Energy News

News about energy and energy related topics and information sources.

Work on Jordan's first nuclear research reactor begins

The Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) announced on Monday the start of work on the nuclear research reactor. In a statement obtained by Xinhua, JAEC chief Khaled Toukan said the creation of the nuclear research reactor, which will be in operation in 2015, is an important step in Jordan's pursuit to implement its peaceful nuclear energy program. Also in the day, Jordan and South Korea signed an easy loan agreement under which the latter provide the energy-poor Kingdom with ...
Read more [People Daily - World News (China)]

Iran submits letter on nuclear talks to IAEA

Iran has submitted a letter on resuming the nuclear talks to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), local satellite Press TV reported on Monday. The letter, jointly provided by Iran's National Security Supreme Council and Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, expresses Iran's readiness to start uranium swap talks, the report said. The letter was given to IAEA Director General Yukio Amano by Iran's representative to IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh in Vienna, the semi-official Far ...
Read more [People Daily - World News (China)]

Iran submits letter on nuclear talks to IAEA

Iran ready to start talks on nuclear issue "without delay": spokesman

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Monday that Iran is ready to start the nuclear talks "without delay," the semi-official ISNA news agency reported. "About nuclear fuel swap and talks with Vienna group, we are ready to start the talks without delay and in the earliest time," Mehmanparast was quoted as saying. The Vienna Group comprises the United States, France, Russia and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Talking to ISNA, Mehmanparast called trilateral Is ...
Read more [People Daily - World News (China)]

Australian company plans to trial Underground Coal Gasification

A West Australian mining company on Monday announced that it has been planning to trial underground coal gasification (UCG) in Queensland where another UCG project was forced to shut down following water contamination scare. Cougar Energy's UCG pilot plant at Kingaroy, northwest of Brisbane of Australia, was closed down last week after traces of the cancer-causing chemicals benzene and toluene were found in bores near the plant. The Kingaroy community is now horrified to learn another mini ...
Read more [People Daily - World News (China)]

WATCH: Disappearing Oil

The leak is capped and the spill appears to be shrinking, but where is it going?

Oil spill - Environment - Energy - Petroleum in the Environment - Business
Read more [ABC News Headlines (USA)]

US Rules Out Military Action Against Venezuela

The United States says it has no intention of initiating military action against Venezuela in response to threats by the country's president that he would cut off oil supplies if the U.S. backed an attack against Venezuela by Colombia.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Virginia Staab said Monday the United States enjoys a mutually beneficial energy relationship with Venezuela and Washington would like it to continue.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told thousands of supporters Sunday that if the U.S. backed Colombia in "armed aggression" against Venezuela, his country would suspend oil shipments to the United States. The U.S. is the top buyer of oil from the South American country.

Mr. Chavez also said Sunday that he is canceling a trip to Cuba due to the tensions with Colombia.

President Chavez announced last week he was breaking diplomatic ties with Colombia for what he said were false claims by Bogota that Venezuela is harboring Colombian rebels. He ordered troops to be on "maximum alert" at the border.

Mr. Chavez acted after Colombia went before the Organization of American States' permanent council in Washington to present photographs, maps, coordinates and videos it said show 1,500 guerrillas hiding in Venezuela.

Colombia requested the OAS session after charging that leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, and the National Liberation Army, or ELN, had taken refuge in Venezuela. Venezuela's OAS envoy, Roy Chaderton, said the items presented by Colombia's ambassador did not provide any solid evidence of a guerrilla presence in Venezuela.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Friday that Colombia's allegations are serious and deserve to be fully investigated.

In 2008, Venezuela and Ecuador broke diplomatic relations with Colombia after Colombian troops raided a FARC rebel camp in Ecuador, killing FARC commander Raul Reyes and at least 20 other people.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP.

Iran proposes restart of nuke talks

Iran said it will submit a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday, proposing to restart limited talks on an exchange of nuclear fuel.
Read more [CNN World News Headlines (USA)]

Iran to submit letter to IAEA

Iran will submit another letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Monday, briefing the latest developments with the uranium swap agreement, Turkish foreign minister said in Istanbul on Sunday. "Iran notified us that they will submit a letter to the IAEA tomorrow morning," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said after a trilateral meeting between him, his Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim, and the Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, the first meeting o ...
Read more [People Daily - World News (China)]

WATCH: Where Is Gulf Oil Going?

Jeffery Kofman on what's happening to the oil still sitting in Gulf waters.

Business - Energy - Oil and Gas - Operating Companies - Gulf of Mexico
Read more [ABC News Headlines (USA)]

EU to impose tougher Iran sanctions

The European Union today adopts an unprecedented package of sanctions against Iran, targeting in particular its key energy sector. The sanctions go…
Read more [EuroNews (english)]

Japan Seeks Consumer Burden To Push Renewable Energy

Source: Reuters - Japanese consumers will have to pay higher electricity bills under a government plan to help triple the generating capacity of renewable energy in the next decade and cut CO2 emissions.
Read more [UNFCCC (UN Conference on Climate Change)]

Analysis: Indonesia: Energy on the boil

Source: The Jakarta Post - Indonesia is to tap into vast reserves of geothermal energy to help meet its power needs for coming decades, with plans to invest more than US$10 billion over the next 15 years in the renewable power source.
Read more [UNFCCC (UN Conference on Climate Change)]

Asean urged to climate-proof energy sector

Source: Business Inquirer - With the world experiencing the ill effects of climate change , the Philippines urged its co-members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to climate-proof the regions energy sector.
Read more [UNFCCC (UN Conference on Climate Change)]

Australian Labor Party announces workers package

Australian Labor Party on Sunday announced a new package guaranteeing workers' entitlements and tax breaks for businesses which improve energy efficiency. "Workers who lose their job when their employer goes bust have enough to worry about," Prime Minister Julia Gillard said in a joint statement with Workplace Relations Minister Simon Crean on Sunday. "They should not have to worry about being paid what they have already earned." Labor will replace the existing general employee entitlement ...
Read more [People Daily - World News (China)]

Backgrounder: Chronicle of African Union summits

The 15th summit of the African Union (AU) will commence on Sunday at Kampala, Uganda's capital. With the theme of "Maternal, Infant and Child Health and Development in Africa", the three-day summit is also expected to see African leaders discuss issues including peace and security, infrastructure, energy, agriculture and food security on the continent. The following is a brief of the previous AU summits. The first summit was held from July 9 to 10, 2002, in South Africa's Durban after the ...
Read more [People Daily - World News (China)]

Iran seeks to conduct nuclear fusion research: AEOI

Iran said it seeks to conduct nuclear fusion research in an effort to set foot in the alternative energy, Iranian local satellite channel Press TV reported on Saturday. Iran has launched serious "fusion research today," Press TV quoted Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali- Akbar Salehi as saying. Speaking at a ceremony to mark the beginning of the National Nuclear Fusion Program at the AEOI headquarters in Tehran on Saturday, Salehi also said that some 50 scientists in ...
Read more [People Daily - World News (China)]

BP chief soon to resign

&$ &$British Petroleum Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg (front), Chief Executive Tony Hayward (1st L), Managing Director Robert Dudley (2nd L) and BP America President Lamar McKay (3rd L) meet the press after meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington D.C., the United States, June 16, 2010. U.S. (Xinhua file Photo)&$&$ BP's chief executive is poised to resign before Tuesday's announcement of the energy ...
Read more [People Daily - World News (China)]

Spain's Renewable Energy Heads West

Plagued by Spain's economic recession and subsidy cuts, renewable energy businesses are following the sun and wind to Latin America in search of profits.
Read more [IPS Latin America]

Turkey, Iran, Brazil Holding Talks on Nuclear Plan

Turkey's foreign minister says Iran is ready to hold talks on its nuclear program with the European Union after the Muslim month of Ramadan ends in September.

The foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey and Brazil met in Istanbul Sunday to discuss Iran's next steps for nuclear negotiations.

Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu says Iran will send a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency Monday, asking to start "technical" negotiations on a nuclear fuel swap.

The United Nations Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran in June after the country did not accept a U.N.-backed plan to swap low-enriched uranium for uranium fuel rods needed for an Iranian medical research reactor. The deal would have reduced Iran's uranium stockpile and delayed its capability to produce nuclear weapons.

Instead, Iran wanted a nuclear fuel swap deal negotiated by Turkey and Brazil, which included the uranium exchange without demanding a halt in Iran's uranium enrichment.

Turkey's foreign minister and his Brazilian counterpart, Celso Amorim, said Sunday they support a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear standoff with Western countries.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tehran would like to continue discussions with Turkey and Brazil.

Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful, but Western nations suspect Tehran is trying to build nuclear weapons.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

San Francisco sued over cell phone radiation law

An influential industry trade group on Friday sued San Francisco in a bid to block the enforcement of the city's recent legislation that requires retailers to display levels of radiation energy emitted from cell phones. In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, CTIA, a group representing wireless communication industry, said San Francisco's ordinance is scientifically unsupported and misleads consumers. The ordinance, which was passed in June by San Francisco's Board of S ...
Read more [People Daily - World News (China)]

WATCH: Gulf Oil Leak Stopped

For the first time in 87 days, there is no oil leaking into Gulf waters.

BP - Business - Energy - Oil and Gas - Gulf of Mexico
Read more [ABC News Headlines (USA)]

Australian PM delays emissions trading scheme

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard reaffirmed on Friday a delay in introducing a price for carbon pollution, angering environmentalists, scientists and business ahead of her bid to secure re-election. Gillard on Friday announced Labor Party's plan to tackle climate change included improvements to the electricity grid, a requirement for all new coal-fired power stations to have tougher emissions standards, growth in the renewable energy sector and a Citizens Assembly to work towar ...
Read more [People Daily - World News (China)]

Australian PM delays emissions trading scheme (2)

The lack of a price on carbon would cost the economy and consumers an extra 2 billion Australian dollars (1.75 U.S. billion dollars) by 2020 due to investment in less energy efficient coal- fired power plants, the Climate Institute estimated. To reassure big business, Gillard said carbon trade policy would remain the base for generous compensation for the biggest polluters. She ruled out lifting the threshold for compensation. Australia, the world's largest coal exporter, accou ...
Read more [People Daily - World News (China)]