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Sunday 27 March 2016

今日の エネルギー ニュース

Today's ENERGY News



March 25, 2016  

 A natural gas flare on an oil well pad burns as the sun sets outside Watford City, North Dakota January 21, 2016. Persistent low oil prices have lead to slower business in much of North Dakota's Bakken oil fields.  The collapse of U.S. oil and gas investment could have further to fall and Americans are showing signs they spend less of their windfall from lower gasoline prices than in the past, darkening the outlook for the U.S. economy.   REUTERS/Andrew Cullen

Despite oil’s decline, energy companies win with equity offerings

Persistent low oil prices have lead to slower business in much of North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields. The collapse of U.S. oil and gas investment could have… More than a dozen companies in the hard-hit exploration and production energy industry have announced new share offerings this year – and have generally been rewarded in the stock market for the strategy. Although it might seem that companies would upset their investor base by diluting earnings per share when they added more stock, most of the 15 companies that have done so have actually outperformed their peers. Their share prices have beaten an oil and gas producers index, on average, by about 3 percentage points since their respective offerings, and the outperformance is even stronger when compared with that...  

The big bust in the oil fields

He’d borrowed from banks and investors and retirement funds, all in a frenzied mission to drill for oil and gas, and by the time Terry Swift realized he’d gone too far, this was his debt: $1.349 billion. His company, founded by his father almost 40 years earlier, had plunged into bankruptcy and laid off 25 percent of its staff. Its shares had been pulled from the New York Stock Exchange. And now Swift was in a company Chevrolet Tahoe, driving back to the flat and dusty place where his bets had gone bust. Swift was coming to this energy-rich strip of South Texas trying to grapple with how much blame he shouldered for the failure of his company. A low-key and historically cautious oil chief executive who eschews private...  

Solar-Panel Installers Face Clouded Future

Many U.S. states are considering dialing back solar-power incentives amid growing pressure from local electric utilities, potentially dealing a blow to the companies that install home solar systems around the country. More than 900,000 homes across the U.S. are equipped with solar panels, with most of those homeowners able to sell any excess electricity their houses generate back to the utility, helping reduce the cost of home solar panels by up to 30%. But the price solar customers get paid for that extra renewable power through so-called net metering is starting to fall, as several states, including Nevada and Hawaii, have slashed their solar subsidies. Utilities in Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Utah and many other states are currently proposing measures that include changing their net metering programs or raising the monthly fees charged to home solar users for […]

Virginia gets head start with offshore wind

Approval of a wind-energy research plan in the federal waters off Virginia’s coast is a pathway to commercial sector development, the state’s governor said. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced consent for the first-ever wind energy research facility offshore Virginia. The research plan envisions the installation of two 6-megawatt turbines, which could generate enough power to meet the annual demands of 3,000 homes. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said federal approval supports state plans to become the first in the nation to advance an offshore wind energy program. “This research project is the gateway to commercial development of offshore wind which will help diversify our Commonwealth’s energy... 

Chinese researchers develop novel aluminum–graphite dual-ion battery

A team from the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a novel, environmentally friendly low-cost battery. The new aluminum-graphite dual-ion battery (AGDIB) offers significantly reduced weight, volume, and fabrication cost, as well as higher energy density, in comparison with conventional LIBs. The battery shows a reversible capacity of ≈100 mAh g −1 and a capacity retention of 88% after 200 charge–discharge cycles. A packaged aluminum–graphite battery is estimated to deliver an energy density of ≈150 Wh kg −1 at a power density of ≈1200 W kg −1 —≈50% higher than most commercial lithium-ion batteries. A paper on the work is published in the journal Advanced […]





Friday 18 March 2016

世界に目 アラスカですぐに何の冬はありません

Sled Dogs Cheer Global Warming  
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Ain't life grand?
"The winters keep getting warmer. The racers keep getting faster.
When Dallas Seavey and his team of sled dogs arrived in this remote old gold rush town on the Bering Sea shortly after 2 a.m. on Tuesday, Seavey celebrated his fourth victory in just five years in the nearly 1,000-mile sprint across the Alaska wilderness that the world knows as the Iditarod dog sled race. At eight days, 11 hours, 20 minutes and 16 seconds, it was the fastest time in Iditarod history — and the second time Seavey set a course record on his way to victory."
LA Times, March 2016


New Stock Market Crash Inevitable - A Special Report by Wim Grommen



New Stock Market Crash Inevitable
Every production phase or society or other human invention goes through a so-called transformation process. Transitions are social transformation processes that cover at least one generation. In this article I will use one such transition to demonstrate the position of our present civilization and  that a new stock market crash is inevitable.







​ 
Iowa Farmers Heading for Cleaners
​ 

​ No Repeat of Farm Crisis

Still, this downturn is unlike the 1980s farm crisis, say Northey and others.
Iowa farmers and investors purchased land with healthy down payments, limiting how much they're leveraged, experts say. And interest rates are significantly lower.
Farmers in the 1980s were paying rates as high as 20 percent, Northey said.
"We still have solid demand," he said. "We've just had some big production years — back to back."


US Shale Producer Faces Biggest $10 Billion Bankruptcy



"The writing has been on the wall for quite a while now," said Kevin Kaiser, an analyst at research firm Hedgeye. Kaiser recommended in 2013 that investors short Linn.


"The company took on way too much debt, primarily in an effort to make distributions to its equity holders that it could never afford."
​ 

-- 


​" ​
Buddy, what's your "Cash Break-Even"?


"Many have already used lifelines like distressed debt exchanges and hired restructuring advisers, so absent that fast rise in WTI, some defaults will be inevitable. We estimate about $40 billion of additional outstanding energy bond debt will likely default this year."
ZERO HEDGE








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Sunday 13 March 2016

世界に目 - 何週間、中国、香港、債券、日本、ギリシャ、および...

WHAT a Week!


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 Chinese Exports #Meltdown by 25.4% YOY 

  

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China’s export slump deepened in February, highlighting the challenge for policy makers seeking to keep the economy humming at home while trade acts as a brake on growth. 
The week-long Chinese new year holidays fell in February this year, closing factories and curbing shipments. That saw exports tumble 25.4 percent in U.S. dollar terms from a year earlier, the biggest decline since May 2009. Imports extended a streak of declines to 16 months, slumping 13.8 percent, leaving a trade surplus of $32.6 billion. 
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Bond Yields Sinking to Crazy New Lows

Government bond yields in Japan on Tuesday fell to record lows, and the ripple effect pushed down yields in the U.S., Germany and the U.K.
Strong auction demand for a 30-year Japanese government bond sent investors piling into bonds. The buying sent the yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year note below 1.9% again and stalled the yield’s uptick momentum over the past month. As bond prices rise, yields fall. 


Hong Kong YOY Home Sales Meltdown, UNREAL 70%

The End of Good Times  


"Home prices in the city surged 370 percent from their 2003 trough through the September peak, spurred by low mortgage rates, tight supply of new units and buying from mainland Chinese. This year, BOCOM International Holdings Co. property analyst Alfred Lau has said prices could fall 30 percent amid a slowdown."




 
 Optimism Over Climate Change Progress Premature?
​ 


Comments

These are just a few of the possible facts out there that contradict Al Gore's assertions that we are somehow making progress. Have the icecaps stopped melting? Just saying we are reducing  carbon emissions 
​or made a bunch more solar cells  and so on,  ​
should not give anyone 
​real ​
comfort.  The state  and trends for all positive 
​climate ​
feedbacks loops needs to be identified  and monitored, 
otherwise we have no comprehensive idea as to what 
​the true ​
 
​trends and ​
state  the climate system is 
  
​- ​
along with the other integral biosphere systems that affect it.
​ ​

Let's be real and remember too that Al Gore is also a long-term politician who by the 
​ 
very nature of their roles often mislead, exaggerate and cloud the truth. Awareness of  these occupational hazards and habits alone speaks volumes , particularly as there is much  contrary evidence that the  comprehensive climate system is not improving.


​In
 sum, ​
it all sounds like more of the same ole political snake oil, so...​


We're just not buying  it!




Reality Check: Saudi Arabia is Going Broke!


Road to Poor House?

"All the Saudis have done is create an existential crisis for  themselves.

If the Saudis don’t stop flooding the market—and there are no signs they will—they won’t be

 shooting themselves in the foot… but in the head. Saudi Arabia will either collapse or surrender—and stop flooding the market.

Either way, oil will eventually go a lot higher." 


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Sunday 6 March 2016

北朝鮮戦争はガラガラ西を通知します

 

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Will South Korea Have to Bomb the North, Eventually?





​ 

2016 Cuban Missile Crisis?


 This situation has not garnered the attention it deserves in the press nor by the markets. Should tensions escalate to the point of causing a nuclear event then such an engagement could lead to wider actions  bringing  the involvement of respective allies and the bigger powers. 

Even the limited use of nuclear weapons places the world in greater peril than most appreciate or know at first glance. Why? Russia operates a mechanized nuclear defence program that is often termed and referred to as  " the dead-hand system" because the missile-launch- order can  be triggered when its sensors determine that the radioactivity in the atmosphere is beyond preset acceptable levels. Breaching of these tests causes the system to conclude and assume that a nuclear attack is being carried out against their nation and it will then automatically order the launch of Russian missiles aimed at predetermined targets. 

There is no human involvement.  


 Originally the system was designed to provide for an immediate  retaliatory strike in the event that  the leadership in the Kremlin was destroyed 
by a first strike by an aggressor,

and thus decapitating the decision-making powers ability to respond.  The premise of the system embraces the cold war  assumption  that the threat of mutual annihilation would deter  the superpowers, at the time, from ever entering into any confrontations using nuclear weapons.

However, today  this old and perhaps antiquated system could inadvertently  launch  missiles because the sensors detect the radiation from a much smaller nuclear conflict. Right now, as long as tensions remain high in North Korea there is a great danger that aggressions could expand rapidly into the global theatre. Such a possibility, to our knowledge has not been experienced since the Cuban Missile Crisis, in 1962, when the world was was gripped by fear and  just seconds away from a global nuclear war that could have wiped out all of humanity in mere days.

 In light of the concerns mentioned, and their potential consequences and devastation  - this situation is to be given the highest priority and attention in the days and weeks ahead. It is also noted that certain  US Presidential candidates indicated, in February, that they would approve a preemptive strike against North Korea - that does not sound like such a  good idea should it also lead to those same sensors detecting and acting upon excessive radioactivity in the atmosphere. Moreover, leadership in North Korea is far from stable or sensible - you have a child holding a loaded gun.      

In the last analysis, the world again is walking on eggshells; one misstep having frightening ramifications 

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Panic Grows as Moody's Cuts China's Rating Outlook


China  Another  Enron?

Really, when you think about it , what is  the  difference between the two, when they both  are great benefactors of ghosts and zombies and then go on to apply the most opaque and misleading accounting practises, at all levels of organization with utter impunity? No wonder investors and creditors are heading for the hills. To answer the question: there is no difference - and the results are sure to be  the same.

Now  that brings up the next question  regarding Bernie Madoff...








Methane Time Bomb Closer Than Feared?


The Big Question
​  

Any day now? Any moment? But at how many parts per billion do we actually  have the same atmospheric conditions as the Permian extinction? Once we know that  - then with a little math we could probably  determine the next poorly planned and unfortunate   event in  the planet's history.  

Remember too, that a failure to plan - is a plan to fail!






 ​"
Peak Oil Today
​"

 - 29 Feb 2016


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The very best weekly analysis and evaluation of the global peak oil situation with additional briefings, charts and videos, added by the curator from accredited professional sources, to enhance the informed reader's knowledge and understanding of its deep complexities and evolving outlooks. 

Everyone should "Bookmark ' this very important weekly post to stay abreast of this most critical aspect of global economics and life on this planet.


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Wednesday 2 March 2016

** NEW ** 「ピークオイル今日 " ** NEW **

"PEAK OIL TODAY"

The very best weekly analysis and evaluation of the global peak oil situation with additional briefings, charts and videos, added by the curator from accredited professional sources, to enhance the informed investor's knowledge and understanding of its deep complexities and evolving outlooks. 

Everyone should "Bookmark ' this very important weekly post to stay abreast of this most critical aspect of global economics and life on this planet.


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Peak Oil Review – 29 Feb 2016 

By Tom Whipple

Association for the Study of Peak Oil USA


Quote of the Week
“The problem is going to be the money. Where is the money going to come from? A lot of people who have burned their fingers on (U.S. shale) are going to be reluctant to reinvest.”
Image result for Arnaud BreuillacArnaud Breuillac, president of exploration and production at French oil giant Total.


Contents
1.  Oil and the Global Economy
2.  The Middle East & North Africa
3.  China
4.  The Briefs



1.  Oil and the Global Economy

Image result for global economy



Oil had a good week for a change with New York futures rising 3.2 percent to close at $32.78 and London climbing 6.3 percent to close at $35.10.  This time, there was more than just wishful thinking behind the price increase as pipeline outages shut in 600,000 b/d in Kurdistan and 250,000 b/d in Nigeria to cut global exports by 850,000 b/d. In both cases, it is unclear as to just when the pipelines will reopen. In Nigeria, the outage was due to an underwater leak while the situation in Kurdistan likely is related to one of many wars taking place in the region.



 
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Earth In Trouble