Energy Roundup: Buffet to GE Rescue, Gulf Damage Revised Again, Finance Turmoil Hits Nuclear, and More

Buffett to come to GE rescue — General Electric says it plans to raise at least $15 billion in capital from stock sales to the public and to Berkshire Hathaway in an effort to restore confidence in the giant’s financial strength. Read commentary here. [Source: FT]

Gulf oil at 59%, gas at 48% — The U.S. Minerals Management Service revised its figures again saying that Gulf of Mexico oil production is still at only 58.8 percent of capacity, while Gulf gas is at just 47.7 percent. The Gulf produces about 1.3 million barrels of oil a day and about 7.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas. [Source: Lloyd’s]

Financial meltdown could cause nuclear meltdown — The Economic Times reports that U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said he believes that the construction of new nuclear plants worldwide is at risk because of the global financial crisis. Bodman made his remarks during a recent trip to Paris. [Source: ET ]

Meat may be murder but it’s also fuel — Britain’s Environment Agency has awarded a meat and bone meal recovery (MBM) company a permit to use MBM as biomass fuel following a trial at a plant in Derbyshire, England. The company believes it can replace 30,000 metric tons of fossil fuel each year, with meat. Can Soylent Green be far behind? [Source: MRW]

PPL completes sales of its gas and propane business — In a deal worth $268 million, PPL Corp. sold off is natural gas and propane business, PPL Gas Utilities, to UGI Utilities. The utility serves some 76,000 in Pennsylvania. [Source: Lehigh Valley Live]

Gas prices to rise 20% this winter — At a recent briefing, National Grid and the American Gas Association said that they expect this winter’s natural gas prices to leap ahead of last winter’s prices by 20 percent. [Source: The Times Union]

Time to bet on an oil crunch — Oil prices will only continue to rise, says The Oil Drum, and billionaire investor Richard Rainwater is putting money on it. Could he have been at the  National Grid and American Gas Association briefing? [Source: The Oil Drum]