Foreign

As part of the Obama administration’s plan to build a clean energy economy and reduce dependence on foreign oil, the Department of Energy (DOE) will launch a $400 million organization to foster research and development of transformational energy-related technologies, President Obama said during a speech Tuesday at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in Washington, DC. Also attending the NAS meeting were Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Obama science adviser John Holdren.

With much of the new administration’s energy policy focused on getting the United States off its dependence on foreign oil, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy said last week its three-and-a-half-year-old partnership on drilling technology research has metamorphosed into a “major new research consortium” set on promoting advanced technology for low-impact domestic oil and natural gas drilling.

With much of the new administration’s energy policy focused on getting the United States off its dependence on foreign oil, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy said Wednesday its three-and-a-half-year-old partnership on drilling technology research has metamorphosed into a “major new research consortium” set on promoting advanced technology for low-impact domestic oil and natural gas drilling.

A cornerstone of the much-promoted plan by oil and gas billionaire T. Boone Pickens to relieve American dependence on foreign oil and combat climate change calls for natural gas to be widely used as a transportation fuel, particularly by the long-haul trucking industry. However, cost, infrastructure and logistics challenges make such a goal highly problematic, according to trade group American Trucking Associations (ATA).

A cornerstone of the much-promoted plan by oil and gas billionaire T. Boone Pickens to relieve American dependence on foreign oil and combat climate change calls for natural gas to be widely used as a transportation fuel, particularly by the long-haul trucking industry. However, cost, infrastructure and logistics challenges make such a goal highly problematic, according to trade group American Trucking Associations (ATA).

With the U.S. losing out to foreign countries in the bidding war for liquefied natural gas (LNG), the level of LNG imports this year and next is expected to be well below the 2007 high of 771 Bcf, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short-Term Energy Outlook for August. The agency also significantly cut its spot price price projections for this year and 2009, citing increased domestic production and the drop in crude oil prices as factors.

With the U.S. losing out to foreign countries in the bidding war for liquefied natural gas (LNG), the level of LNG imports this year and next is expected to be well below the 2007 high of 771 Bcf, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Short-Term Energy Outlook for August.

Several banks filed a lawsuit last week charging that through a series of multi-billion dollar loans over a nine-year period, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Citibank and Salomon Smith Barney helped Enron Corp. complete the largest fraud in U.S. corporate history. The plaintiffs are seeking more than $201 million in actual damages and unspecified punitive damages.

Several banks filed a lawsuit this week charging that through a series of multi-billion dollar loans over a nine-year period, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Citibank and Salomon Smith Barney helped Enron Corp. complete the largest fraud in U.S. corporate history. The plaintiffs are seeking more than $201 million in actual damages and unspecified punitive damages.