Saudi Output Rises to Highest Level in at Least 23 Years

Oil output by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries rose in May to the highest level since 2008 as Saudi Arabia pumped crude at the fastest pace in at least 23 years, a Bloomberg survey showed.  OPEC production gained 20,000 barrels to an average 31.595 million barrels a day in May from a revised 31.575 million in April, according to the survey of oil companies, producers and analysts. Output increased to the highest level since October 2008. The April total was revised 170,000 barrels a day higher.  Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s biggest producer, bolstered output by 80,000 barrels to 9.9 million barrels a day this month, the highest level since at least January 1989, based on monthly data compiled by Bloomberg.

'Drop-In' Biofuels: The Best of All Possible Worlds?

It's the next big thing you've never heard of: environmentally friendly fuels so structurally similar to petroleum, they "drop in" to existing technology and infrastructure. Companies currently researching and developing this new generation of biofuels claim that their processes extract value from naturally occurring resources without wreaking environmental havoc. Their raw materials, or "feedstock," range from sugar cane processing waste to algae and bacteria. But what's even more exciting than drop-in biofuel's green potential?..

Warming gas levels hit 'troubling milestone'

The world's air has reached what scientists call a troubling new milestone for carbon dioxide, the main global warming pollutant.  Monitoring stations across the Arctic this spring are measuring more than 400 parts per million of the heat-trapping gas in the atmosphere. The number isn't quite a surprise, because it's been rising at an accelerating pace. Years ago, it passed the 350 ppm mark that many scientists say is the highest safe level for carbon dioxide. It now stands globally at 395.  So far, only the Arctic has reached that 400 level, but the rest of the world will follow soon.  "The fact that it's 400 is significant," said Jim Butler, global monitoring director at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Lab in Boulder, Colo. "It's just a reminder to everybody that we haven't fixed this and we're still in trouble."

Voluntary Carbon Offsetting Hits Three-Year High on US Action, Wind Farms, and Clean Development

The market for voluntary carbon offsetting hit a three-year high in 2011, transacting more than $576 million of offsets, second only to 2008's record $776 million. This finding comes from the 6th "State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets" report, released today at Carbon Expo in Cologne, Germany by Forest Trends' Ecosystem Marketplace initiative in partnership with Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Among the report's most surprising findings are a significant increase in demand from buyers in the US and major changes in the mix of offsets capturing market share, such as record sales of offsets from Asian wind farms and the coming-of-age of clean development projects in Africa.

Schlumberger Could Pump Big Profits From China Shale

China Petrochemical Corp announced that it would begin producing gas from shale reserves in Sichuan in mid June. ^[1] China’s push to develop its shale reserves could provide a major boost to oilfield services providers such as Schlumberger and Halliburton as the companies battle an industry oversupply situation in the North American pressure pumping market.  Oilfield services players are actively looking to export the shale gas revolution in the U.S. to foreign markets in Asia and in Latin America

Joy Cuts 2012 Forecasts as Mining Companies Curb Spending

Joy Global Inc. (JOY), the maker of P&H and Joy mining equipment, cut forecasts for full-year earnings and revenue as mining companies ease capital expenditure amid concern over the slowdown in China. The shares fell.  Profit will be $7.15 to $7.45 a share on sales of $5.5 billion to $5.7 billion for the fiscal year through October, the Milwaukee-based company said today in a statement. In February, Joy had projected earnings of $7.40 to $7.80 on revenue of $5.6 billion to $5.8 billion. The average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg were for per-share profit of $7.65 and sales of $5.72 billion.  “Joy’s performance was solid, but cyclicality is overwhelming a good operating story,” Joel Levington, managing director of corporate credit at Brookfield Investment Management Inc. in New York, said in an e-mailed response to questions. “With cyclicality, I mean the combination of low natural-gas prices and a slowing China, which is dragging coal demand down.”

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31 May 2012 13:12

EC plan to delay CO2 permit sales has little opposition: Delbeke

COLOGNE, May 31 (Reuters Point Carbon) – A European Commission plan to prop up carbon prices trading…

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31 May 2012 16:37

Brazil offsets to ease California supply gap: report

WASHINGTON, May 31 (Reuters Point Carbon) – Carbon credits sourced from slowing the rate of deforest…

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31 May 2012 10:53

INTERVIEW: CTX aims to be first Australian spot CO2 exchange

COLOGNE, May 31 (Reuters Point Carbon) – An online voluntary emissions bourse is poised to become Au…

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31 May 2012 13:26

UK coal-fired power output hits 6-yr high, gas 14-year low

LONDON, May 31 (Reuters Point Carbon) – The amount of electricity produced from coal in the UK rose…

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31 May 2012 13:57

Postal firm to spend over $10 mln on 2 mln CO2 credits

LONDON, May 31 (Reuters Point Carbon) – In one of the biggest deals recorded in the voluntary carbon…

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31 May 2012 11:04

NZ carbon finds new depths as firms hand in permits

BEIJING, May 31 (Reuters Point Carbon) - Spot carbon permits in New Zealand’s emissions trading sche…

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30 May 2012 09:16

Global carbon market value hits record $176 billion

COLOGNE, May 30 (Reuters Point Carbon) – The global carbon market grew in value by 11 percent to $17…

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Defaulting on carbon credit

Defaulting on carbon credit - NY Daily News

Chennai, May 30 -- An environment-friendly team, an otherworldly fluorescent green jersey to match the otherworldly T20 talents of Chris Gayle and a green revolution of a different kind. The Royal Challengers Bangalore's Go Green initiative and their proclamation of becoming the first carbon-neutral cricket franchise in the world was one of the few feel-good stories of a controversy-plagued IPL V. However, there could be more bad news in store after global carbon credit experts cast doubts on RCB's claim.  After examining the list of measures taken by RCB, an industry leader in the sourcing and provision of carbon credits, Carbon Neutral Investments, said, while the franchise had been proactive in their sustainability programme, to call them carbon neutral would be a stretch.

Ethanol Scheme Bids to Clean Up Cooking

A farmer in Mozambique grows peas, beans and cassava in rotation—enough to feed the family with a little to spare. The farmer then sells that excess to CleanStar Mozambique, which dries and packages the produce for sale in the capital, Maputo. But the company also takes the surplus cassava, a starch-filled root and local food staple, and sends it to an ethanol fermentation plant built by ICM, a U.S. ethanol company, that employs enzymes produced by Denmark-based Novozymes...

Climate talks ‘frustrating’, but making slow progress

The climate negotiations are proceeding at an “unacceptable” pace, said UN climate chief Christiana Figueres today, but progress is being made.  Speaking in Cologne at the opening of the ninth Carbon Expo exhibition and conference, Figueres said: “I know we’re all frustrated with the slowness of the intergovernmental process”, to applause from delegates. But, she added, “despite the pace, which is completely unacceptable, governments are persevering”, in the face of four years of global economic turmoil.  “They’re persevering because they, and we, have no other option,” Figueres said.

Trade war, not market boost, seen from US solar tariffs

The decision by US federal regulators to place hefty penalties on imports of Chinese solar products could spark a vicious trade war and slightly raise solar prices in the US, but is unlikely to give US solar manufacturers the boost they were looking for.  The US Commerce Department issued a preliminary ruling in favour of a petition by the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing, led by SolarWorld, which sought anti-subsidy and anti-dumping (AD) duties on Chinese exports of solar cells and modules, a move that China has vehemently opposed.

PetroChina Needs Time on Shale Gas, Looks Abroad

PetroChina Co. (857) may take five years to figure out ways to unlock the world’s largest natural-gas reserves trapped in shale rock, meaning China must keep buying overseas energy assets to fuel the second-biggest economy.  “We still have a long way to go in turning possible shale resources into recoverable reserves,” Zhou Mingchun, chief financial officer at China’s largest oil and gas company, said in an interview in Beijing. PetroChina will pursue energy assets “wherever and whenever they become available.”  China, estimated to hold triple the shale reserves of the U.S., has yet to produce the fuel commercially because its drillers lack technology and face tougher geology. Explorers including Cnooc Ltd. (883) have bid for $100 billion of energy assets from Australia to Canada since 2008, including so-called unconventional resources, to boost reserves and gain expertise.