Novedades de Petroleo y Algo mas

Bulgaria, Greece and Russia will sign an agreement Wednesday for the construction of a long-awaited oil pipeline that will funnel Russian oil directly to southeastern Europe — bypassing Turkey’s busy Bosporus Straits, officials said.

The three countries will sign the deal for the 280-kilometer (175-mile) pipeline at Bulgaria’s Black Sea port of Burgas, the Ministry for Regional Development and Public Works announced Tuesday.

The cost of the privately funded project is estimated at between ˆ700 million and ˆ1 billion (US$1 billion and US$1.3 billion).

The pipeline will bring Russian oil from Bulgaria’s Black Sea port of Burgas to Alexandroupolis in northeastern Greece, bypassing the environmentally vulnerable Bosporus Straits. Russia is expected to have a 51 percent share in the deal, with Bulgaria and Greece splitting the remaining 49 percent.

In discussion since the early 1990s, the venture received new interest because of high oil prices.

Last September, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov met in Athens to pledge political support for the project. Putin last week again urged faster progress.

The Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline, tentatively scheduled for completion by 2010, would initially carry 700,000 barrels of oil a day port through a 36-inch (90-centimeter) pipeline, with capacity set to eventually rise to more than 1 million barrels a day.

Russia’s Gazprom-Neft and Rosneft are to participate in the venture, along with Russian-British venture TNK-BP, Bulgargaz and Terminal Universal Burgas from Bulgaria, and Greek companies Promitheas Gas, Hellenic Petroleum and Petrola. It remained unclear whether Wednesday’s agreement would resolve a dispute between Sofia and Moscow over ownership of the Burgas oil terminal.

Opposition lawmakers in Bulgaria argue the deal should be scrapped if Russian companies are granted control.

Burgas-Alexandroupolis could compete with another planned pipeline venture. Last week, Macedonia, Albania and Bulgaria agreed to build an east-west pipeline from Burgas to the Albanian port of Vlore. The 895-kilometer (556-mile) pipeline is also due to be completed in 2010, costing an estimated US$1.2 billion (ˆ927 million).

Saknavtobtans Director General Vakhtang Kiknadze told APA bureau that Georgia received the first installment of 200 tons of gasoline three days ago. Additional 3,500 tons of fuel will be delivered soon.

Before suspension, Azerbaijan had exported 10 to 15 tons of gasoline to Georgia a day. The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) stopped gasoline exports in late 2006 so as to deliver more straight-run fuel oil to the power stations because amid a row with Gazprom, Azerbaijan had reoriented its power plants to fuel oil which used to run on natural gas.

Kiknadze said 4,300 tons of A92 gasoline were imported from Turkmenistan as of late January.

Oil prices rose Tuesday, lifted by chilly weather across the Midwest and Northeast United States that is boosting heating fuel demand.

Traders expect that the recent cold temperatures will be reflected in heating oil stockpiles Wednesday, when the U.S. inventory report is published. The market is predicting a large drop in heating oil stocks, and increases in crude oil and gasoline. But crude prices stayed under the $60-a-barrel mark, as the cold weather and dropping heating oil inventories have been mostly priced into the market already, analysts said.

"If you haven’t bought the market already, you’ve pretty much missed the whole move," said Michael Guido, director of commodity strategy in New York for bank Societe Generale. "It can’t get any colder – all the risk is to the downside. Any kind of breakup in the cold we’re getting, and it could easily drop a dollar."

Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose 16 cents to $58.90 a barrel in early afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after rising as high as $59.99 a barrel in electronic trading. The contract on Monday slipped 28 cents to settle at $58.74 a barrel.

Oil hasn’t closed above $59 a barrel this year. A bone-chilling cold wave blasted across the northern Plains of the United States to the Northeast, contributing to heavy snowfall Monday. Colder-than-normal temperatures are expected to linger in the Northeast and Midwest through Feb. 18.

Citing the U.S. National Weather Service, Vienna’s PVM Oil Associates said that U.S. heating oil demand will be around 20 percent above normal next week, adding: "Cold weather is likely to further support prices in the coming days."

On Tuesday, Brent crude for March delivery rose 15 cents to $58.25 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. In Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose less than a cent to $1.6830 a gallon; gasoline prices rose less than a cent to $1.5660 a gallon; and natural gas prices slipped less than a cent to $7.630 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Nymex crude oil prices had fallen as low as $49.90 a barrel last month after unseasonably warm weather. But the recent cold spell and ensuing strong demand for heating fuels is expected to result in another big drop in U.S. distillate stocks in weekly U.S. petroleum inventories data due Wednesday, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey of energy analysts.

The report by the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. Energy Department’s statistical arm, is expected to show a decline of 2.9 million barrels of distillate stocks, on average.

Crude stocks were forecast to rise by 950,000 barrels on average, the survey showed. Retail gasoline prices started climbing higher last week, as crude oil prices jumped back to to the high $50s. The average U.S. price for a gallon of regular was $2.181 on Tuesday, up from $2.177 on Monday, according to AAA.

Politicals tensions in oil producing nations including Nigeria and Iran have been keeping prices afloat lately, but a lack of new developments abroad are causing traders to focus more on weather in the United States, the world’s biggest energy consumer.

"There’s nothing new on geopolitical front right now," Guido said. "There’s nothing driving prices right now except weather."

by FRANK LANDRY (CITY HALL BUREAU)

Who knew dirty toilet water could be such a hot commodity?

As strange as it may seem, Edmonton’s wastewater may be just what it takes to quench the oil industry’s growing thirst for H20, say officials.

Petro-Canada already uses five million litres a day of the city’s membrane-treated sewage at its Strathcona County refinery. There are now plans on the books to ramp up the supply to 15 million litres a day by October – making it the largest municipal-industrial water recycling program in Canada.

The city processes more than 200 million litres of wastewater daily, including residential and industrial waste. Most ends up back in the North Saskatchewan River.

More than $5.5 million has been budgeted this year to upgrade the water recycling facility at the Gold Bar Wastewater Treatment Plant. Petro-Canada uses the clean water to produce hydrogen, and for general refining purposes – such as steam production and cooling.

With plans for several new upgraders in the Edmonton area, industry will need access to millions of litres of water a day for processing.

"It will become the issue for the region," said Coun. Mike Nickel. "If you put all those upgraders together and they’re going to suck it up from the North Saskatchewan – I’m going to be concerned, just from an environmental perspective."

Chris Dawson, Petro-Canada spokesman, said the company is interested in using the recycled water at an upgrader planned for Sturgeon County.

"It’s great for the environment, it’s great for business, and if at all possible, we’d really like to pull off something in Sturgeon County," Dawson said.

by Associated Press

Texas has awarded the state’s first lease for geothermal energy production to a company planning to explore the renewable energy’s potential along seven Gulf Coast counties.

Ormat Technologies, Inc. (nyse: ORA – news – people ) paid $55,645, or $5 an acre, for the right to explore 11,129 acres for pockets of hot water and steam under the ocean floor, the General Land Office announced Tuesday.

"We got more bids than we expected," Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said. "I think that’s a good sign geothermal might just be an economically viable form of renewable energy for Texas."

The Texas Permanent School Fund, which helps funds the state’s public education, will get 10 percent of any energy revenues that Reno, Nev.-based Ormat produces on state land.

Producers create geothermal energy by tapping into warm geologic strata to withdraw hot water and steam that is brought to the surface to drive turbines, which in turn drive electricity generators.

Spokesman Paul Thomsen said the project will enable Ormat to evaluate the region’s potential for geothermal energy, which it hopes to produce within two to five years.

He said the company will consider using capped oil and gas wells on submerged state coastal properties. The company hopes to find adequately hot temperatures between 4,000 and 6,000 feet below the surface, he said.

"The idea is if we can utilize existing wells, it reduces the risks in drilling," Thomsen said.

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Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams cast himself as an environmental champion Tuesday, saying the proposed Lower Churchill hydroelectric development could help Canada dramatically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

Williams made the bold claim in the body of a statement that confirmed Newfoundland’s Crown-owned electric utility had applied to transmit power through New Brunswick to the rest of the Maritimes and the U.S.

The application was necessary because Williams has said electricity from Labrador could be sent through sub-sea, high-voltage cables to New Brunswick if the utility fails to reach a transmission deal with Hydro Quebec.

But the outspoken premier made it clear he has a loftier goal in mind as he pushes ahead with a multibillion-dollar proposal to build two hydroelectric dams downstream from the existing Churchill Falls power plant.

"The Lower Churchill project has great potential as a long-term, reliable, clean electricity supply that can contribute to a made-in Canada solution to meeting our nation’s clean energy requirements," Williams said.

"The recent heightened attention to climate change reinforces our view that new hydroelectric development has an important role to play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power generation."

Williams said the Labrador project is ideal because it would fulfill Canada’s desire to produce more "environmentally sensitive" energy.

Kathy Dunderdale, Newfoundland’s natural resources minister, said the new dams could displace 16 megatonnes of carbon dioxide that would otherwise be produced from coal-fired generating stations.

Federal Environment Minister John Baird has said the Conservative government will not set national targets for cutting greenhouse emissions even though it is committed to reducing pollution that contributes to climate change.

Under the former Liberal government’s plan to implement the Kyoto protocol on climate change, Canada committed to cutting 100 megatonnes of greenhouse gases — made up mainly of carbon dioxide — by 2010.

In Newfoundland, the Lower Churchill project has been on the drawing board in one form or another for about 30 years. A final decision on its feasibility will be made by 2009 with first power by 2015.

Williams said that when environmental concerns and market demands are considered, the timing for the Lower Churchill project "could not be more perfect."

Still, the project is far from a done deal. There is no financing in place and the project also requires an environmental assessment, an impact and benefit agreement with the Labrador Innu, commercial terms and engineering planning.

If approved, the dams at Muskrat Falls and Gull Island would produce 2,800 megawatts of electricity, enough to supply about 1.5 million homes.