A Canadian company developing an oil sands mining and extraction project in Utah has announced a decision to "reduce the pace of field construction in order to maintain working capital flexibility," based on low oil prices.
Oil sands, also known as bituminous sands or "tar sands", are loose sand or partially
consolidated sandstone saturated with a viscous form of
petroleum called bitumen. US Oil Sands Inc. is a Calgary-based company that describes itself as "focused on oil sands exploration and production in Utah." Its wholly owned United States subsidiary US Oil Sands (Utah) Inc. has bitumen leases covering 32,005 acres of land in Utah’s Uinta Basin.
US Oil Sands' PR Spring Project area
consists of 5,930 contiguous acres near the East Tavaputs Plateau in
Utah. According to the company, construction of Phase 1 of the PR
Spring Project is approximately 85% complete with costs coming in below
budget. If completed, it would be the first U.S. oil sands mine to enter commercial production.
While the company has not yet entered production, US Oil Sands has described a proprietary extraction process using a citrus-based bio-solvent to extract bitumen from oil sands without the need for tailings ponds. The company pitched this technique as different from traditional Canadian oil sands production in Alberta, where wastewater management is a controversial environmental challenge. But the Utah proposal has drawn concern over impacts to groundwater flowing under the Book Cliffs
But the company said it conducted a detailed review of the project "in light of continued low oil prices and the closure of two key contractors’ Utah-based operations." Specifically, the press release stated, "The low price
environment has impacted the Project as two of the Company’s key
contractors have closed their operations in Utah and have caused delays
to the Project." Indeed, spot prices for West Texas Intermediate have ranged near $30 per barrel in recent days, with U.S. crude futures falling below $30 earlier this year for the first time since
2003. The press release also mentions that $10 million in previously-announced
royalty financing had not closed, causing the company to explore other
options including equity financing.
According to the press release, project work on the PR Spring Phase 1 project will continue at a reduced level, with an expected focus on "critical path items and areas that will lead to the most efficient
restart of full construction operations in the future. In spite of
delays and increased costs that will occur with restart of full
construction operations, the Company is still targeting completion
within the original US$60 million approved budget."
How will US Oil Sands survive the low oil price environment? How will economic, environmental, or other factors affect the fate of Utah oil sands mining?
Energy powers society; society's choices shape energy policy. A blog about our energy resources and the choices they present for society.
Showing posts with label wastewater. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wastewater. Show all posts
3/31/10
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
It's a record: 11 inches of rain in Portland, Maine this March. The Portland Press Herald has some nice pictures of the effects of the Colcord Pond dam breach I mentioned yesterday. In Rhode Island, the flooding is bad enough -- 12 feet over the banks of the Pawtuxet River -- to greatly constrain the capacity of the Warwick wastewater treatment plant.
President Obama will announce more offshore oil drilling off the East Coast. Meanwhile oil prices are on the rise.
On Monday, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced $37.5 million in funding for the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center, a virtual campus located at existing research sites in both countries. The Center will focus on energy efficiency, clean vehicles and carbon capture from coal-fueled power plants -- something China has a lot of.
A panel of British lawmakers investigating the "climategate" leaked email scandal have labeled British climate change research as "damaged" by the incident. The 59-page report by the Commons Science and Technology Committee says that climate change research must become more transparent.
In California, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center will start generating 10% of its power needs through 15 MW of solar photovoltaic arrays. Kaiser has entered into power purchase agreements with Recurrent Energy, who will own and operate the solar panels and sell the power to Kaiser, while Kaiser will retain the rights to the renewable energy credits. Meanwhile other projects in California are in a permitting backlog, jeopardizing their chances at earning the 30% cash grant in lieu of investment tax credit, which requires ground to be broken this year.
The Los Angeles City Council has backed a much smaller rate hike than proposed by Mayor Villaraigosa: 0.1-cent increase per kilowatt-hour in the rates paid by residential and commercial customers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, with the initial money to go toward establishing a trust fund for renewable-energy production and energy efficiency.
Wisconsin wants in on the manufacturing associated with renewable deployment.
President Obama will announce more offshore oil drilling off the East Coast. Meanwhile oil prices are on the rise.
On Monday, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced $37.5 million in funding for the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center, a virtual campus located at existing research sites in both countries. The Center will focus on energy efficiency, clean vehicles and carbon capture from coal-fueled power plants -- something China has a lot of.
A panel of British lawmakers investigating the "climategate" leaked email scandal have labeled British climate change research as "damaged" by the incident. The 59-page report by the Commons Science and Technology Committee says that climate change research must become more transparent.
In California, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center will start generating 10% of its power needs through 15 MW of solar photovoltaic arrays. Kaiser has entered into power purchase agreements with Recurrent Energy, who will own and operate the solar panels and sell the power to Kaiser, while Kaiser will retain the rights to the renewable energy credits. Meanwhile other projects in California are in a permitting backlog, jeopardizing their chances at earning the 30% cash grant in lieu of investment tax credit, which requires ground to be broken this year.
The Los Angeles City Council has backed a much smaller rate hike than proposed by Mayor Villaraigosa: 0.1-cent increase per kilowatt-hour in the rates paid by residential and commercial customers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, with the initial money to go toward establishing a trust fund for renewable-energy production and energy efficiency.
Wisconsin wants in on the manufacturing associated with renewable deployment.
March 10, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Yarmouth, Maine, is considering an alternative energy source to power its wastewater treatment plant: hydrogen gas, created through technology proposed by Ronny Bar-Gadda, founder and chief executive officer of Genesys LLC. The Portland Press Herald provides a description:
From the physics and thermodynamics perspectives, I am very interested to see how this plays out.
Strong, Maine pellet producer Geneva Wood Fuels has been fined $27,000 by OSHA for violations ranging from missing handrails to potential problems with wood dust management -- and it's wood dust that may have been behind the explosion at the plant last year.
China has announced that it is back on track to meet its target of lowering energy intensity -- which is energy consumption per unit of GDP -- by 20% over 2006 levels by year's end. How? Government control. The Chinese government shuttered 60 gigawatts of older, inefficient thermal electricity units, and cracked down on manufacturers of iron, steel and cement.
It's CERAWeek in Houston, and apparently traditional fossil-fuel generators are laughing at the federal government's promotion of renewables. CERAWeek is the big conference sponsored by energy consultants IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates.
US Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration says we'll pay more than $3 per gallon of gasoline in summer 2010. EIA also predicts oil prices rising from above $80 per barrel this spring to $82 per barrel by the end of 2009 and $85 per barrel by the end of 2011. EIA also predicts flat residential electricity prices: 11.5 cents per kilowatthour for this year, rising to 11.6 cents per kilowatthour in 2011.
Letter to the Editor of the Bangor Daily News from David Gordon of Oakfield talking about his town's approach to ensuring that wind development within the town provides benefits to ratepayers. Well written David.
He has developed a proprietary technology called radiant energy transfer. It uses electromagnetic radiation to break the hydrogen-oxygen bond at certain frequencies. The process was demonstrated last fall in the lab by filling a balloon with hydrogen made from wastewater. The radiant energy transfer unit, as Bar-Gadda calls it, can be scaled up in modules, uses minimal energy and produces hydrogen at a rapid rate.
From the physics and thermodynamics perspectives, I am very interested to see how this plays out.
Strong, Maine pellet producer Geneva Wood Fuels has been fined $27,000 by OSHA for violations ranging from missing handrails to potential problems with wood dust management -- and it's wood dust that may have been behind the explosion at the plant last year.
China has announced that it is back on track to meet its target of lowering energy intensity -- which is energy consumption per unit of GDP -- by 20% over 2006 levels by year's end. How? Government control. The Chinese government shuttered 60 gigawatts of older, inefficient thermal electricity units, and cracked down on manufacturers of iron, steel and cement.
It's CERAWeek in Houston, and apparently traditional fossil-fuel generators are laughing at the federal government's promotion of renewables. CERAWeek is the big conference sponsored by energy consultants IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates.
US Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration says we'll pay more than $3 per gallon of gasoline in summer 2010. EIA also predicts oil prices rising from above $80 per barrel this spring to $82 per barrel by the end of 2009 and $85 per barrel by the end of 2011. EIA also predicts flat residential electricity prices: 11.5 cents per kilowatthour for this year, rising to 11.6 cents per kilowatthour in 2011.
Letter to the Editor of the Bangor Daily News from David Gordon of Oakfield talking about his town's approach to ensuring that wind development within the town provides benefits to ratepayers. Well written David.
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