tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69167495719565017322008-08-21T16:55:44.218+01:00Keithnoreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-41350927889907320582008-08-21T16:25:00.001+01:002008-08-21T16:40:50.620+01:00

During a routine inspection, a small leak was discovered in the gas pipeline between the Kvitebjørn platform and the Kollsnes gas treatment facility outside Bergen. In the autumn of 2007, this pipeline was dragged out of position by a ship's anchor. In January this year, the pipeline was qualified for temporary use pending a permanent repair. This summer it was decided to make the permanent

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By Nick Butler of The Financial Times Little more than a month ago the suggestion that Russian troops would be engaged in a shooting war in Georgia leading to the closure of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline would have triggered a dram­atic rise in oil prices. A barrel of crude was already trading at more than $140 and the loss of another million barrels a day of supply could have pushed the figure on

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-21060129626508948462008-08-13T13:33:00.002+01:002008-08-14T13:37:36.845+01:00

Dozens of companies face having to report embarrassing sharp increases in their carbon pollution under government plans to crack down on "greenwash". The move could undermine the environmental claims of firms such as BT, which have invested heavily in so-called green electricity tariffs to cut their carbon footprints. Under the proposed changes, companies using such green tariffs, which are

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-80759217092842612902008-08-11T16:45:00.000+01:002008-08-11T16:47:45.654+01:00

British Energy still hopes to strike a takeover deal with EDF, but the cash-rich French utility has a number of other options it could pursue if negotiations with the East-Kilbride-based nuclear power generator collapse. Top executives at Paris-based Electricité de France, which is controlled by the French state, are looking at other ways to build on the company's global nuclear leadership and

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-62077703860332565652008-08-01T16:33:00.003+01:002008-08-01T16:40:25.559+01:00

Price rises from British Gas and EDF provide a further headache for households struggling to make ends meet. Thanks to the Government's dithering over new nuclear plants, British energy suppliers are reliant on competing globally for energy imports, which is likely to remain the case for the next decade. Monday's report by the Business and Enterprise select committee argued that energy markets

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-44537867712622658142008-07-29T11:14:00.000+01:002008-07-30T11:21:33.283+01:00

Biomass energy is being touted as a key player in the push to green Europe's electricity supplies, says David Williams. In this week's Green Room, he argues that although there are promising signs, more needs to be done to encourage large-scale developments. For some time, biomass has been seen as the emerging sibling of the renewable energy industry. Despite much of the development behind the

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-88951898604240446352008-07-28T16:49:00.001+01:002008-07-29T16:53:01.662+01:00

With more warnings of higher gas prices, industry sources are asking what needs to be done to avert a looming energy crisis. Some are now calling on the government to do more to increase gas storage facilities in the UK. A gas company source told The Scotsman that the UK currently has the capacity to store imported gas for only 19 days, compared with 99 days in France. That means the UK is

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-78217706634791490192008-07-28T16:41:00.001+01:002008-07-29T16:48:44.850+01:00

Rises in gas and electricity bills in the near future will have serious consequences for millions of households, an MPs' committee has said. It also warned that thousands of jobs in manufacturing would be at risk if UK prices stayed higher than those faced by industry in the rest of Europe. The Business and Enterprise Select Committee report said problems in the sectorneeded to be addressed

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-78435436779505713712008-07-28T16:36:00.001+01:002008-07-29T16:38:31.076+01:00

Britain's energy markets need a radical shake-up to tackle inefficiencies as homes and businesses brace themselves to pay significantly more for power in the future, MPs warn today. Consumers could be forced to pay more for their power than those in other countries, and if the discrepancies are not tackled it could hit the competitiveness of British manufacturing, the business and enterprise

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-81110962235885293572008-07-28T16:29:00.002+01:002008-07-29T16:40:54.112+01:00

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- A parliamentary inquiry concluded Monday there are significant flaws in the U.K.'s gas and electricity markets and called on the regulator, Ofgem, to conduct a thorough investigation and refer the sector to the Competition Commission if it can't come up with remedies. The inquiry, conducted by parliament's Business and Enterprise Select Committee, also raised concern over

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-51085903207898007912008-07-25T16:09:00.001+01:002008-07-25T16:13:50.719+01:00

Scottish and Southern Energy plc ("SSE") has been granted consent by Scottish Ministers to develop in southern Scotland a wind farm with a total capacity of up to 456MW. The wind farm will be built in two phases and, on completion, will be the largest onshore wind farm in Europe. The wind farm, known as Clyde, is located between Biggar and Moffat. It became part of SSE’s development portfolio

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-78146471875035521302008-07-22T10:45:00.000+01:002008-07-23T10:48:07.317+01:00

Oil prices have fallen to a six-week low as US energy demand fell and a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico appeared to be missing oil facilities. US light sweet crude fell as low as $125.63 a barrel, well off its 11 July peak above $147 a barrel. Petrol consumption in the US is 2.2% below last year's levels, according to a MasterCard survey, suggesting that higher prices are hitting demand. But

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-17035766821338028102008-07-21T16:20:00.001+01:002008-07-25T16:24:44.953+01:00

E.ON has today joined with Danish utility DONG Energy to buy out Shell’s stake in the London Array offshore wind farm. E.ON and DONG Energy will become 50:50 partners in the project. London Array is the world’s largest offshore wind farm project with an estimated total power up to 1,000 megawatt (MW). It is located around 15km from the Kent and Essex coasts in the outer Thames Estuary, and may

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-32693149111156684202008-07-18T10:16:00.002+01:002008-08-01T10:35:11.585+01:00

Britain’s favourite supermarket is to cut its carbon footprint by using straw to power its business. Tesco has been given the go ahead to build Britain’s first ever straw-powered Combined Heat and Power plant to meet the electricity and heating needs of its Goole Distribution Centre. The new plant will generate 5MW of electrical power – enough energy to run eight Tesco Superstores. All excess

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-56285687382913993772008-07-17T11:44:00.000+01:002008-07-21T11:46:56.543+01:00

Rolls-Royce is creating a nuclear unit to ensure that it gets a slice of the global civil nuclear market that the engineer believes will be worth £50bn in 15 years' time. In the face of growing pressure to replace existing dirty power sources with environmentally friendly alternatives, nuclear is firmly back on the agenda. Rolls is already talking to utilities and reactor vendors around the

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-40025230009563998642008-07-16T11:50:00.000+01:002008-07-21T11:52:37.247+01:00

Power suppliers offering their customers so-called green tariffs will have to spend more on renewable electricity, under rules to be announced by Ofgem. Such tariffs, under which suppliers contract to derive some or all of their energy from renewable sources, have become popular as environmental awareness has grown among consumers and businesses. But the standard of such tariffs has varied

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-21778550449167663882008-07-16T11:47:00.001+01:002008-07-21T11:49:45.598+01:00

Broadband is the only household utility bill to buck the trend of rising household bills in the wake of the credit crunch, according to broadband comparison site Top 10 Broadband. “Broadband bills have plummeted by over 60% in the past 18 months while gas and electricity have risen by 15% and are set to rise further by the end of the year” says Jessica McArdle, a spokesperson for Top 10

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-14764412287894374212008-07-15T16:14:00.000+01:002008-07-25T16:19:44.321+01:00

PARIS, July 15 (Reuters) - French power group EDF (EDF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) on Tuesday said it will build three to six turbines along the northern coast of Brittany, in France, to produce electricity from the energy in tidal currents. The pilot scheme, which EDF said is a world first, would be linked to the grid off the city of Paimpol, and have a total capacity of between 4 and 6

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-3904815732217918402008-07-14T12:32:00.001+01:002008-07-15T12:35:13.061+01:00

The government has made "very poor progress" on reaching its own carbon emissions-cutting targets, MPs say. Ministers want departments and agencies to reduce emissions by 12.5% by 2010/11 compared with 1999/2000 levels - and to be carbon-neutral by 2012. But the influential environment audit committee said a cut of just 4% had been achieved by 2006/07. Chairman Tim Yeo said this damaged the

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-76364454551507671852008-07-14T12:28:00.000+01:002008-07-15T12:30:36.093+01:00

The government has denied that a list of sites for new nuclear power stations has already been drawn up. The Department for Business said the process was ongoing and reports to the contrary were "nonsense". Its comments follow reports that ministers have already selected sites alongside existing reactors such as Sizewell, Dungeness and Hartlepool. The prime minister has called for "a

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-4593818868720130502008-07-13T12:18:00.000+01:002008-07-15T12:22:12.817+01:00

Transcript of the Prime Minister's remarks delivered at the Union for the Mediterranean Summit in Paris. At this summit the 27 nations of the European Union and our Mediterranean neighbours pledge ourselves to take action to promote our mutual prosperity, security, liberty and democracy. We must now leave behind the old wasteful, oil dependent ways of yesterday and embrace the new cleaner and

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-70485637812897508512008-07-13T12:02:00.000+01:002008-07-21T12:04:11.079+01:00

Scottish & Southern Energy is running the rule over a potential cross-border utility takeover, with Energia, Ireland's biggest independent power company, in its sights. City analysts say the Scottish utility is a front-runner for a £2 billion bidding auction, which is expected to be started this week when Dresdner Kleinwort posts an information memorandum to prospective bidders. As well as SSE,

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-74577990457764605462008-07-12T11:58:00.000+01:002008-07-21T12:01:37.117+01:00

Bad weather can have a devastating effect on the fuel industry, writes Kristy Dorsey. Amid concerns about record prices, levels of demand and the threat to production in areas of conflict, the oil market is adding another imponderable to its list of worries – predicting the weather. Bertha, the first Atlantic hurricane of the 2008 season, waxed and waned during the past week on its slow drift

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-10543024722288792442008-07-11T11:54:00.001+01:002008-07-15T12:17:54.321+01:00

The global energy system is undergoing a structural crisis. At its heart lies the need to restrain climatic change while at the same time dealing with energy security in an era of rapidly growing demand. The widening gap between rising demand for energy and limited resources of oil and gas has, together with speculation, increased fuel prices to record levels. This in turn has raised the spectre

BCC Newshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511451643042345932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6916749571956501732.post-40339748794406837482008-07-11T11:25:00.002+01:002008-07-21T11:44:04.952+01:00

World coal capacity is expected to reach approximately 2,500 GW by the end of 2020, an increase of nearly 60 percent from 2008. East Asia will lead the way with the biggest total gain in capacity, while West Asia will enjoy the largest percentage growth, approximately 300 percent. These are the latest forecasts in Coal-Fired Boilers: World Analysis and Forecast published by the McIlvaine Company

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