Energy Industry Archive

Korea National, Ecopetrol split Petro-Tech acquisition – Korea National Oil and Colombia’s Ecopetrol took advantage of a commodity price-depressed industry in its $900 million joint acquisition of Petro-Tech Peruana of Peru. Petro-Tech, the main asset of Houston-based Offshore International Group, is the third-largest crude oil producer in Peru and has an estimated 100 million...

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Using algae to produce fuel has turned out to be one of the most difficult technologies to advance. Decades of government study failed to perfect it, and dozens of startups have made big promises but little progress over the past few years. Yet there’s still some progress, most notably from two companies, Algenol Biofuels and Sapphire Energy. The latter, which rapidly raised over $100...

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Another day, another dollar … lost. The end result of ethanol giant Verasun’s bankruptcy proceedings is that the producer will sell off its plants and other assets, some in auctions with no floor price. One gets the feeling they may go for substantially less than they cost to build. But there’s no indication that the corn ethanol tide is falling, either. Many familiar battles...

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Anadarko strikes oil twice, reports tripled profits – Anadarko Petroleum, one of the nation’s largest independent oil and gas producers, hit pay dirt twice this week when it announced back-to-back deepwater Gulf of Mexico oil discoveries. The news came on the heels of its fourth-quarter earnings, where the Houston-based company reported that net income more than tripled from the...

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Energy efficiency has long played second fiddle to renewable energy, mainly because it’s not quite as flashy and exciting. However, this year appears to be primed for a rapid expansion of some efficiency techniques, chief among them the so-called smart grid. The stimulus package creeping its way through the nation’s legislative arms contains a hefty $4.5 billion for the smart grid,...

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When Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens first unveiled his plan to build a 4,000 megawatt wind farm last year, a number of clever writers cracked that his answers were “Blowin’ in the Wind” a la Bob Dylan. Well, that wind farm is now “Gone with the Wind ” by the oilman’s own admission. The project is on hold for a year or more , as the credit markets try to...

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Exxon hits record year-end profits, despite large 4Q losses — Exxon Mobil’s fourth-quarter profits dropped 33 percent from the same period of 2007, as falling crude prices cut into the world’s largest company’s bottom line by $3.2 billion. The oil giant’s dismal fourth-quarter profits likely provides a more accurate picture of today’s marketplace than its yearly profits, which...

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