EU market.
For Related News and Information:
Top Power Stories: PTOP <GO>
For New Energy Finance Model, Weekly Research CARX <GO>
Emissions-trading stories: NI ENVMARKET BN <GO>
Today's top energy news: ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page: EPWR <GO>
--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Randall Hackley
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss on +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
------------------------------------------------------------
Mathew Carr, emissions markets, energy reporter. London Bloomberg News ph +44 207 073 3531 yahoo ID carr_mathew
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
UN Emissions Decline the Most in Two Months as Supply Rises
2011-01-10 17:42:41.372 GMT
By Mathew Carr
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- United Nations emissions permit
prices declined the most in almost two months as supplies of new
credits advanced.
UN Certified Emission Reductions for December fell 2.9
percent to 10.90 euros ($14.11) a metric ton on the ICE Futures
Europe exchange in London. They dropped 4 percent on Nov. 16.
European Union carbon allowances for December lost 2.7 percent
to 14.23 euros a ton.
Barclays Plc cut its forecast for UN carbon prices in the
first half of 2011, citing a higher-than-expected supply of new
credits. UN prices will average 13 euros a ton in the six
months, less than a previous forecast for 14.50 euros, Trevor
Sikorski, a London-based analyst at Barclays Capital, said today
in an e-mailed report.
The supply of UN credits rose 8.2 percent last year to 132
million tons, Sikorski said. China had 69 percent, higher than
its 60 percent in 2009, he said. Power stations and factories in
the EU, the world's largest carbon market, can use UN credits
for compliance.
EU regulators are considering restrictions on UN emission
credits linked to industrial gases.
The European Commission, regulator for the 27-nation bloc,
proposed Nov. 25 to exclude UN-sponsored credits related to
industrial gases including hydrofluorocarbons and nitrous oxide
starting in 2013. The commission said the credits may create
windfall profits for investors and undermine the EU market.
For Related News and Information:
Top Power Stories: PTOP <GO>
For New Energy Finance Model, Weekly Research CARX <GO>
Emissions-trading stories: NI ENVMARKET BN <GO>
Today's top energy news: ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page: EPWR <GO>
--Editors: Rob Verdonck, Randall Hackley
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss on +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
(BN) Ford to Hire 7,000 to Help Make Electric, Hybrid Cars (Update4)
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Ford to Hire 7,000 to Help Make Electric, Hybrid Cars (Update4)
2011-01-10 22:03:08.360 GMT
(Updates with union president's comment in the ninth
paragraph. For more Detroit auto show coverage, see SHOW <GO>.)
By Keith Naughton
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co., revealing three new
electric or hybrid vehicles to the public today, plans to hire
more than 7,000 workers in the next two years, including
engineers with expertise in battery-powered cars.
Ford will hire 4,000 factory workers and 750 engineers this
year and add 2,500 hourly workers next year, Mark Fields, Ford's
president of the Americas, said today at the North American
International Auto Show in Detroit.
Ford plans to recruit engineers at the show, where the
company is debuting the Focus Electric car, the C-Max Energi
plug-in hybrid and the C-Max Hybrid gasoline-electric wagon
today. The automaker has said electric and hybrid vehicles may
account for as much as 25 percent of its sales by 2020.
We'll "show growth not only in our employment numbers but
also in our new product offerings," Fields said today.
The hiring will happen as Ford negotiates a new contract
with the United Auto Workers union. The current four-year pact
for Ford's 41,000 U.S. hourly workers expires in September. UAW
President Bob King said last week he expects workers to be
rewarded for the concessions they gave in the past five years.
"Our negotiations with the UAW are ongoing and the whole
discussion is going to be about how we can continue to improve
our competitiveness," Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally told
reporters today. "We're right at the inflection point now with
the economy coming back."
Second-Tier Wage
Ford will pay the new workers it hires this year about $14
an hour, half the wages veteran factory employees receive,
Mulally said. That so-called "second-tier wage" is key to
keeping Ford cost competitive with rivals, he said.
"It's very important," Mulally said, adding that it helps
position Ford to be "competitive with the best in the world."
King declined to say if what he called "the entry level
wage" would be included in the next contract.
"That's all issues we'll talk about during negotiations,"
King said in a brief interview as he toured the auto show with
General Motors Co. CEO Dan Akerson and a congressional
delegation. King added that the Ford hires are "very, very good
news."
Lower starting wages and other concessions the UAW granted,
such as forgoing raises, have enabled the U.S. automakers to
reverse a $2,000 per vehicle cost disadvantage they had against
the U.S. operations of Toyota Motor Corp. and other Asian
automakers, said David Cole, chairman emeritus of the Center for
Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
"These companies have switched from a $2,000 per car cost
penalty to a $2,000 per car advantage," Cole said. "Now
they're making money at these depressed sales levels. Just
imagine what will happen when sales come back."
Electric Models
Automakers are developing models powered all or in part by
electricity to meet standards such as the U.S. rules for average
fuel economy by company of 35.5 mpg in 2016, up from 25 mpg now.
Demand for hybrids has waned. The models that run on
batteries and gasoline engines peaked at 3.3 percent of the U.S.
market in 2008, when gasoline topped $4 a gallon. With fuel
prices down about 25 percent from their peak, hybrids accounted
for 2.4 percent of U.S. auto sales last year, according to
researcher Autodata Corp. of Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.
Hybrids accounted for 1.8 percent of Ford's U.S. sales last
year, even though its Fusion is the most fuel-efficient midsize
gas-electric
Ford rose 4 cents to $18.31 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock
Exchange composite trading. The shares gained 68 percent in
2010.
Ford said it will set up a booth during the show's industry
days on Jan. 12 and Jan. 13 to recruit engineers with electric-
vehicle expertise.
For Related News and Information:
Ford and alternative energy: F US <Equity> TCNI ALTNRG <GO>
Auto-sales statistics: ATSL <GO>
Autos and regulation: TNI AUT RULES <GO>
Auto-show stories: TNI AUT SHOW <GO>
--Editors: Kevin Orland, Jamie Butters.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Keith Naughton in Detroit at +1-248-827-2941 or
Knaughton3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jamie Butters at +1-248-827-2944 or jbuters@bloomberg.net
Ford to Hire 7,000 to Help Make Electric, Hybrid Cars (Update4)
2011-01-10 22:03:08.360 GMT
(Updates with union president's comment in the ninth
paragraph. For more Detroit auto show coverage, see SHOW <GO>.)
By Keith Naughton
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co., revealing three new
electric or hybrid vehicles to the public today, plans to hire
more than 7,000 workers in the next two years, including
engineers with expertise in battery-powered cars.
Ford will hire 4,000 factory workers and 750 engineers this
year and add 2,500 hourly workers next year, Mark Fields, Ford's
president of the Americas, said today at the North American
International Auto Show in Detroit.
Ford plans to recruit engineers at the show, where the
company is debuting the Focus Electric car, the C-Max Energi
plug-in hybrid and the C-Max Hybrid gasoline-electric wagon
today. The automaker has said electric and hybrid vehicles may
account for as much as 25 percent of its sales by 2020.
We'll "show growth not only in our employment numbers but
also in our new product offerings," Fields said today.
The hiring will happen as Ford negotiates a new contract
with the United Auto Workers union. The current four-year pact
for Ford's 41,000 U.S. hourly workers expires in September. UAW
President Bob King said last week he expects workers to be
rewarded for the concessions they gave in the past five years.
"Our negotiations with the UAW are ongoing and the whole
discussion is going to be about how we can continue to improve
our competitiveness," Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally told
reporters today. "We're right at the inflection point now with
the economy coming back."
Second-Tier Wage
Ford will pay the new workers it hires this year about $14
an hour, half the wages veteran factory employees receive,
Mulally said. That so-called "second-tier wage" is key to
keeping Ford cost competitive with rivals, he said.
"It's very important," Mulally said, adding that it helps
position Ford to be "competitive with the best in the world."
King declined to say if what he called "the entry level
wage" would be included in the next contract.
"That's all issues we'll talk about during negotiations,"
King said in a brief interview as he toured the auto show with
General Motors Co. CEO Dan Akerson and a congressional
delegation. King added that the Ford hires are "very, very good
news."
Lower starting wages and other concessions the UAW granted,
such as forgoing raises, have enabled the U.S. automakers to
reverse a $2,000 per vehicle cost disadvantage they had against
the U.S. operations of Toyota Motor Corp. and other Asian
automakers, said David Cole, chairman emeritus of the Center for
Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
"These companies have switched from a $2,000 per car cost
penalty to a $2,000 per car advantage," Cole said. "Now
they're making money at these depressed sales levels. Just
imagine what will happen when sales come back."
Electric Models
Automakers are developing models powered all or in part by
electricity to meet standards such as the U.S. rules for average
fuel economy by company of 35.5 mpg in 2016, up from 25 mpg now.
Demand for hybrids has waned. The models that run on
batteries and gasoline engines peaked at 3.3 percent of the U.S.
market in 2008, when gasoline topped $4 a gallon. With fuel
prices down about 25 percent from their peak, hybrids accounted
for 2.4 percent of U.S. auto sales last year, according to
researcher Autodata Corp. of Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.
Hybrids accounted for 1.8 percent of Ford's U.S. sales last
year, even though its Fusion is the most fuel-efficient midsize
gas-electric
Ford rose 4 cents to $18.31 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock
Exchange composite trading. The shares gained 68 percent in
2010.
Ford said it will set up a booth during the show's industry
days on Jan. 12 and Jan. 13 to recruit engineers with electric-
vehicle expertise.
For Related News and Information:
Ford and alternative energy: F US <Equity> TCNI ALTNRG <GO>
Auto-sales statistics: ATSL <GO>
Autos and regulation: TNI AUT RULES <GO>
Auto-show stories: TNI AUT SHOW <GO>
--Editors: Kevin Orland, Jamie Butters.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Keith Naughton in Detroit at +1-248-827-2941 or
Knaughton3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jamie Butters at +1-248-827-2944 or jbuters@bloomberg.net
(BN) Duke-Progress Deal May Boost Obama’s Nuclear Reactor Plans
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Duke-Progress Deal May Boost Obama's Nuclear Reactor Plans
2011-01-11 05:00:02.2 GMT
By Simon Lomax and Mark Chediak
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Duke Energy Corp.'s plan to buy
Progress Energy Inc., creating the largest U.S. utility, may
help President Barack Obama's effort to revive construction of
nuclear reactors.
The two companies, which announced the $13.7 billion all-
stock deal yesterday, have been considering as many as six new
reactors in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. They are
more likely to move ahead with those projects if the deal goes
through, according to Progress Energy's Chief Executive Officer
Bill Johnson, who would lead the new company.
"The size and scope of this transaction positions us well
to consider the potential for new nuclear generation," Johnson
said on a conference call with investors and analysts.
The U.S. hasn't approved a new construction license for a
nuclear plant in more than 30 years. Obama is trying to spur
reactor projects with federal loan guarantees that cut borrowing
costs. A group led by Atlanta-based Southern Co., currently the
largest U.S. utility, has won a nuclear loan guarantee, the only
one issued so far, for a project in Georgia.
Some power companies have questioned whether building
reactors makes economic sense amid historically low prices for
natural gas, a competing power-plant fuel, and last year's
defeat of climate-change legislation that would have made
burning coal to generate electricity more expensive. In October,
Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group Inc. turned down a
federal loan guarantee to build a reactor and backed out of the
project.
Charlotte, North Carolina-based Duke Energy and Raleigh,
North Carolina-based Progress Energy have a combined enterprise
value of $64 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg,
eclipsing Southern.
Big Projects, Companies
With a bigger balance sheet, the combined companies are
more likely to take on a multibillion-dollar nuclear project
than they would alone, said Paul Franzen, an analyst at Edward
Jones in St. Louis who has a "hold" rating on Duke and
Progress shares and owns none.
"Big projects require big companies," Franzen said. The
new company will be "well-positioned to execute on these
projects to secure attractive rates of financing and then to get
all the parts lined up and actually construct," he said.
It's hard for Constellation and other so-called merchant
generators, such as Exelon Corp. and NRG Energy Inc., to
profitably build new nuclear plants because they sell their
electricity in open markets where prices can fall below the cost
of generation, John Reed, CEO of Concentric Energy Advisors in
Marlborough, Massachusetts, said in a telephone interview.
Southern was able to take part in a $14 billion reactor
project, which won an $8.3 billion loan guarantee, because its
electricity rates are determined by state regulators and set
high enough to recover the company's costs, he said.
Now 'Big Enough'
Duke Energy and Progress Energy can follow Southern's model
because "they now are big enough to move forward without having
to secure other partners" and are also planning reactors in
states where rates are regulated, Reed said.
Obama has endorsed nuclear power as a clean-energy source
and wants the federal government to guarantee as much as $54.5
billion in construction loans, up from $18.5 billion allowed
under current law.
Johnson said during the investor call yesterday that the
companies will not "move forward with new nuclear generation
until we have the appropriate regulatory cost-recovery
mechanisms and support in place."
Progress Energy has delayed its plans for four new nuclear
reactors, Jessica Lambert, a spokeswoman for the company, said
in a telephone interview today. The cost of two nuclear reactors
at a site in Florida's Levy County is estimated at $17.2 billion
to $22.5 billion, she said. The company hasn't provided a cost
estimate for its proposed reactors in North Carolina.
Approvals Needed
Duke Energy's takeover of Progress Energy requires
shareholder approval and will be reviewed by the Federal Trade
Commission. Additionally, the companies need permission from the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, the North Carolina Utilities Commission
and the South Carolina Public Service Commission.
The companies expect to clear federal and state regulatory
hurdles without being forced to divest any assets, said James
Rogers, Chairman and CEO of Duke Energy, who would serve as
executive chairman of the combined company.
While the companies might have to sell some assets or build
new power transmission lines to win federal regulatory approval
for the takeover, the deal isn't likely to be blocked, Nora Mead
Brownell, a former FERC commissioner who served at the agency
from 2001 to 2006, said in a telephone interview.
State Hurdles
The utility companies may have a tougher time winning over
state-level regulators, said Brownell, who is now a partner at
ESPY Energy Solutions LLC in Alexandria, Virginia. Merging
utilities often face "lots of political pressures," such as
the economic impacts of the companies combining headquarters in
one city, she said.
"Both Duke and Progress have pretty good relationships
with their regulators, but states are more of challenge than the
federal level," Brownell said.
Rogers, who supported Obama's failed effort to pass
legislation capping U.S. greenhouse gases from industrial
sources including power plants, said carbon-dioxide limits are
still coming. While cap-and-trade legislation, in which
companies buy and sell a declining number of pollution rights,
may not pass Congress in the next two years, the Environmental
Protection Agency is moving ahead with its own greenhouse-gas
rules, he said.
Regulation of Carbon
As executive chairman, Rogers said he will help shape the
new company's stance on environmental regulation. He told
reporters on a conference call he is "totally in sync" with
Johnson on "the need to prepare our companies for the
regulation of carbon."
Rogers was "the most outspoken and engaged CEO on the
climate issue through the last year or two," Eileen Claussen,
president of the Arlington, Virginia-based Pew Center on Global
Climate Change, said in a telephone interview. Rogers is likely
to "maintain his role" if the takeover is approved, she said.
For Related News and Information:
Top energy news: ETOP <GO>
Duke earnings profile: DUK US <Equity> ERN <GO>
Mergers and acquisitions data: MA <GO>
--With assistance from Jessica Resnick-Ault in New York and
Edward Klump in Houston. Editors: Charles Siler, Larry Liebert
To contact the reporters on this story:
Simon Lomax in Washington at +1-202-654-4305 or
slomax@bloomberg.net;
Mark Chediak in San Francisco at +1-415-617-7233 or
mchediak@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Larry Liebert at +1-202-624-1936 or
LLiebert@bloomberg.net;
Susan Warren at +1-214-954-9455 or
susanwarren@bloomberg.net.
Duke-Progress Deal May Boost Obama's Nuclear Reactor Plans
2011-01-11 05:00:02.2 GMT
By Simon Lomax and Mark Chediak
Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Duke Energy Corp.'s plan to buy
Progress Energy Inc., creating the largest U.S. utility, may
help President Barack Obama's effort to revive construction of
nuclear reactors.
The two companies, which announced the $13.7 billion all-
stock deal yesterday, have been considering as many as six new
reactors in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. They are
more likely to move ahead with those projects if the deal goes
through, according to Progress Energy's Chief Executive Officer
Bill Johnson, who would lead the new company.
"The size and scope of this transaction positions us well
to consider the potential for new nuclear generation," Johnson
said on a conference call with investors and analysts.
The U.S. hasn't approved a new construction license for a
nuclear plant in more than 30 years. Obama is trying to spur
reactor projects with federal loan guarantees that cut borrowing
costs. A group led by Atlanta-based Southern Co., currently the
largest U.S. utility, has won a nuclear loan guarantee, the only
one issued so far, for a project in Georgia.
Some power companies have questioned whether building
reactors makes economic sense amid historically low prices for
natural gas, a competing power-plant fuel, and last year's
defeat of climate-change legislation that would have made
burning coal to generate electricity more expensive. In October,
Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group Inc. turned down a
federal loan guarantee to build a reactor and backed out of the
project.
Charlotte, North Carolina-based Duke Energy and Raleigh,
North Carolina-based Progress Energy have a combined enterprise
value of $64 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg,
eclipsing Southern.
Big Projects, Companies
With a bigger balance sheet, the combined companies are
more likely to take on a multibillion-dollar nuclear project
than they would alone, said Paul Franzen, an analyst at Edward
Jones in St. Louis who has a "hold" rating on Duke and
Progress shares and owns none.
"Big projects require big companies," Franzen said. The
new company will be "well-positioned to execute on these
projects to secure attractive rates of financing and then to get
all the parts lined up and actually construct," he said.
It's hard for Constellation and other so-called merchant
generators, such as Exelon Corp. and NRG Energy Inc., to
profitably build new nuclear plants because they sell their
electricity in open markets where prices can fall below the cost
of generation, John Reed, CEO of Concentric Energy Advisors in
Marlborough, Massachusetts, said in a telephone interview.
Southern was able to take part in a $14 billion reactor
project, which won an $8.3 billion loan guarantee, because its
electricity rates are determined by state regulators and set
high enough to recover the company's costs, he said.
Now 'Big Enough'
Duke Energy and Progress Energy can follow Southern's model
because "they now are big enough to move forward without having
to secure other partners" and are also planning reactors in
states where rates are regulated, Reed said.
Obama has endorsed nuclear power as a clean-energy source
and wants the federal government to guarantee as much as $54.5
billion in construction loans, up from $18.5 billion allowed
under current law.
Johnson said during the investor call yesterday that the
companies will not "move forward with new nuclear generation
until we have the appropriate regulatory cost-recovery
mechanisms and support in place."
Progress Energy has delayed its plans for four new nuclear
reactors, Jessica Lambert, a spokeswoman for the company, said
in a telephone interview today. The cost of two nuclear reactors
at a site in Florida's Levy County is estimated at $17.2 billion
to $22.5 billion, she said. The company hasn't provided a cost
estimate for its proposed reactors in North Carolina.
Approvals Needed
Duke Energy's takeover of Progress Energy requires
shareholder approval and will be reviewed by the Federal Trade
Commission. Additionally, the companies need permission from the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, the North Carolina Utilities Commission
and the South Carolina Public Service Commission.
The companies expect to clear federal and state regulatory
hurdles without being forced to divest any assets, said James
Rogers, Chairman and CEO of Duke Energy, who would serve as
executive chairman of the combined company.
While the companies might have to sell some assets or build
new power transmission lines to win federal regulatory approval
for the takeover, the deal isn't likely to be blocked, Nora Mead
Brownell, a former FERC commissioner who served at the agency
from 2001 to 2006, said in a telephone interview.
State Hurdles
The utility companies may have a tougher time winning over
state-level regulators, said Brownell, who is now a partner at
ESPY Energy Solutions LLC in Alexandria, Virginia. Merging
utilities often face "lots of political pressures," such as
the economic impacts of the companies combining headquarters in
one city, she said.
"Both Duke and Progress have pretty good relationships
with their regulators, but states are more of challenge than the
federal level," Brownell said.
Rogers, who supported Obama's failed effort to pass
legislation capping U.S. greenhouse gases from industrial
sources including power plants, said carbon-dioxide limits are
still coming. While cap-and-trade legislation, in which
companies buy and sell a declining number of pollution rights,
may not pass Congress in the next two years, the Environmental
Protection Agency is moving ahead with its own greenhouse-gas
rules, he said.
Regulation of Carbon
As executive chairman, Rogers said he will help shape the
new company's stance on environmental regulation. He told
reporters on a conference call he is "totally in sync" with
Johnson on "the need to prepare our companies for the
regulation of carbon."
Rogers was "the most outspoken and engaged CEO on the
climate issue through the last year or two," Eileen Claussen,
president of the Arlington, Virginia-based Pew Center on Global
Climate Change, said in a telephone interview. Rogers is likely
to "maintain his role" if the takeover is approved, she said.
For Related News and Information:
Top energy news: ETOP <GO>
Duke earnings profile: DUK US <Equity> ERN <GO>
Mergers and acquisitions data: MA <GO>
--With assistance from Jessica Resnick-Ault in New York and
Edward Klump in Houston. Editors: Charles Siler, Larry Liebert
To contact the reporters on this story:
Simon Lomax in Washington at +1-202-654-4305 or
slomax@bloomberg.net;
Mark Chediak in San Francisco at +1-415-617-7233 or
mchediak@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Larry Liebert at +1-202-624-1936 or
LLiebert@bloomberg.net;
Susan Warren at +1-214-954-9455 or
susanwarren@bloomberg.net.
2011/01/10
update/U.K. Climate Envoy Hession Vies to Head UN CO2 Market
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
U.K. Climate Envoy Hession Vies to Head UN CO2 Market (Update2)
2011-01-10 17:33:36.794 GMT
(Adds IETA, CDM Watch comments from seventh paragraph.)
By Catherine Airlie and Mathew Carr
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Martin Hession, vice chairman of the
United Nations Clean Development Mechanism, is vying to lead the
executive board over the world's second-largest carbon market.
Board members will select the new CDM chairman at their
next meeting, which begins Feb. 14 in Bonn, according to
information on a UN website. Clifford Mahlung, the CDM's current
head, is due to end his one-year term in February.
"We need to build on what is good in the CDM and improve
it through consolidation, simplification and standardization,"
Hession said by e-mail today. "This needs to be done so as to
increase predictability and without creating additional
uncertainty."
Hession would aim to clarify the rules that govern the UN's
carbon market and make the basis for key decisions more
transparent, he said. As head of global carbon markets at the
U.K.'s Department of Energy and Climate Change, he represented
the county at last month's climate summit in Cancun, Mexico.
"We need a much higher standard of public debate on the
CDM," Hession said. "All too often what is good in the system
is dismissed or ignored, and much of the discussion on problems
is not sufficiently focused on concrete solutions."
The CDM chairmanship rotates between developed and emerging
nations each year. Pedro Martins Barata, a Portuguese member of
the executive board, said in a Dec. 20 interview that he too is
considering the position. Hession took over from Barata as CDM
vice chairman in the middle of last year.
Standardized Baselines
The International Emissions Trading Association said the
next chairman should take "very seriously" the need to improve
communication between the regulators and stakeholders and to
develop what it calls standardized baselines, which would credit
emitters that beat certain industry targets rather than applying
a case-by-case review. The approach, favored by IETA, was
approved at the Cancun talks.
"We will be ready to work constructively with whomever is
chosen and excited to follow through on the many requests made
of the board in Cancun," Kim Carnahan, an emission offset
specialist at Geneva-based IETA, said by e-mail today.
Mahlung of Jamaica took the top job at the CDM last year
after serving as vice chairman. The board oversees the supply of
emissions credits in the UN market. The European Union allows
some UN offsets to be traded in its own carbon trading system,
the world's largest.
The executive board must "finally publish" its
investigation into projects that cut hydrofluorocarbons, said
Eva Filzmoser, program director at the lobby group CDM Watch in
Brussels. HFCs, produced from industrial processes, are a more
potent greenhouse-gas than carbon dioxide. The group accused
some such projects of getting excess credits. The UN report was
initially due on Dec. 10, Filzmoser said by e-mail today.
"Acknowledging flaws and fixing them, especially after the
recent scandal around HFC-23 projects, is of vital importance,"
Filzmoser said.
For Related News and Information:
EU carbon-market stories: TNI EU ENVMARKET <GO>
Top energy, power news: ETOP <GO>, PTOP <GO>
Top environmental stories: GREEN <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, John Buckley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie at
+44-20-7073-3308 or cairlie@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
U.K. Climate Envoy Hession Vies to Head UN CO2 Market (Update2)
2011-01-10 17:33:36.794 GMT
(Adds IETA, CDM Watch comments from seventh paragraph.)
By Catherine Airlie and Mathew Carr
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Martin Hession, vice chairman of the
United Nations Clean Development Mechanism, is vying to lead the
executive board over the world's second-largest carbon market.
Board members will select the new CDM chairman at their
next meeting, which begins Feb. 14 in Bonn, according to
information on a UN website. Clifford Mahlung, the CDM's current
head, is due to end his one-year term in February.
"We need to build on what is good in the CDM and improve
it through consolidation, simplification and standardization,"
Hession said by e-mail today. "This needs to be done so as to
increase predictability and without creating additional
uncertainty."
Hession would aim to clarify the rules that govern the UN's
carbon market and make the basis for key decisions more
transparent, he said. As head of global carbon markets at the
U.K.'s Department of Energy and Climate Change, he represented
the county at last month's climate summit in Cancun, Mexico.
"We need a much higher standard of public debate on the
CDM," Hession said. "All too often what is good in the system
is dismissed or ignored, and much of the discussion on problems
is not sufficiently focused on concrete solutions."
The CDM chairmanship rotates between developed and emerging
nations each year. Pedro Martins Barata, a Portuguese member of
the executive board, said in a Dec. 20 interview that he too is
considering the position. Hession took over from Barata as CDM
vice chairman in the middle of last year.
Standardized Baselines
The International Emissions Trading Association said the
next chairman should take "very seriously" the need to improve
communication between the regulators and stakeholders and to
develop what it calls standardized baselines, which would credit
emitters that beat certain industry targets rather than applying
a case-by-case review. The approach, favored by IETA, was
approved at the Cancun talks.
"We will be ready to work constructively with whomever is
chosen and excited to follow through on the many requests made
of the board in Cancun," Kim Carnahan, an emission offset
specialist at Geneva-based IETA, said by e-mail today.
Mahlung of Jamaica took the top job at the CDM last year
after serving as vice chairman. The board oversees the supply of
emissions credits in the UN market. The European Union allows
some UN offsets to be traded in its own carbon trading system,
the world's largest.
The executive board must "finally publish" its
investigation into projects that cut hydrofluorocarbons, said
Eva Filzmoser, program director at the lobby group CDM Watch in
Brussels. HFCs, produced from industrial processes, are a more
potent greenhouse-gas than carbon dioxide. The group accused
some such projects of getting excess credits. The UN report was
initially due on Dec. 10, Filzmoser said by e-mail today.
"Acknowledging flaws and fixing them, especially after the
recent scandal around HFC-23 projects, is of vital importance,"
Filzmoser said.
For Related News and Information:
EU carbon-market stories: TNI EU ENVMARKET <GO>
Top energy, power news: ETOP <GO>, PTOP <GO>
Top environmental stories: GREEN <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, John Buckley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie at
+44-20-7073-3308 or cairlie@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
(BN) Barclays Cuts Forecast for UN Emission Prices This Year by 10%
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Barclays Cuts Forecast for UN Emission Prices This Year by 10%
2011-01-10 16:27:38.248 GMT
By Mathew Carr
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc cut its forecast for
United Nations carbon prices in the first half of 2011, citing a
higher-than-expected supply of new credits.
UN prices will average 13 euros ($16.82) a metric ton in
the six months, less than a previous forecast for 14.50 euros,
Trevor Sikorski, a London-based analyst at Barclays Capital,
said today in an e-mailed report.
The supply of UN credits rose 8.2 percent last year to 132
million tons, Sikorski said. China had 69 percent, higher than
the 60 percent in 2009, he said. Power stations and factories in
the European Union can use UN credits for compliance in the EU
program, the world's largest carbon market.
UN Certified Emission Reduction credits for December fell
2.9 percent today to 10.91 euros a ton, the lowest level since
March 25, according to data from ICE Futures Europe exchange.
EU regulators are considering restrictions on UN emission
credits linked to industrial gases.
The European Commission, regulator for the 27-nation bloc,
proposed Nov. 25 to exclude UN-sponsored credits related to
industrial gases including hydrofluorocarbons and nitrous oxide
starting in 2013. The commission said the credits may create
windfall profits for investors and undermine the EU market.
For Related News and Information:
Top Power Stories: PTOP <GO>
For New Energy Finance Model, Weekly Research CARX <GO>
Emissions-trading stories: NI ENVMARKET BN <GO>
Today's top energy news: ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page: EPWR <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Randall Hackley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss on +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
Barclays Cuts Forecast for UN Emission Prices This Year by 10%
2011-01-10 16:27:38.248 GMT
By Mathew Carr
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc cut its forecast for
United Nations carbon prices in the first half of 2011, citing a
higher-than-expected supply of new credits.
UN prices will average 13 euros ($16.82) a metric ton in
the six months, less than a previous forecast for 14.50 euros,
Trevor Sikorski, a London-based analyst at Barclays Capital,
said today in an e-mailed report.
The supply of UN credits rose 8.2 percent last year to 132
million tons, Sikorski said. China had 69 percent, higher than
the 60 percent in 2009, he said. Power stations and factories in
the European Union can use UN credits for compliance in the EU
program, the world's largest carbon market.
UN Certified Emission Reduction credits for December fell
2.9 percent today to 10.91 euros a ton, the lowest level since
March 25, according to data from ICE Futures Europe exchange.
EU regulators are considering restrictions on UN emission
credits linked to industrial gases.
The European Commission, regulator for the 27-nation bloc,
proposed Nov. 25 to exclude UN-sponsored credits related to
industrial gases including hydrofluorocarbons and nitrous oxide
starting in 2013. The commission said the credits may create
windfall profits for investors and undermine the EU market.
For Related News and Information:
Top Power Stories: PTOP <GO>
For New Energy Finance Model, Weekly Research CARX <GO>
Emissions-trading stories: NI ENVMARKET BN <GO>
Today's top energy news: ETOP <GO>
European power-markets home page: EPWR <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Randall Hackley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss on +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
(BN) U.K. Climate Envoy Martin Hession Vies to Head UN
comments our way folks -- do you have a preference?
------------------------------------------------------------
Mathew Carr, emissions markets, energy reporter. London Bloomberg News ph +44 207 073 3531 yahoo ID carr_mathew
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
U.K. Climate Envoy Martin Hession Vies to Head UN Carbon Market
2011-01-10 11:45:24.271 GMT
By Catherine Airlie and Mathew Carr
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Martin Hession, vice chairman of the
United Nations Clean Development Mechanism, said he is a
candidate to lead the executive board overseeing the world's
second-largest carbon market.
Board members will select the new CDM chairman at their
next meeting, which begins Feb. 14 in Bonn, according to
information on a UN website. Clifford Mahlung, the CDM's current
head, is due to step down at the end of his one-year term in
February.
The vice chairman of the executive board often becomes the
chairman, Hession said in a Dec. 7 interview. He is head of
global carbon markets at the U.K.'s Department of Energy and
Climate Change and represented the county at negotiations
including last month's climate summit in Cancun, Mexico.
The chairmanship of the CDM rotates between developed and
emerging nations each year. Pedro Martins Barata, a Portuguese
member of the executive board, said he is considering the
position in a Dec. 20 interview. Hession said he took over from
Barata as CDM vice chairman in the middle of last year/
Mahlung took the top job at the CDM last year after serving
as vice chairman. The board oversees the supply of emissions
credits in the UN market. The European Union allows some UN
offsets to be traded in its own carbon trading system, the
world's largest.
For Related News and Information:
EU carbon-market stories: TNI EU ENVMARKET <GO>
Top energy, power news: ETOP <GO>, PTOP <GO>
Top environmental stories: GREEN <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, John Buckley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie at
+44-20-7073-3308 or cairlie@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
------------------------------------------------------------
Mathew Carr, emissions markets, energy reporter. London Bloomberg News ph +44 207 073 3531 yahoo ID carr_mathew
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
U.K. Climate Envoy Martin Hession Vies to Head UN Carbon Market
2011-01-10 11:45:24.271 GMT
By Catherine Airlie and Mathew Carr
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Martin Hession, vice chairman of the
United Nations Clean Development Mechanism, said he is a
candidate to lead the executive board overseeing the world's
second-largest carbon market.
Board members will select the new CDM chairman at their
next meeting, which begins Feb. 14 in Bonn, according to
information on a UN website. Clifford Mahlung, the CDM's current
head, is due to step down at the end of his one-year term in
February.
The vice chairman of the executive board often becomes the
chairman, Hession said in a Dec. 7 interview. He is head of
global carbon markets at the U.K.'s Department of Energy and
Climate Change and represented the county at negotiations
including last month's climate summit in Cancun, Mexico.
The chairmanship of the CDM rotates between developed and
emerging nations each year. Pedro Martins Barata, a Portuguese
member of the executive board, said he is considering the
position in a Dec. 20 interview. Hession said he took over from
Barata as CDM vice chairman in the middle of last year/
Mahlung took the top job at the CDM last year after serving
as vice chairman. The board oversees the supply of emissions
credits in the UN market. The European Union allows some UN
offsets to be traded in its own carbon trading system, the
world's largest.
For Related News and Information:
EU carbon-market stories: TNI EU ENVMARKET <GO>
Top energy, power news: ETOP <GO>, PTOP <GO>
Top environmental stories: GREEN <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, John Buckley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie at
+44-20-7073-3308 or cairlie@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or sev@bloomberg.net
UN Supply of CO2 Credits Exceeds 500 Million Tons, Price Fal
By Mathew Carr
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The supply of United Nations
emission credits exceeded 500 million tons for the first time.
Certified Emission Reduction credits totaled 501.5 million
tons of carbon dioxide equivalent as of 2 p.m. Bonn time,
according to a UN website. Credits for December fell 2.1 percent
to 11 euros, the lowest price since April 1.
For Related News and Information:
Top Environment Stories:{GREEN<GO>}
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mathew Carr in London at +44-20-7073-3531 or
m.carr@bloomberg.net
UN Offset Premium for 2011 Evaporates as Supply Advances
By Mathew Carr
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The premium for United Nations
carbon credits for 2011 fell to its narrowest level since Aug.
16, as the regulator boosted the supply of new offsets.
The spread for UN Certified Emission Reductions for
December 2011, which trades as a separate contract, was 5 euro
cents ($0.06) a metric ton more than for the December 2012
contract on ICE Futures Europe in London as of 9:36 a.m today.
It closed at 7 cents a ton on Jan. 7. European Union allowances
for December of this year fell as much as 0.8 percent to 14.51
euros a ton, the lowest since Jan. 5.
For Related News and Information:
U.K. power-market stories TNI UK PWRMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy news ETOP <GO>
U.K. electricity prices ELEU <GO>
Natural-gas markets menu NATG <GO>
$125.50!European Coal Derivatives Climb 1% for a Third
By Alistair Holloway
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Benchmark European coal derivatives
advanced a third day.
Coal for delivery to Amsterdam, Rotterdam or Antwerp with
settlement next year added $1.20, or 1 percent, to $122 a metric
ton at 9:33 a.m. in London. It touched $122.55 earlier today,
the highest price this year.
The data are drawn from information supplied by ICAP Plc,
GFI Group Inc., Spectron Group Ltd., Credit Suisse Group AG, IHS
McCloskey, Bloomberg and Tradition Financial Services.
For Related News and Information:
Today's Top Commodity Stories: CTOP <GO>
Top Metals News: METT <GO>
Global Commodity Prices, Data: GLCO <GO>
Technical Gauges: BTST <GO>
--Editors: John Deane, Alastair Reed
(BN) New South Wales Gives Approval for State’s First Solar Farm
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
New South Wales Gives Approval for State's First Solar Farm
2011-01-08 23:57:08.551 GMT
By Jacob Greber
Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Australia's New South Wales state
government has given Infigen Suntech Australia approval to build
a A$300 million ($299 million) solar farm capable of generating
enough energy to power 20,000 homes.
The state's first commercial solar plant will be built on
more than 200 hectares (494 acres) near the town of Nyngan, in
the state's north-west, Minister for Planning Tony Kelly said in
an emailed statement today in Sydney. The 100 megawatt capacity
facility will include 70 blocks of solar panels. The site is
ideal as it's located in a hot and dry part of the state, Kelly
said.
Link to Company News:{GDY AU <Equity> CN <GO>}
Link to Company News:{IFN AU <Equity> CN <GO>}
Link to Company News:{ORG AU <Equity> CN <GO>}
Link to Company News:{SLX AU <Equity> CN <GO>}
Link to Company News:{STP US <Equity> CN <GO>}
Link to Company News:{AAN AU <Equity> CN <GO>}
For Related News and Information:
Top Stories:{TOP<GO>}
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jacob Greber in Sydney at +61-2-9777-8635 or
jgreber@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
John McCluskey at +612-9777-8649 or
j.mccluskey@bloomberg.net
New South Wales Gives Approval for State's First Solar Farm
2011-01-08 23:57:08.551 GMT
By Jacob Greber
Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Australia's New South Wales state
government has given Infigen Suntech Australia approval to build
a A$300 million ($299 million) solar farm capable of generating
enough energy to power 20,000 homes.
The state's first commercial solar plant will be built on
more than 200 hectares (494 acres) near the town of Nyngan, in
the state's north-west, Minister for Planning Tony Kelly said in
an emailed statement today in Sydney. The 100 megawatt capacity
facility will include 70 blocks of solar panels. The site is
ideal as it's located in a hot and dry part of the state, Kelly
said.
Link to Company News:{GDY AU <Equity> CN <GO>}
Link to Company News:{IFN AU <Equity> CN <GO>}
Link to Company News:{ORG AU <Equity> CN <GO>}
Link to Company News:{SLX AU <Equity> CN <GO>}
Link to Company News:{STP US <Equity> CN <GO>}
Link to Company News:{AAN AU <Equity> CN <GO>}
For Related News and Information:
Top Stories:{TOP<GO>}
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jacob Greber in Sydney at +61-2-9777-8635 or
jgreber@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
John McCluskey at +612-9777-8649 or
j.mccluskey@bloomberg.net
(BN) Waste Heat as Clean as Wind Deserves U.S. Help, GE
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Waste Heat as Clean as Wind Deserves U.S. Help, GE Group Says
2011-01-10 05:00:02.1 GMT
By Jim Snyder
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The gray steam rising from the
smokestacks of industrial plants is an energy resource as green
as a wind turbine or a solar panel, according to General
Electric Co., the Sierra Club and the United Steelworkers union.
It's also equally deserving of federal tax help, say GE and
its partners in an alliance lobbying U.S. lawmakers to provide
incentives for capturing and recycling the waste heat.
Heat vented from facilities such as steel mills, cement
kilns, glass manufacturers and natural-gas compressor stations
could generate enough clean energy to power more than 7 million
homes, based on a study by ICF International, a consulting firm.
"There is a tremendous opportunity to cut costs, the
amount of fuel we are burning, and to cut CO2," said Tom
Casten, chairman of Recycled Energy Development LLC, a closely
held waste-heat company in Westmont, Illinois.
With cap-and-trade legislation to combat global warming
dead in Washington, supporters say government incentives to
capture waste heat would help companies meet planned
Environmental Protection Agency carbon-dioxide regulations as
well as standards requiring the use of renewable energy under
consideration in Congress.
Capturing waste heat typically costs $1.5 million to $3.5
million per megawatt generated, according to the Energy
Department. While that's less expensive than a new coal plant,
waste heat often can't compete with decades-old generators
unless extra credit is given for the recycled energy's
environmental benefits, according to Casten.
Waste heat is also at a competitive disadvantage because it
doesn't get federal tax breaks benefiting solar and wind-
generation projects or count toward renewable-energy mandates in
certain states, advocates say.
Level Playing Field
"The issue is trying to create a level playing field,"
Paul Thomsen, director of policy and business development at
Ormat Technologies Inc., a Reno, Nevada-based unit of Ormat
Industries Ltd. of Yavne, Israel, said in a phone interview.
The study by ICF International of Fairfax, Virginia, in
2006 estimated that as much as 9 gigawatts of power could be
recovered from industrial facilities and natural-gas compressor
stations. That is the equivalent of $4.3 billion in annual
electricity costs, assuming the industries used that power 80
percent of the year and paid 6.85 cents per kilowatt-hour, the
average industry cost reported to the Energy Information
Administration for 2010.
The Sierra Club and the Steelworkers union joined 20
businesses such as GE, Dow Chemical Co. and Recycled Energy in
signing a Sept. 29 letter urging lawmakers to support a first-
ever tax break for waste heat as a way to cut greenhouse-gas
emissions and create jobs.
GE's Acquisition
GE, which reported 24 percent of its 2009 revenue from
energy-infrastructure sales, expanded in the business with the
October purchase of Calnetix Power Solutions Inc., a maker of
waste-heat power generation systems in Stuart, Florida, for an
undisclosed sum.
Tax breaks for capturing waste heat would give investors
"greater confidence" in the technology, Shonodeep Modak,
senior marketing manager for GE Energy, wrote in an e-mail.
Casten's company developed a project to capture the 1,400-
degree Fahrenheit (760 degrees Celsius) heat exhaust from West
Virginia Alloys Inc., a subsidiary of Globe Specialty Metals
Inc. of New York that manufacturers silicon by heating quartz
and coal in furnaces.
Denham Capital's Role
The project, costing more than $180 million, will produce
at least 65 megawatts of power and reduce carbon emissions by
518,000 metric tons a year, according to Dick Munson, Recycled
Energy's vice president for public affairs. It was partially
paid for by Denham Capital Management LP, a Boston-based private
equity firm whose investors have included Microsoft Corp.
Chairman Bill Gates and Harvard University.
The Tennessee Valley Authority will buy the power, and West
Virginia Alloys will get half of the revenue once investors
recoup their costs, Munson said in an e-mail.
While large projects like the one at West Virginia Alloys
can compete without tax help, most opportunities are at smaller
facilities that have trouble attracting investors, Munson said.
Senators Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat who is the
new chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and
Olympia Snowe, a Maine Republican, introduced legislation last
year to provide a break for waste heat. Bingaman will work with
Snowe to advance the tax breaks this year, according to a
statement issued by his staff on Dec. 17.
A House bill introduced last year by Representative Paul
Tonko, a New York Democrat, and supported by Representative Ron
Paul, a Texas Republican and Tea Party favorite for his
opposition to government spending, would provide waste-heat
companies a 30 percent investment tax credit that solar
developers now receive.
Used or Sold
As much as 20 percent to 50 percent of the energy that
manufacturing processes consume is released as waste heat,
according to a 2008 Energy Department report. That power can be
used by the factory where it's captured, sold to the local power
grid, or both.
High-temperature exhaust like that from the West Virginia
silicon plant can be captured more economically than lower-grade
heat. That raises a challenge for developers because most of the
unrecovered heat in the U.S. is at temperatures below 450
degrees Fahrenheit, defined as "low-quality" in the Energy
Department study.
Vaporizing Refrigerant
A process called the Organic Rankine Cycle can now capture
and use lower-temperature heat, expanding the number of
factories that can double as a clean-energy source, said Tom
Pierson, founder of TAS Energy Inc., a Houston-based
manufacturer of waste-heat equipment.
Captured heat is used to vaporize a refrigerant or a
hydrocarbon, which spins a turbine to make power. The vapor is
returned to a liquid and used again without releasing greenhouse
gases.
Waste heat is similar to cogeneration, also an energy
efficiency effort that links thermal energy with electricity. In
cogeneration, factories or office parks get both power and heat
from a source on site or nearby.
Together, waste heat and cogeneration can provide as much
as 20 percent of the nation's electricity by 2030, equal to the
amount now generated by the nuclear-power industry, the Oak
Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee said in a December 2008
report. Combined heat and power now meets 8 percent of U.S.
electricity demand, according to the U.S. Clean Heat and Power
Association in Alexandria, Virginia.
Challenge in Congress
Winning support for new spending and tax measures may be
difficult in the new Congress, said Michael Fulton, a Washington
lobbyist for Chicago-based GolinHarris who is seeking a tax
break for insulation at industrial plants.
"Any new tax incentive in the energy arena is going to be
a major lift given the deficit situation, regardless of the
benefits it brings," Fulton said in a phone interview.
Congress shouldn't provide additional subsidies for energy
development because they create an inefficient market, said
Kenneth Green, an energy scholar at the American Enterprise
Institute in Washington, which advocates free-market approaches.
"You only subsidize something that consumers don't want,"
he said.
For Related News and Information:
Top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
Carbon markets: EMIS <GO>
Top renewable-energy stories: GREEN <GO>
Top business and government news: GBIZ <GO>
--Editors: Larry Liebert, Steve Geimann
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jim Snyder in Washington at +1-202-624-1972 or
jsnyder24@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Larry Liebert at +1-202-624-1936 or
lliebert@bloomberg.net.
Waste Heat as Clean as Wind Deserves U.S. Help, GE Group Says
2011-01-10 05:00:02.1 GMT
By Jim Snyder
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The gray steam rising from the
smokestacks of industrial plants is an energy resource as green
as a wind turbine or a solar panel, according to General
Electric Co., the Sierra Club and the United Steelworkers union.
It's also equally deserving of federal tax help, say GE and
its partners in an alliance lobbying U.S. lawmakers to provide
incentives for capturing and recycling the waste heat.
Heat vented from facilities such as steel mills, cement
kilns, glass manufacturers and natural-gas compressor stations
could generate enough clean energy to power more than 7 million
homes, based on a study by ICF International, a consulting firm.
"There is a tremendous opportunity to cut costs, the
amount of fuel we are burning, and to cut CO2," said Tom
Casten, chairman of Recycled Energy Development LLC, a closely
held waste-heat company in Westmont, Illinois.
With cap-and-trade legislation to combat global warming
dead in Washington, supporters say government incentives to
capture waste heat would help companies meet planned
Environmental Protection Agency carbon-dioxide regulations as
well as standards requiring the use of renewable energy under
consideration in Congress.
Capturing waste heat typically costs $1.5 million to $3.5
million per megawatt generated, according to the Energy
Department. While that's less expensive than a new coal plant,
waste heat often can't compete with decades-old generators
unless extra credit is given for the recycled energy's
environmental benefits, according to Casten.
Waste heat is also at a competitive disadvantage because it
doesn't get federal tax breaks benefiting solar and wind-
generation projects or count toward renewable-energy mandates in
certain states, advocates say.
Level Playing Field
"The issue is trying to create a level playing field,"
Paul Thomsen, director of policy and business development at
Ormat Technologies Inc., a Reno, Nevada-based unit of Ormat
Industries Ltd. of Yavne, Israel, said in a phone interview.
The study by ICF International of Fairfax, Virginia, in
2006 estimated that as much as 9 gigawatts of power could be
recovered from industrial facilities and natural-gas compressor
stations. That is the equivalent of $4.3 billion in annual
electricity costs, assuming the industries used that power 80
percent of the year and paid 6.85 cents per kilowatt-hour, the
average industry cost reported to the Energy Information
Administration for 2010.
The Sierra Club and the Steelworkers union joined 20
businesses such as GE, Dow Chemical Co. and Recycled Energy in
signing a Sept. 29 letter urging lawmakers to support a first-
ever tax break for waste heat as a way to cut greenhouse-gas
emissions and create jobs.
GE's Acquisition
GE, which reported 24 percent of its 2009 revenue from
energy-infrastructure sales, expanded in the business with the
October purchase of Calnetix Power Solutions Inc., a maker of
waste-heat power generation systems in Stuart, Florida, for an
undisclosed sum.
Tax breaks for capturing waste heat would give investors
"greater confidence" in the technology, Shonodeep Modak,
senior marketing manager for GE Energy, wrote in an e-mail.
Casten's company developed a project to capture the 1,400-
degree Fahrenheit (760 degrees Celsius) heat exhaust from West
Virginia Alloys Inc., a subsidiary of Globe Specialty Metals
Inc. of New York that manufacturers silicon by heating quartz
and coal in furnaces.
Denham Capital's Role
The project, costing more than $180 million, will produce
at least 65 megawatts of power and reduce carbon emissions by
518,000 metric tons a year, according to Dick Munson, Recycled
Energy's vice president for public affairs. It was partially
paid for by Denham Capital Management LP, a Boston-based private
equity firm whose investors have included Microsoft Corp.
Chairman Bill Gates and Harvard University.
The Tennessee Valley Authority will buy the power, and West
Virginia Alloys will get half of the revenue once investors
recoup their costs, Munson said in an e-mail.
While large projects like the one at West Virginia Alloys
can compete without tax help, most opportunities are at smaller
facilities that have trouble attracting investors, Munson said.
Senators Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat who is the
new chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and
Olympia Snowe, a Maine Republican, introduced legislation last
year to provide a break for waste heat. Bingaman will work with
Snowe to advance the tax breaks this year, according to a
statement issued by his staff on Dec. 17.
A House bill introduced last year by Representative Paul
Tonko, a New York Democrat, and supported by Representative Ron
Paul, a Texas Republican and Tea Party favorite for his
opposition to government spending, would provide waste-heat
companies a 30 percent investment tax credit that solar
developers now receive.
Used or Sold
As much as 20 percent to 50 percent of the energy that
manufacturing processes consume is released as waste heat,
according to a 2008 Energy Department report. That power can be
used by the factory where it's captured, sold to the local power
grid, or both.
High-temperature exhaust like that from the West Virginia
silicon plant can be captured more economically than lower-grade
heat. That raises a challenge for developers because most of the
unrecovered heat in the U.S. is at temperatures below 450
degrees Fahrenheit, defined as "low-quality" in the Energy
Department study.
Vaporizing Refrigerant
A process called the Organic Rankine Cycle can now capture
and use lower-temperature heat, expanding the number of
factories that can double as a clean-energy source, said Tom
Pierson, founder of TAS Energy Inc., a Houston-based
manufacturer of waste-heat equipment.
Captured heat is used to vaporize a refrigerant or a
hydrocarbon, which spins a turbine to make power. The vapor is
returned to a liquid and used again without releasing greenhouse
gases.
Waste heat is similar to cogeneration, also an energy
efficiency effort that links thermal energy with electricity. In
cogeneration, factories or office parks get both power and heat
from a source on site or nearby.
Together, waste heat and cogeneration can provide as much
as 20 percent of the nation's electricity by 2030, equal to the
amount now generated by the nuclear-power industry, the Oak
Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee said in a December 2008
report. Combined heat and power now meets 8 percent of U.S.
electricity demand, according to the U.S. Clean Heat and Power
Association in Alexandria, Virginia.
Challenge in Congress
Winning support for new spending and tax measures may be
difficult in the new Congress, said Michael Fulton, a Washington
lobbyist for Chicago-based GolinHarris who is seeking a tax
break for insulation at industrial plants.
"Any new tax incentive in the energy arena is going to be
a major lift given the deficit situation, regardless of the
benefits it brings," Fulton said in a phone interview.
Congress shouldn't provide additional subsidies for energy
development because they create an inefficient market, said
Kenneth Green, an energy scholar at the American Enterprise
Institute in Washington, which advocates free-market approaches.
"You only subsidize something that consumers don't want,"
he said.
For Related News and Information:
Top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
Carbon markets: EMIS <GO>
Top renewable-energy stories: GREEN <GO>
Top business and government news: GBIZ <GO>
--Editors: Larry Liebert, Steve Geimann
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jim Snyder in Washington at +1-202-624-1972 or
jsnyder24@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Larry Liebert at +1-202-624-1936 or
lliebert@bloomberg.net.
(BN) Ridiculed Bill Ford Is Laughing Now as Rival Carmakers Go Green
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Ridiculed Bill Ford Is Laughing Now as Rival Carmakers Go Green
2011-01-10 05:01:01.2 GMT
(For more coverage of the Detroit auto show, see {SHOW
<GO>}.)
By Keith Naughton
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman
Bill Ford Jr. faced ridicule and resistance over the years for
suggesting the automaker his great-grandfather founded needed to
go green to survive. And that was from inside his own company.
The 53-year-old scion will roll out three new electrified
vehicles -- a battery-powered car, a plug-in model and a hybrid
wagon -- today at the Detroit auto show, in what may be a
validation of his vision.
When Ford joined the automaker's board in 1988, his fellow
directors considered him a "Bolshevik" for dubbing himself an
"environmental industrialist," he recalled. When he became
chairman in 1999, he declared a "clean revolution," only to
see his executives oppose his efforts. While he rankled rivals
by saying cars cause global warming, environmentalists
excoriated him for failing to deliver on fuel-economy promises.
"The skepticism came from all comers," Ford said in an
interview on Jan. 6. "Our competitors used to love to laugh
about the Ford green story. Those same people now are all
falling all over themselves to see who can be greenest, which I
find amusing."
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker's new Focus Electric
car, C-Max Energi plug-in and C-Max hybrid wagon follow the U.S.
sales debuts last month of General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet Volt
plug-in and Nissan Motor Co.'s battery-powered Leaf. Toyota
Motor Corp. also is introducing a new lineup of Prius hybrid
models at the Detroit show.
'Head in Sand'
Automakers are finally getting his message, Bill Ford said.
"Our industry had its head in the sand," he said. "It
was bereft of a vision for where it should go. It was important
to signal that we understood, at least Ford understood, I
understood, society's concerns and we were going to go to work
to try to address them."
Ford was a lonely voice in his company in the late 1990s in
support of environmental sustainability and fuel efficiency.
Back then, the Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicle was king of
the road and gasoline was less than $1.50 a gallon. His
executives scoffed when he issued a press release pledging
"customers can have any vehicle they want, as long as it is
green."
"Bill wanted to do it, but nobody else did," recalled
John Wolkonowicz, a former Ford product planner who consulted
with him in those days. "He was getting a lot of pushback."
Unfulfilled Pledge
He fought attempts to kill off a hybrid version of the Ford
Escape SUV, which was introduced in 2004 and was the first
gasoline-electric model from a U.S. automaker. Still, when Ford
failed to deliver on a promise to boost SUV fuel economy by 25
percent, environmentalists responded with ads that caricatured
him as Pinocchio.
"Perhaps some of the things I said were before the
technology was in place to fully deliver it," Ford said. "But
it was important to raise the issue."
His company now sells three hybrid models: the Escape and
the Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ sedans. The Focus Electric is
slated to begin sales late this year, with the C-Max Energi and
C-Max Hybrid set for 2012.
And environmentalists are embracing him again.
"Bill Ford deserves a lot of credit for starting this,"
said David Friedman, deputy director of the vehicle program at
the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington. "They were the
first to put out a domestic hybrid and they put out a family-car
hybrid with the Fusion that beat Toyota. That in itself is
incredibly impressive."
Cultural Change
What's most impressive is that Ford managed to finally
change his company's culture to make fuel economy a priority,
Friedman said.
The turning point came when Ford replaced himself as chief
executive officer by hiring Alan Mulally from Boeing Co. in
2006, Friedman said. "It's a credit to him that he knew he
needed help and he got it."
With Mulally as his ally, Bill Ford set a strategy to have
the best fuel-efficiency rating in every vehicle category in
which the automaker competes. That has required billions of
dollars to overhaul engines and transmissions, as well as
transforming plants that had made SUVs to produce cars. The
three new electric models will be built in a Wayne, Michigan,
factory where Ford once manufactured Lincoln Navigator SUVs.
"We've placed a big bet on fuel economy," Ford said.
"We've taken a point of view that gasoline prices over time
certainly will get higher and customers will start voting with
their wallets."
'Wrong Direction'
So far, consumers are hesitant to do that. Ford already is
selling more fuel-efficient cars, yet hybrids accounted for just
1.8 percent of its U.S. sales last year. Industrywide, hybrids
fell to 2.4 percent of the U.S. market from 2.8 percent in 2009.
"Hybrids are heading in the wrong direction," said
Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with research firm IHS Automotive
in Lexington, Massachusetts. "We have this disconnect between
the need for alternate-power vehicles and consumers who are
satisfied with traditional vehicles."
The need for electrified vehicles is being driven in part
by U.S. regulations that require automakers to boost average
fuel economy by company to 35.5 mpg in 2016, from 25 mpg now.
Broader acceptance of electric cars will require more
government action, Bill Ford said.
"It's critical that as a nation we have an energy policy
that really decides to focus on electricity," Ford said. "We
can provide all the hardware, but unless there's ubiquity of
plugging, where you can plug in at the mall and at work, then
we're not there yet as a nation."
Plug-In Promise
Outlets are important because plug-in hybrids show the most
promise, he said. The C-Max Energi plug-in can go more than 500
miles on a full charge and a full tank. The Focus Electric,
which has no gasoline engine, needs to recharge at least three
hours at a special 240-volt station after driving 100 miles or
less.
"The plug-ins are the most liberating because they take
away range anxiety," Ford said. "A pure electric, you run it
down and that's it, you're out of juice."
Electricity will eventually replace fossil fuels to power
vehicles, and the current efforts may someday be seen as the
turning point, he said.
"This is really the first shot at the mainstream
customer," Ford said. "The day I had always believed would
come has arrived."
For Related News and Information:
Ford and alternative energy: F US <Equity> TCNI ALTNRG <GO>
Auto-sales statistics: ATSL <GO>
Autos and regulation: TNI AUT RULES <GO>
Auto-show stories: TNI AUT SHOW <GO>
--Editors: John Lear, Jamie Butters
To contact the reporter on this story:
Keith Naughton in Southfield, Michigan, at +1-248-827-2941 or
Knaughton3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jamie Butters at +1-248-827-2944 or jbutters@bloomberg.net
Ridiculed Bill Ford Is Laughing Now as Rival Carmakers Go Green
2011-01-10 05:01:01.2 GMT
(For more coverage of the Detroit auto show, see {SHOW
<GO>}.)
By Keith Naughton
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman
Bill Ford Jr. faced ridicule and resistance over the years for
suggesting the automaker his great-grandfather founded needed to
go green to survive. And that was from inside his own company.
The 53-year-old scion will roll out three new electrified
vehicles -- a battery-powered car, a plug-in model and a hybrid
wagon -- today at the Detroit auto show, in what may be a
validation of his vision.
When Ford joined the automaker's board in 1988, his fellow
directors considered him a "Bolshevik" for dubbing himself an
"environmental industrialist," he recalled. When he became
chairman in 1999, he declared a "clean revolution," only to
see his executives oppose his efforts. While he rankled rivals
by saying cars cause global warming, environmentalists
excoriated him for failing to deliver on fuel-economy promises.
"The skepticism came from all comers," Ford said in an
interview on Jan. 6. "Our competitors used to love to laugh
about the Ford green story. Those same people now are all
falling all over themselves to see who can be greenest, which I
find amusing."
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker's new Focus Electric
car, C-Max Energi plug-in and C-Max hybrid wagon follow the U.S.
sales debuts last month of General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet Volt
plug-in and Nissan Motor Co.'s battery-powered Leaf. Toyota
Motor Corp. also is introducing a new lineup of Prius hybrid
models at the Detroit show.
'Head in Sand'
Automakers are finally getting his message, Bill Ford said.
"Our industry had its head in the sand," he said. "It
was bereft of a vision for where it should go. It was important
to signal that we understood, at least Ford understood, I
understood, society's concerns and we were going to go to work
to try to address them."
Ford was a lonely voice in his company in the late 1990s in
support of environmental sustainability and fuel efficiency.
Back then, the Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicle was king of
the road and gasoline was less than $1.50 a gallon. His
executives scoffed when he issued a press release pledging
"customers can have any vehicle they want, as long as it is
green."
"Bill wanted to do it, but nobody else did," recalled
John Wolkonowicz, a former Ford product planner who consulted
with him in those days. "He was getting a lot of pushback."
Unfulfilled Pledge
He fought attempts to kill off a hybrid version of the Ford
Escape SUV, which was introduced in 2004 and was the first
gasoline-electric model from a U.S. automaker. Still, when Ford
failed to deliver on a promise to boost SUV fuel economy by 25
percent, environmentalists responded with ads that caricatured
him as Pinocchio.
"Perhaps some of the things I said were before the
technology was in place to fully deliver it," Ford said. "But
it was important to raise the issue."
His company now sells three hybrid models: the Escape and
the Ford Fusion and Lincoln MKZ sedans. The Focus Electric is
slated to begin sales late this year, with the C-Max Energi and
C-Max Hybrid set for 2012.
And environmentalists are embracing him again.
"Bill Ford deserves a lot of credit for starting this,"
said David Friedman, deputy director of the vehicle program at
the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington. "They were the
first to put out a domestic hybrid and they put out a family-car
hybrid with the Fusion that beat Toyota. That in itself is
incredibly impressive."
Cultural Change
What's most impressive is that Ford managed to finally
change his company's culture to make fuel economy a priority,
Friedman said.
The turning point came when Ford replaced himself as chief
executive officer by hiring Alan Mulally from Boeing Co. in
2006, Friedman said. "It's a credit to him that he knew he
needed help and he got it."
With Mulally as his ally, Bill Ford set a strategy to have
the best fuel-efficiency rating in every vehicle category in
which the automaker competes. That has required billions of
dollars to overhaul engines and transmissions, as well as
transforming plants that had made SUVs to produce cars. The
three new electric models will be built in a Wayne, Michigan,
factory where Ford once manufactured Lincoln Navigator SUVs.
"We've placed a big bet on fuel economy," Ford said.
"We've taken a point of view that gasoline prices over time
certainly will get higher and customers will start voting with
their wallets."
'Wrong Direction'
So far, consumers are hesitant to do that. Ford already is
selling more fuel-efficient cars, yet hybrids accounted for just
1.8 percent of its U.S. sales last year. Industrywide, hybrids
fell to 2.4 percent of the U.S. market from 2.8 percent in 2009.
"Hybrids are heading in the wrong direction," said
Rebecca Lindland, an analyst with research firm IHS Automotive
in Lexington, Massachusetts. "We have this disconnect between
the need for alternate-power vehicles and consumers who are
satisfied with traditional vehicles."
The need for electrified vehicles is being driven in part
by U.S. regulations that require automakers to boost average
fuel economy by company to 35.5 mpg in 2016, from 25 mpg now.
Broader acceptance of electric cars will require more
government action, Bill Ford said.
"It's critical that as a nation we have an energy policy
that really decides to focus on electricity," Ford said. "We
can provide all the hardware, but unless there's ubiquity of
plugging, where you can plug in at the mall and at work, then
we're not there yet as a nation."
Plug-In Promise
Outlets are important because plug-in hybrids show the most
promise, he said. The C-Max Energi plug-in can go more than 500
miles on a full charge and a full tank. The Focus Electric,
which has no gasoline engine, needs to recharge at least three
hours at a special 240-volt station after driving 100 miles or
less.
"The plug-ins are the most liberating because they take
away range anxiety," Ford said. "A pure electric, you run it
down and that's it, you're out of juice."
Electricity will eventually replace fossil fuels to power
vehicles, and the current efforts may someday be seen as the
turning point, he said.
"This is really the first shot at the mainstream
customer," Ford said. "The day I had always believed would
come has arrived."
For Related News and Information:
Ford and alternative energy: F US <Equity> TCNI ALTNRG <GO>
Auto-sales statistics: ATSL <GO>
Autos and regulation: TNI AUT RULES <GO>
Auto-show stories: TNI AUT SHOW <GO>
--Editors: John Lear, Jamie Butters
To contact the reporter on this story:
Keith Naughton in Southfield, Michigan, at +1-248-827-2941 or
Knaughton3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jamie Butters at +1-248-827-2944 or jbutters@bloomberg.net
(BN) Oil Rises for First Time in 3 Days on Alaskan Pipeline
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Oil Rises for First Time in 3 Days on Alaskan Pipeline Shutdown
2011-01-10 08:35:03.62 GMT
By Ben Sharples and Christian Schmollinger
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Oil climbed for the first time in
three days after an Alaskan pipeline carrying about 15 percent
of U.S. crude output was shut following a leak.
Futures gained as much as 2.2 percent after the Trans-
Alaska Pipeline System was closed Jan. 8, forcing companies
including BP Plc to suspend 95 percent of production from the
North Slope area. China's oil imports rose 18 percent in 2010,
the country's customs data showed today, underscoring surging
demand in the world's largest energy user.
"People are a little more concerned with supply
constraints than they were six months ago," said Ben Westmore,
a minerals and energy economist at National Australia Bank Ltd.
in Melbourne. "The shutdown is being factored into prices."
Crude for February delivery increased as much as $1.95 to
$89.98 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. It was at $88.72 a barrel at 4:33 p.m. Singapore time.
The contract fell 3.7 percent last week, the most in seven
weeks. Futures gained 15 percent in 2010.
Operators of the Alaska pipeline, an 800-mile (1,287-
kilometer) network crossing the northernmost U.S. state, can't
say when the link will open again. The system starts in Prudhoe
Bay on the North Slope and runs to Valdez, the northernmost ice-
free port in North America.
The line was still closed as of 2:21 p.m. local time
yesterday and there's no estimate of when it would be returned
to service, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. spokeswoman Michelle
Egan said in a telephone interview.
Curtailment
"We do think that the pipeline won't be closed for any
significant length of time and production will very quickly
return to normal," David Lennox, a Sydney-based resource
analyst at Fat Prophets, told Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's
"Up Front." "With that we'll see the price of crude oil
probably drop back down towards the $88 level, where it had been
trading."
The curtailment in Alaska production follows the shutdown
of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.'s 110,000-barrel-a-day
Horizon oil sands project after a fire Jan. 6.
The Alyeska closure was expected to cause a narrowing in
the price difference between prompt supplies of West Texas
Intermediate oil, the grade traded in New York, and later
deliveries, according to a Jan. 7 report from JPMorgan Chase &
Co. The spread between the February and April contracts has
dropped to $1.97 today from $2.52 a barrel on Jan. 6.
China Imports
China's crude imports in 2010 climbed to 239.3 million
metric tons, according to the Beijing-based General
Administration of Customs. That's about 4.8 million barrels a
day. December imports declined to 20.86 million tons from 20.9
million the month before.
Brent crude for February settlement rose as much as $1.37,
or 1.5 percent, to $94.70 a barrel on the London-based ICE
Futures Europe exchange. On Jan. 7, it decreased $1.19, or 1.3
percent, to $93.33. The more actively traded March contract was
at $93.65.
Brent's premium to New York oil futures increased to $6.14
a barrel on Jan. 6, the most since Feb. 13, 2009, based on data
compiled by Bloomberg. The spread narrowed to $5.17 today.
Hedge funds and other large speculators lowered their net-
long positions, or wagers on rising prices, in crude contracts
by 14 percent to 187,408 in the seven days ended Jan. 4,
according to a weekly report from the U.S. Commodity Futures
Trading Commission. That was down from 217,046 contracts in the
previous week, which was the biggest total in records going back
to June 2006.
For Related News and Information:
Top energy, oil stories: ETOP <GO> and OTOP <GO>
News on oil inventories: TNI OIL INV <GO>
News on oil markets: NI OILMARKET <GO>
Global energy statistics: ENST <GO>
--With assistance from Susan Li in Hong Kong and Yee Kai Pin in
Singapore. Editors: Alexander Kwiatkowski, Jane, Ching Shen Lee
To contact the reporters on this story:
Ben Sharples in Melbourne at +61-3-9228-8732 or
bsharples@bloomberg.net;
Christian Schmollinger in Singapore at +65-6212-1898 or
christian.s@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jane, Ching Shen Lee at +60-3-2302-7855 or
jalee@bloomberg.net
Oil Rises for First Time in 3 Days on Alaskan Pipeline Shutdown
2011-01-10 08:35:03.62 GMT
By Ben Sharples and Christian Schmollinger
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Oil climbed for the first time in
three days after an Alaskan pipeline carrying about 15 percent
of U.S. crude output was shut following a leak.
Futures gained as much as 2.2 percent after the Trans-
Alaska Pipeline System was closed Jan. 8, forcing companies
including BP Plc to suspend 95 percent of production from the
North Slope area. China's oil imports rose 18 percent in 2010,
the country's customs data showed today, underscoring surging
demand in the world's largest energy user.
"People are a little more concerned with supply
constraints than they were six months ago," said Ben Westmore,
a minerals and energy economist at National Australia Bank Ltd.
in Melbourne. "The shutdown is being factored into prices."
Crude for February delivery increased as much as $1.95 to
$89.98 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile
Exchange. It was at $88.72 a barrel at 4:33 p.m. Singapore time.
The contract fell 3.7 percent last week, the most in seven
weeks. Futures gained 15 percent in 2010.
Operators of the Alaska pipeline, an 800-mile (1,287-
kilometer) network crossing the northernmost U.S. state, can't
say when the link will open again. The system starts in Prudhoe
Bay on the North Slope and runs to Valdez, the northernmost ice-
free port in North America.
The line was still closed as of 2:21 p.m. local time
yesterday and there's no estimate of when it would be returned
to service, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. spokeswoman Michelle
Egan said in a telephone interview.
Curtailment
"We do think that the pipeline won't be closed for any
significant length of time and production will very quickly
return to normal," David Lennox, a Sydney-based resource
analyst at Fat Prophets, told Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's
"Up Front." "With that we'll see the price of crude oil
probably drop back down towards the $88 level, where it had been
trading."
The curtailment in Alaska production follows the shutdown
of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.'s 110,000-barrel-a-day
Horizon oil sands project after a fire Jan. 6.
The Alyeska closure was expected to cause a narrowing in
the price difference between prompt supplies of West Texas
Intermediate oil, the grade traded in New York, and later
deliveries, according to a Jan. 7 report from JPMorgan Chase &
Co. The spread between the February and April contracts has
dropped to $1.97 today from $2.52 a barrel on Jan. 6.
China Imports
China's crude imports in 2010 climbed to 239.3 million
metric tons, according to the Beijing-based General
Administration of Customs. That's about 4.8 million barrels a
day. December imports declined to 20.86 million tons from 20.9
million the month before.
Brent crude for February settlement rose as much as $1.37,
or 1.5 percent, to $94.70 a barrel on the London-based ICE
Futures Europe exchange. On Jan. 7, it decreased $1.19, or 1.3
percent, to $93.33. The more actively traded March contract was
at $93.65.
Brent's premium to New York oil futures increased to $6.14
a barrel on Jan. 6, the most since Feb. 13, 2009, based on data
compiled by Bloomberg. The spread narrowed to $5.17 today.
Hedge funds and other large speculators lowered their net-
long positions, or wagers on rising prices, in crude contracts
by 14 percent to 187,408 in the seven days ended Jan. 4,
according to a weekly report from the U.S. Commodity Futures
Trading Commission. That was down from 217,046 contracts in the
previous week, which was the biggest total in records going back
to June 2006.
For Related News and Information:
Top energy, oil stories: ETOP <GO> and OTOP <GO>
News on oil inventories: TNI OIL INV <GO>
News on oil markets: NI OILMARKET <GO>
Global energy statistics: ENST <GO>
--With assistance from Susan Li in Hong Kong and Yee Kai Pin in
Singapore. Editors: Alexander Kwiatkowski, Jane, Ching Shen Lee
To contact the reporters on this story:
Ben Sharples in Melbourne at +61-3-9228-8732 or
bsharples@bloomberg.net;
Christian Schmollinger in Singapore at +65-6212-1898 or
christian.s@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Jane, Ching Shen Lee at +60-3-2302-7855 or
jalee@bloomberg.net
2011/01/07
Fwd: Greenland Oil Allure ‘Enormous’ on Ice Thaw, Prices (Update1)
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Greenland Oil Allure 'Enormous' on Ice Thaw, Prices (Update1)
2011-01-07 13:00:42.427 GMT
(Updates with Cairn 2011 drilling cost in sixth paragraph,
adds Greenland oil potential in fifth.)
By Gelu Sulugiuc and Christian Wienberg
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Greenland's energy bureau said it's
met "enormous interest" in licensing rounds planned for the
next two years as rising oil prices and ice thaw fueled by
global warming make Arctic exploration more feasible.
With crude oil rising to a 27-month high of $92.58 a barrel
earlier this week and tighter legislation in the Gulf of Mexico
threatening to hamper drilling there, oil companies are turning
to less hospitable regions. Greenland awarded seven licenses
last year to eight companies including Statoil ASA, Royal Dutch
Shell Plc and A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S. Cairn Energy Plc started
drilling off Greenland's west coast last year and said it found
oil in one of its wells.
"We are seeing enormous interest from the oil industry in
the northeast Greenland licensing rounds of 2012 and 2013,"
said Joern Skov Nielsen, director of Greenland's bureau of
petroleum and minerals, at a press conference in Copenhagen
today.
Cairn is planning a "multi-year exploration campaign" for
oil and gas off Greenland's shores, said Simon Thomson, a legal
and commercial director for the Edinburgh-based company, at the
same press conference. Cairn said this week it hired two rigs to
drill four wells off Greenland in 2011. The Jan. 4 announcement
sent its stock 2.8 percent higher.
Investment
Greenland's north east holds 31.4 billion barrels of oil
equivalent while a further 17 billion barrels may lie under the
sea floor between Greenland and Canada, according to the U.S.
Geological Survey. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries produced 29.2 million barrels of oil a day in December
last year, according to Bloomberg estimates.
"We expect to spend $450 million to $500 million drilling
in Greenland this year, roughly the same as last year," Thomson
said, adding it will take seven to 10 years after any discovery
before oil production can start. The company last year failed to
make any commercial finds.
Other companies including Danish state-owned gas and oil
company Dong Energy A/S had made six failed attempts at
commercial discoveries in the past three decades.
Greenland's home rule government wants to ensure firms
applying for licenses to drill its natural resources have the
financial means to pay for the fallout from any spills, Nielsen
said.
"Companies applying for licensing round must have a good
environmental record," he said. "They also have to have a lot
of money. We want guarantees upfront that you can pay for
cleanup and compensation in case of an oil spill."
In April, an explosion at BP Plc's Deepwater Horizon rig in
the U.S. Gulf of Mexico triggered a record oil spill. Last
month, the U.S. Justice Department sued BP, the owner of the
rig, Transocean Ltd. and two other companies alleging they
violated environmental laws.
For Related News and Information:
More on Greenland: NI GRNLND <GO>
News on Arctic oil: TNI ARCTIC OIL <GO>
Today's main energy news: TOP NRG <GO>
Cairn earnings: CNE LN <Equity> TCNI ERN <GO>
--Editors: Tasneem Brogger, Jonas Bergman.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Christian Wienberg at +45-33-457-121 or
cwienberg@bloomberg.net
Gelu Sulugiuc in Copenhagen at +45-33-45-7120 or
gsulugiuc@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Tasneem Brogger at +45-33-457-130 or
tbrogger@bloomberg.net
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Greenland Oil Allure 'Enormous' on Ice Thaw, Prices (Update1)
2011-01-07 13:00:42.427 GMT
(Updates with Cairn 2011 drilling cost in sixth paragraph,
adds Greenland oil potential in fifth.)
By Gelu Sulugiuc and Christian Wienberg
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Greenland's energy bureau said it's
met "enormous interest" in licensing rounds planned for the
next two years as rising oil prices and ice thaw fueled by
global warming make Arctic exploration more feasible.
With crude oil rising to a 27-month high of $92.58 a barrel
earlier this week and tighter legislation in the Gulf of Mexico
threatening to hamper drilling there, oil companies are turning
to less hospitable regions. Greenland awarded seven licenses
last year to eight companies including Statoil ASA, Royal Dutch
Shell Plc and A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S. Cairn Energy Plc started
drilling off Greenland's west coast last year and said it found
oil in one of its wells.
"We are seeing enormous interest from the oil industry in
the northeast Greenland licensing rounds of 2012 and 2013,"
said Joern Skov Nielsen, director of Greenland's bureau of
petroleum and minerals, at a press conference in Copenhagen
today.
Cairn is planning a "multi-year exploration campaign" for
oil and gas off Greenland's shores, said Simon Thomson, a legal
and commercial director for the Edinburgh-based company, at the
same press conference. Cairn said this week it hired two rigs to
drill four wells off Greenland in 2011. The Jan. 4 announcement
sent its stock 2.8 percent higher.
Investment
Greenland's north east holds 31.4 billion barrels of oil
equivalent while a further 17 billion barrels may lie under the
sea floor between Greenland and Canada, according to the U.S.
Geological Survey. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries produced 29.2 million barrels of oil a day in December
last year, according to Bloomberg estimates.
"We expect to spend $450 million to $500 million drilling
in Greenland this year, roughly the same as last year," Thomson
said, adding it will take seven to 10 years after any discovery
before oil production can start. The company last year failed to
make any commercial finds.
Other companies including Danish state-owned gas and oil
company Dong Energy A/S had made six failed attempts at
commercial discoveries in the past three decades.
Greenland's home rule government wants to ensure firms
applying for licenses to drill its natural resources have the
financial means to pay for the fallout from any spills, Nielsen
said.
"Companies applying for licensing round must have a good
environmental record," he said. "They also have to have a lot
of money. We want guarantees upfront that you can pay for
cleanup and compensation in case of an oil spill."
In April, an explosion at BP Plc's Deepwater Horizon rig in
the U.S. Gulf of Mexico triggered a record oil spill. Last
month, the U.S. Justice Department sued BP, the owner of the
rig, Transocean Ltd. and two other companies alleging they
violated environmental laws.
For Related News and Information:
More on Greenland: NI GRNLND <GO>
News on Arctic oil: TNI ARCTIC OIL <GO>
Today's main energy news: TOP NRG <GO>
Cairn earnings: CNE LN <Equity> TCNI ERN <GO>
--Editors: Tasneem Brogger, Jonas Bergman.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Christian Wienberg at +45-33-457-121 or
cwienberg@bloomberg.net
Gelu Sulugiuc in Copenhagen at +45-33-45-7120 or
gsulugiuc@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Tasneem Brogger at +45-33-457-130 or
tbrogger@bloomberg.net
Fwd: + Vitol Group Acquires Remaining 76% of Carbon Resource Management
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Vitol Group Acquires Remaining 76% of Carbon Resource Management
2011-01-07 12:34:36.718 GMT
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Vitol Group, the world's largest
independent oil trader, said it increased its stake to 100
percent in Carbon Resource Management as part of a strategy to
develop emission-reduction projects after 2012.
Vitol, with an emissions team based in Geneva and a 24
percent of Carbon Resource Management since 2007, has bought the
remainder, it said today in a statement. Terms of the deal
weren't disclosed.
Vitol has more than 250 projects worldwide designed to curb
around 140 million metric tons of greenhouse gases blamed for
causing climate change, according to the statement. The European
Union and the United Nations are working on new rules for their
emission programs after 2012 amid a clampdown projects
generating "windfall profits" and the likelihood that targets
set by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol will expire. CRM has more than
200 projects, the statement said
"This business will give us a strong foothold in today's
market and will provide many new opportunities in the post 2012
marketplace which is now beginning to take shape." Russell
Hardy, a Vitol director, said in the statement.
Tradable credits can be issued under the UN's Clean
Development Mechanism, created by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The
credits can be used by European factories and power stations to
comply with the bloc's emissions targets. The UN promised to
speed up the time it takes to register and issue emissions
credits during international climate talks in Cancun last month.
The number of offsets issued by the UN reached a monthly
record of 24.8 million metric tons in November, nine times
higher than in July, and will probably double that number this
month, according to an estimate from IDEACarbon, the London
carbon-market research company.
Vitol trades more than 5.5 million barrels of oil products
a day, the statement said. Thomas Winklehner, former head of
emissions trading at Centrica Plc, heads CRM's emissions trading
unit, according to information on its website. CRM founder Nick
Clarke is stepping down as chief executive officer, the
statement said.
Link to Company News:{62647Z LN <Equity> CN <GO>} Link to
Company News:{2714180Z LN <Equity> CN <GO>} Link to Company
News:{3611758Z NA <Equity> CN <GO>}
For Related News and Information:
Top Green Stories:GREEN<GO>
Top Oil Stories:OTOP<GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Stephen Cunningham.
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Vitol Group Acquires Remaining 76% of Carbon Resource Management
2011-01-07 12:34:36.718 GMT
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Vitol Group, the world's largest
independent oil trader, said it increased its stake to 100
percent in Carbon Resource Management as part of a strategy to
develop emission-reduction projects after 2012.
Vitol, with an emissions team based in Geneva and a 24
percent of Carbon Resource Management since 2007, has bought the
remainder, it said today in a statement. Terms of the deal
weren't disclosed.
Vitol has more than 250 projects worldwide designed to curb
around 140 million metric tons of greenhouse gases blamed for
causing climate change, according to the statement. The European
Union and the United Nations are working on new rules for their
emission programs after 2012 amid a clampdown projects
generating "windfall profits" and the likelihood that targets
set by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol will expire. CRM has more than
200 projects, the statement said
"This business will give us a strong foothold in today's
market and will provide many new opportunities in the post 2012
marketplace which is now beginning to take shape." Russell
Hardy, a Vitol director, said in the statement.
Tradable credits can be issued under the UN's Clean
Development Mechanism, created by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. The
credits can be used by European factories and power stations to
comply with the bloc's emissions targets. The UN promised to
speed up the time it takes to register and issue emissions
credits during international climate talks in Cancun last month.
The number of offsets issued by the UN reached a monthly
record of 24.8 million metric tons in November, nine times
higher than in July, and will probably double that number this
month, according to an estimate from IDEACarbon, the London
carbon-market research company.
Vitol trades more than 5.5 million barrels of oil products
a day, the statement said. Thomas Winklehner, former head of
emissions trading at Centrica Plc, heads CRM's emissions trading
unit, according to information on its website. CRM founder Nick
Clarke is stepping down as chief executive officer, the
statement said.
Link to Company News:{62647Z LN <Equity> CN <GO>} Link to
Company News:{2714180Z LN <Equity> CN <GO>} Link to Company
News:{3611758Z NA <Equity> CN <GO>}
For Related News and Information:
Top Green Stories:GREEN<GO>
Top Oil Stories:OTOP<GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Stephen Cunningham.
2011/01/06
Yest/EU CO2 Rises After Breaking Technical Level as Power Gains
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
EU CO2 Rises After Breaking Technical Level as Power Gains
2011-01-06 12:22:47.872 GMT
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- European Union carbon permits rose
after breaking through a technical-resistance level, while
German power contracts gained.
EU permits for December increased by 7 cents, or 0.5
percent, to 14.60 euros ($19.12) a metric ton as of 11:30 a.m.
today on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. German power for
delivery next year rose 0.6 percent to 52.70 euros a megawatt-
hour, according to broker data compiled by Bloomberg. Higher
prices can strengthen the incentive to sell electricity forward,
feeding demand for CO2 permits.
Traders analyze changes in supply and demand and also watch
for patterns in daily price fluctuations, such as moving
averages and resistance levels, for clues to the future
direction of prices.
Emissions permits may "test the next resistance level at
14.68 euros a ton," Carine Hemery, a Paris-based analyst at
Orbeo, the carbon venture of Societe Generale SA and Rhodia SA,
wrote in a report e-mailed today. The contract closed above the
key level of 14.50 euros a ton yesterday after prices increased
in the last hour of trading, Hemery said, recommending that
investors buy the contracts.
For Related News and Information:
Top renewable energy, power stories: GREEN <GO>, PTOP <GO>
Bloomberg glossary of emissions terminology: IDOC 2059757 <GO>
Emissions menu, prices: EMIS <GO>, EMIT <GO>
--Editors: Bruce Stanley, Mike Anderson
To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie at +44-20-7073-3308 or
cairlie@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or
sev@bloomberg.net
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
EU CO2 Rises After Breaking Technical Level as Power Gains
2011-01-06 12:22:47.872 GMT
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- European Union carbon permits rose
after breaking through a technical-resistance level, while
German power contracts gained.
EU permits for December increased by 7 cents, or 0.5
percent, to 14.60 euros ($19.12) a metric ton as of 11:30 a.m.
today on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange. German power for
delivery next year rose 0.6 percent to 52.70 euros a megawatt-
hour, according to broker data compiled by Bloomberg. Higher
prices can strengthen the incentive to sell electricity forward,
feeding demand for CO2 permits.
Traders analyze changes in supply and demand and also watch
for patterns in daily price fluctuations, such as moving
averages and resistance levels, for clues to the future
direction of prices.
Emissions permits may "test the next resistance level at
14.68 euros a ton," Carine Hemery, a Paris-based analyst at
Orbeo, the carbon venture of Societe Generale SA and Rhodia SA,
wrote in a report e-mailed today. The contract closed above the
key level of 14.50 euros a ton yesterday after prices increased
in the last hour of trading, Hemery said, recommending that
investors buy the contracts.
For Related News and Information:
Top renewable energy, power stories: GREEN <GO>, PTOP <GO>
Bloomberg glossary of emissions terminology: IDOC 2059757 <GO>
Emissions menu, prices: EMIS <GO>, EMIT <GO>
--Editors: Bruce Stanley, Mike Anderson
To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie at +44-20-7073-3308 or
cairlie@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or
sev@bloomberg.net
Fwd: Carbon Investors Group Calls for UN to do More to Speed Reviews
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Carbon Investors Group Calls for UN to do More to Speed Reviews
2011-01-06 12:38:56.371 GMT
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The regulator of the United Nations
emissions market should do more to speed up approvals for
projects to cut greenhouse gas, the Carbon Markets and Investors
Association said today.
The executive board of the UN's Clean Development Mechanism
said yesterday it reduced the backlog of pending requests for
project registration and new credits to 30 days from about 90
days. While that's an improvement, it is still double the target
set at last year's climate summit in Cancun, Mexico, Christiaan
Vrolijk, a vice chairman at the group, said today in an e-mailed
statement.
"The CDM executive board exceeded our expectations, and we
hope they can continue with this pace of reform," Vrolijk said.
``We strongly encourage the executive board to carry on
aggressively with its reforms."
For Related News and Information:
Top Environment Stories:GREEN<GO>
To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie in London at +44-20-7073-3308 or
cairlie@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Mike Anderson at +44-20-7673-2718 or
manderson34@bloomberg.net
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Carbon Investors Group Calls for UN to do More to Speed Reviews
2011-01-06 12:38:56.371 GMT
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The regulator of the United Nations
emissions market should do more to speed up approvals for
projects to cut greenhouse gas, the Carbon Markets and Investors
Association said today.
The executive board of the UN's Clean Development Mechanism
said yesterday it reduced the backlog of pending requests for
project registration and new credits to 30 days from about 90
days. While that's an improvement, it is still double the target
set at last year's climate summit in Cancun, Mexico, Christiaan
Vrolijk, a vice chairman at the group, said today in an e-mailed
statement.
"The CDM executive board exceeded our expectations, and we
hope they can continue with this pace of reform," Vrolijk said.
``We strongly encourage the executive board to carry on
aggressively with its reforms."
For Related News and Information:
Top Environment Stories:GREEN<GO>
To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie in London at +44-20-7073-3308 or
cairlie@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Mike Anderson at +44-20-7673-2718 or
manderson34@bloomberg.net
Fwd: China to ‘Basically Meet’ Energy Intensity Target, Xinhua Says
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
China to 'Basically Meet' Energy Intensity Target, Xinhua Says
2011-01-06 16:18:03.811 GMT
By Joshua Fellman
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- China will "basically meet" its
target of reducing energy consumption per unit of gross domestic
product by about 20 percent by the end of 2010 from 2005 levels,
Xinhua News Agency said, citing National Development and Reform
Commission Director Zhang Ping.
For Related News and Information:
Top Stories:{TOP<GO>}
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Joshua Fellman at +1-212-617-8042 or
jfellman@bloomberg.net
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
China to 'Basically Meet' Energy Intensity Target, Xinhua Says
2011-01-06 16:18:03.811 GMT
By Joshua Fellman
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- China will "basically meet" its
target of reducing energy consumption per unit of gross domestic
product by about 20 percent by the end of 2010 from 2005 levels,
Xinhua News Agency said, citing National Development and Reform
Commission Director Zhang Ping.
For Related News and Information:
Top Stories:{TOP<GO>}
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Joshua Fellman at +1-212-617-8042 or
jfellman@bloomberg.net
Fwd: Gore Says Inefficient Building Design Worsens Global Warming
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Gore Says Inefficient Building Design Worsens Global Warming
2011-01-06 17:17:21.938 GMT
By Bloomberg News
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Inefficient building design worsens
global warming, causing 40 percent of the climate crisis, former
U.S. Vice President Al Gore said.
"Efficiency is the number one solution," Gore said at The
Global Urban Development forum in Beijing yesterday.
While China has had "unusual success" with its economy
and in accelerating carbon-use reduction, it also faces
emissions problems similar to those of the U.S., because 80
percent of its electricity is supplied by coal.
A global agreement on emission cuts wasn't reached at the
climate summit in December at Cancun, Mexico. China, the world's
biggest power producer, is taking its own measures to reduce its
carbon intensity, the amount of carbon it emits per unit of
gross domestic product. It aims to cut carbon emitted per unit
as much as 45 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.
China may spend about 5 trillion yuan ($750 billion) in the
next decade developing cleaner energy to reduce emissions from
burning oil and coal, Jiang Bing, head of the National Energy
Administration's planning and development department, said on
July 20.
For Related News and Information:
Most-read alternative energy stories: MNI ALTNRG <GO>
For top news on renewable energy TOP ENV <GO>
New Energy Finance news and analysis: BNEF <GO>
--Editors: Josh Fellman, Will Wade
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story:
Feifei Shen in Beijing at +86-10-6649-7528 or
Fshen11@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net.
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Gore Says Inefficient Building Design Worsens Global Warming
2011-01-06 17:17:21.938 GMT
By Bloomberg News
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Inefficient building design worsens
global warming, causing 40 percent of the climate crisis, former
U.S. Vice President Al Gore said.
"Efficiency is the number one solution," Gore said at The
Global Urban Development forum in Beijing yesterday.
While China has had "unusual success" with its economy
and in accelerating carbon-use reduction, it also faces
emissions problems similar to those of the U.S., because 80
percent of its electricity is supplied by coal.
A global agreement on emission cuts wasn't reached at the
climate summit in December at Cancun, Mexico. China, the world's
biggest power producer, is taking its own measures to reduce its
carbon intensity, the amount of carbon it emits per unit of
gross domestic product. It aims to cut carbon emitted per unit
as much as 45 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels.
China may spend about 5 trillion yuan ($750 billion) in the
next decade developing cleaner energy to reduce emissions from
burning oil and coal, Jiang Bing, head of the National Energy
Administration's planning and development department, said on
July 20.
For Related News and Information:
Most-read alternative energy stories: MNI ALTNRG <GO>
For top news on renewable energy TOP ENV <GO>
New Energy Finance news and analysis: BNEF <GO>
--Editors: Josh Fellman, Will Wade
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story:
Feifei Shen in Beijing at +86-10-6649-7528 or
Fshen11@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net.
Fwd: + CO2 Market to Grow 15% This Year, New Energy Forecasts (Update1)
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
CO2 Market to Grow 15% This Year, New Energy Forecasts (Update1)
2011-01-06 17:42:39.841 GMT
(Adds New Energy comment in third paragraph.)
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Global carbon markets will grow 15
percent in 2011, the most in three years, on higher prices and
increased demand for emission allowances from energy companies,
analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance said.
Emission markets worldwide will expand to 107 billion euros
($139 billion) this year from 93 billion euros last year as
European power producers buy more permits before they are forced
to pay at auctions starting in 2013, London-based analysts led
by Guy Turner said today in an e-mailed report.
"In spite of the recession and little progress at the
international climate talks, the value of the global carbon
market has continued to grow," Turner, director of carbon
market research at New Energy Finance, said in the report.
"With the advent of auctioning in the European scheme, we are
likely to see even higher traded volumes and prices in Europe in
2011, and these may increase further in future years."
The carbon market's value rose 5 percent in 2010 as global
prices increased 17 percent, New Energy Finance said. Trading
volume dropped 10 percent to 6.9 billion metric tons on the
collapse of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative market, a
carbon trading program in the U.S., and "the evaporation of
prospects for a federal-level cap-and-trade scheme."
European Union carbon allowances for delivery in 2011 rose
0.9 percent of 14.66 euros today on the ICE Futures Europe
exchange in London. That's up 13 percent from a year ago. United
Nation's credits for 2011 fell 0.3 percent to 11.20 euros.
Dominated by Europe
Europe still dominates the carbon market, accounting for 81
percent of total trades in 2010, Turner said. This trend is set
to continue through 2020 given the lack of progress on carbon
legislation in the U.S., Japan and Australia, he said.
The world's carbon markets could reach up to 1.7 trillion
euros in 2020 "if these countries were to implement meaningful
cap-and-trade schemes," Turner said.
New Energy Finance said the value of carbon trading last
year was within 3 percent of its January 2010 forecast of 96
billion euros. The European Trading System, started in 2005 as
part of the EU effort to cut emissions and comply with the 1997
Kyoto Protocol, grew 80 percent in 2008, New Energy said.
For Related News and Information:
New Energy Finance Carbon Market Fundamentals: CARX <GO>
Top Environment Stories:GREEN <GO>
--Editor: Mike Anderson, Randall Hackley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie in London at +44-20-7073-3308 or
cairlie@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or
sev@bloomberg.net
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
CO2 Market to Grow 15% This Year, New Energy Forecasts (Update1)
2011-01-06 17:42:39.841 GMT
(Adds New Energy comment in third paragraph.)
By Catherine Airlie
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Global carbon markets will grow 15
percent in 2011, the most in three years, on higher prices and
increased demand for emission allowances from energy companies,
analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance said.
Emission markets worldwide will expand to 107 billion euros
($139 billion) this year from 93 billion euros last year as
European power producers buy more permits before they are forced
to pay at auctions starting in 2013, London-based analysts led
by Guy Turner said today in an e-mailed report.
"In spite of the recession and little progress at the
international climate talks, the value of the global carbon
market has continued to grow," Turner, director of carbon
market research at New Energy Finance, said in the report.
"With the advent of auctioning in the European scheme, we are
likely to see even higher traded volumes and prices in Europe in
2011, and these may increase further in future years."
The carbon market's value rose 5 percent in 2010 as global
prices increased 17 percent, New Energy Finance said. Trading
volume dropped 10 percent to 6.9 billion metric tons on the
collapse of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative market, a
carbon trading program in the U.S., and "the evaporation of
prospects for a federal-level cap-and-trade scheme."
European Union carbon allowances for delivery in 2011 rose
0.9 percent of 14.66 euros today on the ICE Futures Europe
exchange in London. That's up 13 percent from a year ago. United
Nation's credits for 2011 fell 0.3 percent to 11.20 euros.
Dominated by Europe
Europe still dominates the carbon market, accounting for 81
percent of total trades in 2010, Turner said. This trend is set
to continue through 2020 given the lack of progress on carbon
legislation in the U.S., Japan and Australia, he said.
The world's carbon markets could reach up to 1.7 trillion
euros in 2020 "if these countries were to implement meaningful
cap-and-trade schemes," Turner said.
New Energy Finance said the value of carbon trading last
year was within 3 percent of its January 2010 forecast of 96
billion euros. The European Trading System, started in 2005 as
part of the EU effort to cut emissions and comply with the 1997
Kyoto Protocol, grew 80 percent in 2008, New Energy said.
For Related News and Information:
New Energy Finance Carbon Market Fundamentals: CARX <GO>
Top Environment Stories:GREEN <GO>
--Editor: Mike Anderson, Randall Hackley.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Catherine Airlie in London at +44-20-7073-3308 or
cairlie@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or
sev@bloomberg.net
Fwd: Senator Boxer Vows to Fight Republican Steps Halting Carbon Rule
---
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Senator Boxer Vows to Fight Republican Steps Halting Carbon Rule
2011-01-06 18:16:13.824 GMT
By Jim Snyder
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Senator Barbara Boxer, a California
Democrat, vowed to use "every single tool available to me" in
backing the Environmental Protection Agency's regulation of
greenhouse gases against Republican challenges.
Blocking the EPA from enforcing laws, including limits on
carbon emissions from new and modified power plants and large
factories, will "do harm to the American people," Boxer, the
chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee,
said today at a news conference in Washington.
"Too much carbon pollution is a threat to society," Boxer
said.
Republicans in the House led by Representative Fred Upton
of Michigan, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce
Committee, are pledging to block the EPA from regulating
greenhouse gases linked by scientists to global warming and
adopting other "job-killing" regulations.
Clean-air and water rules don't threaten job growth, Boxer
said. The U.S. economy has tripled in value since the Clean Air
Act was enacted in 1970, she said.
A healthy environment and a thriving economy go "hand in
hand," Boxer said.
Boxer's defense of the EPA's carbon rules, which took
effect on Jan. 2, may be opposed by Democrats.
Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, wants to
delay carbon emissions limits for two years. Boxer said she
expected President Barack Obama would veto a delay of the
greenhouse-gas rules.
Boxer, who backed climate-change legislation that died in
the Senate last year, said she would introduce a similar bill in
the current Congress if she knew it would pass.
"We're not going to do it if we don't have the votes,"
she said.
For Related News and Information:
Top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
Top renewable-energy stories: GREEN <GO>
Top business and government news: GBIZ <GO>
--Editors: Steve Geimann, John Lear
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jim Snyder in Washington at +1-202-624-1972 or
jsnyder24@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Larry Liebert at +1-202-624-1936 or
lliebert@bloomberg.net.
Sent From Bloomberg Mobile MSG
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Senator Boxer Vows to Fight Republican Steps Halting Carbon Rule
2011-01-06 18:16:13.824 GMT
By Jim Snyder
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Senator Barbara Boxer, a California
Democrat, vowed to use "every single tool available to me" in
backing the Environmental Protection Agency's regulation of
greenhouse gases against Republican challenges.
Blocking the EPA from enforcing laws, including limits on
carbon emissions from new and modified power plants and large
factories, will "do harm to the American people," Boxer, the
chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee,
said today at a news conference in Washington.
"Too much carbon pollution is a threat to society," Boxer
said.
Republicans in the House led by Representative Fred Upton
of Michigan, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce
Committee, are pledging to block the EPA from regulating
greenhouse gases linked by scientists to global warming and
adopting other "job-killing" regulations.
Clean-air and water rules don't threaten job growth, Boxer
said. The U.S. economy has tripled in value since the Clean Air
Act was enacted in 1970, she said.
A healthy environment and a thriving economy go "hand in
hand," Boxer said.
Boxer's defense of the EPA's carbon rules, which took
effect on Jan. 2, may be opposed by Democrats.
Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, wants to
delay carbon emissions limits for two years. Boxer said she
expected President Barack Obama would veto a delay of the
greenhouse-gas rules.
Boxer, who backed climate-change legislation that died in
the Senate last year, said she would introduce a similar bill in
the current Congress if she knew it would pass.
"We're not going to do it if we don't have the votes,"
she said.
For Related News and Information:
Top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
Top renewable-energy stories: GREEN <GO>
Top business and government news: GBIZ <GO>
--Editors: Steve Geimann, John Lear
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jim Snyder in Washington at +1-202-624-1972 or
jsnyder24@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Larry Liebert at +1-202-624-1936 or
lliebert@bloomberg.net.
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